fin de semana

This Saturday my friend Yasmin invited me to her cousins' gathering at her uncle's country house. Her uncle has a farm in Checa where he grows strawberries, lettuce, and peppers. We left Saturday afternoon and made the forty-five minute drive out to the farm. Now, this is not like any farm I've seen in the US. It is exactly what you picture when you think of a country hacienda: old brick building painted white with an orange Spanish tile roof, high ceilings with wooden beams, and lots of windows to show the beautiful mountain view. Once we arrived, we decided to go up one of the smaller mountains, and so we took the atv and a few 4 wheel drive vehicles up to the top, and as the sun was setting we could see the lights from Quito and the other villages. Later on, we had a bonfire, and a few people brought guitars and played and sang traditional Ecuadorian songs. I had brought supplies to make s'mores (well, I had to substitute other cookies for graham crackers, as I could not find them here) and so I taught everyone how to make s'mores. Much later that evening we switched to English music, so I was able to sing along. It was a great night, and I really enjoyed getting to spend the evening with Ecuadorians (Hannah and I were the only gringas in the group.)

things i am learning

1. a teapot full of sake on a tuesday night is expensive and does not make for a great wednesday.
2. dancing with the primary kids during their recess is perhaps the highlight of my day
3. the pan de chocolate in the cafeteria at school should be illegal
4. i love public transportation, at least when it's not crowded
5. my nephew wants to come over to ecuador because we have bananas here
   

weather, phones, and sushi

It has started to rain a lot more lately, as I think we're entering the rainy season here in Quito.

Because of the altitude and the proximity to the equator, we only have two seasons here: rainy and dry. It's funny, though, because people will still refer to the seasons as "summer" and "winter." Having lived in a location where it was nothing to get 6 inches of snow or have the temperature drop so low that the steering wheel in your vehicle would not move, I chuckle to myself whenever people talk about how cold it gets here during "winter."

The rain so far has not been too bad. We had a torrential downpour on Saturday, complete with thunder and lightning, but that so far has been the exception. It is funny to have thunder and lightning without really having severe or threatening storms. My friend, Yasmin, says that they do not have tornadoes here. Growing up in the midwest, it is hard to separate the idea of lightning and thunder from the idea of severe weather.

In other news (I'm sorry this post is so boring), I finally rejoined the 21st century and purchased a cell phone here in Ecuador! It is a very old Nokia model that went out of style ten years ago in the States, but it was cheap and keeps me connected! While Ecuadorians love their cell phones, I have not seen cell phones as fancy as we have in the US (exception: the iPhone, which you can get here) and my friends and I speculated that probably keeping up with the latest cell phone trends is not a high priority, either due to financial reasons or otherwise.

That's about it for now. I am going with some friends tonight to check out a sushi restaurant here in the city. I went to one sushi place on Saturday that was very good and had excellent atmosphere, so I'm curious to see how this one compares. Yay for sushi!

once again, i digress

I'm sorry, it's just too funny. And he's just too cute. You know my obsession.

small world

Today at school we had a small college fair. I was walking through the assembly area as they were setting up, and I was amazed to see a table from my alma mater, DePauw University. I could not believe that a small, private university from Indiana would be at my school in Ecuador. I spoke with the representative and offered to help out as a contact person for the students at my school. I got a kick out of two of my worlds rather unexpectedly colliding. It really made me realize how small the world can be.

day trip

On Saturday I took a day trip with some of the teachers from school out of Quito to a few small towns. It was great to see more of the countryside, and the day started out clear enough for us to see the highest mountain peaks! First we stopped in Cayambe for bizcochos, which are biscuit-like cookies that are eaten with either cheese or dulce de leche. Cayambe is famous for bizcochos--every cafe in town sells them. We stopped at a small place where you could actually see them made. (Click on the photos to enlarge them.)
From there we traveled to Otavalo, a small town with a huge street market famous for arts and crafts. I made just a few purchases: a hand-knit sweater and hat set for my favorite baby Libby; a beaded necklace, and a shawl for myself. After we left Otavalo, we went to Cotocachi, which is a town known for its leather goods. We weren't terribly impressed, as it has gotten very commercial and therefore the prices have gone up and the quality has gone down.

Then we stopped for a typically Ecuadorian late lunch at this beautiful restaurant on a lake overlooking the mountains. Here was the view from our table:I'll close with some of the scenery from the drive. It was a beautiful day!

quito-isms vol. 3

If you ever wondered what happened to all those golden Sacajawea dollars, well, they wound up here in Ecuador.For reasons that I do not fully understand and therefore will not try to explain, Ecuador uses American currency. They do have some coins of their own, but everything is in US Dollars. When the Sacajawea dollar coins didn't make it in the USA, they somehow ended up here in Ecuador, where they are (pun intended) worth their weight in gold. I was not fond of them in the States--they were never popular enough to use without getting strange looks, and back then, I was always trying to get rid of singles. Here we hoard any type of smaller currency--fives, ones--for useful, everyday tasks like buying the large jugs of water or paying for the quick taxi ride. I now find myself gravitating to the Sacajawea dollar instead of the good old GW bill, as it is much easier to tuck into a pocket without forgetting it and sending it through the washer. I also think that I now prefer these because they seem like any other coin and yet are worth so much more. In an economy where a dollar goes further, that's an important thing.

que bonita

The famously cheap, 25 for $2 Ecuadorian roses.

heartbreak

One thing that I commonly see on the streets here in Quito is children selling things to make money. They will stand on street corners and wash car windshields, or carry trays of cigarettes, gum, and matches to sell. It's not considered begging, but it's a way for the kids to help their families out. Most of them do go to school, at least in the morning, and the money they make working in the afternoons often goes to help pay for school uniforms and such.

Thursday night, my friends and I went to dinner in the Mariscal district. We went to this great hole-in-the-wall Mexican restaurant, which is so small that the majority of the seating is at tables outside in front of the restaurant. We were wrapping up our meals when a small girl approached us trying to sell us something from her basket. We said no, and then she pointed to the remainder of the chicken quesadilla on my plate. My friend Carrie (who is pretty fluent in Spanish) said that the girl was saying that she wanted the rest of my meal. As I was finished, I grabbed a smaller plate and scraped the rest of my quesadilla onto it for her. She stood at the end of our table and ate it, picking the red peppers out of it and dumping them onto Carrie's plate, as she said she didn't like pimientos. She told us she was seven, and that she liked school, liked to read, and liked math. Jenny decided to buy two packs of gum from her, and gave her a little extra. After finishing her food, she wandered over to the next table to make an attempt there. She later returned to our table, offering to sell Carrie matches as she pulled out a cigarette. She then asked if we would give her any change larger than a 50 cent piece. It was very sad to see this girl so programmed to sell, who wasn't afraid to ask for food or money.

i just don't know

Today I had patio duty, which is kind of like recess duty, but my school is basically outside and students congregate during breaks in front of the cafeteria. I had to watch the secondary students to make sure there were no problems. There were several groups of students gathered, and many groups were co-ed. Teenagers are teenagers, regardless of the country, and so there was a lot of physical contact happening. As I watched these boy/girl interactions, I wondered: in a country where everyone kisses everyone, where do we draw the line on PDA* in the school? What is considered cultural, and what is just too far?

*Public Displays of Affection