oui oui oui!

Since Kat left in March, I needed to find more friends, and fast. I have found it incredibly difficult to find a group of Ecuadorian friends mostly because I'm not looking for a boyfriend. If I had found an Ecuadorian boyfriend, I could fit in with his group of friends and the girls would (somewhat) accept me. Since I have to reject every Ecuadorian boy that comes within 10 feet of me because otherwise they'll think I want something else, it's very difficult to find girlfriends. they have very closed circles of friends and they don't like to let in new people, let alone foreigners. (I've heard enough stories from my host sister and her friends to know that this is true.) So, I've become recently attached at the hip to Sarah, a French teacher at my university. She's from La Rochelle, France and she's my age! I met her when my class switched campuses back in April, and we've been inseparable ever since. I pretty much owe my sanity to her. I have a permanent reservation on her couch in her apartment and she actually has vegetables and other things to cook with in her refrigerator. And the best part is, that even though she is also a gringa, we have to communicate in Spanish because it's our only common language. Although, I'm slowly picking up some French. :) Her boyfriend, Julien, is here in Ecuador, too. He's visiting for three months. last weekend, we went to the Llanganates mountains and stayed at the refuge with our Ecuadorian tour guide friends. We hiked and stayed up late playing cards and drinking. It was fantastic. Sarah has totally kept me from going insane here. The other night, I made her and Julien dinner to repay them for all the times they have fed me. I made chicken marsala (which they had never had before!) and a side of green beans. I had not cooked in so long! but it came out good. That's definitely the thing I'm most looking forward to when I get home: good food! I'll be home in 9 days!! This has been an eye opening, incredible experience, but I'm so ready for it to be over.

Quilotoa!

This past weekend was spent celebrating the battle of Pichincha... or whatever it was that gave us monday off! On saturday morning, a bunch of worldteachers and I wound through the mountains by bus to the tiny town of Chugchilan. We stayed at a baller hostel which for 10 dollars a night included breakfast AND dinner. It was fantastic. And a good thing that they had 6 blankets on each bed because it got cold up in the mountains. Pretty much the weekend was spent playing bananagrams and comparing our countdowns until when we leave and talking about what food we miss the most. (Oh My G-d! meeeeee too!!! I would do ANYTHING for macaroni and cheese with breadcrumbs on top!!! auuuuuuuuuugh!) But we also did get to see the beautiful Quilotoa lake! it's a volcano/crater lake in the middle of the mountains. According to one of our truck drivers, it last errupted in the 1700's and left the landscape as mountainous as it is. Half of our group hiked down to the water and back up. I decided to go with the adventurous group and hike around the rim of the crater. We were told that in about 3 hours or about halfway around the lake, we would hit a river and a small town, where we should deviate from the trail to hike back to chugchilan. However, after asking hikers coming from the other direction, we realized it was possible that this river and small town do not in fact exist and we would not know where to turn off the trail. Plus, the looming rain clouds were fast approaching the higher cliffs that we would have to climb, and we could hear thunder in the distance. After two hours of hiking, we thought it would be wiser to hike back the way we came and hitch a ride back to chugchilan from the town of Quilotoa. This turned out to be a good decision. We avoided the rain and we safely made it back to chugchilan in the back of a pickup truck (as we had missed the last bus by 45 minutes). Overall, it was a great weekend. I got to hang out with Americans who commiserated with my Ecua-frustrations, and I got to hike and see the beauty of this country with whom I currently have a love/hate relationship. It was literally, a breath of fresh (cold, mountain) air.

Carbohydrates

As much as I love my host mom, I simply cannot handle Ecuadorian food anymore. It´s been some time that I´ve been in food withdrawal, but I simply cannot take another day.

Breakfast usually consists of bread with cheese and fruit juice. On the rare days that there is something different, it is a fried egg with french fries or a fried egg with rice.

Lunch always consists of a soup that contains potatoes and meat, and then a heaping plate of rice with something. That something is either a meat stew, a potatoe salad or (the worst option) overcooked pasta with an oily sauce.

Dinner is either leftovers from lunch or bread with cheese (again).

