Well actually 4 months and a week now, but still unbelievable. As I think of its now, I’m only a month away from my mid way point of my year. That’s ridiculous, and really sad to think about. I know it’s still a whole lot of time, but not if it passes as fast as the past 4 months have. Anyways heres my update on Ecuadorian life. To sum it up in a nutshell. It’s great. I literally can’t think of a single complaint I have of this amazing place. I love everything about it. I’m so close to all my friends and family now they feel like I’ve had them all my life. It’s starting to feel like this is my life and home here and back home in Vermont is just a memory. Weird. Anyways now actually being able to talk with people and understand just about anything it makes things much better, because now I can take part in decisions or conversation and actually speak up. I also get more of just whats going on around me, so I love that part. Still dancing and playing tennis every week and at school I was actually just pretty much forced to play basketball for their club. I think they figure because I’m tall and American I must be awesome at basketball…wrong. Well at least that’s a wrong statement back in the states, but here they all suck, lets be honest {Just like I do at soccer compared to them) so I get to model my mediocre basketball skills in an upcoming tournament later in January. So that should be fun. As for my family, I really fell part of it and they include me in everything including choirs or things like that which I really don’t mind what so ever. It’s the least I can do for them for taking me in for a year.
Last week on Friday, all of my senior class and I went to a poor children’s school to spend time with them for Christmas. Each of us brought a bag of candy, an article of clothing, and a gift and then we got to give them to our buddies face to face which was so great to see their reactions. Like I think I said in an earlier post, I don’t really get to interact and deal with younger kids like I do back home teaching tennis and just with family friends. And I really miss that. I’d have to say kids are what I love most after tennis, and if not tied with tennis. So all these kids had different presentations for us like dances and singing and stuff and it was super cute. They sang “Santa Claus is coming to town” in English, which I thought was amazing for their age in a poor school, and all my friends push me up there so I sat next to them all and sang with them and it was a really cool moment. I think the coolest thing of that day though was to sit with the kids as they received, and opened their gifts. They were all sooo excited and to see their faces bright up like that almost solidifies in me that what ever I end up doing in life, its going to be dealing with young kids. So that was a great day that I’m sure I will remember for a very long time.
What else.The dates and info for our next rotary trip came out. The next trip is to the amazon for 4 days and 3 nights in this eco lodge in the jungle. I’m so excited and can’t wait. My group is going the 20th -23rd of January. So that’s the next thing I’m really looking forward to, Besides Christmas. Which I’ll tell you all about after the fact because it going to be a lot to say. So until then, Feliz Navidad y Propero Año Nuevo.
This past week was the festivals of Quito, and there is a HUGE amount of, not only country, but city pride here in Quito. So with teh festivals theres a week of bull fights, parades, family gatherings, concerts and tons of special events in the city. I went to my first bull fight, and then 3 others in the past week. I never knew they were so popular in Ecuador or south america. I always thought only in Europe for the most part, but yet again, i was wrong. They're definitely hard for me to watch because I love animals so much, so seeing the bull getting speared and tourmented its hard to watch. But as for the actual fighting part with the matador and his cape. I think that part is amazing. All the different moves and bravery that is shown is such great entertainment. The guts it must take to litteraly kneel a foot in front of the bull and throw your cape to teh side and just stare into the bulls eyes, has to be significant. The other thing I really liked about it was that everyone dresses up really fancy and they only serve wine and sangria. All the men wear nice pants, a tucked in button up shirt, nice shoes, and then a sweather over the shoulders. Talk about preppy. And the women all wear the big hats and nice dresses or fancy cloths as well. You wouldn't think people get so dressed up to watch a bull get killed. As for the killing of the bull part, the president of Ecuador, Rafael Correa, outlawed the killing of the bull in the arena. Almost everyone here hates the guy, he has the worst approval ratings I've ever heard of. But because its such huge tradition for the matador to kill the bull as the finish of the fight, everyone who is a supporter of bull fighting is out raged. Anyways so I actually don't mind it because there no way I would be able to watch that. Other than the bull fights I went out alot to concerts with my friends and family. Had some nice family dinners with my grandparents who came up for the weekend as well. Played lots of cards and had a great time. Now back to reality in school and such. But no worries. Two weeks and its christmas vacation. Count downs begun.
When an exchange student gets the chance to do something he or she knows best, they jump on the opportunity. This is because they're usually treated or seen as these naive clueless kids because we're always asking how to say the simplest thigns or always asking what we should do or how or these types of things. It sounds stupid but because of this they will ask you if you know how to do the simplest things, and you just want give em a little slap on the face and say "I'm not dumb." But instead you say oh yeah i know how. So like i said, when you get the chance to do something you're good at you want to show that you're not dumb, incapable or lost and kind of in a little way, shape or form, rub it in their face. So with that being said, a week or two ago i got a few chances to display my briliance and talent. The first was in math class (which is the math that I did like 3 or 4 years ago, so its really easy for me) there was a few hard problems where the teacher gives in class and the first few to get it done correctly gets a point on the next text or some reward like that. So in this one day I was the first done with all of them and got all the free points and extra credit, even though i dont need them. All my classmates were like KODA! how can you do this ?(reference to the response i wanted to say above) but simply just said i already did this a few years ago. One of the problems no one could get and i was the only to actually get it done. So score 1 for Takoda! The next event that week was during our little recesses. For the first time since I've been here i saw an american football. Some kids were throwing it in the courtyard area. I was watching and laughing at how bad they were but i wasnt just going to over and be like hold on let me show you, that would be rude. So i just sat by quietly until butterfingers dropped yet another ball and it rolled over to me. So calm and collected i picked it up and threw across to the other kid in a nice spiral right at him. They all turned and just stared in amazement. So they told me to come over and throw with them. So of course i did and they were all like how do you do that. And my answer was just I'm from america, if you went there and picked up a soccer ball, itd be the same for you. So i taught them all how to throw a spiral.With both situations what was so cool wasnt the fact of actually doing it, but being able to show others how and helping them. Because this is the feeling you rarely see as an exchanger, you're always teh follower and being taught. So being able to teach others and have them look to me for guidance was a really cool feeling that i hope i can continue in other activities. Score 2 for Takoda!
