Sunday, August 29, 2010
Today is a journaling kind of day
Today has been a very introspective and introverted kind of day. I realized that my life and all of its events have culminated to prepare for this trip. I went to camp for 10 years to learn how to interact with people I knew, strangers, and people I could almost call family. I also learned lots of skills- orienteering, trust, love, patience, respect acceptance for differences, an adventurous and curious spirit, and so many more. I also spent lots of time away from home and had no problem with it most of the time. So camp was a big help. Going away to college also helped me to be able to live with lots of different people with something crazy happening everyday. I have lots of people to go on adventures with and lots of friends from my 2 years at MSU. I also learned how to pack for just about anything from these two places. From weekend trips to packing everything I would need for 4 months, I know how to and am so thankful now that I brought lots of warm clothes because I know I get cold and also that I brought lots of cash because it's hard to get here. I learned family values from, well, my wonderful family and know they support me in everything I do. And as much as it weirds me out to say it, Spanish classes from high school have helped me SO much to teach me so much vocabulary, history, and grammar that I use everyday here. I guess Senora Bilski teaching us stuff which at the time seemed useless, like when would I need to know the word for spoon, but now that's so helpful! It's kind of weird since my life has kind of led up to these 4 months, like what happens next? Finish up college and find a new dream? I guess only time will tell what this new book of life has in store for me.
Saturday, August 28, 2010
exploration of the city
Yesterday I went with Ben, Meaghan, Valerie and Rachel to the Old Town, I always forget it's Spanish name. It was beautiful. Old architecture and TONS of churches. I guess it's the same style as some places in Spain. I want to go back during the day so we can go inside the churches and explore more. It got dark and rainy so we came home early. We went to this restaurant called Gus's which I can't go to because it makes me sick. But they give you a plastic glove if you order chicken so you don't get your hands greasy! So crafty.
Today the 5 of us met up with Jeff and went to La Mitad del Mundo, the middle of the Earth aka the equator! It was kind of difficult getting there. Cab to bus station, find a bus, then find how to see the monument. But it was really cool. Apparently it's not the EXACT equator but is only like 300 meters away. It was built in the 1700s by a French guy and was only 300 meters off, pretty good for those days. The place is its own "city" with lots of shops, restaurants (some sell Cui which is guinea pig, a traditional Ecuadorian dish I am not quite ready to try yet) and this huge monument with a line for the equator. There's also a miniature model of old town Quito which is super cool. Musty smelling but awesome. The lights turned out so you could see how the city looks at night.
Then we went to Jeff's house and his host dad Gonzales took us in his car (7 of us packed into a 5 passenger truck... cozy) and took us on a driving tour of Old Town and pointed out all of the cool sights. We went to a park that overlooked the whole city and it was beautiful. Oh, and we got kind of lost on the way to Jeff's house and ended up passing it on the bus and had to back track quite a ways. AKA we explored the city, used some basic knowledge of direction and eventually got back. So that was fun.
Now I'm quite tired from constantly walking around. I have no idea how the people here daily trudge up and down those mountains but it's tough. Starting to get used to it, though.
I never know what tomorrow brings in this city. We shall see!
Today the 5 of us met up with Jeff and went to La Mitad del Mundo, the middle of the Earth aka the equator! It was kind of difficult getting there. Cab to bus station, find a bus, then find how to see the monument. But it was really cool. Apparently it's not the EXACT equator but is only like 300 meters away. It was built in the 1700s by a French guy and was only 300 meters off, pretty good for those days. The place is its own "city" with lots of shops, restaurants (some sell Cui which is guinea pig, a traditional Ecuadorian dish I am not quite ready to try yet) and this huge monument with a line for the equator. There's also a miniature model of old town Quito which is super cool. Musty smelling but awesome. The lights turned out so you could see how the city looks at night.
