Brief Intermission

Merry Christmas! Happy New Year! Woo hoo!

(Late) Pic of us on the Chiva

I'm back in the States right now. I got here on the morning of 18 December and my flight back to Ecuador is on 03 January. Christmas was good, snow is good, malls are bad. Malls have always made me anxious and twitchy, but during Christmastime and after five months in South America, it's just too much.

Christmas Tree at the Beaver Dam

Best parts about being in Michigan include: snow, seeing friends and family.

Worst parts about being in Michigan include: being frozen at all times, lack of Wolf Pack, not having any money.

Also, I've experienced a lot of weird cultural-mindfuck things since being back. First, I feel weird having to throw toilet paper in the toilet. Totally alien. Also, really really tall people. And United Statesians are boisterous, pushy and impersonal. Yikes.

Our program director at Michigan State University fucked us over big time about living in the apartment. We had gone over the plan 10,000 times: we would move in to our place and then receive the money we would have paid our host families to pay rent and stuff. Long after this was decided and we moved in and started our new lives, our director sent an e-mail to the three of us saying that there was no way he could pay us the host-family-money because it was 100% against State's study abroad policy. He said that he could credit our accounts with the money, but how the hell am I going to buy groceries and pay for the bus to school with a MSU tuition credit? I've always been majorly disappointed with the Stateside regulation and communication of the Ecuador program, but this takes the cake.

Anyway.

I feel like this two(ish) week break is just a pause from my real life. I long for the Ecua bio-dome. As much as it's been wonderful to see everyone here, I'm ready to go back, just like how it would be if I had come back from State for vacation. But kind of more, because it's Ecuador.

Two pics from the Huasipichai (housewarming party) at the Beaver Dam

New Years resolutions include speaking more Spanish, making more friends (especially people in my classes), and being more responsible with money.

Next semester I'm taking El Boom Latinoamericano (a lit class about the Latin American literature boom), Política Ecuatoriana (Ecuadorian politics), Temas de America Latina (another politics class), Conversación Avanzada (advanced Spanish conversation), and Dibujo Básico (basic drawing!!). How exciting!! Three classes count for my Spanish major and one for James Madison. Drawing doesn't count for anything but it's gonna be awesome anyway.

That's all I have to report.

It has recently come to my attention that people actually read this thing... so I guess I'd better commit to updating more often. Haha.

Gina.

Craziest week of my entire life.

Quick update time. I have too much to say and not enough time to say it, so any questions should be directed to yours truly WHEN I GET HOME ON FRIDAY!!!!

Chiva
Moved in to our new apartment
Last week I had a grand total of $15, and today I have $0,50.
Pancakes, videogames
Huasipichai
Impromptu party until 10AM... yesterday morning
School is done!!!
My flight leaves at midnight on Friday, then Estados Unidos for two weeks!! <3

That's it. Love.

Family Affair

Reading other people's blogs and comparing them to mine is giving me an inferiority complex. Maybe I should start writing about things that matter instead of whatever my fingers want to type. I could. But I probably won't.

Generally, the things going on in my head are good. Generally. The semester is nearly over which is terribly sad, and thinking about my new friends--my new family, really--leaving is something I'm just putting off until they actually do. And then it will be Sob Fest 2009, at least on my part. I'm so grateful for the people I've met here. I am perpetually in awe that any of them even want to hang out with me at all. What do I have to offer these incredible human beings? Why in the world would they pick me, voluntarily, to spend time with? I told someone this in a moment of ill-timed sentimentality and he made fun of me, which was upsetting.

We move into our apartment on Monday. I wish you all could see it. We were trying to name it and were debating between The Fox Den, The Hutch, and The Beaver Dam. We decided on The Beaver Dam.

I'm sad to leave my host family so early; I wish our landlady would have let us wait till we got back from Christmas break. When I told Rita that I was moving out early, I definitely got a little teared-up. I don't know if she noticed--in my mind, she totally didn't and I was totally cool about it--but it happened. She told me that I'd always have a family with them and if I ever needed anything, to come by.

How can I be friends with José and Daniel in real life? I swear to you, they're both far too cool to hang out with me. I mean, shit, José is gorgeous and climbs mountains all day, and Daniel is an artist and is hilarious and so cute. What do I, as a lame gringa, have to offer the two coolest people on the damn continent? I'm going to just have to pull an "Umm-can-we-just-please-be-friends-forever-please?" thing. I don't even know them that well, and yet I feel a huge surge of love for both of them whenever I see them. I want them to know that, but how do I confront two near-strangers about my affection for them, and in a foreign language no less!?: "José and Daniel, I have the lovings for you. Kissing, not in that manner, but more in the ways of brothers. Desire I do to stay friends for always. I loves you." Ugh, dorksville.

My main problem with my family this whole time is that I think I like them more than they like me. Usually I say it in jest, but it's always been true. Rita told me something like they have been hosting students for 17 years. I feel like I--as an exchange student--am just old news to them, whereas I adore them and am fascinated by everything they do and say. I don't want to be someone they just forget, like when Rosita tells me stories at lunch about such-and-such a gringa who did something funny but she was only here for a little while and we forgot her name. I don't want to be forgotten! It makes me horribly sad to even write that.

I'm really looking forward to visiting the States for a couple weeks. As excited as I am, I'm a little nervous too. Going back to Royal Oak after being at Michigan State is fun for like a minute and then I suffocate. Going back to Royal Oak, Michigan, United States of America after living on Calle Rusia, Sector Carolina, Quito, Pichincha, Ecuador is going to be trip. I hope I make it. Any anxiety I have about going home is totally eclipsed by my excitement to see my family, friends, and kittens.

