hola all!!
i have a moment so i decided to update a bit. life is still good here. i´m over my stomach issues which is nice.
last wedsnesday nadine, petra and i went with our teachers to al mitad del mundo - the middle of the world ie. the equator. now, al mitad del mundo is where they originally thought the equator was before things like gps. it was cool to go to anyway. afterwards we went to the real equator and that was a lot more interesting. they did some experiments on the equator and on either side. although i know that water goes down the drain in different directions depending on the side of the equator it was interesting to see the water go straight down (on the equator) and then clockwise and counterclockwise. we also did an experiment where you walk with your eyes closed, arms out on the equator... and let me tell you... that was tough. it really was. it sounds silly but you really do feel the forces. if it was a sobriety test i would have failed.
i can´t remember what i did on thursday or friday. there was a big class from ohio here last week so i ended up not going to salsa lessons. there was no room to move. dislike. but i think i will go this week since there are only about 20 students total here.
saturday we all went to otavalo which is a big open market that sells stuff like bags and scarves and jackets and pj pants, etc. it´s a known thing that you barter there. which i am not that great at, but i tried anyway. i managed to talk the woman down from $3 to $1.50 for a scarf. that was my big purchase of the day. haha. i suppose i could have bought some more stuff but bartering is exhausting and i just didn´t feel like it. it is really weird to be bartering down from something that is already a crazy deal in the states. i mean, my roommate, tom was offered a nice jacket for $22. it would have easily been $40 in the states... easily. i think he got it down to $12 but overall didn´t want it anyway. it´s a weird concept to barter here. i am just not use to it cause we never do it in the states. we were pathetic on saturday night and stayed in. boo! we were up at 6 for the tip to otavalo. we all needed to sleep.
sunday we went to mariscal for breakfast to a cute place but we had such bad service. the waiter was very cute though so all was good. he was from colombia. and we all fancied him but i think that he fancied nadine the best. plus she has the best spanish out of the 3 of us so that was of no surprise. we also learned that he is a bouncer at a bar called no bar. so we may go there either thursday or friday. not sure. but anyway, the breakfast itself was good.. but the wait just sucked. and i said ¨he is lucky that he is cute¨. haha. but it is true.
i didn´t mind the wait SO much because we were outside in a nice little patio area. and we got to talking. nadine actually quit her job in december and decided to take a 4 month trip for herself. petra took a 4 month leave of absence from her job to take a 4 month trip. so i feel like we´re all kinda in the same boat. i guess at nadine´s work, there was another company that bought hers out and she decided that it wasn´t for her so she decided to quit and travel. i seriously think they really matched us up pretty well. and not only this... but we all have had a desire to open a bed and breakfast somewhere. imagine that if we did. how awesome. it could work. haha. but it really is nice to meet people who are in the same boat as you, ya know? it´s refreshing. i feel like i found my people. i love travelers. love them to death. i may end up meeting up in costa rica with nadine in april if i don´t come back sooner. i figure, why not?? plus it´s a new place for me to go.
we also had a walk around old town which was nice. much more culture than anything that i´ve seen here in quito. most places were closed on sunday though so we didn´t see it as lively as we could, but i am sure that i will go back there at some point. we all fancied a beer so we headed back to mariscal. now... last week i learned that they stop serving alcohol after 4pm. how annoying. we went to one bar in mariscal, and they didn´t serve alcohol at all on sunday. we went to the next bar and they only served wine and beer and only if you order food. so we went to the next bar and they served us alcohol without having to purchase anything else. i don´t care what the rules are but just make them uniform. ya know??
i stayed in mariscal to watch the horrible game. horrible. what a disappointing loss. i went to one bar that was about to shut down, then went to the next bar after the first one shut... i had to order something to eat. i managed to bump into damon from last week who i decided is a bit creepy. i mean, he´s not horrible, but when people say things like darling and sweetheart i just don´t like it. that bar shut during the 4th quarter. horrible, right? but we found out that there was another bar that was open... so we went there. we ended up being able to order a beer which was nice, but we had to drink it away from the windows where were sitting. it was nice to have a beer but horrible to watch that game. it really was disappointing. but at least now i don´t have to go thru the hassle of finding a bar that will stay open for the superbowl. i like john harbaugh but i think i´m pulling for the 49ers.
yesterday and today not much has really happened, but i now have classes in the morning which is nice because then i have the afternoons to do what i want. the girls and i are going to head to cotopaxi for an overnight. cotopaxi is the main volcano here near quito that you see in most pictures. it´s really cool to see from afar so i´m excited to see it closer.
petra and i just had lunch at a place down the street. it was SO CHEAP. i think we´re going to go there every day. they have a menu of the day which is always a soup, the main meal, a juice (which is so good down here - no additives), and dessert for only $2.50. and it´s good food. today was a potato and cabbage soup, papaya juice, filet mignon with fries and rice, and then a banana in chocolate (which i didn´t eat cause i hate bananas but petra said it was good).
anyway... someone needs this computer so i am gonna go... hope you enjoy my updates!!
