jan 30

Nothing too interesting to write today. I didn’t do anything but go to class and then eat lunch. I tried to sign up for my trip for Saturday but evidently you have to do that during office hours which is only for one hour a day, which I had missed.

I had my anthro test this morning. I think it went okay. Not as good as I would have hoped, but I guess it was okay. We will see how it ends up I guess.

I have some stuff I need to mail, which means I need to go to the post office. I might do that tomorrow during my big break between classes. I have a postcard to mail mom & dad – its from 2 Saturdays ago – jan 20^th. I am going to put that date & the date that I actually mail it on the post card. Let me know how long it takes to get from Ecuador to US (obviously the later date will be the one that I mailed it on haha).

Um, I did have some questions about things before I came to Ecuador, and now I have a few answers:

1. the keyboard/computer – I wondered if the keyboard would have Spanish letters and symbols, etc. The keyboards actually look mostly like the ones we have at home, the letters are in the same places, however, some of the symbols are not. You can change the settings on the computers (somehow, I am not that computer savvy to know exactly what to do) and make it “ENGLISH” which means that everything is just like at home, or you can leave it and fumble through trying to find the @ symbol on the keyboard until you give up and open a word document, insert the symbol, and copy & paste it into your internet browser where it is needed.
2. the toilet – it flushes clockwise, just like at home
3. idea of personal space – I have always been taught that latin America has a smaller idea of personal space. If this idea had not been made super clear to me already, today I saw a perfect example. I was on the bus this morning on my way to class and there were only about 2 people standing, everyone else was sitting comfortably in a seat. A woman got on the bus and proceeded to come right up to me, her stomach rubbing my shoulder (I was sitting in a seat), balancing herself by holding onto my seat and the one in front of me. There was plenty of room for her to stand in an area where she wouldn’t have been on top of anyone, she could have stood in the middle of the bus, holding onto a bar above her head, which is probably what would have happened in the US, but her thought process told her that there was nothing out of the ordinary with this act. The fact that there was tons of open space and she stood practically on top of me meant nothing to her. Personal space very clearly means very little to these people, which is fine, just a difference that I have noticed.
4. poverty – the country of Ecuador is definitely in poverty….compared to the US. There are rich people in this country. And I wouldn’t define my host family (or anyone else’s that I have met) “poor” by any means. However, I do know that they have much less income than my family at home. Which is fine, it isn’t necessarily that they all live in “poverty” with only having small amounts of money, the cost of living here is low. Very low. You can get a whole lunch – food, drink, and dessert – for $2 if you go to the right place. So, basically, my observation is (for clarification) that the people here are not living in poverty, the country itself is in poverty.

I know I have spent a lot of money here, but its not that I am being frivolous, it is just adding up. $1 a day to get to and from school, lunch, weekends are usually eating out and going on some sort of trip….I guess now is the time when I really should start budgeting my money wisely. I know it is going by fast. I just don’t want to pass up any opportunities that come my way because of money. The teleferico yesterday cost $4, plus a cab ride up the mountain and down. Which is fine, I just know that if I do that everyday its going to take my money quickly.

Anyways, I guess that’s all for now. Just some stuff I was thinking about today. If you have any questions that you’d like answered, go ahead and let me know. I do get all your comments I just cant really reply to them as promptly as I would like and I know you all don’t get like any kind of notification when I do reply so I just haven’t really been doing that, but hopefully when I get my internet here at the house…..whenever that is…..I will be able to be much better about that. For now, just let me know if you have a question and I will try to answer it ASAP.

pics from the teleferica

the whole city.....crazy

beautiful sunset yayayay - this is my new background

again. crazy pretty.

um super sweet pose. yes.

one of the volcanoes we could see from so high up

the city i fell in love with

jan 29

So, today I went to class, as usual. I found out in my volcano class that we have to go on these trips and write about them. The first one is on Saturday. We leave at 3:30am for Pichincha. At 9am we head to some other place. I am not scheduled to be back until 6 at night. Sounds fun, yeah? Im sure it will be super interesting. But 3:30am. Whew. I don’t know really how my body is going to accept that fact. I have to sign up tomorrow. Only 20 people can go and if it is full I have to sign up for next Saturday. It costs $30, too. Blah. I hate these required things. But I do want to do all that I can while in Ecuador to see all that the country has to offer so I guess its for the best anyways…
My Latin American Boom class was cancelled today, I don’t know why. Some lady just came in and said our professor wouldn’t be coming, so we all left. I went to the Cabinas near campus and called mom. I also called Sarah but she didn’t answer me. Loser. Just kidding…kind of haha.
My conversation class was next. I like the class, and I really like the professor, it is just that by that time in the day I am so tired and sick of school. I know I didn’t even have my second class today, but I was still in a “I need a nap please don’t look at me or expect any verbal or legitimate action from me for at least an hour” mood. So I guess that was okay.
I got on the bus and headed home. On my way home, Cathy sent a text asking if I wanted to go to the Teleferica. I responded saying I have a test tomorrow that I needed to study for.
I came home and ate my lunch: homemade French fries (yum), chicken breast (kind of ok), rice, and pea soup. I realized that if I add the pea soup to the rice it makes both bland tastes somewhat better, so at least that is something J
I ended up going with the group of people to the Teleferica in the end. It’s a cable car deal that goes all the way up the mountain for some INCREDIBLE views of the city. From the top, you can see 3 volcanoes, one of which is Cotopaxi – arguably the tallest active volcano on Earth, I believe. So basically, from the top, I could see all of Quito (a HUGE HUGE city), 3 snow capped volcanoes, and tons of other mountains. We had been told its best to go during the week in the afternoon. I am guessing this was true because there was no line for us to wait in and we got to see the sunset. We were above the clouds. I love love that feeling.
The sunset was incredible, I’ve got some pictures J
Looking down at the city, after sunset, with all the city lights twinkling, was a view I never want to forgive. I think I may have fell a little bit in love with the big city right then and there (although I know I will always be a country girl at heart).
While standing up on this super high cliff, I remembered when Brett and I were on the plane, landing in Quito. We were above the clouds and right as we came down through them, and we got our first glimpse of the city and the mountains, both of our jaws dropped. We just looked at each other in awe. I said to him, “This is incredible. This is where we are going to live for 4 months.” It was just so weird to remember that while I was standing on that mountain, looking down at the city that I am really living in. I am living in it. Like, not it is going to happen, it is happening. I don’t really know if that makes much sense to yall like it should, but I don’t know how else to write it down for you.
I have an anthro test tomorrow. Should be interesting. I do love the class, I just know that tests aren’t exactly anyone’s strong point and since I know there will be an essay in Spanish, I am seriously nervous. Hopefully it will be okay in the end. Well that’s it for now. Goodnight. J

some pics from the weekend

these arent very good pictures, the other girls took better ones but it will be a bit until i can get them from them so i thought id give you something to look at...

our room at the hostel. our 4 beds....thats whitney's body haha

there were the SUPER sweet log lamp deals on the end tables. i really liked them.....

i tried to turn this picture right side up for you but the computer couldnt handle it evidently. this is a big gorge deal of the big river. its pretty muddy and gross looking but it was kind of cool....

