niños, comida, madre anfitriona, español, belleza, y CARNAVAL!

Hola! So it's been another week or so here in Quito, Ecuador -- time is moving fast! All of my classes still haven't started yet, which has been nice b/c it feels like I'm still on vacation! Next week, though, reality is going to hit. Some exciting news is that this week I started working at my community service site. I'm volunteering at an experimental school that has grades K-7, assisting an English teacher. On Monday and Wednesday mornings, I help out in multiple classes with different grade levels. The teacher especially needs my help with pronunciation of English words.  The little kindergardeners (they are so precious!) are learning the names for colors and rooms in a house, while the 5th graders are learning body parts, adjectives to describe the body, and possessive pronouns. Everyone at the school looks at me like I'm an alien, because I don't think they are used to having a "gringa" come into their school and help teach. All of the kids are really sweet, though. 

So as I have mentioned before, the food is SO GOOD here. I can't get over it! I literally have not had any food that I have not enjoyed. I am eating so much, and it is quite possible that I will gain some weight while I'm here. Even though the food is much healthier here (it is more natural and there are less artificial ingredients), I am eating a lot of different types of bread and dairy. I have a different type of bread for breakfast each morning, and they are all so delicious! So this means that I am going to join a gym soon. I definitely have to start working out here -- it's probably not the safest idea to rely on exercising outside, so joining a gym will probably be the best idea. There is one that isn't too far from my house, so I hope to join that soon enough.

My host mom is fabulous. We have a lot of great, random conversations, and she's so easy to talk to. She is very protective and very motherly, which reminds me of my real mom back in the U.S. =). She wants to know everything and what's going on, which is really sweet. She is so encouraging too. We'll be talking about something random at the dinner table and she'll randomly tell me how much she loves me or how she is so glad to have me here. She keeps on saying that I'm so adaptable and therefore I can have a good time wherever I am -- I hope that's true! She also always tells me how blessed I am to have such a unified, loving family. That is not very common here, and it's great that she is reminding me of how lucky I am to have such a loving and "put-together" family! :)

Something that I have realized lately is that I don't understand Spanish as well as I thought. I tend to understand almost everything when someone is talking to me and when I'm holding a conversation with someone. However, when other people are talking to one another, there are times when I can't understand them. I usually can't fully understand television shows and songs in Spanish, either. I can usually get the gist of what is being said, but I can't catch all of the details. I'm not getting down on myself, it's just humbling to realize that I really have so much more to learn. I would like to think that I can see progress in my speaking and listening skills, but I can't say that right now. I need to be patient and continue to work on honing my skills, but it's definitely a challenge. There are times when I just want to blurt out what I want to say in English, because it's so much easier!

Here are some pics of the last week:

A wonderfully delicious traditional Ecuadorian meal made by my host mother

wax re-enactment of a brutal murder scene at el museo cultural metropolitano

el centro histórico de Quito

SO beautiful!

we stopped our way to Papallacta to take some pictures of the awesome views!

I think I should send this pic to the Barnard website ;)

I'm very pleased with the quality of the pictures my camera takes!

the hot springs of Papallacta -- they were so warm & nice!

there were a bunch of different pools and hot showers too =)

I almost forgot to mention that this weekend is Carnaval, which is a time of celebration that happens every year before Lent. Even though it started as a pagan celebration (with the Huaranguas Indians), it has since merged with the Catholic celebration of Carnaval. A common feature of this time is the diablitos (little devils) who play with water: they throw or dump water on unsuspecting victims on the street. Sometimes they throw water balloons and eggs at people too. There are more traditional celebrations in provinces outside of Quito. This weekend, most of the students in my program are taking a 3-day trip to a province called Cotopaxi, which is outside of Quito, in the mountains. We will be experiencing a lot of different types of traditions and celebrations there, so I should definitely have some interesting stories and pictures for my next post. I experienced my first interaction with the culture of Carnaval experience today, while waiting for my bus to go home. As I was waiting on the side of a road, a bus (that was not mine) drove up towards me and the guy who collects the money on the bus sprayed me with some type of foam! I just stood there and laughed at myself, because everyone else was laughing at me anyways. Haha, I was definitely shocked! I'm sure I'll have some more stories about Carnaval to tell after this weekend.

Well those are all of the updates for now. Peace and love :)

Tropical adventure!

So it's been a little over a week that I've been here -- crazy! It feels like I've been here for a month or so b/c we have done so much! This past weekend we went to Mindo, a "rural parish" about 2 hours outside of Quito where the weather was very tropical and there were so many things to do! It is known for its ecotourism, as there is SO much natural beauty -- trees, waterfalls, butterflies, mountains, rivers, you name it. It was nice to be in such warm weather and to feel the sun, but the bugs were brutal! Even though I wore long pants & shirts for most of the time, the bugs still attacked my body. I have several battle wounds from the weekend, but we had so much fun! We went to the butterfly museum, went tubing on a crazy river, went ziplining went on many hikes, explored the waterfalls, ate delicious food, and slept in gorgeous cabins in the middle of a jungle-like environment. Here are some highlights from the trip:

This is the river that we had to cross every time we left our cabins!

This is where we ate all of our meals -- muy bonito!

These are my friends Casey and Maggie -- we were excited about our beautiful cabin!

