ecuadorian look alikes and hokie pride

hola.
not exactly sure what happened with the comments from the last entry. i dont really get it but if you´re having fun keep going. im gonna go ahead and say the 1st was was jen.
anywho - couple of things to share...

• a woman gave me a flier this morning, and again this afternoon, about studying abroad in the United States. i was pretty happy about this because it made me think maybe they think im ecuadorian, which i doubt, but made me smile anyways to think i dont stand out too too much. :)

• also - evidently someone etched the VT logo into the UVa basketball court. i´m not exactly sure how this happened but from what i understand, its like seriously carved into the wood, like under the gloss. also from what i read, it has been there all season. what slow people there are at UVa :) i was just pretty happy by this information. they dont really seem to care that we mark our territory over there, either. they havent done anything to us. VT-2, UVa-0. just so you know :)

i guess thats about it. i just finished my LIT test. it wasnt that bad. 7 short answers and an essay. i think i did pretty well considering its all in spanish and im completely lost the majority of the time when i read the stories haha.
tomorrow i have an anthropology test. monday i have a conversation test and a volcanology test. ahhh. but only 1 class left today and 1 class-test tomorrow and its the weekend :)
mucho amor.

Duality

so, the past few days i have really come to terms with my life at home vs. my life in ecuador. its pretty difficult to live 2 lives like this. i'm having tons of fun here in ecuador, dont get me wrong. its just kind of hard to find the balance at times.

today i found some duality in the 2 worlds:
1. while on the bus on the way back to quito from campus, i saw a car with a sticker in the window that said "Si a la vida. No a las armas" - translates to "Yes to life. No to guns." It was just nice to see something that made me think of home and my life at home and realize that it's not completely different there. I mean I had already found many similarities between Ecuador and the States, but it was just a nice reminder.

2. I also saw, while on the ride home, a guy in a #7 Michael Vick Falcons jersey. Whether or not he knows about Virginia Tech and where Michael Vick actually is from, I dont know, but it was a comforting thought that the worlds aren't too far apart.

Just thought I'd share. I can't believe I'm almost halfway done here! It's ridiculous to think that after all this time here I'm going to go back to the US and get thrown right back into that life there. I'm excited to see everyone, don't get me wrong, but I'm really gonna get home, shower, and live life. I guess that's how it is, though, even when you need a break, life keeps going.

Ok, I have a LIT test tomorrow that I need to finish studying for. I'm super nervous about it. Better get back at it, then.
loves.

Happy Birthday

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ERIC!!!!

sorry its a little late. hope you had a fun birthday :)

this weekend was fun. friday i went to the Quicentro (mall) with Adam for awhile and then we went out that night. We met some more people from Wisconsin(surprise surprise) and had an all around good time.

Saturday, I slept in!!! YAY!!! and then met up with Katy. We all headed to aChinese restaurant and then to the park for a while to sit and hang out. Cathygot a HUGE bug-rock-something in her eye though and couldnt see for a while.she ended up going to the eye dr and getting a sweet eye patch!!

Sunday (yesterday) I went shopping with Katy and her host mom. I bought a sweetgreen-black polka dotted dress for Renae´s wedding when I get back to the USand then pretty much chilled for the rest of the day except for homework.

Ive got 2 tests this week. Also, Sra. Calvera (from VT) is coming to ecuadorthis week (its VTs spring break) and i will be meeting with her thursday andthen going to dinner with her and andrew thursday night.

Saturday is Cathy´s birthday so I´m sure we will celebrate for that :)

Sarah´s aunt died this weekend unexpectedly, if you could keep her and herfamily in your prayers, I´d appreciate it.