...thats all. wish there was better and more pics. maybe later haha.

weekend in Banos

In This weekend was great. Friday morning I got up and went to the place to register my VISA. It was a pain, as should be expected, because this kind of stuff is much like doing anything at the DMV at home.
I came home and waited around for a bit. Packed. Then met up with Cathy, Whitney, and Jackie. We got on the bus and headed to Baños.
Baños is incredible. It’s set in this valley surrounded by tons of waterfalls and pretty mountains. Our hostel was gorgeous. It was called Plantas y Blanco. We had our own little room, 4 beds and a bathroom.
Friday night we went out and got some dinner then came back and pretty much went right to bed. We went to an Italian place really close to the hostel. I had some kind of lasagna and it was great.
Saturday morning we got up at 7am and got dressed. We went to the terrace/restaurant on the top of the hostel where we ordered breakfast. All the girls but me got double pancakes with fruit and yogurt. They were delicious. I, on the other hand, got French toast. It was the best French toast I have ever had. It had cinnamon and eggs and bananas on top, and pure sugar cane syrup of course! So good.
Then we left to go on a hike to “La Cruz”, we thought this would take us to the cross up on the hill. Instead it took us first to La Virgin statue on the top of a smaller hill. I about died. Besides the fact that I haven’t done any serious physical climbing or hiking in a long time, the altitude killed me. I had to keep stopping, I’m sure it was killing Cathy, too, who worked at Rocky Mountain National Park as a hiking guide and was ready to go and not ever stop, basically.
We ended up at this small spa town village thingy and met a woman from ATLANTA. She was really nice, there on vacation with her husband. She told us to go to the waterfalls. At this point it was beginning to rain. The GA woman’s tour guide told us that we should just follow the road back to town and not go see the cross because it was rainy and cloudy and we wouldn’t really be able to see anything. So we followed the road. It took us all the way around the mountain. We were on the other side of the mountain from where the town was. What should have taken about 30 minutes took us 4.5 hours. We kept following the road until we finally arrived back into town.
Problem was, I hurt my hip. I felt like I needed a walker. Seriously, every time I took a step with my right leg I winced in pain. So we finally got back to the hostel, got lunch, and laid down.
Lunch was incredible. We went to this vegetarian restaurant. Thing is: the owner/cook paints his own pictures and sells them from the restaurant, too. The pictures were gorgeous. I really wanted to buy one for myself and one for someone else, too, but they were way expensive. Sorry, guys. The food was great, too. I got the “Concierta Vegeteriana”. It came with steamed beans with garlic, steamed mixed veggies (squash, peppers, carrots, something else I cant remember), tons of steamed broccoli with this great sauce on them, I cant remember the name of this vegetable but it’s purple on the outside (it was okay, but I didn’t eat most of it), and this incredibly good potato patty thing. I also had fresh lemonade. The whole thing was so good.
Whitney and Cathy decided they were gonna rent bikes and go see the waterfalls. So they did. While they did this, I took a shower, checked my email, took a quick nap, read the guidebook to see what we might want to do today, and played some checkers with Jackie. They came back around 7:30 and we went to get dinner. Went to a place called “Abuela’s”. Yes, Abuela’s. That means “Grandmother’s”. Let’s all say it together: “A-bway-lahs”. Good job, everyone! J I had Hawaiian pizza. Super good, again.
This morning we got up again at 7am for breakfast at the hostel. This morning we had eggs and an assortment of fresh homemade breads. They also came with two types of jams: strawberry YUM and pineapple YUM. It made me really miss JoJos Strawberry Jam, though, it wasn’t as good as that. But this morning with my breakfast I had strawberry juice, fresh, incredible. So good. You cant even imagine.
We then got ready and went to the actual baños. These are natural steam baths that are all around the town. There are tons of different ones you can go to but we picked these certain ones that were kind of out of town in hopes they would be less crowded. They weren’t, and it was cold so the hot one was super crowded. We got in anyways. Because of all the minerals that are in the water, the water is brown. But it is supposed to be that way. It didn’t really feel dirty but it definitely looked that way.
It was really nice, though. It was like a natural hot tub. With a bunch of Ecuadorian friends in there with you. It was really crowded but it was still nice. It made me want to go to sleep.
We left and came back to the town and ate lunch. Nothing to brag about. We then got on the bus to come back to Quito. My hip still hurts. I’m hoping after a night in a bed I am somewhat used to and some legitimate sleep (not that I get to sleep in or anything) that I might feel better.
I did make an interesting observation when were leaving Baños, though. You know how when you go to the Homeplace, for instance, and when driving down the mountain, you can see the other mountainside across from you with the valley of houses in between? Well, here, the valley has houses and the ground looks like a quilt, just like at home, divided into land plots, however, on the mountainside, where at home it looks like trees and basically just mountain, the land plots and homes continue. It was just odd to see a town-like land layout on the side of the mountain, as opposed the actual trees and nature that we see when we look at that kind of view at home. I hope you all followed that train of thought…..
Now, I have tons of homework to do before I can crash and go to sleep. I have a quiz in all three classes tomorrow. And on Tuesday I have a test in anthropology. So I guess I should get working on that stuff. But I wanted to write this all down for you and for me haha before I forgot all the good details.

photos of FUTBOL

that would be Kraig and I with our SUPER SWEEET HATS. :)

everyone but cathy (who took the picture) at the crepes and waffles after the game

the field before the game. there were large blow up Pilsner Beer Bottles on the field. It is the ´Beer of Ecuador´. It is everywhere.

jan 24

Wednesday classes are so long. I always feel like I should be done at like noon but Im not ever done until 4pm. Anyways, my classes are good for the most part so I guess I shouldnt complain. I found out also that for my volcanology class, we are going on some field trips to some crazy volcanoes around here. So that should be exciting. I think it will be fun, although, I´m not so big on hiking, I think it would be totally worth it.
Went home and read some of my book. Then did some homework. Turns out the printer on the computer at the house so I can´t print my homeworks that I write on the computer. I saved it to my flash drive and just emailed it to my professor. I hope thats okay.
I was about to get in bed and watch some grey´s before falling asleep when Kraig called me. He said that he waned to go to the Pobre Diablo and listen to the live music that was there. So, he, Jackie and I all did that. Turns out, his music professor from USFQ was performing with a jazz ensemble. The music was great. I was super impressed. There was this crazy guitar player that was incredible and the trumpet player (who is Kraig´s professor here) was really good, also.
It was a nice chill environment and we just hung out and listened to music. It was a really nice night.
I got home late though, and only got about 5 hours of sleep. I´m planning to take a nap later :) haha.
So, I came to campus early this AM to finish my homework and email it. I went to the ATM. I owe Kraig some money from last night because he paid for it all on his credit card, and I just took out money for today and the weekend.
Cathy, Whitney, Jackie, and I are going to Banos. The others are waiting for some other girl who cant go this weekend. I think Kraig wants to go with us this weekend but he doesnt want to upset anyone. Anyways, so the other group is going to the shore. Which will be nice for them, too.
I still dont know the status of my internet. If I remember after lunch today, I am planning to stop by the kiosk and ask. Also this afternoon I plan to get all my copies, etc, for registering my VISA tomorrow morning.
Tonight we are planning to go to the Welcome USFQ International Students party at that bar. Should be fun. I think there will be a lot of people there.
I LOVED MY COMMENT FROM BRITT!!! I miss you tons. I miss having you just around, even if we arent doing anything, I just miss you. But I hope your semester is going well & all is well in Blacksburg.
I guess that´s it for now. If I can, I´m going to try to give you some pictures.....
Love & hugs.

jan 22 and 23

I forgot to write yesterday, so it’s two days in one again. Yesterday was Monday, I had a serious case of the Monday’s. But it was okay. Had class all day. When I came home, I had some clean clothes on my bed.
Also, over the past weekend, I took one of the two very thick fleece blankets off of my bed and flipped over the comforter to the prettier plaid side. When I came home yesterday, the Empleada had put the 2nd thick blanket back on my bed and flipped the comforter back over. I guess there is no winning that battle.
I came home and ate. Went to my room to do some homework and ended up being in there doing homework and stuff on the computer until around 8pm. When I came out, to go to the bathroom, and get ready for bed, all the lights were off and the doors were all shut. I guess they had both gone to bed. But neither one of them had come to say hello when they got home or to say goodnight, which I found a little odd. Oh well.


