The Odious Job Hunt

It´s been awhile, hasn´t it? Well, in the past 2 weeks Ecuador has managed to lose it´s first 2 national soccer games against Venezuela and Brazil. Not so cool. But I did enjoy going to the stadium and people-watching. We were in the cheap seats so there were all kinds of people there, and our section was more rowdy and where a lot of the chants and singing started. For example, towards the end of the game it appeared that Ecuador had scored, but in reality it was an optical illusion or something. Someone in the stands was really displeased with this realization because after they figured out what had happened, they threw all their peanuts up into the air. Needless to say the fans around this particular person were less than thrilled about this, but we were safely laughing from our seats a few rows above.

I finished polishing up my resume in Spanish and have begun to send it out and begin the job hunt. Apparently it´s super hard to find a job here, especially jobs that pay decently at all, so I´m a bit nervous about whether I´ll be able to find something. But hopefully that old adage is true: where there´s a will, there´s a way.

A Few Shocking Developments and Firsts

Ready? Here goes:

1. Apparently Ben and Jerry´s doesn´t exist here. OH. MY. GOD. haha After recovering from my minor heart attack upon this discovery, I had quite a time trying to explain to Alejandro and Manuel in the grocery store just what exactly the magic of Ben and Jerry´s is. I´m fairly certain my words failed me. Maybe we can buy some online...

2. The Cleveland Indians wiped the Yankees to advance to the ALCS. Thrilling, to say the least, even though I hardly follow any sports these days. And of course this whole winning thing would have to happen when I´m in South America and can´t watch the games (maaaybe with luck I can see them on ESPN which does indeed get broadcast here). No, no, I´m not bitter. Okay, maybe a little.

3. People in Turkey and even in the government of our beloved US of A are still trying to deny that the Armenian genocide happened, and Turkey seems to somehow have the US by the pelotas on the matter. Disgusting, although not necessarily super surprising. And the Washington Post´s editorial and coverage of the genocide-recognition resolution being put through the House was enough to demonstrate that I might as well read the bottom of my shoe to get rational opinions and real news. But enough about that or else I won´t have time to write anything else.

On to all things Ecuador:

A few firsts this past week--I bought my first Ecuadorian national fútbol team jersey...for $5! Yeahhh suckas! I mean, admittedly it´s a fake but it´s all the same to me really. And I bought it because I´m going to my first national fútbol game this Saturday against Venezuela as teams start playing to qualify for the 2010 World Cup.

I also did my first REAL complete workout, like back in the old days, last weekend in the park, La Carolina. I did some walking and running and then some random floor exercises at my apt. Let´s just say that I very nearly died after approximately 10 minutes of running here. And yes, I´m going to blame the altitude. No really, it´s this naughty altitude! I swear I felt my lungs, throat, and chest collapsing in on themselves. Anyhoozie, after the whole feeling-like-roadkill phase passed, I felt invigorated and have worked out almost every day this week. Hopefully slowly but surely I´ll become more adapted to the altitude and get back into the swing of things exercise-wise. (Because exercise and a healthy diet are important, kids! Yayy!)

A couple more firsts: I gave my first conversational English class last week. I´m working with the son of a friend of Mayory´s who wants to improve his English for his job, so basically I just chat with him for an hour every weekday and get paid. It´s nice to be making a little cash on the side while I´m still looking for a real job with a stable salary. Speaking of salary, I also received my first ¨salary¨from the guy I´m teaching--and it happened to be a counterfeit bill! Haha my host family got a good laugh from the fact that my first Ecuadorian salary was fake. Luckily I knew who the bill was from, obviously, so I returned it and my student apologetically exchanged it for a real one. Apparently there are lots and lots of counterfeit bills here, which is something else I´m completely not used to because I´ve never even seen or touched a fake bill in the states. Anyway, before returning the bill I made sure to educate myself about the differences between the real and counterfeit money. After also noticing how many cashiers here handle money, I realized the biggest giveaway is the paper: the counterfeit bills are way smoother than the real greenbacks. There are also a bunch of other ways to tell the difference but the texture is the most telltale sign from what I´ve observed.

The other day something occurred to me about the dogs that live in my neighborhood: they´re basically like a group of friendly neighborhood drunks--they hang out on the street corner near my apartment at night and have loud fights at 3 am. Maybe one of these nights I´ll get plastered and join in on the fun.

And because I have an affinity for all things random, here´s a completely unrelated ending for this post: after watching the movie ¨Nueve Reinas¨ for the umpteenth time (it´s a suspenseful and funny Argentinian film that´s super good and that I recommend to all of you), I decided that I really like Argentinian accents and that I´m going to start calling everyone ¨che.¨

On that note, hasta luego, che! : )