I actually can´t take it anymore. I have gotten into the habit of picking up an ice cream on the way to my afternoon class to forget about the lunch I just had.

The Atkins diet has never sounded so good.

Llanganates Mountains!

This past weekend I went on I hike with three other worldteachers and two Ecuadorian friends (who happen to be tour guides) to the Llanganates mountains. It is said to be where ancient Incan gold is still buried, hidden from the Spanish invaders. We did not find any gold, however we did find a lot of cows and interesting high elevation vegetation. The views of the mountains were absolutely spectacular. I had been rainy the whole week before (and it continues to be rainy this week) but this weekend we got lucky. It was cloudy, but not rainy. Juan says that if the group of explorers are good people and they get along, the mountains will treat them well. He said that whenever he takes a tourist group who bickers with each other, the weather does not cooperate. I kind of like the theory. Anyway, we got to the base of the mountains by taking a bus from Ambato to Pillaro and then hopping in the back of a pick up truck that was headed in the same direction we were. (one of my pictures is of me and my Ecudorian friends in the back of the truck.) Once we got to the national park we hiked for 6 hours (1.5 hours of which was a grueling uphill march). At about 4pm, we finally made it to the refuge where we would be spending the night. We made spaghetti and played a card game called cuarenta with the park rangers who live at the refuge. It was so much fun just to chat with them, learn about what they do in the national park.. and of course talk some shit about playing cards. We went to bed early from pure exhaustion. Hiking in altitude is hard! It was VERY cold up in the mountains at night, but we were snuggly warm in our multiple layers and multiple blankets. The next morning, we woke up at about 8 and looked out with window. We were clearly above the clouds. The valley below us looked like a bowl of whipped cream. And it was absolutely silent, a sound I rarely hear in Ambato where there is always either city sounds or roosters. This past weekend's trip was so refreshing. It was good to be reminded of how beautiful this country is. So I thought I should share it with you!

Ecua Wedding!

Last night, my host uncle, Freddy, got married! He's one of my host mom's 7 siblings who lives in our neighborhood. The ceremony was at a church on the other side of town and party was in the reception hall that is the first floor of our house. The flower arrangements were absolutely gorgeous. White roses with blue daisies. On every table, there was a bottle of whiskey with a little foam decoration depicting a bride and a groom, a pretty canister of cigarettes and a decorated lighter for the guests to enjoy. Something that was last seen in the United States in maybe 1953. Another thing they did that was different was "raffle" off the bride's garter in addition to her boquet to the single ladies at the party. This lucky girl gets to have the garter placed on her by the a friend of the groom's and will supposedly get married the next year. Of course, that lucky girl was me. I had to stand on a chair in the middle of the room while some man put a garter on my thigh. It was mildly embarrassing but my host mom thought it was hysterical. Now she's all excited because she thinks I'm getting married soon.

Other than that minor incident, the party was a lot of fun. There was a lot of merengue and bachata dancing. We were not served dinner until 12:45. I went to bed shortly after that, but I'm pretty sure the party continued until 3AM.

Crawling

My 14 year old host sister has not been feeling well lately. On Easter she fainted once in church and then again later that afternoon. She's been pale lately and she hasn't had much energy. My host mom was worried so she took her to the doctor to get urine tests, blood tests etc. About a week later, when the doctor finally got around to reviewing her tests, he couldn't find anything definitive. He though she might have some form of salmonella, so he gave her some pills to take, but they haven't been helping. This morning at breakfast, my host mom was expressing her concern over her daughter. She told me that she has a friend who's teenage daughter had the same symptoms. What cured her daughter was crawling for 15 minutes a day. Apparently, if you don't let your children crawl when they're young, they have problems like this in adolescence. My host mom says, "It's true! I never let my children crawl. I always held them until they could walk because I didn't want them crawling on the dirty floor and then putting their hands in their mouths. I'm going to make Michelle (her daughter) crawl for 15 minutes a day. It couldn't hurt, right?" I told her, no it couldn't hurt... It could just embarrass her that's all.

If anyone thinks that there is any scientific truth to this please let me know so that I will stop thinking that my host mom has actually lost her mind.

ps, Michelle refuses to crawl, much to my host mom's unhappiness. and the doctor thinks it's actually just stress because she's not doing well in school. troublesome teenagers...

