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 1st, 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.
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.
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