Man, it´s been a week, a good one. I didn´t blog anything because for some reason I felt that I wasn´t doing anything crazy to blog about...but now I realize that, that is crazy, and every day is a crazy experience here!
SOkay, so I moved! Lolly. Out of the wonderful home stay and into a wonderful hostal. There were a couple reasons I decided to move, but in short I feel like I got to experience living with an Ecuadorian family, it was great, and that I was ready to experience the city with a little more independence and be closer to the school and other students. This weekend three of the girls I had become friends with and been exploring with all left Quito, to either continue traveling or begin their volunteer work out in Ecuador. That's how it goes though, out with the old, in with the new. Tuesday another student from Holland came to the school, sooo many Dutch, and another American girl returned to Quito from her volunteering on the Coast, new friends! it´s kind of fun to experience all these new and unfamiliar places with unfamiliar faces... Traveling though, it does seem you quickly get past the introductions and just get right into to. There is not time for any small talk!
Another change, the school switched my teacher for this week, I like my previous teacher Ivan, but he was dry, serious and very business with me. Which is good I suppose, there was a lot of basic material to plow through, but my new teacher is great. He is the activities coordinator for the school and clearly has a lot of passion for his job and integrating los estudiantes into the culture and language of Ecuador. We´ve had a lot of fun and interesting conversations so far. And my lessons are outside now on the terrace, so bueno. The weather is beautiful con mucho sol en la mañana and then gets all crazy in the afternoons. All the ecuadorian say el clima es loco! But I like it, it reminds me of Seattle just warmer. Perfecto!
Today was a great day, and I felt like my light was shining brightly however I do realize that this unique experience will certainly have it´s ups and downs. Tuesday, on the other hand, my light was a little dim, I think I was partially affected by all the rapid changes to my life in a place where everything is already always new and foreign. New house, new friends, new teacher. So Wednesday morning I actually broke down and CRIED in front of my teacher, hilarious now, but at the time I was thinking, "wow, really, are you gonna cry...right now? you can´t hold that in?" We were reading the lyrics of this song about love between two amigos. The singer was expressing his love and admiration for a friend who had been with him throughout all of life's journey. Well, my teacher, Vinicio, was asking me to interpret the meaning, and then asked me if I would ever write a letter like this to someone. And I responded Claro! of course. To my two best friends or my parents... and he was like oh? your parents, really? why? And boom i was crying, (haha- LOVE YOU MOM AND DAD!!) His question was just reminding me how great my parents are and how much I miss them. Vinicio was really tranquilo and nice and told me it was a beautiful thing to appreciate your parents etc... I think it was good chance to get it all out of my system and now I feel great again! and still don´t want to come home for a year! (just joshing.) Then today, I was talking with Rose, (estudiante de escuela Yanapuma from Australia) and she was like "aih, I hope i don´t cry again in my lesson today!". She told me apparently her roommate Shannon had also cried the day before, out of frustration for not being able to conjugate the past tense of a verb or something. But I was relieved; I´m not the only crybaby. I´m sure Vinicio has witnessed many a student have a lil moment or two, and he had good advice and kind words for me. I made sure to do my best to express to him (in spanish) that even though i was crying right then, i was still soo happy to be here and really grateful for this amazing opportunity of traveling and experiencing new cultures.
Okay old town.
