....................................................................................................
23 diciembre 2001
mejor
an amusing family in the newark airport (for some reason they reminded me
of a family in a madeleine l'engle book. i always say her families are
unrealistic and identical in all her books, but maybe they exist after
all.)
security check (i got picked randomly while boarding. i liked that it
involved "aww! it's a kitty!" apparently they had to check through all
the pictures in my photo album.)
family at the airport: hugs flowers pictures more hugs coffee muffins more
hugs
home!!! remember this? cats, room, old things, new things.
phone call from dan blim
pictures!!!! (i always believe people. i gave them my film to drop off
and my dad said "we're NOT getting them done 1-hour." of course they did,
and of course i was surprised, and squealed a lot. i still really want
the roll that's in my camera, though: pictures from the guarderia,
pictures of cayambe, pictures of my family.)
watching a movie called rat. about a man who turns into a
rat. very strange, but strangely funny.
peor
the next 14 or so hours in the newark airport. weird and
abandoned. falling asleep in random airport chairs for a few minutes and
then waking myself up again, feeling like a bag lady with all my luggage,
brushing my teeth in an airport bathroom at 1:30 in the morning... what
does that make, about 4 or 5 hours of sleep in the past three days? and
still wearing the same clothes as friday. ick.
...................
22 diciembre 2001
mejor
cute seatmate from bogota to newark--maybe 9 years old, wanted to see my
crossword puzzle, thought new york had mountains. but very wiggly. had
to move every ten minutes to let him out or in.
back in the u.s.! newark airport: drank from a water fountain! flushed
toilet paper down the toilet! had hot water from the faucet! and other
astounding things.
finally calling home from newark, talked to dad and susie and mom.
peor
6 a.m. quito-bogota flight. see the world, one airport at a time. spent
6 hours in the airport in colombia after spending 10 mostly sleepless ones
in quito.
sometimes my life is just too weird for me. i'm eating with an airline
food voucher at a mcdonald's in colombia? you lost me a while back
there. someone explain this.
i guess i didn't really mean i don't cry publicly, just not in front of
people i know. i apparently have no problem crying silently for a long
time while sitting between total strangers on flights to places i don't
actually want to be.
greasy fried rice at 10 or 11 p.m. in the newark airport. this country's
expensive! and ick, besides. but sort of all i'd eaten all day,
so...
...................
21 diciembre 2001
mejor
finally taking pictures of my family (they started leaving one by one, so
i panicked. wait! come back! i need pictures! but i think i finally
ended up with pictures of everyone. awww.)
sam coming by the airport to say goodbye to us (shoot! that means i could
have come to say goodbye to emily after all! i didn't know. *sniff*)
peor
up at 6:30, as usual. despite having gone to bed after 3.
being packed by 10 a.m. not much to do for the rest of the day.
ARRGH! flight cancelled due to weather conditions. here begins a long
and interesting trip. got to the airport at 8 p.m. flight was cancelled
at about 11 p.m. sat in line from until 3 a.m. slept in snatches on my
luggage on the cold airport floor. at least had kemi and another girl
whose name i don't know to talk to. unfortunately there was someone else
i knew vaguely from usfq there, too... who bitched incessantly and swore
and cried and carried on as if the pilot had decided not to fly through
the fog specifically to keep her from getting to her damn christmas
party. and to make her parents worry. shut UP! good lord. i was very
proud of myself for not kicking her teeth in.
...................
20 diciembre 2001
mejor
a goodbye visit to mr. bagel with emily. sigh.
my bed is fixed! after two nights of sleeping on the floor and wondering
what i should tell my mother. i came back and she had fixed it. she
didn't seem too concerned, either. hrm.
eating my own cookies (bad! but yum. you know, i had to check. make
sure they were ok.)
out! so glad i finally went. especially on the very last night... *sob*
ate at a little mexican restaurant with jessica and kemi. (burritos and a
pineapple daiquiri. yummm.) then to a little bar with jessica, kemi,
julie, katie g., eduardo, yomar and zach. small and low ceilings and
smoky and writing on the walls, live cuban band, maracas made out of
plastic bottles. danced and sang along to guantanamera and danced
and took pictures and danced. and danced. then to ch farina (ecuadorian
katie showed up, too) at 2 a.m. to eat pizza, talk, say goodbye. goodbye
to katie g. who cried and (as always) i kept it all together until the
moment i stepped out of the cab onto my street and started,
too. really... can't... deal...