Also that week was Thanksgiving which was really cool to share with my friends and family here. I had asked if we could have a nice dinner and of course my family was on board and we invited some of my good friends as well. So we had a nice roasted chicken (its impossible to find turkey here. Its a thing of imagination), mashed potatos, a salad, and my friends brought a delicious peacan pie. So that was a really special dinner for them to in a way honor me by being there and sharing it with me. Definitely a thanksgiving I won't ever forget. As for the homesickness part during the holidays, its not really there. I honestly didn't even think of thanksgiving until a day or two before. And with the family gatherings back home I didn't really feel to homesick surprisingly. I still love you guys, but i have a great family as well as great friends here that really help me and make it easier for me.
There was also for school an iniciation of some sort for the 7th graders. We all got matched up with one or two of them and it was a day of games at a park and having tons of fun. The point of the day is to get your little buddy as dirty as possible via eggs, dirt, paint, ect.. And at the end we make this disgusting mixture in a kiddy pool. It was gelatine, milk, water of course, ketchup, mustard, mayo, hair gel, eggs, onions, dirt, flour, rice, coke, spit, and a bunch of other stuff i have no clue what it was. So at the end they all wlak in a line and a group of us are dressed like tribal people and we have this kiddy pool in front of us and with branches fron the trees we use them like a paint bruch and cover these kids in this nasty fluid. Then theres someone who throws flour in there face and spraying coke all over them. Its pretty much hazing, but the kids love it. They went through 3 times each. So the whole thing is to welcome them to the school pretty much because its 7-12 grade. So after we finished that the president of our class was about to give them a little speech but all the kids and my friends started chanting KODA! KODA! KODA! and i was like oh jeez this is bad. So because I'm new as well they had me walk through and get the same treatment and it wasnt too bad until i started to walk away and my friends pickes up the whole kiddy pool with everything left inside and comes up behind me and puts it on my head and then hugs me and wrapps me in it. It was nastyyyy. But it was a great day cause i finally got to deal with little kids again which i love so much. I dancing and just goofing with all of them. it was great. It was a great week
wow. I cannot believe that I have been here for over 3 months now. It's the weirdest feeling. I feel like I've been here for a a few weeks, maybe a month, but when I think about everything I've done and experienced it feels like a whole yeah. It's mind blowing for me. But my update is very good. Having a great time ( as always) but now with tennis and actually being able to participate in other activities because I understand whats going on is a huge moral boost for me. For the language they say 3 months and you shoudl be good, as I mentioned in an earlier post, but I must say its definitely more than that. I mean the improvement is amazing when I think about it. I can actually hold a conversation with someone or a few people and understand almost everything they say and can say almost anything i was too. Still when I'm in a group of people it's hard to get everything and keep up but it's coming along. In school, unfortunately, I can actually understand the majority of the material being taught so if I'm scared to actually do the work cause then they might give me more cause they know I understand. So I use the I don't understand card sometimes. But I actually have taken some tests and done some work (for the teachers I like) and they really respect that and see my effort in class so that's all fine. Still the chemistry teacher is making my life harder than it should be. She got mad at me today actually cause I was working on work she assigned a while ago but I've been plugging away at it but it's pretty hard in spanish. And she said to me what happened 3 months and you'll be with the normal class doing all the normal work. Well lady it doesnt work like that, Its not like 3 months and snap your fingers and I can speak and understand perfect spanish. But whatever, i have the support of all my classmates so thats nice. With some other teachers when they want to ask me something they still ask who speaks good english and can translate. I get kind of offended because I can understnad everything shes saying but I usually just do what she says before they translate it and the teachers always look dumb founded. ANYWAYS I cannot believe that my exchange is almost a 3rd the way done. I still feel like I just got here and am getting started. Amazing how time flys when your having fun. Now as for the actual activity of my 3 month anniversary two days ago, I went to the Ecuador vs. Peru world cup qualifying soccer match. I went with about 20 other exchange students so of course it was an absolute blast. Its at the same stadium I went to a while ago and i wrote about with picture below. But because it's ecuador, it unites everyone and EVERYONE wears the ecuador jersey which is a bright yellow so the whole stadium, besides the small section for the other team, is bright yellow. It's a really cool sight. So we all painted our faces and bought jerseys and went all out for the game. I learned all the chants for ecuador and all of that good stuff. As for the game, Ecuador won 2-0 which was great. Everytime they score everyone throws their beer and you get drenched in beer. Its a little gross but at the same time its part of going to the game so its all in good fun. So that was a great day cause I also got to skip school for the game. But 3 months in and i wouldnt change a thing. Being here I think a lot of home or friends as would be expected, and when I think of some of the best memories I have of vermont, my family, friends, and even harwood, I always ask myself if I had the chance would I go back to relive it and relive everything in between then and now. They may be amazing times of my life, but the answer is always no. I love where I am now in life and I wouldn't ever want to change that.