I enjoyed two afternoons there this week. It is very beautiful and a historic cite in South America because it is apparently the most well restored city in the whole continent. I had read a ton about it in my guide book before visiting, about the narrow winding streets of cobble stones, and open air markets... and somehow I was just picturing this fantastic South American pueblo or something. And I was wrong. it was aesthetically appealing, but... it was just another European town. Big catholic churches, built right on top of original Incan royal houses or burial grounds and super nice town house built next to each other on long pretty blocks just like in Paris and museums filled with Catholic European art. I was like oh... Colonialism. Neato. And of course there are the plethora of marginalized Indigenous walking around with their trays of candy, gum and cigarettes with young ones in toe. I think my thoughts were also partially colored from the conversation I had earlier that day in school with Vinicio about indigenous oppression. Standing here in South America I felt like I was in Barcelona or Madrid and could only imagine what it had looked like before the conquistadors had come and stomped it all out. But I will admit consumerism had brought me down there in the first place. I bussed down therebto buy a used cell phone to activate for my time here. Not having a cell phone here for the first two weeks was fine, I didn´t plan on getting a South American number... except it was impossible to meet anyone ever or make plans! I know cell phones are a recent invention and that many of you reading this grew up with out them and that this is obvious but WOW they sure are convenient. I would meet someone cool and really want to see them again or hang out and I would just have to cross my fingers to cross paths or run into them on the streets again. Anywho, I´m glad I went to old town and I visited some churches and museums and it started to rain for a minute and stumbled into this beautiful multi-purpose library place so though disappointing still of course very enjoyable.
lets see, anything else... Last Friday, one of the chicas who was leaving had been living in a house and had a huge going away party. It was tons o´ fun because she´d been here a while and knew many people, foreign and Ecuadorian, some of our teachers from the school came too. It was a great time mixing with locals and practicing Spanish. My least favorite thing: "I can´t understand you, English please" haha but I still try. I learned the past tense today!!
side note, man, there is a SUPER annoying extranjero sitting next to me at the internet cafe speaking English, I think she is from Canada, and i´m realizing how rare it is that I can actually understand anyone speaking around me. My eavesdropping has gone way down over here.
XX
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Thursday, October 21, 2010
la vida
Oh man. I feel like there is no where else I should be but exactly where I am. I had no idea how much I would love this.
In case anyone was wondering, state of emergency, kind of not a big deal apparently. I talked to a few of the students who were here while it was all going down. I guess it didn´t really change day to day life at all and was over very quickly. However, it does seem like it would have been very interesting to be here during the storm. I say this because there are policia EVERYWHERE. There presence is felt all the time. They just hang out all over the place, on motorcycles, on corners, in marsical square last night in front of the bars and discotecas, I feel like every 20 cars passing by is a police car. On my walk to school every day I pass the same one who literally just stands outside this big house all day, pretty sure it´s a governmental building. Really, I just wonder how as an Ecuadorian that was to have them be angry and rioting one day and then back on the streets "protecting" you the next. interesting... but I guess Ecuador is DANGERCENTER. haha. My teacher and I just a great long convo about the violence and danger of Quito in Spanish. He said in the last three years it´s gotten way worse and that he thinks it´s more dangerous than Colombia. Told me like three different stories of someone getting shot, one of them was about his student and his laptop getting stolen. I was kind of thinking, Bro, slow your role with these terrifying stories, i´m about to be living here for another two months. But truly, if I don´t get stabbed or shot during a robbery I will for sure die crossing the street getting hit by one of the huge buses driving around. Sometimes there are policemen stopping traffic to help people cross when we start building up on the sidewalk. I have to cross these huge streets to get to school and I´m just always running and darting across. No worries though, friends and family, i am looking both ways like six times before I cross any street, even in residential neighborhoods. Oh, and people LOVE to lay on their horns here, or, these little light peppy honks to let a car know they are going to pass, or more commonly to let pedestrians know, that no, I am not stopping for you, do not try to cross in front of me. Lots of fun. I don´t ever feel scared or in danger, but apparently I should.
so on a lighter note, yesterday, dancing was the best! (However the first thing the taxi driver said as I got into the taxi was peligroso! cause I was alone and it was night.) Man I wish we had better places for dancing in Seattle. For those who know of my stupid weird strained muscle in my right quad, (which i was REALLY hoping i could rest and it would finally heal while I was here in Ecuador) well i danced so much that it was sore today. grrr. but so worth it. However as much as I love love love dancing I do not love being terrible at salsa dancing. I feel like I am trying to learn to late in life. I´d just rather watch these amazing naturals spinning all around. But I did give it my best... how many ninos can you turn down with the excuse, I don´t know how, when they all really want to teach you. Love those sexy Latin dancers.
off to a meal with the homestay, sopa for sure and who knows what else, something salty, they love their savory.
well as always hope everyone reading this is wonderful and well!