Songs I've been listening to lately are:

"Love of an Orchestra" by Noah and the Whale (thanks ARW)

"Stars of Leo" by M. Ward

"Brothersport" by Animal Collective

"Dark Center of the Universe" by Modest Mouse

"Rock Lobster" by the B-52s

Mostly very happy things.

I have some tiny solemn caterpillars that mosey through my brain every once in a while--about boys and self-esteem, mostly, though I suppose the two subjects are inseparable--though not so much recently because all the schoolwork that I've been doing lately acts as welcome distraction from my solitary pity-party.

But everything will work out. It always does and it always will. That's one of the most valuable lessons I've learned so far. Everything will be okay, so just relax. It always works out.

I have a final presentation due in 9 hours, so I should probably get to sleepyland.

Goodnight,

Gina.

Thanksgiving, etc.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! What a silly couple of days I've had. Before getting into Thanksgiving, lemme just say that Annie, Bess, and I move into our apartment one week from today! Hooray!! Also, next weekend is the Fiestas de Quito, a celebration of the city. The celebration has already started, really, but the official holiday is next weekend. We're going to get a chiva, a party bus, to celebrate.

Wednesday night, the Ecuadorian fútbol team, Liga, won their championship 5-1 in a super epic game that I actually watched and enjoyed. Later, Annie, Keon, Scotty, and I met up with "the Funkers," our Ecuadorian friends who are in a funk band. We went to a bar called Lennon, then we all kind of split up. The United Statesians ended up at Psycho (of course!) where we befriended some dude named Lenin (seriously!). We talked a lot about music, books, and politics. It was excellent.

The next day was Thanksgiving, or for all you hispanohablantes, El Día de Acción de Gracias. Annie came over early and she cooked a salad and I made vegetarian stuffing. I had never made stuffing before, but it turned out awesomely, even at the high altitude. Our empleada, Rosita watched/helped and was fascinated by the whole process (and all the butter we used).

Stuffing success! Two cups of butter!

Annie and I got fancy, then Keon came over and we took a taxi to Martin's apartment. Bess was already there, and we continued the cooking. In addition to stuffing and salad, we had green beans, sweet corn, rolls, mashed potatoes, apple pie, apple crisp, ants on a log, and a lot of Pilsener. And no turkey! In fact, it was a completely vegetarian Thanksgiving. Alright!

Roommates! The Beaver Dam!

One of the coolest parts was that Martin's Ecuadorian roommate and her boyfriend were there, plus, in addition to Martin, there were two more Germans who had dinner with us, Jan and Ezia. It was something completely different for everybody: Thanksgiving not in the States, and a new holiday altogether for the Ecuadorians and Germans.

Scooter feeding pie to Martin, who is obviously enjoying it a lot.

After dinner and drinks, we all packed up and went home. Just kidding! Jan, Ezia, Scooter, Keon, Annie, and I went to a drum&bass/dubstep show at a bar in La Mariscal! Happy Thanksgiving, everybody!!

Friday night, Leslie, Dave, Cameron, Scooter, and I went to the Centro Histórico to see the beginnings of the Fiestas de Quito. We drank a lot of canelazo and took a lot of pictures. Then we went to La Mariscal and ran into our Ecuadorian friend Jonathan who took us to a club called Next Level where he works, I guess, and got us in for free. We danced, played pool, got drinks in fishbowls... it was a good time.

Last night, Annie and I planned to go to a big band show that was put on by the music department at la Uni, but on the way there we got a phone call from my long-lost friend, Edgar, who I hadn't seen since we met at the internet café. He said there was some club on Shyris that was free to get into, and we could hang out, etc. Annie and I get there before he does, and the bouncers won't let us in without ID. The thing you have to understand is, in Ecuador, no one cards. Everyone drinks. Everyone goes to clubs and bars. No one cards. And what's more, the age to get into said club was twenty-one, which doesn't make ANY sense because the legal drinking age is eighteen. The dude asks us for cédulas, and we tell him we don't have them because we're foreigners. We do have our censos, but neither of us are twenty-one, so we play the extranjero card. The dude talks on the phone to Edgar (who I have to call for help) and lets us in. Ha!

We get in, they give us two plastic cups, and we go to the bar. And the bartender dude just gives us drinks. No paying. No nothing. He just pours some margaritas into our glasses and walks away. Awesome. We sit down and wait for Edgar. The club is huge! A giant room with a dancefloor and two bar areas and tables and lights and it's like, legit! Like a real club for real people. Crazy.

Edgar eventually gets there, and he's with three friends, Alex, Alejandra, and some girl whose name I never learned. We drink, we talk, we dance. Annie dances with some GIANTMAN, and I bounce between Edgar and some Cuban dude in a shiny Armani shirt. Hahaha. We dance to some normal clubby music, and then a mariachi band comes in! Or something? I don't know. And someone wins some kind of prize? And from then on, it was straight salsa music the whole night. Edgar tried to teach me how to dance--bless his heart, he was so patient--and I was awful, like really awful, but it was fun anyway. The friend whose name I don't know was a dance champion. She was from Esmeraldas, which I guess automatically makes you an amazing dancer.

So that's the story of how we went out four days in a row. I have a hundred million thousand gajillion projects and papers and tests, PLUS we're moving soon, so I suppose I should start doing some work.