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
una semana aqui
it´s been a whole week here. i can´t believe it. it´s been good so far. no complaints. and as i said on facebook i feel a little detached from the world. or at least from the states. i checked on news very briefly last night since internet connection is absolutely horrible in the apartment. we have no wifi so we end up trying to log onto someone´s unsecured network in order to check anything. and then we have it for about a minute, then it´s gone again. SO frustrating. anyway... so basically, it snowed in boston, there´s some talk about banning assault weapons and then something about lance armstrong being a fraud. yeah.... i´m kinda glad i´m removed from all that.
i´ll have to give a snapshot of my prior couple days since i don´t have much time before class starts. saturday i went to quilotoa. my roommate tom also went and we met up with other people for a tour. it was good, but i had to get up at 6 am. yikes!! quilotoa is about 2 hours away and is an old volcano which is now a crater which surrounds a lake. it was very pretty. you could definitely tell the altitude change while we were there. quito is about two times the altitude of denver... so we are really high up and def close to the sun (which i happened to learn the hard way as i´m peeling now). so we walked down to the bottom of crater to the water. the walk down was slippery but okay. the people coming up were all out of breath. luckily we all decided to get some caballos (horses) for the way up. el caballo was the best 8 dollars i´ve ever spent. seriously. not only did it only take about a half hour but we also still had our breath. we did have to walk just a little ways from where we got off the horse to where went for lunch... and in just that time i was out of breath pretty easily. there will be a pic of me on facebook somewhere on a horse because there were several people coming down as we were going up who decided to take their cameras out. wonderful!! haha. it was a good day, but i was SO tired at the end and went to bed at about 9 that night.
sunday i decided to walk to go to a local cafe and get a coffee. i somehow ordered a cafe au lait instead of the original coffee with milk that i like back home. oh well. it was good. and a delicious bakery as well. after this i walked to mariscal square to watch the game. now, mariscal square, people dub as ¨gringoland¨because you mainly hear english being spoken instead of spanish. which... is okay to feel at home but it´s almost way too touristy. i went to sports planet ... and to my surprise, or maybe not, all the fans were patriots fans! yay! i got there a little early so i was able to see a bit of the falcons seahawks game. a fun, or rather not so fun fact, is that on sundays they stop serving alcohol after 4. dislike. major dislike. so i´m glad i got there a little earlier because i was able to have a couple beers during the falcons game. i ended up making some friends with some people... one guy who lives in nevada, damon, who was older and a broncos fan. and then another guy who i can´t remember his name who lives in dc and was down here for researching birds. he will be in the amazon this week therefore i have no chance of seeing him this weekend. i ended up getting an upset stomach during the game so i missed the last two minutes of the first half. and halftime and the beginning of the third quarter. during this time, the bar also stopped serving completely. so when i got out of the bathroom i went to the bar next door and saw damon. so i watched the game with him. the other guy left. bummer. yay, the patriots won. we parted ways and he gave me $10 for the cabride back. meanwhile, it is only $2 or $3. i´ll take it though. haha.
also on sunday, i got two new roommates, petra from austria. and nadine from germany. both nice and super fun. i like both of them. we get along pretty well. we are hoping to go to otavalo and el mitad del mundo (the equator) this weekend.
monday i still felt a little ill so i stayed in bed in the morning. such a bummer. but i managed to get ready and go to the school. to my surprise they put me in a one on one class. i didn´t sign up for that. i signed up for the group classes. the teacher was nice, gustavo. and there were pros and cons to being on my own. i can go at my own pace... which is a plus. but... then all the pressure is on me... that´s the con. during the break i found out that i will actually be put in a group class with nadine and that petra will be solo with gustavo. i guess because i´m more advanced. which... i don´t think so. i finished the day with gustavo and then went about my way.