Murda.
In case anyone was wondering, state of emergency, kind of not a big deal apparently. I talked to a few of the students who were here while it was all going down. I guess it didn´t really change day to day life at all and was over very quickly. However, it does seem like it would have been very interesting to be here during the storm. I say this because there are policia EVERYWHERE. There presence is felt all the time. They just hang out all over the place, on motorcycles, on corners, in marsical square last night in front of the bars and discotecas, I feel like every 20 cars passing by is a police car. On my walk to school every day I pass the same one who literally just stands outside this big house all day, pretty sure it´s a governmental building. Really, I just wonder how as an Ecuadorian that was to have them be angry and rioting one day and then back on the streets "protecting" you the next. interesting... but I guess Ecuador is DANGERCENTER. haha. My teacher and I just a great long convo about the violence and danger of Quito in Spanish. He said in the last three years it´s gotten way worse and that he thinks it´s more dangerous than Colombia. Told me like three different stories of someone getting shot, one of them was about his student and his laptop getting stolen. I was kind of thinking, Bro, slow your role with these terrifying stories, i´m about to be living here for another two months. But truly, if I don´t get stabbed or shot during a robbery I will for sure die crossing the street getting hit by one of the huge buses driving around. Sometimes there are policemen stopping traffic to help people cross when we start building up on the sidewalk. I have to cross these huge streets to get to school and I´m just always running and darting across. No worries though, friends and family, i am looking both ways like six times before I cross any street, even in residential neighborhoods. Oh, and people LOVE to lay on their horns here, or, these little light peppy honks to let a car know they are going to pass, or more commonly to let pedestrians know, that no, I am not stopping for you, do not try to cross in front of me. Lots of fun. I don´t ever feel scared or in danger, but apparently I should.
so on a lighter note, yesterday, dancing was the best! (However the first thing the taxi driver said as I got into the taxi was peligroso! cause I was alone and it was night.) Man I wish we had better places for dancing in Seattle. For those who know of my stupid weird strained muscle in my right quad, (which i was REALLY hoping i could rest and it would finally heal while I was here in Ecuador) well i danced so much that it was sore today. grrr. but so worth it. However as much as I love love love dancing I do not love being terrible at salsa dancing. I feel like I am trying to learn to late in life. I´d just rather watch these amazing naturals spinning all around. But I did give it my best... how many ninos can you turn down with the excuse, I don´t know how, when they all really want to teach you. Love those sexy Latin dancers.
off to a meal with the homestay, sopa for sure and who knows what else, something salty, they love their savory.
well as always hope everyone reading this is wonderful and well!
Murda.
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Yo tengo suerte!
Holla. Hola.
Lovin this. I was a little nervous and overwhelmed about the idea of being in a foreign country before coming here, but now that I am here I see how truly amazing it is to live in a new place, exposure to culture and to be able to just wake up and experience every day fully. I feel so busy! I don´t even know feel like I am doing so much every day but at the end I barley can finish all my homework for the next day. Lessons take up a good part of the day, de uno a uno, cuatro horas lunes-viernes. After I usually end up walking all around the area in between the school and casa, finding a new delicioso place for almuerzo.
This weekend Johna and I went down to this huge amazing mercada down in the park very close to our house. It was amazing and I had not expected to want to buy every single thing I saw, but the crafts were mad dope. Beautiful and funky clothes, and blankets, and satchels and art and JEWELRY! The art and jewelry were killllling it.
