A Full Weekend

I´m happy to report that I´m all moved into the new apartment--yay! It´s nice to have that over and done with because I abhor packing and unpacking. Luckily I don´t have much stuff with me here. (I can only imagine what it´s like to move an entire house full of stuff to a new locale.) I discovered that one of my favorite things about the new place is that in my bedroom, one wall is entirely composed of windows, and from this window I can watch the sun set every night. Suh-weet!

In other news, I finally cracked and now have a cell phone. Since I moved out of the house, my host fam and I figured it would be best to have a surefire way to communicate. Luckily, Alejandro is getting a new phone soon so he gave me his old one. I´ll also be finetuning my texting abilities because that´s primarily how I´ll be communicating with everyone. The cell phone services here are a bit different than in the states. For example, as far as I can tell most people rely on prepaid services by buying prepaid cards, and with those cards you can call or text until the money runs out and you have to buy a new one. Text messages are obviously way cheaper than making calls, so a lot of people rely almost exclusively on texting. The other thing that´s a bit different is that if you want to call or text someone who has a different phone service, it´s wayy more expensive. For that reason, Alejandro has 2 phones: one for his fam and friends with one service, the other for his friends that have the other service. Anyway, slowly but surely I´m learning the ropes with all this phone stuff, and I definitely feel more comfortable knowing that I can get in touch with my fam whenever I need to.

Other than taking care of all the apartment stuff, I went to my first fútbol game with Alejandro and Manuel! It wasn´t an international game; 2 Ecuadorian teams were playing. It was a lot of fun and I got to refine my knowledge of bad words! It´s really something when the entire stadium is chanting ¨hijue puta¨ (son-of-a-bitch) at the refs, haha. Despite the crappy refereeing, our team still managed to win 2-1. Another amusing moment came at the end of the game when the refs were leaving the stadium: they had to have police escorts with raised shields surround them because the fans throw stuff at them when they´re exiting! I guess I know what job I won´t be taking down here...

Today is a pretty busy day because it´s election day here. It´s not the presidential elections but rather the selection of members for the Assembly. The crazy part is that last time I checked there are at least 300 candidates for various positions (130 people will be elected in all). How is anyone supposed to decide who to vote for?? Not only that, voting isn´t optional--every citizen has to do it. Something else that´s also a little different here is that there´s a ¨dry law¨that goes into effect 36 hours prior to voting: no one can purchase or consume alcohol for that period of time. Obviously people probably drink in their homes, but you´re not supposed to, and anyway if you get caught you´re in for a little trip to the carcel.

At any rate, many of the people I´ve been talking with here about the elections are a bit on edge because they´re nervous that the candidates of the president´s political party will receive the majority of votes. And if President Correa´s party holds the majority in the Assembly, they could ostensibly revamp the constitution and dissolve the Congress (which right now is dominated by members of the opposition). So all in all it looks like it´s going to be an interesting week. Quito and Guayaquil are the main sites for major political protests, which actually happen fairly frequently. We´ll see how many there are this week after the results of the elections are tallied.

Alejandro is less than thrilled about election day today because he was selected by the government to be a ¨Presidente de mesa¨. In other words, he´s in charge of a voting table at one of the voting sites in Quito, has to make sure everything is running smoothly, give orders to 6 or 7 people working under him to maintain order, and then count all the votes at the end of the day for his table. It´s basically an all day job, lots of work, and zero compensation. Fun, huh? At least he gets a lunch break--the fam and I are going to visit him and have lunch in half an hour.

Later today I´m going to browse the paper for job listings and such. I already have 3 people that are interested in private English lessons, so I´ll probably start with that this week to earn a little cash until I can find a legit job where I´d have steady salary and would be speaking Spanish rather than English. Hopefully I´ll find something sooner rather than later!

Apartment!!

I have an apartment! (And by ¨have¨I mean I´m renting a place.) Eeeee! I guess it´s more like a ¨suite¨than a legit apartment because it´s kind of small, but it´s cute, modern, and relatively new. It has a bedroom, a living room/dining area and a kitchen which are all open and connected, and a bathroom. However, it´s an already furnished apartment so I´m all set to move in tomorrow. Although I´m going to miss the mountain view I have now, I can still see the Andes from my bedroom (and obviously from the roof as well). The other big perk is that the apartment is literally a block away from my host fam´s house, so I´ll still be able to see them every day. :) I´m super psyched--this is the first time I´ve had my own place!

