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.

Quick Update

Last night, I:

Went out with Annie, Bess, and Annie's friend Marianna to a concert that didn't end up happening

Drank some kind of typical Ecuadorian beverage with orange, cinnamon, and rum, and it was served hot like tea

Went to La Mariscal, the bar district thing, and just walked around

Ate grilled cheese with maple syrup (seriously, yum).

And today, I:

Met a woman who talked like Don Corleone

And today I'm going to:

Go to class

Get my cell phone set up

Explore

Worlds Colliding: Quito Meets the Banana Stand

I am posting twice in the same day (maybe in the same hour?) but it's very important that you know these two things:

1. Sometimes it is easier to speak in English with a Spanish accent than it is to just speak in Spanish. Example number one, real life: I told Jose that I was from, "Di-troyt, Mee-chee-guen" and that I was going to be here, "faur nain monz." Example number two, Arrested Development: When Buster is under the trampoline at Lupe's house (that shares a paperboy!) because all the car fumes made him think he was in Mexico, he tells Lupe, "I'm trying to find a place to live" in a ridiculous Mexican accent ("Ai'm traing tu faind e ples tu lib."). I can't find a damn video clip anywhere, but it's hilarious. I think about it all the time.

2. Llapingachos look like something a Cornballer would make. Gabi pointed this out, so all credit goes to her. "Soy loco por los cornballs!"

"Her?",

Gina.

Ecuador: Party Pooper Edition

Today I am having a sad day. I had class and missed my bus stop.

I can't understand anyone and no one understands me.

Today my list of words were: reclusive (apartado), overwhelming (the verb "to overwhelm" is abrumar), accustomed to (acostumbrado), convey (transmitir), to miss (faltar a), and awkward (torpe is clumsy and incomodo is uncomfortable, but neither word really worked for what I was trying to say).

I know so many things! I know about Haruki Murakami and the Constitutional Convention and how to make bread and the Decembrists and how to spell really hard words and all about the Fourteenth Amendment! But I can't say anything. I KNOW ALL THE LINES IN RUSHMORE AND SHREK BUT IT DOESN'T MATTER BECAUSE I CAN'T FUCKING TALK!!

-----OKAY, I wrote that a long time ago.-----

I mean, it was only a few hours, but I was really sad. But then I talked to my dad and then I chilled out and then some children came over and now I feel better.

I forgot to mention that last night there was a fiesta at an American-themed bar, Mulligan's, for the international students. It was like 150 drunk gringos trying to hear one another talk. And I put this on my Facebook, but for you luddites and elitists, I'll explain it again. When going out to meet people, I find it's best to have one hugely obnoxious distinguishing characteristic. Last night, mine was giant fake glasses. My theory is that people recognize the accessory and think, "Oh, I met those glasses last night! I bet I met that girl who is wearing them! I'm gonna go talk to her." Like when you can't remember someone from a club and you're like, "Snaggletooth is hitting on you" or "Red Shirt is ugly" or "I totally went home with One-Leg last night." You get it. So now I just have to wear these glasses every day until people actually know me for real and then I can take them off. Good system, right?

Also, tequila in the States is horrendous because it's Cuervo but here it's beautiful. I know this because after the allotted two beers per person at the party, people just kept drinking, despite having class the next day (today). Some dude named "Blind" Brian bought shots for Bess and I. His "blindness" (and not his checkerboard shirt) was his characteristic because when he introduced himself, Bess thought he said, "Hi, I'm blind" instead of Brian. Funny. I also met German Martin who was from Munich. He was super cute and wanted nothing more than to dance.

The music they chose for the party was interesting. I haven't heard much music here, and I can't find a decent record shop to hang out in. But at the beginning they were playing MGMT and MIA and DMX and other acronym recording artists, and then they switched to Latin-y salsa tango whatever music. And then towards the end, they started kickin' it old skool with Prince and Bob Marley and of course, the King of Pop himself. But it was good to drunkenly sing along to. The bar itself was very clean (it had a mouthwash dispenser in the bathroom!) and very well-decorated and laid out nicely. Basically, it was everything Mac's Bar is not. And I love Mac's. I miss it more than I miss any of you. Hahaha.

Anyway, that's it. I'm getting used to eating in the middle of the day, and I'm not as tired as I was yesterday (thanks, red blood cells!) and things are better. I have two classes tomorrow, starting at 10AM. I hope I don't miss my bus tomorrowww. I'm going to take the normal one instead of whatever Rosita told me to do....

Chao chao,

Gina.