Tuesday night we went and saw a friendly match between the national Ecuadorian team vs. Chile. Except I´m pretty sure Chile is ranked higher than Ecuador internationally but Ecuador smashed! 6-1... so maybe it wasn´t the national Chile team, or their B team? Not sure, but it was so great that Ecuador scored so many times because every time they scored the crowd went insane, and were in super joyous, exuberant mood. Though they were singing and drumming for the entire game with out fail, (the whole crowd must have known 8 or 10 different futbol songs) whenever there was a goal, the special ¨goal¨ song was sung, which was a pretty great song and incorporated a lot of fist pumping and jumping. And by the 4th or 5th goal we were able to get the hang of it. A lot of great energy. And they were some nice pretty goals too. There was TONS of security, every where, seriously, all over that place. We had to go through two check points and our tickets had two stubs to be pulled at each place and any plastic water bottles were confiscated upon entry and the water poured into plastic bags. So you couldn´t bring beer bottles in, but plastic bags full of beer were a must! And the whole field is totally fenced off, a very tall fence and net, with a maybe four foot extension of fence coming out at an angle away from the main fence toward the crowd, imagine like a Y, sort of. Clearly designed to keep people from climbing the fence and getting to the field. So, the part protruding out, if you can imagine what I am talking about, was in reach of us fans, and thus had the opposite effect of keeping people away and off the fence. Before the start of the game, there was first three young men, and then all of sudden, 10, 15, 20 hombres climbing up the fence and were sitting on top of the fence protruding out, and had friends handing them up fire extinguishers. I don´t know if this is big all over the world for soccer, or South America, or if it´s just an Ecuadorian thing but when the Ecuadorian team came out onto the field they all released their fire extinguishers and it was just a huge white cloud and seemed like it was snowing.
After lessons yesterday I talked with the volunteer coordinator at Yanapuma, my espanol escuela, which has turned out to be really awesome. I am jaaazzzzzzzzzzzed. There are SO many amazing programs all over the country outside of Quito where I can go and live/work, volunteering in the community working on forest restoration, environmental education with children or local farmers, sustainability, composting and recycling, learn about permaculture, working in an organic garden, work with endangered and rescued animals, work to improve native flora...etc etc etc. I have had the hardest time choosing which places I want to go, and of course wanting to go to all of them and wishing I was here for six months instead of two. December 19th feels so soon now! I am leaning towards three weeks with a foundation working with animals in the jungle, ten minutes outside of a small town called Puyo, (which I actually learned all about this specific town in my last quarter of college when I wrote a paper on an indigenous tribe of the Ecuadorian amazon and the peoples effort to protect their land from oil extraction by large multi national companies). And three weeks in a community an hour outside of Quito where I would live on an organic farm and continue my Spanish lessons hopefully, learning and teaching all about environmental education and farming. There is much more to say about both but I have to hurry this up to get to my studies cause apparently it´s ladies night in Quito, so I have finally been convinced to go out...plan on being careful though! lolly... (caution is the THEME here of the Ecuadorians, and I have my white skin to make me a sweet target...)
best best best best to all the beautiful people!
¡chao!
Lovin this. I was a little nervous and overwhelmed about the idea of being in a foreign country before coming here, but now that I am here I see how truly amazing it is to live in a new place, exposure to culture and to be able to just wake up and experience every day fully. I feel so busy! I don´t even know feel like I am doing so much every day but at the end I barley can finish all my homework for the next day. Lessons take up a good part of the day, de uno a uno, cuatro horas lunes-viernes. After I usually end up walking all around the area in between the school and casa, finding a new delicioso place for almuerzo.
This weekend Johna and I went down to this huge amazing mercada down in the park very close to our house. It was amazing and I had not expected to want to buy every single thing I saw, but the crafts were mad dope. Beautiful and funky clothes, and blankets, and satchels and art and JEWELRY! The art and jewelry were killllling it.
