Hey there,
Not sure if I really have an audience anymore since I have not written since January. I realized that I really do not like to blog, I prefer to send an individual an email or talk to them through skype rather than try to tell everyone what's going on through one post. I don't know why it was so hard for me to keep it up.
I wasn't planning on doing another post, but I felt like I needed to have a real last post, with some closing thoughts about my experience this year.
This semester was SO much better than my first one, I finally felt comfortable living in Quito and felt adjusted to my life here. Last semester I traveled a lot because I was always the happiest when I was not in Quito. This semester I have traveled less and spent more time in Quito, and have been happy.
The last post I wrote was right before my mom came to visit me, it was really nice having her here, but it was also hard because I knew she would be leaving and I would still be staying here. However, I am really glad she came because I feel like it is really hard to share my experience with people when they can't really imagine where I live, so I was glad she could see where I live. The day she left I went and signed up for salsa lessons because it was something I really wanted to do while I was here. I took lessons for two months with some friends and it was so much fun! I stopped lessons right before our spring break, where I went to Chile with a friend.
Sorry this post is jumping from thought to thought.
I am glad I stayed for my second semester, I seriously thought about not staying for another semester last semester because I was having such a hard adjustment, but I am glad that I stayed because if I had gone home last semester I would have thought this experience was the worst choice I ever made in my life, but by staying for a second semester I was able to enjoy my experience here. I have had some really good times here and some really hard times here. I learned a lot about myself by being here and I learned that I will never live in a big city. Lately I have been thinking about if I would go through this experience again if I knew what I knew now. I don't think I would, even though my experience is ending well, I think if I had chosen a program that fit me better I would have enjoyed my time even more and would not have had such a hard and long adjustment. I don't regret this experience, a lot of good did come out of it, but I just don't think I would do it again. I really wanted to have an experience where I didn't want to go back home, where I had made a lot of friends and felt like I really had a life. After this experience, I realized how much I love Oregon and how I don't want to live anywhere else, but I feel like if I had chosen a different program that fit me better possibly I would have been able to see myself living somewhere else.
Last semester, the only thing I wanted was to be sad to leave, really really sad to leave. About a week ago, I was thinking about going home and about some of the people I may never see again and it did make me feel sad, the thing is I will still be super happy to get on that plane on May 19th to go home.
A few weeks ago I was crossing the street to get to the university and I was thinking about how normal it was for me to be going to the university because it has become such a rutine of mine. Then I started thinking about how I thought I was pretty comfortable living in Quito and going to USFQ and was thinking that even though I wouldn't want to stay here longer, I could do it because I had adjusted. If I didn't go back to Linfield next year (don't worry I am going back), it wouldn't be that big of a deal because I feel like I have distanced myself quite a bit in a year...I would miss my friends a lot, but not Linfield (I miss Linfield now, but what I am saying is it wouldn't be hard not to go back). I started talking to Ali about this while we were in our ceramics workshop and I started thinking, could I actually be here longer? Maybe the only reason I feel content now is because my time here is almost up...and that thoroughly depressed me because I realized that was it. If I had to be here longer I wouldn't feel content like I do now, the only reason why I am content is because I am going home soon, so there is no reason to feel discontent, it will be over soon. I don't know why it upset me so much, but it did. I really had thought I was content with being here, and I am, but only until May 19th.
Like I said before, this semester was so much better than last semester and I really did enjoy my time here. I don't regret this experience, but I don't think I would do it again knowing what I know now.
I feel like there is so much more to say, but I am having trouble putting it into words and I feel like I am just being repetitive now.
I can't believe I have less than a month left here! It's so crazy to think about and weird to think I will actually be going back home.
I am spending my last week here with a few friends at the beach, I think that will be a good way to end my time here.
Well, I hope this post somewhat made sense.
See you in Portland!
Peace,
Nadia
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Monday, January 19, 2009
Nice People
Hey all,
So, we are in the second full week of classes right now. I am really looking forward to almost all of my classes. I am taking a jewelry making class (I love the Professor!), yoga (love it!), arabic (also am excited for this class), phonetics (looking forward to it), Advanced Spanish (a grammar class that I am going to learn a ton in), and a history class that I am not sure how much i will like, but will learn from it.
Sometimes I just really like strangers. I can be having a really bad day and talking to a stranger will make me really happy. On Friday morning I went to the post office to pick up a package that my parents had sent me (at the end of november). It was my first time going there, so I had no idea what the process was to get a package. When I was walking to the post office, I saw a guy a few feet ahead of me, just leaning against the wall. I was thinking to myself "oh great, he is going to make some kind of comment as i walk by", so I braced myself to ignore him and as I walked by he said "Buenos dias" and I was so shocked that I almost forgot to say "Buenos dias" back to him. It made me smile that he had greated me. Then, I entered the post office and had no idea what line i was supposed to wait in, i started to look around to see what the different signs said and then a guy came up to me and asked me if I was there to pick up a package, I said yes and he pointed me to the line I was supposed to stand in line. I thanked him and got in line. A few minutes later, another guy got in line behind me and started talking to me and telling me how he had come the day before, but the post office had to close before it was his turn and so he had to come back. I told him it was my first time at the post office so he started to tell me the whole process I had to go through. Then it was my turn in line.
After I went through the first line I had to sit down and wait for my number to be called. I took a seat in the back in an empty row. The guy who had first helped me when I walked in was sitting a couple rows in front of me and when he saw me sit down he moved up one to sit and talk with me. We had a really nice conversation and it didn't end with "can I have your phone number?" so it made me really happy to have a nice conversation with a stranger.
When my name was called I met a lady who took me to find my package and she was so cheerful and was just asking me questions about my life and it just made my day a lot brighter. She was looking for my package number and without knowing what the number was I pointed out to her my package because it was in a Dansko box that I recognized from my dad's stores. She opened the package in front of me to check to make sure there were no illegal substances inside, sealed it back up and sent me to another desk. After that desk, the bank, the copy center, back to the desk, and then to another desk, I finally got my package (a two hour process).
This morning, I was waiting for my bus and there was another lady waiting also. All of the sudden she turned to me and asked me "What bus are you waiting for?" and I told her the name, and she says "yeah, me too" and told me how she can take that bus or another bus to go to los granados. I told her that I was also going to los granados and she asked me where i was going, i told her to the university in Cumbaya. She said that I could also take the other bus to get there, I was kind of thinking "hmm okay, but i have never heard of that bus." The bus she was talking about (that i have never taken) came and she said "come on, lets go!" and I asked the driver if the bus goes to los granados and he said yes, so i hopped on. As I took my seat I was thinking "I really hope there is not more than one "los granados" and the lady sat down next to me saying "dont worry i wont get you lost". She was really nice and really talkative, but also hard to understand, I think she was from the coast, so she had a different accent. I did end up arriving where i needed to, I have no idea what bus i took, so i probably will never be able to do it again, but it was really nice talking with this lady. :)
Anyway, I was just sitting in my room thinking about how it is really nice meeting nice strangers in a big city, because sometimes just talking to a stranger will make me a whole lot happier.
Hope everyone is well,
Peace,
Nadia
So, we are in the second full week of classes right now. I am really looking forward to almost all of my classes. I am taking a jewelry making class (I love the Professor!), yoga (love it!), arabic (also am excited for this class), phonetics (looking forward to it), Advanced Spanish (a grammar class that I am going to learn a ton in), and a history class that I am not sure how much i will like, but will learn from it.