Today I got up and went to my one class. We have a test in a week, on Tuesday. It says it’s a quiz on the syllabus, but today she called it a test. I’m not looking forward to it. I think its going to be very hard for me. Also, I don’t talk any in that class simply because I cant keep up with the conversation well enough to take notes, much less speak up.
I went to lunch with Cathy, Whitney, and Kraig. Afterwards, Kraig & I went to the Cabinas near campus and I called Jo to tell her Happy Birthday & that she is the loveof my life. I also called mom and talked to her for a bit.
While at the Cabinas, we also got some copies made for Kraig and I got the manilla folders I need to take to get my VISA registered (which I plan to do on Friday). We went back to campus to use the computers/internet for a bit and then headed home.
I have been here for a while. Did my homework and then ate. Watched some TV. I guess it’s about time to go to bed.
I miss Wendy’s. But, I have been eating a LOT of crepes here. There are really good crepes on campus and the crepes we had over the weekend I told you about earlier. I think when I come home I will definitely crave crepes.
When I was here alone this afternoon, I went to the kitchen and made myself a PB & J sandwich. It was glorious. Much better than the odd looking and tasting soup that came with my lunch that was prepared for me earlier.
Evidently, I don’t think we will be going to Banos this weekend. Evidently there is a girl who cannot go and so I think we may go to the beach instead. Who knows. Thursday night there is some “welcome USFQ international students party” at this bar which is supposedly really close to my house so we will probably hit that up & then Friday the plan is to register my VISA. Alone. That should be interesting.
I feel a little boring. And I wish I had more to do during the weeks. I guess I don’t really do that much during the weeks when I’m in Blacksburg, either, it just helps to not be alone. I miss my roommates.
Still waiting on my internet to get set up. I might stop by the little kiosk tomorrow when I am at school and see what the status is. I guess I should tell them that I will be at the house Friday afternoon. Problem is, that I don’t answer the phone when I am here and it rings. Also, I don’t know how to work the intercom system at the door, or even if it works. So, if they called I wouldn’t know it unless someone else was here, which I’m guessing they wont be, and if they came, I wouldn’t know how to talk to them on the intercom. Guess I should ask Veronica about that…
I have a post card to mail. Need to figure out how to do that, too. And I need to find a DVD store-deal to get me some new bedtime material. Hmm….nothing else for now. Goodnight J

jan 20 and 21

Yesterday, Saturday, the 20th, I got up and went to the museum with my anthro class. It was pretty interesting. Before I left, though, I tried the “coffee” that Veronica drinks everyday. You heat up milk in a cup and then add this “Nescafe” “coffee” and stir it up. It wasn’t bad, but I think the milk upset my stomach.
So I wasn’t feeling very well at the museum, I couldn’t enjoy it as I would have liked. But also we were in the archeology part, which isn’t exactly right up my alley. I would have liked to have seen the art portions of the museum but Veronica had wanted me to come home for lunch, and I wasn’t feeling so hot, so I just came home when we were done.
I got home around 11:30 and called her to let her know I was home. She was out and said she would be home at 3:30 to make me some food. Which means I didn’t eat from 8am to 3:30. But, in reality, she didn’t get home until 4:45. so I didn’t eat until then. That’s okay though. It was fine.
Then I hung around some more until the Wisconsin kids got home from their trip. I went to Laura’s and met them all. We ordered pizza, Dominos, and coke. Comfort food. Then we went bowling with her host brother and 2 cousins.
It was fun. Evidently, I’m a pretty decent bowler. It took me a while but I finally remembered the last time I had been bowling, it wasn’t a fun experience. But this one was! J and I won the second game with a score of 135 or something like that! J



Today, I woke up and am about to leave to head to the Quicentro to get some money from the ATM. We are all meeting at the stadium at 12:30 to get some Ecuadorian jerseys and head to the soccer game!!! Ecuador vs. The Swiss!! I’m pretty excited!!! So, I’ll write more later to tell about the game, etc.

So I left and went to the QuiCentro (the big mall in the middle of Quito) and went to the ATM. I crossed the street to meet Katie and Laura at the statue in front of the stadium, I was about 5 minutes early, so I called. Laura said she’d be there in about 20 minutes. So, I didn’t want to stand there by myself so I went back to the mall for a while.
An hour later I called her again. She said that she was sorry. But still. An HOUR later. Anyways, I met Kraig & Cathy at the stadium then. We all bought jerseys and hats, etc. I got a knockoff jersey & a hat for $5.00 total J sweet
The game was good. I’m not so big into soccer, myself. But all the people I was with are, so they helped me understand. We sang along with the fight songs, etc and it was a lot of fun. The final score was 1 – 1. We played Sweden. Which, since I don’t know anything about soccer, I don’t know if they are good, but the put up a good fight. No one scored until at least halfway through the second half.
The whole time, though, at the game, I was thinking of Daddy and Grandaddy and JoJo and VT football games. I saw a bunch of father/daughter couples there and it made me think of going to football & basketball games with daddy when I was little. There was this one older man standing in front of us who was very into the game, someone you could tell had been a devoted fan for quite some time. It’s a good thing for me to see some similarities between the cultures, that there are some things (family, tradition, passion for your history, etc) that transcend cultural, locational, and life in general differences.
When we left, we walked out of the stadium and were waiting on Katie and Laura to catch up with us so we could all go eat. A little boy, which there are many of, selling candy on the sidewalk, which there are many of, came up to me and tried to sell me candy. I said no but he kept pushing up against me. When I had to push him away from me harder because he wouldn’t leave me alone, I realized he had his hand un-zipping my coat pocket. My coat pocket, by the way, had my ATM card, my cash, my house keys, and sunglasses in it. I shoved him away and walked away quickly. But it still pissed me off.
I didn’t write about this the other day, I don’t think, but Thursday morning I went to the bus stop. I was standing there, by myself, not talking, moving, doing anything. A man got off the bus going the other direction and got about an inch from my face and said “GRINGA” in a very demeaning way. (Gringa/o, by the way, is what the word is for pretty much an American in a Latin American country. It can be an endearing term, or, in this case, a serious racial insult.) He proceeded to walk away, staring at me behind his back the whole way. He left the station and stared back at me the whole time he walked up the street. This freaked me out. But, I tried to let it go just because I know how some people are. There are still people in the USA who don’t like people who aren’t white. It’s a mind-set that some people have. And I cant change that. I was by myself so I couldn’t stand up to him or anything, which I probably wouldn’t have anyways, but it still upset me.
This little boy today at the game just really put me over the edge. This has been happening to me. Even when we are all in a big group together, me and the other people I have been hanging out with, the little kids or people selling stuff always approach me out of the whole group first. I don’t know why. I don’t look the most out of place, there are 2 girls in the group who are PLATINUM blondes, with very pale skin. I don’t look scared or vulnerable. I don’t get it! And its really starting to make me mad.
I know I have to be careful. And I have been. VERY careful. I have no false sense of security. I’m in a CITY. A very populated, with many poor people, city. But I just don’t understand why it is happening to me and no one else…..
I am fine. I don’t want anyone to worry. I will be okay. And if anything serious happens, I will call and let you know. But, I’m just frustrated right now. I know it’s probably just a coincidence that it happened to me and no one else, but it still bothered me.
Anyways, we went to the mall to eat. We ate at this place called “Crepes & Waffles”. It was magnificent. I got a crepe siciliano. It had tomatoes, cheese, sun-dried tomatoes, and basil in it. So good. Then we got dessert. Mine was called “Baby Doll”. It was a crepe with ice cream in the middle, with sliced bananas, whipped cream, and TONS of chocolate syrup on top. I hope you all are reading this and are super jealous right now J
Kraig helped me hail a cab home and made sure I was in and safe before he left me to get his own cab, since he knew I was shaken up about the events earlier. I am home now and I am probably just going to try to fall asleep since I have class at 8:30am in the morning.
On a somewhat personal note, I can feel myself going through all the stages of cultural shock/etc that they said we should prepare ourselves for. I was in the excited/nervous stage. And now, I am totally feeling myself criticizing the culture, “Why do they do that here?”, and wondering why they can’t be more like Americans. I know, it’s a horrible thing to say, and I wish I didn’t think that way, but I cant avoid it. And knowing that it’s a normal stage makes me feel better. I know it will get better, I just want to feel normal and comfortable. I know I will never fit in perfectly, but I wish I could at least LOOK or APPEAR to know what I was doing so that people didn’t think I was an easy target or something….you know?
Anyways, I think that’s it for now. Goodnight. Love you all.