peor
but max was not at mr. bagel, since we went in the morning! waah!
going to the pitzer office to give back my work after making
copies. ick. also had to say goodbye to fernando--i never know what to
do with that man. he's always sort of bowing. should i bow back? shake
his hand? kiss him on the cheek? i think i ended up doing all three
simultaneously, which probably startled him.
giving the random man in the office building my email address. he talked
to me once before in october or something, and then he saw me again and
recognized me. and asked for my email when i told him i was about to
leave. so i gave it to him... what do i care? leaving tomorrow! ha!
goodbye? GOODBYE??! wait! this is NOT all right AT ALL! said goodbye to
emily on the phone because i couldn't come to the airport. goodbye to
people at ch farina. and more. no no nooooooooo... *whimper*
...................
19 diciembre 2001
mejor
baking cookies! (all morning, at kemi's house, with kemi and jessica and
emily. fork the balls! ahem. nevermind. mostly good cookies, too, with
the exception of the peanut butter ones. too bad. we're giving them to
our families anyway.)
trip to the pitzer office to regalar some cookies to maria and say
goodbye. wah.
saying goodbye to the pitzer office! hah! never again!
peor
sleeping on the floor (too afraid of inflicting more damage to the
bed)
many trips to stores (we kept forgetting things, and nowhere in this damn
country do they sell baking soda. nowhere easy to find, at least.)
cookie transportation (trolley, trying to elbow my way through all the
people to get to the exit while carrying a giant plate of cookies, then it
starts to rain, get on a bus, get off the bus, walk through the rain with
the cookies, no umbrella, by the time i get to my street i'm soaked and
it's starting to hail... for heaven's sake. they better appreciate those
cookies.)
saying goodbye to people. here we go again. nooooooo...
not going out, even though i want to, but i'm so sleepy, and lazy, and
waaah!
...................
18 diciembre 2001
mejor
getting permiso to leave the country
IMing! best IM day yet: amelia, tiffany, jesse, chris, david, laurel and
eileen!
default faces
a farewell cinnamon roll from azucar y canela (no one to eat it with,
though. no matter. i ate it shamelessly on the bus ride home. yum.)
oh! my sisters are singing christmas carols in spanish, and
off-key. it's adorable.
peor
enzo sick again: won't eat, and mopes around with his tail
uncurled. *sniff*
history exam (at least it was short. that's what happens when you don't
actually know anything. har.)
worse stories (actually, i just want to be as cool as carey. the guy that
drove his motorcycle into a parked car while he was staring at her. the
guy who she punched so hard that his nose broke and he fell over
backwards.)
we found out that emily's flight leaves a day earlier than we'd
thought. nooooooo!
sudden swallowing-up of time. there was so much waiting and waiting and
now there is hardly any time and i just don't know. i don't like it.
broken bed: i sat on it. it crunched. i'd like for once to make it
through a day without doing something really stupid or difficult to
repair. no such luck.
...................
17 diciembre 2001
mejor
guardería (i remembered how to make origami cups and taught the project
for the older kids. and at lunch narcisa said to vanessa "no se llama
'oye'... ¡se llama katie!" which made me laugh.)
Very Festive Bus (i sort of wanted to take a picture of the inside of a
bus before i left here, but i didn't have my camera today. this one was
the best...
multiple waving plastic hands, fringe on every possible surface, speaker
covered in 3-inch thick gray fake fur, stuffed animals in hammocks,
posters, and all the requisite sparkly stickers of american cartoon
characters and religious figures.)
sort of studying history with adam and kalen (it involved pizza. i'm
always a fan. and adam being yoda, and other ridiculousness.)
peor
last guardería! (no! no! didn't quite cry. remember how a while ago i
was complaining about people saying "goodbye and see you in
january" ?.... try "chao and see you... well, probably NEVER." good
lord. i stuck my hand in through the gate to say goodbye to evelin and
andrés but they didn't really notice... they don't understand that i am
never coming back. hell, i don't understand that i'm never coming
back.)
crushed by catholic schoolgirls exiting the trolley
dark rainy night crowded scary bus ride
.................
