Today we had class until 4 since it was a lecture day (the ethnohistory of the Amazon rainforest, in Spanish). After class I went to the market with Zohar and Denise to find some good rainforest pants – pants that would dry quickly. I didn’t really find any so I got some light sweatpants, but they were only 9 dollars so not bad, I’ll use them. Zohar and I bought guacamole ingredients, and brought them to my house with tortilla chips (which they call nachos here). It turned out pretty good. They only have guacamole here when they eat tacos, which is not very often since its not Ecuadorian at all, so I wanted some with chips. Most of them liked it, but Mimi just ate the chips with lemon juice.
Zohar and I went to visit Amanda down the road, and while we were there the power went out. It was awesome – we had dinner (lunchmeat sandwiches with hot chocolate) by candlelight. Amanda’s host brother walked us back to our house even though it’s less than a minute down the road. The stars were amazing. Usually you can’t see them since we’re in the Quito suburbs and there are tons of lights all the time. The outage was huge – most of us lost power and we’re pretty spread out. At my house I looked at the stars with my host dad and showed him Orion and what may possible have been the little dipper, and my host mom wanted to have us tell scary stories but the rest of them didn’t want to (which sucked, that would have been great and they never do anything like that). I was starving since I’d hardly eaten anything all day, so I ate dinner again with them, rice and hot dog this time, again by candlelight. Lights came back on around 9:30 and we went to bed.
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
We had a cuarenta tournament. Cuarenta is the big Ecuador card game, mostly from Quito. It’s complicated in a weird way in that it has tons of little rules but isn’t that hard to pick up. I’ll have to teach it to everyone when I get home. It’s a partner game if you play with four, so I paired with Denise. We won the first round but had to play the second against Adam and Alberto, which wasn’t fair since Alberto is my Spanish teacher, from Quito. So we lost that one but did pretty well. The teachers actually served us shots (canelo I think its called with liquor but not very much) while we were playing, so it was definitely one of those moments when I realized studying abroad in Ecuador was totally different from at home.
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Today we went to a local school and taught classes all morning. I got assigned to the sixth grade, so the kids were nine and ten mostly and very cute. At first I was disappointed not to have a younger grade, but with older kids the interaction is more interesting. We planned out three hours of class time. First we taught English. I made a worksheet with English action verbs and their Spanish counterparts, and I had them split into groups of five and play charades with the verbs; they had to guess the verb in English. One group especially was really good and into it.
Then we mixed geography and English, and taught a lot of geographical feature terms that they will never remember but one of my group members thought was important – words like coral reef and archipelago and mesa and a couple I didn’t even know in English. But it was fun since we had them play Pictionary on the board with the words, and, again, had them guess in English. For more geography without the English, we split them into groups and assigned them a country to learn about from these cards we made up. The group I was helping had Germany and I told them Germany had lots of fancy castles were princesses used to live. We were drawing what we thought the country looked like according to what we learned, so I drew a princess and then I had to draw it for five other girls since they liked it. We were going to have them present after but they were getting rowdy so we didn’t.
After that was break, when they get served some food, usually rice and beans (provided by government funding and padded with 25 cents from each student a week – some can’t pay).
After break we had them write stories with the prompt that they are traveling to any country in the world by plane and they crash somewhere, like in the jungle or the desert or a city. One girl wrote this really cute story about how her mother told her she had to go to Paraguay and she was very sad, but she took a plane there and crashed in Argentina. She saw some different animals and came to a city, and she saw a tall, thin woman there. It’s her mom and her mom tells her she never has to leave again. A couple of the other kids didn’t write anything at all. I think they all had very different literacy levels, and also they don’t seem to have very many creative projects.
After the classes we talked with the teachers, and they told us about problems with funding and parents who won’t or can’t reinforce what’s taught at school. Also, parents who can’t afford to feed them breakfast so they come in hungry and parents who abuse their kids. Mostly we just talked about how it was a good experience.