Then we went to Jeff's house and his host dad Gonzales took us in his car (7 of us packed into a 5 passenger truck... cozy) and took us on a driving tour of Old Town and pointed out all of the cool sights. We went to a park that overlooked the whole city and it was beautiful. Oh, and we got kind of lost on the way to Jeff's house and ended up passing it on the bus and had to back track quite a ways. AKA we explored the city, used some basic knowledge of direction and eventually got back. So that was fun.
Now I'm quite tired from constantly walking around. I have no idea how the people here daily trudge up and down those mountains but it's tough. Starting to get used to it, though.
I never know what tomorrow brings in this city. We shall see!
Friday, August 27, 2010
It's 7:30am and I'm wide awake. Probably because I went to bed super early last night but oh well.
Yesterday I went to my Spanish conversation class and the professor seems cool and it's going to be a lot of chatting, changed some around but still need to know if they'll transfer to MSU (Come on, Lyman Briggs, get on that!) and walked around everywhere. Met some girls from Kalamazoo College who are doing the same program Rob did 10 years ago. We walked around outside of campus to go find ice cream, couldn't find the right place so after walking about quarter mile extra down a huge hill, decided to trudge back up and go to another place. Ecuadorian ice cream is weird. Maybe I'm just used to mass amounts of sugar. Then we went to Valentina's house and had to walk up 2 mountains in her neighborhood. Watched Miss Congeniality (it took me until I went to Ecuador to watch that movie... pretty good). Then walked my friend Valerie home so by the time I got back, I was exhausted.
My host mom had two friends over just to chat. They talked SO FAST! It was interesting what they were talking about- pets, kids, grandkids, cleaning, and a few other topics. I was happy that I could follow along for the most part. At one point they were talking about a conejo which is a pet, and I thought it was a snake but it's a rabbit. But then again, makes me more confident that I know lots of vocab to know what rabbit is in Spanish.
Went to bed at 10, woke up at 7, probably will go back to bed. Today I have class and then need to get my Censo ( Still have no idea what that is, I think the ID card?) and then me and some others are going to explore Old Town Quito which I hear is beautiful. Hopefully will have some good photo opportunities since I haven't taken many yet. I'm just nervous to take my camera out with the chance it makes me look wealthy and then I get mugged. Could happen.
I've only been here for about 5 days and can already notice lots of differences in the culture and way things are here. Obviously the language is different, but it's surprising how many people know English and can use it because they studied or went somewhere in the US for some time. Some of the differences may be seen since I haven't spent much time in cities. Pollution is pretty bad, trucks emit black smoke from their tailpipes all the time. There's trash everywhere, even some weird bones or I think they're bones on the little walkway I go on daily. On crowded intersections, people try to sell whatever they can for a little bit of money. Fire dancers, candy sellers, cell phone case sellers, jugglers, window washers, etc. Not supposed to give them money because they could use it for drugs or something. Who knows. Everyday, I walk by this flower shop with all sorts of beautiful flowers. You can get 25 roses for a dollar. It's just on the side of the road, someone pulls up and buys them and is on their way. I have no idea if they sell very much, but they should. Most of the people who sell little items just look sad. Not sure if they are, but if they're selling 3 candy bars a day to make 30 cents, probably are a bit. They bring their kids along and have them sell things too. People here hardly ever smile. I guess they do when talking to others, and it's probably the same in the States.
I know I've seen more cultural differences but can't think of them right now. Sure I will throughout the semester. But hey to any of my Guatemala family who reads this- I keep seeing people standing in the back of pick-ups riding around! So jealous of them since that's the best way to travel!
Chao chao bacalao.
Yesterday I went to my Spanish conversation class and the professor seems cool and it's going to be a lot of chatting, changed some around but still need to know if they'll transfer to MSU (Come on, Lyman Briggs, get on that!) and walked around everywhere. Met some girls from Kalamazoo College who are doing the same program Rob did 10 years ago. We walked around outside of campus to go find ice cream, couldn't find the right place so after walking about quarter mile extra down a huge hill, decided to trudge back up and go to another place. Ecuadorian ice cream is weird. Maybe I'm just used to mass amounts of sugar. Then we went to Valentina's house and had to walk up 2 mountains in her neighborhood. Watched Miss Congeniality (it took me until I went to Ecuador to watch that movie... pretty good). Then walked my friend Valerie home so by the time I got back, I was exhausted.
