Highlights of Weeks 12 & 13

Starting from the beginning- On Monday of week 12 there was a singing competition at my school. I wrote a little about it in my talent show post. I ended up singing at the end of the competition for the entire school. I think it went well and I am glad I put my talent out there for my peers.

The other accomplishment on that Monday was my decision to go to Crossfit for the first time. I was really sore afterwards, so I ended up going again on Wednesday and then waiting until Monday of the next week to go again.

I was supposed to have a volleyball game on Wednesday of week 12 but it got moved to Friday. I was disappointed because I was looking forward to playing. I went to school on Friday really excited to play finally since it had been a week, but our game was postponed again. I was so mad, because I only came to school that day for volleyball. I wouldn't have gone otherwise because they were starting exams, and I have to sit outside the classroom doing nothing while they take them. BORING.

Thursday night was the start of our exchange student get-togethers for every other week. One night, my host mom and I were talking about the fact that at first I didn't go out much, and how some of the more reserved exchange students never leave their house. My mom then mentioned that in years past, the exchange students in Machala would make it a point of meeting up for dinner every other week or so. "The other exchange students are like your family," she said, "you need to spend time with them. They help to keep you going." She is right. And so, I put out on our Machala exchange student group page on Facebook that we should start this tradition every-other week for ourselves. Everyone liked the idea, and we planned our first outing for Chili's that night. I think it went well and we will hopefully coordinate our next get-together soon.

Friday night I didn't go out or do anything. But Saturday at 5pm, I went to the mall with my friend Sarah to shop for something new to wear to the party we had that night. I got a new top and she bought a dress. Then we came back and got ready to go the birthday party of our exchange friend Heitor from Brazil. We danced and had a pretty good time. Sarah and another friend Lilia slept over after the party.

On Sunday my friends left between 11am and noon. I had to get dressed in 2 minutes to go to my host dad's brother's house for lunch. We were celebrating his birthday. When we got there, I ended up making plans with friends and left before we even sat down for lunch. My school friends and I went to watch soccer and my friend Pamela played in a game herself. Then we went to another friend's house to hang out and I left at 9:45 to come home.

Week 13 was different because they were having exams at school and I didn't have to go. Instead I slept until 10 or 11, ate lunch, worked on projects on my laptop, and went to Crossfit every night (except for Friday) at 7pm. I was sore all week, but it felt good to go.

On Wednesday, our internet crashed right before I was able to send the video I had made for the presentation my counselor was doing on exchange back home at my former high school. You can check out the video and more details about that in my previous post. Anyways, I was so upset about the video not loading in time, and I was even going to try and Skype in but then the internet just crashed. I ended up going to my friend Simone's house to sleep over because she invited me when I told her I didn't have wifi. We had a good time because we went to Crossfit together and watched a movie (and I had internet). 

On Thursday Simone and I went for haircuts. I will not go into details because I already talked about this experience in my previous post "A Bad Haircut".

So back at my house on Friday, two guys came to fix the internet. They fixed it, but I was home alone when they came and I was always told not to let anyone in, so I had to call my host dad numerous times to make sure it was okay to let them in, and then to figure out different information the guys needed because I don't know the specific technology terms in Spanish. My host parents left for Guayaquil on Friday afternoon, leaving me to stay with our maid Consuelo for the weekend. I had asked to stay home for the weekend because of the parties on Saturday that my friends and I wanted to attend.

Friday night I went out with the daughter of Consuelo not knowing what I was actually going to. We ended up meeting Consuelo at a pageant of her other daughter at her school. I have never liked the whole pageant/beauty queen stuff, and maybe it's just because of where I am from, but it seems to me that these events happen every weekend here in Ecuador. It's a culture difference for sure, because these events are so popular and they pretty much have a queen of everything here in Ecuador. No joke- there is a queen of tuna in this country. A queen of TUNA! Now, I find these events ridiculous and boring. The girls get all primped and half of them look ridiculous and they sound silly when they have to answer those questions. But the people here obviously enjoy them, because I have already seen 2 and I am sure I will witness more before I leave.