Later I played with Camila for a long time. We started with bubbles (from Ellie, the best present) and then played hospital (which involved many dramatic death falls) and then I tied her shoes together and chased her around.
Monday, March 2, 2009
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Photographic Homage to Linda´s Field PicturesThis entry is extremely long.
This weekend was completely different from the rest of my time here, it was a really good change. On Friday, I hung out with Denise after class and we went to San Luis, the crazy nice huge mall, to go to a movie. I didn’t think I would do much hanging out at malls while in Ecuador but that’s what everybody does here. First we had lunch, and it was great to eat somewhere besides my host house. The food’s okay here, but she’s not a great cook really. It’s usually pretty bland. And sometimes I just want something simple for lunch and here its always a full meal and then dinner is just some bread and tea. So we got really good chicken sandwiches and a fruit salad. I’ve been hanging out with Denise a lot since the cloud forest. She was actually raised in Ecuador and then moved to San Diego.
While we were waiting to go to the movie I finally got to “talk” to Linda, even if it was a facebook chat in an internet café. It’s very surreal to be in touch with home (even though she’s in Scotland) and then to snap out of it and be in this mall next to a games arcade and all these Ecuadorians speaking Spanish. It’s hard to get back into Ecuador mode, especially since I always feel so rushed when I’m in an internet café. But I was soooooo happy to finally get in touch with her. I’m sure it will be a lot easier when I’m in Quito and I need to find or borrow a Skpe headset.
We bought tickets to see Bride Wars (Guerra de novias en español) just since it started at a good time but we heard it was so bad that we asked to change movie and saw Gran Torino with Miles, a guy from the program, and his host brother. We’re supposed to do things with host siblings as often as possible so we speak Spanish. We liked the movie a lot, but its really strange to watch movies in English with Spanish subtitles since there were all kinds of racial slurs since the main character is all rascist and it was funny to us since it was so out there but, for example, Clint Eastwood would say things like chink, gook, spook, paddy, deigo or whatever and in the Spanish subtitles it would just be the politically correct name. And then, again, you walk out of the theater and you’re in Ecuador with all the Spanish and it’s a strange transition.
Afterwards we bought a few pirated DVD’s, which is another thing I wouldn’t do in the states but everybody does here so I don’t really care. They are only $1.50 a disc and they had some really good ones. They even had Blue and White from the Three Colors trilogy by Kristof Kieslowski. They also have movies that are still in theaters and TV series.
Then Denise and I went back to her house, and watched and talked to her host mom a little and drank an herbal tea she’d just made from the leaves, and then watched an episode of House since I’d just bought the first two seasons. (Since Maggie bought a season for like 40 dollars or something ridiculous, and I got the first two for 3 dollars, I thought that was pretty cool.) While we were watching my host mom called and said she would take us to the historic center in Quito since its beautiful at night. I was so surprised since she never offers to take me anywhere, and she had already said she’d take me a few friends to the waterfalls the next morning so this was a very sudden flood of offers to do things that I thought wasn’t going to come. Pretty much all the other families have gone on weekend trips to different parts of Ecuador and little trips around.
So Denise and I went with just my host mother to the old city and walked around for a few hours. In El Rondo, the oldest section of the city, we went to a karoke bar, which are everywhere, and Denise sang – she sings really well. Karoke bars here are for people who can sing; sometimes it’s like the original version of the song is playing, not some random person singing.
This weekend was completely different from the rest of my time here, it was a really good change. On Friday, I hung out with Denise after class and we went to San Luis, the crazy nice huge mall, to go to a movie. I didn’t think I would do much hanging out at malls while in Ecuador but that’s what everybody does here. First we had lunch, and it was great to eat somewhere besides my host house. The food’s okay here, but she’s not a great cook really. It’s usually pretty bland. And sometimes I just want something simple for lunch and here its always a full meal and then dinner is just some bread and tea. So we got really good chicken sandwiches and a fruit salad. I’ve been hanging out with Denise a lot since the cloud forest. She was actually raised in Ecuador and then moved to San Diego.
