Monday, September 29, 2008
Long Weekend
Thursday, September 25, 2008
¿Si or No?
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Funeral
Thursday, September 18, 2008
School
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Weekend
Until yesterday I had not taken any real exercise in almost two weeks. A lot of walking, and the occasional sprint for a bus, but I wouldn't consider that exercise. I so decided to swim after school in the pool at Benalcazar, my school, and in doing so I accidentally found the high school swim team. All of who members are about two years younger than me, but whatever. It had to be the most tiring practice I have ever been too. I underestimated the effects of the altitude completely, the air is so thin I was absolutely exhausted after about 15 minutes. So I am going to try and swim every day in the hope that when I return to sea level I will be able to hold my breath underwater for days.
When I got back to the house, Sharon asked if I wanted to go to a basketball game, it was the college championships and Quito was playing some other team from Ecuador. If Quito lost, then it was all over, but if they won there was one more game the next day. The stadium was in the sketchiest part of town imaginable, there was huge crowd of people outside the stadium, most carrying some kind of alcohol or another. My uncle made us leave most of our stuff in the car, which was definitely a good idea.
The game was really fun, not as good as the football game last weekend but still entertaining. Quito won, just barely, so they went on to play again last night, I don't know how that game went though.
The drive home was an interesting experience in itself, as are most night-time drives here. Red lights mean nothing more than, "honk the horn and glance left and right". It is a little scary but I guess all one can do is have faith in the drivers here. Someone told me that if you get in a serious accident here, all the people involved go to jail!? I don't know if it is true but I think it would certainly give people more motivation to drive safely.
Yesterday I had school in the morning, from 8 to 10, which seems pretty pointless to me, but anyway I had to be somewhere at 9:30 and I was going to be late, so I didn't go. Instead I killed an hour walking around the main park in Quito, La Carolina. It is enormous. There tons of basketball courts, football pitches, bike paths and playgrounds, all paced with people because it was a beautiful Saturday morning.
I met my exchange group in the mall next to the park and we et off for the Teleferico, which is basically a gondola that takes you most of the way up the mountain. Being underneath the gondola I felt like I should have had my snowboard and winter clothes with me, it was quite strange. The ride up was really cool, but nothing compared to the views from the top. There is a big glass building at the top with some cafes and things. Then there are paths that go further up the mountain. So some us went all the way until we had to rent horses to get to the top, sadly there was no time for that. From the mountain you can literally see all of Quito and the rest of the valley the city was built in. It really is something. I took about 130 photos which I have figured out how to share with you! I can post a public link to the album on facebook, then you can see them without having an account. The links are at the bottom. There are three albums, one from the park and two from the mountain. The sun is really strong here, I think because we are 9200 feet closer to it, Im not entirely sure. But needless to say I underestimated that too and got a lovely sunburn.
I lent my phone to a woman who we were standing in line with to go down and she ended up in the same gondola as us. It turned out that she was from Boston and was a journalist for WGBH, it was her first day in country and she was going to write stories out in the jungle and work for an organic cocoa farm. This was really interesting to me because I also love to write and want to study journalism.
The rest of saturday was pretty uneventful, Sharon and I hunted around the mall for some aloe vera, which was almost impossible to find, but find it we did, eventually. On the way back we decided that we had to redeem ourselves from our first mountain ascent which was nothing short of an abysmal failure. This time we in a different car, one much better suited for the job. It is pretty much an engine, some wheels, some seats and a roll cage, all surrounded by thin sheets of metal. Oh, and beefy off-road tires. We made it past the place where we got stuck last time with ease, it soon got to the point where even the dirt road ended and we were essentially driving through he forest, on the side of a cliff. Then it all came to an abrupt halt, and we were victorious. On the way down Sharon told me that the people who lived on the mountain hate when non residents drive around on it, like we had just done, and had probably called the cops. Therefore we had to hurry down and get back to he paved streets were we could somewhat blend in with the other cars. Sure enough, not seconds after we were on the main road, several cop pickup trucks went by heading up the mountain with lights flashing. A close call indeed.
