Highlights of Week 9

This is going to be a very short post for a very uneventful week. Uneventful isn't necessarily bad, it just means that perhaps life is more normal for me now.

Back to school on Tuesday morning (Monday was my recoup day but unfortunately it wasn't much of a help). However, it was the first day in a while that I didn't drop my head to the desk for a nap. Wednesday morning I woke up to discover that my air conditioner was leaking and right under it was my charging iPad, covered in water. That was not the way I wanted to start my morning. That afternoon I wrote blog posts that I didn't actually post (I know I've been slacking I'm sorry!) and posted my trip photos. 

Thursday I got my nails done at my friend Pamela's house. They were the fake kind and they literally lasted less than 24 hours (kind of a waste), but it was still a nice get-together. And I got to add some new Spanish music to my playlist. Then I went to Aroma de Café with Lorgia while Jorge had a march with the other Machala doctors to protest some new law affecting them. I really should look up what that's about. But the café was delish and I had a nice time chatting with my host mom. 

Friday, I woke up with a head-cold that had started with a bunch of sneezing the day before. My throat was sore and raspy, my nose was stuffed, and I had sore, red eyes. Then I burnt my throat taking this pill they told me to chew (never, ever again will I CHEW a pill). It was so disgusting- thank goodness we had water and gum to diffuse the flavor. After school I was feeling a little better, and I went with Lorgia and her mom to the march to the center apparently just celebrating the city of Machala. It was kind of cool to see all the people and the city pride, but we left before the presentation part started and I was disappointed that after all that I didn't get to stay and listen to all the singing and chanting. After errands and dinner with friends of my host parents (this must be a smaller city than I thought because we always bump into friends and have to talk to them when we are out), I was very tired and feeling a lot worse with the addition of a headache. I was relieved to get home for some medicine and rest. 

Saturday I got up and went to a party for my course being held at la finca (the farm) of one of my classmates. It was a sleepover event but I didn't have permission to stay over; in a way I am glad I didn't because it got boring later in the evening before I left. We pretty much ate food, played volleyball, swam in the pool and listened to music the whole time. The one thing that I find interesting and kind of cool about parties that the teens host here is the way they handle all the cooking themselves. They do the food prep from shopping for the meat to actually grilling it, and they are usually pretty good at it- taking turns by the grill and seasoning the meat really well. I don't know why, but it's something that has impressed me, probably because my parents always cooked (especially if it involved the grill) for my parties, and because it seemed like such a mature thing for young teens to handle on their own (when normally they aren't that mature with other things).

And I had another nice lazy Sunday, knowing that because I still don't have my fancy blazer and button down top for Monday's uniform that I wouldn't have to go to school the next morning. 

Manabí Trip

Sorry about what seems like a lot of complaining in the next part of the post, but unfortunately I wasn't a huge fan of the Manabí trip. Compared to our first trip to Punta Centinela, the Manabí trip was poorly done. I still had a lot of fun seeing my exchange friends, but the hotel was nowhere near as nice as the DeCameron Resort, nor was the food anywhere near as good (we had bread and a small portion of eggs for breakfast each morning and that's just breakfast). Also, because of the orientations, the northern students and the southern students tended to stick to the groups of friends they already made so we didn't get to know everyone well. Despite the negatives, I did do a couple fun things on the trip. 

Day 1- Once all groups arrived, we got to sit and listen to the rules in Spanish and in English yet again, even though we were sent the rules and heard them many times during our orientation trip. And then, EVERYONE introduced themselves. It was torture. 

Day 2- First we took boats to see the Portoviejo river. It went like this; 

Bad part- wait 2 hours, get a killer sunburn on my face (it hurt so bad), take a 10+ minute boat ride, get off and wait to board the river boat, see a bunch of birds and bird poop, return and wait for the other boat for at least 40 minutes, ride back in dangerous waves and get soaked.

