leftovers

Thanksgiving recap:

Turkey

Marjorie's cole slaw without and with the "addition" of red wine
(we had a little spill...)
Adriana's salad
Richard carving the turkey
making the gravy
a randomly-snapped shot of Leah

thanksgiving, ecua-style

I think being away from my family on Thanksgiving is more difficult than Christmas, and I suspect this is due to the fact that here in Ecuador the day passes without notice. Thanksgiving does not exist here. Yesterday, for all intents and purposes, was just another day--went to school, stayed late for musical rehearsal, went to the grocery, went out to an Italian restaurant for a friend's birthday. The school did provide a very nice semi-traditional lunch for all the staff, potluck-style, and the foreign hire teachers were responsible for the mashed potatoes. (Last year I spent a lot of time making the real deal, but cheated this year and bought the boxed instant potatoes--they dump them all into one big pot anyway.) Other than the school luncheon, no one really does anything to celebrate the day.

Today we have a half day, in honor of the North American holiday, Black Friday (kidding), and so my friends and I are gathering for a big traditional meal this evening. I'm making the turkey, dressing, and dessert (pumpkin cheesecake.) Finding the ingredients here is not always super easy, which is why I'm scrapping the traditional pie for a much-easier-to-make-cheesecake. The pumpkin puree itself is not easy to come by, and therefore I purchased some squash-like cubes in the grocery store yesterday which I cooked and pureed. I'm pretty sure it's not pumpkin, but any squash with enough cinnamon and nutmeg should do the trick. I fully expect this dinner to be much like my life here: a nod to the traditions I was raised with but with a slightly South American flavor.

glees (no glums)

My future husband was named one of People's Sexiest Men Alive. That's pretty much the highlight of my week.*

*It's been a pretty bad one.

i'm late!

A few days ago, I mentioned the idea of ecua-time in my post--meaning that everything and everyone here in Ecuador is perpetually late. I actually really like this, and here's why: I used to be perpetually late in the States, but here my being late actually translates to being on time. No one really expects you to show up at exactly the planned time, so being a little behind is perfectly fine. (We actually tend to set the time for events anywhere from 30 minutes to a full hour before we actually plan to begin.) And, if I'm running especially late, I can always blame it on ecua-time.

prefix

There's somewhat of a widespread phenomenon among the gringos living here in Ecuador to describe uniquely Ecuadorian things/happenings/etc. by attaching the prefix ecua- to the beginning of the word. For example, we refer to the strange consistency of the cheese here by using the term ecua-cheese, the extremely laid-back time schedule observed by Ecuadorians is ecua-time, and so on and so forth. Once you begin, it's sort of ecua-addictive.

debate

I've been deliberating over how much of my current job search process I wanted to document/make public on my blog. You see, I have two theories:

1. Keep it quiet and then you won't feel embarrassed when things don't pan out.
2. Talk about it all the time and maybe Santa Claus will hear and you'll find it under your tree on Christmas morning.

(Clearly theory #2 hasn't worked in quite some time.)

However, I've come to the conclusion that a limited account of what's happening is not bad, and therefore I'm going to document it, withholding a few names and locations.

Within the last two weeks, a possible job in a fabulous South American school has come available. This school is one that I have never really considered, as it's extremely tough to get hired and positions are few and far-between. My radar had been tuned into Eastern Europe, and so I was planning on attending a job fair in February where the schools in those countries would be hiring. When this fabulous job came available, I thought I'd send in my material and then just arrange a meeting with them when our paths crossed at said job fair.

I happened to speak with a friend who also would give her right kidney to work at this fabulous South American school, and she actually met with the administrators at the school and was told that they planned on doing all of their hiring sooner than later--much sooner, as in a month from now. Suddenly everything changed, and I am now making plans to attend a much smaller, all South American fair in Atlanta within a month. I understand that this is crazy. I'm only going to interview with this fabulous school, who only has one position open in my area. However, if I don't go, I'm afraid I'll be haunted by the "what-ifs." So I'm taking this huge risk, if for no other reason than to be able to sleep peacefully at night, knowing that I went for it.

drought and blackout

It's really dry here. We should be well into rainy season by now, and yet we've basically had nothing but sunny, beautiful days with just a handful of rainy afternoons for the last 3+ months. While I enjoy the sunshine (it's a lot warmer when it's sunny,) the lack of water has begun to take it toll on life, especially on our electrical company. Beginning last week, the electrical company here in Quito instituted rolling blackouts--cutting off power to various parts of the city one sector at a time. Now everyone is checking the blackout schedule online and factoring that into their plans. We had a few blackouts at school this week that caused the administration to push back the due date for our end of partial grades, because people didn't have access to their computer gradebooks. As for me, I've been fortunate--my blackouts have only been during the day so far, and the next is scheduled for 11-3 on Monday, while I'll be at school. Until we receive a large amount of rain, this will probably be the new way of life.

colonial getaway

Thanks to Halloween, All Souls' Day and the Independence Day of Cuenca, we had a 4 1/2 day weekend this past week. My friends and I decided to travel to the city celebrating its independence, Cuenca, which is a city in the southern Andean region of Ecuador. Cuenca is known for its colonial architecture, and it is truly a beautiful city, almost reminiscent of small towns in Austria or Italy. We spent a few days wandering the city, visiting museums and lots of shops (Cuenca is also a great place for handicrafts.) We also made a trip outside of the city to a small town named Chordeleg, famous for their filigree work in silver and gold, as well as to the Cajas National Park which is dotted with small lakes and beautiful landscapes.

The newer of the two cathedral in Cuenca, known for its blue domes.Parque Nacional Cajas

We had an amazing view of Cotopaxi on our flight home.

me, twenty years from now

I just found out about this new documentary called Cat Ladies. I think I definitely have to see this, if nothing else than as a cautionary tale against what to avoid in the future. I love my cat, but definitely don't need to add any more crazy to my life.