Sorry for the vulgarness of the title but it's really how i've been feeling lately. As most of you know I haven't played much tennis at all since i've been here and it's been driving my crazy. I've been trying to stay positive and used all my resources to try and find ways to play but nothing was happening and it was quite frustrating. Anyways a friend of mine at school told me about some tennis classes that he goes too where you don't need to be a member like all the other places in quito. So i asked him for the number and called the guy a while ago but he never returned my call. Finally he did at the beginning of the week and gave me details and all of that and this week I went to the classes. For where i'm at right now they're perfect. They remind 100% of the classes i used to take and teach at at Tucker Hill Inn with Smitty. It's a few teachers and then just a group of about 10 kids in total that all play and just have fun playing games and things like that. Theres levels too so theres still good competition. It's not at a level as high as I usually play at but like I said, it's perfect for where I'm at now, which is quite bad to tell you the truth. Not playing for so long really takes a toll on your game. But just after my second class yesterday i was already getting back into the swing of it. (Tennis pun!) Anyways so I'm quite happy to be playing once again, and not to mention to actually use all these tennis cloths that i brought that were beginning to look useless. Weekend plans are looking like some parties with friends and family and then tuesday of next week Ecuador is playing Peru in a world cup qualifying match and its another home match so all my friends and I are going to that so that'll be a blast. VIVA ECUADOR!
I know this is a bit late but better late than never right. Last week was vacation for day of the dead and its very celebrated holiday here in Ecuador. I was under the impression that it's only really significant in Mexico, but i was quite wrong. So everyone travels for the vacation to gather with families in various location. My family went to Riobamba which is a city about 3 hours south of Quito so an aunts house on my moms side of the family. It was beautiful. The city itself is kind of runned down and not as nice as quito but it's known as having some of the best mountains around the city. Being somewhat isolated from nature here in quito, it was such a relief to get out and hike and enjoy the wonders of nature. We hiked Chimborazo which is a inactive volcano. The peak is at 6310M which is about 19,000ft, but we only hiked to about 5000M (about 16,000ft) but still that the highest i've ever been. It was amazing. With teh first steps i took from the car at around 4000m my lungs were already burning. The farther i went the worse it got. Exhaustion kicked in a lot fast and my muscles just didn't want to move. It's amazing the effect of altitude. But never the less my father and I pushed forward to the second check point where we were greeted by a wonderful cup of hot cocoa. The last 100ft or so though was tough. Every 15-20 steps we'd have to sit on a rock for a few minutes to catch out breath and rest a little before going again. It was a littel scary at one point because I was really out of breath but when I breathed in I didn't feel like i was getting all that much air because it's so thin so it was a little nerve racking but i had to remind myself to just breath slowely. Scuba diving helped with that as the general rule for breathing (if i remember correctly) is 4 seconds on the inhale and 12 seconds on the exhale. Anyways that was amazing views above the clouds. I also played some tennis with my uncle each morning at a club that hes a member at and that was really nice. Besides that we really just hung out with teh family for the days and played cards and games and watched movies. So it was really fun bonding time. We went on other various walks as well through the city and as well as outside in the farm fields. It was a great vacation though that i'm so happy i got to share with my family.
I thought I had the best and nothing could top the trip to Mompiche, wellll………..I was wrong. This trip to Crucita, Manabí was amazing. What made it better was that all the exchange students from all of Ecuador were there, 145 to be exact. And like I keep mentioning all exchange students are so fun and just love life so all that energy around was incredible. So another 9 hour bus ride and we arrived at our hotel which just so happened to be right across from the beach, so that was awesome.
The excitement of arriving
Everyone was so excited to meet all the people they hadn’t met yet, everyone had a grin from ear to ear. We got there in the afternoon so we just hung around from the night and got to know everyone. The next day we went to a beach that was down the road a little ways and had a blast. We played soccer, Frisbee, and tons of other little games on the beach. Not to mention just swimming in the ocean and playing in the waves. Also the weather was perfect, as always in the coastal region here. It starts out a little over cast in the morning and by noon its blue sky, hot, and sunny. So even with lathering the sun screen on everyone, and I mean everyone, got sunburnt. After the beach we went to this look out place, el Mirador, which was atop a hill and over looked the coast and town we were in which was beautiful. Tons and tons of pictures were taken here with all the exchange students, which was perfect for picture taking. After that we had a talent show night which was such a great idea on rotary’s part. You could do it by country or just by yourself, obviously the goal being to display the talents of everyone. So countries did dances and songs that are traditional to their country. A friend and I decided some what last minute to throw something together. She plays guitar and has one of the most beautiful voices I’ve ever heard. So I grabbed a trashcan and flipped it over and gave it some rhythm and also beat boxed and we ended up getting third place. It was such a surprise but it was great. https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10150439595775482 (The link is for the video I made of the whole trip with various videos.) And after that we had a big dance party, which we had every night actually.
Volleyball on the beach
bonfire on the beach
The next day we just went to the beach across the street for a sports day. We had soccer, volleyball, little races, tubing out on the ocean and other little things. There were tournaments in the soccer and volleyball, which was really fun. Except for the fact that the Brazilians just made there own soccer team and just destroyed everyone else as you could imagine.
parade in Portoviejo
at el Mirador
The next day was the most fun I think. No one really knew what we were doing but they told us to wear our rotary blazers and long pants. Well we ended up being in the independence parade of the city Portoviejo. So this group of 145 gringos all waving their flags and singing their national anthems and going crazy were walking down the street and for some reason the locals LOVED it. They were all cheering for us and would try there English or other languages they knew. Also everyone wanted pictures with us, which was really funny. So that was a blast. After that we went to a market in a town called Monticristi and we all bought traditional hats, shirts, pants, trinkets, and other native things.
dance party in the rotary club
Then that night was our final night so there was a formal dinner at the rotary club in Portoviejo. So we went there and before the dinner we actually got to ride the chivas, which are these party busses pretty much. It’s a bus that drives around a town or city and plays music and you dance on top, inside, along side, or anywhere you want. So with three chivas we had 145 kids packed onto these things driving through the streets just dancing and having fun. Then with our final dinner they introduced us country by country as we walked out to our tables and sat. There were multiple speakers and then dinner and everything like that. Then there was a king and queen that were picked out of everyone. So every country elected a king and queen from their country and then they all went head to head in a runway show down which was hilarious to watch. And then after as always we had a giant dance party until 3 in the morning. The next morning it as quite sad as everyone gave their hugs and kisses and goodbyes. The next time we’ll all be together again isn’t until February I think when we go to the amazon. But overall it was amazing. I’ll admit the rooms, food, and hotel itself was much nicer at Mompiche with the all-inclusive resort. But this was just simple which I liked a lot more. The people though make it what it is. We would be put in a run down warehouse for a week and still have the time of our lives. These are without a doubt friends I’ll have for a lifetime. I love them all.