16 diciembre 2001
mejor
candy inna bag! (which my mother gave to me, saying something to the
effect of: "this
bag of candy is for you, so that you stuff yourself with candy." kind of
like when they go out and i'm at home, and she always says
"there's food, so that you eat." duh. what else would i do with it?)
internet
a new page idea! (last one! i swear! ok, no, probably not. but at
least this one doesn't rip off any counting crows lyrics. i decided that
was cheap.)
peor
waking up confused (you know, when you talk on the phone half-asleep and
then can't remember whether you really did or not or anything or what's
going on? ack ack ack...)
internet without AIM
.................
15 diciembre 2001
mejor
otavalo! (success, at last. emily remained healthy. we bought
things. she more than i... far, far more...)
peor
buying things = spending money. hmph.
.....................
14 diciembre 2001
mejor
money! from dad! and western union. thanks!
smoothie etc. with emily at café cactus
ch farina for julie's birthday (table of 27 people. poor waiter. and we
were rowdy, too. to say the least.)
peor
had a hard enough time getting to sleep and then woke to what sounded like
lots of gunshots at 4 a.m.
not being able to find my last class of the semester. yes, i am that
bright.
having to finish my oral literature exam after all
.....................
13 diciembre 2001
mejor
done with one class! (my favorite one, though. too bad.)
going to the third national congress of women with kemi
undeserved luck (thank you very, very much.)
the day was brightened slightly when i pulled back my covers to
reveal... a new mattress! wheeee!
peor
incredible stupidity
.....................
12 diciembre 2001
mejor
lunch at the pacífico with assorted people i mostly didn't know, but were
at least amusing.
the last seminar... EVER! whoo!
la cena de despedida (oooh! good food, really cool atmosphere--a house
being converted into a restaurant,
so still our private establishment for one night, and a cat! i tried to
have a philosophical ecuador moment on the balcony, looking out at the
lights in the dark and the rain, but it didn't work. such is life. at
least mine, usually.)
peor
when i was in the library sort of researching my history paper i had an
i-miss-swat-and-doing-actual-work moment. it was odd. mccabe... sigh.
evaluations, and more evaluations, and more... aarrggggh!
driving (well, maría having to drive) in the thunderstorm up the hills in
the dark to get to the dinner. she couldn't see anything. we had to tell
her where to go. eek.
least graceful exit ever from the jeep returning home. got my leg stuck
in the seat belt and had to get back in and out again. don't laugh,
jessica already did plenty of that.
.....................
11 diciembre 2001
mejor
IMing with jesse
impending money from dad
mr. bagel with jessica (and max was even there!)
"well, at least i'm no longer expecting... MAIL!" (yayyyy cathy!)
peor
history paper (i'm just whiny. it's 5 pages... maximum.)
.....................
10 diciembre 2001
mejor
everything was made somewhat better by having a pilsener and talking with
katie g., ecuadorian katie and ricardo whose name is actually scott
peor
nothing works! stupid university! arrrgh! (well, it just wouldn't let
me check books out of the library or use the internet. phooey.)
.....................
9 diciembre 2001
wow. i didn't even write anything down today. that's how exciting my life is. i haven't left the house since friday. whoo...
.................
8 diciembre 2001
mejor
at least seeing a kitten
dancing dorkily around my room
peor
moving worm-like thing in my salad
i think the mere mention of otavalo makes emily sick. sigh. this
weekend's trip was called off, too... just as well. don't need to spend
more money.
sad kitten outside (tiny and black and white and crying. it sneaked under
the gate and was right outside my window for a while, and then went
away. it has certainly been killed by dogs or cars by now, i assume.)
.................
7 diciembre 2001
mejor
guardería: took more photos, this time with actual children.
magic bean with emily (enormous grilled cheese sandwich for me and a piece
of chocolate cake about the size of texas for her.
and waiting an hour and a half for the bill, but that's ok, we were in no
hurry.)
seeing harry potter! it's a little weird how all my experience
with the harry potter phenomenon has been in spanish, though.
peor
jell-o for breakfast
"hello, hi" comments in the street (it bothers me when people say things
to me in the street, but i'm used to it.
it's somehow much more offensive when they say things in
english. usually i ignore them, sometimes i respond in spanish or in
german. grr.)
guardería - digna crying the whole time, much unpleasant cleaning,
children demanding that i take pictures of them.
i think i sunburnt my part at the bullfight. my head is peeling
off. ick.