Family trip to Santo Domingo

This Semana Santa (holy week) I took a trip with my host family to visit my host mom's cousins in Santo Domingo on the coast. I definitely learned a lot. The coast is like a different country than the sierra. It's much more hot and humid. The women wear skimpier clothing and strut when they walk. About 80% of women that we saw walking in the streets were pregnant. The coast is also a lot poorer than the sierra. It really looks like a third world country. The roads are not paved, and buildings are more like shanties, hurriedly thrown together with a tin roof to top it off. The cousins that we stayed with live in such a house. The gate around the yard is just made of sticks stuck in the ground. The house has cement walls, a tin roof and dirt floors. the kitchen table is under the roof that sticks out, but outside the walls. The chicken pen is literally 10 feet from the house. And the bathroom... lets say there was no toilet seat, the door was a burlap sack curtain, and it was less than clean. But the cousins were lovely. We sang karaoke on their laptop computer for hours while the adults drank beer. The next day, we went to visit another family friends' farm. They grow oranges, avocados, bananas and lots of yucca. Yucca is the root of the plant that the man is cutting with the machete in the picture. It grows on the coast and it is definitely a staple food here. We took pictures around the farm and caught up with their friends. It was hot and humid but it was a really nice day.
What I found interesting was the way my host family introduced me. I've discovered that even though greetings are very important for Ecuadorians (you must greet EVERY person with a kiss on the cheek when you walk into a room) introductions are not that important. I would greet each family member with an "hola" and a kiss on the cheek, but no one bothered to tell me their names and no one bothered to tell them my name. When they asked my host dad, Luis, if we were all his daughters he would smile and say yes. "Don't you have four daughters?" "Yes, Michelle doesn't like the heat on the coast so she stayed home. And this is Jessica my adopted daughter." And that's usually all the information they got. No one really explained to them that I'm from the states, that I'm here teaching English for a year, and I live with them. She's my adopted daughter was enough. I guess that's how they see me. I'm beginning to realize how sad it will be for them when I leave. I am their first volunteer. I wonder if they will host another once I leave.

I will definitely be sad to leave my "adoptive" family. My host family is the best thing I have here in Ecuador, and it will be extremely hard to say goodbye to them. But I will not be as sad to leave Ecuador. I'm ready. I feel like I've had enough cultural immersion and I'm ready to feel comfortable and safe again. I'm ready to drive (myself, in my parent's car) down familiar streets and drink dunkin donuts coffee and shop at Target. I'm grateful for this experience of getting to step outside of my comfort zone and experience another way of life. But going back to my comfort zone is going to feel so soft and cushy. I secretly can't wait.

Chag Pesach Sameach!

I had the most interesting seder. I had planned to skip school (shhh) on Monday afternoon and Tuesday morning to go to a seder at the chabbad (sorry, jabad) house in Quito. I ended up missing more than that, but we'll get to that part in a minute. The seder was wonderful. I met about 30 Israelis who were just passing through while traveling through South America. They didn't necessarily know each other and somehow all ended up there. The rabbi and his wife were also originally from Jerusalem. So I got to speak a lot of Hebrew. I felt so at home. I think at this point my Spanish is better than my Hebrew, but it's amazing how it comes right back to you. We read every word the Haggadah, which was only in Hebrew. The rabbi then translated into Spanish and in the beginning, someone else also translated into English. However, as the night went on, English slowly got eliminated. I was fine with this, but I think my friend Leah's family (who was visiting from the states) was not so pleased. I got to eat real matzah, and real chicken soup (with no chicken feet!!!) and haroset! yum. my favorite. They used potatoes for karpas which I had never seen before. We always use parsley. And they used lettuce for maror. I sat at a table with the Israelis and I really enjoyed getting to know them. The seder ended at about midnight which felt early to me. I'm used to my orthodox cousins' seders where everyone falls asleep on their dessert plates about 2am singing chad gadya. My friend Leah, on the other hand, said that was the longest seder I have ever been to. To me it was perfect. For one night, I felt at home, like I belonged. With customs and food that are familiar. It was so nice to talk about a religion in Spanish and not have Jesus come up once! Usually, when talking to Spanish speakers, I am the first Jew they have ever met and they ask me questions like, so if you don't believe that Jesus is the son of G-d, then what about Mary? It's amazing how mindblowing it is for Ecuadorians that I believe in a religion that does not believe that Jesus died for my sins. To them, such a religion is inconceivable. And I enjoy talking about Judaism and sharing it with Ecuadorians, but after a while stupid questions like that one get old, and it gets harder to answer without being disrespectful.