While we were waiting to go to the movie I finally got to “talk” to Linda, even if it was a facebook chat in an internet café. It’s very surreal to be in touch with home (even though she’s in Scotland) and then to snap out of it and be in this mall next to a games arcade and all these Ecuadorians speaking Spanish. It’s hard to get back into Ecuador mode, especially since I always feel so rushed when I’m in an internet café. But I was soooooo happy to finally get in touch with her. I’m sure it will be a lot easier when I’m in Quito and I need to find or borrow a Skpe headset.
We bought tickets to see Bride Wars (Guerra de novias en español) just since it started at a good time but we heard it was so bad that we asked to change movie and saw Gran Torino with Miles, a guy from the program, and his host brother. We’re supposed to do things with host siblings as often as possible so we speak Spanish. We liked the movie a lot, but its really strange to watch movies in English with Spanish subtitles since there were all kinds of racial slurs since the main character is all rascist and it was funny to us since it was so out there but, for example, Clint Eastwood would say things like chink, gook, spook, paddy, deigo or whatever and in the Spanish subtitles it would just be the politically correct name. And then, again, you walk out of the theater and you’re in Ecuador with all the Spanish and it’s a strange transition.
Afterwards we bought a few pirated DVD’s, which is another thing I wouldn’t do in the states but everybody does here so I don’t really care. They are only $1.50 a disc and they had some really good ones. They even had Blue and White from the Three Colors trilogy by Kristof Kieslowski. They also have movies that are still in theaters and TV series.
Then Denise and I went back to her house, and watched and talked to her host mom a little and drank an herbal tea she’d just made from the leaves, and then watched an episode of House since I’d just bought the first two seasons. (Since Maggie bought a season for like 40 dollars or something ridiculous, and I got the first two for 3 dollars, I thought that was pretty cool.) While we were watching my host mom called and said she would take us to the historic center in Quito since its beautiful at night. I was so surprised since she never offers to take me anywhere, and she had already said she’d take me a few friends to the waterfalls the next morning so this was a very sudden flood of offers to do things that I thought wasn’t going to come. Pretty much all the other families have gone on weekend trips to different parts of Ecuador and little trips around.
So Denise and I went with just my host mother to the old city and walked around for a few hours. In El Rondo, the oldest section of the city, we went to a karoke bar, which are everywhere, and Denise sang – she sings really well. Karoke bars here are for people who can sing; sometimes it’s like the original version of the song is playing, not some random person singing.
The next morning Denise, Zohar, and Zohar’s host sister Katia came over at 9:00 and my host mother drove us down this really bad rocky road to the start of the trail to the waterfalls and dropped us off. The road was so bad that a few times we had to get out of the car so it would ride higher to get past rough parts. The tallest one is 80 meters, I think, and there’s a hike around all these other small waterfalls. This was my favorite day by far, it was so much fun. At first we were all out of breath and stopping every couple minutes since the altitude was wiping us out and we don’t exercise here. The first part was really steep and led to the top of a hill where you could see several volcanoes and lots of pretty farmland. There was a kind of jungle gym, too. At first my ankle was bothering me, since it’s still swollen, but it didn’t give me that much trouble, I just had to be really careful. The trail was gorgeous and there were lots of little wooden ladders and bridges. I took tons of pictures (for me, at least). We got lost towards the end and we were all joking that we were going to die since all we had was one Tango (a little chocolate and cookie thing) that Zohar brought. We sat in the middle of the trail and waited for other people to come and tell us how to get to the big waterfall, which eventually they did. They were a young Ecuadorian couple and really helpful. We walked together to the right trail and the guy kept giving us his hand to pull us up big steps and rough or slippery parts. When we finally found the right path we only had an hour left before the bus left, and when we were almost there we saw the rest of the path was a really steep muddy dirt stairs. We decided to take the easier path to the top rather than the bottom because of my ankle but really because it looked like a death trap and we were all so tired from walking all day. We climbed up a big boulder and had a great view of the valley. I walked a little further by myself and climbed out to the edge of a rock overlooking the waterfall, which I probably shouldn’t have done by myself, but I’m glad I did since I’m the only one who actually got a good view of the waterfall we’d been walking all day to find.