Good part- do something crazy, go tubing in the big, scary waves with my Canadian friend Kelty... twice. 
Bad part- walk back to the hotel to find the rest of the students eating lunch and we are standing there in soaking wet clothes (not bathing suits). Then we didn't get food.

Later we went and walked up this huge hill to La Loma de Crucita which was a beautiful look-out spot for group pictures. I got some pretty great shots here. 

That night I had another "why not" moment like getting up and dancing on the last trip. When everybody was about to go find other things to do, I walked up to the DJ in the front of the group and asked to sing karaoke like the schedule said we could. Not only did I get a bunch of people back on the dance floor with ABBA's "Dancing Queen", but I got a bunch of people to sing after I did. Also, the exchange student chairman then came up to me and asked me to sing at the final talent show during our last exchange trip in May. So cool :)

Day 3- We participated in Portoviejo's Independence Day Parade which was pretty cool. Then we went to Montecristi to view the Ecuadorian artisan museum, take the official trip photo, and visit the shops. Then we went to Manta for the Maritime Port pretty much for the exchange program publicity as we took another group photo with the port business man. We ate lunch at the Playa Murcielago which was the most fantastic food I had all week. Then we returned to our hotel in Crucita and had the country talent show night. I ended up singing a cappella "Turning Tables" by Adele because the Rotarians had wanted me to. I got a standing ovation and a comment from one boy who said, "You just brought this to a whole new level". (Look for the video soon). It is nice that because I put my talent out there, all the Rotarians recognize me and actually talk to me. This was probably the best day overall. 

Day 4- We went to Bahia de Caraquez (a beach) for the whole day. There were different games like volleyball and soccer and of course dancing. We didn't know we were returning to the beach after we had gone to lunch a little ways down the road, so some people changed out of their swimsuits and then were really bored when we got back. I was one of those people. At the hotel that night, we had a "special dinner" where we all entered with our host countries then choose the queen and king of the trip. We could have been eating through all of this but instead had to wait for the food to be ready... we didn't get fed dinner until 12:10am. 

Day 5- Goodbyes and on the road again. Always a bitter-sweet time in my opinion. It was 8 hours to get home and it was extremely uncomfortable to be on the bus for that long. Thank goodness for my iPod. Back at home, I reunited with my host parents and we talked about our different trips over a tigrillo dinner.

Photos: https://ayearinalife.shutterfly.com/pictures/973

Highlights of Week 7

Another month gone by? How crazy is that!

I know I haven't posted in the past three weeks, so here is my first of three posts to catch you up.

I met with my counselor, Paty Guzman, on Monday the 14th for a meeting so we could talk. I had reached out to her for a meeting because at that time I had a couple of issues I wanted to talk about and hear advice on. I am really comfortable talking to her, and she is very considerate of how I'm feeling. She offered for me to stay with her while my host parents were on their trip to Argentina for the next 9 days so that I didn't have to stay with my host mom's older parents. I was sooooo relieved that it worked out.

I was still on vacation while living with Paty, so I was pretty much just doing things when plans came up as long as she was okay with it- which she was. There are different housing communities in the city of Machala, one of them is Ciudad Verde where 2 of Paty's children and a couple of my exchange friends live. This worked out well for hanging out with my friend Jessie and the kids from the other Rotary club in Machala while Paty was at her daughter or sons house in the same community. 

I don't know about exchangers in other countries, but I am pretty sure exchangers here in Ecuador pass the time by watching a boat load of movies. When they are so cheap to buy here, how could you not? I am going to come back to the US having seen a ridiculous amount of movies over the year. Anyways, I went to the movies with my friend Simone one night and we saw "We Are The Millers" in Spanish- no English subtitles or anything (although I guess you could read lips for the English if you really watched close enough). There was also a movie night at Jessie's house with six of us piled on Jessie's bed, watching movies like "Saw VI" and "Hangover III" while simultaneously pigging out on chips and cookies. 