.................
6 diciembre 2001
mejor
bullfight (the sparkly torero outfits, handsome bulls, people throwing
sunflowers into the plaza)
lunch at spaghetti with kemi and emily (although the waiter couldn't seem
to understand emily. he asked me what she wanted to drink. he also asked
me how to spell her name. hrm.)
out with lots of people (me, kemi, jessica, andrew, kalen, julie, quinn,
eduardo, yomar, ecuadorian katie, other katie and leonisa. now i start
making friends. figures.)
peor
bullfight (everything else. watching six bulls be killed in the space of
three hours by a series of armed, trained humans. first the little
toreros with pink and purple capotes, then the picadores on padded and
blindfolded horses (which the bulls
attacked every time, jabbing their horns into the undersides of the horses
who were amazingly well-trained and just put up with it) and then the
banderilleros who ran out all alone, jumped and ran at the bull and buried
two small lances in between its shoulders. by now the bull
has started to bleed in sheets down its front legs, its tongue is hanging
out, it falls now and again onto its nose in the dust. finally the torero
comes out with his red cape - muleta - and dances around with the bull
until he finally switches swords, everyone one gets quiet, he stands in
front of the bull and everything is silent
and waiting and finally he jumps and drives the two feet of sword all the
way up to the hilt in between the bull's shoulders, and the bull jumps and
spins and finally falls. a man runs out with a short knife and stabs the
bull at the base of the skull to kill it. they cut off an ear as a
prize. repeat as necessary.)
being a dork (went out, but refused to drink or dance)
realizing that i need $35 to get out of the country so i only have about
$20 and how will i go to the coast? or by gifts? shoot.
.................
5 diciembre 2001
mejor
sleeping in until 8 a.m. wow...
do-it-yourself chiva, but without the bus. (emily and i had cotton candy
and then ice cream and then, er, made our own chiva. only not
really. heh.)
peor
or maybe that just makes us pathetic. when i got home my family was just
going out, so i made my own dinner, which involved dropping the cheese on
the floor and carrying on a continuous conversation with the dog.
.................
4 diciembre 2001
mejor
lunch at the pacífico with emily and kalen, briefly
no quichua -- instead fiona and i had beer and chips and fries and then
ice cream. yes, excessive. i don't care, though. hee!
vacation starts... now!
peor
worry (about here and there and people here and people there...)
running into the quichua prof when we were all about to skip class (not
that that stopped us, obviously. well, me and fiona. i don't know where
the other two went.)
.................
3 diciembre 2001
mejor
hair long enough to be in two pigtail braids
cafe cactus... free lunch!
IMing with david and jesse and tiffany and michelle. whee!
pan de navidad (emily made in her panaderia class. sort of like
stollen... mmmmm christmas...)
peor
no water at emily's house (she came over to my house to shower, since it'd
been 4 days... )
no oral literature class for the rest of the semester because the
professor can't teach
seminar at night, having to give my presentation, cuves, everything...
.............................
2 diciembre 2001
mejor
local market (except for the dead animal aisle)
el lago san pablo (we paddle-boated again, except our boat was broken, so
we went in circles.)
lunch by the lake (except for the meat in my soup, and all the marinated
canned limp vegetables)
marifer and alé winning 1st through 4th places in the dog show over the
two days. hee! but i wish i'd been able to go, to see them. because all
they ever do is talk about dogs and finally there was a show in
quito. but no.
peor
ok. really only one thing here, but it was Not Good At All. we were all
eating breakfast and then quinn sort of passed out and had a minor
seizure. emily and i ran to get the hotel owner. when we came back with
him quinn was up and walking (supported by two people) but green. i had
heard of people looking green before, but had never actually seen it until
now. he was green and pale and waxy looking. so they took him to the
doctor, and then to the hospital in quito. the rest of us (minus adam and
sam who went with him) went about our planned activities,
half-heartedly. also we (well, not me) sort of made maría cry by telling
her she should go with quinn to quito. like she doesn't know what she
should do, like she could do anything if she were there. anyway. he's
been sick on and off all semester and now we are all Worried.