jan 19

Didn’t do much of anything today. Last night I ended up going to La Mariscal with the Wisconsin kids. They made fun of my accent a lot last night. I miss Virginia.
I saw Dukes of Hazzard in Spanish. Like the tv show, not the movie. Pretty weird.
Did some reading and homework stuff for Monday’s classes.
Went to the pharmacy & got some Sudafed-ish medicine, some tape, gum, and a card for my phone, but it wont work for some reason…
Watched some TV.
I’m here now. Bored. MariClara has been crying all day. Not really sure whats going on. I know its some problem with her boyfriend. I asked if she wanted to talk about it and all she said was that she needed more than he was giving her. Pretty vague.
I don’t have anything to do tonight. The Wisconsin kids, except Whitney, all headed out of town for the night to go to the market-deal place tomorrow. But whitney has class and I have to go to the museum with my class so we are the only two here. I’m assuming the night will probably consist of me sitting in my room. Blah.
It’s been really nice weather here lately. Except the past couple of days it has started raining around 4pm and pretty much stays drizzly for the rest of the night. Its nothing too bad, just some drizzly stuff. Don’t really know what to expect when rainy season starts, though.
I got a card from JoJo & Grandaddy yesterday. It made me smile. Evidently Blacksburg has gotten some snow…..i wish I could see some!!!!
I can’t wait for my internet at the house so I can post these things, post pictures, have something at least to entertain me when I’m sitting here in my room…..
Um. I don’t have anything to say….I am bored. And it’s not like I can call someone up and see if they want to do something, because all I really know to do is go out to bars & stuff and I’m not really into doing that with just one other person. I thought about asking MariClara what she was going to do tonight and maybe do something with her, but since she’s had such a crappy day and all I don’t think it’s the best idea. And I have to get up early, I have to be at the museum at 10am. I don’t know what time I need to leave here to get there on time, I guess I should ask one of them that sometime soon.
Oh – also on TV in Spanish….The Sandlot!!!

jan 18

Got up this morning & went to anthro class. I’m feeling a little more comfortable in that class with the speaking, etc.
Afterwards, I went with Kraig, Cathy, and some other girl to a Mexican restaurant near the university. It was pretty expensive. $10.
Then kraig and I went to Payless to get a purse. It’s pretty sweet. I also found out that the Super Pa Co is where the school supplies are sold. I got 2 notebooks, so now I’m kind of set for class.
I signed up for my internet today. I do have to pay every month. I just go to the little stand on campus and tell them to renew my internet. She said that the guys should call me within like 5 days or so and let me know when they will come to set up my computer for the wireless.
I got a post card today from Daddy, dated the 8th or something like that. Which means it takes about 10 days for normal mail to get here. Who knows how long it would take a package to get here!!!
OH! I thought of something I wanted to tell Daddy, earlier, but I had forgotten about everytime I have emailed or talked to him. The first night I went out, to Bungalow 6, the bar had a bunch of college/university banner/flags things in the windows. There was a Georgia Bulldogs one and I asked the bartender about it and he said if I brought him a VT one, he would take down the GA one and put the VT one up in it’s place. If you’re thinking about sending a package, you could send a VT flag. I think they might be a little expensive, so if not, it’s cool. I just thought it’d be a way to leave a somewhat “legacy” on Quito J
Nothing else new to report. Right now I am waiting for a phone call. We are supposed to go out tonight, but its been pretty couldy and drizzly all day so I don’t know if everyone is going to bail on me or not. I hope not, because if they do, I will just sit around the house for the rest of the night….

jan 17

Today I got up at 6am. I had my volcanology/graphy class at 8:30. It was pretty good. We have all the lectures and books on our computer so we don’t have to buy copies from the Xerox center, etc. we do have a lot of presentations to do, it seems, and some papers. Including a 15 page one, which doesn’t seem exciting. But the class seems pretty interesting and the professor is super nice.
I finally got my internet to work after about 30 minutes of nothing and I got to post some pictures from this past weekend and last night’s update, hope you all enjoy.
I also finally got an email about billing & got that sent to Daddy….also, please let me know when you have taken care of that so I can cross it off my list.
I ate lunch with Cathy in the cafeteria. It was my first time eating in there. I got an Arabian pita? It was pretty good. It had a sauce that reminded me of the cucumber sauce used in Greek restaurants. Then I headed to my Boom class.
We had our quiz, 3 really super easy questions. Evidently the main character of the story was gay, I never got that from the reading. So hopefully the rest of the stories will be more up front about stuff like that J
Then I went to conversation class. Our quiz wasn’t really a quiz. The professor read out verbs out loud and whoever knew it raised their hand and used it in a sentence. Pretty sweet if you ask me.
I got on the bus and came home. Stopped by the copy place that’s 2 doors down to get more copies of my passport & other documents that I need for internet, etc.
Hopefully, I will be able to get signed up for my internet tomorrow. I don’t have exactly what they asked for, but I think I have the jist of it, I hope.
I’m still waiting for my advisor at VT to email me back about if the volcano class will transfer back as an environmental elective or not…..keep your fingers crossed.
I just finished doing my homework for tomorrow’s anthro class. I think I may try to take a quick nap.
I might be going to Brett’s later tonight for his ‘half birthday’ celebration J haha
Tomorrow night a bunch of international students are go to out again, like last Thursday. Hopefully we will get to do that because I like doing things with people, since I’m pretty much on my own most of the time haha J
Nothing else to report for the time being…..maybe more will get written later if I go out.

La Basillica

this is the street we had to walk up to get there. i about died....
see that part at the very tip top where its black. thats how high i was!!!
beautiful stained glass all throughout the church. catholic churches are so pretty!

la mitad del mundo

the monument. it has a big globe on the top.
kraig, me, cathy, laura, whitney, & brett with the huge ecuador painting at la mitad del mundo.
me & katie....at latitude 0!!!

jan 16

Today I tried to wake up at 5am, instead I woke up at 6am. So I knew I wasn’t going to make it to my 7am class on time. I went back to get and got up at 8 for my 10am class.
That class started out shaky today but it got better towards the end. It’s the anthro class that I mentioned before. She does talk much faster than I am used to, but I think that as I get used to the language I will be able to handle the class. And the class has a lot of participation from the students, so I think that listening to the students talk will be better than listening to her.
Since I couldn’t make it to the 7am class on time the very first day that I had it, I decided it wasn’t a good idea to try to do it for 4 months. I dropped it and picked up a volcanography class. Evidently, it has field trips, and it seems pretty interesting. I am hoping it will transfer back as an environmental elective for IS, but that’s still in the air right now. It’s at 8am Monday/Wednesday, so at least it’s not at 7am. And I have had an 8am class before. Now, I’m not saying I made it to every class, but maybe I’ll try harder since it’s in a different country & language J
I ate at the Italian place on campus today, again. Hawaiin pizza definitely hits the spot. Then, cathy and I split tiramisu ($2.00). It was pretty good, but evidently the chocolate mousse is where it’s at. So next time we have to get that J
I went back to the phone store today, since I haven’t been able to send/receive text messages since I bought the phone. It wasn’t working when I got there, but all of a sudden it started working so now I can text message!! Yay!! J
With the new schedule, I have 3 classes on Monday & Wednesday and only 1 on Tuesday &Thursday. Which means that tonight I have a lot of work to do. But that’s okay I guess. I have a quiz in the conversation class which I have made flash cards for and am working on studying. I also have a reading quiz in my literature class tomorrow on the small story that we are to read for tomorrow’s class. Then I have the volcanography class. We will see how that goes, but I am looking forward to it.
It made me very happy to see a comment from Jo. I love you. I miss you. And I wish I was going to be there for your birthdayyyy…..
I posted a LOT of stuff on my blog earlier today, so hopefully it’s not overload for ya’ll.
Like I said, hopefully I will have internet of my own by the end of the week….HOPEFULLY.
Only 121 days until I come home, haha J
MariClara and her friend are singing karaoke in Veronica’s room right now. They have been at it for about 3 hours now. Pretty interesting. Most of the songs they are singing are English songs. Right now, it’s alanis morisette. “….cuz I’ve got one hand in my pocket, and the other one is giving a peace sign…”
Not sure what else to write. I’m feeling a little stressed out already with all the things I need to do: VISA, Censo, study, figure out the bill situation, things I need to buy, getting internet, etc. But, that’s usually how I work best. I have an abundance of post it notes all over my life right now. Which makes me smile. J
Oh, and VT is ranked 23 in the AP poll today J
Once I get some stable, real internet, I’m going to try to make a site to post my pictures. When/If this happens, I’ll try to remember to give you guys the site. If not, I’ll try to give you guys as good of a taste as I can of what’s going on by posting a few pictures on here. (Like the ones of my bedroom I posted earlier today) However, I wont get some of the pictures of me from this past weekend until later because my batteries died & I need to get them from Brett & Kraig….

