My favorite things....

...about life in Quito:

1. I just ate a huge bowl of encebollado (delicious fish/yuca soup) for $1.30.
2. waking up every morning to the view of the mountains out my bedroom window.
3. prefect weather - sunny and cool with no humidity.
4. you can buy wine in a box for $3 and it´s still considered classy (not to mention, delicious).
5. my laundry is done for me.
6. putting ahi (sort of a homemade hot sauce) on EVERYTHING.
7. drinking tea all day long, everyday.
8. sitting on our patio every night, drinking (before mentioned) wine, looking at the stars, chatting with my compañeros, and relaxing.
9. fresh-baked bread is delivered to our door every morning (from the bakery below our house).
10. NO BUGS. (seriously. my windows don´t even have screens).


And that´ll do for now. For those of you who know me well or have ever lived with me, I am a huge list-maker. I make lists constantly, for everything and anything. Thus, I´ve acquired several different lists of several different varieties since I´ve been here, and I´ve recently determined that it´s time to share some of them with the world...hence, the first installment of "my favorite things about life in Quito," with a promise of more to come later.

The last week has been tainted by this odd sort of dizziness/nauseousness/light-headedness/splitting headache/short of breath/you get the idea. I´ve been having dizzy spells and feeling faint off and on for a few weeks, but it would come and go so randomly that I didn´t think much of it...until I was experiencing the feeling last Monday, and it didn´t go away...until, well, I´m still feeling a little "off," to be quite honest. It got so bad by the middle of last week, that I ended up taking a day off (unheard of and nearly impossible to do around here), spent all of my free time in bed for a few days, and had blood tests done last Friday. The doctor I talked to thinks it may have something to do with suddenly having a different diet here than I do at home (ie. anemia, high cholesterol, or something like that), parasites, or just plain emotional and physical exhaustion with the added factor of...dun, dun, dun, ALTITUDE! I am starting to feel much better, but I should find out the test results by Tuesday, so we´ll see...

The hardest part about being sick is feeling like I am seriously letting down my students. One of the most important things we can give our students is a consistent, stable environment, so it´s frustrating when I can´t physically be there for them. Oddly enough, I miss them too when I don´t see them for a single day! (proven by the fact that I would dream about them every time I slept for those few days). Even when I was able to go to class, I did not have the energy or desire to put a whole lot of effort into planning and teaching, causing me to feel quilty and easily irritated by their antics...probably caused, in the first place, by my lack of planning! It´s a vicious cycle, I tell you! Haha, anyway, I am so lucky to have amazing fellow volunteers who take great care of me and cover my responsibilities without hesitation, and students who love and forgive so unconditionally.

Please think of me this week as you all eat your turkey and mashed potatoes! I will be educating the minds of young ecuadorian children, just like every other day of the week :). We do get to have our own little Thanksgiving on Sunday though(which also happens to be the 23rd birthday of yours truly), so you don´t have to feel too bad! I know that this is the beginning of a month or so that will be filled with lots of mixed emotions...as I miss my family and friends during the holidays, remember the traditions that are going on at home, but still get the pretty special opportunity to celebrate here, in a different way. Miss you all.

Love,
Keely

Baños, etc.

No, I´m not going to write about Ecuadorian bathrooms, for those of you who know Spanish (that´s what baño literally means), but just in case you are curious...they are generally disgusting, cost 10 cents to use and 20 cents if you want toilet paper, don´t usually include a toilet seat, and never have soap or mirrors.

Anyway, my trip to Baños (in this case, meaning baths) last weekend was excellent, even though I did not set foot on a bike - what I so looked forward to doing while I was there. Instead, we opted to spend Saturday white water rafting! I had never done it before so I couldn´t pass up the chance, and I´m so glad I didn´t! I was a little bit nervous (especially after the 20 minute SPANISH explanation of what to do if you fall out), but it turned out to be a very cool, trilling experience. We had a few close calls (I think everyone ALMOST fell out at one point or another), but luckily I was really good at the "inside!" command and flew into the middle of the raft before our guide even finished yelling the word every single time. For you experienced rafters out there, we mostly took on class 4 rapids...and for those who have no idea what that means, our guide told us at the end that he was "pretty impressed with our skils, since the majority of rafts flip at some point on that course." Good. Thank you for not telling me that beforehand.