Saturday I chilled out. Then my friends Lilia and Simone came over to get ready for the party we were going to (I was already dressed to leave and they were super late to show up). We went together to a party with a Hollywood theme. I was under the impression that the party was at our usual spot, but it was actually at the house of the party host- we were at a birthday party! I didn't know the birthday girl, nor did I meet her at her own party. It was a huge party though- it was even advertised on Instagram (yeah they promote their parties big time in South America haha) and to get in you had to go through the security guard at the door and pay a fee. It was like a club! This was probably one of my favorite parties yet because we were dancing the whole time! The music was great.

Sunday I woke up to an empty house- Consuelo had left for her other job- so I chilled on the couch for a while. Then I went to the movies with a school friend and saw Thor 2 for the 3rd time (and in Spanish again- I have yet to see it in English!) because we missed the Hunger Games 2 show time. I am not really a fan of the Hunger Games either but I would have enjoyed something new. My parents returned home from Guayaquil and I went to sleep because of school the next morning.

So Far; 3 Months on Exchange!

I want to quickly explain this blog post before you start reading below or watching the video. Angela Webster, my sponsor club counselor and a good friend of mine, recently had to do a presentation about Rotary Youth Exchange to foreign language students at Inter-Lakes High School (where I graduated from) who have an interest in the program. Her presentation was last Wednesday, and a few weeks before the presentation, she had asked if I could Skype with her or do a little something to add to her presentation. She said she didn't want to bore people. Well, I can say that I experienced a similar presentation about the program as a junior in high school, and I was anything but bored. No- the exciting and intruiging presentation ended up being the last thing I needed to make the decision and go on exchange. And because it influenced me so much, I was determined to give her something that I hoped would help convince others to take this opportunity as well. So, I ended up making a video and wrote a little something for her to present for me. Unfortunately, I had some technical issues and was unable to send her the video in time. But she was able to read what I said during her presentation and send the video to the language classes as a follow up to the presentation (when it finally uploaded). Now, as you probably already know from my blog, I could write for days and days. In fact, I could compose a bunch of persuasive essays and points about why exchange is so amazing right now. I wont do that for you, but I do want to show you the video I put together because I think it says a lot of what I wanted to say without all the words. Besides, we can't let all my hard work on the video go to waste can we? Not only is the video a sort of 3-month review of my time here so far, but what I wrote as an introduction and conclusion to the video is as true as it gets. This experience is totally worth it. And finally, I really hope that if anyone out there is interested in exchange- be it from my home town, or somewhere else in the country or even the world- that they consider what I say in this post, that they consider the significance of the video, and that they aren't afraid to contact me with questions. And to those of you reading this from my host district back home- I hope to see some of you at exchange orientation when I get back!

Without further ado, here is what I sent to be shared with the students:  

Hola a todos. For those of you who don’t know me, my name is Megan Reid and I was a student at Inter-Lakes and graduated with the class of 2013. I am currently on a gap year and am living this year of my life as a Rotary youth exchange student in the country of Ecuador.  I’m assuming the fact that you’re here for this presentation is a good sign; a sign that you are curious or interested in going on exchange and I am just the person to convince you to go.

So- you’re interested in exchange? First of all- if you aren’t my Facebook friend yet- add me. And if you don’t have my email, send me a comment so I can send it to you, or you can probably find it somewhere on my blog. That being said, you are more than welcome to email/message me and ask me questions, and if you want, I can talk your ear off about how awesome exchange is. But I am hoping I won’t need to do that after this whole presentation.

Exchange is by far the best decision I have ever made IN MY LIFE. I can’t even begin to describe to you just how amazing this year has been for me so far and how much better it keeps getting.

I want to show you a small portion of the life I am living right now with a video of pictures (it’s 2 songs long), depicting life on exchange- and trust me this isn’t even half of the pictures I have and I didn’t even include video. But before you see it, I want to say that even after watching this; you still won’t fully understand or appreciate the life I am living right now. I say that because the experience is different for everyone, and yet it is so unique that only people who have gone on exchange can relate. I guess the simplest way to say it is; you aren’t living this exchange...I am. 