Okay okay, I know it’s been a long time since my last post. I get so busy here and just get caught up in life and I forget to write in here sometimes. Anyways nothing out of the ordinary in the last few weeks. Just school, friends, and family for the most part. Oh I did start dance classes with a few other fellow exchange students that live near me. It’s salsa and hip hop which I think are the two greatest types of dances out there to be honest, so that’s really fun. It’s also really good exercise for me which I’ve been lacking since I’ve been here. Just from doing a little exercise though like in gym class for instance, I get winded really fast. The altitude really affects you and you don’t realize it until your moving around and you just get really tired really fast. But already since I got here I can feel a difference in becoming more accustomed to it. I should have great stamina when I return home. Another kind of interesting event was the Ecuador vs. USA soccer game the other day. It was only a friendly match meaning there wasn’t any world cup qualifying points up for stake, but still important none the less. Talk about being stuck between a rock and a hard place. In reality I didn’t care who won because it was a win for me either way, but still who do I root for? Well I was with a few other exchange students, none from the US, and we went to this mall to watch the game because they have a huge movie theater like screen in the food court. So lots of people were crowded in this place watching the game. I ended up rooting for the US because after all it is my home country. So I was the only one in this mob of Ecuadorian not rooting for Ecuador. So I would throw my hands up and get into it when US got close to scoring or a bad call or something like that. People were turning around and looking at me like I had 3 heads but it was all friendly, or at least I think. So when Ecuador scored everyone, and I mean everyone, turned to me and pointed and laughed or smiled which was a really funny moment. I knew they were all just joking around cause I was rooting for the US and I was talking to one of them sitting next to me so it was all in good fun. Ecuador ended up winning 1-0 if you didn’t know. Now onto a little more somber note, last week I have to admit I did get a little down and homesick for the first time. I was making a presentation of Vermont for my English class and I was going through all my pictures and just seeing all the pictures of Vermont it made me realize just how beautiful it really is. I’ve never taken for granted, but still now living in a big city makes me really miss that open landscape. Also my friends and family and everyone I just missed because it’s just now starting to sink in that I’m here for the year. It doesn’t feel like a vacation any more. It took two months for it to hit me.Another part of the sadness was due to the lack of tennis playing. It sounds a little dumb, but most of you reading this know how much tennis means to mean and everything, and I’ve only played twice now in 2 months which is nothing at all. So I just got a little frustrated with not being able to just go play when I want like I can at home. I’ve put it out there as much as possible with all my connections and I’m just hoping something can work out to play more. As for the language it improving unlike anything else, it amazing. I can now pretty much hold a conversation with anyone one on one or in a small group. In the classroom or a bigger group of kids the words come so fast and topics change faster than I can keep up with so that’s still a little frustrating but it’ll come. Tomorrow I leave on another trip with Rotary for the week to Manabí. It’s the coastal region that I went to the first week I was here with my family. It another beach trip like Mompiche was but this time it’s all 145 exchange students in all of Ecuador so it is bound to be an absolute blast. I’ll be there for the week so I’ll check back in here when I get back. Hablamos pronto.
Last week wasn't anything special, quite boring actually cause I was just dreaming of being back in mompiche the whole time. Friday though we got out of school at 11 because it was the year anniversary of the people trying to take down the predient, Rafael Carrea. Last year on Sept. 30th the police went after him trying to kill him and the military under Correas comand fought back. Anyways it was crazy times here in ecuador. I mean if you thought Bush had mad approval ratings, this guy probably has close to zero percent. Anyways so more than 10,000 people came into to quito on thursday night to march on friday. So most of the school got out early to avoid trafic form the people filled streets. Anways so went to a friends house with all my good buddies which was fun. Saturday i went to my cousins birthday party which was really fun cause all the family was there. Later with a big group of other exchange students and friends we all went out and had fun with eachother. Sunday was really fun as well because I got to go to my first soccer game here. Like most people know south and latin americans are crazy about their soccer teams, well let me tell you, that's a 100% right. It was Quito vs. Liga, two of the biggest teams in ecuador and both are out of quito so it's like a civil war. Families and friends are torn apart and it gets hostile at times, it's ridiculous. It's like the Red Sox and Yankee rival on steroids. In my family my mother and brother are for Quito, and sister and father are for Liga. And at the moment I'm neutral, but I need to decide before their next match in a few weeks. Anyways it was $8 to enter and the stadium isn't huge, but it's quite big. Half of the stadium was white for Liga and the other half red/blue for Quito. There were police and fences separting the fans of each team. Each side seemed to have endless chants and dances that went on the entire game. There's this mote around the field separting the stands from the field so people dont jump onto the field. Anyways from all teh streamers people were throwing the mote was filled with paper. So when some fans broke out the flares and threw them down there small fires started. To accompany this people would throwing m-80 like explosives in there as well adn would echo throughout the stadium. As for the soccer itself it was quite great. It's really high level play and it ended up in a tie 1-1. Needless to say though it was quite the experience for me and I loved it. OH and also at half time they kicked out some balls into the crowd and one happened to come my way and i just so happened to be taller than everyone here so it was quite an easy catch.
