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.