Thanks.I guess thats about it for now. No bridge jumping in this entry!! :)

jumping off a bridge

it looks super close to me in this picture. but it wasnt haha....sorry its facing the wrong way

me actually swinging in the air....

me running through the group tunnel after i got down there. :)

some pics from carnaval weekend

bulllllllll fight

another sweet picture from the fight....you can kind of see some blood, but this is nowhere near as bad as it got

fire twirler on the top of the volcano. sweet picture.

pregnant woman with her pretty body art. there was a huge waterfall on her back

decorations on the church for the festival of flowers and fruit. all made of fruit, flowers, and bread.

these are some incredible things: they are kind of like sweet potatoe donut balls with sugar on the outside. so goooooodd....

carnaval weekend

hey. i just got back from an amazing weekend celebrating carnaval.

we left thursday night from Quito and got in Ambato around 9pm. Our hostel was super ghetto. the bathroom was a community bathroom, a shower and toilet and dirty sink. the beds were super hard. our light was hanging from a string from a hole where the wires were in the cieling. the toilet had no seat. super ghetto. but we had fun anyways.

we ate pizza and played card games thursday night bc it was too late to do anything really. then friday morning we got up. ate breakfast. met the others who came late. and then we just hung out around the city basically. ambato doesnt really have that much to offer. a couple people went to a museum. i didnt feel like spending money on it - sounded like the same thing as the museum we saw in Banos last time. we went to a great restuarant from my guide book for dinner. i had a super good chicken salad sandwich and raspberry juice. and great ice cream. some went out to a bar that night but i stayed in. whitney, cathy, andrea, and i just hung out that night .

then saturday we went to the park in the middle of the town where it was much like festival in the park at home. one thing that was different though: there was an art contest. but it was art on bodies. female bodies. the art was BEAUTIFUL. and there was this one pregnant woman as one of the canvases and it was beautiful. very beautiful. it was interesting though because the women only had on underwears. well and paint all over their bodies. but it was really cool. there was art and crafts being sold. and there was a huge fruits and flowers celebration design on the front of the church in the middle of town. for ambato - its the festival of fruits and flowers more than carnaval. so that was that.
that night we went to the bull fight. so cool. i mean cool that i can say i have been to a real bull fight. the people wore cowboy hats. the matadors wore real matador outfits. and the bulls were real bulls. it was entertaining for a while. until the bull started bleeding profusely. and then i think the 3rd or 4th bull when he was stabbed for about the 6th time, he started bleeding out of his mouth. i couldnt watch. it was all very gruesome. if you ever get the chance, you should go. but it definitely also gives you a chance to see the machismo culture at its best. man proving his masculinity by fighting the meanest male animal of nature. interesting.

we then headed to Banos. all the buses had already left for the night so we had to take cabs. $25 for 4 people for a 45 minute ride to Banos. not too bad if you ask me for a taxi. but definitely more than the $2 bus ride. oh well. we got there and checked into our super nice hostel. andrea had gotten us this hostel right in the middle of town on the plaza. really super close to everything going on. we had individual bathrooms. clean. cable tv in all the rooms. we had 4 rooms of 2 people and it was just like a hotel in the states. but for only $15/night. nice.

sunday we got up and went to an adventure company. we went swing jumping. if you have never heard of it, the idea is this: there are 2 bridges parallel to one another. they have a rope connecting the 2. then there is a rope that hangs down from the connecting rope. that rope connects to your harness. and you jump off one bridge, much like just simply jumping off a bridge into water, but instead of actually getting in the water, you swing back and forth. MUCH MUCH MUCH FUN. so scary. but VERY fun. i was last to go, which meant i had no one on the bridge with me but the man in charge and some spectators, the rest of the group was down at the river watching and waiting on me. so i was scared. but it was INCREDIBLE.

that night we went out into town. carnaval, like previously stated, is basically just one big party for the whole town. we were under the impression that it included water being thrown on EVERYONE in sight. in Banos, its more foam. like shaving cream, but colored foam. everyone has cans of spray foam and you just attack anyone and everyone in sight. its a lot of fun. we were in the streets of Banos for a couple of hours just foaming and being foamed. so much fun. haha. then we sat down to hang out for a bit on the stairs of our hostel and we were talking there sitting and a car drove by and threw an egg. the egg hit me in the mouth. i almost threw up. so i went upstairs and immediately got in the shower and that was the end of the night for me. but it was fun until then. it was just pure innocent fun until the egg was involved.