tuesday, again, felt ill so i didn´t do anything in the morning. didn´t even get out of bed. i didn´t think i was going to go to school. but i got up and showered and took a bunch of pepto bismol and headed off. i finally felt okay, which is nice. so mi profesora ahora es evelyn. evelyn es muy chevere y divertida. i like gustavo too, but they´re a bit different. evelyn is someone you want to go to the bar with. ha. after class they had a soccer match teacher versus students which petra and i went to. i can´t say it was exciting but it was good to get out.
and here it is wednesday. the girls and i went to the bakery today and then i went to the supermarket to pick up a couple things. and now i´m here. almost ready for class. i had a couple pages of homework and i hope i got them right. when to use estar and when to use ser and then tener and tener que. i hope i´m right. i think that i am. if not, then well, that´s why i´m here. to learn. and let me just say i SO wish i found the importance of learning another language when i was younger. i feel so ignorant here only knowing english. if only i realized when i was in high school and college that keeping up with spanish would be a smart thing to do.
ANYWAY.... class is about to start. hasta luego!
i´ll have to give a snapshot of my prior couple days since i don´t have much time before class starts. saturday i went to quilotoa. my roommate tom also went and we met up with other people for a tour. it was good, but i had to get up at 6 am. yikes!! quilotoa is about 2 hours away and is an old volcano which is now a crater which surrounds a lake. it was very pretty. you could definitely tell the altitude change while we were there. quito is about two times the altitude of denver... so we are really high up and def close to the sun (which i happened to learn the hard way as i´m peeling now). so we walked down to the bottom of crater to the water. the walk down was slippery but okay. the people coming up were all out of breath. luckily we all decided to get some caballos (horses) for the way up. el caballo was the best 8 dollars i´ve ever spent. seriously. not only did it only take about a half hour but we also still had our breath. we did have to walk just a little ways from where we got off the horse to where went for lunch... and in just that time i was out of breath pretty easily. there will be a pic of me on facebook somewhere on a horse because there were several people coming down as we were going up who decided to take their cameras out. wonderful!! haha. it was a good day, but i was SO tired at the end and went to bed at about 9 that night.
sunday i decided to walk to go to a local cafe and get a coffee. i somehow ordered a cafe au lait instead of the original coffee with milk that i like back home. oh well. it was good. and a delicious bakery as well. after this i walked to mariscal square to watch the game. now, mariscal square, people dub as ¨gringoland¨because you mainly hear english being spoken instead of spanish. which... is okay to feel at home but it´s almost way too touristy. i went to sports planet ... and to my surprise, or maybe not, all the fans were patriots fans! yay! i got there a little early so i was able to see a bit of the falcons seahawks game. a fun, or rather not so fun fact, is that on sundays they stop serving alcohol after 4. dislike. major dislike. so i´m glad i got there a little earlier because i was able to have a couple beers during the falcons game. i ended up making some friends with some people... one guy who lives in nevada, damon, who was older and a broncos fan. and then another guy who i can´t remember his name who lives in dc and was down here for researching birds. he will be in the amazon this week therefore i have no chance of seeing him this weekend. i ended up getting an upset stomach during the game so i missed the last two minutes of the first half. and halftime and the beginning of the third quarter. during this time, the bar also stopped serving completely. so when i got out of the bathroom i went to the bar next door and saw damon. so i watched the game with him. the other guy left. bummer. yay, the patriots won. we parted ways and he gave me $10 for the cabride back. meanwhile, it is only $2 or $3. i´ll take it though. haha.
also on sunday, i got two new roommates, petra from austria. and nadine from germany. both nice and super fun. i like both of them. we get along pretty well. we are hoping to go to otavalo and el mitad del mundo (the equator) this weekend.
monday i still felt a little ill so i stayed in bed in the morning. such a bummer. but i managed to get ready and go to the school. to my surprise they put me in a one on one class. i didn´t sign up for that. i signed up for the group classes. the teacher was nice, gustavo. and there were pros and cons to being on my own. i can go at my own pace... which is a plus. but... then all the pressure is on me... that´s the con. during the break i found out that i will actually be put in a group class with nadine and that petra will be solo with gustavo. i guess because i´m more advanced. which... i don´t think so. i finished the day with gustavo and then went about my way.