My Room

my bed with my nighttime pals: fridgie and my shwal mama made me
my desk with computer that has no internet
my SUPER huge closet. not much space to hang clothes but it still has a LOT of room....so thats it :) pretty nice.

jan 15

Today I got up around 8am again and got ready. Headed to school. I got one of my “books” from the copy center and had to go to the ATM to get more money for the rest of them. When I came back, I paid for my copies and they said to come back tomorrow for them. So I didn’t get to do my reading for today’s class. And I didn’t get to do it tonight, either. So I don’t really know when I will be able to do that.
Anyways, by that time I only had about 20 minutes until class at 12:30 because the line at the copy center was so long. So I tried to get online. For some reason the wireless internet wasn’t even showing up on the list of wireless internets on my computer so I couldn’t post these blog entries or post some of the pictures that I took.
I did go to the computer lab and check my email, though, so that stuff is kind of up to date. You wouldn’t believe the amount of emails you have when you don’t check your email for only just 4 days from VT.
I had an hour lunch break and then conversation class. It went well, I think it should be very useful and pretty easy. Just learning new vocabulary, as far as I understand. We have a quiz on Wednesday of this huge list of verbs that she gave us today. I just finished making flash cards for about half of them. I guess tomorrow will have a lot of more flash card making and studying them. Which isn’t really that exciting but it’s not too hard and should be pretty good for me, anyways.
After class I checked my email again and then went to the cell phone store. For some reason my phone cannot receive or send text messages. I cant even make text messages to send. When I push the messages button, I get a “please wait” screen and it never does anything. The guy told me he reactivated my text message packet and that within 2 hours about I should be able to send and receive texts. But it’s been about 4 hours and I still cant do anything. So I guess I will have to go back tomorrow and see what he can do L
Oh well. I went to the internet kiosk today to see what the deal is. I have to give them a copy of my passport, a copy of my house phone bill, and a copy of my student-ness at USFQ. I’m not sure what I am going to give them as a copy of proof of being a student, because I think what they want is a copy of my bill, which I don’t have.
I saw Andrew today, the other VT student, and asked him if he had received an email yet about billing, he said no. So, I guess one of these days I need to go to the international office again and ask them about that, too. But tomorrow I will plan to go to one of these copy places and getting copies of those things for them.
Right now my plans is to go on Friday to get my VISA registered, but we will have to see about that.
I took out more money than planned from the ATM today because of all the things I need to be doing since it’s the beginning of school, etc. It costs about $10 for a ½ inch worth of papers of copies for my “books”. Plus I’m pretty sure it costs $20 to register my VISA and to get my CENSO card. I need another notebook. Copies of things for the internet, VISA, and CENSO. Plus a new purse because mine is breaking.
Anyways, I came home, did some homework, watched tv for about an hour, did more homework, and here I am. I need to go to bed really soon because I’m getting up at 5am for this 7am class. I lost my schedule today so I have to get there early so I can get that information from the internet in the computer lab so I will know where to go for my 7am class and for the rest of my classes.
I guess that’s about it for now. Kind of getting into a somewhat routine, almost. Hopefully by the end of the week I will have my own internet and you guys will be able to get a real update on my days and experiences….goodnight J
OH!!! In my literature class today we talked about politics for the first hour. The Ecuadorians talked about Correa – the new president who was sworn into office today – and we talked about Bush and all. It was pretty interesting. Basically, they are divided on the future of Correa. The last president of Ecuador to fulfill his full 4 year term was in 1992 – 1996. Every president since then has been taken out of office early because the people don’t like him for some reason: corruption, etc. There are currently 4 previous Ecuadorian presidents who are living outside of the country because they are not allowed back in due to their actions while president. They don’t like Bush at all. They don’t understand what we are doing in Iraq, which none of the US students in the class could explain to them, really, because we are all democrats and we don’t really like Bush, anyways. Pretty interesting. Anyways, now, goodnight.
OH!!! Something else, haha. Last week sometime I realized that my pile of dirty clothes from the floor of my closet was gone when I got back from school. I hadn’t seen anything from them until today when I got back from school some of my underwears, bras, and socks were folded neatly on my bed. So I guess that la empleada washed my clothes, but I still don’t have my jeans, sweats, and shirts back, yet. Also, I left my pj’s on my bed today when I left, I think that she must have taken them to wash. I guess it’s a good thing I brought more pj’s!!!!

jan 14

Today I woke up early, around 9am. I called my friend Kraig at 10:15 and it woke him up. We had planned to go to Old Quito today around 11am but that didn’t really happen. We didn’t end up leaving until around 2:45ish. But it was still okay.
We got the trolley to Old Quito and had no problems. Once we got there though, I had to walk up this really steep hill to get to La Basilica and I thought I was going to pass out. I don’t know why the altitude doesn’t seem to bother anyone else but me, but its starting to annoy me a bit. Once we reached the top of the hill, we were at La Basilica. It is HUGE. It’s so high. Well, I know there are taller buildings in the world but this might have been the highest I have ever climbed in my life. I know that I’ve been to some high places, but this was a completely different experience.
We got into the church and saw the confessional booths and some cool Christmas decorations and then headed for the stairs. Two flights up and I was already out of breath. But I pushed myself because I knew it was a once in a lifetime experience. I’m in a different country for goodness sake, I’m going to do everything I can get the chance to!
At first, the stairs were normal. We got to level three and we looked through binoculars and saw the HUGE Virgin statue that is on the hill in front of us. Then we found the real stairs, which is where I about peed my pants. These stairs were much smaller and closer together. We reached a landing, where I felt like I had finally conquered the Bell Tower. No. I was completely wrong. The next stairs were winding stairs, you know, the rickety old metal winding stairs that go around in circles. I got to another landing, but the winding stairs were still leading upwards. I mustered the strength to get to the top of the green stairs, and it was really worth it!! But then, there was a ladder. A metal ladder. I did it. I went up the ladder. And the next one after that. The third and final ladder however, had rungs about 2 feet apart from each other. I was scared out of my mind. But I did it. Once you reach the final landing, you are practically in the top of the cone of the Bell Tower. And there’s not really a landing, it’s like wire criss crossing with beams about a foot apart from one another. I didn’t get off the ladder. I sat on a beam at the top of the ladder and had Kraig take my picture J. I was SO proud of myself. I was about to die. And I did all this in my Birkenstocks, mind you!!! You should all be super proud. It was a really huge feat for me. I really thought I couldn’t do it!!!
Anyways, then we went to the other smaller tower, which we had to cross an Indiana Jones-like bridge to get to, in addition to some more freaky ladders. It was worth it though. The view, from both of the towers, was INCREDIBLE. You could see SO much!!!!! Oh it was amazing!!!
Then we met up with some other girls and ate at a Fair Trade restaurant that we found. It was somewhat more expensive than most of the places I have eaten at here, which means my sandwich was about $4.00 and my drink $2.00 (compared to a $2.00 meal complete with drink and dessert). But it was good. The food was really fresh and really good. And it made me happy to see a Fair Trade place. The restaurant also had a gift shop where Kathy bought a pair of earrings for $20. I found a really cute purse but it was $37, which is a little out of my price range. I almost did it just because I was so happy to see a Fair Trade place, but I decided against it.
I do need a new purse, though. The strap on mine is falling apart from the bag. Just a side note. I will fix it asap J
Then, Kraig, Brett & I headed for the bus. We actually got on the wrong bus and at the stop where I said, “Boys, we need to get off. This is not right.” We realized we were actually at the street we were looking for. We had gotten on the wrong bus, but it was about a 15 minute walk from where we were to Brett’s house. So it worked out splendidly. We hung out on Brett’s HUGE porch/balcony for a while and then Kraig and I grabbed a taxi home.
I called mom because she had called me yesterday and I hadn’t gotten a chance to call her back yet. Looks like I am going to get that internet for the house tomorrow if I get a chance. Also looks like Wachovia only charged me $2 for my withdrawal, which isn’t too bad.
I also found out that my Hokies beat the UNC Tarheels J Way to go, boys!!! I will have to tell the few people that I have met from NC tomorrow about that news if I see them J
Hmm…I guess that’s about it. I’m gonna watch a little Grey’s & then head to bed. Getting up early tomorrow because I have a lot to do before my class at 12:30pm.