the next morning we got up and went white water rafting. so much fun. let me just tell you what happened:
we got there and went in the van to the river. we had our lesson and all piled in our boat. we started going down the river. nice. beautiful scenery. lots of green and fun. then we got to these rapids, our guide told us to get out and float down them like he had previously shown us. everyone thought he was kidding. but he was serious. so we all got out of the boat and started floating. i was right beside my friend katie. i got turned around in the current and when i was facing forward again, i realized katie was gone. i was about 30 yards away from the raft, everyone else was hanging onto the raft being pulled in and i couldnt get in the current to get back to where they were. they were yelling at me to lay on my back and get back in the current but i was already in a super rocky area and everytime i tried to move, i hit another rock. i was basically being pulled down the river, my butt hitting every rock possible and i was super far away from the raft. i was really scared for a bit. but i finally got on my back and tried to swim some and finally got back. but it was pretty touch and go for a bit hah. an adventure though.
so we all get back in the raft and start going down the river again. we get to some rapids and get through them. then once out of the rapids, we realize that something happened to the raft. the outer shell has been ripped open on the inside of the raft and so all the air is being pushed to the back of the raft. theres also bubbles coming into the boat under me and adams seats. so our guide made a funny face and said 'thats never happened before'. so we finally got on shore and we all got out. the guide made all the girls get into different rafts and the boys stayed there to try to repair the original raft. katie and i got into a raft with 4 other people (a different group of people, all from ecuador) and laura and jackie in another. we finished out the river worrying the whole time about the boys because they were nowhere in sight. but when we got to the shore at the end of the route, the boys got there about 5 minutes after us. in the original raft with the boys.
it was a ton of fun. and id do it again in a heartbeat. im so glad we did it because i wanted to last time i was in banos and the other girls didnt they wanted to hike. but it was definitely an adventure. to say the least .

anyways last night we went to dinner and then to the top of a volcano, its inactive but you can see the whole town of Banos from up there and there are bars and some cool fire juggler guys up there performing. we also got this really good cider from the guides there. we came back and went to bed. this morning got up, ate breakfast, got on the bus and headed back to Quito. now i think i have some homework to do and then bed. so tired.

but it was a great weekend and i had so much fun!!!! hope you all are enjoying snowwwwww.

vday pics

laura and i at the italian restuarant. yummmmmm

me. btw we all dressed up. it was fun :)

valentines day

yesterday was valentines day. i went to class. and then came home and ate really quick a small bit - rice and bread - then got ready and headed out.
we all went to this italian restuarant in the mariscol, so good. i had penne vodka pasta. really good. we then went to a place and hung out basically the whole night. we went dancing for a bit. but basically we just hung out together. about 10 of us. it was incredibly fun. i dont think ive had as much fun on valentines day, EVER. :)

the school campus is gorgeou. in case i didnt already mention that. ive been meaning to take my camera to school to take pics but i always forget.
anyways yesterday they put rose petals in the fountains. it wa GORGEOUS! it was so pretty. i wish i had my camera because you wont even believe how pretty it was. it made me feel so special even though it wasnt really for me haha.

i gave everyone chocolates. laura gave everyone sweet hearts. and kraig gave all the girls in our group 2 pink roses each. also the waiters at the italian restaurant gave all the girls a red rose. it was so cute.

this is super short because i just got home and packed super quick, now im charging my phone, ipod, and taking the pics off my camera so i can leave. we are supposed to meet at 5 but i think everyone is going to be late. we are going to ambato and then to banos. whitney bailed on me and is going on a hiking trip with cathy and their class so im going back to banos with the others. but it should still be fun. :)

thats it for now. maybe a picture or 2 from last night if they will load quickly. love.