Oh my god, I have no idea where to start or even how. I literally have no words to describe how amazing the last week was. But I guess I'll try my best. So I got on the bus with about 30 other exchange students bright and early sunday morning and so began the fun. Instantly everyone was talking with everyone and laughing and having a good time on the 8 hour bus ride. I mentioned it in an earlier post i think but I think it's quite amazing that the instant you meet another exchange student you're friends. There's this connection of experiencing this new country and lfe together, it's really amazing. Anyways after a long but fun bus ride we got to Mompiche which is the region of beaches on teh coast and we were in the Royal Decameron Resort. I Had looked at some pictures of it online and was like wow this place is pretty nice, but I had no clue. This is one of the most beautiful places I've ever been in my life i think. On top of that its all inclusive, so once we had that green bracelet we could do anything we wanted, well almost anything. The whole thing costed $320 for 5 days which at first I thought was alot until i realized how much we got to do here. Theres always buffets and different ethnical restaurants that you just walk in and eat as much as you want and walk out pretty much when ever you want. There's soda fountain machines you just help yourself too and everything you can think of. If I were to pay for all the food and drinks I had I would easily have used that 320 in only a few days. So other than that there were 7 pools, 3 hot tubs, 6 bars, 4 restaurants, 2 tennis courts, an amphitheatre, a small movie theather, a discoteca, 3 different beaches to go too and then the normal accomidations of a hotel. So needless to say this place was out of this world. But what made it so much fun wasn't all these perks, but it was the 68 other exchange students I got to spend the week with. I don't know why but all exchange students no matter from where are so much fun just love life. It's so great to hang with them because there's never no laughter or smiles, it's alwasy happiness.
A small group of us
2 of the 7 pools
It wasn't all fun and games all week either, we did have 7 hours of spanish class a day. It started out slow because there weren't really any levels to the groups, just split into 5 different groups. So it started really basic with stuff I learned 4 or 5 years ago but it picked up and it was more of a good review for me all week but still really helped my spanish. So that was good. With the common language being english through all the students, it was used a lot between eachother. I tryed to use as much spanish as I could because I've been told over and over my other exchange students in the past that to no get sucked into speaking english with the other exchange students. It was hard though because this beeing our first meeting a lot of people aren't able to speak in spanish yet because it's early in the year, but I still spoke with the people who could respond and only spoke english if they didn't understand. The weather was okay, nothing special. It was cloudy and little rainy a few days and then beautiful a few days. A very comfortable temperature, nothing too hot but it was still warm enough to always want to cool off in the pool or ocean. I would feel safe saying the ocean was warmer than a few of the pools, it was amazing. The second best thing of this place just below being with all the exchange students was the dancing. If you're reading this you probably know that I love to dance. Well this place is one big dance party. There's ALWAYS music playing and theres dance classes on the main pool deck 5 times a day. You just join the group dancing with the instructors in the front. I have come to a conclusion that I was born to live south america because of the dancing. It's all the dancing that I love to do in the states. Its the fluid salsa, samba from brasil, rumba from cuba, and just the constant wave like motion in the body accompanied with the quick feet is perfect. When I would dance at the front of teh group just behind the instructors people would come up after and ask me when the next session was or about some step because they thought I was one of the instructors, it was great. One of the men that was teaching told me I was the best gringo dancer to come that he's seen, so i was quite proud of myself. Along with teh classes there are shows every night that are something different in the amphitheatre. It's usually somehting to do with dancing but not always. One night it was all the latin american dances, another night was danced from around the world, another night was a game show thing, and another night was another game show. But all the shows are by the same group of dancers. During the day this group of staff is helping out around the resort and then take breaks to do dance classes and then at night become the stars. I want that job so bad. Maybe one day I'll go back and ask for it. All in all though I came out of this week with a tonnnnn of stories, awesome memories, a little bit better spanish, but most of all, a great group of new friends from all around the world.
WOW! I can’t believe it’s been an entire month that I’ve been here in Ecuador. It’s crazy. It literally feels like I’ve been here for maybe two weeks. But at the same time when I think back on everything I realize how much I’ve gone through. Anyways today was a good day for my monthiversary. I went to school as normal but there wasn’t any class today because a lot of the teachers were at workshops. So my whole grade was in the auditorium for the entire day with afew breaks watching movies for out classes and doing some group activities. So it was nice to switch it up a little and not have classes. After school I went to my brothers Capoeira class with him which was so much fun. I’ve always loved dancing and acrobatics so this was a great combination of everything. I’ve never done Capoeira before so it was a new experience for me but I gotta say it was awesome. Not to mention a GREAT workout, which I’ve been in much need of lately. I also got to meet other kids that aren’t in my school, which was nice for a change. After that my dad came and picked us up and we went to get my sister at my aunts house and then went grocery shopping. In the store I really got one of my first feelings of being part of the family. I mean I’ve felt it before but something about today was different when we were all grocery shopping. I don’t know if it’s that its been a month, or if it was that I was helping picking stuff out and going around the store getting things, or if I cant some-what keep up in their conversations in Spanish now and can even pipe in. I don’t know but it feels great. When we got in the car I also told them that because it’s been a month that from now on no more English and only Spanish, unless it’s for a translation of a word or I need to understand something, otherwise it’s all Spanish. And the rest of the car ride home I actually had a full conversation with everyone, it was great.
On Sunday I leave for my language/intro camp with all the other exchange students in Ecuador with Rotary. I’ll be there until Thursday and everyday it’s Spanish classes so hopefully I’ll be even better by this time next week. So my next update will probably be when I get back, unless something crazy happens in the next two days.