We started walking back and just when we got to the road to walk back up to where the bus stops, it started pouring. We got a ride on the back of a truck and we huddled under my tiny umbrella. It was so crazy, we couldn’t stop laughing. We were totally soaked. When we got to the right place, we saw another girl from the program there with her host brother, which was also pretty crazy. They had found a truck with the back covered so we all rode back in that. One of the driver’s daughters rode in his lap the whole time with her hands on the wheel. On the way we stopped so they could buy some food and there were all these chickens all other the place. We also passed a wedding party. When I got off and asked how much it costs, they told me it was free, but I still don’t understand why.
It was about 4:30 when I got back and I was so wet and tired and dirty and hungry. I took a shower and ate lunch and watched one of movies I bought in my room. I didn’t have any clean pants left until about a minute ago when my host mom did my laundry after the cloud forest and then the hike. I’m really glad Zohar brought her host sister; she was great and I hadn’t met any Ecuadorian girls my age who didn’t seem all girly and spoiled and obsessed with boyfriends. I’m jealous Zohar got such a good host sister, I want to steal her. It was also good since we spoke Spanish most of the time. Zohar’s Spanish is hilarious. She only has three semesters, too, which was the minimum, but she’s in the lowest Spanish group. She makes up her own words for a lot of things using her French and Hebrew. (Sometimes I realize that a word I thought was Spanish is actually a French word that I say with a Spanish accent.) She’s studying drama and designed her major, which I can’t remember her name for, but is about directing and organizing plays with political or social themes. It’s like those plays in Africa that dramatize how having HIV shouldn’t mean someone’s an outcast and how to prevent it. I think there’s a scene in The Constant Gardener about that.
So I slept very well last night and this morning my oldest host sister made us omelets for breakfast. They mentioned something about me cooking lunch but I think it was kind of a joke. I’d like to cook for them but I don’t think I could cook anything I usually do with their ingredients. I should buy some. I’m also not sure they would like I lot of the stuff I like. I think this afternoon we are going to a museum in Quito. So overall, this weekend was a lot better than anything before. I actually got out of the house and got to be with other people. My ankle is still annoying but I’m figuring that its not going to get worse so I can kind of ignore it and just elevate it every once in a while. I’m excited to move to Quito though and find out who my other host family is. We only have one more week here.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009: Cloud Forest Trip
Yesterday I got back from the excursion to Intag, where the cloud forest is. It was wonderful, so beautiful. We stayed in cabins and it was like camp. I got closer to some of the other girls since there was a lot of girl talk in the cabin at night and we were all together all the time. I loved the cabin, I want to build one like it in the Canadian wilderness somewhere. (Canada is still my favorite country. Even though evidently they don’t have good environmental restrictions for their mining companies and so they go all other the world and mine irresponsibly to get rich quick and then leave behind all the things bad mines leave behind, like drainage problems in the water supply and ecological losses.)
The only bad part was I decided it would be a bad idea to go on the hike if I ever want my ankle to stop being swollen, so I missed out on that. I still think it was the right thing to do though, especially since I did some other hiking that I shouldn’t have done. However, my ankle did get me a burro ride to the bus, which was awesome. I was the only one who was allowed to ride one, everyone else had to walk. Some people were jealous.
The place grew and roasted its own coffee, which was good, but it also had amazing hot chocolate that I liked better. I’m still bringing home some of the coffee beans though.
A few people from around there, like indigenous women groups and anti-mining activists and an American lady who’s lived there for a long time came to talk to us. It was all pretty interesting and a lot of Spanish. Some ladies who make bags and things out of a fiber they make from a kind of cactus came and explained how they made everything and used natural dyes and we bought things.
