Weekends are just not long enough. Although I did have a nice weekend, I did not accomplish all that I had hoped.
On Friday after work John took me to his favorite restaurant. It is this hole in the wall where you can get dinner and a coke for 2 bucks. As John would say, I love the taste of cheap. It was amazingly good. Rice, boneless chicken, and menenstra, which is basically beans. Oh and a fried plantain. Pretty delish for two dollars. Afterward we went to a sports bar to meet up with some people from work so that they could watch basketball. Yeah, not so exciting for me, but it was still nice to hang out. We then went to a dance club, which is always entertaining. Ecuadorians, as is true with most Latin Americans, love to dance. A night out without dancing is a complete waste of time for them. I don't mind dancing, but it is definitely not on my top list of favorite things. But I usually try my best and have a good time. We then went to Jorge’s house, where on his cable television was the show Futurama in English, I was so excited. It was nice to be able to watch a tv show and actually understand everything that is going on, not just hope you are understanding it.
Saturday I was lazy. I walked around, got some lunch, bought some movies. During the night I watched Little Miss Sunshine with some people that live here. It was the third time I had seen it, but I still enjoyed it.
Today Caroline and I went and found some pancakes for brunch, which were amazing. We then basically walked all over the city. Caroline is really outgoing, and always seems to strike up a conversation with someone. We went to the park, where artists sell their paintings on Sundays, and she chatted with 3 or 4 artists. As frustrated as I can get waiting for her, it ends up nice because she learns so much. For example one told us about a photography exhibition that we did not know of. Another about a foreign movie festival of sorts on Friday night. She definitely shows me that you don't always have to be so wary of people. Most of them are good natured and can help you get to know the area.
After a long day of walking, I came home, made dinner and watched Bailando por un Sueno. It is this ridiculous copy of dancing with the stars, except the people that dance with the stars are doing so for some sort of charity or sick aunt or something. The costumes are beyond words. Tonight was Reggeton, which is this horrible music that is super popular in the clubs. Plus, a girl that lives here, Kristi, used to date one of the boys dancing for his sueno. She admits that he is rather ridiculous. Tonight he had on white pants, a white vest, open, with no shirt, and some sort of strange black cap. The girls all have lots of makeup and huge hair. In Ecuador when it comes to fashion, less is clearly not more.
So tomorrow I am back to work. I can't believe the weekend after next is already Easter. We get Friday off, and I think I am going to take Thursday off as well. I want to go somewhere, maybe the beach or Banos. I could definitely use a break from the city.
domingo, 25 de marzo de 2007
jueves, 22 de marzo de 2007
I wrote a really long entry the other day, but then the internet cut out and I lost it. Ah well.
Things have been going well here. It is nice to feel like you are getting used to a place. I like routines.
I get up every day at about 8, get ready, and go to the Ecovia at about 8:45. This is by far the worst part of my day. I absolutely hate the Ecovia in the morning. It is always packed, and people are so terribly rude. Plus I swear the bus drivers drive more crazy when there are loads of people. I'm always clutching my bag, holding on to a bar for dear life, counting down the moments until I can get off. To make it worse, people are really pushy and rude about getting on and off. Today some guy blatanly shoved me aside on his way out. I was totally out of the way, I think he just wanted to be a jerk.
Anyways once off the bus I walk to the tienda that is right by our work. Actually there are two tiendas next to each other and a bakery. Sometimes I go to the bakery and get some bread for breakfast. I never go to the one tienda because the owners are incredibly rude. I always go to Carlos's store. He is this nice middle aged guy who is always wanting to know how you are, and greets me by name whenever I see him. Even when I walk by on my way home he waves and says to have a good night. I always get a juice and a banana from him in the morning. I then go to the office and get some coffee and go settle down at my computer. Around 11 I start counting down the minutes to lunch. It is not that I dislike my job, but I just get restless and hungry mid-day an am ready to walk around and get something to eat. .We ussually go to lunch at 1. There are a bunch of Almuerzo places around our office, so we walk around reading the menus until we find one that sounds appealing. As much as I complain about the rice, for 1.50-2.50 almuerzo is a pretty good deal. My favorite part is always the soup. Ecuadorians make really wonderful soups. My favorite is a cream of spinach that always comes with a bowl full of popcorn to put in. It sounds strange, but popcorn in soup is the best idea ever. Depending on how long lunch takes, we sometimes take a walk, or go sit in the park for a bit. We get an hour for lunch, but sometimes we take a little bit more time. We are learning that ecuadorians don't rush anything. Some of the ecuadorians at our office take up to two hours for lunch every once in awhile.