Sometimes I just really like strangers. I can be having a really bad day and talking to a stranger will make me really happy. On Friday morning I went to the post office to pick up a package that my parents had sent me (at the end of november). It was my first time going there, so I had no idea what the process was to get a package. When I was walking to the post office, I saw a guy a few feet ahead of me, just leaning against the wall. I was thinking to myself "oh great, he is going to make some kind of comment as i walk by", so I braced myself to ignore him and as I walked by he said "Buenos dias" and I was so shocked that I almost forgot to say "Buenos dias" back to him. It made me smile that he had greated me. Then, I entered the post office and had no idea what line i was supposed to wait in, i started to look around to see what the different signs said and then a guy came up to me and asked me if I was there to pick up a package, I said yes and he pointed me to the line I was supposed to stand in line. I thanked him and got in line. A few minutes later, another guy got in line behind me and started talking to me and telling me how he had come the day before, but the post office had to close before it was his turn and so he had to come back. I told him it was my first time at the post office so he started to tell me the whole process I had to go through. Then it was my turn in line.
After I went through the first line I had to sit down and wait for my number to be called. I took a seat in the back in an empty row. The guy who had first helped me when I walked in was sitting a couple rows in front of me and when he saw me sit down he moved up one to sit and talk with me. We had a really nice conversation and it didn't end with "can I have your phone number?" so it made me really happy to have a nice conversation with a stranger.
When my name was called I met a lady who took me to find my package and she was so cheerful and was just asking me questions about my life and it just made my day a lot brighter. She was looking for my package number and without knowing what the number was I pointed out to her my package because it was in a Dansko box that I recognized from my dad's stores. She opened the package in front of me to check to make sure there were no illegal substances inside, sealed it back up and sent me to another desk. After that desk, the bank, the copy center, back to the desk, and then to another desk, I finally got my package (a two hour process).
This morning, I was waiting for my bus and there was another lady waiting also. All of the sudden she turned to me and asked me "What bus are you waiting for?" and I told her the name, and she says "yeah, me too" and told me how she can take that bus or another bus to go to los granados. I told her that I was also going to los granados and she asked me where i was going, i told her to the university in Cumbaya. She said that I could also take the other bus to get there, I was kind of thinking "hmm okay, but i have never heard of that bus." The bus she was talking about (that i have never taken) came and she said "come on, lets go!" and I asked the driver if the bus goes to los granados and he said yes, so i hopped on. As I took my seat I was thinking "I really hope there is not more than one "los granados" and the lady sat down next to me saying "dont worry i wont get you lost". She was really nice and really talkative, but also hard to understand, I think she was from the coast, so she had a different accent. I did end up arriving where i needed to, I have no idea what bus i took, so i probably will never be able to do it again, but it was really nice talking with this lady. :)
Anyway, I was just sitting in my room thinking about how it is really nice meeting nice strangers in a big city, because sometimes just talking to a stranger will make me a whole lot happier.
Hope everyone is well,
Peace,
Nadia
Saturday, January 3, 2009
Happy New Year!
Happy New Year to All!
These are the bodies of the dolls, life size.
Me and my niece, Maria Belen.
My host dad, Telmo, singing.
My host brother, Patricio, and my host mom, Martha, singing together.
Martha, Katy (host sister) and Me.
I spent this New Years with my host family, and I think that was one of the best decisions I have made :) In the afternoon I went shopping with my host mom to buy some food for that night. We were at this supermarket and I was surprised by how many people my host mom knew, I guess I really shouldn't be all that surprised because she really can talk a lot :) When we were in the car driving home, we were at a stoplight and she got really excited all of the sudden because she saw her friend. She reached into the backseat and said that she had a Christmas gift to him, she rolled down her window and this little old man, with no hands and one leg, came hobbling to the window and my host mom starting going on about how she was looking for him the other day to give him his gift, he smiled, took the gift and told her that he couldn't work that day because one of his kids was sick. It made me so happy to see this side of my host mom, because even though she talks about helping those in need, I have sometimes felt that it was just talk and no action, but I am so happy to have been proven wrong :)
After getting back to the house, I helped my host sister, Katy, set the table for that evening. A little bit later I started a movie with my niece, Maria Belen, and then my host brother, Patricio, and his wife, their son, and his wife's son all came over. I continued hanging out with my niece and then joined everyone else for dinner, afterwards my niece had us all playing musical chairs and other games that she invented. Then, Patricio says we should all do karaoke and I came to find out that my host parents have a karaoke machine. So we spent the next two hours doing karaoke and it was so much fun! We stopped in order to count down for New Years, then we all gave each other hugs and kisses and shot some firework things outside our building. We were going to burn a doll because that is what everyone does, but apparently it is now illegal and you can get a $200 fine and even though the whole city still did it, my law-abiding host dad said that we couldn't. The burning of the dolls is something that is really interesting. The dolls generally have faces of political figures and by burning them you are supposed to get rid of all the bad things that happened in t
he past year and put it behind you and bring good luck for the new year. The most popular faces this year were: Rafael Correa, Hugo Chavez, Evo Morales, Barack Obama, Paco Moncavo, Jaime Nebot, Corcho Cordero, and Fidel Castro. I was shocked that President Bush was not on the list and I told my host mom and she told him that people must have just gotten tired of burning him because they have been burning him for years. The picture to the left shows the most popular faces. The few days before New Years my host mom told me are days where people play jokes on each other, it basically reminded me of April Fools Day. My host mom was telling me about all the things she has done, which include, spending all night with her maid cracking open walnuts and filling them with flies and flour and sealing them back up. She said that her brother was over one day after she had done this and he asked if he could have a walnut, she said sure go ahead and he picked it up and was about to open it with his teeth, she stopped him and told him that he should use the nut cracker and he said "oh no, I have strong teeth", so he opened it with his teeth and out came flies and flour into his mouth. He was thoroughly upset with my host mom and she claims he did not talk to her for a year after that. She has also put soap in lemonade for her guests, put sticky glue stuff to the toilet seat so you get stuck to it, put black dye on the phone so the person who talks on it gets a black ear, and various other things. Another tradition for New Years is for the "viudas (widows)" to come out. However, these widows are men who dress up as women. On New Years eve the streets are filled with men dressed up as women and they are asking for money adn you really have no choice but to give them money because they dont let you pass until they do. I looked out my window and saw about 15 men stopping the traffic, flashing people in their cars until they got money, it is pretty interesting. There are also a bunch of superstitions that people have about things to do on New Years eve, such as it is good luck to wear yellow underwear, right before midnight you are supposed to eat 12 grapes (one for each month), at midnight you are supposed to run around the block with a suitcase in your hand (yes, I did see someone doing that outside), and many others that I can't remember at the moment.