So, how can one comprehend the feeling of living in a new country with a new family and a new school and a new language and a new culture and new food and pretty much new EVERYTHING if they haven’t done it? Well, you just have to go on exchange and experience it for yourself.

The video:

Though I can tell you about all of my experiences, share every picture and video; it is still up to you to decide to go on exchange for your own experiences and memories. If what you saw in the presentation intrigued you, excited you, made you jealous, made you want to have your own completely unique, special and fantastic life abroad, then all I have to say is- go on exchange! If you want a bunch of friends from around the world, if you want to be fluent in a language, if you want to become a more cultured person, if you want to promote peace in the world, if you want to strut around in a blazer covered in different pins and have people stare at you like “who the heck is that foreigner”, if you want connections so that you can travel around the world later in life, if you want to have unique stories and memories that will last a lifetime- I repeat- go on exchange!!!

Don't pass up the opportunity. If you are ready for it, go sign up- go out as a junior. If you still have doubts, maybe consider a gap year instead. But remember that the option is there. Write to me and I’ll happily and honestly respond to you with my thoughts. Talk to your parents. Go to your guidance counselor so they can help you figure out if this is an opportunity that you can take- if you are ready and if your schedule allows it. Most importantly, do not be afraid of the experience if the interest is there. It may be 10 months abroad- but time flies. And one more thing- exchange isn’t a year in your life; it’s a life in a year. 



P.S. This is completely unrelated- but HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my Mema. I love you so much! Thank you for all of your prayers and support. 
I also want to wish all of my family and friends back home a Happy Thanksgiving tomorrow. I will be thinking of all of you and missing you all. Know that I am thankful to have all of you in my life. And I thank God for this experience I am living right now.<3

A Bad Haircut

Warning: I kind of rant in this post and I apologize for that because I was having a really hard time expressing myself in a way that could be understood. But it was something I really wanted to write about to see if it could help organize all the thoughts and emotions in my head. I hope what I wrote made a little sense.

So, yesterday I decided that it had been long enough and I really needed to go get my hair trimmed. In the US, I would go every 6-8 weeks to cut the dead ends off my hair so it could keep growing and have a healthier appearance. The last time I got my hair done was in the beginning of August, before I left for Ecuador. I figured it had been a little over three months and it was time to clean up the ends of my hair so that it could keep growing longer because I really want long hair.

Simone and I went to the peluquería together because she wanted a trim as well. I went first, and we told the women to just cut the ends of my hair and “only a little”. I am used to “only a little” meaning taking off as little as possible while getting rid of the dead ends- so a maximum of 1 inch is normally taken off. At this particular shop, “only a little” ended up being 2+ inches. And I know I sound like such a “stereotypical girl” right now, but 2+ inches makes a huge difference in hair length and I can’t stand how much shorter my hair appears and feels. So this frustrated me a bit after having grown my hair out for a while.

But what really made me mad is the second part of this story. While cutting my hair, the hair dresser suggested cutting a few pieces around the front shorter, kind of like side bangs. Now, usually I like change and some style to my hair. Usually, I would say, “oh it's just hair, it grows back”. But I was very unsure about saying yes. I was literally squirming in my seat, listening to Simone and the hairdresser telling me it would look fantastic and be a nice change. I just wanted to say no and leave my hair alone since the hairdresser had already shortened my hair significantly. But after some debate, I gave in to their insisting and finally just said "go for it, I am on exchange after all”.

As soon as the hair was cut, I regretted the decision completely. This is the first experience that I have had so far in Ecuador where “just going for it” has backfired. I should be laughing, honestly. It's not as awful as I make it seem even though I feel like I have never hated a haircut so much in my life. I am not even going to post a picture because I can’t smile while taking one. I have been an emotional mess about this whole thing for the past day and getting upset about it is driving me crazy, and I hate feeling like this every time I look at my hair. But the thing is, I have had this style before, and now I remember just how much I eventually hated it. The short pieces of hair are always in your face, so you have to deal with them or clip them back somehow (which is impossible with my hair). The pieces aren't long enough to fit into a pony tail so you have to straighten them or they look terrible, and these same pieces continue to be a pain until they have grown out and can be styled back with the rest of the hair. Oh, and did I mention that after coming back from my sleepover with Simone, I now can’t find my straightener. JUST PERFECT. It disappears when I need it most. I have literally looked everywhere and the maid doesn’t remember moving it, even though I remember exactly where it was before I left.