Today was very relaxed, we went to church (concert) again this morning, then out to lunch at a seafood kitchen. They have a certain type of cooking, mostly found on the coast, which uses lots of good seafood. As we were waiting in line to sit down I saw these plates going off to the dining room with whole fish on them. They were about a foot long each, maybe a little more, and the looked like they had simply been battered and fried whole. I ordered some kind of shrimp dish but instead got friend rice with conch in it! It was still really good.
After lunch we went and played cards for the rest of the afternoon at Aunt Susy's apartment. I finally got the hang of this game "40" they have been trying to teach me since I arrived, and we played more "31" too. I can't tell if abuelita (grandma) really has that bad of a memory or if she is quite a cheater, every time I play cards with her I tend to think the latter, but I say nothing haha.
School tomorrow. I get up at 5:30. Every morning I have to do battle with the shower, in my sub-zero bathroom, in order to get it to surrender it's precious hot water. I am getting the used to it I think, but maybe it has a new trick up its sleeve for tomorrow morning, who knows.
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Old City and Salsa Dancing
I took the trolley to get there, it was my first time using it, a bit nerve racking but I felt accomplished when I ended up in the right place. The taxi ride from the trolley stop to La Plaza de Independencia, where I was meeting Claudio, was incredible in itself. It seemed like every 10 seconds I wanted to stop and take pictures.
Anyway, I met them at the plaza which they had already walked around, so they watched the football match (Ecuador vs. Uruguay 0-0) while I wandered around for a bit taking pictures and looking like a real tourist. Stephanie knew the downtown area better than we did, so she sort of gave us a tour. We went inside some churches, looked at lots of statues and of course, I took lots of pictures. All the streets are narrow and its all built on a hill so it is tiring to walk around but everything is so cool to look at. Most of the buildings are old and have traditional looking fronts, then inside each block there are there small courtyards, some with fountains, the others, rather boring.
There are shoe shops everywhere, and when I say everywhere I mean it. Literally every other shop is selling fake American shoes, most cost $4! We must have gone into about 6 looking for the right Chuck Taylors, fake of course, for Stephanie's brother. Somehow nowhere had the right ones.
After that we got food and went home. Some of the pictures are on the flickr link in the last post, the rest are on facebook.
So tonight the other exchange students and I had Spanish class in a part of town called "Gringo-landia" because its full of gringos and tourists like us. After class the school had organized for us to have a salsa dancing class. So we walked for about 15 minutes from the school and went to this rickety looking bar on the side of the street. Inside there was a tiny dance floor and a bar. Some other older girls from all over the place were taking the class as well so we took up pretty much the entire bar. Anyway, its so mush harder than it looks, and tiring too haha. I am not very good, well, actually I'm terrible, but we all were so good times were had by everyone. Sorry no pictures, but we have the class every Thursday so maybe next time.
Haha funny story. So we were walking back from the salsa class to where we could all take buses / taxis home and we were all very wary of our surroundings because there are a good amount of pickpockets and muggers in gringo-landia at night. Walking down the street towards us was a homeless man who was hobbling and kind of stooped over, we thought nothing of him. But when we was about 5 or 10 feet in front of us, he jumped out at us from under his blanket, yelling and stomping his feet. He scared the hell out of all of us, and then he just went hobbling along downt he street laughing histerically at. It must have been funnny to watch, he certainly got alot of enjoyment out of it. We were all shaking afterwards. Damn hobo.
here is the link for pictures again:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/30226544@N02/
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
School - Old City
Tonight I went to the old city with my sister, Rosa and abuelita. It is really cool at night, all the old churches and statues are lit up, I didn't take any photos but I think I am going back tomorrow to have a proper touristy afternoon. We went up this cool spiraling monument called "el churro" that they used way back in the war of independence.
I am realizing that this post is short and boring because today was rather boring. This first week has been really cool and packed with things to do but I think in the coming weeks my posts will slow down due to school and having actual work to do, but whenever something interesting happens I ill be sure to write about it.