hola

hola amigos! here i am. i now have internet at the house. which means no more trying to get crappy wireless on campus and no more USB flashdrive with blog entries on it.
however, this may mean that i slack even more.....i dont know. haha
right now, my laptop isnt in my room, though. i need the man to come back to the house to set it up in my room so im not out in the foyer area doing all my stuff in the middle of the walkway....

yesterday i did normal school. i came home with my internet set up :) and read for the rest of the night. anthro class is starting to give me really long readings and im a slow reader, even slower in spanish....

today i went to class, lunch with whitney and kraig, and then came home. nothing too exciting to report.

yesterday in the mail i got 4 cards - valentines cards from daddy, bruce and susan, diana and charlie, and betty purdue. i thought jojo & grandaddy were gonna be my only valentines!! :) so that made me smile.

tomorrow we are going to dress up and go out to dinner and then hang out together for valentines day. im gonna wear the 1 dress i brought and im pretty excited :)

this weekend is carnaval, its a pretty big deal. evidently the city of quito doesnt celebrate so we are all heading out of town. i cant remember the name of the first place we are going but i think after that whitney, jackie, and i are heading to cuenca for a few days while the others go to Banos - which we have already been to and dont feel the need to return to until we have seen everything else possible. :)

during carnaval - in the cities that celebrate it - there are tons of programs and events that go on. also its like one big water fight with everyone. water balloons, guns, etc are thrown from rooftops, leaving no dry person in sight. pretty cool if you ask me. latin america has some of the neatest traditions :)

i guess thats about it for now. later gator.

fun

all of us last thursday night hanging out on bretts roof. he has this crazy terrace with a great view. just thought youd like to see my friends haha.

feb 9 and 10

Last night we ended up meeting up at Brett’s house and then heading out to a bar to dance. It was a really good time. One guy taught me how to dance latin-american like, or he tried anyways haha. I also met a guy from North Carolina, Raleigh to be precise. He was really nice. The people here are really nice. I guess that’s applicable to any place in the world J

I got up this morning around 10am and didn’t really do anything. Watched some tv and then ate lunch with Veronica and Maria Clara when Veronica came home from work for siesta. Then Veronica took me to the post office on her way back to work (which means that those postcards were mailed on Feb 9^th). Then I went back to get my CENSO again. I only had to wait about an hour and 15 mins, which wasn’t that bad, and I had no problems getting it this time. I don’t really think the CENSO is really worth anything. I know if I get like arrested or something happens and I don’t have it then I’ll get like a $200 fine, but I’m not really expecting that to happen. I’m supposed to have it with me at all times but I don’t even take my wallet with me everywhere so I probably wont….oh well. Also, while waiting for my number to get called, I pulled a JoJo-Grandaddy act. The men sitting behind me were speaking English with a serious country accent and one of them asked me where I was from. Anyways, they were older men, not to worry, but I found out they are from Oregon and work putting out forest fires at home but they were offered a job with a construction company here and they are here in Ecuador for a year working construction on building the new U.S. Embassy here. I thought that J & B might be proud of me for talking to someone I didn’t know and practically finding out their whole life story. I didn’t, however, get to the part of the conversation in which we figure out how we are related to one another, but hey, it’s a first time. Haha J

Anyways, I also got my Permiso de Salida, which means I am allowed to leave the country haha. It’s this little receipt-type piece of paper that says my name and basically nothing else. I don’t really understand the value or meaning of it but I have to have it so I have it.

I shouldn’t have to do any more DMV-type paperwork, now. Which makes me very happy. I’m glad to have it all done with and now I can really focus on other stuff I need to do…….like get my wireless internet.