..................
1 diciembre 2001
mejor
participating in a minka in santa rosa de la compañía (i don't think we
actually helped much, but that wasn't really the idea. my pareja called
me "compañerita" and they brought us coke in a tin cup as we worked, which
reminded me of the water and gourd in the laura ingalls wilder books,
except different. and it was beautiful, all mountains and patches of
green.)
playing cuarenta
visiting the cheese factory
further ridiculousness (hope the picture with the towel and the bandanna
and the toothpaste comes out. although it only got worse later. and why
am i so mean? but very entertained.)
more mafia (still haven't been mafia... so much for kalen's
statistics... ha.)
peor
fried cuy. i just watched while most of the others tried it. its little
feet were sticking up in the air like it was trying to fly, and its mouth
was wide open.
the smell in the cheese factory
..................
30 noviembre 2001
mejor
bus ride: we passed the my fuk chinese restaurant, and stopped to buy
chirimoyas (there are a lot of weird foods i want to look for in jungle
jim's when i get back.)
digging holes
cuyes (all small and cute in little low pens in a dark barn. made this
low warbling noise that sounded like a little stream.)
ridiculousness (we're just not sane. it's fun, though. i hope the
picture with the antennae comes out.)
visit to the community's mill, sampling machica
singing children
playing mafia (although i suck. i will have to organize a study break
when i get back.)
peor
a worm in my chirimoya. i threw it away and got another... emily didn't
notice and ate the worm. why does this not surprise me?
sad cuyes. they are all destined for dinner. to be dinner, i mean.
..................
29 noviembre 2001
mejor
max! we will go to mr. bagel twice more before we go. i never
appreciated bagels so much in the states. hm.
peor
really disturbing dream (i was possessed. it sounds stupid in retrospect,
but i woke up and said out loud "oh thank god, that was only a dream." in
the dream all these
weird things kept happening to me when i was doing just normal daily
things like making tea, and then i finally had a picture of myself doing
them and i looked at my face and my eyes were not my eyes, they were
glazed over and the pupils were giant and i was staring off at nothing. i
think what was scary was that i knew in the dream that i was possessed or
something but i had no idea what i could do.)
a native quichua speaker in class
rain (normally a good thing, but not when i want to get places and my
umbrella is inadequate)
..................
28 noviembre 2001
mejor
class cancelled again, since i was going to skip it anyway
IMing with david and jesse
successful class registration (i have mondays and fridays free, spanish
seminar on wednesday, and english and history on tuesday and
thursday. good? hope so.)
turning in final copy of stupid seminar project
pink bandanna (gangster barbie!)
peor
swat demands neat packets of all the work i've done here so they can
decide whether to give me credit. they may decide i need to do more
work. fabulous.
project. ick.
it's just good there are only 2 more seminars because otherwise i might
have to commit justifiable homicide.
talking too fast (the director doesn't understand me when i speak
spanish. i think i just need to stop talking entirely.)
flying ants infesting my room! what is this? i didn't mind the big
spider in my closet, but the ants crawl out from the head of my bed and up
the wall whenever i'm about to go to sleep. i squash them nightly. grr.
..................
27 noviembre 2001
mejor
movie in literature class (although it was a bit early for so much
nudity)
supermaxi lunch
quichua prof forgetting that he wanted us to memorize anything (so
convenient. we didn't even have to convince him.)
peor
fruit soy milk
it's kind of a bad sign when we're reminiscing already. remember, back in
august? yeah...
fear of dying (this is new to me, oddly enough. i'm not sure whether i
never really thought of it before, or if it just didn't bother me.)
..................
26 noviembre 2001
mejor
series of emails about registration... i think i have a clue now. and
aurora is great.
lunch at café cactus. next one's free! whoo!
no class
not having to pay bus fare either way today because no one had change for
a five. heh.
phone call from mutti (although we had some satellite problems, talking
over each other and such. grr.)
peor
no class because the professor fell and hit her head and is in the
hospital
..................
25 noviembre 2001
mejor
a final webpage plan, i think. but don't quote me on that. now i must
get home to my fast internet... yum.
christmas tree! (cute spindly little fake thing. hee.)
a month until christmas!
peor
bad phone call from dad. sniff. it was fine, then he turned all metallic
and incomprehensible, and then the phone just cut off entirely.