My host mom had two friends over just to chat. They talked SO FAST! It was interesting what they were talking about- pets, kids, grandkids, cleaning, and a few other topics. I was happy that I could follow along for the most part. At one point they were talking about a conejo which is a pet, and I thought it was a snake but it's a rabbit. But then again, makes me more confident that I know lots of vocab to know what rabbit is in Spanish.
Went to bed at 10, woke up at 7, probably will go back to bed. Today I have class and then need to get my Censo ( Still have no idea what that is, I think the ID card?) and then me and some others are going to explore Old Town Quito which I hear is beautiful. Hopefully will have some good photo opportunities since I haven't taken many yet. I'm just nervous to take my camera out with the chance it makes me look wealthy and then I get mugged. Could happen.
I've only been here for about 5 days and can already notice lots of differences in the culture and way things are here. Obviously the language is different, but it's surprising how many people know English and can use it because they studied or went somewhere in the US for some time. Some of the differences may be seen since I haven't spent much time in cities. Pollution is pretty bad, trucks emit black smoke from their tailpipes all the time. There's trash everywhere, even some weird bones or I think they're bones on the little walkway I go on daily. On crowded intersections, people try to sell whatever they can for a little bit of money. Fire dancers, candy sellers, cell phone case sellers, jugglers, window washers, etc. Not supposed to give them money because they could use it for drugs or something. Who knows. Everyday, I walk by this flower shop with all sorts of beautiful flowers. You can get 25 roses for a dollar. It's just on the side of the road, someone pulls up and buys them and is on their way. I have no idea if they sell very much, but they should. Most of the people who sell little items just look sad. Not sure if they are, but if they're selling 3 candy bars a day to make 30 cents, probably are a bit. They bring their kids along and have them sell things too. People here hardly ever smile. I guess they do when talking to others, and it's probably the same in the States.
I know I've seen more cultural differences but can't think of them right now. Sure I will throughout the semester. But hey to any of my Guatemala family who reads this- I keep seeing people standing in the back of pick-ups riding around! So jealous of them since that's the best way to travel!
Chao chao bacalao.
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Start of School
Today was my first day of school. It wasn't as nerve-racking as it normally is which was strange considering my present location. I got to my 9 o'clock class at like 8:55 and only one other girl, Stephanie, was there so luckily I wasn't alone but the professor and the other students didn't show up! We were confused and talked to the international aides and they didn't know what happened, but I later learned the professor's family member died so hopefully all is well.
I met some new people today that seem very nice to hang out with. Hopefully to travel with too at some point. I just hung out at school for a long time, seems to be what everyone does there. I need to get my classes sorted out but hopefully I will sooner or later.
I'm starting to not be so tired but still need to sleep and drink lots o'water!
Besos!
I met some new people today that seem very nice to hang out with. Hopefully to travel with too at some point. I just hung out at school for a long time, seems to be what everyone does there. I need to get my classes sorted out but hopefully I will sooner or later.
I'm starting to not be so tired but still need to sleep and drink lots o'water!
Besos!
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Orientation
Today was orientation. Left at like 7am to walk about 5 blocks (my family said it was 2... no) to the bus stop. It's really easy to get to and from campus on the busses that wind up and down the mountains. My motion sickness loves it so I'll have to wear my sea bands or something on the bus rides.
We went to school today, and the campus is absolutely beautiful. We listened to a bunch of talks and one of them said the campus is like living in Laguna Beach surrounded by the rest of the world. I'll have to take photos of it. But it's weird that it's so small- completely different from MSU!
