fin de semana2/weekend2
well after my eventful friday, saturday morning i had to be at ACLAS at 7am for trip to mindo, ecuador. mindo is a beautiful part of ecuador because it full of nature, plants, birds, etc. i had a blast. we went tubing and got super soaked! saw some giant mariposas (butterflies). went on a canopy adventure, meaning 7 different ziplines. it was stellar! i think it was my favorite part. i got to go tandom with the guide in the mariposa position, which is upsidedown with your arms and legs spread out. it was sweet! then twice we got to go upside in the morciélago position. marciélago also means bat in spanish, like the animal. it was super fun! really, it was and i hope you can tell my by expression in this blog how much fun i had!
at night, after the canopy experience, i got to go to a concierto de sapos (frog concert). it was cool. i saw multiple different types of frogs. one that only makes noise when it rains, luckily it was slightly raining. and i also got to see this type of wood that light up in the dark because it has this special type of bacteria to decompose the wood. it was sweet. i mean in pitch dark this piece of wood glows like a glow stick and you can see the faces of the people aroudn you. it was sick!
on sunday we walked for 2hrs to see cascadas (waterfalls). the whole walk was beautiful as well as the cascadas. at the last cascada there were ponds with cascadas were you could swim and relax. there was also a slide carved into the mountain that you could ride down and drop into the river before the cascada. a few of us even got to jump off the cliff into the river. it was super fun! and injury free ;) then we had to climb back out of the canyon where the river and the cascadas were. but since it was a tiring morning, we got to take this thing called a chiva (its like a medium size truck converted into a bus) and i got to sit on the top. the view was way cooler than riding inside, but the ramas (branches) created a bit of a problem when they hung a bit low. you had to be alert and ready to duck your head and not get hurt. but still it was way fun!
when we returned to our hotel we ate a large lunch and got on the bus to head back to quito. i was super sleepy (tenía mucho sueño) from the adventurous weekend and i slept almost the entire way back to quito. when i got back to quito i met my host mom at ACLAS and we went home to have a small dinner. when i got back, ignacio was super stoked to see me and we played for like an hour, did some homework together and then i went to bed. overall the trip was SUPER fun, altough i have 35 bug bites on my legs.
on monday i had my service learning at the escuela fiscal, which just keeps getting better and better each day, and then i had classes. in my grammar class we had an examen. i think i did well but ill find out today really how it went. when i got home i ate dinner and played with ignacio. then we did some homework together and played some more while watching “la rosa de guadalupe” a mexican television program that he really likes. afterwords i talked with nic for a bit on skype and then went to bed. anyway. today is tuesday. i woke up early to go to my service learning for another full day, but when i arrived at the school the teacher told us she had bad news and that she had to go to a spur of the moment type meeting and that she had to cancel for today. it was too bad cause i was really looking forward to getting to work with the kids today. anyway. so i hopped back on the bus and went to ACLAS where ive been writing a composition for tomorrow, catching up on writing blogs and waiting for classes to start. now that im all caught up ill post again soon. love you and miss you guys!
semana2/week2
first off, sorry for the delay in posts, but im having a great time so obviously its a lil difficult to keep up amidst fun, service learning and class. also, sorry for my grammar (cough, cough, grandpa) since im focused on content versus quality to keep everyone updated ;) love and miss you all!
anyway. i left off last monday, which was the first day of my service learning. then tuesday i had my first full day of service learning, 8:15 to 12:30. it was great! i really enjoy all the different ages of kids im getting to work with, but the sad part is they only have one english class per week and you can tell that its hard for them to remember the information. i wish we could do more to help them learn. anyway. after service learning i take the bus to ACLAS, which takes about 45mins total. so i arrived just in time for classes from 1:30 to 6:00. on tuesdays i dont get to eat lunch with my host mom. its too bad cause we always have great conversations. anyway. after classes i got home and ignacio wanted to watch “Como Entrenar a Tu Dragon” (How to Train Your Dragon). i had already seen it twice before, but it is a really cute movie (even more in spanish, i think) and it was fun to get to watch it with him. then we did some homework together (ps. one of ignacio´s favorite things is to do our homework together. oh, and i like it too.) and went to bed.