Chao!

Gina.

Brasilian metal, Argentinian rap, Mexican ska

Success!!

Today Bess, Annie, and I found a wonderful apartment (although, maybe it's actually a condo, I don't know) that has everything we were looking for. It's mad cheap, close to Estación Río Coca (like a five-minute walk), three (well, threeish) bedrooms, totally furnished, three bathrooms, and in a safe neighborhood. The moment I walked in, I loved it. Plus, it has a bodega, a barbecue, a "service room" (which is where the empleada would live), a front yard, a back patio, and... it's wonderful. It's two stories which is impressive. All the rooms are upstairs (except for the service bedroom, which is next to the bodega, separate from the house), and everything else is downstairs.

I love it.

Last night, Cameron, Brent, Annie, Keon, Xavier, Scott, Bess, and I went bowling. It was ridiculous. Brent, Bess, and I played the first game of bowling while the others played ping pong, and none of us could remember how to keep score. We ended up deciding that a spare would get you +10 and a strike would get you +50. Any points scored in the "beer frame" counted triple. For the last frame, if you knocked down an even number of pins, you got +100, and an odd number got you -100. If you got a strike on the last frame, you got +1000. So Bess and I each ended up with like, 180-something, and Brent, due to his excellent last frame, ended up with over 1000 points. Awesome.

I'm really excited for apartment, I'm really excited to visit the USA and buy things that I desperately need, I'm really excited for everything.

Love,
Gina.

Medium

So. We only have a month left in the semester and that scares the shit out of me. I'm going back to the USA to visit in nearly exactly a month, then returning here, then five more months. Sheeze. For those of you who aren't aware, Bess, Annie, and I are apartment-hunting for next semester. I absolutely adore my family, but it'd be awesome and fun and kind of scary to live in an apartment alone (not alone, but you get it) in South America.

Although I'm not even halfway done, I feel that it's important to note how much I've changed since I've been here. And I'm not just talking being really (really, really) tan. I'm not totally exactly sure of the magnitude or in what capacity I've changed, but I know it's there. I'm more independent. I'm more optimistic. I'm more driven to get what I want. I'm infinitely more confident. I'm more cautious but also more trusting. I'm better at solving problems.

I think--I think--I'm a better person.

The thought of the majority of my friends leaving in December makes me so sad I can't even really think about it (holla-shout-out to SM CW KD BL DP LW etc.) and I know I'm going to cry like a baby-baby when they go. But I'm super excited to meet the new MSU kids, and Annie, Bess, and I are going to be the cool-girls-with-an-apartment/moms/people-who-know-where-everything-is/expert-Spanish speakers.

I have humongous final projects in all of my classes. Ughhh.
Also, Rosita hasn't done my laundry in like a week. One of my pairs of jeans is (presumably) in the washer or something, one pair is newly-ripped (that's what you get for gossiping), and one pair doesn't fit anymore. And I wore my last clean shirt today. I wonder what I'm going to wear tomorrow...

That's all I really have to say.

Love,
Gina.

Oh hey fwiend.

Oh, hey everyone out there in blag-o-land. Sorry I haven't updated in a while, but I got my new computer a couple weeks ago or something, and I had to read ALL the Vice Magazine DOs and DON'Ts and all the new XKCD comics and be obsessed with Facebook for a while and tweet excessively.

What has happened?

Bess, Annie, Scarlett, and I went to Mindo for the weekend a couple weeks ago. We stayed in a really cute hostel (La Casa de Cecilia) and went ziplining, waterfall-ing, and tubing. We ended up tubing with this couple from England who had just quit their jobs, sold their house, and was traveling around the world for a year. I think about them often, and I hope they're having a really fun time.

Pre-zipline with my favorites

And then we had a long weekend during Halloween because of Día de los Difuntos, which is basically the Day of the Dead. There's not Halloween here (President Correa outlwed it...) so Annie and I went to Canoa (another beach!!) with Eli. Leslie, Cameron, Dave, Brent, and Cameron's host brother Xavier were there too, and we spent a lot of time with them. The first day was sunny and beautiful, and the next days were cloudy. On the last day there were tons of clouds, but I got super tan anyway. I have never been so tan in my life, it's like I changed races. When I came home, Rita called me "Negrita." Hahaha.

We had our evenings timed out so we hit three consecutive happy hours beginning at 5PM and ending at like 9PM. We hung out with surfers, went to bonfires, played board games and Egyptian Rat Screw (hello, sophomore year at Dondero!), at pizza with bananas on it, drank caña straight (not something I would recommend), and had a generally good time.

Annie, Brent, Xavier, me, and Cameron sitting in a hole at Canoa
[cred: Leslie]

What else? Oh, I'm sick. I HATE BEING SICK. SO MUCH. Annie and I intended to go to a museum of medicine yesterday but we couldn't even find the street it was on. We ended up finding a book sale and she bought Harry Potter III and I bought Twlight. BEFORE YOU JUDGE I wanted to get Twilight because 1) it will be easy to read in Spanish, and 2) I feel like I'm missing out on a whole part of Culture of the Two-Thousandses by not having read it. So although it's angsty and not that great, I'm reading it anyway.

That's it. I'm gonna keep reading my book and Rita is making me tea.

Chao,
Gina.

Que leche.

Nothing too exciting has been going on since we went to the Mompiche last weekend.