Anyway, the seder was fantastic. The problems started at about 10pm. Just after we ate, I came down with some kind of stomach bug. And then I was up with diarrhea all night. (sorry to be graphic, but this is sort of normal here in Ecuador) There was no way I could get on a bus to go home to Ambato (4 hours away) with no access to a bathroom. So I did some laboratory tests ($2.50 to tell me that I had an intestinal infection), and bought antibiotics ($2.25) and pedialyte ($2.75) And spent an extra day in Quito skipping two more classes (priceless). I finally made it back to Ambato for my afternoon class today only to find out that classes tomorrow have been canceled. We've always had Good Friday off, but they've decided to give us Good Thursday as well. Needless to say about half of my students were in class today. Anyway, the good thing is I feel fine now, and other than getting sick, I had a fantastic pesach experience. I hope this post finds all of you in good health and similarly enjoying this unleavened holiday.

The Ecuadorian DMV

My host sister, Monica recently took a driver's ed course so she could get her license. In the US drivers ed is usually a few months long, and you have to have your permit for 6 months before you can test to get your license. Monica's course was 15 days long. Before that she had never been behind the wheel. She arrived at the Ecuadorian version of the DMV to take her test at 6 am and the line was already out the door. There was no way they would get to her between 9 and 12 when the place is open. So the next day, she made her host parents save her spot in line starting at 1am the night before. she was number 8 in line. And we thought waiting at the DMV in the states is a nightmare... The next time you have to go get a new license, or deal with the a government agency in any way, take a deep breath and remember that it could be a whole lot worse.

Shout out from the New York Times!

Check out this article!

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/11/opinion/11kristof.html?emc=eta1

It gives a shout out to both WorldTeach and Quito!!! we're so cool. Changing the world, that's how we roll!

I have started my second semester of teaching, and so far so good. I really like my students. So far they are very well behaved. I just gave them their first quiz today, so hopefully they did well.

I'm anxiously awaiting to hear from graduate schools so I can see where I end up next year. So far, I have gotten into Boston University. Yay! but I haven't heard from anywhere else yet. So we're 1 for 1! I'll keep you updated.

Otherwise, everything in Ecuador is ok. My best friend in Ambato just left for the states this morning. :( She had been here for two years through WorldTeach and it was time to go home. But she will be sorely missed. We felt two earthshakes shortly after the big one in Chile. For me, that was petrifying. It was my first earthquake and it woke me up at 5:30 on a saturday because my bed was shaking. But there was no damage here and everything is fine.

That's all for now. Hope all is well back home! xoxo

Wow it's been a while...

Please forgive my lack of entries for the past month. I have been traveling for most of the time. Let's back up to around Christmas time. I did in fact make it to Costa Rica, after a mild airline ordeal. I ended up getting there about 36 hours later than I had planned, but once I got there, the trip was fabulous. It was so nice to see my family and just relax. We went white water rafting and ziplining through the rainforest. I was so proud of parents for being so adventurous! Our last few days were spent chilling by the pool, hanging out on the beach, and deciding which bar to hit up for happy hour. I had an amazing time. The picture of me and Ari and Leora was taken close to mount Arenal, a very active volcano that we hiked around.

Once I got back from Costa Rica I had about two more weeks of classes before finals. I had to cram in the rest of the material that I wanted to teach and get my students ready for their exam. Then I had to rush to grade the exams and hand in all my paperwork so that I could leave for WorldTeach's midservice conference. Midservice was a fantastic experience for me. I got to see all my friends that I had not seen since our orientation in September. The conference was at a gorgeous hostel on the coast called Al Andaluz. It was right on a beautiful fine sandy beach. We had a bonfire at night and ate s'mores, we went swimming and played frisbee in the afternoon, and we got a chance to talk about our Ecuadorian experiences inside and outside the classroom. It was really nice to know that some of the other volunteers are having the same cultural frustrations as I am.