So yes, I am mad; mad at myself for letting them convince me to do it, mad for trusting their opinions, and mad for telling myself to “go for it”. Every time I try and tell myself otherwise, that I look fine and my decision wasn’t a bad one, I end up crying angry tears. And here I am, writing this post because I am obviously not over it. And to top it off, I haven’t been having the best of luck over the past few days either- our internet was broken for two days, right when it was necessary for me to Skype home and cry to them about my mistake decision.

Now this whole thing may sound stupid to you. She’s crying over a haircut that isn’t even that terrible. (OH but it feels like it IS). But really, I have reflected long and hard about why I am so upset, and I now realize that what I am feeling is so much more than just hatred for the decision to get a haircut.   

It is so much more because the change to my hair has sparked two realizations that make me even more emotional; 1) realizing that this exchange experience in Ecuador is real, that I am actually living here and I have 7 months to go and 2) realizing that I am changing a lot in all aspects of my life-both mind & body.

I think I am upset that I got rid of the hairstyle that I left home with; like the change I made represents that Ecuador is my official home now and the US is forgotten. Of course, I will never stop considering home to be where my true family is located. I would never forget them or the US, ever. But it's like I finally got over this surreal feeling I’ve had since I arrived, the feeling that I am going home any day now because I have been here for so long. I have finally accepted that Ecuador is where I will be for the next 7 months and I actually haven’t been here long at all. It is as if changing my hair is a symbol that I have embraced living here, that after adapting to the new language, culture, food, home, family, etc., I finally let the last part of me (my hair) become property of Ecuador as well. And in doing so, accepting and fitting into normalcy here, I realize just how much I really have changed and how much more I will change before returning home a new version of myself. This scares me because I like who I am and I don’t want to lose myself and stop representing where I come from. Of course, there was no way I wouldn’t have cut my hair all year- just like there is no way I wouldn’t change from this experience. But what the haircut made me realize is how quickly I have adapted and changed and I don’t want to move on from home so quickly. I am happy to be here and don’t want to leave, but I am sad to be realizing just how much longer I have to be away from my home and family. I miss them.

I guess what I am trying to say is that, I think getting this haircut has convinced me that this exchange is really happening to me, that I am living in Ecuador for real- a fact that didn’t seem possible before- and that I am here for the whole 10 months and can’t turn back now. And in the end, not liking the outcome of the haircut just adds the aspects of anger and disappointment to my scared and sad emotions, because I believe that if I were at home in the US, I would have stuck to my first decision and would have been less likely to say “go for it” when I already had a plan. This is just one example of a change in me, this “go for it” attitude. And it’s not just internal- my hair is a visual representation of this change, everyone can see it and I can’t hide it. It isn’t something to be ashamed of necessarily, but I just look in the mirror and I don’t like the style and I immediately miss the way it was before, the way it was before I left home. Does that even make sense? I really don’t have a way to end this paragraph because I am still confused about what this means for me and how to explain the feelings that I can't seem to shake at the moment. 

Don’t worry; you’ll get a picture of the haircut eventually, maybe when I am not upset about how it looks.

Talent Show Performance

So, I mentioned a couple posts back that I sang during the talent show on the exchange student trip to Manabí. Well, luckily for me, my friends Kelty and Cara recorded me singing Adele's "Turning Tables" and emailed it to me. I have proof! I performed the song a cappella in front of all the Ecuador exchange students and the Rotarians that were there. It is because of this performance and jumping up for karaoke the night before that the Rotarians asked me to sing at the final talent show on our last trip in May.