Monday, September 8, 2008
First Day of School
I had my first day of school today. I have to admit that I was little nervous about the whole thing, but everything was fine.
Mama took me and we met up with the other exchange students in my program. Then we were ushered onto the basketball court and into lines according to our class. The whole thing felt very military-esque, especially when the principal shouted "AAAAAATENTION!" into the microphone and everyone stood up strait, heads forward, arms at their sides. We sang the Ecuadorian national anthem and then some song about the school, obviously neither of which I knew. Then we stood through two of the most longwinded speeches I have ever been forced to listen to. I didnt understand most of it, but I was able to pick out the occasional, "Colegio Benalcazar (the name of the school) is the best school in the country blah blah blah" out of the monotone words drifting throught the warm air.
Claudio and I had no idea what class we were in so we just went with some girls who told us to follow them. We went to the wrong class at first but someone told us so we went and found another class to sit in, the people there didn't seem to mind so we stayed there.
First class was physics, the teacher was a short old, man who proceeded to tell us that we needed to buy 5 physics in order to get the most out of the course....yeah right. He spent most of the period telling us about how hard the final exam was, but that doesn't worry me becuase the students take that at the end of next year.
After physics we had a break, the courtyard went from being empty to being a sea of blue jackets and grey pants. There are "bars" one the schoool grounds that sell food drinks ice cream. Its nice, there are no State of Mass. Health Regualtions here so they can sell whatever they want haha.
Back in class, some teachers came in and gave a course selection sheet, I chose a shedule with a philosphy course and ecology. I really had no idea which clases were good so "eeny meeny miny mo" was as good as any way of picking courses.
Ecology was good, I knew most of the terms because for the most part they were the same as the English ones, just with "a" or "o" added on the end.
School ended early, 12:30, which was nice. Fernando met me and took th ebus home with me. I am really starting o like the buses here. You can quite literally go anywhere in the city for 25 cents, even better, if you are in a uniform, it only costs 12 cents.
After lunch Mama was telling me how lots of people here have siestas after lunch, so I decided would try it. I was asleep all afternoon. Thinking is spanish is sooo tiring.
I got some pictures to upload to Flickr. Here is the URL:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/30226544@N02/
Church
This was what I wrote for Sunday, but I couldn't get onto the internet last night.
Sunday, September 7th
So I went to church this morning not knowing what to expect at all. We pulled up to the building, which didn't look like a church at all, and parked in a multi story parking lot. The idea of a church having its own car park seems strange, it must be used for normal parking on weekdays?
We walked through a courtyard in front on the building, it was packed mostly with kids but some adults too, as well as street vendors selling Christian rock CDs and videos from church services gone by. By this time I could hear the music coming from the building, with each step it grew louder and louder. Walking into the sanctuary felt more like stepping into the front row of a concert than a church service. Upon looking around I could see why. On the stage there was a full band (guitar, bass, drums, keyboard, trombone, and singer) belting out a song at top volume and the walls were dotted with professional grade speakers. The sermon was very different than anything I was used to as well. Everything was written in a power point presentation that was projected on the back wall which the minister looked at often. This also allowed the congregation to sing along when the band came back on, adding to the noise. During the songs there was alot of clapping and shots of "Amen!", which can be expected I guess, but also lots of swaying bodies with arms outstretched to the ceiling. Certainly not your average UCC Norwell service, but interesting none the less.
After church we went out to lunch at a really good restaurant, the name of which is escaping me at the moment. It must be a popular place for Sunday lunch because the line was out the door and the security guard was in charge of letting people in. But it was worth the wait, not only was the food great but there was a 3 man band that walked around playing spanish ballads to each table! I got called "gringo" again. In fact it was almost the exact same situation as the first time. I was walking by a table in the restaurant when a little boy pointed at me, looked at his dad, and said, rather loudly, "Gringo!" I can only laugh, I stick out so much. Not only the blonde hair and blue eyes, but today was the first time I saw an Ecuadorian who was my height. I never cease to amuse them haha.
