Observations

You know what I've found to be weird? Ecuadorians don't use very much pepper. In fact, I have yet to find a pepper shaker in my house. But the salt is not lacking. There is plenty of salt to dump on everything.





You know what's annoying? It's virtually impossible to come upon toilet paper in any bathroom besides my own. And what's more- I always forget to take toilet paper with me when I leave the house. I doubt any of you want to know what happens from there, when I've really gotta go, and there's no TP.

The PDAs here are out of hand. The people do not care whether they are on the street, in the computer lab sitting right next to me, or on the bus swaying about because there aren't any open seats. Everywhere seems to qualify as an appropriate place to make out. And it kind of grosses me out a little.

I think I've actually learned some Spanish. My pops and stepmom came to visit me and I felt like I had progressed with the language when they were with me. Thanks you two. You boosted my self esteem :)

This is all for now, folks. I will try my best to write more often.

CHAO.

Random Pictures

Whether you can tell or not, that is me crawling on the equator. I speak the truth.

We went to a fútbol game in Quito, which Ecuador won 3-1. As you know, I was more focused on the food than on the game, even though the game was the most exciting sports festival I've ever been to. that hotdog you see had tomatoes and crumbled up potato chips on it! No one could resist...

This next photo is of a GIGANTIC statue on a hill called El Panecillo. If you could see the scale of this beastly saint, you'd be surprised.

Next is a photo of a meal that I ate, which I'm still drooling about. The yellow things are called llapingachos (potato patties with cheese), the white stuff is mote (an odd type of yummy corn), there's an onion-tomato salad, the things on the left are slices of fried plátano, there's a slice of avocado, and in the middle is fritada (chunks of pork). YUM.

We went rafting in Baños and the water was warm. It rained and I didn´t even know it until we stopped half way for a break.

Alrrrright.

Holas! ¡No he escribido por muchísimos años! Discúlpame, por favor, porque no tengo mucho tiempo para usar el internet. El miércoles pasado, yo empecé vacaciones. Me acabé el cuarto nivel de español, y en una semana, empezaré el quinto nivel. Estoy emocionada para seguir aprendiendo el idioma.

I will continue in English because I would like everyone to know what’s been going on without having to use an online translator, which by the way doesn’t work as well as we would hope that it would.

Winter is beginning here, which just means that it now rains everyday. But the thing about the weather is that I will wake up to a bright and shiny day, and will proceed to walk out the door in my jeans and a T-shirt. But by the time I get done with class in the afternoon, the sky is full of big black clouds, which wait to release their downpour until I’m no longer safely contained in the linguistics building. Because of the very indecisive weather patterns, I’ve learned that it is crucial to carry my umbrella and my rain jacket wherever and whenever I go, even if every bird is chirping along as if their day is going to continue on with blue skies and warm sunrays.

I don’t believe I’ve told you about Otavalo. All of the exchanges students at La Catolica got to go on a weekend trip to a town called Otavalo. In this town there is a gigantic market, known all throughout South America. We took a bus for only two hours and arrived in this town on Saturday morning to find blocks upon blocks of vendors. They had everything from your typical alpaca wool sweaters, to handmade bracelets, to cool purses with llamas on them. They were also selling tons of jewelry made from a plant or root or something which is known as tagua. My good friend Ashley and I also found a panaderia (I know, right?), and we had a couple of delicious donuts for a midday snack. I must admit that I spent a good chunk of cash that afternoon!

Que mas mis amigos? Part of the study abroad program involves volunteer work. So, every Tuesday and Thursday I volunteer in the afternoons. On Tuesdays, I walk to el parque La Carolina to volunteer at a place called Opcion de Vida. This is a Christian based organization that offers services to los ninos de la calle. These are boys from the ages of 8 to 20 who are homeless and spend their days on the streets, either selling candies, or simply trying to survive. La Opcion de Vida offers these boys a good home cooked meal and showering facilities. In the laundry room, they each have a basket marked with their name, where they keep their clothes. My job is to either do their laundry, or help cook the food. I prefer to help in the kitchen, but I’ll do what needs to be done. Each day is different at La Opcion de Vida. Some days the boys get to play soccer, and other days they attend devotion and the pastor in charge talks with them. The boys are very sarcastic, and I think that they may actually like us, even though on our first day they asked us why we had come all the way from the U.S. to do their laundry. I said it was because someone’s got to do it.

On Thursdays, Ashley and I take an insane bus ride up to Las Casas Altas (which is a section of the city) to a placed called La Divina Voluntad. This is another religiously based organization, but it is much different. We walk down this steep hill through this poverty-ridden neighborhood to these big wooden doors. The moment we open the doors, hundreds of children flock to our sides, tugging at our jeans, attempting to crawl up our legs. La Divina Voluntad is a place where children go after they are done with school, to both eat lunch and work on their homework.
Before I continue, I must make something clear. In Ecuador, public education really sucks. Those who can afford it send their kids to private Catholic schools. Those who cannot afford it, send their kids to public schools that are less than perfect. There is a lack of qualified teachers and most kids don’t get the attention that they need. It is a painful sight to see, indeed. If you want a guaranteed job teaching, come here. But just as teachers are paid less than they should be in the U.S., teachers here aren’t bringing in the big bucks either.

Anyway, when we get to La Divina Voluntad, it is time for the kids to sit down and have lunch. Ashley and I have the option to eat the lunch too, but we have found that it can be risky. One time we ate spaghetti with a cheese-spinach omlette. It was a strange combo, but actually rather normal for this country. Another time we ate soup that had chicken feet in it. Not my favorite. The last time we went, we ate a soup that had pig hair in it. PIG HAIR. I ate all of it, not wanting to know whether or not the millions of specks that were shaped like eyelashes floating around in the soup were just an odd spice or worse. When I found out afterwards that it was the latter, I honestly felt pretty disgusted. From then on, I decided, I would look in the giant vat of soup before agreeing to eat a bowl.

After we eat lunch, we get pulled upstairs by the cute little kids to one of three classrooms. I like the middle group, who are all around 8 years old. I get to help them with their homework and use my Spanish at the same time. The nun that runs the place thinks she’s getting a good deal, but I know who’s winning in this situation. Ha, just kidding. But it is really rewarding to be able to help a child learn something new. They have to teach me too, though. For instance, they do multiplication and division in a completely different way down here! It took two hours of explanation from my host sister and mom before it all clicked and I finally understood how to work a simple division problem. I felt so lost, but so satisfied when I had got it down. Volunteering has been a learning experience for sure.

Have I told you all about how cool Ecuador is? It has everything! I live up in the mountains and volcanoes. I’d like to climb a mountain, especially Volcán Chimborazo which is the closest point to the sun because of the equatorial bulge, but I am very intimidated to do so seeing as I have never summated a mountain before in my life. Anyway, that is one part of Ecuador. We also have el Oriente, which is in the south east. This is where the Amazon River runs through and there is a bunch of rainforest. Then there are the beaches! Oh, the beaches. I went to a beach called Atacames last weekend and soaked in the incredibly powerful sun rays that honestly kind of freaked me out because of how strong they were, and I drank a “coco loco”, which was a drink served inside a gigantic coconut. Finally, Ecuador has the Galápagos Islands. Before I got here, I had no idea that this tiny country had so much to offer!

I miss you all very much and hope you are enjoying your lives without me, which I know is hard ;)