I was supposed to get a call from the people today to come set it up but I didn’t. Which makes me very frustrated because I have just about had enough of these people. I guess it will happen eventually. I hope so anyways…

I went to El Jardin – a shopping mall – that was right beside the place where I got my CENSO to go to the SuperMaxi (Krogers) to get some stuff for later tonight/this morning on my trip to Pichincha. I also went to Cinnabon and got a cinnamon bun for myself. I felt like I deserved it. And it made me feel like home. It tastes exactly the same, FYI, and it made me think of hanes mall and hokie grill J

I had 4 mail items waiting for me when I opened the front door when I got back: 2 cards from JoJo & Grandaddy, a package from B, and a card from Enis and Edith Griffith. I’m listening to the CD that B sent me right now. I also found out that MariaClara loves the Beatles, so she appreciated song #3 (I think that’s what it was). The card from Enis & Edith was much appreciated, if you remember, please let them know! J

JoJo & Grandaddy:

- I am missing the snow. I dreamt about it last night, actually. And then this morning I woke up and was hit with the reality that I am sunburnt and my skin is peeling because it’s like summer here J

- I am: having fun, studying hard, and being careful

- I seriously doubt I will be getting any classes cancelled because of weather J we were told during orientation that they have only cancelled classes 1 time since opening the university and it was for political unrest in the 90s I believe.

- My classes are: MWF Volcanology, Latin American Literature, and Conversation class, T/R Anthropology

- I’m sure I will have a special Valentine’s Day. Your card is a little early, but much appreciated. I just was reminded that it’s almost Valentine’s Day the other day by my friend Laura. It’s not as big of a deal here as it is at home at all. I think they know it happens and I think that some people celebrate it but it’s nothing like at home, not half as consumer-driven.

-

- I did not go to Pichincha last weekend. I am going tonight/tomorrow morning.

Which leads me to my next topic: my schedule for the rest of the weekend as of right now.

I am planning to study some for my vocab test on Monday morning, eat something (probably something really light), wash my hair, call a cab around 8pm to schedule it being here around 3am, then probably hit the sack for a few hours, get up around 2ish to get ready and wake myself up, take a cab to the Mexican Embassy, we leave at 3:30am for Pichincha, 1.5 hour drive up there, 1 hour talk, 1 hour to enjoy the sunrise if its not cloudy, 1.5 hour drive back, probably sleep some (we are now at around 8am Saturday morning), get up and shower, lunch for Veronica’s mom’s birthday at noon-ish, and that’s where my plans end.

The rest of the group went camping at Cotopaxi this weekend so I think that Whitney and I are the only ones in Quito at the time being. I might see if she wants to do something with me Saturday night and then I don’t know what I will do Sunday other than study and homework.

Anywho, I guess that’s about it for now. I will write again at some point and let you know how it went.

I got up at 2am. Got ready. Ate some wafer cookies (because they told us not to eat anything much but that we would need stuff with sugar) and played some solitaire to get my mind working. At 5 till 3 I went downstairs to wait by the door for the taxi which I had called at around 8pm. I waited there until 3:15am. It never showed. I didn’t want to walk the streets trying to hail a taxi, because it was 3am, and I didn’t want to wake up Veronica, because it was 3am.

By the time I got back up to my room and sat down to think it was already 3:20. I knew if I tried to call a taxi now it would have taken at least 10 minutes to get to the house and I wouldn’t have made it in time before they all left. So I reluctantly changed my clothes and got back in bed.

I couldn’t sleep because I had already slept 7 hours and gotten up and dressed. So I laid there for a while, mad, until I finally did fall back asleep.

Now I am up again and showered and about to finish getting ready. We are leaving a 12:30 to go to Veronica’s mom’s birthday lunch. I’m super nervous about it.

Veronica isn’t happy with me at all. She came in my room and was asking me “why didn’t you wake me up?? We should have called the taxi company! What is going to happen to you?”

I don’t know whats going to happen to me since I didn’t go. But I’m mad the taxi didn’t come and I’m mad I paid $15 and got up at 2am for nothing. Yelling at me isn’t making me feel any better right now.

Anyways, so that’s that. No Pichincha. And I’m not happy about it.