he past year and put it behind you and bring good luck for the new year. The most popular faces this year were: Rafael Correa, Hugo Chavez, Evo Morales, Barack Obama, Paco Moncavo, Jaime Nebot, Corcho Cordero, and Fidel Castro. I was shocked that President Bush was not on the list and I told my host mom and she told him that people must have just gotten tired of burning him because they have been burning him for years. The picture to the left shows the most popular faces. The few days before New Years my host mom told me are days where people play jokes on each other, it basically reminded me of April Fools Day. My host mom was telling me about all the things she has done, which include, spending all night with her maid cracking open walnuts and filling them with flies and flour and sealing them back up. She said that her brother was over one day after she had done this and he asked if he could have a walnut, she said sure go ahead and he picked it up and was about to open it with his teeth, she stopped him and told him that he should use the nut cracker and he said "oh no, I have strong teeth", so he opened it with his teeth and out came flies and flour into his mouth. He was thoroughly upset with my host mom and she claims he did not talk to her for a year after that. She has also put soap in lemonade for her guests, put sticky glue stuff to the toilet seat so you get stuck to it, put black dye on the phone so the person who talks on it gets a black ear, and various other things. Another tradition for New Years is for the "viudas (widows)" to come out. However, these widows are men who dress up as women. On New Years eve the streets are filled with men dressed up as women and they are asking for money adn you really have no choice but to give them money because they dont let you pass until they do. I looked out my window and saw about 15 men stopping the traffic, flashing people in their cars until they got money, it is pretty interesting. There are also a bunch of superstitions that people have about things to do on New Years eve, such as it is good luck to wear yellow underwear, right before midnight you are supposed to eat 12 grapes (one for each month), at midnight you are supposed to run around the block with a suitcase in your hand (yes, I did see someone doing that outside), and many others that I can't remember at the moment.New Years here was very interesting and I had a lot of fun with my family. One thing that has been good about this break is the fact that I have been able to spend more time with my host family. I went to my host sisters apartment for the first time a couple of days ago and that was cool, I really enjoyed spending more time with her on New Years. Last week I was having lunch with my host parents and my host sister and they started a conversation about all the bad things that they did as kids (the conversation was sparked by the behavior of my little niece) and the things they talked about were so bad, but so funny also, I think it was the most I have ever laughed with my host family. I am teaching my host mom to play poker and she is teaching me how to knit, so that is kind of exciting. I am going to post some more photos below and hopefully I will get an album up on facebook soon for you all to check out.
Peace,
Nadia
These are the bodies of the dolls, life size. Me and my niece, Maria Belen. My host dad, Telmo, singing. My host brother, Patricio, and my host mom, Martha, singing together. Martha, Katy (host sister) and Me.Sunday, December 28, 2008
I survived :)
When I started this semester, I honestly did not think I was going to make it....let alone stay for the second semester....but somehow I did it and am looking forward to my second semester. This is the hardest thing I have ever done in my life, I really had no idea what I was getting myself into. I thought sure it will be hard at first, but I most definitely did not know how hard it would be and how long it would take me to fully adjust to being here. The first two months were horrible, the only time I was happy was on the weekends that I traveled and I always dreaded having to come back to Quito. After the first couple of months, I started feeling the weight of homesicknesses lift off of me a little bit and I was starting to feel okay living in Quito. There still are days when I absolutely hate Quito and the constant traffic I hear out of my window, but I am also learning to appreciate the things living in a city has to offer, such as public transportation to pretty much anywhere, theaters, malls, restaurants and tons of other things to do with my friends. I live right next to a mall that I frequently visit and I live right across from a big park, La Carolina. I am so glad that there is something green outside my window because I think I would go crazy just looking at buildings.
A couple of weeks ago when everyone who was here for a semester was leaving, was a little bit hard because I was thinking "yeah it would be nice to go home" and a lot of the friends I made here were going home, but thats okay. I am so glad I have friends here who are here for the year, without them I would not have made it.
I decided that it is good that I am here for another semester because if I was going home right now I would think this whole experience was a waste of time because I spent about half the semester really depressed and didn't want to do anything. I am now looking forward to doing more volunteering next semester, to taking salsa lessons, to working harder in my classes, to doing more with the human rights club, to getting to know my host family better, to traveling more, and for my mom coming to visit me in January! I am looking forward to making the best of this next semester because I know it will go by faster than I think. I just want to say thankyou to those of you who have heard me complain A LOT this semester, it has been really nice having friends to count on :)
I have a miscellaneaous Ecuador photo album that I have added some more pics to, so here is the link: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2024346&l=23731&id=65202295
Peace,
Nadia
A couple of weeks ago when everyone who was here for a semester was leaving, was a little bit hard because I was thinking "yeah it would be nice to go home" and a lot of the friends I made here were going home, but thats okay. I am so glad I have friends here who are here for the year, without them I would not have made it.
I decided that it is good that I am here for another semester because if I was going home right now I would think this whole experience was a waste of time because I spent about half the semester really depressed and didn't want to do anything. I am now looking forward to doing more volunteering next semester, to taking salsa lessons, to working harder in my classes, to doing more with the human rights club, to getting to know my host family better, to traveling more, and for my mom coming to visit me in January! I am looking forward to making the best of this next semester because I know it will go by faster than I think. I just want to say thankyou to those of you who have heard me complain A LOT this semester, it has been really nice having friends to count on :)
I have a miscellaneaous Ecuador photo album that I have added some more pics to, so here is the link: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2024346&l=23731&id=65202295
Peace,
Nadia
The Jungle
Well...I think I am starting to realize that I am really bad at keeping a blog....I don't actually think I like keeping blogs because I don't really know who I am writing to and that is really hard for me. I mean I know I am writing to friends and family...but it's kind of hard I guess, I really prefer writing to one person I guess. I am still going to keep the blog, but that is why I don't update very often.
Ok, anyway I said a while back I was going to talk about my trip to the jungle, so here it goes. I went to the jungle during Halloween weekend with five friends (Jen, Ali, and Alia from Linfield, Angela from OSU and Spencer from Southern Oregon). We went to Cuyabeno and stayed in a place called Jamu Lodge. We had this arranged through a tour guide/salsa teacher who was one of our tour guides for our city tour at the beginning of the year. We left on a night bus on a Thursday night..it was about an 8hr bus ride to a place called Lago Agrio, where we were supposed to find our tour guide, named Hector. So, we arrive around 7am in Lago Agrio, well actually the bus stopped in Lago Agrio on the street and people started getting off the bus and we all kind of turn to each other and go "Are we here? Where are we?" and finally we ask someone near us and he says yeah this is Lago Agrio. So, according to the directions we were given, we were supposed to get off in Lago Agrio and then walk a few blocks to a hotel where we were meeting our guide, Hector. We asked this guy next to us if he knew where this hotel was and he said, yeah I am going there also, so we followed him (Rodrigo) and another guy who was with him (Marco). We thought they were on the tour also, well at least that was my impression at first. We got to the hotel (we never would have found it without Rodrigo and Marco) and there was no one there, so we went next door to a restaurant to eat breakfast. While we were sitting there, Rodrigo got up and left, and we were just talking with Marco and he said that Rodrigo was our tour guide and we were like "well our paper says our tour guides name is Hector", I started getting a little antsy because we had been sitting there for almost 2 hours and we hadn't found Hector. Rodrigo came back and said that the van was ready and we told him about Hector and he told us that Hector was the driver, but wasnt working. He did have a shirt that said Jamu Lodge on it (where we were going), so we went with him. I have to say I was still a little suspicious, but they were really nice and seemed like they knew what they were doing. After a 2 hr drive we arrived in another place, where we were eating lunch and then taking a canoe to the lodge. Alia and I had put down that we were vegetarians and so during lunch there were two vegeterian meals for us and that was when I finally really trusted that we were with the right people. A joke of the trip became asking where Hector was because we never found him. We then had a 2 hr canoe ride that was really beautiful and then we arrived at the lodge. We happened to be the only people staying at the lodge and it was really nice.