Tuesday night we went and saw a friendly match between the national Ecuadorian team vs. Chile. Except I´m pretty sure Chile is ranked higher than Ecuador internationally but Ecuador smashed! 6-1... so maybe it wasn´t the national Chile team, or their B team? Not sure, but it was so great that Ecuador scored so many times because every time they scored the crowd went insane, and were in super joyous, exuberant mood. Though they were singing and drumming for the entire game with out fail, (the whole crowd must have known 8 or 10 different futbol songs) whenever there was a goal, the special ¨goal¨ song was sung, which was a pretty great song and incorporated a lot of fist pumping and jumping. And by the 4th or 5th goal we were able to get the hang of it. A lot of great energy. And they were some nice pretty goals too. There was TONS of security, every where, seriously, all over that place. We had to go through two check points and our tickets had two stubs to be pulled at each place and any plastic water bottles were confiscated upon entry and the water poured into plastic bags. So you couldn´t bring beer bottles in, but plastic bags full of beer were a must! And the whole field is totally fenced off, a very tall fence and net, with a maybe four foot extension of fence coming out at an angle away from the main fence toward the crowd, imagine like a Y, sort of. Clearly designed to keep people from climbing the fence and getting to the field. So, the part protruding out, if you can imagine what I am talking about, was in reach of us fans, and thus had the opposite effect of keeping people away and off the fence. Before the start of the game, there was first three young men, and then all of sudden, 10, 15, 20 hombres climbing up the fence and were sitting on top of the fence protruding out, and had friends handing them up fire extinguishers. I don´t know if this is big all over the world for soccer, or South America, or if it´s just an Ecuadorian thing but when the Ecuadorian team came out onto the field they all released their fire extinguishers and it was just a huge white cloud and seemed like it was snowing.
After lessons yesterday I talked with the volunteer coordinator at Yanapuma, my espanol escuela, which has turned out to be really awesome. I am jaaazzzzzzzzzzzed. There are SO many amazing programs all over the country outside of Quito where I can go and live/work, volunteering in the community working on forest restoration, environmental education with children or local farmers, sustainability, composting and recycling, learn about permaculture, working in an organic garden, work with endangered and rescued animals, work to improve native flora...etc etc etc. I have had the hardest time choosing which places I want to go, and of course wanting to go to all of them and wishing I was here for six months instead of two. December 19th feels so soon now! I am leaning towards three weeks with a foundation working with animals in the jungle, ten minutes outside of a small town called Puyo, (which I actually learned all about this specific town in my last quarter of college when I wrote a paper on an indigenous tribe of the Ecuadorian amazon and the peoples effort to protect their land from oil extraction by large multi national companies). And three weeks in a community an hour outside of Quito where I would live on an organic farm and continue my Spanish lessons hopefully, learning and teaching all about environmental education and farming. There is much more to say about both but I have to hurry this up to get to my studies cause apparently it´s ladies night in Quito, so I have finally been convinced to go out...plan on being careful though! lolly... (caution is the THEME here of the Ecuadorians, and I have my white skin to make me a sweet target...)
best best best best to all the beautiful people!
¡chao!
Friday, October 15, 2010
el extranjero
okay.
Learning a foreign language from the beginning seems impossible! I feel like I will still know nada at the end of my two months here. My teacher is patient with me though, even when I keep getting the same stuff wrong.... plural/singular/masculano/femenino byahhh!
I feel like I stand out a lot. While I hate standing out in Seattle I dislike it here twice as much. Besides being white I think it´s mostly cause I am always wearing my sunglasses when I´m walking outside, it is so bright! but most Quitoians don´t wear them. Oh and they dress in long shirts and coats and it´s HOT! Before coming here I checked the weather forecast almost every single day, and every single day without fail it would report raining and 67 degrees. Well, it was wrong. It has been beautiful and sunny and caliente. And walking around, of course, I am even warmer. Quito is nestled up in the beautiful green hills though, so it would make sense for it to be cold, but even at night it has seemed very mild and pleasant.
Quito seems like a sups fun place to grow up. When I am walking home from school around 2 after lunch there are always tons of groups of school age children hanging out and walking around. I assume they get out of school at a similar time to me. The groups are always co-ed and girls and boys will always be hanging off eachother, it looks like pretty young ones too. I bet they all get into a lot of fun trouble after school.
Eating here has been da bomb. Lunch seems to be the biggest meal here. Comida es muy barato! Complete almuerza menus for as little as $1.50 or a really bueno four course vegetariana meal for $4. (The currency used in Ecuador is the U.S. dollar since 2000.) I read that eating out in restaurants is less expensive than buying food at grocery stores and cooking your own food at home. It makes sense, walking around the city there are tons of little restaurants everywhere, from little taquerias, to sit down restaurants with grande menus, and TONS of hotdogs. Hot dog stands everywhere. Man. I like hot dogs. Yo quiero un hot dog. Though I am trying my best to be a vegetarian/vegan/flexitarian, trying key word, (yet so far, no "mistakes". pat on back.) this daily struggle looks like it will be even more challenging here. I can smell delicious roasting meat on every corner. A little place right by my house has the grill right in the entry and I can see the smoke and smell the aroma of the skewers of carne every time I pass coming home and I wonder how long I will hold out.