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­I just got back from the birthday party. It was a lot of fun. It started out really uncomfortable. But the food was really good and then after we ate we had champagne to celebrate the 75^th birthday. There were 3 different desserts: a double layer chocolate cake with vanilla icing, a toffee like pudding-ish deal with a hard fudge like topping with crunchies in it, and some kind of super rich ice cream thing. They were all really good, but really super rich.

After that, they went around the room and said what they were giving the grandma for her birthday, such as, “Mamama (which is what they called her), I am giving you the strength that you have given all of us through the years to use when you need it most.” It was really sweet. There was a toast with the champagne and everyone was crying. It was really sweet, as I just said.

Then there was dancing and singing for the rest of the time. It was crazy. The new 75-year old grandma was dancing in the middle of the living room with the rest of the family just as excited and happy as the rest of us. It was so much fun. And really interesting to see the different traditions.

They sang happy birthday in English. Which I was very surprised by.

Also there were presentations for the grandma. Two of the great-grandchildren sang songs for her, Maria Clara did a belly-dance performance (I found out she can belly dance, she took classes 4 years ago), Veronica did a salsa dance (she is taking a Spanish dance class at the moment), and one of Veronica’s brother/brother-in-law (I’m not sure which) played a few songs on the guitar for everyone to sing along with.

The whole experience was really fun. Well not the whole experience. At one point, Veronica and Maria Clara both went to sit at the dining room table and left me in the living room alone. There were other people in there, but they were all on the other side of the room and no one was talking to me.

The grandmother kept making me get up and dance with everyone at the end when that was going on even though I kept telling her that I didn’t know those dances. She also repeatedly told me that I have to come to her house and visit her sometime. What an incredibly interesting, exciting, and sweet woman. She was probably the person who reminded me most of my own family. Everyone else seemed a little distant. I guess that isn’t really uncommon, but it really made me appreciate the family that I have at home.

Not sure what I am going to do tonight but the only other person in town is Whitney so I sent her a text earlier to see if she wanted to go get dinner later (she hasn’t answered) and I need to meet up with Adam at some point because he has my camera. Will right more later…..goodness this is a long complicated entry.

....I ended up going to dinner with Whitney at TGI Fridays and then we met up with Adam and Cathy later and just hung out. It was a good time.
Sunday all I did was study and do homework....kind of boring...ha

some pics for your viewing pleasure

crazy indiana jones bridge we had to travel across in the basilica to get to the SMALL tower. this was AFTER we went to the tall ones. this was nothing by this time in the day haha

view from the small tower in the basillica. those two towers are the ones we climbed first. i was above the clock in the one on the left. so high.

cuy = guinea pig. they eat it like BBQ here. notice their mouths open. as if they are screaming for help. i have yet to get up the courage to try it....

crazy looking stuffed llama in the museum in Banos. looks like it needs some food or something. all the animals here looked this bad. they dont know how to stuff animals here obviously. haha

the man making us SWEET taffy in Banos. we got free samples. it was warm and gooey. oh it was magnificent. :)

feb 6

Nothing really new to report today. Went to the university early so I could print off some osstuff in the Xerox center and then headed to anthropology class. We got our tests back, I got a C. I figured it would be a C. I wasn’t very happy about it, before or afterward. I guess I need to really study harder next time.

I emailed Calvera at VT today about how my classes are going to transfer back. I’m not sure about whether the actual grade will transfer back or just the credit hours if I get a C or better in the course.

I did my presentation in conversation class yesterday. I think I should have picked a longer article to talk about because we got out of class early. I did use the vocabulary words that I picked out of the article in my presentation, though, so I guess that should be good for my grade. My article was about the devastation that was caused by the eruption of one of the volcano’s here in August of last year. The community is actually in Baños – where I was a few weekends ago with the girls. Basically it’s a small town where the ground is covered in ash and mud from the explosion. The people there have to rebuild their lives and their way of living because their farms are ruined. Also, it has had a bunch of negative effects on the children, respiratory problems caused by the lingering ash in the air. It made me think about New Orleans, though, and the people there. They want to go back because its their home. They know the danger of it all happening again and that it would be rebuilding their lives all over again, but it is their home and they cant see themselves living anywhere else. (“they” being the people of Baños and New Orleans, “they” being the people all over.)