On the way back we stopped in the famous Otavalo artesian market and got to do a little shopping. It’s one of the places everybody goes if they’re in Ecuador. I got a couple things and ate at a pie place (which is noteworthy since for the most part they don’t eat pies here but it was an amazing pie place).
I’m trying extra hard with my host family. I wish they could be a little more welcoming like pretty much all the other families so I could relax a bit and not always be worrying about making sure they like me and talk to me. I play with Camila though, so that’s good. I also talked to my older sister for a few minutes about her school, which was a break-through since usually she doesn’t talk. I’m hoping in Quito I get a host sibling closer to my age, like everyone else has. Most people got a host sibling within a year of their age. Mimi still has hardly recognized my presence in the house at all. Sometimes I try to talk to her, but she only gives one word answers so it’s not worth it. My host mom’s been a lot better lately. Most of the time she’s fine, it was just the ankle thing and the doctor that she didn’t seem to handle well at all and made me angry. I am so tired, it is bedtime but it is only 9:08.
The only bad part was I decided it would be a bad idea to go on the hike if I ever want my ankle to stop being swollen, so I missed out on that. I still think it was the right thing to do though, especially since I did some other hiking that I shouldn’t have done. However, my ankle did get me a burro ride to the bus, which was awesome. I was the only one who was allowed to ride one, everyone else had to walk. Some people were jealous.
The place grew and roasted its own coffee, which was good, but it also had amazing hot chocolate that I liked better. I’m still bringing home some of the coffee beans though.
A few people from around there, like indigenous women groups and anti-mining activists and an American lady who’s lived there for a long time came to talk to us. It was all pretty interesting and a lot of Spanish. Some ladies who make bags and things out of a fiber they make from a kind of cactus came and explained how they made everything and used natural dyes and we bought things.
On the way back we stopped in the famous Otavalo artesian market and got to do a little shopping. It’s one of the places everybody goes if they’re in Ecuador. I got a couple things and ate at a pie place (which is noteworthy since for the most part they don’t eat pies here but it was an amazing pie place).
I’m trying extra hard with my host family. I wish they could be a little more welcoming like pretty much all the other families so I could relax a bit and not always be worrying about making sure they like me and talk to me. I play with Camila though, so that’s good. I also talked to my older sister for a few minutes about her school, which was a break-through since usually she doesn’t talk. I’m hoping in Quito I get a host sibling closer to my age, like everyone else has. Most people got a host sibling within a year of their age. Mimi still has hardly recognized my presence in the house at all. Sometimes I try to talk to her, but she only gives one word answers so it’s not worth it. My host mom’s been a lot better lately. Most of the time she’s fine, it was just the ankle thing and the doctor that she didn’t seem to handle well at all and made me angry. I am so tired, it is bedtime but it is only 9:08.
Friday, Feb. 20, 2009: Cloud Forest Tomorrow!!!!!!
The past week has been really weird because of my stupid ankle. Yesterday was the strangest and most frustrating day I’ve had so far. Our classes went to Quito to visit museums, so I had to do a lot of walking. It was hard, especially in the museum since I had to put most of my weight on my good foot so it got really tired. I was limping but not that bad. At the same time, I knew that it was not going to help it heal at all for me to be walking around on it all day.
When I got home I was all frustrated since I was worrying about going to the Cloud Forest with a sprained, swollen, bruised ankle. I’m sooooo excited about hiking there and swimming and everything, I don’t want to miss out on anything. I was upset and crying a little when my host mom came in my room and asked me about my ankle. She told me I should go to the doctor, so I said that’s fine and she said she’d take me when she got back from doing some errands. She got back around 8:30 and we went to the clinic.