The teachers and organizers of the school, the guide book, and especially my sisters that I live with all have warned gravely of the danger of Quito. The theft, how it´s not safe to walk at night, marscal square... but so far, seems aight to me. Just feels just like a big urban city. Last night, Johna, the other girl who lives in my homestay in the next room, and I wanted to go across the street and get some dulces, so we said we were gonna take a walk, tome una caminata and the sisters were like no no!! peligroso! dangerous. Funny and strange, but they had let us go down to marscal square the night before, which is like the big central bar scene in Quito. They were just looking out for our figures really.
okay gotta go study and then get ready for the night. es el viernes!
bloggggggging is strange.
love to everyone!
Learning a foreign language from the beginning seems impossible! I feel like I will still know nada at the end of my two months here. My teacher is patient with me though, even when I keep getting the same stuff wrong.... plural/singular/masculano/femenino byahhh!
I feel like I stand out a lot. While I hate standing out in Seattle I dislike it here twice as much. Besides being white I think it´s mostly cause I am always wearing my sunglasses when I´m walking outside, it is so bright! but most Quitoians don´t wear them. Oh and they dress in long shirts and coats and it´s HOT! Before coming here I checked the weather forecast almost every single day, and every single day without fail it would report raining and 67 degrees. Well, it was wrong. It has been beautiful and sunny and caliente. And walking around, of course, I am even warmer. Quito is nestled up in the beautiful green hills though, so it would make sense for it to be cold, but even at night it has seemed very mild and pleasant.
Quito seems like a sups fun place to grow up. When I am walking home from school around 2 after lunch there are always tons of groups of school age children hanging out and walking around. I assume they get out of school at a similar time to me. The groups are always co-ed and girls and boys will always be hanging off eachother, it looks like pretty young ones too. I bet they all get into a lot of fun trouble after school.
Eating here has been da bomb. Lunch seems to be the biggest meal here. Comida es muy barato! Complete almuerza menus for as little as $1.50 or a really bueno four course vegetariana meal for $4. (The currency used in Ecuador is the U.S. dollar since 2000.) I read that eating out in restaurants is less expensive than buying food at grocery stores and cooking your own food at home. It makes sense, walking around the city there are tons of little restaurants everywhere, from little taquerias, to sit down restaurants with grande menus, and TONS of hotdogs. Hot dog stands everywhere. Man. I like hot dogs. Yo quiero un hot dog. Though I am trying my best to be a vegetarian/vegan/flexitarian, trying key word, (yet so far, no "mistakes". pat on back.) this daily struggle looks like it will be even more challenging here. I can smell delicious roasting meat on every corner. A little place right by my house has the grill right in the entry and I can see the smoke and smell the aroma of the skewers of carne every time I pass coming home and I wonder how long I will hold out.
The teachers and organizers of the school, the guide book, and especially my sisters that I live with all have warned gravely of the danger of Quito. The theft, how it´s not safe to walk at night, marscal square... but so far, seems aight to me. Just feels just like a big urban city. Last night, Johna, the other girl who lives in my homestay in the next room, and I wanted to go across the street and get some dulces, so we said we were gonna take a walk, tome una caminata and the sisters were like no no!! peligroso! dangerous. Funny and strange, but they had let us go down to marscal square the night before, which is like the big central bar scene in Quito. They were just looking out for our figures really.
okay gotta go study and then get ready for the night. es el viernes!
bloggggggging is strange.
love to everyone!
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
no hablo espanol!
Here i am in Ecuador.
getting off the plane into the panama city airport... good bye English, hola Espanol and really trashy acid washed jeans.