Once back from lunch, it is back to work. On Mondays and Wednesdays I have a spanish lesson at 5, so I get to be done a little early which is really nice. Luis, my spanish teacher, is really amusing. He is probably as tall as me, and is always wearing a suit. He loves to joke around, which makes class more fun. Sometimes he frustrates me because he will make me say a word over and over, or not believe that an english word exists. For example he asked me once what prender mend, I said to loan, he said no to lend, I said same thing. We had a ten minute conversation about this. Later he did admit that he had been teaching it like that now and people seem to remember it better, so that made me feel good. But at the time it was super frustrating.
I get out of spanish at 7. Depending on the day, I might go home or go meet up with some friends. Some nights, like tonight, I just want to relax. So I make supper and then watch a movie or bad ecuadorian tv. The other night I watched the ecuadorian version of dancing with the stars. It was amazing. The outfits, the songs, the bad jokes. I actually understand most of tv now, which is really cool.
So that is a basic rundown of most of my days.
What else is new. Oh I got a haircut on Monday, which was absolutely horifying. My hair was just bothering me, my bangs were way too long. So I printed out a picture of what I wanted and walked into a hair cut place. I tried to explain to her what I wanted, and she nodded and told me it would cost 7 bucks. They washed my hair, then asked again what I wanted. I explained again. Then she just started cutting what looked to be huge chunks of hair off my head without measuring or anything. She eventually slowed down, and I have to admit I do like it. It is shorter than I wanted, but I think I may have told her the wrong length. All in all not bad for seven bucks.
Last night was pub quiz, which we did horribly at. Oh well, it was fun. I am not sure what I am going to do this weekend. I am sure I will figure out something.
Things have been going well here. It is nice to feel like you are getting used to a place. I like routines.
I get up every day at about 8, get ready, and go to the Ecovia at about 8:45. This is by far the worst part of my day. I absolutely hate the Ecovia in the morning. It is always packed, and people are so terribly rude. Plus I swear the bus drivers drive more crazy when there are loads of people. I'm always clutching my bag, holding on to a bar for dear life, counting down the moments until I can get off. To make it worse, people are really pushy and rude about getting on and off. Today some guy blatanly shoved me aside on his way out. I was totally out of the way, I think he just wanted to be a jerk.
Anyways once off the bus I walk to the tienda that is right by our work. Actually there are two tiendas next to each other and a bakery. Sometimes I go to the bakery and get some bread for breakfast. I never go to the one tienda because the owners are incredibly rude. I always go to Carlos's store. He is this nice middle aged guy who is always wanting to know how you are, and greets me by name whenever I see him. Even when I walk by on my way home he waves and says to have a good night. I always get a juice and a banana from him in the morning. I then go to the office and get some coffee and go settle down at my computer. Around 11 I start counting down the minutes to lunch. It is not that I dislike my job, but I just get restless and hungry mid-day an am ready to walk around and get something to eat. .We ussually go to lunch at 1. There are a bunch of Almuerzo places around our office, so we walk around reading the menus until we find one that sounds appealing. As much as I complain about the rice, for 1.50-2.50 almuerzo is a pretty good deal. My favorite part is always the soup. Ecuadorians make really wonderful soups. My favorite is a cream of spinach that always comes with a bowl full of popcorn to put in. It sounds strange, but popcorn in soup is the best idea ever. Depending on how long lunch takes, we sometimes take a walk, or go sit in the park for a bit. We get an hour for lunch, but sometimes we take a little bit more time. We are learning that ecuadorians don't rush anything. Some of the ecuadorians at our office take up to two hours for lunch every once in awhile.