I signed up for my volcano trip. I decided that I am going to go to only Pichincha. Evidently, the second part of the trip is to a place where you basically chip away at rocks and study the different types of rocks for about 5 hours. I don’t think that’s something I want to do. I think that we are supposed to go to both, but Andrew (the other guy from VT that is in the volcano class with me) said he only went to Pichincha and so I think if I was supposed to go to both that he would have done it. I’m sure it will be fine. The professor is a really cute nice older man and I am sure that he will let me make it up somehow.

I guess mom & b are planning to come to visit me during B’s spring break. I didn’t really know that was going to happen. I don’t know what I will do with them when they get here. Considering that during the week I don’t do much of anything. Which makes me sad because I want to do stuff everyday but I don’t have anyone to do things with during the weekdays when I get home from school and I don’t know what to do on my own….

I miss Blacksburg. When I’m here at the house and not really doing anything, I find myself wondering what everyone is doing without me. And wishing I had someone to go get dinner with and just hang out with in the evenings.

On the other hand, I am having fun here. And the weather is excellent. Mom told me it was like 9 degrees or something this morning. It was about 80 here. J

Nothing else to report. Not that this was very exciting anyways haha.

superbowllll

the whole gang at bungalow 6 watching the game. these are the people i spend my time with haha


brett and i watching the game - this is the guy i met in the miami airport waiting overnight FYI

feb 1 to 4

I have been slacking on this writing daily, thing. But here I am, Sunday afternoon, already did my homework and nothing really to do so I am going to attempt to catch up….


Thursday night we went out. We were supposed to go to some club that Katie’s host sister told us about but no one wanted to pay a cover so we didn’t do that. As a matter of fact, Katie didn’t even come out with us. But that’s okay. We all met at Brett’s and hung out there for a bit. Then we walked to the Mariscol from his house. We went to a place and had a bite to eat and then we all headed to the Karaoke bar. We were the only people in the place, just 7 college kids singing in Spanish. It was so much fun. We have videos of Kraig and Brett free style rapping, which is funnier than anything I have ever seen or heard before. We all picked songs and we all sang to every song, even the Spanish ones that no one had heard. It was only $6 for the whole night, though, which I am sure is much less than it should have cost if we had paid by the song. In case you were wondering, the program included: “I will always love you”, “killing me softly”, “underneath your clothes”, “all by myself” (which made me miss britt really bad), “crazy in love”, and many more…. I got home around 2:30, we closed the Karaoke bar, since it was just us there J

Friday, I got up early to meet Andrea and go to get our CENSO cards. We got there, got a number, and sat in a very DMV-like waiting room, watching the numbers pass by. Our number started with a “C”, all the numbers we saw passing were with a “P” or “S”. We had a lovely conversation with an American woman who happened to be seated behind us who is from Conneticut. She works in the casino there, a black jack dealer. Her grandkids are in Ecuador for 6 months visiting their father, who lives here. They know very good Spanish, and they speak sometimes both English and Spanish to her, which isn’t good because she doesn’t speak Spanish. She hates it here in Ecuador. They are leaving Monday for the states. Then a nice man came up to Andrea and I to inform us that we were in the wrong waiting area. So we had to go up these stairs to a different waiting area, CENSO only. We realized we had missed our numbers in that waiting area. So we found an open window and informed the man of our predicament. He informed us that he could not help us, we had to get a new number. So we did. And waited again. Finally our numbers came up. Andrea went first and got her CENSO. I went to the window and the man informed me that I did not have all the correct papers. I need a copy of Veronica’s ID card. I didn’t have it. So I have to go back this weekend and do it all over again. L we also have to wait in another line after we do that to get our “Salida” – which is what we have to have to be allowed to leave the country….weird.
Anyways, I said bye to Andrea and came home. I actually had lunch with Veronica, MaricaClara, and her friend. We all sat at the kitchen table and our empleada served us a very good lunch. Some kind of meat with coconut batter on it, potatoes, rice, salad. It was all very good. And we had some kind of garlic salsa thing which was scrumptious. But we didn’t really talk. They talked, I talked some, but mostly just them. I hate that its so awkward.
That night was Kraig’s host brothers birthday so we all went to his house and met up with his friends and then we all got in a cab and went to his favorite club. The cover was $8 but it was probably worth it. He had a good time. We just danced the whole night. I learned a few latin dance moves, haha, kind of. I tried. Most of the music was Ecuadorian music, but I enjoyed every bit of it. J


