So last week we ordered class t-shirts for some sports day we were going to have, I didn't really know what this day was about, in fact I had no idea until the day of, but I was stoked to be getting my own shirt with "GRINGO" printed across the back (that was my choice, the people here aren't that mean.) I had kind of forgotten about the whole thing until it was brought up again yesterday.
So part of the sports day / ceremony thing is about selecting girls to represent each class and then the school. So at 11 on Friday someone came into class with a list of students names who would be allowed to watch the "selection" of the girls. I was not on the list, but a piece of paper wasn't going to stop me from joining my friends in watching Colegio Benalcazar's finest on stage. So I managed to leave class with others on the list and then we had to wait for ages outside the theatre becuase they wanted us all sitting perfectly accourding to our grade. While we were waiting a fight broke out between two guys in the 6th course, it was pretty poor excuse of a fight, but interesting nonetheless. Lots of insults and swears flew back and worth after it was broken up, I can proudly say that I knew almost all of them haha.
Finally we were ushered into the theatre and we sat up int he balcony. Over the course of the next hour and a bit all the girls "trying out" participated in what could probably be called a fshion show. When Pamela, the girl from our class, came out we went crazy, screaming, shouting, and waving posters with her name in huge letters. Unfortunaly, in the end she wasn't chosen, but it was still fun to miss class for a while and go wild.
After school I went to the costume shop which is right down the street from school to pick up my complete Tigger costume. Before you get too confused, let me explain myself. I was asked to be the mascot for my class so I said yes. I wanted to be like real mascot in a full costume with a huge head and everything, I figured if this thing is worth doing, its worth doing right. So I had chosen a Tigger costume earlier that week and picked it up on friday. The rental was pretty cheap. I didn't even know you could rent costume like that.
So today I came to school slightly early to get my cstume ready and meet with the class. After getting everything sorted we all went out onto the football pitch and sormed a huge cirlce on the track accourding to our classes. The stands were full of teachers, parents and other family members. The band played and marched around for a bit and then there were shows with cheerleaders and some other pretty boring stuff. All this time I am sitting there in a full Tigger costume in the hot sun dripping sweat. (I am proud of myself that I managed to resist using a colorful simile instead of just "dripping sweat", reader disgretion seems to have priority.) Eveytually I just had to take the top half off and ventilate. It was a good thing too, we were waiting for about an hour and a half before it was our turn to march past the stands of people.
When we finally did I gave it my all. Alex was the "Caballero", which mean that he had to wear his formal uniform and walk at the front of the procession with Pamela. Whereas I got to run ahead doing handstands and cartwheels and dancing for the crowd, in my sweet Tigger costume. The excitment was pretty short lived but lots of fun.
Afterwords Alex borrowed the costume of one of the other mascots and we ran around the school dancing and frequently stopping to take photos with small children. We did that for a while then decided that it would be much more fun to dance in the streets and at the traffic lights. So we grabbed our stuff and headed to one of the busiest streets in Quito, which is about 30 seconds fromt he school. We asked a kid from school to gurad our backpacks and take some photos while we danced at the traffic light. So when ever the light was ready Alex and I would run into the street and do cartwheels, handstands and riciculous dances, then we took off our hands and walked though the line of traffic at which point people stuck their hands out fot he windows to put change in out makeshift collection plates. After about 10 minutes we had $3 in change. We decided to stop because all we really wanted was to be able to say that we danced int he street and made money. So we told our new friend who was looking after our stuff that all the money was his and a big thanks. He took awesome pictures as well.
After that we returned the costumes and went to eat. Alex said he knew a place not far where we could buy what he described and middle eastern sandwiches. That sounded good to me so we started walking. It turned out that what he was talking about where these thing you see fairly often on the street here. Its a whole bunch of chicken on a vertical roticery with a big blowtorch like flame behind it. The meat is carved off and put into these wraps with some veggies and other things. It was really good, the chicken had some kind of seasoning, I couldnt place the flavor, but it tasted like what I imagined Middle Easter food would taste like. Then I came home, sat down on my computer, absolutly exhausted, and proceeded to write for hours, all for you guys. So now here I am, and here are some photos.
So this is me dancing in the street.
Alex is in yellow.
Me again.
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