The next few days were full of canoe rides where we saw monkeys, dolphins, lots of birds, crocodiles (at night), and lots of insects. Our canoe driver was a man named Edmundo and we would always hear Rodrigo say "Vamos Edmundo (Lets go Edmundo)", but at first we didnt realize he was saying "Edmundo" and we heard "El mundo" and we all thought this was some kind of saying that meant everyone, lets go, but then we figured out that it was Edmundo, so poor Edmundo got a nickname of El Mundo.
We also went to a nearby village where we learned out to make yuca bread and we also went to a Shaman (not sure how to spell it) and listened to him talk about his profession. We ate really good food at the lodge and during our afternoon break time they would give us lots of really good popcorn and we would lounge around in hammocks and attempt to do the homework we brought with us. We went on a couple of hikes where we saw really interesting plants and our guide, Rodrigo, would explain the importance of everything. He showed us a lemon ant tree, that naturally had lemon ants all over it and had us try them. I watched Jen try one and was like "oh yeah I can do that too" and then when it was my turn, I got one ant on my finger and was like "no, no i cant do this" and Jen was very supportive and told me it would be okay :) She told me to just smash it on my tongue, but not to lick my hand because i had DEET all over it. I then lost the ant and then Rodrigo told me to give him my hand and he would give me another, I gave him my hand and he gave me, not just one ant, but about 15-20. I stared at my hand with ants in it and actually literally started to jump around because I didn't want to eat, but I finally convinced myself to eat them and licked my hand of ants. At first I only could taste the DEET, but then I could taste a little bit of lemon, but then I mainly just tasted dirt because there was a lot of dirt in the ant pile.
Ok, well I think those are all the highlights of the trip. We made it back to Quito, with a few stops on the way, meaning the bus got stopped for checkpoints because we were close to the Colombian border, so that was a new experience also. We also had a hiliarious bus driver assistant guy who kept us entertained everytime we had a stop....he was SO funny I can't even explain it. We made it back to Quito Monday night and then I had class early the next day. :)
Well, I think that sums up the Jungle trip, I took lots of pictures and have three albums up for it, so here are the links:
Jungle Part I: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2025918&l=8c3b6&id=65202295
Jungle Part II: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2026183&l=0cebe&id=65202295
Jungle Part III: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2026185&l=c90a0&id=65202295
Hope you all are well! (not sure if anyone is actually reading my blog anymore because I never update it, but if you are hope you are well and email me sometime! :)
Peace,
Nadia
Ok, anyway I said a while back I was going to talk about my trip to the jungle, so here it goes. I went to the jungle during Halloween weekend with five friends (Jen, Ali, and Alia from Linfield, Angela from OSU and Spencer from Southern Oregon). We went to Cuyabeno and stayed in a place called Jamu Lodge. We had this arranged through a tour guide/salsa teacher who was one of our tour guides for our city tour at the beginning of the year. We left on a night bus on a Thursday night..it was about an 8hr bus ride to a place called Lago Agrio, where we were supposed to find our tour guide, named Hector. So, we arrive around 7am in Lago Agrio, well actually the bus stopped in Lago Agrio on the street and people started getting off the bus and we all kind of turn to each other and go "Are we here? Where are we?" and finally we ask someone near us and he says yeah this is Lago Agrio. So, according to the directions we were given, we were supposed to get off in Lago Agrio and then walk a few blocks to a hotel where we were meeting our guide, Hector. We asked this guy next to us if he knew where this hotel was and he said, yeah I am going there also, so we followed him (Rodrigo) and another guy who was with him (Marco). We thought they were on the tour also, well at least that was my impression at first. We got to the hotel (we never would have found it without Rodrigo and Marco) and there was no one there, so we went next door to a restaurant to eat breakfast. While we were sitting there, Rodrigo got up and left, and we were just talking with Marco and he said that Rodrigo was our tour guide and we were like "well our paper says our tour guides name is Hector", I started getting a little antsy because we had been sitting there for almost 2 hours and we hadn't found Hector. Rodrigo came back and said that the van was ready and we told him about Hector and he told us that Hector was the driver, but wasnt working. He did have a shirt that said Jamu Lodge on it (where we were going), so we went with him. I have to say I was still a little suspicious, but they were really nice and seemed like they knew what they were doing. After a 2 hr drive we arrived in another place, where we were eating lunch and then taking a canoe to the lodge. Alia and I had put down that we were vegetarians and so during lunch there were two vegeterian meals for us and that was when I finally really trusted that we were with the right people. A joke of the trip became asking where Hector was because we never found him. We then had a 2 hr canoe ride that was really beautiful and then we arrived at the lodge. We happened to be the only people staying at the lodge and it was really nice.
The next few days were full of canoe rides where we saw monkeys, dolphins, lots of birds, crocodiles (at night), and lots of insects. Our canoe driver was a man named Edmundo and we would always hear Rodrigo say "Vamos Edmundo (Lets go Edmundo)", but at first we didnt realize he was saying "Edmundo" and we heard "El mundo" and we all thought this was some kind of saying that meant everyone, lets go, but then we figured out that it was Edmundo, so poor Edmundo got a nickname of El Mundo.
We also went to a nearby village where we learned out to make yuca bread and we also went to a Shaman (not sure how to spell it) and listened to him talk about his profession. We ate really good food at the lodge and during our afternoon break time they would give us lots of really good popcorn and we would lounge around in hammocks and attempt to do the homework we brought with us. We went on a couple of hikes where we saw really interesting plants and our guide, Rodrigo, would explain the importance of everything. He showed us a lemon ant tree, that naturally had lemon ants all over it and had us try them. I watched Jen try one and was like "oh yeah I can do that too" and then when it was my turn, I got one ant on my finger and was like "no, no i cant do this" and Jen was very supportive and told me it would be okay :) She told me to just smash it on my tongue, but not to lick my hand because i had DEET all over it. I then lost the ant and then Rodrigo told me to give him my hand and he would give me another, I gave him my hand and he gave me, not just one ant, but about 15-20. I stared at my hand with ants in it and actually literally started to jump around because I didn't want to eat, but I finally convinced myself to eat them and licked my hand of ants. At first I only could taste the DEET, but then I could taste a little bit of lemon, but then I mainly just tasted dirt because there was a lot of dirt in the ant pile.