There were lots of talks today. First about emotional aspects of studying abroad, health concerns meaning we're going to get explosive diarrhea at some point (sorry for being so graphic. it happens) and we had one on culture, history of ecuador (they've had 8 presidents since 1996 so it's pretty stable here...) acclimation, and the longest one was on crime. He's the US Embassy Ambassador (I think) or does something with special services here. He's been all around the world and was basically there to tell us all the facts straight up and to kind of scare us half to death. He started talking about pickpocketing, then went to robbery, then armed robbery, then sexual assault, kidnapping, and told us areas to avoid. Gave us tips to not carry many valuables on us, to only ride in very well marked taxis or to call a taxi from a company because a lot of theft happens in taxis. Oh, and Ecuador is in the critical state of security. Sorry Mom and Dad, but I'll use my best judgment and always travel with someone.
I was able to ride the bus home with Valenta and Ben which was good. Maria del Carmen, who is my advisor here, met with the 3 of us to talk about things and to eat pizza. Delicious and it was good to get to know the "team" of advisors there and they're all extremely nice.
I might be on the verge of getting sick. Not quite sure if I will but it's a possibility. Hoping for the best but I know it will happen eventually.
I think the thing I dislike most is that I never know what's going on. I just drift when people tell me things. I'm learning I'm a visual learner and all this auditory information being thrown at me, especially in very fast Spanish, is really overwhelming. I need things written down. Like when people tell me directions, both here and in the States, I need to see them written down or see a map to understand. But when someone says okay, go up this street and turn left and go a ways to the car dealership and turn right and thats where the bus stop is (ps thats how i get to the bus stop) I don't understand. But now I understand since I've been there.
I have no idea what I'm doing tonight. I have class at 9 tomorrow so I'll have to leave by like 8:20 I think. I just don't want to go out at night yet. I should've done something during the day with people but maybe I'll read or something. Once school starts I should have more to do and I'll meet people so that will be better.
Cultural immersion at the finest.
We went to school today, and the campus is absolutely beautiful. We listened to a bunch of talks and one of them said the campus is like living in Laguna Beach surrounded by the rest of the world. I'll have to take photos of it. But it's weird that it's so small- completely different from MSU!
There were lots of talks today. First about emotional aspects of studying abroad, health concerns meaning we're going to get explosive diarrhea at some point (sorry for being so graphic. it happens) and we had one on culture, history of ecuador (they've had 8 presidents since 1996 so it's pretty stable here...) acclimation, and the longest one was on crime. He's the US Embassy Ambassador (I think) or does something with special services here. He's been all around the world and was basically there to tell us all the facts straight up and to kind of scare us half to death. He started talking about pickpocketing, then went to robbery, then armed robbery, then sexual assault, kidnapping, and told us areas to avoid. Gave us tips to not carry many valuables on us, to only ride in very well marked taxis or to call a taxi from a company because a lot of theft happens in taxis. Oh, and Ecuador is in the critical state of security. Sorry Mom and Dad, but I'll use my best judgment and always travel with someone.
I was able to ride the bus home with Valenta and Ben which was good. Maria del Carmen, who is my advisor here, met with the 3 of us to talk about things and to eat pizza. Delicious and it was good to get to know the "team" of advisors there and they're all extremely nice.
I might be on the verge of getting sick. Not quite sure if I will but it's a possibility. Hoping for the best but I know it will happen eventually.
I think the thing I dislike most is that I never know what's going on. I just drift when people tell me things. I'm learning I'm a visual learner and all this auditory information being thrown at me, especially in very fast Spanish, is really overwhelming. I need things written down. Like when people tell me directions, both here and in the States, I need to see them written down or see a map to understand. But when someone says okay, go up this street and turn left and go a ways to the car dealership and turn right and thats where the bus stop is (ps thats how i get to the bus stop) I don't understand. But now I understand since I've been there.
I have no idea what I'm doing tonight. I have class at 9 tomorrow so I'll have to leave by like 8:20 I think. I just don't want to go out at night yet. I should've done something during the day with people but maybe I'll read or something. Once school starts I should have more to do and I'll meet people so that will be better.