After midservice, I traveled with two of my friends to Montanita, a hippy, touristy beach town on the south coast. We stayed the night with one of their friends, Jessie, who lives and works there. She happens to work in a restaurant that is owned by Israelis! I was in heaven. I ate real Israeli shakshuka and falafel and I got to speak Hebrew. I was the happiest camper.

The next day we left Montanita at 7Am and I got home to Ambato at 6pm. It was a long day but so worth it, because the next day, I left for Quito to pick up my boyfriend, Avi, at the airport!!! Luckily, he was able to get three weeks off to come visit me!!! We had a fantastic vacation together. We saw sea lions, crabs and tons of iguanas in the Galapagos Islands. Oh, and of course giant turtles (see picture). We then traveled to the north Coast. We wanted to get to Mompiche, a secluded little beach town two hours south of the popular Atacames beach. We had to stay in Atacames one night because there were no afternoon buses to Mompiche. So we stayed the night and left in the morning. When we finally made it to Mompiche, we realized that there was no bank in town. The closest bank was in Atacames, 2 hours away. The next day, we tried to catch the first bus to Atacames so that we could be back by the afternoon. We were told the first bus left at 6, but really, it left at 5:50, and unfortunately that made a big difference. We attempted to chase the bus down the unpaved, rocky road in the dark with our sandals, but we didn't quite make it. Avi tripped in the process and cut his hand open. So, we got on the next bus that left Mompiche, but they were going in the opposite direction. When they passed a bus going in the right direction, they beeped like crazy, stopped, and then backed up to let us onto the bus going the other way. It was an adventure but we finally made it to ATM and back to Mompiche in one piece.

After the coast, we traveled to the Eastern part of the country, the rainforest. We went white water rafting and took a jungle tour. We learned about giant ants that would give you a fever for two days if it bit you. We made friends with a SLOTH!!! and hiked three hours to an indigenous village deep in the rainforest. We also went to a rescue center for monkeys were we played with them and they tried to steal things out of our pockets. (see picture with Avi and the monkey) Finally, we made it back to Ambato for the big festival of Flowers and Fruits. We saw the parade with all the floats carrying the queens of Ambato and the surrounding towns. We accompanied my host dad to a cock fight, which was a lot better than I had expected. It looked like an illegal underground ring, but it is in fact legal and all the men who went get really into it, shouting and betting. It was definitely an experience, and perhaps the highlight of Avi's visit.

Now, Avi has left :( and things have been very quiet around here. I have one more week of vacation before I start teaching again on March 1st. On March 11, one of my best friends in Ambato, Kat, is leaving Ecuador. :( (She's the crazy one in the last picture) She's been here teaching with worldteach for two years, and it is time for her to go back to Texas. I'm going to miss her terribly. but we are receiving a new volunteer here in Ambato. I have not met her yet, but I hope that we will get along.

That's all the news that's fit to print. A lot has happened since I last wrote. I promise to do a better job of updating this blog so that the next entry is not quite this long. ciao!

Feliz Ano Nuevo!!! (happy new year!)

I did finally make it to costa rica!!! I managed to catch a 7 am flight to panama, after my host family drove me my immunization record. but then I couldn't get on a flight from panama to costa rica until 9 pm. so i spend about 12 hours in the panama airport. it sucked, but I finally made it to costa rica, and everything was so worth it. I met my family and we have been having a fabulous vacation. It's so nice to see them!!! I had missed them a lot. we have been ziplining in the rainforest, hiking to waterfalls, white water rafting, watching red hot lava roll down a very active volcano, and just chillin at the beach for the past 10 days. We brought in the new year in the beach town of Quepos where there was live music and dancing in the streets. I hope you all had a fabulous new years eve, continue to have a safe and happy and healthy new year!

Sunday i'm going back to ecuador, and monday it's back to work! I hope I have a lesson plan...