My homestay is with three sisters, Yolanda, Sylvia and Elaina. They are very adorable, and older, maybe 45-55, and very sweet and gracious. They seem to share the responsibilities of me very well, Sylvia drove me home from the airport, Yolanda gave me the tour of the house and explained everything to me (in spanish) and this morning Elaina gave me my breakfast at 8, a little bowl of cantelope, sweet bread with jam and a cup of fruit tea. Their house is mucho beuno. very well kept with little figurines everywhere and crystal orinaments and clocks. My room is great, a little desk, and a big wooden dresser, heavy blankets and a huge window and my own bathroom.
lessons this morning were so exhausting! i got there and we went straight into it! 4 hours with a 20 minute break. My french was getting in the way a little, you say a lot more S in spanish where i feel like the S is often silent in french like in est. so that kept tripping me up in my conjugations. learning spanish seems like the hardest thing after today´s first lesson, but i´m really gonna put my mind to it.
i just finished eating lunch with three other girls from the school, there is a restaurant downstairs in my school buidling with a lunch special with a sopa, a plata and postre for 3 dollars. I think that is pretty standard, and is awesome. there was tons of stuff like it as i was walking home, and lots of places to buy fruit and cakes and things. the walk to school is nice, no more than 15 minutes, I pass lots of pretty houses, all very coloforul. Yolanda walked me this morning stopping to point out buildings and landmarks I would rememeber so i could find my way back in the afternoon. very helpful.
i slept for part of every single flight, but still didn´t get to the homestay and to bed until one and so after the lesson i am pooped.
pretty cool so far ya´ll.
getting off the plane into the panama city airport... good bye English, hola Espanol and really trashy acid washed jeans.
My homestay is with three sisters, Yolanda, Sylvia and Elaina. They are very adorable, and older, maybe 45-55, and very sweet and gracious. They seem to share the responsibilities of me very well, Sylvia drove me home from the airport, Yolanda gave me the tour of the house and explained everything to me (in spanish) and this morning Elaina gave me my breakfast at 8, a little bowl of cantelope, sweet bread with jam and a cup of fruit tea. Their house is mucho beuno. very well kept with little figurines everywhere and crystal orinaments and clocks. My room is great, a little desk, and a big wooden dresser, heavy blankets and a huge window and my own bathroom.
lessons this morning were so exhausting! i got there and we went straight into it! 4 hours with a 20 minute break. My french was getting in the way a little, you say a lot more S in spanish where i feel like the S is often silent in french like in est. so that kept tripping me up in my conjugations. learning spanish seems like the hardest thing after today´s first lesson, but i´m really gonna put my mind to it.
i just finished eating lunch with three other girls from the school, there is a restaurant downstairs in my school buidling with a lunch special with a sopa, a plata and postre for 3 dollars. I think that is pretty standard, and is awesome. there was tons of stuff like it as i was walking home, and lots of places to buy fruit and cakes and things. the walk to school is nice, no more than 15 minutes, I pass lots of pretty houses, all very coloforul. Yolanda walked me this morning stopping to point out buildings and landmarks I would rememeber so i could find my way back in the afternoon. very helpful.
i slept for part of every single flight, but still didn´t get to the homestay and to bed until one and so after the lesson i am pooped.
pretty cool so far ya´ll.
Saturday, October 9, 2010
still in seattle
Hellos. (Hola)
just made this blog for me travels.
gonna try to learn some spanish and do some growing up in Quito, Ecuador... since I've just graduated and don't know exactly what to be doing with myself at the moment
I'm sups nervous but feel sups lucky to be visiting S. America. Gonna be great.
Leaving on Tuesday at 8 in the morning. Better go finish packing.
love to all my friends and family who I already can't wait to see in December
just made this blog for me travels.
gonna try to learn some spanish and do some growing up in Quito, Ecuador... since I've just graduated and don't know exactly what to be doing with myself at the moment
I'm sups nervous but feel sups lucky to be visiting S. America. Gonna be great.
Leaving on Tuesday at 8 in the morning. Better go finish packing.
love to all my friends and family who I already can't wait to see in December
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