Other than that, we spent our time in Baños eating really good food, taking in the nightlife, and riding chivas (open air bus type things that also have "seats" on an attached back platform and the roof), and enjoying the beautiful mountainous scenery. Although it was a really fun trip and I´m glad I went, it was surprisingly nice to be back in Quito on Sunday afternoon. For the first time, I got that feeling that I remember so distinctly after returning from one particular weekend trip in London as well...It´s good to be home.

I´ve been sitting here for 5 minutes trying to determine what to write about next and nothing is popping out in my memory as extrememly blog-worthy, so I´m going to spare you and leave it at that for now. Thanks for reading though. Miss you and love you all!

P.S.

The madres returned last night, and as much as we enjoyed the freedom of having Padre in charge, it´s great to have them back. Order has been restored and the house is complete again!

I know, I know...

...it´s been forever! And I currently have roughly 16 minutes until I have to catch a bus to leave for the weekend, so here goes nothin...

Happy Halloween/All Saints Day/Day of the Dead! Since they don´t celebrate Halloween in Ecuador, it was up to the 17 of us U.S. born volunteers to bring the holiday of ghosts, goblins, and, most importantly, candy to the Centers´ 2,000 kids and adults. This required lots of planning, hours spent in the kitchen, multiple trips to the mall (a place we all try to avoid!), and way too many spanish explanations of the Historia de Halloween! This resulted in approximately 8 parties over two days, not including individual class parties, and tons of hyper, excited, rambunctious kids! It was really fun though to celebrate Halloween like I never have before, with people who never have before. I have to say, I didn´t miss trying to think of a costume that fits the unique, cool, creative, and slutty college requirements! Instead, I put together my best "teacher dressed from head to toe in black and orange for Halloween" outfit and called it a day.

The focus of celebration here is today, November 2nd, Dia de los Funtos (Day of the Dead)...AKA, day off! and that explains why I am currently at the internet cafe, racing to write this blog before I leave for the weekend. About 14 of us are heading four hours south to Baños - a touristy town known for its natural hotsprings, beautiful waterfalls, and hiking/biking trails. I plan to spend most of my weekend doing the latter (biking) since I haven´t ridden in 2.5 months and I miss it tremendously! As much as I feel like I should spend the weekend at home, resting and preparing for next week, I´m pretty excited to see another part of Ecuador.

Last weekend, three of us took about 10 kids to the big city park to ride paddle boats. It was cool to hang out with some kids I don´t know very well, but the highlight of my day was when one of them spotted a group of gringos across the park and yelled, "Kay-lEE! Kay-lEE! Mire! Otre voluntarios!" (Translation: "Keely! Keely! Look! Other volunteers!" Yep, they think that all white people in this city are volunteers, and that we all know each other. :)

Whew, well, times about up. Hope this will do...at least until next week. I enjoy blogging and receiving comments so much, and I truly wish I had more time to spend on it! I´m constantly thinking of blog ideas and things I´d like to write about, it´s just a matter of finding enough time to do an adequate job. Thanks to all you avid readers who keep me consistent!

Lots of love,
Keely

Padre's in charge!

You know when you were a little kid and mom would be gone for the weekend, leaving dad in charge...resulting in hot dogs and baked beans for dinner...and a little more freedom (along with slight choas)...and eating while watching wheel of fortune???

Madre Miguel and Madre Cindy both abandoned their flock this week for bigger and better things (the US and Ireland)....haha, just kidding. But the Madres are indeed gone for the next 2 weeks, leaving Padre Juan, also fondly known in our house as "The Dude," to call the shots! And by call the shots, I mean he will not be doing a darn thing, since he usually just does what the Madres tell him to do, and well, since they're not around......for example, at reflection last Tuesday, when the Madres reminded us that they would be leaving, Padre said "So that means I will be, uh, collecting, you know, what are they called....those lesson plan thingys ya'll are supposed to do." When we all laughed, he pretended to be surprised and said "What's so damn funny?" Anyway, I wish I could capture the Padre/Madre complex in words and paint a better picture for you, but I could never do them justice. Nonetheless, the Padre is in charge, and it's pretty sweet. (Don't get me wrong, I love the Madres, but...you know what I mean...).