Okay, Mompiche was amazing. It srs was paradise. It took us about eleven hours to get there (we left Quito at 1030PM and got there at 930AM), but the bus rides weren't too painful or expensive, so it was all good. I had never been to the Pacific Ocean before, so that made it all the more exciting. We went for a walk on the beach, took naps, went swimming and boogieboarding...

We made a lot of, er, interesting friends, too, from Ecua, Peru, Austria and who knows where else. One dude in particular, from Peru, wanted to know all the ways to say "to vomit" in English, which was so funny. Puke, barf, yak, throw up, blow chunks, toss cookies ("you know, like lanzar galletas!!")... he loved them all. Eli, Scott, Annie, and I were champions of tolerance because of the lower altitude.

Living in a music-less universe--to put it mildly--blows fucking ass. I can't wait till my compy gets here so I can resume my life of music snobbery (and Arrested Development). Whenever I get a chance to go on a computer, I immediately do to YouTube and listen to whatever first comes to mind. Right now, it's "Little Garcon" by Born Ruffians, and before that, it was "I Thank You" by Sam and Dave, and "A Cause de Garcones" by Yelle (Why there are so many little French boys in my musical world today, I have no idea. Maybe I'll listen to "Mon Petit Ami" by April March next...).

Today was about 80degrees and blindingly sunny. Just had to rub it in.

Annie, Bess, and I are going to Otavalo (again!) tomorrow morning, but only for the day. I want to buy a hammock and a sweater and some weird religious art (which, I assure you, there is no shortage of). We're leaving at 630AM, so no going out tonight. That's okay, I suppose, because last night we went out hard, heh heh. Wherever we go in La Mariscal, we always end up dancing at Huaina, where all the drunken gringos meet up at the end of the night to dance to the likes of DMX, Michael Jackson, and whoever sings The Macarena. Last night was sillier than usual, and we had a hilariously goofy time at Warholic, then Psycho (duh), then we met up with a million people and danced till 3AM at Huaina.

Maybe I should start doing homework... eh. I don't really want to. I know I'll be kicking myself for it later, but honestly, I'm totally burnt out on school. I don't want to go anymore, blah.

I shouldn't procrastinate anymore.
Peace out.

Gina.

Girls just wanna...

Hey everybody!
I've been super flaky about posting on this thing lately, and just as well, I have a million gazillion things to report.

My birthday was the Best Birthday Ever. I awoke to find that Rita had decorated my door and my place at the table with streamers and balloons, and I had a present from her waiting for me as well. I sat down to eat my breakfast and noticed a smaller present off to the side... from José. And I lost it. I swear to you all, the first thing I did on the morning of my twentieth birthday was cry like a baby into my fruit salad.

After school, Annie came home with me for almuerzo and Daniel, Rosita, Annie, and I ate birthday tacos together. Then we ate cake and watched Daniel play Mario Strikers. Then Annie and I goofed around with Rosita and finally it was time to hit the town. Well, actually it was time to hit Annie's house and play zombies/bombs/sneak-dragon with her little brothers and sister (ages 9, 3, and zero).

After a few hours of total unadulterated silliness, Annie and I met up with (e)Scott and we headed to--you guessed it--Psycho! From there, the night descends into madness: bar hopping, Cuba libres, illegal after-hours bar (the cops came!!), almost-boyfriend-Patricio (you had to be there), billiards, Pilsener, and good--no, great--friends. I got home at 5AM.

That's birthday in a nutshell. I would go into more detail but... whoops, I don't remember the details. Hahaha.

I've been making a lot of friends lately:
- Patricio-almost-boyfriend-from-Psycho
- Juan-Carlos-at-the-gas-station
- Carlos-who-works-on-the-corner-of-Rusia-and-Eloy-Alfaro-guarding-cars
- Edgar-who-took-me-out-for-coffee-after-we-met-at-the-internet-café-and-now-wants-to-take-me-places.

They-re all men. Coincidence? I should think not!

I'm also doing MAD BONDING with José and Daniel. Last night was the best night yet-- we talked about our friends (José wants to date my friends and I want to to date his), drinking games, school, etc. I really, really love them both. Daniel and I are going to play beer pong together, and José is going to host some kind of American Idol type show to find the right gringa for him.

Today I'm going to the beach with Annie, Scott, and Scott's girlfriend Eli. No school tomorrow due to Guayaquil's independence day, or something! Beach beach beach! In OCTOBER!! Muahahahaha, I bet it's already snowing in Michigan...

Love you all,
Gina.

Language barrier

1. Tiputini was incredible. Pictures to come.
2. I was robbed this morning but only my phone was taken, so whatever.
3. I have no desire to go to school anymore. How is it that I'm burnt out already?!
4. My birthday is coming and Daniél is making me a hoja de cerveza: a list of bars that I should go to for the big day. I'm getting better at bonding with my family! YAY!

"TÚ ERES ARTE!"

¿Que fue, locos?

I'm singing all day tomorrow, for my acto poético. I'm so excited, it's not even funny. Annie is making a tin-can telephone thinger where people can tell anonymous secrets to one another, and if I understood her correctly (and I don't think I did), Lorena is going to have people write down everything they think before they go to sleep and then she's going to put all the thoughts into a big bin and then she's going to sleep in it, or something. I am just singing everything I say for a whole day.

But I think Falco liked my idea the best (shhh, don't tell anyone) and made me sing the presentation of my idea, just as a sample. Haha. He lent me his digital voice recorder so I could record myself singing, and then I'm going to present my recording to the class next Tuesday. I picked tomorrow to do it because I have two classes, plus Annie and I have plans to go to the mall, plus we usually go out to Metal Bar (okay, that's not its name, but it's more helpful to refer to it as "Metal Bar" rather than "Psycho") on Thursdays.