4-Day Weekend

So I took the liberty last week of giving myself a 4-day weekend in order to travel to Guayaquil with my host fam because they have family there. The bus ride took about 9 hours--joy! Here´s what I enjoy about the bus rides: seeing the countryside, relaxing, reading, and sleeping. Here´s what I don´t enjoy about the bus rides: they play a succession of either absolutely atrocious or extremely violent and loud action movies (usually movies that fit both those categories). So that was pretty special. It was kind of like riding ¨Machistas R Us¨Bus Company. But looking on the comical side of things, it was good to know that Steven Seagal has still managed to find work here and there. I think as a result I´m also a little bit tougher and am not quite as phased by movie gore as I was before. Is that a good thing or a bad thing? I´m not sure...

Anyhoo, the other interesting point about the bus ride there was that about 1 hour away from the city we got pulled over by the po-po. We had to get off the bus while they searched it and also checked all of our documents. They did this to make sure that no one was carrying weapons or drugs. I didn´t exactly relish the idea of random po going through my unmentionables, but figured that safety was certainly worth it.

Guayaquil itself was really fun! It´s a port city and reminded me a lot of Miami. It was very hot and also humid as well--really different from Quito. We stayed with Alejandro and Manoly´s cousin, Fidel. He is super funny and really friendly. Something that took a little while to get used to (and I´m not sure I´m actually used to it even now) is the accent in Guayaquil and the coast: it´s a lot faster, they swallow certain consonant sounds (such as s´s sometimes), and they tend to shorten words and sounds by blending them. It´s altogether pretty different, but I felt like I had achieved something quasi-important when I could actually understand what Fidel was saying.

Aside from playing lots of cards, doing lots of chatting as well as some cooking, Friday I walked around the part of town we were staying in and did a little window shopping. Saturday I spent the evening in a sector of the city called Malecón (more touristy); I walked along the dock that´s over the river Guayas, did some more window shopping, and climbed about 500 steps to get to one of the main tourist attractions, a lighthouse that you can climb and from which you can view the city. It was definitely breathtaking (the climb and the view from the top!) but totally worth it.

Sunday we left Guayaquil to go to Montalvo, which is about 2 hours away or so. Fidel´s parents and his sisters live there and own a tourist complex, so again, we had free lodging and food. The complex was beautiful--not necessarily ¨modern¨but definitely comfortable and situated in a gorgeous location. On the grounds there were two pools, water slides, and tons of vegetation, flowers, greenery, etc, and it´s located near a river and mountains which provide a stunning backdrop.

As luck would have it, when we arrived at the complex there was a camera crew there filming a promotional segment about Montalvo and its tourist attractions, and the family´s complex was getting some airtime. Before I knew what was happening, they grabbed me to make a statement inviting people to come and enjoy the complex. I must admit, I wasn´t super thrilled about this because I hatehatehate being filmed, especially for a tv program which will air across an entire country, and especiallyyyy speaking a foreign language. Gah! But I ended up doing it because I felt obligated to help out the family and so on because it was an important opportunity for them to publicize their place. I memorized a short statement and did it--I was so nervous! But what´s done is done. The program airs in 3 or 4 weeks--I haven´t decided whether I´m going to watch it or not, haha. Yes, I am that opposed to seeing myself butcher the Spanish language that I would pass up relishing my 15 seconds of fame. Who knows, maybe I´ll get over myself and take a peek. Either way, I´ll have the opportunity to watch it over and over because my fam is going to tape it. Oh. Goody. :P

Anyhoo, after the filming I went with Alejandro and Fidel´s sisters, Gabriela and Erika (really sweet girls and only 1 or 2 years younger than me) to a neighboring town to buy some ¨vino de naranja¨(orange wine which was sooo tasty--very sweet and has a rich flavor, but it definitely creeps up on you because you feel like you´re drinking spiced juice). This was by far one of the coolest parts of my trip so far, even though it might not sound like it: our mode of transportation was riding in a chiva, which is kind of a truck/bus. In other words, the sides are open and there are a bunch of benches to sit on in the middle. However, you can also climb onto the roof and ride there, even though there aren´t seats--which is what we did! Ahhh it was so freakin cool (and safe, for those of you who are worrywarts--there were railings around the edge to make sure you don´t fall and the chivas don´t go very fast because they´re traveling on small country roads). It was amazing riding so high on a vehicle, feeling the breeze as we went along, watching all the locals, and taking in the countryside which is super lush and very picturesque because of the flowers, colorful houses, mountains, mist, river, and so on. To top it off, it was starting to become dusk, so the sky was lit up with beautiful pastel colors. It was truly an amazing experience and one of my favorites in Ecuador so far.