Keeping lists

So, every day I've been here, I have kept lists of words to look up and things to think/write about. The list of words I had to look up from English to Spanish were: exciting (emocionante), plain (liso or sencillo), flat (llano), and scary (espeluzante). While looking up words, I stumbled across an English word I had never before encountered: "thingummyjig." Thin gummy jig? Like a lean dance made of gelatin? What? But the translation to Spanish were cosa and cosita, which mean "thing." I started saying the mystery word out loud: Thingummyjig? Thingummajig? OH! THING-A-MA-JIG!!! OH, I GET IT! YAYYY GINA!

My list of topics to discuss were as follows: "coffee level, how tired I am, driving, notebooks, slow/fast life, guarding, when JI arrives, my accent." Some are just one-sentence-ers, and some are actually kind of interesting. First, coffee level. I have had coffee at least once every day, and while the coffee content is always the same, the water level keeps going down. So today, I had about three shots of very, very strong cafe. Second, I am very tired all the time. Seriously, all the time. By the time Rosita and I finished registering my visa I was ready for bed. To my dismay, it was 11AM, and I had woken up at 815AM. Excellent. Sidenote, on the way home from visa registration, a man got his hand caught in the autobus door hinge! It was horrible! He was yelling and everyone else was yelling and eventually he got his hand out, mostly unscathed.

Anyway! Third, I have tried five stores (one papeleria, two bookstores, and two office supply stores) and cannot find a notebook. Okay, I can find notebooks, but they all have a gazillion pictures and drawings on them! Hello Kitty, showboarders, flowers, Jesus, clothing, Steve Tyler... do they not make boring notebooks in Ecuador? I like boring school supplies! I just want one that's red, or blue, or green. Maybe it has a little logo on it somewhere. Maybe it even has polka dots. I just don't want one that looks like Ed Hardy jeans (seriously, I saw one like that).

"Driving" and "slow/fast life" kind of go together. Everyone here drives like a lunatic. No one stops at stop signs, people will seriously just run you over, and I can't tell if everyone has the right of way or no one has the right of way. That ties into lifestyle, which is faster than I imagined. Everyone talks fast, walks fast, drives fast... I suppose day-to-day life itself is slower paced, with more time for enjoying oneself, but damn, everything is fast. Actually "guarding" goes with the theme of cars in general too. Ecuador is full of people guarding things. There are guards all over the street, watching people's cars (and you have to tip them), and men in riot gear at each bank, and a few dudes in front of each store at the mall, just hanging around waiting for someone to try something shady. It's taking some getting used to.

"JI" is Jose Ignacio, Rita's son who is in DC right now. He returns tonight on the same plane I arived on. And I decided that everything will be easier once he gets here. I will know how I'm supposed to act (do I wait to eat with Rosita? Do I come downstairs already showered or can I walk around in my PJs? How should I act around...people? Can I shut my bedroom door?... the list is endless) and I'll have someone my own age to talk to. Plus, the house won't feel so empty.

Last on my list is my accent. I am so self-conscious when I speak Spanish, which is stupid, because no one expects me to be an expert, but I get super nervous anyway. For instance, today I told Rita, "Fui a una papeleria hoy y tiene los mismos," which means, "I went to a paper store today and they have the same ones," referring, of course, to notebooks. And I tried my hardest to remember everything I learned in SPN330, but I know I sounded like a doof. Like, if I was trying to tell someone the same thing in English, it would probably sound like "Ey weent t'day too ah paypoor stur en da saim juans dey haff." Ughhhhhhhhh, I wish I had a certificate that said, "Gina E. R. Rome is not a complete idiot. She is very intelligent and very cool, so don't be confused or offended by anything that comes out of her mouth. Signed, Barack H. Obama." Whatever, I just have to practice.

That's it. There's a party tonight that I thought was cancelled, but it isn't. I don't know if I'm going to go or not. Classes begin tomorrow!!!

Love,

Gina.

I need to remember Rio Coca and Bellavista...

I had orientation at la universidad today. Before we went on the tour, some people talked, and someone mentioned that USFQ is not representative of Quito or Ecuador at all--how it's more like an episode of Laguna Beach or a movie set than anything else. Once we started the tour, I began to agree. The very first place we went to was a pagoda, right smack in the middle of campus, and out student hosts said that it was where students came to meditate. What's more, the cafeteria has tablecloths, and there is some kind of separate cafeteria that only serves sushi. What!!

The buildings are absolutely gorgeous, and there are all kinds of plants and shady places to rest. And, surprise!, there was a Tocqueville reference in one of the lectures! It made me feel like even though James Madison is a gazillion miles away, I can still count on its dorkiness to keep me on top of things. Haha. Oh, we also learned that Presidente Correa is awesome, but he fully supports Colombia, Iran, and Venezuela. He invited Castro and Ahmadinejad to his inauguration. Exciting, no?