Ok, well I think those are all the highlights of the trip. We made it back to Quito, with a few stops on the way, meaning the bus got stopped for checkpoints because we were close to the Colombian border, so that was a new experience also. We also had a hiliarious bus driver assistant guy who kept us entertained everytime we had a stop....he was SO funny I can't even explain it. We made it back to Quito Monday night and then I had class early the next day. :)
Well, I think that sums up the Jungle trip, I took lots of pictures and have three albums up for it, so here are the links:
Jungle Part I: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2025918&l=8c3b6&id=65202295
Jungle Part II: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2026183&l=0cebe&id=65202295
Jungle Part III: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2026185&l=c90a0&id=65202295
Hope you all are well! (not sure if anyone is actually reading my blog anymore because I never update it, but if you are hope you are well and email me sometime! :)
Peace,
Nadia
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
USFQ
Hey everyone,
Sorry I am not very good at keeping up my blog, I will try to get better as the year progresses :) Well, two weekends ago we had a long weekend and so I went with 5 other wonderful people to the Jungle for 4 days. However, I am not going to talk about that trip right now. First of all, I just want to talk about where I spend most of my time: the university. The university is turning 20 years old this year, so it's just a fetus (as my friend Ali would say). It is a very beautiful campus, with a laguna on campus that I sit by for many hours chatting with various people. I have very mixed feelings about the university. I am not a huge fan of the majority of the students who attend this university (there are good people there, it's just that the majority of them are really rich and think they are better than people of lesser status, and are really hard to make friends with), but I do like to spend time at the university (when i don't have class). One friend that I do have at the university is Jamie, I met her through a Linfield student (Lily) who was here last semester. Jamie is SUPER nice. At first glance you would think she is a gringa (her mom is American), but she was born and raised in Ecuador, and she is fluent in english and spanish, but prefers english. So, many times our conversations start out in spanish and then switch to english.
As most of you know, I LOVE my clubs at Linfield and that is what I devote a lot of my time to. So, when I came here and found out that clubs and campus life in general was almost non-existent, that was kind of hard. I found out about a human rights club on campus and joined, but the club wasn't doing anything and I found that really disappointing. I kept trying to stay in contact with the President of the club so we could do something and finally one day I got an email from her and she was talking about how she heard about a Hunger Banquet, but didn't know what it was. I told her that I had helped plan Hunger Banquets at Linfield and so we met to talk about organzing a Hunger Banquet and now we are getting ready to put on the first ever Hunger Banquet at USFQ! I am SO excited for it! :) The President of the club is a girl named Carolina and she is really nice and not the typical USFQ student, which is why I really like hanging out with her and she is always inviting me to do different things with her whenever I see her. Yesterday, I was leaving the university and ran into her and she convinced me to go to a theater class performance in a supermarket called "Megamaxi". Someone from the university offered us a ride to Quito in the back of a truck, so we hopped in the back and had a pretty windy, but fun ride back to Quito. I really had no idea what I was going to, but it turned out to be that the 15-20 students in the class were given different roles to act out while they were in the supermarket. There were two guys who were supposed to be a gay couple, so they were walking around the supermarket holding hands, and in a predominately catholic country, this is not acceptable and very odd to see, so they got there fair share of looks and comments. There was also a girl who was "pregnant" and had her husband with her and they got into an argument (remember they are all acting, so as I was walking around the store with Carolina pointing out all the actors to me, I was trying not to laugh hysterically at how funny these situations were) and the wife said something like "well at least I can get pregnant" and then the husband says, as the gay couple walks by, "well at least I can appeal them" and Carolina and I were about to start laughing so we turned a corner and ran into some other student actors. There was a girl with a cart full of dog food/toys and she started to run down the aisle with her cart yelling something that I didnt understand. There was another married couple that was arguing and the husband went up and asked another women for her phone number...that marriage isn't too promising :) The funniest thing though occured near the end. One student was pretending to be a famous Argentine singer and one of the other student actors made this "discovery" and started telling everyone. Soon enough, ALL the student actors were asking this guy for his autograph and were taking pictures with him. Two security guards came over to see what was going on and started telling people to back away, so some of the students who were just observing walked over and asked what was going on, one of the actors started complaining about how they weren't allowed to take photos and so everyone started pleaing with the security guards, who eventually left. Meanwhile, everyone in the store is looking over trying to figure out what is going on, including all the employees, then word starts getting around that there is a famous argentine singer here who wrote the song "Sin Banderas" and people who are in line to pay start leaving the line to go ask this guy (remember student actor!) for his autograph and take pictures with him! It was SOOOO funny, I couldn't believe how much people believed it. When the student left, the guards started saying bye to him and wishing him well. After that, the "pregnant" lady started feeling some abdominal pain and one of the student actors went running to get some help and came back with a glass of water and with a real employee of the store with a rolling chair for her to sit in, but the pregnant lady had walked away, so the employee went searching for her with the chair. Crazy right? It was SO funny and I am so glad I let her convince me to go.
Anyway, that was a bit off topic...but yay another friend! haha :)
So, I spend a lot of time at the university, classes of course, but then on mondays, wednesdays and fridays i also go and hang out around la laguna with various friends. Generally I just sit with Ali and Eli for about 5 hrs outside and during that time a ton of different people just stop by and talk with us for a while, I call it the Dillin of the USFQ....a bit different :)
Homework in classes is really starting to build up right now and has been keeping me really busy, and will be busy until the semester ends, so I probably wont be doing anymore traveling this semester. Well, I am actually really tired right now and meant to go to sleep an hour ago...I am not even sure if I said what I wanted to say in this blog. I will do a blog sometime soon for my trip to el Oriente that was AMAZING.
I have pictures up for a futbol game that I went to a couple of weeks ago and also for my beach trip a few weeks ago that you can check out! :)
Mompiche (beach)- http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2025689&l=95b5e&id=65202295
Futbol game- http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2025692&l=0a37e&id=65202295
Peace!
-Nadia
Sorry I am not very good at keeping up my blog, I will try to get better as the year progresses :) Well, two weekends ago we had a long weekend and so I went with 5 other wonderful people to the Jungle for 4 days. However, I am not going to talk about that trip right now. First of all, I just want to talk about where I spend most of my time: the university. The university is turning 20 years old this year, so it's just a fetus (as my friend Ali would say). It is a very beautiful campus, with a laguna on campus that I sit by for many hours chatting with various people. I have very mixed feelings about the university. I am not a huge fan of the majority of the students who attend this university (there are good people there, it's just that the majority of them are really rich and think they are better than people of lesser status, and are really hard to make friends with), but I do like to spend time at the university (when i don't have class). One friend that I do have at the university is Jamie, I met her through a Linfield student (Lily) who was here last semester. Jamie is SUPER nice. At first glance you would think she is a gringa (her mom is American), but she was born and raised in Ecuador, and she is fluent in english and spanish, but prefers english. So, many times our conversations start out in spanish and then switch to english.