on wedsnesday i also had service learning and class. when i get home i did some homework with ignacio, skyped with nic for a bit, and then went to bed. on thursdays i dont have service learning, so i slept in a bit. then i woke up and ate breakfast with my host mom. after, i wrote my essay for my midterm, ate lunch and left early for ACLAS cause we had a meeting to talk about how are service learning projects were going. i think we have a similar meeting each week. anyway. it wasnt all that amazing and then we had classes. after classes i went to the store to buy posterboard to prepare my presentation for our midterm that went along with our essay. then i went home to find out that my host family´s computer had stopped working. anyway. thats the main reason i havent been posting recently. anyway. so i ate dinner. then played with ignacio for a bit and then we both worked on my poster. he mostly helped me color, but we had a good time and i took a few pictures. he loved my poster and was so proud he could help me. anyway, i stayed up to finish my poster and then went to bed.
on friday i woke up early to take ignacio to school with my host mom and then go to ACLAS to type my midterm essay, which i had previously written but had to type up since the computer at the house wasnt working. anyway. my host mom came with me cause we planned togo to the store after, and she was happy cause she had time to check her email. anyway. after i finished typing up my essay, we went to the store to go to the bank, where i tried to break a $100 bill (a gift from nic from when i left him at the PDX airport) and they told me the only place to make change was at the central bank, like 30mins from where i live, so i decided it wasnt worth it to make change. then my host mom and i returned to the house where i did a bit more to prepare for my presentation and then we ate lunch. after lunch, i left a bit early to do a bit more prepping and then had classes. my presentation went well and i got an A on the whole assignment, essay and presentation together. after classes, i went to the store to visit the ATM with another girl from the program. then i went home and had dinner with the family.
after dinner i got ready to go out with some friends to go dancing and started watching tv with ignacio. THEN one of the craziest slash scariest things of my life happened… LADRONES. ROBBERS. anyway. ignacio and i were watching tv, and the neighbor who lives above us (who is also my host dad´s brother) was coming home with his son in their new CRV type SUV and four robbers had been following them and tried to steel the car. since the dad got out of the car and left his 4yr old son inside, when the robbers tried to take the car he pleaded with them to not take the car cause the boy was inside and terrified. they ended up only robbing him of his wallet and then ran off and shot twice into the air. it was a scary experience, especially because the neighbor was banging on our door for help and my host my was screaming help and then she made ignacio and i go to the back room and sit quietly in the dark while she called the police. ignacio was trembling and was very scared. he was holding onto me so tight. it was a scary moment, but thank god that no one got hurt and that there was no serious danger. anyway. after that whole craziness, my girl friend from plu came to my house to get me to go out and it turned into a complete mess to meet up with the other girls who were going out with us cause my mom and ignacio were still scared and made us wait for a safe taxi. but im thankful they were looking out for me and it was nice to go out and dance the night away after such a crazy event.
anyway. the end to the week was a bit crazy, and it really showed my how dangerous quito can be if you arent safe as well as how thankful i am that someone special is looking out for me. anyway. the next morning i left for my fabulous weekend in mindo. ill post about it soon.
fin de semana1/weekend1
since i last posted… it has been a good end to the first week as well as a good beginning to my second week here in quito.
last wednesday classes started and so far they are going well. not too much homework, but enough. i definitely feel a bit more tired when i get done with my day at 6pm. anway. wednesday was pretty uneventful besides classes. thursday was ¨dia de los reyes¨(day of the kings) here in quito which is the final day you can give or receive gifts through the christmas holiday. it is also celebrated in many other latin american countries as well. anyway. to celebrate the day in schools, the children are given a piece of a pastry called a ¨corona¨(crown) and if their pastry piece has a little jesus figurine then that child becomes the ¨rey¨(king) or ¨reyna¨(queen) for the day. for every 10 pieces of pastry there is one figurine and one crown for the king/queen to wear for the day. it is a cute tradition and i decided to buy one of the pastries and give the pieces out to my classmates. it was fun. i wasnt lucky enough to be the queen for the day, but proble best since i bought the pastry. other than the fun of ¨dia de los reyes¨thursday was pretty uneventful.
