week 3

A view of Cotopaxi from outside Quito

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.