Once back from lunch, it is back to work. On Mondays and Wednesdays I have a spanish lesson at 5, so I get to be done a little early which is really nice. Luis, my spanish teacher, is really amusing. He is probably as tall as me, and is always wearing a suit. He loves to joke around, which makes class more fun. Sometimes he frustrates me because he will make me say a word over and over, or not believe that an english word exists. For example he asked me once what prender mend, I said to loan, he said no to lend, I said same thing. We had a ten minute conversation about this. Later he did admit that he had been teaching it like that now and people seem to remember it better, so that made me feel good. But at the time it was super frustrating.
I get out of spanish at 7. Depending on the day, I might go home or go meet up with some friends. Some nights, like tonight, I just want to relax. So I make supper and then watch a movie or bad ecuadorian tv. The other night I watched the ecuadorian version of dancing with the stars. It was amazing. The outfits, the songs, the bad jokes. I actually understand most of tv now, which is really cool.
So that is a basic rundown of most of my days.
What else is new. Oh I got a haircut on Monday, which was absolutely horifying. My hair was just bothering me, my bangs were way too long. So I printed out a picture of what I wanted and walked into a hair cut place. I tried to explain to her what I wanted, and she nodded and told me it would cost 7 bucks. They washed my hair, then asked again what I wanted. I explained again. Then she just started cutting what looked to be huge chunks of hair off my head without measuring or anything. She eventually slowed down, and I have to admit I do like it. It is shorter than I wanted, but I think I may have told her the wrong length. All in all not bad for seven bucks.
Last night was pub quiz, which we did horribly at. Oh well, it was fun. I am not sure what I am going to do this weekend. I am sure I will figure out something.
lunes, 12 de marzo de 2007
Weekends always go fast, but I swear they go even faster here. On Friday a bunch of people from work went to a bar in Guapalo, which is this really pretty part of town up on the side of a mountain. It started out a quiet evening, but slowly more people from work and their friends started to come and by the end of the night there were probably 15 or 20 of us. It turned out to be a really nice evening. Saturday I was pretty lazy all day. At night I went out to eat with a couple of people from work to a tapas place, which ended up being pretty good. I was just glad to eat something besides rice and chicken. God I had no idea anyone could eat so much rice. Every meal is seriously about three fourths of a plate of rice. Oh and then you usually get some potato salad thing, and a little meat. Ecuadorians love carbohydrates.
Sunday I took the bus to Parque Elijdo, where there is always an art fair during the weekends. I looked at some paintings, and then walked around until I found a place to eat (without rice). I spent the rest of the afternoon walking around, I seriously walked across most of the town. It was nice though, because it helped me figure out better where things are. When I am in the car with people I see places, but sometimes have a hard time placing exactly where they are in relation to the places I know. I even found an Applebees, I thought that was sort of funny. Then last night I went over to Jorge's apartment, and him, a few of his friends, and I watched a movie. He thought it was a comedy, but it ended up being really dark. It was Argentinean, and about this couple whose marriage is falling apart. A real upper...haha. It was interesting, and good since it was in spanish.
I have been trying to make myself use spanish more. I have been watching the Simpsons every day (it is on when I eat supper) and then the news. Obviously I don't get everything, but it is helpful. There is real political turmoil here, so the news is usually really interesting. Basically the people don't like who is in congress and then most of them were fired, and now there is this big thing about if who fired them had that power to do so, even though the people wanted them fired. It's rather complicated, I should really find an English article about it to ensure I am getting it. Politics here are a lot different than the states. Their constitution is rather flakey, and it seems it is often not followed that closely. There seems to be this attitude of whatever we feel like doing we will. I think the best example of how different they think is something Paula told me her husband Dennis, who is Ecuadorian, said. He asked why if so many people in the United States did not like President Bush they don't just go throw rocks at the white house and get him kicked out. That is so hard for me to fathom, even if I did totally hate a politician I would never consider that, but here it is just the way they do things. Don't worry it sounds more violent than it is, to them it is all rather matter of fact. Thankfully it does not look as though the newest president here will be kicked out. The people seem to like him a lot, they are just frustrated with a lot of the corruption within congress right now.