on friday morning i got to visit the school where i will be doing my service learning project. it is a public school that is a lil far from my house here in quito. it takes about 10mins to walk to catch the bus and it is about a 20min bus ride to get to the school. but on friday the guide from ACLAS, where i am studying here in quito, didnt exactly know how to get there. we ended up waiting for the bus for a specific bus for an before we decided to take a taxi to the school. anyway. it was an interesting experience just getting there, but when we got there we got to my the teacher and find out what we will be doing. i will be working with the teacher in her english classes. im pretty excited about this since its something i would like to do in the future… at least i think so. haha. anyway. it will be a good learning experience as well as helpful insight into my future. on our way back to ACLAS for classes we easily caught the right bus back and made it just in time for classes to start. my first class went well and then we had a little quiz in our grammer class, which wasnt as hard as i thought it would be, but im definitely enjoying my classes even though sometimes the grammer class can be a bit of a headache. after classes, i went home and played with ignacio. then we skyped with nic for a bit. actually, ignacio fell asleep next to me since he didnt want to leave me and swore he wasnt tired enough to go to bed. but he ended up falling asleep in my bed while i was skyping with nic and i had to lay him down in his bed when i was done. then i went to sleep.
on saturday i had to wake up early to be at ACLAS by 7am to go for a day trip with the group from PLU. the main portion of our trip consisted of going to one of the largest indigenous cities in ecuador, otavalo, in order to see the huge market and buy items that interested us. my favorite purchase of the day was 3 scarfs that cost me $13. i love scarfs and there are so many different types you can find here in ecuador. ill probly come home with at least 5 more than i currently have by the end of the trip. lol. anyway. i also bought gifts for people back home. so dont worry im not forgetting about you and spending all my money on myself. lol. after the market, we went to this large natural lake in an old volcano called cuicocha. there we ate and did a lil site seeing. it was a beautiful place and, dont worry, i also took pictures to post on facebook or show people when i get back. we got back from the trip at 730pm and when i got home ignacio wanted to play. so we played for a while and then i watched GHOST (a movie from 1990 featuring demi moore, patrick schawze, and whoopi goldburg) with my host mom. i almost fell asleep near the end of the movie and when it finished i went to sleep.
sunday (aka yesterday) i woke up in the morning around 730am. since most of the family wasnt awake and looking for me, mostly meaning ignacio. i did a lil homework. then ignacio woke up and we ate breakfast and played for a bit. around 10am my host mom, ignacio and i went to the park and i taught ignacio how to play frisbee. it was sooo sweet! he was a fast learner and it was so much fun! we will definitely be going to the park more often to play frisbee. anyway. after the park, we came home to eat lunch. then ignacio and i did finished our homework in his room. i took a quick 45min break to talk to my parents over skype, which was definitely needed! i miss them and it was great talking, but it is always weird to change from english to spanish and back again. lol. anyway. afterwords ignacio and i had a tickle war slash wrestling match slash pillow fight. it was pretty fun, but definitely a bit exhausting. after words my host sister and i watched GREASE, one of her favorite movies and then i finished a bit more homework on their computer and went to bed.
today is monday and i woke up early to catch the bus to start my service learning project. i got to go to the school and be in the classes with the kids for the first time today. it was definitely a bit different than i imagined and i didnt do a whole lot, but im hoping as the days go by and the teacher gets used to me that ill get to do a bit more. im definitely excited about this opportunity and the kids at the school also seem excited to get to work with me. now im at home waiting for lunch to be served. then i have classes from 130 to 6pm. should be an exciting second week. post again soon.
semana1/week1
well upon arriving to ecuador and being here a few days, i had a few first impressions. one. my host family is better than i imagined and it didnt take long afterall to start to feel at home with them. really, i feel like id rather spend time with them then my group from PLU :/ two. my host brother is one of the coolest things about being in quito. three. safety is of main priority. things can be dangerous here if youre not careful. four. the city is HUGE!
on monday we had orienation and it went smooth. im excited because i found out that my service project will be in a local school helping in a classroom. kind of what i think i want to do with my life, so a good experience to have under my belt. anyway. on tuesday. the PLU group got to go for a tour of the city. this is where i really realized that the city is HUGE! my favorite part of the tour was the colonial part of the city. primarily because it reminded me of guanajuato the most. after the city tour, we got to go to the equator, which is just barely outside slash in quito (meaning the city is so big that i couldnt even tell even if we were in quito). anyway. we got to visit the equator, which is a pretty cool experience. did you know? one. you can balance an egg on a nail on the equator line. two. while closing your eyes, looking to the sky and balancing with your arms out you cant walk in a straight line along the equator line; gravitational forces pull your arms to one side or the other. it is a very strange feeling! three. water really flows straight down a drain on the equator line. so overall the equator was pretty interesting.
