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.