Not a lot else to report. Today was pretty mundane, it is Monday afterall. I was having one of those days where I hate being a gringa. Usually I am pretty good at ignoring the yells and whistles and such, but today I ran into a few really annoying men. In particular this group of businessmen in suits who were doing this clucky sound they do here to girls. It was just like seriously it looks like you have a good job, a respectable life, why must your patronize the blond girl. Eh it is not that bad, sometimes it just really gets on my nerves to not be able to go anywhere without someone reminding you that you are so very different.
Well I think I am going to read for a bit then go to bed. Chao everyone.
Sunday I took the bus to Parque Elijdo, where there is always an art fair during the weekends. I looked at some paintings, and then walked around until I found a place to eat (without rice). I spent the rest of the afternoon walking around, I seriously walked across most of the town. It was nice though, because it helped me figure out better where things are. When I am in the car with people I see places, but sometimes have a hard time placing exactly where they are in relation to the places I know. I even found an Applebees, I thought that was sort of funny. Then last night I went over to Jorge's apartment, and him, a few of his friends, and I watched a movie. He thought it was a comedy, but it ended up being really dark. It was Argentinean, and about this couple whose marriage is falling apart. A real upper...haha. It was interesting, and good since it was in spanish.
I have been trying to make myself use spanish more. I have been watching the Simpsons every day (it is on when I eat supper) and then the news. Obviously I don't get everything, but it is helpful. There is real political turmoil here, so the news is usually really interesting. Basically the people don't like who is in congress and then most of them were fired, and now there is this big thing about if who fired them had that power to do so, even though the people wanted them fired. It's rather complicated, I should really find an English article about it to ensure I am getting it. Politics here are a lot different than the states. Their constitution is rather flakey, and it seems it is often not followed that closely. There seems to be this attitude of whatever we feel like doing we will. I think the best example of how different they think is something Paula told me her husband Dennis, who is Ecuadorian, said. He asked why if so many people in the United States did not like President Bush they don't just go throw rocks at the white house and get him kicked out. That is so hard for me to fathom, even if I did totally hate a politician I would never consider that, but here it is just the way they do things. Don't worry it sounds more violent than it is, to them it is all rather matter of fact. Thankfully it does not look as though the newest president here will be kicked out. The people seem to like him a lot, they are just frustrated with a lot of the corruption within congress right now.
Not a lot else to report. Today was pretty mundane, it is Monday afterall. I was having one of those days where I hate being a gringa. Usually I am pretty good at ignoring the yells and whistles and such, but today I ran into a few really annoying men. In particular this group of businessmen in suits who were doing this clucky sound they do here to girls. It was just like seriously it looks like you have a good job, a respectable life, why must your patronize the blond girl. Eh it is not that bad, sometimes it just really gets on my nerves to not be able to go anywhere without someone reminding you that you are so very different.
Well I think I am going to read for a bit then go to bed. Chao everyone.
jueves, 8 de marzo de 2007
I have been meaning to update for a week, it just keeps slipping my mind. Things are going really well here, I am getting used to Quito and feel more at home every day.
I believe the last time I updated was soon after getting home from the beach. I was sick, and that pretty much wasted a good week of my time here. Luckily I am feeling much better now.
Last Friday was the first day I felt up to doing anything really. I went to a Shwarma place with Tania, an ecuadorian girl I work with, and her friend Mario. For some reason Shwarma is huge here. It is basically some sort of meat (pork?) in a pita with loads of stuff on it. Quite tasty actually. You can get a pretty good one for a buck, which makes it a great deal as well. After the Shwarma place we went to a bar that sells this drink that is really popular here. It is some sort of fruit juice and alcohol warmed up so it is hot. Two for 1.80, also a great deal. We then went to a club that was free before 11. I love how Ecuadorians know how to have a good night for under 5 bucks (we had a couple of beers). It was also really nice to have to talk spanish all night, and learn more about the area. They were telling me how the nearby volcano erupted when they were in high school, and everyone thought the Cotapaxi, another volcano nearby, was going to erupt as well. I guess if that one ever erupts it will be the end of Quito. Luckily scientists say it will probably not erupt, the magma from it is forming another volcano nearby.