Cultural immersion at the finest.
Monday, August 23, 2010
First Few Days
Wow, is there ever so much to say so far. Let's start from the very beginning of the trip.
I started off talking on the baby plane from Grand Rapids to Chicago to a 59 year old man named David who was so excited for me to go on my journey and he was off to Paris in a few days. Talked about health and it was just good from the beginning.
Then I got to the airport, found Ben (he's the guy from Michigan State in my program and I traveled down with) and we flew to Miami, spent some time there and said some goodbyes. Then I was about to cry and freak out as we were in line to board the plane; I wanted to turn around immediately and go home. But I didn't. On the flight from Miami to Quito, we sat next to an Ecuadorian woman living in New York named Liz who was traveling home for a few weeks. We talked to her in Spanish, trying to say what we could and were asking her all sorts of questions about customs, food, etc. She kept assuring us that our Spanish was strong, that we knew enough to get by and would quickly learn more. That was very helpful and made me feel a bit better, but I was still leaving everything I knew for 4 months. Our flight was delayed by like an hour because of thunderstorms and I could see really amazing lightning from the plane. Also saw one of the Caribbean islands, not sure which one.
As we were landing at around midnight, all of the lights around the city were on and it was beautiful. I tried to find my bags, go through customs as fast as I could and was greeted by my sister Macarena and my father Willie.
My host family has 4 people in it. Margarita(Mom), Willie (Dad), and sisters Ana Karina (20 years old) and Macarena (15). They live in a penthouse apartment that overlooks the whole city. Yesterday morning, I woke up and looked out my window and thought the view was cool of a little park, a school, and random buildings with both Spanish and English signs. Then I went out to the living room/dining room for breakfast and looked out that window. You can see a huge soccer field, lots of buildings, houses, apartments, gorgeous mountains, and just the city of Quito as a whole. Everything is so colorful; I don't know if any building is plain gray. They're all red, blue, yellow and many other combinations. So it's nice to eat breakfast here with that view!
Yesterday was a very busy day. I woke up, got ready, and then went with my host dad to get something that my sister forgot at a friend's house. I don't know why we went but we did and it was nice to drive around the city and see everything. Then we went to mass, 15 minutes late mind you but it wasn't a big deal. They were really happy that I'm Catholic. It's nice that everything in a Catholic mass is the same, I just don't know the songs or responses to anything. I'll learn them eventually. Then we went out to lunch with some of their friends at a Chinese restaurant and luckily there was a man there who was from the US (had the most FANTASTIC mustache by the way) but I was able to ask him questions in English so he could answer. Mostly involving what was in the food, like if there was MSG. But that's lucky I asked because on of the main things they use to make soup has mass amounts of MSG and I just don't want headaches all of the time. My one food allergy. Great.
During lunch, I could barely stay awake. After traveling from 7am-2am the day before, altitude and the constant bombardment of Spanish, my brain and body were fried. So I napped and then we went over to one of my host mom's sister's house for the night. The lady's daughter was leaving for Holland today to go to Hope College for a year! I told her to definitely go to Lake Michigan as often as possible and she seems like she'll like it there. Also last night there were 3 other girls who are exchange students, two live really close to me and are my host mom's sisters and the other lives at the house we went to. All were very nice and I'm sure I'll be spending time with them a lot.
One thing that I'm surprisingly okay with is the greetings. Kiss on the cheek to EVERY SINGLE PERSON wherever you go in a social setting.
Okay, now I'm going to the bank to do something involving my passport and registering me in the country. I have lots more to say but have 4 months to do so. Hope all is well and I'll update soon!
Chao!
Just went to some random place, don't really know what just happened, with a copy of my passport and $10 and went to a bank with my host mom's sisters and Whitney and Valerie (Two of the girls I met last night) and then we got KFC which was delicious! I just started to get SO tired because of the altitude. So I'm gonna take a nap now!