I went to church for the first time with Paty on Sunday. The prayers and order of the service was practically the same as what I am used to back home, only it was in Spanish and was a lot less formal here. By less formal I don't mean that they take religion and church less seriously here, but it is harder because they don't have the money to run a church with the same organization and quality as I am used to experiencing in the US. But I enjoyed taking the time to reflect and focus on specific things for more than a minute. 

I experienced “ecuavolley” for the first time and it was painful. They play with three people and the guys use a ball that may be bigger than a soccer ball and is certainly harder than one. The net is higher and it was impossible for me to serve the guys ball over the net- I barely got the girls ball over. When I went back to school, one of the gym teachers asked me if I wanted to play for the school team. I hope I can! 

I did have to go to school on Monday and Tuesday before leaving for my Manabí trip. I ended up sleeping over at Simone's house Sunday and Monday night to make it easier to get to school in the morning and we got a large amount of time to hang out together. The only highlight of school was talking with friends and holding a little kitten that my classmate Pamela was nurturing. It was adorable, but not something that would ever be allowed to happen in a classroom back home. It was a big distraction.

I experienced two big soccer games for Ecuador. The first and more important of the two; Ecuador vs. Uruguay. It was a close game, but Ecuador won 1-0. The win put us in the World Cup in Brazil. It was an exciting day for our country and in the city there were fireworks and people riding around with flags and wearing the Ecuador jersey. In preparation for the next game, I went out and bought one of the $5.00 Ecuador jerseys in the center. The next game was the night before I left for Manabí; Ecuador vs. Chile. Chile won 2-1, but we were already in the cup so it wasn't a huge disappointment. It was kind of cool to watch and think about my other exchange friends from my US district who are in Chile right now. It was also nice to celebrate and watch the game with my school friends. 

La Familia Gomez

This past week was my first week of school vacation and I honestly didn't do much in the morning other than sleep and write in my journal. However, Wednesday afternoon I went with Lorgia to the house of her aunt and kicked off what I am calling our "family weekend".

We arrived and said "hola" to the group sitting in a circle. The group was just a small portion of what I later discovered to be the huge Gomez family. I sat down in a chair someone pulled up for me, just figuring we were in a circle so that everybody could see each other while we socialize since that is the norm when Ecuadorians get together. But I was taken by surprise when Lorgia turned to me and said "we are about to pray the Rosary". I was excited by this because I had seen group prayers before in passing but never actually experienced one. An aunt started the session with an introduction about the Mother Mary and then continued with the rosary prayers as a call and response with the group, as the leader moved to the next person in the group. I was impressed to recognize some of the prayers like Hail Mary and Glory Be and started saying them to myself in English since I am Catholic myself. However, I did not lead the prayer since I didn't know all the words Spanish.

After prayers, I was sitting there by myself until Lorgia called to me to come meet a relative of hers. Her second cousin, who's name escapes me because I meet so many people, went on an exchange to the US and never returned (until this reunion apparently). She was with a man who she introduced as her boyfriend (I hope after meeting the family he isn't just her boyfriend) and said they live in Oregon. I sat down and started talking to her boyfriend in English. He said that he doesn't understand much Spanish but can say some things. It looked like his girlfriend translated enough for him to understand though. I really enjoyed talking with him because his perspective is quite similar to my own about the culture differences, the food, the people, and the language. The big difference is that he is only here for two weeks and I have another 9 months to go. The reunion quickly turned into something I am more familiar with when big plates of food and bottles of alcohol were brought out. The adults were taking tequila shots and dishing out food like it was their job. So I ate a little to make them happy before we had to leave. 