Saturday I wandered around for a bit. It was a really nice day, so I walked to a nearby park. I also stopped at a bookstore that had an English section and stayed for awhile reading English magazines. They are 8 bucks each, so I did not want to buy one, but it was nice to look through them for awhile. Saturday night Paul, the new guy who is actually from Minnesota, and his fiance had everyone over to their house for a fiesta. They live in this great apartment with a huge deck, and it was really nice to sit outside and talk with my coworkers. Katie, Paul's fiance, lived here four years ago and lived with a family. Her 'brother' came over and I talked to him and his friend for awhile. I get really frustrated with my spanish sometimes, but I enjoy talking in it as much as possible. Practice is necessary, even though sometimes I feel like a total idiot when I talk.
Actually Monday night I went to a movie with Caroline, another intern, thinking it was in English. As soon as we sat down I realized nope this is in Spanish. However, I actually understood the movie, and really enjoyed it. It was called Madeinusa and was about a girl in a village in Peru, very interesting and well made.
Work has been going well, even though it is at times exhausting. I am really excited about a lot of the projects we are doing, and it feels great to be able to help make things happen and have input in how things are going to turn out.
I might be moving soon, Caroline and I are thinking of finding a furnished apartment. Which might be nice, I like the hostel but it would feel more homey to be in an apartment. We will see.
I will try to update again this weekend with some random Ecuadorian tidbits. Chao!
I believe the last time I updated was soon after getting home from the beach. I was sick, and that pretty much wasted a good week of my time here. Luckily I am feeling much better now.
Last Friday was the first day I felt up to doing anything really. I went to a Shwarma place with Tania, an ecuadorian girl I work with, and her friend Mario. For some reason Shwarma is huge here. It is basically some sort of meat (pork?) in a pita with loads of stuff on it. Quite tasty actually. You can get a pretty good one for a buck, which makes it a great deal as well. After the Shwarma place we went to a bar that sells this drink that is really popular here. It is some sort of fruit juice and alcohol warmed up so it is hot. Two for 1.80, also a great deal. We then went to a club that was free before 11. I love how Ecuadorians know how to have a good night for under 5 bucks (we had a couple of beers). It was also really nice to have to talk spanish all night, and learn more about the area. They were telling me how the nearby volcano erupted when they were in high school, and everyone thought the Cotapaxi, another volcano nearby, was going to erupt as well. I guess if that one ever erupts it will be the end of Quito. Luckily scientists say it will probably not erupt, the magma from it is forming another volcano nearby.
Saturday I wandered around for a bit. It was a really nice day, so I walked to a nearby park. I also stopped at a bookstore that had an English section and stayed for awhile reading English magazines. They are 8 bucks each, so I did not want to buy one, but it was nice to look through them for awhile. Saturday night Paul, the new guy who is actually from Minnesota, and his fiance had everyone over to their house for a fiesta. They live in this great apartment with a huge deck, and it was really nice to sit outside and talk with my coworkers. Katie, Paul's fiance, lived here four years ago and lived with a family. Her 'brother' came over and I talked to him and his friend for awhile. I get really frustrated with my spanish sometimes, but I enjoy talking in it as much as possible. Practice is necessary, even though sometimes I feel like a total idiot when I talk.
Actually Monday night I went to a movie with Caroline, another intern, thinking it was in English. As soon as we sat down I realized nope this is in Spanish. However, I actually understood the movie, and really enjoyed it. It was called Madeinusa and was about a girl in a village in Peru, very interesting and well made.
Work has been going well, even though it is at times exhausting. I am really excited about a lot of the projects we are doing, and it feels great to be able to help make things happen and have input in how things are going to turn out.
I might be moving soon, Caroline and I are thinking of finding a furnished apartment. Which might be nice, I like the hostel but it would feel more homey to be in an apartment. We will see.
I will try to update again this weekend with some random Ecuadorian tidbits. Chao!
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