I actually don’t think I’ll write about that experience here since it was so frustrating and uncomfortable and I just want to get over it. Anyway, I got an X-ray and it’s an extended ligament, so no big deal. But the doctor kept going on about how I shouldn’t go to the cloud forest and if I did I would have to get a cast on my leg sometime in the future, and none of it made any sense. It’s just a sprained ankle. I’ll give it some rest and it will get better. I had to buy all this stuff and it was like $70 that I don’t think was necessary at all. I think my program will pay some of it back after I get home but I was hoping not to have to get out more cash for a while yet and $70 could have been two month’s spending money pretty much. I have an Ace bandage on and I have anti-inflammatory pills and a spray that probably doesn’t do anything. The only cool part is that I got to keep my X-ray, which is the best souvenir ever.
So after everything I was all depressed and angry but my host mom finally offered to take me back and forth from classes, so that was good if a little belated.
Today I was in a bad mood because of yesterday, but I’m getting out of it now since it is an extremely nice perfect weather day. My window is open so I can get a breeze while I enjoy elevating my ankle. I gave my host mom a chocolate so I think we are okay again. She’s thinking about driving me around Old Quito tonight since I shouldn’t walk, which would be great. I’m hearing a lot more about other people’s complaints about their host families, which makes me feel better about not being all lovey-dovey with mine. At least my ankle has made my 13-year-old host sister pay more attention to me, but only because she thinks its really disgusting. She comes in my room to look at it and says “que feo” which means basically “ew, how ugly.”
A woman who seems to be a maid is here now. At first I thought she was a friend since she came over to help set up for the party, but then she didn’t stay so I figured she wasn’t. She looks more indigenous than the family and friends. My sheets are changed and I think she’s going to wash my laundry.
Something weird that happened today and is not related to my ankle is that while I was waiting to get picked up with a few other students, an Afroecuadorian from Esmeraldas started talking to us. We asked how she was and she answered, “Estoy muriendo” (“I’m dying”). I think she has some kind of infection, but she was moving around easily. She came to the school to ask the Father for money but he said he didn’t have any.
When I got home I was all frustrated since I was worrying about going to the Cloud Forest with a sprained, swollen, bruised ankle. I’m sooooo excited about hiking there and swimming and everything, I don’t want to miss out on anything. I was upset and crying a little when my host mom came in my room and asked me about my ankle. She told me I should go to the doctor, so I said that’s fine and she said she’d take me when she got back from doing some errands. She got back around 8:30 and we went to the clinic.
I actually don’t think I’ll write about that experience here since it was so frustrating and uncomfortable and I just want to get over it. Anyway, I got an X-ray and it’s an extended ligament, so no big deal. But the doctor kept going on about how I shouldn’t go to the cloud forest and if I did I would have to get a cast on my leg sometime in the future, and none of it made any sense. It’s just a sprained ankle. I’ll give it some rest and it will get better. I had to buy all this stuff and it was like $70 that I don’t think was necessary at all. I think my program will pay some of it back after I get home but I was hoping not to have to get out more cash for a while yet and $70 could have been two month’s spending money pretty much. I have an Ace bandage on and I have anti-inflammatory pills and a spray that probably doesn’t do anything. The only cool part is that I got to keep my X-ray, which is the best souvenir ever.
So after everything I was all depressed and angry but my host mom finally offered to take me back and forth from classes, so that was good if a little belated.
Today I was in a bad mood because of yesterday, but I’m getting out of it now since it is an extremely nice perfect weather day. My window is open so I can get a breeze while I enjoy elevating my ankle. I gave my host mom a chocolate so I think we are okay again. She’s thinking about driving me around Old Quito tonight since I shouldn’t walk, which would be great. I’m hearing a lot more about other people’s complaints about their host families, which makes me feel better about not being all lovey-dovey with mine. At least my ankle has made my 13-year-old host sister pay more attention to me, but only because she thinks its really disgusting. She comes in my room to look at it and says “que feo” which means basically “ew, how ugly.”
A woman who seems to be a maid is here now. At first I thought she was a friend since she came over to help set up for the party, but then she didn’t stay so I figured she wasn’t. She looks more indigenous than the family and friends. My sheets are changed and I think she’s going to wash my laundry.