after the tour i went back home. i had made plans to play frisbee with my host brother, ignacio, but when i came home the SIM card i had rented from a local company had arrived (one of nics suggestions…) and i wanted to put it in my cellphone from mexico to get it to work. turns out, the SIM card does not work in my phone. so instead of getting to play frisbee with my host brother, my host mom and i went to the local cellphone place where the SIM card was from to try and see if they could help. they couldnt. anyway. ive had to email the company to see if they will give me a phone that will work with the SIM card or at least give me my $40 back. anyway. im awaiting their response. it has turned out to be a major fiasco. so im thinking ill just not worry about having a cellphone while im here in quito. less of a headache i think.
anyway. after all the SIM card frustration, my host mom and i got home and i got to meet the two guys from the states that are living in the houses above me. they are pretty nice guys from colby university in maine. their spanish isnt the greatest, but like us all they are here to learn. they are also here studying at the ACLAS institution. anyway. they were nice and it was nice to meet them. im sure we will hang out a bit while we are all here in quito.
one more thing that was nice about last night after the cellphone fiasco. i got to play with my ignacio. he is the cutest 7yr old i know. well. maybe im a lil biased, but we are having a blast together. today after lunch i get to go and pick him up from school with my host mom. she says he will be super surprised and excited. i am too! anyway. says my host mom, i guess his sister was joking with him this morning before school that he loved me more than her. his reply was that she will always be his sister but that i am his special sister since i will only be here for a month, and he´s gotta get the most out of the experience. haha. anyway. he is darn cute and im really enjoying my time together. last night for example, we had a tickle fight in my bedroom. as i was tickling him, he farted twice and really loud. it was hilarious! him and i almost died from laughter. also him and i skyped with nic for awhile. definitely a good end to a chaotic day.
anyway. earlier today we had our gramatical and oral exams and classes start this afternoon at 130pm (after i go to get ignacio with my host mom). im excited, but a lil nervous for classes. wish me luck! ill post again soon.
llegada2/arrival2
well, i got roughly 3hrs of sleep on saturday night after having a great time celebrating año nuevo with my family from guanajuato. we were up til about 330am and it was a blast. i really enjoy spending time with my mexican family(as they let me call them) and i cant wait to visit them again. i will miss them.
anyway. my host mom and dad woke up early with me at 7am and took me to the bus station in queretaro. we ended up arriving earlier and i was able to catch an earlier bus to the airport. when i got to the airport i passed through security, after a search through my things because i had a mini-umbrella and deodorant which they thought were larger objects possibly full of liquid. so after my extensive check i went to my gate and waited to board the plane to bogotá, colombia, for my lay-over. after a good 4hr flight, i arrived in bogotá where i once again passed through security (this time with no problems what so ever) and checked in to board the plane to quito. after a quick 1hr flight, i arrived early to quito, where it took almost an hour to pass through costums. wow!
anyway. i arrived before the group from PLU and was matched with my family before seeing most of them (that will have to wait til tomorrow for the first day of class). well, my family here is my host mom, tamara, my host sister, michelle, and a host dad and brother that arent at home. i will meet the 7yr old host brother today when the family goes to pick him up from their grandma´s house. the host dad is an engineer and spends a lot of time a way from home on business. my host mom says he will be here this coming weekend, but i dont know if i will get to meet him then because the PLU group is going on a mini-vacation for the weekend. oh well. anyway. my host mom picked me up from the airport, complimented my spanish (which made me very happy) and took me to the house here in ecuador. we arrived at the house and i immediately went to sleep, i mean it had been a long day of traveling and all. i woke up this morning around 930am. i ate breakfast with my host mom and sister and got to know them a lil better. so far this family is definitely very different then my family in guanajuato (who are very, very, very dear to my heart), but they are very nice and im sure i will enjoy my stay with them.
well, im off to spend the day with my host family from quito and i will post again soon. love everyone back home!
feliz año nuevo/happy new year
from where i left off… wednesday my host family took me to the bicentennial park just outside of guanajuato. it was quite interesting and fun. we walked through many displays and cool exhibits. there was also this cool swing that my host brother got to try out which was like an air snowboard. it was a swing that did flips, upside down and everything. i couldnt try the swing because i wore sandals to the park. what a sad day, although i got to take some great pictures of my host brother. overall it was an exciting and interesting day at the park.
afterwords, we took my host brother to his house in another city where he goes to school. then we went for lunch and did some shopping for gifts for the family for año nuevo. later that evening, we went to the city where much of my host moms family lives, called salamanca. there we had a fiesta for the cousins, meaning the younger people. we had a good time chatting, laughing and playing kinect. it was fun! then we stayed the night at the grandparents house. woke in the morning. went to play more kinect, ate lunch, and returned to guanajuato in the late afternoon thursday.
