This is The Life

Takin' in

A whole new scene

And I'm swimming with a new crowd

Well like me start out my saying… I am not pregnant. How do I know this?!? Well today I got a blood test that confirmed this. Yesterday I woke up with a massive headache and didn’t feel good at all. After using the age-old test of getting up showering and eating breakfast I knew that today was going to be a day I spent in bed. By that evening I had a fever of 38 C (100.4 F) and was a sick mess. My host mother decided (even though I was convinced all I needed was water and sleep) that I needed to go to the doctor. There I got a complete physical and they told me that the only problem I had was a headache and fever. Really?!? I didn’t know that… haha. I could have told them that. But this is a different culture and apparently you go to the doctor for any possible illness. I spent most of the say sleeping and/or listening to music in my bed. I had no energy to do anything else. I had to abandon our plans of doing to the disco techa that evening. (Sorta like a dance club. They are all over in Ecuador.) The next day (today) I was whisked off to get a blood test. Turns out nothing is wrong. So that is good… no crazy Ecuadorian parasites or anything. But that has been an adventure. Lets just say that the doctors and blood draw clinics are not the same standard as in the US.

But enough of my illness talk. There has been a lot of other very cool stuff going on. Two nights ago I went to a basket ball game with my Aunt and Uncle and their host student. It was awesome!!! The two teams were rivals and from different provinces in Ecuador. We were rooting for the Bolivar team (the province we live in). At the end of the first quarter we were up by 7 (I think) points. The next two quarters our luck changed. By the end of the third quarter we were down by 17 points. But that last quarter saved us… we slowly started gaining them back. In true Latin American style the crowd was crazy and every call by the ref had an effect on them. At one point the ref made a call that the crowd disagreed with… water bottles were thrown on to the court and the whole place when up in madness. It was very exciting. We ended up winning 84 to 77, and much rejoicing was had. It was a good game and lots of fun. I hope that in the future I can attend more games.

Other then those two things I have been living life with my family. I tag along with who ever in going into center (the middle of town) and do errands with them. We almost always have a meal at somebody else’s house in our family. I can feel my Spanish getting better and can understand a heck of a lot more then when I got here, but it is always a struggle. My speaking has only improved a little bit, but I am sure it will get better. Life is an adventure. In a week(ish) I start school. I will be going to an all girls’ school that I can walk to from my house. We get our uniforms next week. AFS will possibly have a day trip to another city next week some time, if that comes threw. It is all very fun and exciting. Although I am going to be ready to have a more regular schedule with school and such. I have stopped being treated like a guest as much, witch I appreciate a lot. No more ice cream for breakfast, but that is ok by me. ☺ Well a brief update on my life.

Livin’ live on the loose.

Pictures of you (or rather of me.)

Pictures of me, hung upon the wall for the world to see...

So I have not been able to get blogger to let me put up pictures, so I have put them on facebook insted. I know that not everybody has a facebook so here is the link:

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2295871438342.2135076.1295770746

You should be able to see them, because I made the settings that way. I hope you can get on to it.

Livin' life on the loose.

First day of my life

This is the first day of my life… in Ecuador. And boy has it been a full day. I arrived to my host family’s house at about four yesterday. We took a bus from Quito to Guaranda (my town), the bus ride was about 5 hours, but we made a couple of stops. One of the stops was at the top of a 12,000 ft. pass because there had been an accident. We all got off the bus to take pictures with the mountains and the snow. Yes… I thought I had left the snow by heading down to the equator, but apparently now. Haha.

My house family met the bus with lots of hugs and kisses and of course a lot of very rapid Spanish. I was very relived to have the greetings over and be headed to my new home. But little did I know that that was just the beginning of my crazy first evening in Ecuador. We sat in the living room and made small talk (as much as is possible with my two years of Spanish that is…). Then it became clear that no matter how many times I said I wasn’t hungry it was time to eat. I was so happy that they were so caring and that they wanted me to be so happy. We headed out across the courtyard to the dinning room. There on the table was a cake welcoming me to Ecuador. I felt to special and was blown away by this act of kindness. It became clear that it was custom for me to take the first bite of cake… but not off of a plate or with a fork. I was to go face first into it, so face into it I went. It was delicious cake and much happiness and laughing and many jokes I am sure I didn’t catch followed that first bite. We then proceeded to have lunch/dinner (I am not quite sure which). I am unclear what it was, but I think it was intestine and noodle soup, chicken, potatoes, rice, and some spiced veggies. It was a good lunch and I ended full. I did notice that my servings seemed to be about 3 times as large as everybody else’s. Haha. All threw the meal I was asked questions that I tried my best to understand and to answer.

After dinner we headed into town. After about a 10-minuet walk we arrived at the grocery store where we proceeded to get a gallon of yogurt, some chocolate ice cream, and some milk. (I am almost positive that the ice cream was because I told them that it was my favorite food.) We then headed home; on the walk home my family offered me sweet pastries about 3 times. I was still digesting that food baby from lunch. We got back has some more small talk and then I headed to bed, I was exhausted. I enjoyed a half hour catch up with my family and then a brief journal entry. But I was having a hard time keeping my eyes open so that was ended quite quickly.