This past week wasn’t too to eventful but still fun nonetheless. Last Saturday there was this Mexican festival in this small town about an hour from Quito and it’s a tradition with my friends to go every year so I of course tagged along. It was a really fun day. Everyone dresses up like a Mexican cowboy or farmer accompanied with a big hat. Then we just walked around the bustling streets where were probably the same amount of horses as there were people. There’s lots of traditional food and drinks as well as music everywhere. One of the main attractions though is the “plaza de torros” which is a bull-fighting ring that is completely made out of bamboo tied and nailed together. It was surprisingly big in diameter and three stories tall. What attracts people most is that anyone who can man up enough to jump in the ring can run around with the bull. My friends usually all do it so that meant I was too was about run for my life from and angry bull. But in the end they decided that this year the ring was especially un-sturdy and the bull rams into the sides a lot and can collapse the ring. So right when I finally built up to courage to do this we walked away, I was a little bummed.
A beautiful setting for some tennis courts
A small soccer field at the tennis club
The next day, Sunday, I got to finally play tennis for the first time, which was a HUGE relief. If you’re reading this you probably know how much I love tennis and how I’m used to playing almost everyday. So going almost three weeks without playing was quite difficult. It was actually the longest I haven’t played in around a year I think. Anyways my uncle is a member at one of the clubs here so I went to go play with him. The club is absolutely beautiful. So while we were waiting or our court there was these three people warming up below us and the man came up and asked if one of us wanted to be a fourth to play some doubles. My uncle and brother right away told me to go so I got up and walked over. I started to talk with this man and he turns out to be one of the directors of the Quito Sur Rotary Club. Now I’m in the Quito Norte Club so it’s different but still a small world. Well he’s also part of the Rotary International, which is the part that deals with us exchange students, so we connected pretty fast. We exchanged cards and information and plan on meeting soon to play some more tennis or just meet up and talk. So that was a great connection that I got to make.
Monday and Tuesday I was sick and throwing up. Whether it was because of the first real exercise at 10,000ft or just my stomach getting used to everything, I don’t know, but either way it wasn’t fun. I got better though and went back to school Wednesday. Thursday was the first rotary meeting for my club so I got to meet all the other exchange students in my district, which was really nice. There are three other students and a fourth one coming, a boy from California, a girl from France, and a girl from Germany. The other boy comes in December and is from Brazil. It’s really neat how the instant you meet another exchange student you become friends. It’s like an unspoken bond of being on this adventure together makes you friends automatically. It’s quite the feeling.
This weekend wasn’t too exciting. Watched a lot of tennis in the US Open which was some good quality family time cheering for the different people. So that was fun. It’s always said that exchange students gain weight at the beginning of the year because of the new food and everything, well I’m definitely feeling the effects. Seeing my stomach bulge out a little bit motivated me to go for a run this morning. I was good for the first 10 or so minutes but then I hit a wall and my lung were on fire. Thank you altitude! Tennis is stop and go so I didn’t really feel it before, but non stop running was tough. My muscles also got tired a lot quicker as well. As I write this I can still feel my lungs burn a little when I take a deep breath, it’s that cold mid-winter day trying to hustle out to your car to start it and run back feeling, it’s not a good one. But hopefully little by little I can work my way up to being accustomed to it.
The last thing I’m going to touch base on is the language aspect. It’s amazing the improvement that I’ve made in just over 3 weeks. I’m starting to understand a lot more and almost keep an actual conversation. A little landmark was the other day in school I actually understood almost the entire class which was a great feeling (no it wasn’t English class). My speaking is still a little lacking but I figure you have to understand what’s being said to you before you can respond. So that’s where I’m as with that. I’ll let you get back to your day or night that matter.
This was taken a different day but it was just outside quito
So this post is a little bit late but I’m just getting around to it. This past Sunday I went to the center of Quito, which is the old part of the city. It was so beautiful. It’s the colonial style houses and steep coble stone streets. Every Sunday they block off a handful of streets and there’s music, street performers, artwork, dancing, and much more. This past month was Ecuadorian culture month so it was really busy everywhere we went. The music was all the traditional Andean music, which I love so much, and it was accompanied by the traditional dancing by the natives. It was really cool to get to see this up close. There are also A LOT of churches in the old part because most everyone here is either catholic or Christian. Anyways we went into a lot of the churches and walked around and I have never seen anything like them. These churches are completely different then what I’m used to seeing. They are all quite big and all the statues and podiums are made of gold so everything just shines. It was really enchanting. There was this one church that is almost always closed but was open for this one day so my family jumped on that opportunity in a blink of an eye.They kept telling me how special it is and rare that we get to go inside. I kept thinking to myself what would make this church so special because all the other ones I thought were special. As soon as I stepped in I understood. Pretty much the entire inside was gold. It was amazing. We also went to a few museums that were there as well. One was the coin museum that was about the money here in Ecuador since the Incan and Mayan money. Anyways after a few hours hanging out and walking all over the downtown we walked back to grandmothers house (my dads side) where every Sunday the whole family has lunch and dinner together. That was really fun as well because the family is so great and I get alone great with all of them. I can’t wait for next Sunday so I can walk back into the old part because that ‘s the part I like most about any city, it’s where all the history is.
After waking up around 11:30 and making a big egg sandwich I hung out for a little while until my grandparents arrived (the same ones with the farm). We all said hello and talked for a bit and then went out to lunch to meet my mom. Once we were done my sister said she wanted to go skating, and I had a puzzled look on my face. Like roller skating I asked and she said no like ice skating. I was shocked to learn of an ice rink here in the big city of Quito. I of course said yes. So my sister, cousin and I went to a big mall where there was an ice rink inside. To no surprise it was quite small, maybe half the size of a full size rink. It was quite busy with lots of people skating in circles. Well if you call holding onto the walls for dear life skating, then pretty much everyone was skating. No one really knew how to skate and why would they, they live on the equator. For me though, this is my home turf. I grew up skating, sometimes spending 10 hours a day in sub zero weather at the local ice rink (yeah that really happened). So I was weaving in and out of the traffic having fun taking time here and there to help my sister and cousin to not fall. Finally something on my exchange that was familiar and normal to me. Even though there's nothing normal about skating on the equator.