Friday around noon I got up and went to a family lunch at my grandmother's house with some of the same family from the other day and some new faces as well. This time, I sat next to a lovely couple from Los Angeles who spoke English as well (I didn't actually plan that one but was glad to have English speakers near me so it wasn't as awkward). Luis and his wife asked me about the program- apparently his wife is in Rotary but she is in a specifically Columbian-American group so they don't handle exchange. They reminded me of a Spanish version of my cousin and his wife which was cool and also a little weird. I then asked them about life in Los Angeles since I am interested in possibly living there in the future. We ate (shocker) and socialized (another shocker) the rest of the afternoon.

Friday night at 7 I got ready for a family party that night that was more of a semi-formal event. We headed to another cousin's house for the evening. The foyer of the house looked like it was made specifically for hosting parties. And the host knew what they were doing. It was like a wedding- only we were celebrating an aunt's birthday. The tables were all decorated and situated under tents that fit perfectly in the patio area. There was a bar area and a live band. There were even servers to bring drinks and the plates of food to the tables. We toasted the aunt and watched a video someone put together for her birthday. There was dancing and drinking and everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves. We left "early" at 1:30am because we had to bring Lorgia's parents home (they live 2 minutes from us). I am sure the party went on until 4am if not later. 

Saturday, my parents left for an event they had in Cuenca that night. I was home alone with Consuelo, so she asked me what I wanted for lunch. I asked for Kraft macaroni and cheese that was oh so good. After lunch my friend Simone came over to hang out for a little while. We watched "Mr. & Mrs. Smith". Then my host sister Gaby arrived with some friends who brought her from Guayaquil. She invited me to come with her to a reunion she was attending that night with kids from her high school course. I agreed to go and had a great time singing some English songs during karaoke with them and dancing to the music. It was fun! I was touched that my host sister had invited me to tag along because her friends were great and she didn't seem to be bothered by my presence there. I am glad to say I got to spend time with her, even if we were just dancing and singing together. 

Saturday was another late night but I had to get up in the morning for the main event- the big family reunion party. My family, the Romero Gomez family, was told to wear red for pictures. Luckily, I had the perfect red shirt to wear. We went around noon to yet another relative's house in Machala, which was just as big and beautiful as the one we were at Friday night. As soon as we arrived I followed Lorgia and Gaby over to where they grabbed some food. Whatever I tried was not pleasing to me at all and I spit it into my napkin after trying unsuccessfully to just swallow it down. We sat at our families table- all of us in red. I looked around to see how all the families had been organized into tables and told to wear a specific color. There were four generations of Gomez relatives at this reunion- Lorgia's mother, her 4 aunts and 1 uncle being the oldest and leaders of the 6 Gomez family groups, and one or two great-grandchildren being the youngest generation. I was and still am a little confused about the whole last name thing and how it works. But if you are interested and how that all works, I found a great website that seems to explain it well: 

http://perez.cs.vt.edu/twolastnames

I guess my point is that the Gomez family is big. The reunion reminded me of a big crazy Reid family reunion with all the food, drink, socializing, fun and games. I thought it was kind of cool that my family was told to wear red and the last Reid family picture I remember taking, we were gathered on my grandparent's porch wearing red. However, the Gomez family managed to take many pictures together and at Reid reunions we can only manage to take one or two pictures before patience runs out. 

There was more food after the pictures and the band and DJ got the whole family up and dancing. I don't think I have ever danced so much in one week (besides when I took dance classes). Then there was some friendly family competition with games, many that I had never seen before like dancing while keeping a lime between two foreheads, and passing a straw from person to person as fast as possible between your nose and lips. There was also an intense game of musical chairs. I got to participate in a couple as well and I really felt like part of the family which was nice. And to top it off, I was feeling good about my Spanish understanding and was having a good time observing the friendly banter and the fun. 

Overall, the time spent with the Gomez family was really fun and helped me feel more at home here, and feel as though I am actually part of the family. It made me miss my own family a bit, but it was a nice way to experience how other cultures celebrate their family. I am happy to report that Ecuadorians value their family very much.

My next update will hopefully have pictures from the past two weeks as well. Hasta luego :)