Odds and Ends

Just some random things that never found their way into previous posts. 

I love getting up in the morning, (can you believe it Mum!) its always dark but by the time I am eating breakfast the sun rises. But is no ordinary sunrise. The Sun comes up from behind the mountains which creates a similar effect to when the sun goes behind a cloud and there is a silver lining, it is truly amazing. One instant the mountains and black silhouettes and then next there is an explosion of gold and everything lights up. Throw in some pink clouds and snow-capped volcanoes in the background and you have the coolest sunrise ever. And the best part is, I get to see it every morning. One morning I will take some pics, but I currently have no camera charger and the only place I have found one is trying to charge me $50. If you know me you would know that getting me to pay full price for anything, let alone some crazy 50% markup, is like trying to get blood out of a stone. The search continues. 

Last week I was talking to my Literature teacher about what kind of books I liked, so I rattled off a few and then mentioned Siddartha, by Herman Hesse. It turns out she is a big Hesse fan herself, and in a moment of excitement she assigned me to read Steppenwolf, in Spanish. I got the book two days ago and have decided to at least give it a try, despite the fact that I literally have to look up every third word. Every time I pick the book up I can't help but laugh at myself. 

As I walked into school this morning I noticed several large banners hung from the side of the building. I couldn't help but do a double take, my thought process went something like this,

 

"What!? are those.....colors I see?.....and pictures?!....isn't this what they call.....oh whats that word....oh yeah! Creativity!....But wait! Whats creativity doing at Colegio Benalcazar?" 

When I got to class a friend explained to me what all this creativity was doing in a uniform wearing, military marching high school. It turned out that today was the first day of these big school elections. There are four "parties", if you will, each has candidates for president, VP, treasurer etc. and each party is represented by a different color. So, at recreo (recess, yeah we have recess here woohoo!) all the party members and followers get together and basically try and make the most noise / paint as many people their color as possible. It. Is. Crazy. There must have been about 15 bass drums all pounding out different rhythms, while people shouted into microphones, waved road flares and ran around like lunatics, myself included. The spray they use to paint their hair and clothes is not the kind you find at a party supply store either, its normal spray paint, you know, the kind that takes 2 weeks to wash out of you hair haha. This is scheduled to go on for the better part of a week and at some point we vote. 

Not much else is new, I am going to some place south of Quito next weekend with my family, I can't remember the name of the city, but I am sure it will be fun. 

Peace!