Saturday I woke up around 11am and Veronica came in to ask if I wanted to go to the pool with her. I didn’t have anything else to do so I put on my bathing suit, packed a little bag, and we left. We got there and I lathered up with SPF 50. we ate lunch at the pool. The place was the “Quito Tennis and Golf Club”. It was probably the nicest thing I have ever been a part of, like there were waiters that came and asked us what we wanted to eat and drink, while we were laying in our lawn chairs poolside. Crazy. I had some kind of soup thing with shrimp in it. Veronica picked it out for me, but it was VERY good. She had empanadas. Then after a while, she wanted to go to the lap pool and do some laps. I laid outside while she did this, listening to my iPod and enjoying the beautiful weather. When she was done we showered and paid her tab and came home. I am burnt. Mostly just on my left side of my body, the way the sun was shining on me. But it should be good by tomorrow, its already better today. Definitely not the worst I have been burnt. But my ear is burnt, and the tops of my hands, which is something that doesn’t usually happen.
I came home, napped (you know how you do during the summer when its beautiful outside and you go to the beach/pool and come back and don’t want to do anything at all), and made myself a pb&j sandwich later (which is what I make myself to eat when I get hungry here alone and have no clue what to do….and if we have sandwich bread).
Later last night we went to Jackie’s to watch a movie. I cant remember the name of it at the moment but it was about the “Monster of the Andes”. This is actually something that really happened a few years ago. There was the Colombian man who was going around Ecuador kidnapping, raping, and killing small children. He was put in jail. But here, there is no such thing as a life sentence, the longest is 16 years. I think he already is out of jail. No one knows where he is. Freaky. But the movie was really good – Hotel Rwanda-esque – and kind of scary, too. But I did enjoy it. The rest of the people there had to watch it for some class they have, I didn’t, but I still enjoyed it.
I ordered pizza while there. It definitely hit the spot. Sometimes I am here at the house and just really want to order a pizza or some Japanese and it sucks because I cant. I guess that’s the lazy American in me. Oh well. The pizza was good.


This morning, Veronica came in and woke me up around 10:30. she said she was going to run some errands and then to her mom’s for lunch. I was going to go with her to lunch at her mom’s house, but there was no way I was going to be able to get ready and showered and stuff in a decent amount of time, because she was already ready to go out the door. So instead I stayed in bed for a minute. I got up, she was walking out the door, and went to the kitchen. I had some juice she had made for me and a some bread with jam. I wish I could have a real breakfast every once in a while. Oh well…..I might ask her if we can get some cereal sometime….
I watched some Sex & the City, did my homework, and here I am. I haven’t showered. Not sure what I am going to do for the next couple of hours. I don’t know when anyone will be back here. I am almost positive I am here alone. The door to Maria Clara’s room is shut and hasn’t been opened that I am aware of so I don’t think she is here, either. Tonight I believe we are planning to find a bar or somewhere to go and watch the SuperBowl. Yet again, I am the only person involved who doesn’t really care, but that’s okay, I am used to it. I still watch it. I’m sure that tonight I am going to miss the boys, though, really bad. I think I will send them a postcard sometime.
I guess that’s about it for now. I might write again later if anything exciting happens.