Now I´m back in Quito finishing up my last week of classes. This week I´m devoting some time to looking for apartments so I can stay here longer (at least 6 months, hopefully even a year!). After that, the next step will be finding a job to generate some income so I can support myself, and then after that figuring out all the paper work, visas, and so on. It´s all very much a process and at times a little over-stimulating, but to me it definitely feels worth it.

The Key Players

To make things easier, here´s a handy index of the who´s who in Quito these days:

Manuel - my host dad

Mayory - host mom

Alejandro - host bro

Manoly - host sis

Gustavo - host cousin, aka Pekerman (don´t ask), aka The Rockstar

Juan Pablo - host cousin, Gustavo´s bro, aka El Cantante (singer)

Raul - Alejo´s friend, aka Cara de niño (something along the lines of ¨Babyface¨)

Marco - friend, aka The Romantic

Cristina - my prof


It´s funny, my social circle here is basically the opposite of at Wellesley--almost all guys. I have girl friends from school, like my German friends and a couple girls from the States, but it looks like my friendships with people from school will be a bit more short-lived because most of the students here come for only a few weeks and then either go home, keep traveling, or do volunteer work in other locations. But we´ll see. I think a couple of the German gals are sticking around for longer, so that could be chill.

This weekend was busy but a lot of fun. Friday night I went to a discoteca with Alejandro, Gustavo, Juan Pablo, Marco, and a bunch of other friends. Gustavo is the lead singer in a rock band and they had a gig at the club. They mostly play covers and such. It was cool, though! And I finally got to practice my dancing, which has definitely improved.

Saturday I went to one of the main parks in Quito, La Carolina. It is freakin huuuge, there are tons of fields, tracks, equipment, even aerobics classes, which I definitely want to try soon. On the weekends practically everyone and their mom is there enjoying various activities. There are tons of soccer games going on as well. I went with the guys because they were going to play soccer and I wanted to visit the park for the first time and see what it´s all about, so I watched them play and read a little bit in the sun. Later that afternoon, Alejandro and I visited a museum featuring the art of Guayasamín, a very famous Ecuadorian painter who focused on indigenous people in his work. Many of his pieces are a bit haunting and filled with a sense of sadness, pain, and suffering. However, they´re beautiful and striking in a particular way because they are slightly abstract, although not to the point of unrecognizability (I can´t remember if that´s a real word or not--I may have made it up. But you get the point.)

Yesterday I visited La Mitad del Mundo--the Equator. First I toured the main monument and museum in the official location, so to speak, and then went to a different museum a little ways away that contains a more precise line--kind of weird how that works. Anyway, I got to do various experiments at this museum: I saw how water being drained spins clockwise in the southern hemisphere, counterclockwise in the northern hemisphere, and goes straight down directly above the equator, I found out that it´s harder to walk in a straight line with your eyes closed directly over the equator as well as balance an egg on a nail, and that when you´re on or close to the equator you´re 2 pounds lighter. I also had a tour guide and got to see traditional indigenous homes and learn about many rituals and customs including head-shrinking (and I don´t mean what psychologists do for a living). All in all, a very educational experience, á la Wellesley. :)

I´ll try to post again before Friday because on Thursday or Friday I´m leaving for Guayaquíl (the biggest city in Ecuador) for 3 or 4 days with my fam to get to know the city and meet some of their extended family.