when we arrived in guanjuato, my host mom, brother and i walked through downtown. we bought a few more gifts for the family, a few movies, and and my ticket for the bus to the airport on saturday (slash tomorrow). we returned home to eat a lil bit more. then finally, i got to skype with nic. it was a great day!
today (friday) i have spent most of the day at home with the family. we have been prepping for the fiesta for año nuevo. in the morning, my host brother and i went downtown to buy me a little wallet to replace my last one from guanajuato which was full of holes. then we went for a little ice cream as before. we also bought some popcorn for the movie we were planning on watching this afternoon. we bought one bag of extra butter popcorn and one of popcorn with chile and lime. (ps. they were delicious when we combined them, added a little salsa and ate them for the movie). we got back to the house and helped my host mom with a few things. then we watched the movie. it was called “freak the mighty”. i had never seen it before, although it was in english and definitely an older movie. overall it was good, a lil sad, but good. after the movie, i luckily got to skype with nic before he left for the mountain and then the family from salamanca arrived. it was time to eat and then keep prepping for tonight.
now its tonight. we are having a blast. we prepared dinner (which has yet to be eaten), cookies and ponche (an almost like cider warm drink. which i have had before and is very good!). i went to mass with my host family, since i couldnt make it to a church, and i prayed for a happy, safe, and blessed year for my family, friends and myself of course. anyway. we will be fiesta-ing (festejando) for the rest of the evening and probably into the early morning. i wish everyone back home a feliz año nuevo/happy new year! miss you all!
i will post again on arrival to ecuador. how exciting!
llegada/arrival
wow. i wish someone would have told me that traveling for almost 24hrs does a number on your body. lol. sunday afternoon around 2pm i left the dalles for the pdx airport, considering i thought it would be buuusy. but no. it was dead. i guess no one flies on the day after christmas, especially if its on a sunday. anyway. i arrived at the airport, said my goodbyes to my family (who left me with nic. i thank them very much for that!) and nic and i spent a few great hours together before i checked through security.
i boarded the plane to SFO at 630pm, which was crammed. landed safely. waited for 3hrs. finished “the time travelers wife” (ps. great book). then boarded the plane to mexico city around 11pm. come to find out i had the only seat on the plane that didnt recline (someone had previously broken it) and i tried to get a few hours of sleep. the plane landed in mexico city at around 5am, meaning 3am my normal time. meaning i got about 4hrs of moderate sleep. i was tired. i passed through customs with no problems and caught the first bus out of the airport to a city called queretaro. when i got to queretaro 3hrs later i tried to catch the next bus into guanajuato, but it was full. waited another 2.5hrs in the bus station then boarded the next bus into guanajuato. when i arrived at 230pm at the bus central in guanajuato i had been traveling for nearly 24hrs.
i then took a taxi to my host family´s house… to find them not there. they had gone to the bus station to pick me up around the same time i landed, but apparently i had gotten off the bus and exited the station (where i thought i would find them) but they were waiting by the busses and we barely missed each other. either way, i spent a wonderful day with them. they were very excited to see me. we ate immediately, caught up, ran a few errands and then went to visit my host sister who now lives in another city close by, irapuato. there, we went out to eat at this cantina called jalepeños. the place was great. good drinks (my host mom and i both had mango micheladas), good food and a wonderful mariachi band. after eating, all of us returned to guanajuato to sleep. although my host sister, brother and i decided to watch tarzan in spanish on the disney channel instead of going to sleep right away. after the movie i was out!
woke up this morning around 11am, not bad considering thats 9am my normal time and i had a crazy day of travel. anyway. today we went for a paseo, kind of like a drive/walk, through the city of guanajuato. it was great! very similar to how i remember it from almost 2yrs ago. one of the first things i did was go to the local la michoacana, an ice cream-ish place, to buy a strawberry popsicle (which are way better than popsicles in the states). it was delicioso! we returned home and soon had lunch. so far it has been great. my host family is just as warm as before and we are having a great time. they have lots for us to do before i leave. they have also said that my spanish hasnt gotten worse and that it is even better than what it was when i left. good thing right?! haha. anyway. i wish the computer here had skype, but it doesnt. ill have to go into the centro to do that. talk to everyone soon. miss you.