Also, this is the song I just sang at my school's singing competition this past Monday- yes it was in front of the entire school. The contest was "So you think you can sing", and two students from each course chose to sing a song in their second language (either English or French). They told me I could sing but they said I couldn't count in the judging since English is my first language (yeah I guess it's only fair). I actually had background music when I sang it at school, but I don't know if anyone got a video of it. Either way, it was fun and I think I performed it well.

That being said, I figured I should share the recording of my first performance with you. Enjoy!

Highlights of Weeks 10 & 11

I know it’s only been like two weeks, but it feels like forever since I posted last. I have just had so many plans (this is partially true but I have also just been putting it off some). I decided to add some pictures in my blog post since not everyone follows me on Facebook or Instagram and I don't want to transfer all of these pictures from the other sites to my shutterfly.

SOOOO

The beginning of week 10 I spent two days with Simone doing what we usually do- eating chocolate, watching movies, taking photos, and doing each other’s make-up and hair before going out. 

We were bored Monday night and decided to have a mini photo-shoot. You can find the rest of these photos on my shutterfly page under week 10.

Wednesday night was a special and somewhat emotional evening for me. I made it a point of staying home that night and finding a website to live-stream the final World Series game, which obviously was worth it because the Red Sox won for the first time in 95 years at home, in Boston’s Fenway Park. I am still not exactly sure why I became so emotional about the win, but perhaps it was the combination of overwhelming pride for my “home city” (I tell all the Ecuadorians I am from “near Boston” because they usually know where Boston is), sadness for missing the celebration, the unity, and thoughts about “Boston Strong” and my friends at colleges in Boston. It was such a significant win for all Boston fans and the city itself, and in that moment, I just felt like I didn’t belong in Ecuador because it wasn't of any importance to the people here.

Sox Pride:

Starting Friday November 1^st, I started the #NoSugarNovember challenge that my cousin back in the states decided to do and put out there for friends to attempt as well. I decided to take the challenge international and try it here in Ecuador. You can pretty much choose how dedicated to the challenge you want to be- either cutting back a little, half way, or going all out and not having any sugar. I decided that as an exchange student, my major sugar problems were all the artificial and excess sugars like ice cream, chocolate, cakes/tarts, and candies. So I made the decision to try and avoid eating those things.  I also said I would try to cut back on the bread since we eat so much of that as well. My first weekend on the challenge didn’t go to well…

On Friday, my host parents, Simone, Frodo and I made the winding and sickening trip to the city of Cuenca for the weekend of fiestas. Despite my carsickness, the trip there was worth the incredible weekend I had. Simone and I went out Friday night with friends; we went out all day Saturday to the craft fair, the center, and the mall; and we went out bowling that evening with friends then went to sleep over at an extra apartment of one of my classmate’s. We ate bread, chocolate, ice cream, and more bread. Cuenca is known for having the best bread and sweets in Ecuador so I was destined to have a rough start with the #NoSugarNovember thing. I was also lucky enough to arrange to go out Sunday for lunch with Emily Monslave, a friend of mine from Cuenca who was an exchange student last year in my home district and stayed with my family for a weekend while on a Rotary sponsored trip to our area. It was great to reunite with her in her own country and meet her generous family who kindly invited me and Simone to lunch with them and then to their house for a little while before we had to head home. It was also really cool to be speaking Spanish with her and her family when she was speaking English with me and my family a little over a year ago. It’s these kinds of connections that are really special to me on exchange.

 Pictures from Cuenca:

P.S. I just had to buy this cute little piggy in a store in Cuenca. I named him EcuaThorian. Half of you wont understand the significance of that and I am not about to explain. It's still cute...