Ciao! xoxo

Differences

I feel like being random today, so here are some of the things that are different in my way of life here compared to back in the states:

-I can´t find my favorite flavors of Orbit gum. Seeing as how I´m an addict, this is kind of a problem. (Okay, I´m being overdramatic. But I´m sorry, Trident just isn´t the same.)
-Every day we eat a really big lunch and a much smaller dinner. I happen to like this style a lot and it seems like it makes more sense in terms of the energy you need and expend during the course of a day.
-On the highways, a lot of times there´s one lane going each way and people pass each other by going quickly into the oncoming traffic lane (obviously when the coast is clear), even when there are double yellows and even on the mountains. Thrilling at times, to say the least. No, but in all seriousness, it seems to work for everyone here. Just something to get used to, for sure.
-A lot more guys here wear cologne, and not just to go out at night but during the day as well. Yummy. :)
-For the most part, the faucets (at least in the sector of the city I´m living and studying in) only dispense cold water. That took a minute to get used to. Also, the showers have pretty weak water pressure. But hey, at least they have hot water. That´s a start. Honestly, I was sort of surprised about these things at first upon my arrival, but it´s funny how quickly you can adjust to the circumstances you´re presented with.
-All of the cars I´ve ridden in so far don´t have seatbelts in the back seats. Interesting...
-I get to look at the mountains every day from my bedroom window. I mean, they´re practically in my room.
-I stick out like a sore thumb here. People don´t necessarily know if I´m from the States, Europe, or somewhere else in South American like Argentina or something, but it´s a different (and valuable) experience to feel like you´re sort of conspicuous.
-I don´t have a cell phone, which has actually been very refreshing. It definitely impedes my ability to communicate often with all of you, as well as the ability to be insanely spontaneous and do things super spur of the moment. However, I´m realizing more and more that not having a celly definitely has its perks, too. It´s certainly a liberating feeling and usually it´s one less thing for me to have to worry about.
-People here often greet each other with a cheek-kiss, even if you´re meeting the person for the first time. One thing that hasn´t been as different as I thought was personal space in interpersonal interactions. I thought people might be all up in my face but it´s felt pretty normal to me so far. I´d say that from what I have seen so far, people are more touchy-feely, but certainly not in an uncomfortable way.

So how´s that for a random collection of thoughts? :)

After week 2...

It´s still hard to believe I´ve only been here for 2 weeks--it really does feel like wayy longer. Things here are going really well. I went to my first dance class last Tuesday, which was a lot of fun. We learned some basic salsa steps--hopefully a good foundation for more improvements. On Wednesday I went to a cocktail class and learned how to make mojitos and caipariñas (a Brazilian cocktail); they´re actually pretty similar drinks, really easy to make, and verryy tasty. On Thursday I went on an walking excursion with my professor around Quito. We walked to one of the major universities in the city so I could buy a good dictionary and so I could visit a different area. We also scoped out different restaurants and markets in the city that have food, crafts, and other products. It was a gorgeous day, perfect for walking around, people-watching, and taking in the sights. However, I did get a sunburn. Boo.
On Thursday night, on a pretty spur of the moment decision, I took a long weekend and went to the coast with my host family and 2 of my host bro´s friends to spend some time at the beach. The weather was great all 4 days. Sometimes there was some cloud cover but I still managed to get burned again the last day despite wearing sunblock. The water was incredible--it wasn´t completely clear or anything but it had a nice bluish-turquoise tint, and the temperature was fabulous: not too hot or too cold. We even went for a midnight swim because my bro was convinced that that´s when the water is warmest. I thought he was daft and was prepared for the worst...but the water was indeed still warm! So he was half right. I don´t think it was warmer than during the day but it was almost the same.
My bro and his friends also taught me 2 card games that are very popular here: ¨cuarenta¨(40) y ¨burro¨(donkey). It would take me too long to explain them but they are really fun. I liked cuarenta the most and it´s nice because you can play with 2 or 4 people.
At the beach I finally encountered a bit of difficulty finding vegetarian food because it´s the coast and everyone wants to eat seafood. I managed to get by on spaghetti and pizza. They were good but needless to say I´m glad to be back in Quito with more options and more home-cooked meals that span more than 2 types of starch.
Okay, time for me to jet and go to another dance class!
Hasta luego xoxo

My first week in Quito

Okay, here´s my first post since I arrived in Ecuador. Brace yourself, it´s going to be a long one! Thankfully, I finally figured out how to use the website from here so hopefully I can do a better job with the updates from now on. Okay, so I´ve been here for one week and it´s amazing to me that it´s only been one week. It feels like I´ve been here for a really really long time, I suppose because every day is filled to the max with activities and speaking in Spanish.