tuesday, again, felt ill so i didn´t do anything in the morning. didn´t even get out of bed. i didn´t think i was going to go to school. but i got up and showered and took a bunch of pepto bismol and headed off. i finally felt okay, which is nice. so mi profesora ahora es evelyn. evelyn es muy chevere y divertida. i like gustavo too, but they´re a bit different. evelyn is someone you want to go to the bar with. ha. after class they had a soccer match teacher versus students which petra and i went to. i can´t say it was exciting but it was good to get out.
and here it is wednesday. the girls and i went to the bakery today and then i went to the supermarket to pick up a couple things. and now i´m here. almost ready for class. i had a couple pages of homework and i hope i got them right. when to use estar and when to use ser and then tener and tener que. i hope i´m right. i think that i am. if not, then well, that´s why i´m here. to learn. and let me just say i SO wish i found the importance of learning another language when i was younger. i feel so ignorant here only knowing english. if only i realized when i was in high school and college that keeping up with spanish would be a smart thing to do.
ANYWAY.... class is about to start. hasta luego!
Friday, January 11, 2013
hola! estoy aqui!
i'm a little bit more awake now and have some time since i haven't started classes yet and haven't met many people. so far it has been good. my anxiety and worry is completely gone and i am finally where i should be - out in the world.
flights down were pretty good. i met a nice couple - katie and baz who were on their way to hawaii to visit katie's parents in hilo. baz had the game "limbo" on his mac and that is what entertained us the majority of the time down there. they were pretty cool. and were crazy excited for me when i told them what i was doing. i was still nervous and anxious then so it was good to hear that complete strangers were excited for me. :)
layover in houston... (so weird to see schaub and foster jerseys as the main jerseys they're selling). had a couple hours there... ate some brisket and drank some sam adams. i couldn't go all southern. and this is when i FINALLY started to lose all the anxiety. :)
flight to quito was fine. had a cheeseburger on the plane. had no problems with customs. and yay for a new stamp!!! i'm totally THAT person who immediately opens up her/his passport to look at the stamp. it is a blue stamp and even has the agents initials on it. even cooler. haha. i'm such a geek. the pick up at the airport was fine. the guy who picked me up (i´m forgetting his name right now but he´s a professor here) was nice and brought me to my apartment. cesar, the owner of the apartment, showed me around the place. it's old but charming. def. not like the states, but who cares... i can figure everything out. i have one roommate - tom, who is a retiree from chicago. nice guy... but of course we don't have a whole lot in common. and i'm getting another roommate - nadine from germany. not the same nadine that i met in brazil though - darn. she is coming sunday.
haven't started classes yet, but i have been to the school and even met some students - lino from switzerland, john from denmark, brendan from japan, and some of the employees here. all have been very nice and people seem to be really into the school and speak spanish as much as possible, which is good because it wasn´t like that in brazil. once classes were over, everyone spoke english or their native language. i also took a salsa class yesterday. lino, john, and joanne (student coordinator at the school) went for a beer after. i also had a delicious shwarma. all for $5.
today i walked down to mariscal square, which is the touristy part of town. it took about 40 mins. busses and cabs go there but it was a beautiful day and i felt like walking. i had lunch at the magic bean which i guess is branching out because i think there is another location which also has a hostel that lisa stayed at. this was just the restaurant. good, but SO salty. totally not use to it.
anyway...one of the teachers (who looks like patricia from zumba) needs this computer so i'm going to have to pick up another time. :) wifi blows in the apartment so it's much easier to use the school computers. going to a place called quilotoa tomorrow and need to be up early. i figure it is a good way to meet more people and it´s fairly cheap and includes lunch :)
hasta luego! vida es muy bonita!
flights down were pretty good. i met a nice couple - katie and baz who were on their way to hawaii to visit katie's parents in hilo. baz had the game "limbo" on his mac and that is what entertained us the majority of the time down there. they were pretty cool. and were crazy excited for me when i told them what i was doing. i was still nervous and anxious then so it was good to hear that complete strangers were excited for me. :)
layover in houston... (so weird to see schaub and foster jerseys as the main jerseys they're selling). had a couple hours there... ate some brisket and drank some sam adams. i couldn't go all southern. and this is when i FINALLY started to lose all the anxiety. :)
flight to quito was fine. had a cheeseburger on the plane. had no problems with customs. and yay for a new stamp!!! i'm totally THAT person who immediately opens up her/his passport to look at the stamp. it is a blue stamp and even has the agents initials on it. even cooler. haha. i'm such a geek. the pick up at the airport was fine. the guy who picked me up (i´m forgetting his name right now but he´s a professor here) was nice and brought me to my apartment. cesar, the owner of the apartment, showed me around the place. it's old but charming. def. not like the states, but who cares... i can figure everything out. i have one roommate - tom, who is a retiree from chicago. nice guy... but of course we don't have a whole lot in common. and i'm getting another roommate - nadine from germany. not the same nadine that i met in brazil though - darn. she is coming sunday.