Today is my first full day of life in Ecuador. It has been wonderful, stressful, and overwhelming. I woke up and took a shower, which turned out to be an endeavor in its self. Then was offered breakfast of chocolate ice cream, chocolate corn flakes, a glass of yogurt and a cup of hot milk. I think this is the first time in my life that I have actually enjoyed milk. (Hi mom, I know you are jumping up and down in excitement right now… that’s right… I enjoyed the milk. J) After that we headed to my aunt and uncles house and I got a tour of that and got to go onto their roof and enjoy the amazing view. Dang. That’s all I can say. We then headed somewhere, I had no idea where. Turns out that my uncle was running for town mayor so they had to go vote and wait for results. I think he lost, because there are no preparations for the fiesta going on, but I am not 100% clear on this. Then to lunch at the aunt and uncles house and back home for some relaxing time. That is what is happening now… chilling and updating you all on my adventures. I can see my Spanish getting better already, and by that I mean that I can understand maybe 20% of what people say to me. But I am sure I will continue learning. I think a nap is in my very near future. I hope life at home is going well and that everybody is having a great end of the summer. I miss and love you all.

Living life on the loose.

Did I mention that almost everybody here has a pet dog?!? I love it. We have three dogs, two of them are super nice and the other one is (as the put it) muy loco. I also spend the majority of the day with a 4-month-old puppy named Boo who is possibly the cutest thing ever.

Fly like an (American Airlines) Eagle

(This is from a couple of days ago... another will be coming very soon!)

Time keeps on slipping slipping slipping into the future! About 6 months ago I got this crazy idea that next year I was going to live abroad. After many months of filling out applications, having hundreds of doctor’s appointments and countless good-byes I am now flying threw the air at 37,000 ft towards this dream. I still can’t believe it is actually happening.

As I write this I can look out of the window and the vast expanse of air and if I could see down I am guessing we are somewhere over Colombia right about now. With less then an hour left in my flight to Quito I am getting even more excited and nervous then every before. After clearing security with our group of 11 headed to Ecuador from the US we were bound for gate G33 for our flight. We got there and had 3 hours to spare (with large groups AFS leaves a ton of extra time) so we headed off the find some lunch/dinner. After filling up on a grande iced coffee and some sushi we all decided to chill and play B.S. at the gate.

After about an hour of waiting a group of four French girls approach us. Turns out they are headed to Ecuador from France with AFS. We were all super excited to meet somebody that wasn’t completely English speaking. We all stumbled our way threw our conversations with our Spanish, English and a very little bit of French. Soon after wards we all boarded our flight.

I sit down wondering who is going to sit next to me. Most of the plane is full of only Spanish speakers headed back to Ecuador. Turns out this was my first dive into my Spanish speaking experience. I sit next to a father and his son. The son speaks some English, so we were able to communicate with a good amount of Spanglish. Turns out that they are some how related (through an uncle???) to my host family in Guaranda. My house is also apparently located next to a cemetery. It was a super exciting and very eye opening (in terms of the Spanish element) connection. I now have their number and an open invitation to stay at there house in Quito if I am ever there and need accommodations. I can tell I am going to like this friendly country and amazing people already.

My biggest accomplishment for the day… helping the woman and girl in the seat behind me communicate with the flight attendant. They needed coffee with out milk, but with sugar. I felt pretty cool… even if all I said was “café con leche?” “Café solo?” haha. But it’s a first step for me. J

The plane will be landing soon so I must put away the computer and maybe even make an attempt at another Spanish conversation. It has been quite a day and isn’t even over yet. Ahead of us is getting threw customs on our own and finding the AFS rep that will take us to our next destination, wherever that is.

Livin’ life on the loose.

I'm Leaving on a Jet Plane...

My bags aren’t packed, but I'm ready to go. This Thursday I depart on my Ecuadorian Escapade and I can’t put all of my feelings into words. It has been a crazy summer starting off with a wonderful trip to Philadelphia to see my family. Soon I was off to FGC to hang out and recharge with my Quaker friends (it was an amazing year as always). Right after Quaker camp I headed off to my second home, Camp Black Hawk, where I spent a month in my element kayaking, painting, playing games, laughing, and living in tents. I got back home from CBH 4 days ago and I am looking at tomorrow as my last full day in this states. Soon I will be saying goodbye to my Wisconsin home.

Over the last four days I have said good-bye to my dearest friends and had many last hugs (for the year that is). I have bought the last essentials, backed up my computer, had a family going away party and attempted to wrap my head around the fact that I really am headed to Ecuador!!! Now I am starting to get packed and preparing to leave.

Where will I be leaving to??? I will be living in the city of Guaranda. This is the capital of the province of Bolivar in Ecuador. Guaranda is a city 8,000 ft up in the Andie Mountains with a peak summating at 20,000 ft towering over the city. Guaranda is known for the amazing markets that take place there and their huge celebration of the festival Carnival. I have two host family members, a host mother who is in her 70’s and a host sister who is in her 30’s. Apparently there are many other members of my family who live in the same area. These families have 5 kids under the age of 11. I am so excited and nervous to meet my family. My host sister friended me on Facebook the other day and we had a brief chat conversation. When I told her (in my choppy Spanish) that my Spanish was bad she reassured me that it was ok and that she would teach me. With both my and mom around the computer in the kitchen we were able to have a little bit of communication. It was awesome to get to know her a very little bit more. It is going to be a wonderful year. I am super pumped and know it’s going to be the time of my life.

So far nothing is in my suitcase and I still have a lot of laundry to do… so I must go get on that.

Livin’ life on the loose.