We had last Friday off, so Thursday night, 6 of us got on a bus around 11pm for the 8 hour drive to the coast! We had a spectacularly relaxing weekend of playing in the ocean, napping in hammocks, napping on the beach, reading books, walking barefoot in the sand, drinking pina coladas (the real kind with pineapples and coconuts picked from the backyard), eating cheap seafood for every meal (the real kind...fished out of the ocean moments before it appears on your plate), and playing beach volleyball/soccer. Since it was a national holiday, we chose the tiny coastal "off the beaten path" town of Muisne to avoid crazy crowds and obnoxious gringos. and avoid we did. We spent 2 days literally "on the beach" - the actual town was a couple miles down the road. The beach was lined with about a dozen hostels and little family-run seafood restaurants. Although it was a little more cloudy than we would have liked, it was much warmer than Quito, and the perfect place to chill out and re-energize.

Even though I teach for 12 hours everyday, I have spent a lot more time actually with the kids in the past 2 weeks. I am at a point now where I can converse well enough to get to know them and connect with them outside the classroom. I have some free time in the evenings and, even though I am usually exhausted and cranky by then, I am surprised to find that dancing, playing, singing, coloring, cuddling, and laughing with the kids is the best way to end my day. Last week, I spent my break from 6-6:30 (usually reserved for a catnap in the break room) sitting on the front steps of the Center. The steps are a pretty important gathering place, always packed with families coming and going. The second I sat down, I had kids on my lap, kids grabbing my hands, kids yelling my name, kids crawling on my back, kids pushing other kids out of the way so they could give me a hug or kiss, kids wanting to introduce me to their moms and dads, and kids telling me to have a good night and they would see me tomorrow. For the first time, I occured to me that I'm getting rather attached to this place and these people and it is going to be very difficult to leave them 10 months from now.

While Tuesdays are my least favorite DAY of the week, they have become my absolute favorite NIGHT of the week. First of all, it's Italian night, which means either pizza, spaghetti or lasagna for dinner - not normally my absolute favorite cuisine, but it's nearly impossible to find decent Italian food in the city of Quito, so I have come to really appreciate the delicious grub Maria and Antonia cook up. Tuesday also happens to be my dish night. Again, not something I would normally look forward to, however, the TLNDB (Team Leave No Dish Behind) has a pretty kick-ass time doing the dishes. Not only do we have a sweet team name (although, not such a time-efficient philosophy, we're finding out...), but we have a team cheer, team slogans, and we're in the process of designing team aprons...AND we have team commradery (not sure hot to spell that) like you wouldn't believe! Dish time is followed by spirituality/reflection with all the volunteers, madres/padres, and any guests we have in the house. It's a nice bonding and sharing time, and always leaves me inspired and motivated to take on the rest of the week. Finally, my favorite night concludes with a bang - literally. It's a thing we like to call "Flaming Plane Tuesdays." Don't ask me how it started, but it has evolved into a select few going up onto the roof of our house and throwing paper airplanes lit on fire at the people sitting on the patio down below. Sounds silly, I know, but it's actually quite fun and entertaining (and don't worry, the planes rarely actually make it near the people sitting on the patio). We predict that it will continue to evolve into a competition of sorts...different roof tops (we have a big house), moving targets, gasoline (haha), "flaming desk tuesdays" perhaps...the posssibilities are endless!

Wow, I think that's enough for this one. I had to make up for not writing for a while though. If you made it to the end, congratualtions! Lots of Ecua-love...

Keely

How the tables have turned...

When I think back about this week, a few moments stand out in my memory...

I tutor a boy who is behind in his class every afternoon. He can do simple addition and subtraction without a problem, but does not recognize and cannot write numbers greater than 20. Thus, I´ve found myself teaching numbers in Spanish to an 11 year old...when I only learned how to say them 7 weeks ago! Needless to say, I am constantly second-guessing myself (am I pronouncing that correctly? why does he have that blank stare on his face? 70 really is setenta in spanish, right?).

We finally split up into our adult classes this week (we´ve been playing games and socializing as a large group until now). I have 3 very sweet ladies who have all completed first grade (and no mas). They can all write their names, read slowly (but not really comprehend), and write some words. However, they don´t know the names of the letters. Yes, like the alphabet. They never learned their ABCs. So, again, I find myself teaching the spanish alphabet to 35 year old ecuadorian mothers. And, again, I just learned it 7 weeks ago. And, AGAIN, I am constantly second-guessing myself and saying the ABCs over and over again in my head to make sure we´re talking about the same letter. Even more tricky, I took German for my first 9 years of schooling and it has reared it´s ugly head as my "default" language when I can´t recall simple spanish words, like letters, numbers and colors. It just so happens that the first 6 letters of the spanish ABCs are the same as the first 6 letters of the german ABCs...thus, but the time we get to "G" who knows if I´m actaully teaching them spanish or german...Nonetheless, they are extremely eager to learn whatever it is I teach them, and my first week with them has already been very rewarding and eye-opening.