Sharon (Ismael, everyone calls him Sharon) and I were hanging out at the house this evening when Uncle Mario started hammering on the front door, telling us we had go now now now! I had no idea where he wanted us to go but I grabbed a jacket and got in the car. Sharon didn't want to go so he stayed home. I asked Uncle Mario where we were going but he just mumbled something and said we had to get in the car and drive, and drive he did. We flew through Quito, passing cars left and right, constantly honking the horn to get people out of the way. I still had no idea where we were going and I was getting a little nervous. Eventually we stopped and went inside this reception room / dance hall place that was filled with people. Everyone was giving people hugs and flowers and taking pictures. Mama was there, all dressed up, and so was the rest of the family.
It was only on the ride home that I discovered that it was a graduation party for a course that Mama had done. I probably look very confused in the pictures. We will see.
One of the dogs, Totti, had a litter of puppies yesterday morning. Today was the first time she came out of the dog house so we could see them. They are a mix of german shepherd and black lab, but they all just look like lab puppies. There are 6 total!
Saturday, September 6, 2008
Fooootball
Friday, September 5, 2008
Uniforms and Soup Surprise
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Parking Ticket - Vulqano Park
We had another meeting at XPLORER today, an agent from the American Embassy came to talk to my group about the dangers in Quito. He told us about all the sketchy places and the easiest ways to get mugged. The whole thing was kind of intimidating but it was all good information.
Before the meeting I was doing more errands with Roberto and I was waiting in the car as I often do. It had been a long time, probably a little less than an hour and I had no idea where he was. Then I saw this cop walking up and down the street putting tickets on all the cars that were illegally parked. I was hoping that he would see that I was in the car and, despite the fact that we were parked in the worst place possible, keep walking. But no. he pulled out his little book and started scribbling a ticket. So I talked to him and he told me that I couldn't park the car there and that he was going to write a ticket. So i told him not to and that we had only been there for 10 minutes and that Roberto was on his way back. He seemed really skeptical but I just kept telling him that it was fine and i talked him out of writing it. So I guess I lied to a cop, but I saved Roberto from an expensive parking ticket. He wasn't back for a while either haha, it would have sucked if the cop came back.
So Roberto and his girlfriend picked me up from the meeting at XPLORER, he was acting all cool, it was funny but I didn't say anything. He asked if I wanted to go to the fun park, but he is hard to understand sometimes and I didn't quite get what he said but I said yes anyway. So we drove around for a while then stopped outside a gate and two of his girlfriend's friends came out and got in the car. They kind of took me by surprise, he hadn't said who else was coming. We picked up Ismael from the house and then went to the park.
The park was called El Parque Vulqano. It was on of the mountain we tried to drive up yesterday but on the other side, where there are actually roads. The place was empty because it was night, cold, and it had rained earlier so everything was wet. The rides were either really well made, or old and sketchy. There was a small roller coaster that rattled like no other and other rides that went upside down maybe weren't supposed to. Who knows. It was alot of fun, but we all left rather queasy.
I am having trouble putting pictures in this blog but when I get it working there will be many I promise.
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
School - Phone - Adventure
Today was busy.
I had breakfast with the family and then went out with Ismael, my cousin, to see my school and learn how to take the bus there. It seemed like my school was on the complete opposite side of the city. It will be a long bus ride in the mornings but thats fine.
My school isn't much bigger than Norwell High School but there are 4000 students there. It will be crazy haha. I get to wear a sweet uniform too. A jacket, tie and flannel pants on mondays and then a sweater and collared shirt with the school logo for the rest of the days. Its in a really busy part of town and is really near to the main park in the city, La Carolina.
After we went to the school we got ice cream and walked around the city a bit. Then it was time for me to get a cell phone. The number is 086418817. You will have to dial out of the US or where ever, then into Ecuador, then the number.
After that Ismael had to go to driving school so i went back to the house and had lunch with Mama and abuelita (grandma). Lunch as good as always, we had an interesting soup then pasta with chicken and all sorts of veggies. We were talking about music for a while and abuelita, who is 80 something i think, got very distressed when she learned that Elvis was dead. It was so funny for Mama and I but abuelita seriously had no idea, and she loved the guy.