I decided not to tell anyone what I was doing, at least for tomorrow. If anyone asks why I'm singing, I'm just gonna say I feel like singing, or Why not?, or Because it makes me happy. If on another day they want to ask me, I'll tell them it was a poetic act for my art class, but for the time being, it's my secret. It's going to be a challenge, but I think it's going to be fun.

Plus, Tiputini Biodiversity Station the day after tomorrow, and we'll be chillin' in the Amazon for four days. Our plane leaves at 9AM, and it's a half-hour by plane, two hours by canoe, two hours by bus, and another two hours by canoe. There's no malaria threat, except on the river, so Maricarmen (the program director for USFQ) told us to just slather on the bug spray and not even worry about the malaria prophylactic. Apparently--and I probably have mentioned this before--the meds cause crazy nightmares, and people who have taken it have had their trip ruined by them.

In other news, I turn twenty in like a week and some change, and I think that'll be a fun time. Twenty really isn't such a huge deal, but I won't be a teenager anymore and that means something, I guess. I found a place where I can make calls to the United States for 7cents/minute, so maybe I'll start making some phone calls? The worst thing about not having a computer is that I can't listen to any music. Soooo sad.

Anyway, I should do some homework, or something.

Chao,
Gina.

"Me gusta FUNK"

Not having a computer really really sucks. But I´m at the Mall El Jardín using their compus, at the rate of $2/hour. Bleh.

I met Annie´s Ecuadorian friends the other day! They´re in a funk band and we went to see them rehearse, then we went to some bar in Guápulo to hang out. They were all so cool (and cute?!). By the end of the night, I was a Spanish master and I was happy to have made some friends!

Classes are good... we´re learning about the origins of Ecuadorian feminism in my gender class (did you know that abortion is illegal in Ecua? It was legal for a long long time, but the current president, Correa, changed the constitution and made it illegal. Crazy!) and about the financial crisis/dollarization of Ecuador in my social problems class. It´s all really cool.

I think I´ll be able to finish my Spanish major this year (at least, theoretically, if none of the classes I want to take next semester overlap...) save for one lame literature of Spain class that I´ll have to take when I get back to MSU. I could also theoretically graduate a semester early, but because I want to graduate with two degrees, I have to complete 151 credits or something, and that requires me to take about 16 credits per semester for the next three semesters. Wah wah.

What else? Oh, I sound like a jackass every time I talke to José. Every time I open my mouth, something stupid comes out. Bleh. Rosita and I have a heart-to-heart every time I eat almuerzo. I have a stupid sunglasses-nose-tan. Ugh. They play SUPER silly music in the mall. Today I heard a Spanish version of ¨"Tainted Love," a soppy pop version of "The Day the Music Died," some Hall & Oates, and right this exact moment is a reggae version of "Knockin´on Heaven´s Door."

Oh! We´re going to Tiputini Biodiversity Station on Thursday! Yay! Four days in the jungle!
http://www.usfq.edu.ec/tiputini/index.html
I just bought a backpack and some quick-drying pants, but I have to get a flashlight and socks. Excellent.

I really want to go see "Lluvia de Hamberguesas" (AKA "Rain of Hamburgers" AKA "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs). That´s all I have to say right now.

Chao,
Gina.

Sam & Dave

I'm just sitting in the compu lab, all alone, because my stupid computer has killed itself. But here are some things I wanted to write about:

1. My acto poetico is going to be singing everything I say for one whole day. I think that'll be fun, and I think Falco will like it.

2. There are many nicknames for places I live. You already know that Detroit is slang for anal sex, but Michigan is sometimes referred to as Tuchigan. In Spanish mi means my and tu means your. So my-chigan becomes your-chigan. Also, someone referring to the Estados Unidos (United States) under the Bush regime called it Estados Jodidos. Joder means fuck, in the verbal sense, so United States becomes Fucked States. Cool, right?

3. I bonded with Jose and Daniel last night over slang ways to say hello. It was funny.

4. On the bus there was an emergency lever that said, Hale la palanca, or, the formal (usted) command, Pull the lever. However, the English translation below the Spanish instructions said Has him the lever. Whoever typed "Hale" into some crap translation website must have separated the usted-imperative-form of the verb halar (to pull) into ha and le. Ha is the present form of haber, which is used to say things in the preterite perfect (Has he eaten? would translate to ¿Ha comido?). Le is the indirect object used for him/her/usted (As in, I gave him a gift translated to Le di un regalo). So yes, ha le would translate to has him, though only if the two words were separated. Languages are fun!

5. There are other things I had to write, but my Spanish grammar lesson took a lot of brain power, and I have class in fifteen minutes.

['xa.pe.ning]

Hola a todos,

Nothing really happened today except for the following:

1. I watched Star Wars in Spanish. Even better than "Luke, soy tu padre" was the "Te amo" "Lo sé" exchange. Brilliant.

2. We learned this rhyme to help with pronunciation of the "rr" sound in Spanish (note the "r" at the beginning of "Rápido" is pronounced as "rr"): "Erre con erre cigarro / Erre con erre carril / Rápido corren los carros / Por la linea del ferrocarril."