I am hungry and in need of a shower, so I will leave you with a funny little tale or two from our book of spanish-speaking woes (ok, we don´t have a book, but between the 17 of us volunteers, we could easily entertain you for hours with our mis-translations and "shit, what did i just say?" moments that occur daily). Jeff (name has not been changed becuase most of you don´t know these people and probably never will...and if you happen to meet them someday, they were already so embarrassed at the time that it doesn´t even matter anymore :)) was collecting his kids from health class to give them directions before they began phy. ed with him. He said "vaya al cuarto de baño y lave las manos, entonces usted puede jugar con mis pelotas" which directly translates to "go to the bathroom and wash your hands, then you can play with my balls." Of course, he was referring to the kickballs he was holding at the time that they would play with in gym class....but still, pretty funny :)

Thanks for reading! Hope all is well in the U.S.!
Keely

It´s been a while...

I just returned from a splendid little vacation! We had today off because of elections (they´re rewriting the constitution...crazy ecuadorian politics!), so 7 of us left yesterday morning for Papallacta. We stayed at a gorgeous resort in the mountains and spent most of our time soaking (and playing marco polo :))in the natural hot springs, dancing and drinking wine on the porch of our cabana, and trying to figure out how to boil pasta and saute vegetables using a tiny fire pit (where it´s nearly impossible to start a fire because mountains=altitude=no oxygen) and a toaster oven...we were successful (after about 3 hours)! It was probably the best dinner I have ever had. It was great to get out of the city and experience more of Ecuador, but now I have oodles of planning to do for classes this week (funny how I´m at the internet cafe, procrastinating as usual!).

Despite most of us being really sick last week (general consensus in the house? "thank God we have our own bathrooms!"), we did a pretty darn good job of teaching our classes and celebrating 2 birthdays. It was nice to have some idea of what to expect when I stepped into my classrooms, but I also realized that Week 2 means no more nametags and getting to know you games - it´s time to actually crack down and teach! Which also means communicating more...in Spanish...with students, teachers, and administrators. I have found that I can speak and understand enough to get by in most cases, but if there is the slightest distraction (I´m nervous or in a hurry, kids are yelling, etc) it severely hinders my ability to communicate. Thankfully, there are a lot of people around who are more than willing to help in those instances, but I can´t wait for the day when I can have a conversation and walk away KNOWING, 100% for sure, what was just said. The day HAS come for me to start talking to myself in spanish! I noticed repeatedly last week that I would be thinking about something in english, then respond to myself in spanish. It´s very strange.

For some reason, I am really good at cards in Ecuador. My first 2 weeks here, when it was just Dan and I, we played A LOT of cards (to avoid having to talk to each other, as he says...haha). I beat him in almost every game almost every time. I really like to win, but it got kind of boring! Anyway, I thought for sure my luck would run out (or I´d at least encounter better competition ;)) once we started playing cards at the house. Euchre is a favorite (it´s kind of like 500), and so far I am undefeated with one partner and I´ve only lost one game with the other! I´ve had quite a few offers to accompany people to Vegas when we return to the states :)

Other interesting occurrences/observations from this last week:
-watching adults color and cut with scissors for the first time in their lives
-riding home from the downtown Center (approx. 45 minutes) in the back of a pick-up truck because our bus was broken
-running into 4 friends from language school at church yesterday morning, when we live on opposite sides of the city and there are about 85 other churches they could have chosen to attend!
-plans are in the works to build a garden on the rooftop of the downtown Center - it´s going to be awesome.
-I have rediscovered my love for puzzles
-the boy I started tutoring can fiure out the answer to most math equations, but cannot write or recognize most 2 digit and all 3 digit numbers

Well, I suppose, it´s time to crack down and figure out what exactly my girls are going to do for 4 hours in computer class tomorrow...any and all suggestions are welcome! haha. Thanks for reading, and check in again soon!

Keely