Sunday, November 25, 2007

Thanksgiving Saturday!

Well, it's been a tough week to be honest. It's been really hard to be away from home over Thanksgiving. It was great that Aunt Mary and Uncle Dan called me on Thursday, and I got to talk to Mom, Dad, Les and Grandma... of course, I had to talk to them all after I got off of work! But it was okay. I explained to my students all about Thanksgiving and we did some work. They are DEFINITELY getting a cultural lesson from me. One of my 8th grade classes asked me about the "Himno Nacional de los Estados Unidos"- so I downloaded and copied lyrics to the Star Spangled Banner, and we spent a class period looking up unknown words (I know... "ramparts" is going to take them far in life. I don't even know what that means!) and SINGING it! It was hilarious!

BUT, this weekend was a blast. On Friday I was required to go to this dance. On Thursday we had a meeting at school for all the teachers to go over what our jobs were going to be at the dance, and to decide if we should sell alcohol to the students who were 18, or just to teachers and parents! They eventually decided that anyone who was 18 could drink.. which meant that a LOT of people who weren't 18 were drinking at the dance, but no one seemed to care! The dance was for the crowning of the Reina del Colegio (Queen of the High School), so each contestant put on a dance for the school on Friday afternoon. Some danced to Salsa and Reggaeton music, while others danced to "Thriller" and "You're the One That I Want" from Grease! Then they had a fashion show- casual and formal wear, and then an interview portion where they discussed their views on the role of women in present society and the solutions for the problem of child labor in Ecuador.

Then, when they crowned Mary Frances the reina, and the dance was on! Teachers, parents and students danced the night away until 2 in the morning. Teachers took shots of whiskey in the back, while parents and students smoked cigarettes on the dance floor. It was a BLAST! My friend Nick and I tried to keep up with them, but at one point we were doing our lame-ass gringo salsa, and I turned around to see one of my students, Kenny, who is 13 and 5 feet tall at most, PULLING OUT the most incredible dance moves with a girl approximately twice his height. I got embarassed, so we sat down.. but it was really fun otherwise!

Then, Saturday, we had our HUGE Thanksgiving feast! We started cooking at 10 in the morning (as in the picture)-- Angie splurged and bought a turkey, and I made mashed potatoes. She also made vegetables and cranberry sauce. We had two sweet potato dishes, cake, brownies, broccoli, stuffing, garlic bread, more turkey, macaroni and cheese, Kinua salad, Taco dip, mangoes, homemade apple pies from the boys downstairs, soda, beer, rum, and wine. We had invited everone over at 3:00-- but dinner didn't actually go on until 5. It was Thanksgiving Ecuador style-- two hours late but totally worth it!!

We had everyone in our building- Nick, Seth, Summer, Andrew Moose and his Ecuadorian girlfriend Ani, Noah, me, Rozana, Angie, John, Jeff, Sam, their friend Chase, Libby, her Ecuadorian boyfriend William, Jon, Vaughn, Liz, her roommate Jessie, Nicole, Justin, his British girlfriend Helen, Gillian, Rachel, and two American exchange students from Colegio de Liga- Lacey and Weston! That's 27 if you're counting!! We crammed them into our apartment, and amazingly we had enough food to feed everyone!




The food was really good too. It was great. We had everyone go around the table and say what they were thankful for.. and we even had one in Spanish! It felt like Thanksgiving, and it felt good.

As for me- this week I've been frustrated in my job and with my students. I've been homesick and sad... but not once have I been unhappy. Last night was amazing. This morning Nick and I went to this market in Parque Eljido where there are artisans and paintings and children and relaxation. This afternoon, and every Sunday, Angie, Rozana and I went to Plaza Foch and drank coffee while this really cool band played in the plaza as clouds rolled in over the volcano Pichincha. I love it here. My Spanish has definitely turned a corner, too-- and that makes it easier. I miss home, but I am so glad to be here-- and Saturday just reminded me that if I can get 25 people sat and fed at our dining room table, then I can do anything!!

I miss you all very much!

Friday, November 16, 2007

Oh man!

Well-- It has definitely been a while since I updated-- I've gotten at leat one written request for a new blog.. honestly I've just been SO busy I haven't had time or energy. Every day I catch the school bus-- which is really just a yellow van-- at 6:10 and I get home around 6:30 pm, at which point I have lessons to plan and food to eat etc. Plus, for as busy as I've been, nothing too exciting has happened.

Well- Banos was pretty amazing. I posted pictures. The pictures start in Quito when we went out for Andrew's birthday- it was insane.... as you will see-- but there was good dancing and it was FUN! Then we went out to celebrate that we were done with TESOL (teaching english as a second language). That may have been the most fun I've ever had in my life! Finally, we went to Banos, and you'll see pictures there too. We started out by taking this bike ride to el Pailon del Diablo-- I've included all the pictures, but it was one of the most breathtaking things I've ever seen! I even jumped off a bridge! It wasn't bungee jumping because the cord wasn't flexible at all-- it was sort of like swinging. It was a RUSH for sure!

Finally- in this quick update- we had a MASSIVE Halloween party the day after Halloween... but it was Thursday and everyone had work off on Friday because of el Dia de los Fieles Difuntos-- or Day of the Dead. So we threw a house party. We had beer pong and flip cup- and we invited everyone we knew, which meant that there were Americans, Ecuadorians, English and Australians. We had 18 year olds and 60 year olds. It was crazy.... house parties are not really my thing, but it was a blast.

I dressed up as Smurfette (yes I got the idea from Emily Karrs), but I didn't realize that there was no such thing as blue face paint in Ecuador- so I bought blue eyeshadow and face lotion and I coverd myself. The result was that I looked more like a dead nurse than Smurfette, but it was fun. In the picture I'm with my roommates Rozana and Angie who dressed up as the Doublemint Twins!


Things have been going well at work. The Fiestas de Quito are coming up in December. December 6 is the anniversary of the Independence of Quito. Most of the streets here are named for state holidays, and so it actually makes it really easy to remember when things are. For example, one of the best malls is on a street named 6 de Diciembre. I actually live on 9 de Octubre (which I BELIEVE is the independence of Guayaquil- another big Ecuadorian city-- but I'm not sure.)

Finally-- I am starting to get kind of homesick- especially as Thanksgiving is coming up, but it's okay. I FINALLY got on the Skype train, and soon I will be getting my own Skype number where you can call me for CHEAP! For now, I highly recommend that you download it (www.skype.com). It's totally free, but you have to put money on the account to call. You call using your computer, but that means that anyone can call me for two cents a minute!! I talked on the phone for 2 hours today for 2 dollars! (my cell is 98920233. The country code for Ecuador is 593 and the code to dial out of the us is 011-- so to call me you dial 01159398920233... but on skype, just the 098920233 number.. fyi.)

Anyway- kind of laundry listy, but I'll be sure to have some great anecdores for you next time. I miss you all very much! Peace out.