3. I have a huge crush on my Medios Mixtos profe, Falco. He has long curly black hair and seemed genuinely interested in my collage (which kicks ass, by the way. Think Sgt. Pepper meets soundtrack to my life). He even wanted to know to which Native American tribemy ancestors belonged. Way cool. There are only four people in the class, all girls. Two gringas (Annie and I) and two Ecuatorianas. Our next project is a "poetic act."

That's all, I think.

Chao chao,

Gina.

But it wasn't a rock... it was a ROCK LOBSTER

Friday 11 September 2009:

After class, went and bought pants with Bess and Annie. Then Annie and I came back to my house so I could change and we could drop off our new pants, ate some delicious guacamole, then went to Parque Ichimbía for Quitofest. When we got there, we met up with (e)Scott and listened to the last few songs of Walls of Jericho's set.

Okay, Ecuador is a super tiny country, and I was not aware that so many metalheads lived in such a place. The Parque was full of Iron Maiden t-shirts, creative hair, and vendors selling bootleg cigarettes and boxed wine. We saw Metamorfosis--an Ecuadorian heavy metal band--and Angra--a Brazillian progressive-metal band, ate pizza, jumped on the oddly spongy grass, and headed home pretty early.

Walking from Ichimbía to La Mariscal (where it would be cheaper to catch a taxi), we met Carlos, a student at the Universidad Católica, who told us we were in a bad area and then talked to us about newspapers. I got home, watched some of The Hangover with José, then went to bed.

Saturday 12 September 2009:

Woke up at 8AM to a nearly-empty house. José was leaving to go climb a mountain, and Rita was somewhere else, and Rosita hadn't come over yet. I took a shower, packed a bag, and left for Río Coca at 10AM to meet Annie so we could find Bess and embark on our journey to Papallacta--the hot springs. Once we were all together, we had to figure out how exactly we were going to get to Papallacta. After meeting at Estación Norte, we took a bus to El Recreo, which took us to Quitumbe, which then took us on the route Lago Agria, on which was our stop on Papallacta.

We watched some movie about people getting eaten by lions (all the bus movies are super violent and super lame), and after more than two hours on the bus, we decided to ask the driver--again--where we were supposed to get off. He said five minutes, and we were excited.

He kicks us off the bus in the middle of nowhere, along a stretch of road in the middle of the Andes Mountains. A few kilometers back, we had passed the center for the special narcotics police and a billboard warning of the apparently abundant number of drug traffickers in the region. Great. The three Gringas pull out our guidebooks but have no idea where we are. A family comes up to us and asks where we're headed. When we tell them, "Vamos a Papallacta," they look at each other, look at us, and look down the road; "It's about two hours back," they tell us. Impossible!, we think, but then we realize that our bus driver was a complete idiota, and start to walk.

This is at about 4PM (and for those of you keeping track, I had been travelling for six hours). If Papallacta really was two hours away, then we could probably make it there before sunset. Probably. What would our mothers think right now?, we asked ourselves, We're three white girls in the middle of the Andes Mountains' narco-trafficking zone, walking to who know's where, and we have about two hours of sunlight to get to this Papallacta--if it actually exists. Excellent.

After a while, we flag down a bus and hop on. After about an hour (an hour! Our busdriver, who told us numerous times that he would let us know when we were supposed to get off, dumped us in the middle of nowhere, an hour past our destination! Jackass.), we arrive in Papallacta. It's nearly dark, so the first thing we try to do is find a hostel. We can easily find the one that the guidebook suggests--Hostel Coturpa--but it doesn't have a roof. Hmm. Once we get in there, though, it's fine, and after haggling over prices, we can finally relax.

The next order of business is food. After wandering around a bit, we find a place that serves trucha (trout) and get settled. The food is delicious, but the beer is Pilsener, which means it's kind of shitty. But for 600mL, it's cheap, and why be picky when you can drink 600mL of beer? Haha. We ate, drank, played with our trucha heads, and bought yogurt, and at about 7PM, we headed for our basement room in Hostel Coturpa.

This is when silly-time began. High-waisted jeans, yogurt faces, funny text messages... it was a special moment for all of us. Bedtime was at 9PM because we had to get up early for the Termos--Papallacta's famous hot springs--in the morning.

Sunday 13 September 2009:

Annie's alarm went off at about 530AM, and after donning swimsuits and all the clothes that we could wear at once (it was suuuper cold up there), we headed for the Termos. The sun hadn't yet risen, and the streets were empty. Occasionally a rooster would crow, but for most of the 3km walk, it was just the sounds of us huffing and puffing up some pretty wicked hills.

We got to the Termos at about 7AM. The steaming water felt great after our frozen hike, and because it was so early, the pools were almost empty. The best part about being in the hot hot water was when we decided we had to jump in the freezing cold pools in order to really have the cleansing experience. We ended up doing that three or four times, and it never got any easier, haha.

Around 8AM the sun rose, and at about 9AM more people started to show up. We tried out most of the pools, got some sun (I think all three of us got sunburnt despite slathering on sunscreen fairly often), and left at like 10AM. The walk back was easy-peasy: it was all downhill and the air had warmed up a little. We went back to the hostel, packed up our stuff, and left. Before leaving town, we stopped at an impossibly tiny market and got a big hunk of queso fresco and three rolls of bread to eat while we waited for our bus. It was the most beautiful snack of all time.

We boarded a bus (a really shady one, actually) and peaced out of Papallacta. The bus ride home took less than two hours, and we didn't have to change buses at all from our first stop all the way to Río Coca. And this time, it only cost $2 instead of about $10. Hahaha. We parted ways at Río Coca and I rode the Ecovía line to Bellavista and walked the few blocks from the Bellavista stop to home. I got back just in time for almuerzo (gnocci!!) and a nap.