As most of you know, I LOVE my clubs at Linfield and that is what I devote a lot of my time to. So, when I came here and found out that clubs and campus life in general was almost non-existent, that was kind of hard. I found out about a human rights club on campus and joined, but the club wasn't doing anything and I found that really disappointing. I kept trying to stay in contact with the President of the club so we could do something and finally one day I got an email from her and she was talking about how she heard about a Hunger Banquet, but didn't know what it was. I told her that I had helped plan Hunger Banquets at Linfield and so we met to talk about organzing a Hunger Banquet and now we are getting ready to put on the first ever Hunger Banquet at USFQ! I am SO excited for it! :) The President of the club is a girl named Carolina and she is really nice and not the typical USFQ student, which is why I really like hanging out with her and she is always inviting me to do different things with her whenever I see her. Yesterday, I was leaving the university and ran into her and she convinced me to go to a theater class performance in a supermarket called "Megamaxi". Someone from the university offered us a ride to Quito in the back of a truck, so we hopped in the back and had a pretty windy, but fun ride back to Quito. I really had no idea what I was going to, but it turned out to be that the 15-20 students in the class were given different roles to act out while they were in the supermarket. There were two guys who were supposed to be a gay couple, so they were walking around the supermarket holding hands, and in a predominately catholic country, this is not acceptable and very odd to see, so they got there fair share of looks and comments. There was also a girl who was "pregnant" and had her husband with her and they got into an argument (remember they are all acting, so as I was walking around the store with Carolina pointing out all the actors to me, I was trying not to laugh hysterically at how funny these situations were) and the wife said something like "well at least I can get pregnant" and then the husband says, as the gay couple walks by, "well at least I can appeal them" and Carolina and I were about to start laughing so we turned a corner and ran into some other student actors. There was a girl with a cart full of dog food/toys and she started to run down the aisle with her cart yelling something that I didnt understand. There was another married couple that was arguing and the husband went up and asked another women for her phone number...that marriage isn't too promising :) The funniest thing though occured near the end. One student was pretending to be a famous Argentine singer and one of the other student actors made this "discovery" and started telling everyone. Soon enough, ALL the student actors were asking this guy for his autograph and were taking pictures with him. Two security guards came over to see what was going on and started telling people to back away, so some of the students who were just observing walked over and asked what was going on, one of the actors started complaining about how they weren't allowed to take photos and so everyone started pleaing with the security guards, who eventually left. Meanwhile, everyone in the store is looking over trying to figure out what is going on, including all the employees, then word starts getting around that there is a famous argentine singer here who wrote the song "Sin Banderas" and people who are in line to pay start leaving the line to go ask this guy (remember student actor!) for his autograph and take pictures with him! It was SOOOO funny, I couldn't believe how much people believed it. When the student left, the guards started saying bye to him and wishing him well. After that, the "pregnant" lady started feeling some abdominal pain and one of the student actors went running to get some help and came back with a glass of water and with a real employee of the store with a rolling chair for her to sit in, but the pregnant lady had walked away, so the employee went searching for her with the chair. Crazy right? It was SO funny and I am so glad I let her convince me to go.
Anyway, that was a bit off topic...but yay another friend! haha :)
So, I spend a lot of time at the university, classes of course, but then on mondays, wednesdays and fridays i also go and hang out around la laguna with various friends. Generally I just sit with Ali and Eli for about 5 hrs outside and during that time a ton of different people just stop by and talk with us for a while, I call it the Dillin of the USFQ....a bit different :)
Homework in classes is really starting to build up right now and has been keeping me really busy, and will be busy until the semester ends, so I probably wont be doing anymore traveling this semester. Well, I am actually really tired right now and meant to go to sleep an hour ago...I am not even sure if I said what I wanted to say in this blog. I will do a blog sometime soon for my trip to el Oriente that was AMAZING.
I have pictures up for a futbol game that I went to a couple of weeks ago and also for my beach trip a few weeks ago that you can check out! :)
Mompiche (beach)- http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2025689&l=95b5e&id=65202295
Futbol game- http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2025692&l=0a37e&id=65202295
Peace!
-Nadia
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Una Aventura
Hey everyone,
So I realized a few days ago that it has almost been a month since I updated my blog, so I thought it was about time to do that! The main reason why I haven't written has been because I had not really gone anywhere or done anything interesting and so I felt like I had nothing to say except how homesick I was and that didn't really seem like something worth sharing. But I decided that it is something worth sharing with my family and friends and so I should write about it for a bit. No one EVER told me that studying abroad would be so hard, I knew that I would feel homesick, but I never thought it would be so painful and would last so long. Before coming here, I never even gave adjusting to living here a second thought, I just thought that yeah it might be hard for a couple of weeks, but it will be fine. What I was really worried about was how I was going to adjust to going back to Linfield after being gone for a year, I was really worried about that and thought "wow, what if I have no friends when i go back because i was gone so long and I dont fit in my clubs anymore." This worried me a lot, but now that I am here for the year with 4 other amazing girls (Ali, Eli, Jen, and Katelyn) and we are getting to know each other super well because we see each other at our worst and best while adjusting to living in a big city and going to a university where it is so hard to make friends (Katelyn actually came up to me today and we were talking about hanging out with some ecuadorians we have met this weekend and she basically tackled me with excitement and said "Nadia! We have friends!" and then Max came up to us and asks how we are doing and Katelyn says "Good! I feel warm and fuzzy inside" and he looked a bit confused and I turned to him and said "She has friends now" and that was enough explanation). The fact that I am here with friends who I get along with very well helps so much because we talk together a lot and travel together and the cool thing is we talk in Spanish the majority of the time. We do have days where we switch to english a lot, usually because one of us is having a really hard day and it can be really hard to express yourself in a foreign language sometimes. I have talked to Ali Simpson a lot (from Linfield) because I think we have both been going through the same adjustment process, a long and hard adjustment. We have had our share of crying time together and even though that sounds really depressing (and it is), it has really helped me to know that I am not the only one having a hard adjustment and Ali and I have told ourselves we will get through this together and that it will get better! (and I would say it is at the moment). Anyway, I am really looking forward to when I get to the point where I like being here, and I think it will come in time. Just this week I think stopped hating it here and now I am just content with where I am, I still dont like living in Quito and the University is not my favorite place, but traveling on the weekends with friends is always amazing and I have had some really good times. I just felt like sharing the fact that study abroad is not easy (well i think it is for some people) and I cant believe that no one ever said anything about how hard it is and I am hoping that it is because by the end you are having such a great time that you forget how hard it was at first or you think that it was worth the hard adjustment. Anyway, I will change the topic now from how homesick Nadia is :)
Ok, so something fun! This past weekend the Linfield group went on a trip together and even though I usually travel with the Linfield group, it does not include Max and Alia, but this trip did! We went to Mompiche which is a very small, non-touristy beach. I am pretty sure we were the only foreigners there that weekend. We had Friday off (I always have friday off so it didnt matter for me) because it was the independence day of Guayaquil (every city has their own independence day) and while most everyone was going to Guayaquil to party, the Linfielders headed off to a secluded beach. ;) We took a night bus to Atacames (about 6 or 7 hrs) and the bus ride was super disgusting because it was hot and humid and everyone had their windows shut...oh it was gross and my seat was kind of broken so it was more like a teeter-totter that I was balancing on and falling off of during the bus ride. I sat next to Ali on the bus and we talked for about the first hour and once the bus stopped really suddenly and I slid right off the chair and on to the ground and Ali and I started laughing SO hard (it was also WAY past our bedtime), I couldnt get off the ground for a good 10 minutes because we were laughing so hard. That was the most I had laughed since coming to Ecuador and my stomach hurt from all the laughing, but it was so nice! So at least my broken seat gave us some entertainment! Although after 6 hrs of balancing on a seat all night and therefore getting no sleep, I was not entertained anymore. When we got to Atacames we had to take another bus for about 2 hrs to get to Mompiche, but we opted to pay to take a taxi because we were all really gross and tired. The weather at the beach was not that great, cloudy and rainy, but the water was still warm so that was really nice! We basically slept, swam, sat, played cards, talked and ate (a lot!). We left early sunday morning to take a bus to Atacames to catch a bus to Quito. We spent a few hours in Atacames before our bus left and there were SO many people on the beach, it was insane! I am so glad that we were not at a beach like Atacames. The bus ride from Atacames to Quito was SOOOOO much better than the other bus ride. There was air conditioning which was really nice (well there was up until the last 2 hrs) and I had a working seat! There are so many other details I could give, but I feel like they might only be interesting and funny to the people who were there...and my blog is already going to be SUPER long....so I will leave the trip at that.