jan 13

Last night when I fell asleep I set my alarm for 10:15am. I woke up at 12:30 when Kraig, one of the guys from Wisconsin, called me. He said that everyone was meeting him at his house at 1:15 to head to La Mitad del Mundo. Knowing that I have few friends, they are mainly who I have been hanging out with, and that if I didn’t take him up on the offer that I would probably sit around the house alone all day, I quickly went to find Veronica. I found her in the kitchen and let her know I was going to take a quick shower and head to my friends house and the whole plan.
I got ready in perfect time, called a cab, and got to Kraig’s house at 1:15. However, we ended up not leaving his house until around 2pm when Katie and Laura got there. We didn’t get to La Mitad del Mundo until really around 4pm. It was worth it, though.
We were higher up so the clouds were like around us. We took lots of pictures, went to a gift shop (where I bought a present for one of you reading this…. J ), ate, got ice cream, and headed back.
When we finally figured out how to work the buses and get back to someone’s house, we got back to Laura’s house. We decided to watch Walk the Line J. It’s so weird how much people from Wisconsin are like southerners. I guess it’s the western ideal that is part of the southern ideal. I don’t really know.
But I came home, and here I am. That’s a really short synopsis of the day considering that it was so long and we did so much, but I guess its all more or less better to tell in pictures.
Tomorrow, the plan is to go to Old Town and see the churches and architecture. So that should be fun.
Veronica told me that mom called me today while I was gone. I’m sure she thinks I hate it here because mama has called so much. The second time mama called, on the second day I was here, she asked me when I hung up if something had happened. She was really worried that something was wrong and that I was in trouble or that something was wrong with me. I’m sure that since mom called today to talk to me for a third time that she really thinks that I hate it or I don’t like them or something.
MOM – YOU CAN CALL MY CELL PHONE. I’M FAIRLY SURE I SENT YOU THE NUMBER IN AN EMAIL. IF YOU USE THE CALLING CARD, YOU SHOULD BE ABLE TO CALL IT. That way, Veronica wont worry so much that something is wrong.
I do like it here. I’m much happier now that I have friends to do things with and hang out with, etc. My family still doesn’t really talk to me that much. They are really nice, that’s not in question at all, its just that it kind of seems like they expect me to do my own thing, which is good, I guess, to a certain extent. I just kind of want to do some things with them, like a normal Ecuadorian.
In response to Trisha’s (I think) comment on an earlier post, I am fairly positive they cant see this blog. I mean they probably could if they actually got on the internet, decided to go to a blog website, happened to end up on this one, and happened to find MY particular blog. But since I don’t get online at the house, its not like they know I go to that website or anything. And I haven’t mentioned it to them, so I think they probably don’t read it J
I guess that’s about it for now. I think now it’s time to watch a bit of a Grey’s episode and pass out. By the way, I watch Grey’s on my laptop, in case any of you were wondering, I do not have a television in my room. Pictures of the room will come as soon as I get internet again and it’s a stable connection. Also, I really need to go to some store and see if I can find some other DVD TV show to watch. Although I have already seen all of the Grey’s Season I shows before this trip, watching the same 15 episodes over and over will eventually get a little old, I think.

jan 12

Today I didn’t do much of anything. I would have normally loved this, a day of nothing, being a lazy bum. But today wasn’t as enjoyable as I had expected it to be. I woke up pretty early, around 9am. I got in bed last night around 2am.
We went to La Mariscol to a bar called Bungalow 6. It was really cute and comfortable. There were all these little niches where people could sit and talk, etc. and then there was the big dance floor. There were a whole bunch of American students that went down there last night and it was a lot of fun, hanging out with them and dancing, etc. The only thing is that a lot of the people I was hanging out with are all friends, like from the same home university so I feel like I just kind of joined in on their thing. Which is okay, I guess, but it’s like they call each other and ask to do things with each other and I’m just here alone.
Which is why today I wasn’t so happy with the lazy day as I normally would be. I finished my book that I started on the way here, like I woke up and sat in bed with my iPod and my book until around noon reading. Which was good, because I felt a sense of accomplishment for finishing my book, but also not normal, at all.
Eventually, I was alone in the house and went into my host mom’s room to watch some tv. It makes me really happy that I can watch The OC and Gilmore Girls and Scrubs and other shows that I watch at home, because that way I at least have something to do rather than just flip through a bunch of Spanish channels where I really don’t get what is going on in the show.
For lunch today, the empleada made me a sandwich and juice. This is NOT the normal lunch. But I think it was because tonight they are having family over for a big dinner, like for my host mom’s birthday. They are having tacos, etc. So, I think that’s why I had a small lunch. Which is what I’m used to at home….anyways, I don’t know what the sandwich was. It was kind of like a chicken salad/tuna salad consistency with the chunks of meat, you know. But it didn’t taste like either one of those at all. I thought maybe it was tuna salad because I had tuna yesterday in my lunch and maybe it was the leftover tuna, but it didn’t taste like it. It wasn’t bad, it was just a taste I couldn’t recognize. The juice was really good, a lemony juice.
Anywho, nothing else really to report. I really need to get my cell phone fixed so that I can get the $10 card I bought put on there so I will have some minutes to use, but I probably won’t go do that until Monday. Unless no one calls me to do anything tomorrow or Sunday. In which case I will probably just ride the bus to Cuenca and do it out of pure boredom.
I’m guessing this probably won’t get posted until Monday when I get to school to have internet but it’s JoJo’s Birthday!!! I tried to call her house earlier and didn’t get an answer. I also tried to call mom & dad’s house and got no answer there, either. I would have called the cell phone but I’m having to call collect because I cannot get this phone card mama bought me to work with any phone. It just doesn’t work. I need to get myself a real calling card, too, so I don’t have to call collect everytime I want to call home.
Tonight I ended up not staying for the “birthday party”. People started arriving around 9pm and I realized that MariClara and I were the only 2 people under the age of 35. They were all drinking brandy and being really adult like. They didn’t really seem interested in me, either. So around 9:45 I decided to go to meet a few of my friends that I have met at USFQ. All the kids from Wisconsin, I mean. We met at El Pobre Diablo and hung out there for a while and then headed to La Mariscol. It was a good night.
At La Mariscol there is a hamburger joint called “G Spot”. Although the name may lead you to think it’s a not so classy place, it really serves some good food. The hamburgers are Mike’s level burgers, not as big, but as juicy and very tasty. The French fries are on a high level, too. They use a lot of seasoning down here, but the fries are still pretty tasty.
I got home around 2am, I think. But the party was still going strong here. Evidently karaoke was the activity of choice and they were going strong dancing, stomping, and singing past 4am. I’m glad they had a good time, but it was interesting that the older generation stays up that late drinking, etc.