We got there by bus, and because Rita started school today, Rosita took me there. She is hilarious. She's una indigena, and she was dressed just as one would expect an indigenous Ecuadorian to dress. It was lovely. We took two buses: one from home(ish) to the terminal de autobuses, and the second from the terminal to USFQ. The bus from home to the terminal was pretty treacherous, but we at least got to sit down on the one to campus.

When Rosita and I got home from my orientation, we ate lunch: llapingachos. Llapingachos are basically potato dumplings with a cheese center, usually topped with a fried egg. Plus brocoli (exactly what you think it is) and remolachas (beets).

The altitude isn't bothering me much, but I am really tired most of the time (though I am pretty busy all the time) and if I have to run up some stairs, I get winded easily. Television is basically the same. I watched Speak and La Ley y El Orden (Law & Order!!) in English with Spanish subtitles, and some show on the Discovery Channel about killer bees or something. I say "or something" because it was in Spanish. Haha.

Adios,

Gina.

Bienvenido

Well, here I am!

I got to Quito airport at about 1115PM, and Rita was there with a sign that had my name on it. We went to her house, I drank some tea, and then she gave me a tour. I was in my bed by 130AM. My bedroom is so cute--it has huge closets, a desk, a bed, a world map, and a window that overlooks some kind of greenhouse. The house is beautiful, and Rita's brother lives right next door.

Quito itself is gorgeous. There people everywhere. My house (on Calle Rusia) is super close to Parque Carolina, a big park in the center where people are playing basketball, skateboarding, and laying around. I can see mountains so close that the houses on the slope are visible. And the weather is beautiful. The only shocking thing that I've seen since I got here--and it's kind of stupid--was a billboard for the movie The Hangover, but instead of being called The Hangover it was called ¿Qué Pasó Ayer? which means What Happened Yesterday?

Anyway, I woke up at about 9AM and after breakfast (kiwi, mango, papaya, and coffee), we went to the mercado to buy some fruit, veggies, and fish. The mercado was insane! People everywhere buying vegetables and haggling over prices, men chopping the heads off gigantic fish, mountains of fruit... it was amazing. It made me miss my Papa a lot, becuse there is nothing that he loved more than a good trip to the market. After the mercado, we went to the mall, then we ate said fish for lunch. Now I'm here, struggling with the internet, and trying to make sure no one is left out of the "I'M HERE" e-mails.

All of the bedrooms are upstairs (I think there are five? Or maybe four.) and there are two, maybe three bathrooms in the house. The kitchen is huge, and there's a living room as well as a TV room, and the study. When Rita showed me her son, Jose Ignacio's, room, I noticed that he had an Obama campaign poster as well as Beatles and Bob Marley stuff everywhere. I think we're going to get along, haha. He comes back from Washington DC on Tuesday.

I'm exhausted (from speaking Spanish all day) so I'm going to stop there.

Love,

Gina.

Five days

Leaving Street Corner Music was terribly sad; I nearly wept like a little baby girl kitten.

Six days

Eight months of filling out applications, translating everything I'm thinking into Spanish, worrying about money, and convincing various family members that yes, Quito is safe! has come down to this: What underwear should I bring?

I've been obsessively making a re-making lists (I think it's some kind of High Fidelity-esque hazard of working in a record store) all summer, but now that it comes down to actually packing, I can neither literally nor figuratively get my shit together. Clothes are everywhere, I can't decide what books to bring... it's quite overwhelming.

But I'm SO SUPER EXCITED that I could just arrive with a paper bag full of woodchips and still be overjoyed.

Here's what my class schedule is going to be like:

MWF:

1100AM-1155AM - EAI315 - Gramatica Avanzada (Advanced Spanish Grammar)

1200PM-1255PM - SOC 340 - Genero y Sociedad (Gender and Society)

TTh

1000AM-1125AM - SOC 290 - Problemas Sociales del Ecuador (Social Problems of Ecuador)

1130AM-1255PM - EAI 321 - Lengua y Literatura (Spanish Language and Literature)

All the classes are three credits, so that's twelve in all. After having taken between 15 and 18 credits for the past four semesters at Michigan State, this doesn't seem like a whole lot of classes, but then I remember, oh yeah, this is all going to be in Spanish.

My "mama ecuatoriana," as she referred to herself, seems wonderful. Rita is a psychologist, and also has some kind of import/export company where she buys and sells flower seeds. Her daughter's name is Maria Elena, and she's married and out of the house. Her son, Jose Ignacio, is 21 and goes to USFQ. The housekeeper's name is Rosita, and they have a German shepherd named Titi.

That's all I can stand to write for now. I'm exhausted and I really should pack... haha.

Much love, Gina.