I got to wake up to the lovely sound of guitars playing as my alarm went off at 5:50am. It should be a crime to have to wake up that early for school. But I got myself together, got some breakfast, packed my backpack and went to the bus stop with my mom (she was showing me where it was). I was kinda nervous at first waiting for the bus but my nerves were soon calmed after I got on the bus and found a few of the friends I made the other night were on the bus as well. One of them is in my class so I pretty much just followed her all day. Here they have the same class or group of kids for all of high school. So it's not like the American system where each class has different kids in it. You travel as one unit to each class, so this is going to help with making more friends because I'm going to spend every day with the same kids. Anyways after I got off the bus I got a little nervous again thinking about classes and how I'm probably not going to understand anything. And I had all these questions floating around in my head. From whether or not the teachers would be nice and lenient with me because I won't understand anything to if everyone's going to stare at me no matter where I go (which they did but I'm over it already). My day consisted of biology, english, chemistry, math, and history. I barely understood biology, only the diagrams and numbers, I completely understood english class which was great, i surprisingly understood a lot in chemistry, most of math because it's numbers, and almost none of history. It definitely helped though that I've already taken all these classes so I might not understand exactly what the teachers/students are saying, but I can connect the dots to form something I already learned. They don't have a lunch period like I'm used to, its just a longer break in between classes that you can go to the snack bar and get some food. Everyone just hangs out outside in between classes wheres there's about a 10 minute break. The school is really beautiful and I love how everything is outside. There are no hallways in this place because all the classrooms face out. So it's just a bunch of courtyards, basketball courts, and grass to sit and walk through from class to class. If it's not already tiring enough to go to school, I can't tell you how tiring it is to constantly be listening to a different language and trying to translate the entire time. Even when I had no clue what was going on, I'd still be listening in for words I know. It's really hard to just tune it out. I just can't wait until I can understand what's going on around me. Three months is what most people say until you can understand for the most part. So I'll make sure to write a three month update from today and see if I met the goal.
Today was a great day full of realizations. It started off with going to my school with my family to get my uniform and school materials. The school is amazing, its so beautiful and unique. The uniforms are pretty great as well. Great colors and its pretty casual so it's nice. My brother Juan showed me around the school and I met some of his friends and teachers. After that we went book shopping for all the books we all needed for school. This took quite a while because some of the stores didn't have some of the books so it was a lot of driving around the city. So it was nice to get to see the city for the first time. It's quite beautiful. We got home kinda late because of traffic and stopping to say hello to family and friends. Later though I went out with Juan and all his friends so I finally got to make some friends of my own outside the family. WOO first friends! They were all so nice and friendly and loved trying to speak english with me as I tried speaking spanish to them. They are all in the same year as me and Juan, the last year, like a senior year, and a few of them are in my classes so it was nice to meet them before I go into school. Like I said before a lot of realizations hit me today like when we were getting my uniform just thinking about how this is what I'm going to wear for a year. And then driving around the city thinking how I'm so lost now but in a matter of months I'll probably know all these streets like the back of my hand. The best one though was hanging out with my new friends and realizing that these are the kids I'm going to be great friends with and become close with as I spend an entire year with them. School starts on thursday and I couldn't be more excited, mostly just to meet all these new people and to really dive head first into the beginning of this amazing year.
First off I apologize for how late this is. I was hoping to write a little each day but as soon as I arrived here my family went on vacation to the beach with me and there wasn't any Internet. So I'll try to recollect each day and give you a taste of my stay so far.
Mon 15th:
I arrived at the airport here in Quito at around 10 at night and didn't get out until around 11:30 because of immigration and customs took forever. Anyways I met my family and some other various rotary representatives as they greeted me in the airport. I got to my house and unpacked and my family showed me around the house and things like that. My mother (Maria) speaks English because she did a rotary exchange to the united states a while ago. So it's really helpful to have her so when I don't understand something she can translate for me so there's no confusion. My father (Marcelo) is one of the goofiest people I've ever met. He is always making jokes or talking in funny voices and having fun. He speaks a little bit of English but understands more. My brother (Juan Bernardo) is 17 so its nice to have someone close to my age the talk with. He is really nice and friendly and is like his father when it comes to the making jokes a lot and goofing around. His English is about the same as my Spanish so we can communicate and talk a lot. My sister (Maria Paz) is 13 so its perfect because I have always wanted a little sister. She doesn't speak that much English at all. So out relationship is more based on the little Spanish that i know and body language and actions.