I have lots of cultural differences I've seen but will talk about those later.
Chao
I started off talking on the baby plane from Grand Rapids to Chicago to a 59 year old man named David who was so excited for me to go on my journey and he was off to Paris in a few days. Talked about health and it was just good from the beginning.
Then I got to the airport, found Ben (he's the guy from Michigan State in my program and I traveled down with) and we flew to Miami, spent some time there and said some goodbyes. Then I was about to cry and freak out as we were in line to board the plane; I wanted to turn around immediately and go home. But I didn't. On the flight from Miami to Quito, we sat next to an Ecuadorian woman living in New York named Liz who was traveling home for a few weeks. We talked to her in Spanish, trying to say what we could and were asking her all sorts of questions about customs, food, etc. She kept assuring us that our Spanish was strong, that we knew enough to get by and would quickly learn more. That was very helpful and made me feel a bit better, but I was still leaving everything I knew for 4 months. Our flight was delayed by like an hour because of thunderstorms and I could see really amazing lightning from the plane. Also saw one of the Caribbean islands, not sure which one.
As we were landing at around midnight, all of the lights around the city were on and it was beautiful. I tried to find my bags, go through customs as fast as I could and was greeted by my sister Macarena and my father Willie.
My host family has 4 people in it. Margarita(Mom), Willie (Dad), and sisters Ana Karina (20 years old) and Macarena (15). They live in a penthouse apartment that overlooks the whole city. Yesterday morning, I woke up and looked out my window and thought the view was cool of a little park, a school, and random buildings with both Spanish and English signs. Then I went out to the living room/dining room for breakfast and looked out that window. You can see a huge soccer field, lots of buildings, houses, apartments, gorgeous mountains, and just the city of Quito as a whole. Everything is so colorful; I don't know if any building is plain gray. They're all red, blue, yellow and many other combinations. So it's nice to eat breakfast here with that view!
Yesterday was a very busy day. I woke up, got ready, and then went with my host dad to get something that my sister forgot at a friend's house. I don't know why we went but we did and it was nice to drive around the city and see everything. Then we went to mass, 15 minutes late mind you but it wasn't a big deal. They were really happy that I'm Catholic. It's nice that everything in a Catholic mass is the same, I just don't know the songs or responses to anything. I'll learn them eventually. Then we went out to lunch with some of their friends at a Chinese restaurant and luckily there was a man there who was from the US (had the most FANTASTIC mustache by the way) but I was able to ask him questions in English so he could answer. Mostly involving what was in the food, like if there was MSG. But that's lucky I asked because on of the main things they use to make soup has mass amounts of MSG and I just don't want headaches all of the time. My one food allergy. Great.
During lunch, I could barely stay awake. After traveling from 7am-2am the day before, altitude and the constant bombardment of Spanish, my brain and body were fried. So I napped and then we went over to one of my host mom's sister's house for the night. The lady's daughter was leaving for Holland today to go to Hope College for a year! I told her to definitely go to Lake Michigan as often as possible and she seems like she'll like it there. Also last night there were 3 other girls who are exchange students, two live really close to me and are my host mom's sisters and the other lives at the house we went to. All were very nice and I'm sure I'll be spending time with them a lot.
One thing that I'm surprisingly okay with is the greetings. Kiss on the cheek to EVERY SINGLE PERSON wherever you go in a social setting.
Okay, now I'm going to the bank to do something involving my passport and registering me in the country. I have lots more to say but have 4 months to do so. Hope all is well and I'll update soon!
Chao!
Just went to some random place, don't really know what just happened, with a copy of my passport and $10 and went to a bank with my host mom's sisters and Whitney and Valerie (Two of the girls I met last night) and then we got KFC which was delicious! I just started to get SO tired because of the altitude. So I'm gonna take a nap now!
I have lots of cultural differences I've seen but will talk about those later.
Chao
Friday, August 20, 2010
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