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.