After lunch we played ping pong for a while. They love to play and have a table in the basement. Then the rain came. Its cool, because we are on a hill we can see the rain coming from miles away and when it rains, it rains!
So Ismael and I sat around for a while playing pong and wondering what to do. We finally decided that we wanted to go for a drive so off to the city we headed, but then the traffic was terrible and we turned around and decided that it would be more fun to drive up the mountain. So we basically went past our house and keep going up and up and up. Its getting dark and the streets are really wet so this is already a sketchy operation, but we continued, soon the pavement turned to dirt and the dirt road to a muddy path with deep ruts and potholes. Its really dark now and we can't see much and eventually the car gets stuck in the mud and we are sliding around on the edge of a huge drop, fun fun. So we are trying to get the car moving again while a couple of the locals are standing there probably laughing to themselves. We finally we got it free. It was only after the whole ordeal was over when I actually looked at the city below. It was such a view! If you look at the picture I posted a few days ago, imagine that view except a thousand times better. I will go back up on a dry night with my camera sometime.
My spanish is getting better each day, conversations flow much easier and I have to use my dictioary less and less. But, as i write this, I am realizing that my English is in rapid decline, so I apologize for any spelling/grammar mistake or if it generally doesn't sound great. As long as you get the details, everything is fine.
One more thing, i just went through some settings here and I didn't realize that only registered users of this site could comment. So i changed that, now everyone can and should comment!
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Days 3 & 4
The last two days have been pretty normal.
I went to the mall for the first time yesterday. It is huge and so clean. It puts anything on the south shore to shame. Then I went and had lunch with Mama, Grandma and Aunt Susy. We went to a small restaurant on a side street. The food was really good. Soup, a main dish with rice beans and some kind of meat and then a dessert which wasn't quite to my liking but I ate it anyway haha.
After that we drove around alot then went to Aunt Susy's apartment and had coffee and bread and cheese with the lunch crew plus Susy's daughter and granddaughter. This late afternoon coffee and whatever is dinner in Ecuador. We eat big lunches and small dinners. I was always starving at first but I am getting used to it.
After coffee then taught me a card game called "31". It was really easy and fun. I won a dollar in the end so that was good too. The granddaughter, who is 2 i think, couldn't stop looking at my hair. In a place where everyone has black hair without exceptions, blonde hair is fascinating.
Then today I did some errands with Roberto, mostly standing in line for him at various banks so he could do other things and not have to wait, but thats fine with me. I love looking at all that is going on in the streets. There are always people on the streets selling things and doing tricks.
At 2 I had to go to XPLORER, the program that has set up my host family and school, for an orientation. I met two more kids going to school in Quito. One was a boy from Switzerland and the other a girl from Finland, both my age.
We had lunch down the street in el centro commercial (mall). It was a strange restaurant that served things on crepes, I had the equivalent of a huge taco, on a crepe. Strange but very good. I love writing about the food here because it is all so different. One of the uncles was telling me today that you could eat a different Ecuadorian soup everyday of the year there are so many.
Then we sat through a loooong presentation about the program and all the rules and things. We were all glad when the clock struck 6:30 so we could leave.
Mama, Grandma, an aunt and an uncle picked me up and we went for coffee and empanadas at a restaurant called La Tortilla. When we walked into the restaurant a kid, maybe 9 or 10 years old, blatantly pointed at me and told his Dad that I was a gringo because only gringos have blonde hair. I had to laugh at him, but it is disheartening just as you are getting used to being in Ecuador, for someone to remind you that you are still a gringo.
Anyway, the empanadas were delicious and the coffee too. All we have on the house is Nescafe which is basically fake coffee so it was great to have the real stuff again.
We came back to the house and watched Blue Crush (a quality surf movie/chick flick) in Spanish haha. I can't wait to go to the beach, whenever that will be.
Thats all for now.