Monday of week 11 I went to my monthly Rotary meeting to obtain my $80 allowance (which is already gone L) and to make sure everyone was on the same page about what is expected from us exchangers this month of November. Tuesday afternoon my friend Sarah from France showed Simone and me this café she recently discovered here in Machala called Club 07. Oh my goodness it was like heaven; they had options for wraps, sandwiches, lasagna, REAL salad, and delicious fruit batidos. After that we went and walked around and enjoyed each other’s company in a nearby park until it was time to go home.  Wednesday at school I realized why there had been so many events going on lately that interrupt classes- it’s the 37th anniversary of Principito & Marcel Laniado de Wind. Apparently every anniversary is celebrated in this manner. On that day it was my classes turn to do their open house presentations. Well, I was bored out of my mind, literally just sitting there under the tent while my classmates presented to parents and staff. So I got to get out early and go to the mall instead where I bought something that I have been missing dearly- peanut butter. That’s right. I am keeping it in a bag in my room with a spoon so that every once and awhile I can just have a spoonful of love. Thursday I didn’t have classes but I did have to run some errands and take out the rest of the money needed to pay our club coordinator for the optional Amazon trip that I decided I want to go on.

Me and Mishel before their open house (& before I left):

Friday I didn’t have classes but I did have something special- a volleyball game. I got up at 8am to go with my host mom to get a number printed on my gym shirt so that I could play. Our school has three different volley teams; the boys’ team, the younger girls’ team, and the older girls’ team. I am on the team with the older girls. I arrived at the coliseum where I was told to meet, not knowing what to expect because I was only told about where to be and when by Simone the day before. I hadn’t even talked to the coach since I had given him my papers weeks before.  I arrived early, so I sat on the bleachers and watched as the younger girls’ team was playing. Soon enough, the girls from my team showed up. When it was our turn to take the court, the couch turned to me and said, if you can serve overhand-do it. He didn’t even question my abilities or understanding of the game. He confidently put me in the number one spot over another player and handed me the ball. Now, none of the volleyball teams here have an incredible amount of skill, in fact, watching them play reminds me of watching a poor junior high game (yeah they really are bad), but there were a couple girls on my team that could at the very least handle serving underhand and attempting to pass the ball over the net. Well, you can imagine their excitement when my over-hand serve was putting us in the lead- something they had rarely experienced before. The coach also had me pushed all over the court so that I would receive the majority of served balls so that we didn’t lose points that way. I even got a back-row kill on a ball that I just instinctively went for. I was pleasantly surprised when our team won the game after two sets in a row! All the girls were so excited, and I was happy to have helped and gotten to play, even if it wasn’t a highly competitive game. It was also nice to be playing normal volleyball again with 6 people on the court, a rotation, and a normal ball and net instead of the Ecua-volley with 3 players, a different scoring system, a net that is 2.80 meters high, and a soccer ball.

Friday morning I also managed to send 3 letters that will hopefully make it home to some family members. It cost $2.50 for each letter. That night I ate a big dinner out with my family. One of the coolest things about Ecuador is the fact that all the restaurants here are so informal. People literally transform the patio areas out front of their house into dining areas where they feed you a lot of food for very cheap. The place we went to had the best meat I have had in a while, yuca (or cassava) with mayo, and a plate of half beans, half rice. I ate it ALL. Saturday afternoon I went to the mall (where the movie theater is) to see Thor 2. I thought it was great. Later that night I got all dressed up like a true Ecuadorian and went out to a club called the Preli to celebrate birthdays of a couple friends. We had a lot of fun dancing together. 

My trying to be Ecuadorian look: 

Sunday morning my host mom woke me up to say that they were decorating the tree with Gaby (my host sister) and asked if I wanted to help. I was glad I got to help with this part of the decoration process since pretty much everything else has already been decorated by my host parents, including half of our downstairs living area that has been overtaken by little village houses. My host dad was extremely cryptic about putting his precious village together- he does it every year and buys new accessories every year as well- but it does look pretty amazing now that it’s complete. After decorating, my family wanted to see Thor 2 so I said I would gladly see it again. The first time I saw it with Sarah was in Spanish, so I was kind of hoping we could see the English showing with subtitles. But instead I saw it in Spanish again only this time in 3D. In Spanish, English, 3D or not, Chris Hemsworth is still extremely attractive and I could watch him as Thor over and over again. 

The Christmas decorations that are already up:

<3 Chris Hemsworth everybody:

And that, my dear readers, is everything I have to say about weeks 10 and 11 of my life in Ecuador.