My host family is awesome. I finally got the real scoop on my ¨host brothers¨: 2 of them are students during the school year and are boarders at the house and not actually related by blood. I think they arrive in one or 2 weeks. In addition I have a host brother and a host sister, which I didn´t realize before. So it´s a good deal because I have a girl and a guy to hang out with. I get along very well with my host sibs. I hang out more with my host bro because we´re closer in age and have very similar personalities. He´s very silly and took it upon himself during my first day in Quito to show me around the neighborhood and teach me bad words in Spanish. My host parents are soo sweet and just generally good people. We often have long conversations about all sorts of topics, which has demonstrated to me also how well informed and also open minded they are. My mom prepares really good food for me. So far I haven´t found it difficult to maintain my eating habits as a vegetarian. There are tons of good fruits, vegetables, and healthy vegetarian dishes so I am happy as a clam in that department.

My classes are going well so far; at first I couldn´t tell if my professor was going to be sort of standoffish or more reserved, but after the first day or two we really hit it off well. We actually confide in each other a lot and talk about a lot of personal things because in class we do a ton of talking to practice, obviously, and so of course we talk about our lives, experiences, thoughts, etc. Between class and practicing speaking with my host fam I hope to improve a lot--Ojalá! It´s funny because sometimes during the past week I´ve felt like I´m improving, but then there are other times when I feel totally useless when I try to say something, or I forget how to say things that I definitely knew how to say before! I´m sure some of it has to do with whether I´m tired, or talking in front of a bunch of people and therefore feel more nervous or something, but it´s a strange sensation. I have to admit that once in awhile my head hurts from trying to communicate and think in a different language and resist the temptation to translate from English to Spanish. It can be somewhat frustrating at times when you´re putting in a lot of effort to communicate something and the result is pretty meager, or when you want to express a fairly complex thought or idea and you just can´t. Ay! But more often than not I am enjoying speaking and practicing and am trying to accept the obstacles as just parts of the learning process.

I´ve met some really chill people at school as well: 4 German girls, one from Ireland, one from the States, and 2 from Norway. We all went on a trip on Friday-Saturday to Otavalo, a city about 2 hours north of Quito to participate in the harvest festival there. It was really cool! There was a parade with lots of traditional dances and clothing, music, fireworks, and vendors with food and drinks. The next day there was a huge market with crafts and food throughout a lot of the city center. After being in Otavalo we traveled to see a lagoon in the mountains and a waterfall. It was frickin freeeeezing at the lagoon but well worth it--we were really high up and the lagoon was completely surrounded by the mountains and clouds. I have to admit, the trip up the mountain was a little hair-raising at times because the road wasn´t in super good condition, it was narrow, and sometimes there was just a huge drop-off only a few feet from the car. Eek! But clearly it wasn´t a problem because here I am writing this update. :)

Let´s see, what else has been going on...after I got back from Otavalo I went out with my host bro, his cousin, and 3 other guys. It was funny, they were my ¨guardias¨, although I wasn´t convinced that I needed anyone to protect me. They were super nice though and we spent some time drinking and taking the piss out of each other before we hit up a dance club. At the club I swear it was a scene straight out of ¨Dirty Dancing Havana Nights¨: a hot sweaty dance club with latin music pumping, people dancing in pairs very energetically for the most part, the majority being latinos, and then there I was, one of the sole gringas in the place and blatantly exhibiting my lack of salsa and merengue abilities. Haha it was awesome. But I did have a good time and I´ll be going to dance classes that they have at my school twice a week so I can improve this dance situation, because at the club we went to they really did play mostly salsa, merengue, and cumbia.

This past week I also explored the older part of the city, Quito Colonial. The buildings and architecture there are beautiful, especially the interiors of the churches and cathedrals--very ornate! I also went to a place south of Quito called Saquisili to visit various markets that had animals, food, and crafts, pretty similar to the markets in Otavalo.

I have to admit, so far I love the climate here. This past week there really hasn´t been any humidity, at least that my hair can detect, so I´m definitely loving that! There´s sunshine every day, although it often clouds over later in the afternoon or evening. No rain yet, though. One thing that´s a little tricky is that the weather can change a lot and quickly just in one day. But mostly the weather is very agreeable and not at one extreme or the other.

Bueno, I think this is probably enough for one entry. Congratulations if you even made it this far! Hopefully I can write again soon with more impressions and thoughts about the culture here and so on. It really is a lot to process sometimes. But I feel comfortable and I also feel like I have a secure support network comprised of my family, teacher, and friends.

I hope all of you are doing well and I would love to receive updates from you as well!

Hasta luego! xoxo