When I got back to my house on Sunday night, I walked in and said hi to my host mom, who was crying on the phone. This wasn't something unusual for me to see because I will see her crying randomly throughout a day and she never tells me whats wrong and says that she will tell me later when we have more one on one time. So, I after she got off the phone she came to my room and asked me how my weekend was, I said it was good, but how are you doing? and she said "not very good" and started to cry again, so I asked her what happened and we went to sit down on the couch. She told me that my host dad, Telmo, is really sick. Apparently he has a tumor in his lungs and they don't know if it is malignant or not, but the procedure to find out is really dangerous and complicated for him because of a heart attack he had 7 years ago. When I first got here he developed what we thought was a cold, but apparently they went to the doctor and found out it was a tumor in his lungs, but she wanted to wait to tell me i guess. Anyway, that sunday morning my host brother, Patricio, and Telmo left for Boston because that is where there are some really good doctors who can perform the procedure for Telmo. I really hope that everything is going to be okay. Right now Martha is doing well, but I know she wishes she was in Boston with Telmo right now and I just hope it all turns out okay.
Ok, so a funny story that just happened two days ago. On Tuesday I had a midterm in my sociology class and I finished 30 minutes before the end of class so I was really excited at the fact that I was going to get home earlier than usual. I happily left the university and hopped on a green bus to go to Quito. Usually I am with other people when I take the bus, so I think this was my first or second time leaving Cumbaya by myself and usually I read the sign to make sure it says "A Quito" o "A la Rio Coca", but this time I didn't and once I sat on the bus, I thought to myself "I didn't hear the guy say "A Quito" and I didn't read the sign, maybe i should ask to make sure...." but then I thought "No, pretty much every green bus goes to Quito, how likely is is that I would get on the one bus that doesn't go to Quito." Yeah I think you can guess where I am going with this story. So I was sitting on the bus debating whether or not i should ask the girl sitting next to me if this bus goes to the Rio Coca station and then I kept convincing myself that we were headed in the right direction so it should be fine. After 10 minutes or so, we stopped and there were a couple old ladies getting of the bus and then i noticed a sign that said "Al sur de Quito" or "to the south of Quito" and I was thinking "Crap, I don't think I want to go to el sur" so I asked the girl sitting next to me "Does this bus go to la Rio Coca?" and she looked at me with a really confused expression on her face and said "No..." and then I asked her "Well, do you know where I can catch a bus that will take me there?" and she said "No...." and I was thinking "Oh great, I have no idea where I am" so I hopped out of my seat and went to talk to the bus driver and since we were still stopped he told me that I could get off the bus and catch a bus across the street. So I got off the bus with the two old ladies and I asked one of them if she was also going to la Rio Coca and she said yes and apparently so was the other old lady. So, I thought well I'll just follow them. We crossed the busy highway (oh my gosh way dangerous!) and then the two old ladies started to run....so I followed them, me running behind these two old ladies in heels...I wish I could have had a picture because it must have looked hilarious. We stopped running and waited for a while for a bus and then one of the old ladies says "I don't think this is the right spot" so she begins to run more and then we run to another busy highway and cross it and then are running along a fence trying to find a hole in it to get to the other side. The old lady I was running behind stopped running and so i did also, but the old lady who was in front just kept booking it down the highway. She finally found a hole in the fence and crossed to the other side, then the old lady I was with started running again, so we ran and went to the other side of the fence and crossed another highway. This is where we finally caught a bus that was going to Quito and when we got on the bus one of the old ladies turns to me and says "ayy, una aventura!!!!" Yes it was an adventure! I sat on the bus and thought "wow, so much for thinking i was getting home early", I got home later than I usually do leaving at my normal time, but it was really entertaining to think about. I am so glad I was with those two old ladies because there is no way I would have ever found that highway on my own. Life here certainly is una aventura.
So in my last post I said that I received an email saying I had two conversation partners, and I emailed them but they never emailed me back. But, one day I was sitting with Katelyn and her conversation partner and about 6 of his friends and I was talking with two of them for a while and they actually speak quite a bit of english and one of the guys lives not too far from me so sometimes he is on the bus with me in the mornings and we talk in english and spanish. One day I was waiting outside of a psychology class and a guy walked my, named Marco, who I had also met that day and basically said he needed a conversation partner to practice his english and I said I would help him out, so I have actually been meeting with him (he is in his first semester of english, so he knows very little and we talk in spanish almost all the time and he will ask me questions about how to say something in english). It is nice meeting with him, but I am finding that sometimes it is hard to find time to meet. I am meeting with him tomorrow though.
I don't really think I have anything else to say at the moment (sorry this is going to be so long!). Things are definitely a lot better now and I have been having a good time. I love hearing from you guys so please send me emails whenever to update me on your lives. Here are some links to pictures:
Mindo: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2024347&l=90284&id=65202295
Otavalo: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2024573&l=d09d5&id=65202295
Miscellaneous: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2024346&l=23731&id=65202295
Peace,
Nadia
So I realized a few days ago that it has almost been a month since I updated my blog, so I thought it was about time to do that! The main reason why I haven't written has been because I had not really gone anywhere or done anything interesting and so I felt like I had nothing to say except how homesick I was and that didn't really seem like something worth sharing. But I decided that it is something worth sharing with my family and friends and so I should write about it for a bit. No one EVER told me that studying abroad would be so hard, I knew that I would feel homesick, but I never thought it would be so painful and would last so long. Before coming here, I never even gave adjusting to living here a second thought, I just thought that yeah it might be hard for a couple of weeks, but it will be fine. What I was really worried about was how I was going to adjust to going back to Linfield after being gone for a year, I was really worried about that and thought "wow, what if I have no friends when i go back because i was gone so long and I dont fit in my clubs anymore." This worried me a lot, but now that I am here for the year with 4 other amazing girls (Ali, Eli, Jen, and Katelyn) and we are getting to know each other super well because we see each other at our worst and best while adjusting to living in a big city and going to a university where it is so hard to make friends (Katelyn actually came up to me today and we were talking about hanging out with some ecuadorians we have met this weekend and she basically tackled me with excitement and said "Nadia! We have friends!" and then Max came up to us and asks how we are doing and Katelyn says "Good! I feel warm and fuzzy inside" and he looked a bit confused and I turned to him and said "She has friends now" and that was enough explanation). The fact that I am here with friends who I get along with very well helps so much because we talk together a lot and travel together and the cool thing is we talk in Spanish the majority of the time. We do have days where we switch to english a lot, usually because one of us is having a really hard day and it can be really hard to express yourself in a foreign language sometimes. I have talked to Ali Simpson a lot (from Linfield) because I think we have both been going through the same adjustment process, a long and hard adjustment. We have had our share of crying time together and even though that sounds really depressing (and it is), it has really helped me to know that I am not the only one having a hard adjustment and Ali and I have told ourselves we will get through this together and that it will get better! (and I would say it is at the moment). Anyway, I am really looking forward to when I get to the point where I like being here, and I think it will come in time. Just this week I think stopped hating it here and now I am just content with where I am, I still dont like living in Quito and the University is not my favorite place, but traveling on the weekends with friends is always amazing and I have had some really good times. I just felt like sharing the fact that study abroad is not easy (well i think it is for some people) and I cant believe that no one ever said anything about how hard it is and I am hoping that it is because by the end you are having such a great time that you forget how hard it was at first or you think that it was worth the hard adjustment. Anyway, I will change the topic now from how homesick Nadia is :)