Tuesday Aug 16th:
My family let me sleep in a little because we didn't get home until late Monday night. But when I got up I had a little bite to eat and then I re-packed a small bag for the beach. I had arrived just in time to go with them on their family vacation to the coast for a week so that was awesome. It's about a 7 hour drive to where we were going so on the way there we stopped at my mother's parent's house in Santo Domingo which is about half way. The drive there was amazing. As we were leaving Quito we drove past this big statue and my father explained that this was one of the equator markers so i got to be on the north and southern hemisphere at the same time which was pretty cool. They also explained to me that Ecuador has four very distinct regions. There's the Galapagos islands, the coastal region, the mountains, and then the amazon. Quito is located in the mountains at about 10,000ft so it's quite amazing to drive from there all the way to sea level in a matter of hours. But going through these mountains were incredible. Switch-backs for hours but the view of these pronounced mountains and hills was breath taking. It shifted from these steep tall tree-filled mountains so small farm-land covered hills which was even more beautiful. Not to mention all the different vegetation that's new to me. They had told me about the grandparent's farm and how it's a beautiful place, so i was expecting this nice small farm on the countryside. So when we got there, we drove down the long, rocky driveway and passed some shacks and old houses. Then passed where all the cows were being milked, and some horses feeding. And finally got to this small little house with a very small grass yard out in front, and i thought "so far its about what i expected." I then met the grandparents who were some of the friendliest and nicest people I've ever met. Then we had lunch and I had forgot how in most of central and south America lunch is their big meal. So the grandmother had prepared shrimp and fish ceviche (which turned out to be the best I've ever had) then i thought that was it was it was a good portion. But nope, then the fresh chicken right from the farm, then some rice and this stew to put over it, then some of these "mozzarella sticks" which were actually cheese wrapped in a corn tortilla and then deep fried. Needless to say I was stuffed. After they suggested we got for a nice walk on the farm and I was dying to see the Ecuadorian landscape so it worked out perfectly. there were a few roads that went all through the property that a truck could drive on and the different field branched off from these. Well we started walking and these fields are amazing and the trees and woods, just incredible. After a while I was wondering how much longer this path/road goes because we've been walking for a while. So i asked the grandfather how big the farm was and he tells me in a unit that i wasn't familiar with and not expecting a answer i asked how many acres that was and he took a second obviously doing some math in his head and he tells me about 5,000 acres. I was right about the nice on the countryside but wrong about the small. My mouth dropped in aw. 5,000 acres i kept thinking, holy shit. Once we came upon this stable he brought out a few horses and asked if i wanted to ride one. Of course i jumped right on cause me feet were hurting. I ended up spending the rest of the afternoon/evening riding and galloping through all the different fields on the enormous farm. There were cows, horses, mules, bulls, bananas, corn, bamboo, lots of other fruits that i didn't know what they were, but mostly just wide open fields with cows. It was nothing short of spectacular. That night we had a small dinner and then my grandfather, father, and brother all showed me how to play "cuarenta" which means 40. It's a very popular card game here in Ecuador. I really felt included when we were playing because it's a partner based game and they were also always talking with me and it really made me feel comfortable.
Wednesday Aug 17th- Friday Aug 19th:
We got to the beach Wednesday afternoon and got settled in to this small apartment that they rented for the week. We all wanted to move about cause he were sitting in the car for so long, so as soon as we were all unpacked we went to one of the beaches and ended up meeting a lot of my father's side of the family. Marcelo has 9 brothers and sisters, but only two of his brothers and their families met us. i learned they had all coordinated to come together as a big family vacation. So I got to meet my uncles and aunts and the cousins which really made me feel part of the family, it also helped they were all soo friendly and accepting of me. All one big goofy family. Out of all the cousins that i met i was the oldest for a change. It was actually a really cool feeling to have the younger ones asking me all these things and goofing with me. There were two older cousins that were Juan's, my brother, age. One of them loves to randomly break out in dance or beat-boxing so for those who know me, we got a long fantastic. We had a big family dinner that night.
Thursday and Friday were beach days with the whole family. We played a ton of soccer on the beach with random people we would ask to join. Swam a lot in the ocean, which was sooo warm because its the pacific and we're on the equator. I learned a lot about the family and about everything pretty much. Soooo much information each day, its crazy. I love the importance of family here in south America. I'm not saying its not important in America because it is, its just that where we have friends they have family. Every Sunday my family will get together with the entire rest of the family so I'm really looking forward to that. Again we had some great food for lunches and dinners. Out of everything though they LOVE their bananas here. You literally won't have a meal without bananas in it. But not like I'm used too. They're either deep fried, grilled, or dried out. They have banana chips that are the appetizer for everything but they're not sweet like the banana chips I'm used to, they're quite bland actually. They then have these banana strips that are grilled/sauteed that you eat with everything but mostly rice, and these are a little bit sweet but not much. And then they have these chunks or full bananas that they just drop in the hot oil and deep fry them. They're all quite good though. I have tried tons of exotic fruits already and haven't not liked a single one, its all so good.
Saturday Aug 20th:
Today we went to the beach again but with some other cousins from the other side( my moms side) of the family. The beach we went to this time was more a a beach town like people might think of. There were tons of vender's on the roads selling all the bracelets and trinkets. And cabanas everywhere and every 20 feet there's a restaurant all selling the best sea food ever. Again it was a great day at the beach. That night though was probably the funniest part of my stay so far. The circus was in town, Circo de Brazil, and we went as a family with the cousins. Its like the carnival back home where its nothing amazing or special but its just a fun thing to do as a family even though it wasn't that good. Well they had some typical circus things but the excitement came when the show girls came out. The ones with the huge feather head dresses and wearing almost nothing and high heels, yeah those. Well of course they pick me to dance with them because i stand out in the crowd. There are literally no words to describe what happened. So if they say a picture is worth thousand words, then a video is worth a whole lot more.
Basically it was the funniest, scariest, worst, best thing that could have happened. I didn't understand anything that he was saying to me so i was a little bit nervous to say the least. Rotary says they want the exchange students to step out of their comfort zone, well rotary here you go, i didn't just step out, i flew out.
Sunday Aug 21st:
Today was yet another beach day, but this time it was full of endless jokes about me and the night before, quite funny. Today was also our last day at the beach so the afternoon/night was a lot of cleaning and packing everything up for the early departure the next day. After we were all set we went out and just walked around the town and by the water which was really nice because i got to talk with my mother about a variety of things so it was some good bonding time. After we hung out for a while and watched a movie which was in Spanish of course but the movie is originally in English so the lips don't match the words so its hard for me to watch. They're all used to it though so it doesn't bother them. It was some good quality family time though, which is always a good thing.
Monday Aug 22nd:
Today was hard because it was 7 hours in the car. We got the pleasure of stopping half way at my grandparents house on the way there but not this time. We only stopped once for drinks so i was quite stiff. But got back had a nice lunch with the family and now here i am going over in my head the awesome first week i had here. It's going to be an unforgettable year.
