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.