Ok, so something fun! This past weekend the Linfield group went on a trip together and even though I usually travel with the Linfield group, it does not include Max and Alia, but this trip did! We went to Mompiche which is a very small, non-touristy beach. I am pretty sure we were the only foreigners there that weekend. We had Friday off (I always have friday off so it didnt matter for me) because it was the independence day of Guayaquil (every city has their own independence day) and while most everyone was going to Guayaquil to party, the Linfielders headed off to a secluded beach. ;) We took a night bus to Atacames (about 6 or 7 hrs) and the bus ride was super disgusting because it was hot and humid and everyone had their windows shut...oh it was gross and my seat was kind of broken so it was more like a teeter-totter that I was balancing on and falling off of during the bus ride. I sat next to Ali on the bus and we talked for about the first hour and once the bus stopped really suddenly and I slid right off the chair and on to the ground and Ali and I started laughing SO hard (it was also WAY past our bedtime), I couldnt get off the ground for a good 10 minutes because we were laughing so hard. That was the most I had laughed since coming to Ecuador and my stomach hurt from all the laughing, but it was so nice! So at least my broken seat gave us some entertainment! Although after 6 hrs of balancing on a seat all night and therefore getting no sleep, I was not entertained anymore. When we got to Atacames we had to take another bus for about 2 hrs to get to Mompiche, but we opted to pay to take a taxi because we were all really gross and tired. The weather at the beach was not that great, cloudy and rainy, but the water was still warm so that was really nice! We basically slept, swam, sat, played cards, talked and ate (a lot!). We left early sunday morning to take a bus to Atacames to catch a bus to Quito. We spent a few hours in Atacames before our bus left and there were SO many people on the beach, it was insane! I am so glad that we were not at a beach like Atacames. The bus ride from Atacames to Quito was SOOOOO much better than the other bus ride. There was air conditioning which was really nice (well there was up until the last 2 hrs) and I had a working seat! There are so many other details I could give, but I feel like they might only be interesting and funny to the people who were there...and my blog is already going to be SUPER long....so I will leave the trip at that.
When I got back to my house on Sunday night, I walked in and said hi to my host mom, who was crying on the phone. This wasn't something unusual for me to see because I will see her crying randomly throughout a day and she never tells me whats wrong and says that she will tell me later when we have more one on one time. So, I after she got off the phone she came to my room and asked me how my weekend was, I said it was good, but how are you doing? and she said "not very good" and started to cry again, so I asked her what happened and we went to sit down on the couch. She told me that my host dad, Telmo, is really sick. Apparently he has a tumor in his lungs and they don't know if it is malignant or not, but the procedure to find out is really dangerous and complicated for him because of a heart attack he had 7 years ago. When I first got here he developed what we thought was a cold, but apparently they went to the doctor and found out it was a tumor in his lungs, but she wanted to wait to tell me i guess. Anyway, that sunday morning my host brother, Patricio, and Telmo left for Boston because that is where there are some really good doctors who can perform the procedure for Telmo. I really hope that everything is going to be okay. Right now Martha is doing well, but I know she wishes she was in Boston with Telmo right now and I just hope it all turns out okay.
Ok, so a funny story that just happened two days ago. On Tuesday I had a midterm in my sociology class and I finished 30 minutes before the end of class so I was really excited at the fact that I was going to get home earlier than usual. I happily left the university and hopped on a green bus to go to Quito. Usually I am with other people when I take the bus, so I think this was my first or second time leaving Cumbaya by myself and usually I read the sign to make sure it says "A Quito" o "A la Rio Coca", but this time I didn't and once I sat on the bus, I thought to myself "I didn't hear the guy say "A Quito" and I didn't read the sign, maybe i should ask to make sure...." but then I thought "No, pretty much every green bus goes to Quito, how likely is is that I would get on the one bus that doesn't go to Quito." Yeah I think you can guess where I am going with this story. So I was sitting on the bus debating whether or not i should ask the girl sitting next to me if this bus goes to the Rio Coca station and then I kept convincing myself that we were headed in the right direction so it should be fine. After 10 minutes or so, we stopped and there were a couple old ladies getting of the bus and then i noticed a sign that said "Al sur de Quito" or "to the south of Quito" and I was thinking "Crap, I don't think I want to go to el sur" so I asked the girl sitting next to me "Does this bus go to la Rio Coca?" and she looked at me with a really confused expression on her face and said "No..." and then I asked her "Well, do you know where I can catch a bus that will take me there?" and she said "No...." and I was thinking "Oh great, I have no idea where I am" so I hopped out of my seat and went to talk to the bus driver and since we were still stopped he told me that I could get off the bus and catch a bus across the street. So I got off the bus with the two old ladies and I asked one of them if she was also going to la Rio Coca and she said yes and apparently so was the other old lady. So, I thought well I'll just follow them. We crossed the busy highway (oh my gosh way dangerous!) and then the two old ladies started to run....so I followed them, me running behind these two old ladies in heels...I wish I could have had a picture because it must have looked hilarious. We stopped running and waited for a while for a bus and then one of the old ladies says "I don't think this is the right spot" so she begins to run more and then we run to another busy highway and cross it and then are running along a fence trying to find a hole in it to get to the other side. The old lady I was running behind stopped running and so i did also, but the old lady who was in front just kept booking it down the highway. She finally found a hole in the fence and crossed to the other side, then the old lady I was with started running again, so we ran and went to the other side of the fence and crossed another highway. This is where we finally caught a bus that was going to Quito and when we got on the bus one of the old ladies turns to me and says "ayy, una aventura!!!!" Yes it was an adventure! I sat on the bus and thought "wow, so much for thinking i was getting home early", I got home later than I usually do leaving at my normal time, but it was really entertaining to think about. I am so glad I was with those two old ladies because there is no way I would have ever found that highway on my own. Life here certainly is una aventura.
So in my last post I said that I received an email saying I had two conversation partners, and I emailed them but they never emailed me back. But, one day I was sitting with Katelyn and her conversation partner and about 6 of his friends and I was talking with two of them for a while and they actually speak quite a bit of english and one of the guys lives not too far from me so sometimes he is on the bus with me in the mornings and we talk in english and spanish. One day I was waiting outside of a psychology class and a guy walked my, named Marco, who I had also met that day and basically said he needed a conversation partner to practice his english and I said I would help him out, so I have actually been meeting with him (he is in his first semester of english, so he knows very little and we talk in spanish almost all the time and he will ask me questions about how to say something in english). It is nice meeting with him, but I am finding that sometimes it is hard to find time to meet. I am meeting with him tomorrow though.
I don't really think I have anything else to say at the moment (sorry this is going to be so long!). Things are definitely a lot better now and I have been having a good time. I love hearing from you guys so please send me emails whenever to update me on your lives. Here are some links to pictures:
Mindo: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2024347&l=90284&id=65202295
Otavalo: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2024573&l=d09d5&id=65202295
Miscellaneous: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2024346&l=23731&id=65202295
Peace,
Nadia
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