We went to a maripasario (butterfly farm) -- I found a friend!

Then we went tubing on this crazy river -- it was pretty scary but fun!

Then we went zip-lining and this is our battle wounds (we hit our heads on the cable) - ouch!

Then we went on a strenuous hike up a mountain to check out some waterfalls!

Swimming in the waterfalls!

Although the weather was tropical and wonderful, the bugs definitely got me! OUCH!

So I was pretty excited about my community service project that I was originally assigned: I was going to work at a school outside of Quito that is exclusively for indigenous children, teaching music and chorus. However, apparently this school already has enough volunteers/interns so my program is trying to find me another assignment. I hope my second assignment will be as exciting as the first. I'm looking forward to serving my community here.

As for classes, I'm pretty sure I will be taking the following:

(1) Curso principal -- this is the main course that is required for each student in our program. We will be learning about Ecuador and the indigenous populations here and things like that.

(2) Populism and Neo-Populism in Latin America -- this is the intense class that I will be taking at a graduate school here, and it meets for 6 hours each week! It's going to be a challenge, but hopefully it will be interesting and enlightening.

(3) Social Psych -- I'm taking this at a local undergrad university here, b/c I'm obviously interested in it :) I'm looking forward to meeting local students and seeing how university life is different here in Ecuador!

(4) Kichwa - this is the indigenous language of Ecuador (not to be confused with Quechua in Peru) -- I'm excited to learn about the language & culture. I've already learned several words in Kichwa that Ecuadorians use on a daily basis!

I think I'm experiencing some kind of culture shock, because I don't feel like myself. I have not been feeling emotions like I usually do. I don't know what to do, but I'm trying to find myself here. It's hard but I know that this takes time.

The whole language thing is tough too. I understand a lot more than I can actually say, and I often find myself not being able to express myself. I'm really hoping that my Spanish will improve tremendously -- it would feel so much better to just be able to verbalize who I am without having to think so much!

I also just discovered that it costs $2 to buy stamps to send one postcard/letter to the U.S.! That's crazy! I was thinking that I would be able to send postcards for really cheap. So I guess that means that my American friends and family should not be expecting too much mail from me -- sorry!

Well, I'm off! I hope everyone is doing well! Love from Ecuador :)

First post in Ecuador!

HOLA! So it's my third day in Quito, Ecuador but so much has already happened! It would be impossible to include everything here but I'll just give you the highlights :) So I live in this really cute apartment with my host mom, Sonia, and her 20-year old son, Juan (or Juanito, hermanito, etc.). It is small but super precious with antique furniture. I have my own room & bathroom -- definitely a great thing! Here are some pics:

               

The view outside of my bedroom window is AMAZING! I'll let these pictures speak for themselves (and yes, that is a volcano, right outside of my window):

        

So yeah, I still can't get over how amazing the view is from my own bedroom. It's also cool too that the view outside of the kitchen is SO different -- Quito looks like a big city, kind of like New York, with all of the cars whizzing by, the lights, and the buildings. It's amazing how beautiful Quito is -- who knew? And it's also equally amazing how different it looks depending on which parts of the city you're in. There are three parts (el norte, el sur, y el centro) and each part has a distinct character, but it's beautiful everywhere! The wildlife & the natural beauty just blow my mind. 

Okay so I don't even know what to talk about next, because there is so much! I guess I'll start with the basics. My program is through Duke University, and it's called Duke in the Andes (Duke en América Andina). This semester there are 9 people in the program, including me: 8 girls & 1 guy. We have an awesome director named Juan who is fantastic and there are 2 staff members who work with him who are also amazing (Wilma and Jimena). Duke has an office right in Quito, which is where we have been having our orientation. We will be taking 4 classes at 2 universities -- la Universidad Politécnica Salesiana is the undergraduate college where we will be taking 3 of our classes. It's about a 30-40 minute bus ride from my house. Speaking of buses, it only costs $0.25 to ride the bus for as long as you want -- I know, CRAZY! Everything is so cheap here, gotta love it :) But yeah, so I'm trying to learn how to navigate myself around -- it shouldn't be too hard, but it's a little intimidating at first. There are a lot of taxis so if I get lost on the bus, I can always take a taxi. They are cheap too -- the average ride is about $2-3! I'm definitely not in NYC anymore haha! We will also be taking 1 class at FLACSO (Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales), which is for graduate students -- that class will probably be really intense but it's supposed to be a good experience. The program also has a community service component, where each student is required to do 15 hours of service per week at whatever organization. I'm excited to figure out what my assignment will be! 

I have so many more things to say but I think that this post is long enough. I also want to go to sleep -- speaking & thinking in Spanish for the most of the day can be quite exhausting. ¡Buenas noches!

Countdown: 1 month!

In exactly a month, I will be en route to Quito, Ecuador to participate in Duke in the Andes, a study abroad program. I am beyond excited and anxious! I feel totally unprepared and have so much left to do before I leave. If you want to leave any advice for me, I'm definitely open to it :) This is my first time leaving North America -- my travel experience has been pretty bleak. I will be living with a host family in Quito and attending local classes at 2 universities. There will be lots of traveling involved, including a trip to the Incan ruins (Machu Picchu) in Peru -- I'm so ecstatic about that trip! I can't believe that this is actually happening!