jan 11

Today was day 2 of classes. I had an anthropology class at 10am and then a dance class. Anthropology was very scary. Im not so sure about that one, the professor speaks VERY quickly and makes no apologies. I think it can be okay, I just will have to work really super extra hard in it. Which I guess is expected when you are taking classes at a university in your second language. Anyways, then I hung around, trying to get the wireless to cooperate with me and ate some lunch. Then I had dance class. We all took off our shoes and socks and sat in a circle while the teacher read us the syllabus. Evidently you have to write essays on dance, and at the end of the semester, each student is to choreograph and perform their own dance routine on a stage in front of a bunch of people. This is NOT what I had in mind. I thought it would be salsa lessons. Haha, boy was I wrong! Anyways, so I dropped that dance class and now I will be taking black and white photography from 7am to 8:30am Tuesdays & Thursdays. At least its photography. We will see how the 7am thing goes after next week…but I think I can do it, as long as I get to bed early.
Anyways, I came home and watched some tv. Luckily I found a channel with my own shows on it. I watched the OC and Gilmore Girls, in English! Then I watched some criminal show on a channel that resembled HBO, it had no commercials and I thought it was a movie until 2 hours later it ended without really ending the story and said “next time…”
Now I am waiting for my friend Whitney from Wisconsin to call me back and let me know she has a taxi and is coming to pick me up. A bunch of students, international ones and I think some Ecuadorian ones, too, are heading to La Mariscal tonight. It’s a downtown/bar/club area where everyone hangs out a lot. Also, I found out today I live like 5 minutes away! I decided not to go to the South American Explorers Club because I didn’t see any of those girls today on campus and I don’t have a phone number for any of them and I didn’t want to go by myself.
I also heard about this internet thing that’s like a wireless system but you can sign up and use it wherever you are. It costs like $27 and you get your own wireless. So I think I might take advantage of that so I can go ahead and have internet in the house when I am here, it would be a lot easier to do the things I need to do and I would feel more connected with the world. Also, from what I understand, internet cafes charge around 1.00 to 1.50 for an hour of use of internet. I think if I did it that way I would probably use more than $27 worth of time. Suggestions? Comments?
I went to the bank that is right beside campus today to withdraw some money. It didn’t say anything about a fee when I was doing it so I just got $50 and then it gave me a receipt and said that I had withdrawn $50 with $0.00 as the “costo transaccion” = transaction cost. So I’m not sure if I believe that or not but if you (DADDY) could look on my account and see what it says about that withdrawal, I’d appreciate it to know exactly what happened.
Nothing else I can think of for now. Tomorrow I don’t have any classes, which is pretty sweet now that I realize that Thursdays really do start my weekend.
I really do miss home, though. If I don’t sit and think about home and the people there, it’s okay. It is really just when I am at the house or at school by myself and don’t have anything to occupy my mind, that’s when I realize how alone I am and how much I miss home, family, friends, Blacksburg, etc.

Day 4

It’s only 4:30 and I’m already happier today than I was yesterday. I think actually doing things has put me in a better mood. Since I got my phone yesterday, today at school when I saw people I knew, I could get their numbers. So anyways, today I got up around 8:30am, which could also be a leading factor in my happiness, considering I’ve been waking at 6:00am. I took a shower and got ready. I left the house around 9:30am, when our maid was arriving. I got on the bus, transferred at the station, and arrived at the university with plenty of time to spare of course. I left early on purpose in order to set up my internet on campus with the people there and to find my classes ahead of time so that I would be on time. I did get my internet set up, as you all know by now due to the earlier postings of days 1 & 3, and realized that the university WiFi has sites such as MySpace and Facebook blocked, like William Byrd did. I wonder why a University, a college-aged group of people, have sites blocked for them. I don’t quite understand this, but oh well. I will try to find ways around this. I emailed some, updated the blog, etc.
Then at 12:15 I headed to my first class, which started at 12:30pm. Evidently they do things differently here. At VT, on the first day of class, most people are usually early. Here, most people are on time, or a few minutes late. I can assume that this correlates to the idea of time in a circle that is prevalent here. At home, we see time as a line, with a beginning and an end. However, here, they see time as a circle, many things happen at once, and some things may never end. Anyways, the first class is a Spanish lit class, much like the one I just took at VT last semester. It sounds interesting, the hardest part will be reading, of course. The professor suggested that the students buy one of the books in English, as well as Spanish, because the majority of students are American, and he said that that particular story is very difficult to understand. I then had lunch, a pesto vegetarian crepe, very yummy (By the way, the food on campus so far has been fantastic. The only downfall is that there is no meal plan so your money goes quickly. Although the food is cheap, it adds up). Then I headed to my Intermediate Conversation class. This class is basically 8 american students who need help. It actually seems very interesting. Every Monday a student presents a news article of their choice and teaches the class 10 new vocabulary words to help us communicate better. Then they present 3 open-ended, opinion-like questions which the class then attempts to answer. Every Wednesday, a different student presents a topic (ie: drug trafficking, political status, etc) and 10 new vocabulary words associated with that topic, also asking 3 open-ended questions. The whole point of the class is to talk and to learn new, and necessary, vocabulary that we may not/do not already know. All in all, it was a good day.
At the end of classes, I found my bus & headed home. The only problem I have encountered today was that I could not open the front door when I arrived at the house. We all know that I have problems with keys, but this was especially difficult. Luckily, MariClara was home and opened the door for me. However, I do plan to get either her or Veronica to show me exactly what to do so that tomorrow hopefully I can be a big girl and open a door by myself.
I ate my lunch which had been prepared for me which consisted of: tuna (not tuna salad, just the meat), rice, and a potato soup thing. I also decided to treat myself to some bread & jelly. It was nice. Probably the first meal that I have eaten plus some since I arrived. Usually my lunches that they have prepared for me have been a meat, rice, potatoes, and a soup. Which is fine by me, anything with potatoes involved is a-okay. Now, I’m not sure what I am going to do. I actually made myself a list of things to do but they all involve the internet or going somewhere, which I’m not ready to do by myself yet. I need to: find an ATM, register my VISA, get my Ecudarian ID, get a third notebook for class, probably need to get some books, too, E-mail Calvera to inform her I did not get the classes I had planned, get a map of Ecuador.
Tomorrow, a few girls that are also international students and I are going to this place called South American Explorer Club. It’s basically like a nice little club that helps people out that are here. I mean, how more basic could that sound. The “clubhouse” has wireless internet (which I hope wont have blocked sites), coffee & tea for members, activities every Thursday night, lots of connections for volunteering around the area, and lots of connections to good travel agencies & bus companies for traveling around the country, etc. I’m pretty pumped about it. I’d like to get involved with something like that. It costs $35 to join, but I think that it’d be worth it to not have to pay for wireless internet in an internetcafe and to have those connections. Thing is, I need an ATM before then. It’s not too far from the house, either. But, Veronica said I should probably take a taxi, anyways.
Evidently, the maid took my dirty clothes to wash them today. I don’t really know how I feel about that. She has been opening my closet to put away my shoes and pajamas when she comes to clean & make my bed, but I didn’t really think she would just open my closet and take my dirty clothes away. Oh well, I guess it’s her job.
Seems like I have a whole lot to write about when I sit down to write, when really, I haven’t done much of anything. I guess if anyone sat down and wrote hour by hour what they did it would probably take up as much space. For some reason, being in another country makes detailing out your life more interesting, I guess. Hope you all are enjoying this, although, I think it might bore you. that’s all for now.



...i wrote that last night. right now i am waiting for time for my modern dance class. im scared. nothing else really to report for the time being. just waiting for friends to happen in my life so i can have a life haha.....much love.

Day 3....late also :)