Now it's totally homework time. I have to read some Género y Sociedad, write two response thingers and make a collage for my brand-new art class, and do a hundred workbook pages for Grámatica Avanzada. I shall post pictures when my computer decides to cooperate (which might not be until I get a new one).

Love,

Gina

Do you like Bob Dylan?

Things that happened on Wednesday:

- Watched my first-ever soccer game (and Tri won!!)

- Kind of went on a bar crawl with Annie

- Met Mystery, the guy from the Pickup Artist (well, kind of)

- Opened the door to my house (serious accomplishment)

Things that happened last night:

- Wandered around La Mariscal with Annie and eScott

- Met people that didn´t like Bob Dylan

- Went to a metal bar called Psycho

- Met some friends at said metal bar: Menche, Fernando, Fernando´s girlfriend, and some dude with long blonde hair

- Was asked by said friends if they could borrow ten bucks

- Wound up back at the Gringo bar and danced danced danced

- Got home so late

Things that are happening right now:

- Wicked Quiteño hangover

Things that are going to happen soon:

- Going to eat some yuca chips and peanut butter sandwich

- Going to buy pants with Annie and Bess

- Going back to metal bar to listen to some metal and hang with metal friends

Things that are going to happen kind of soonish:

- First art class with Falco

- New computer?!!!

That´s it, love you all,

Gina.

Aladdin and the Exhausted Bitch

Hola, all.

My computer has died (right when I was about to upload so many photos...) so I'll be MIA for a while.

That's all,
Gina.

Ful Bestia!

I'm just gonna update super fast because we're leaving for Otavalo in like... ten minutes! We're staying there tonight, then shopping and sight-seeing tomorrow.

1. Ecuador's national bird in the condor.

2. I'm used to the altitude now, so I'm not tired all the time, but I am thirsty all the time. Bess applied the term "pregaming" to drinking a ton of water right before school so you don't dry out during the day. Good one.

3. We went out last night to the same dancin' place we went last weekend and it was gringo central but still a ton of fun.

All of us. (LOL @ Martin)

Martin n' Bess

MSU table?

Bess y yo.

Chao chao,

Gina.

Men men men men mennnnny mennn....

I told myself that I wasn't going to update today because I didn't want to update every day, but too bad.

1. Ecuadorians love the show Two and a Half Men. I don't know why.

2. Question: How many people can fit on a Ecovía bus? Answer: Fifteen more.

3. Seeing mountains is always exciting. I don't think I'll ever get over it.

4. Going to the mall alone when you don't speak the language and you don't know the stores is nerve-wracking, though I think I found the Ecuadorian equivalents of Kohl's and Sears.

5. We're going to the Tiputini Biodiversity Station at the end of the month! Amazon basin! Woo hoo! Apparently, anti-malarial medication gives people wicked bad night terrors, so it's going to be three days in a jungle full of paralyzed, screaming gringos. Which reminds me...

6. I have had several dreams that my Ecuadorian life had just been a dream, and that really I had missed my plane. Horrifying. Last night I had a triple anxiety sundae of bad dreams: I had a baby, missed my plane, and some of my teeth fell out. Geeze.

"That's all (don't write 'that's all!'),"

Gina.

Ha sido un dia imposible...

Today was a freaking ridiculous day.

First of all, I don't have any clothes, so I'm pretty much wearing the same things every week. I have to go shopping, but I just can't find the time. And then for breakfast we had fruit and yogurt like we always have, but there was some kind of fruit in there that I did not like. It had a yucky texture, but I made myself eat it anyway. Blechk.

It took me a full hour to get to school, when it usually takes me half that time. Then I had to go right to Problemas Sociales en Ecuador, in which we learned the definitions of estado (state), capitalismo, and socialismo, which are exactly the same in Spanish as in English, and it was kind of a waste of time. But whatever.

Then I had Lengua y Literatura which was fine. We ended early because today was USFQ's 21st birthday! Yay! Happy birthday, school! Actually, it is everyone and their mothers' birthdays this week. So happy birthday to school, you, and your mother!

Happy 20+1st!

Feliz cumpleaños, USFQ!

For anyone out there complaining about how hard it is to get textbooks, you are wrong. Just straight-up wrong. There is no worse system in the entire world than the bookstore at la USFQ. You come in, abandon your bag right by the door, and fight for a numbered ticket. Once you have a ticket, you cna go look for your books. They are organized by subject, but the subjects themselves are not in any order. Plus, if you're looking for the book for Gramatica Avanzada (like I was), you have to check educación, socráticos, literatura, and lenguas. Plus, all the books are actually coursepacks, so they all look the same and are only distinguishable by thickness--not helpful.

So you get in line, look at your number (D21, maybe) and look at the sign which has the current number. Say it's on 66. You're like, damn, I have to wait like 60 numbers! So after 40 minutes or so, your number is called and you can approach the designated cashier. When you present her your number, she shakes her head, and says, no, you're number D21, and we're on the B. B?! BS!! So you wait through the rest of the Bs, then the Cs, and finally, after standing around literally for hours, your number gets called and you can check out. Sometimes, if you're lucky, you can scavenge for crumpled-up numbers on the floor that were discarded by people who just gave up, but it's not likely. So from 1230PM to about 3PM, I sat around in the bookstore and suffered.