Something weird that happened today and is not related to my ankle is that while I was waiting to get picked up with a few other students, an Afroecuadorian from Esmeraldas started talking to us. We asked how she was and she answered, “Estoy muriendo” (“I’m dying”). I think she has some kind of infection, but she was moving around easily. She came to the school to ask the Father for money but he said he didn’t have any.
Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2009: my ankle
Ahhhhhh. I haven’t been doing very much the past couple days since I sprained my ankle on Wednesday. It’s not that bad for a sprained ankle, which is great, but its still swollen and bruised. Pier, in our group, leads outdoorsy things at his college and part of his training is “mountain medicine” for climbers, so he’s been checking it. I’ve been trying to keep it elevated and iced a lot, but it’s so hard since it’s very very boring to lay here with my foot up for hours. I think it makes me more tired too since I’m worrying about it.
Tomorrow we’re going to Quito with our class, and I’m a little nervous since we’ll be walking around a museum, and I don’t want to make my ankle any worse. We’re going to the cloud forest this weekend and it sounds like the most amazing place ever, so I don’t want to miss out on anything, especially hiking. They have an organic garden and excellent food and, according to one of our academic directors, “the best guacamole south of Chiapas” if the avocados are ripe. And there are waterfalls and lots of rare birds. There’s not much electricity so it’s really basic but that’s just what I would like for now. I thought the valley would be a lot more rural, I’m a little disappointed it is so close to Quito. One of our workshop things is something like “observation and painting” so I’m really excited for that.
I’m soooooo upset with myself for doing this to my ankle. It was so stupid, too. We were playing Simon Says in my Spanish class and we had to run around the building and the floor was slippery so I fell. It wasn’t that bad, but I guess I twisted my ankle weird. It didn’t hurt that much at first, but I thought I was going to faint a few hours later. I still walked to the bus but I shouldn’t have. I wish my host mom would offer to drive me sometimes but she only offered the first morning and even then she didn’t end up doing it. I like my host mom, but I’m definitely jealous of some other people’s host families. Mine has already had so many host people that it’s not so personal anymore and I’m not very interesting for them, especially with the language barrier. Some other people’s host families are hosting for their first or second time and they take their students to cool places and talk to them all the time and make them feel really welcome. Also, most students have host siblings that are within a year of their age and my closest is 17, which seems really young to me since she’s still in high school.
Tomorrow we’re going to Quito with our class, and I’m a little nervous since we’ll be walking around a museum, and I don’t want to make my ankle any worse. We’re going to the cloud forest this weekend and it sounds like the most amazing place ever, so I don’t want to miss out on anything, especially hiking. They have an organic garden and excellent food and, according to one of our academic directors, “the best guacamole south of Chiapas” if the avocados are ripe. And there are waterfalls and lots of rare birds. There’s not much electricity so it’s really basic but that’s just what I would like for now. I thought the valley would be a lot more rural, I’m a little disappointed it is so close to Quito. One of our workshop things is something like “observation and painting” so I’m really excited for that.
I’m soooooo upset with myself for doing this to my ankle. It was so stupid, too. We were playing Simon Says in my Spanish class and we had to run around the building and the floor was slippery so I fell. It wasn’t that bad, but I guess I twisted my ankle weird. It didn’t hurt that much at first, but I thought I was going to faint a few hours later. I still walked to the bus but I shouldn’t have. I wish my host mom would offer to drive me sometimes but she only offered the first morning and even then she didn’t end up doing it. I like my host mom, but I’m definitely jealous of some other people’s host families. Mine has already had so many host people that it’s not so personal anymore and I’m not very interesting for them, especially with the language barrier. Some other people’s host families are hosting for their first or second time and they take their students to cool places and talk to them all the time and make them feel really welcome. Also, most students have host siblings that are within a year of their age and my closest is 17, which seems really young to me since she’s still in high school.
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