Evidently I lost day 2. I don’t know how or when but I saved it last night and now it’s gone. Oh well, today I went to orientation again. Waking up at 6:30am is not my idea of a good day. Anyway, I got there and didn’t really know where to go, once again. J once everyone else arrived we got into our groups and had a tour of the campus. Although the campus is MUCH smaller than VT, I am sure that I will be getting lost tomorrow, and many days to come. Then we had a talk on health and how to take care of yourself while in Ecuador. I guess I’m just kind of sick of hearing warnings about getting sick and being careful. I hope I don’t get sick, of course, but I think it’s mostly common sense. Don’t eat the food on the streets, drink water, stay hydrated, be careful with the altitude, etc. anyways, then we had an hour for free because the guy who was supposed to present on politics couldn’t make it for some reason, which I was kind of sad about. But I went to eat at the Italian restaurant on campus with a girl I met yesterday, Missy. The food was wonderful. I had a Hawaiian pizza with real pineapple, it was so juicy. It made me miss home. But it was very good. Then we came back together and were separated into groups for registration. It took forever. I waited at least an hour and a half just to get into the room with the advisor lady to register for classes. Once I got in there and showed her that I knew exactly what classes I wanted, she was elated. Evidently no one else had come prepared. But coming prepared did not make it any easier for me. It took me at least an hour with her to get my classes because either they were full or they overlapped with the classes that I had already signed up for. So, all in all, I got one of the classes that I wanted. I’m in “LatinAmerican Boom”, Intermediate Spanish Conversation, Andean Anthropology, and Modern Dance. The first of which is the only one I had picked out ahead of time. I’m very disappointed with my schedule, but I guess I’ll have to make do. I really wanted photography but I couldn’t get in it. I couldn’t get into the ecology class, as a matter of fact, I tried to find some other environmental class to fulfill my environmental elective for IS but there were none that were my level of science and that were open. And you all can guess how excited I am about modern dance. That’s not really my kind of thing, but I’m gonna try it and see how it goes. Tomorrow my classes start at 12:30pm with Latin American Boom and end at 3:30pm. Those classes are Monday & Wednesday. Tuesday & Thursday classes start at 10:00am and I am done at 3:30pm. No Friday classes which is kind of nice, it would probably mean more to me if I had friends and stuff to do, which I guess I will eventually. Anyways, all in all, I was not pleased with the registration process. But, I guess a few summer classes are in order if I plan to get the major/minors I had in mind previously. When my host sister picked me up this afternoon we went and bought a cell phone. $46.00 plus a $10.00 card. You buy the cards in $3, $6, or $10 increments and they are worth so many minutes. However, I have not figured out how to use that calling card mama got for me with this cell phone yet. I cannot figure it out. I dial the country code and it says it’s not a number. I dial the country code with the 800 number and it says it’s still not a number. I don’t know what to do. I may end up just buying a calling card here to use. Also, when I get a chance I will email the number to you guys. This is important because all incoming calls are free to me, they don’t take away from my minutes that I get with the cards I buy. It’s better to have people call me than to call people. I’m running low on cash which means I have to figure out how/where to use an ATM. Tomorrow I am facing the bus system. Alone. Everyone else that has done it says it’s pretty good, but I’m still kind of nervous. Also, we have to go to register my VISA sometime. AND I have to get a CENSO card, which is my Ecuadorian ID while here. I’m so frustrated because I feel like I have spent a lot of money already, I buy lunch on campus and I have bought a phone, and because I thought I was DONE with the annoying paperwork. These two things (VISA & Censo) take at least 3 days or so, and each cost $20, I believe. I’m just ready to be done with the paperwork and be able to relax, make friends, go out, have fun, see the city.
This may sound really mean, but right now I’m also a little disappointed with my family. They are really nice, they are just a little boring. I hear about the other host families, other students are watching sports with their families, meeting other family members outside of the house, hanging out with their little brothers & sisters…..all I do when I am here is sleep & eat some. I watched some TV with MariClara tonight but we didn’t talk. I guess it will get better, I just wish it was more comfortable like everyone else. Oh well, I guess it’s about time for me to get in bed. Here’s to hoping things get MUCH better…

Day 1....a little late

I am in Ecuador. The trip here was enough excitement to last me for a while, but I don’t have much time to get over that because tomorrow is orientation @ 8am. The flight from Roanoke to Charlotte was fine, all 6 of us on the plane had a great 45 minute flight. Then from Charlotte to Miami…I was in seated in front of 3 year old triplets. 3 year old triplets that like to sing. 3 year old triplets that like to sing loud. Anyway, I made it through that flight with the help of a Red Bull. I arrived in Miami a little late because of a slight delay in Charlotte but it didn’t really matter considering I had 8 hours to waste in Miami. Once I got off the place I went to baggage claim and found all my bags. I found them, moving them all together at once by myself was a feat, one that took me about 1 minute per foot that I got them away from the baggage carousel. Then, I realized there was no one in the Miami airport where I was. And I didn’t really want to stay there COMPLETELY alone. So I went upstairs. Here I found a few more people who were sleeping overnight waiting for their respective airline employees to arrive in the morning to check them in. I found a nice carpeted cement floor area next to a wall with an outlet and plopped myself and my 4 bags down. At one point in the night I decided I really wanted to go to sleep, however, the extremely uncomfortable position, 15 minute updates over the speaker of the time, and the people walking by made that an impossibility. Around 4:30am I sat up and started speaking to the guy beside me, turns out he was in the same boat as me. His name is Brett, from Michigan, and IS major, too, and is studying at USFQ this semester like me. So the two of us loaded up my cart and headed to the check in, where we were greeted by at least 75 other passengers who wanted to check in and check their baggage. 1.5 hours later, we had checked in. I was informed I had to stand in another line, the same size of course, and have my bags go through security. My flight was scheduled to leave at 7:15am, I got through this security baggage area at 7:15am. I ran up the stairs, only to find a 3rd incredibly huge line of passengers, the security line for the actual people getting on the plane and their carry on luggage. This took about 15 minutes longer. My gate was 23, out of 26. Meaning, I had to run all the way down the hall, along with about 40 other fliers running by my side. I reached the gate as they announced “Final Boarding Call for Flight 517 to Quito”. Needless to say the flight was late leaving and I had about had a panic attack in the process of getting to the plane. I was tired, grouchy, hungry, really super thirsty, I was light-headed and I thought I would puke or faint one before I even got to the plane. But I made it, and then I had to wait for 1 bag at baggage claim forever…the 1 small suitcase that I had planned to carry on that I had to pay an extra $100 to check, was the very last bag to come off the cars from the plane. Anyway, I found my bags, went through security again, and found my mother, Veronica. We got all the bags in her car somehow and came home. The city is bustling with people. I know that there is a pharmacy really close to the house where I am staying and there is a shopping mall, “El Jardin” with a popular park next to it also nearby. My understanding is it will take about 20 minutes to drive, 35 minutes for the bus to get to campus. Veronica has let me know she will be driving me Monday and Tuesday for orientation and she will be showing me how to use the bus system for future use. We got to the house, I got a tour, I have a cute little bedroom, it’s actually bigger than my room in the apartment in Blacksburg and my own bathroom (right across the hall from my bedroom). I then unpacked while Veronica prepared some lunch: beanie weenies, salad, and potatoes, with lemonade to drink. I got a lesson on how to get in and out of the house, my keys, etc. Then, I laid down for a nap. I just woke up a few minutes ago and I feel a little bit better but I still am extremely sleepy and my body is very tired. I have had a headache for quite a while now and I want to eat but I know I should let my body get on some kind of schedule. There is one daughter in the house, she is 23, maria clara. There are 2 dogs, one really old black dog that doesn’t really do much but waddle around and one younger dog, that likes to bark, lick, and sniff. But they are friendly and they don’t do much else other than bark, and I’m sure once they get used to me they won’t even do that as much. Well, I guess that’s about it for today. I asked Veronica about getting a cell phone & she said she has one for me. Once I get that and get it figured out and set up, etc. I will get that number to you guys. Oh, and I’ve also been smacked in the face with reality that I’m not so great at Spanish, not that I thought I really was. But it’ll take some practice…

HOLA

hola amigos y familia. i'm here in ecuador. i love my family & so far things are going great. i have a whole entry about yesterday ready to post but since i dont have internet @ the house i havent been able to post it yet. and it's saved on my laptop so this is just a quick entry to tide you over until i can get wireless somewhere to post the already written synopsis.
today i got up and got ready. then my host mother drove me to campus. on the way she showed me the bus that i will be taking to and from school. it costs .25 a ride. looks pretty easy. today was orientation. long. lots of talking and information thrown at me but no registering for classes yet. right now i am waiting for my host sister to come and pick me up. she should be here around 3:30. ive met some nice people. really nice. everyone is nice here but no real friends yet, of course. hopefully once i get a phone and spend some more time with these people it will be a really enjoyable experience. for now its just hanging out @ home, which is fine. i just like to be able to hang out with friends, you know.
anywho, nothing else to say really for today because all ive done so far is orientation stuff and eat. but later tonight i may write another entry on my computer to post at a later date if something exciting happens.
thanks for all the comments. they are much appreciated.
:)

New Blog

Hey!! This is where I will be posting my "pictures" and "journal entries" concerning my adventures in Quito, Ecuador! Right now I am waiting/wasting time until my flight leaves tonight @ 7:20pm from Roanoke. I'll be in the Miami airport overnight tonight so you...you being whoever may read this....might get a phone call in the middle of the night with me on the other end of the line saying "entertain me, please". Kthanks.