haven't started classes yet, but i have been to the school and even met some students - lino from switzerland, john from denmark, brendan from japan, and some of the employees here. all have been very nice and people seem to be really into the school and speak spanish as much as possible, which is good because it wasn´t like that in brazil. once classes were over, everyone spoke english or their native language. i also took a salsa class yesterday. lino, john, and joanne (student coordinator at the school) went for a beer after. i also had a delicious shwarma. all for $5.
today i walked down to mariscal square, which is the touristy part of town. it took about 40 mins. busses and cabs go there but it was a beautiful day and i felt like walking. i had lunch at the magic bean which i guess is branching out because i think there is another location which also has a hostel that lisa stayed at. this was just the restaurant. good, but SO salty. totally not use to it.
anyway...one of the teachers (who looks like patricia from zumba) needs this computer so i'm going to have to pick up another time. :) wifi blows in the apartment so it's much easier to use the school computers. going to a place called quilotoa tomorrow and need to be up early. i figure it is a good way to meet more people and it´s fairly cheap and includes lunch :)
hasta luego! vida es muy bonita!
Thursday, January 10, 2013
I'm here
Just a quick post to let you all know I got here late last night . Wifi sucks here so not sure how often I''ll post . hope all is well back home.
Monday, January 7, 2013
almost ready to go!!
holy crap! seriously! i leave in under 48 hours! and i probably should be doing all my last minute things, but i just need to post a little something.
thanks so much, again, for everyone's love and support. you have NO IDEA how much it means to me, and i cannot possibly thank you enough. it gets me through my freak out points which i have had SO many. and a special thank you to dustin who has let me stay at his gorgeous place for the past week or so. i seriously might not even want to leave here. :) it's a great way to start off my nomadic experience.
i am happy, excited, scared, nervous, overjoyed, anxious, etc. every single emotion you can possibly have i am having all at once. i know once i'm there, i will be completely fine, but these last couple of days have been a bit all over the place for me. at any second i can switch from one emotion to another. but in the back of my mind, i realize, this is my dream. i have always wanted to quit and travel. and now i didn't even have to quit. :) AND i am also beginning to realize, if this doesn't work out and i hate it in 2 weeks, i can always come back. and that is OKAY. that's a hard to thing to realize and be comfortable with without feeling like a failure. but i'm working on it.
thank you all who came out on saturday or getting together with me at some point or honestly just sending me a text and email to let me know that you wish me well. saturday was a lot of fun and i paid for it on sunday. but it was well worth it. i felt very loved.
alright... time for last minute things... but i just wanted to come out here and post one last time before i leave. i will be on facebook, i'm sure, and email. love you guys!
thanks so much, again, for everyone's love and support. you have NO IDEA how much it means to me, and i cannot possibly thank you enough. it gets me through my freak out points which i have had SO many. and a special thank you to dustin who has let me stay at his gorgeous place for the past week or so. i seriously might not even want to leave here. :) it's a great way to start off my nomadic experience.
i am happy, excited, scared, nervous, overjoyed, anxious, etc. every single emotion you can possibly have i am having all at once. i know once i'm there, i will be completely fine, but these last couple of days have been a bit all over the place for me. at any second i can switch from one emotion to another. but in the back of my mind, i realize, this is my dream. i have always wanted to quit and travel. and now i didn't even have to quit. :) AND i am also beginning to realize, if this doesn't work out and i hate it in 2 weeks, i can always come back. and that is OKAY. that's a hard to thing to realize and be comfortable with without feeling like a failure. but i'm working on it.
thank you all who came out on saturday or getting together with me at some point or honestly just sending me a text and email to let me know that you wish me well. saturday was a lot of fun and i paid for it on sunday. but it was well worth it. i felt very loved.
alright... time for last minute things... but i just wanted to come out here and post one last time before i leave. i will be on facebook, i'm sure, and email. love you guys!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)