I took this picture of the mountains while I was waiting to buy books.

And then! It took forever to get to Río Coca (the terminal where I change buses) and I still had to go to get my passport back from the visa place. The stop by my house, Bellavista, is seven away from Río Coca, and the one where the visa place is, Orellana, is three or four from Bellavista. So I get off at Orellana, hike up a hill to the place, only to find that it has moved. Moved! To 6 de Deciembre and... something that starts with a G! The woman who told me this also offered me a taxi, which I gladly took (taxímetros are $1,50 to anywhere) to 6 de Deciembre and something with a G, which was so close to Río Coca that I could have walked from there in the first place, instead of paying $,25 for a bus and $1,50 for a taxi. In the visa place, I sat for a good long while (I was too distraught to look at the time) while they searched for my passport, and finally I got to go home on the bus from Colegio 24 de Mayo to Bellavista. I got off the bus, said hi to Enrique who works at the gas station, and bought a 2Litro bottle of water, which I drank in about five seconds. I think I got home at like 5PM.

And now I'm home and I have a gazillion homeworks. Ughhhh.

Ding dong!

I have nothing to report except that I finally grew a pair and started a conversation--a real conversation--with José.

I marched right into Rita's room where he was watching TV and said, "Can I bother you for a minute? I don't know you well, and I don't really know anyone, and I want to talk to you." And then we discussed tennis, Dr. House, and music, and I tried to explain what bluegrass was (music from the Appalachian Mountains with banjo, violin, and complex harmony, and kind of like country but older..?) And some of what he said I didn't understand, but I don't care. Gold star for me.

From this moment henceforth, no more dickin' around; I'm going to force my friendship on everyone and they damn well better accept it. So there!

Just some things.

Today I was a big slug (or as Papa would say, a salami), and didn't do anything till like 330PM. I did, however, watch Paris Hilton is My New BFF and the end of LOTR ROTK in Spanish.

Annie and I went to Parque la Carolina studied some sociology (kind of), then we came back to my house, and Rita took us to a cafe called El Mosaico which has a beautiful view of Quito...

That hill is where La Virgen appeared.

La Virgen

Que bonito, no?

Oh, also, "Detroit" is slang for anal sex.

Chao chao,

Gina.

Martin y Martin

Today, a lot of things happened.

I went to the mercado with Rita.

I walked through Parque la Carolina and watched some chanting/martial arts/dancing.

I made ravioli from scratch.

I saw some fireworks.

I went to La Mariscal with Bess, Scott, Martin, Wolfgang, and Matt.

Martin (number one), Scott, and Bess drinking expensive wine

In La Mariscal, we went to an Andy Warhol-themed bar and the Germans got girly drinks. Scott, Bess, and I had several toasts to Welcome Week.

Spartans, doing what Spartans do best....

Then we went to some other bar and danced for a while. And ohmygod! They played a remix of one of my favorite songs of all time: "Magalehna" by Sergio Mendes. I felt really cool that I knew the song and kind of knew the words.

We left around 245, but got sidetracked by another Martin, from Switzerland, who talked to us for forever about music, glasses, being human, etc. He had red pants on. We left as he was retrieving his jacket from the bar, and didn't even get to say goodbye.

I took the taxi home with Bess and Scott. And okay, our front door is IMPOSSIBLE IMPOSSIBLE to open, and it usually takes me about ten to fifteen minutes to unlock it. So I was struggling with the lock and Rita came down to open the door. I feel bad that I woke her up, but what the hell! The door is impossible to open! What was I supposed to do, ring the buzzer? Call? That would be even more disruptive, right? I don't know.

Tomorrow, I think we're gonna to to El Medio del Mundo: the middle of the earth. Que chevere, no?

Chao chao,

Gina.

SUPERCHEVERE

Hmm. I don't have much to say, except for I suck at Guitar Hero in two languages. Good to know.

I took all four buses by myself for the first time today; usually I meet someone at the terminal or I leave school with someone I know, but today I was all by myself.

I got a cell phone! It used to belong to Jose and it still has a bunch of his old texts in it? Haha. But now I can communicate with everyone much easier. Cell phone numbers in Ecuador have nine numbers. The first two are either 08 or 09, to denote that it's a cell phone, and then it has a normal seven-digit phone number. House phones only have the seven.

I think I figured out the problem with my computer. It's the battery. It makes everything crazy, and it turns off randomly and won't turn back on, and it's a pain in the ass. So I took the battery out and right now it's just plugged into my wall, and it's been on for a few hours without crashing. Yay!

I have to finish the second episode of Mad Men still. I was interrupted by Rita who wondered if I wanted some tea, and I ended up having tea and toast, talking with a bunch of people, playing Guitar Hero, and talking about music with Lala, who is Rita's niece.

Things I'm still getting used to:

- Wearing shoes in the house. I hate it.

- Seeing children on the street selling cigarettes.

- Crossing the streets. Because everyone is a crazy driver.

Things I'm def getting better at:

- Understanding Spanish.

- Taking the bus.

- Buying things.

Tomorrow I'm going to a discotheque with Bess, Scott, and apparently half of USFQ. That's gonna be fun. I want to explore more, but it's always too hot when I want to go and walk around. Oh well. Maybe instead of hermitting around and struggling with homework in the evenings I should go do something with my life. Annie is gonna call me in a bit and we're gonna so something, I think, or at least sit around together. Haha. But first I need to finish Mad Men....

Chao chao,

Gina.