..................
24 noviembre 2001
mejor
getting pictures developed (mostly for my project, so not too
exciting. but one adorable shot of rené. hee.)
finishing books instead of working
peor
failed mirror self-portraits (i officially give up. if i want a picture
of me, i'll have someone else take it.)
one of the books made me cry. i never even cry at real things. hmph.
..................
23 noviembre 2001
mejor
guardería (more painting, evelin falling asleep with me in the
hammock.)
making turkeys with emily (out of cookies and gumdrops and fake
nutella. hee. we're kind of ridiculous.)
the dinner! yayyyy! (cranberry sauce and cranberry juice and potatoes and
vegetables and pumpkin pie! and bob marley. since it just wouldn't be
thanksgiving without bob marley... hm.)
and the eslide show! (we're cute! except for me. i look like a dipshit
in all the pictures. sigh.)
peor
all the clothes-changing at the guardería (someone needs to realize that
jordan is not toilet-trained. he just isn't. it doesn't do any good to
send him there in clothes. he always runs out of spare pants by the end
of the day and ends up wearing another shirt with his legs through the
sleeves and tied over his shoulder like a toga. and looking very pleased
with himself, i might add.)
squeaky sandals (who thought it was a good idea to invent shoes for
children that make squeaky toy noises every step they take. good
lord! obviously no one with children.)
..................
22 noviembre 2001
mejor
chocolate (although it was all we had for lunch. whoops.)
thanksgiving phone call! (dad - susie - grandma - sandy - michael -
dad. or something like that. hee.)
peor
quichua (4... more... classes. si se puede!)
..................
21 noviembre 2001
mejor
canadian wild ice turkeys! (fiona was a little caffeinated today.)
being accustomed and more or less at peace with all the
out-of-the-loopness
curry at chris's house (tofu! and i found the building all by myself in
the dark, and we listened to the dreadful super disco chino song
and i met dorian, the moody quichua shaman bitch. or something.)
peor
the ads for the world cup (shows lots of people pulling their eyes into a
narrower shape, since it's the korea-japan world cup. wow. so how would
that fly in the u.s.? i shudder to think...)
cell phone - the indigenous woman who came to talk to our seminar about
the indigenous movements... her cell phone went off in the middle of her
presentation. and she answered it.
..................
20 noviembre 2001
mejor
starting an ecuador quote board (so we're a little slow...)
quichua professor evaluations. yeah. i think i was the least harsh, and
i was still pretty harsh. although i think they already promised he
wouldn't be teaching quichua II next semester.
mail from grandma T (who got my second letter, at least. yay!)
peor
"hayka!" is NOT an onomatopeia. quichua prof is dumb.
all my pants are wearing out. (my favorite embroidered ones are no longer
decent, my other jeans which i don't even like to begin with and haven't
worn since tenth grade so why did i bring them are also too worn out for
anything but the guarderia, my good khakis are wearing out, and my other
khakis are kind of too small anyway. i know you wanted to know
that. hush. i miss my clothes.)
.................
19 noviembre 2001
mejor
fruit and tea at cafe cactus with emily
new books
peor
sick again, very little sleep
skipping class -- bad kt! but it was the first time for that class, not
counting the amazon. and i really was sick.
no comfortable places in this university (or possibly this country...) - i
miss parrish beach and soft kohlberg chairs. sigh.
canteloupe... juice... aaaaaagh! (note: if, upon my return to the u.s.,
anyone should try and feed me canteloupe, particularly in liquid form,
particularly if i am already feeling sick... wrath.)
............
18 noviembre 2001
mejor
i realized this semester is the first time in a long time i've had a room
to myself, which is sort of sad, but also means i spend more time doing
really silly things like dancing around my room with my discman. hee.
out to see a movie with emily, who seems to be alive
peor
the actual movie we decided to see (the last three movies i've seen have
been stupid romantic comedies. i don't particularly like romantic
comedies at all. so why do i keep going to see them?)
continuing conflictedness about the fact that i go home in 33 days from
today. (yay! ack! panic! nervous! disintegrates into aaaaargh...)
....................
17 noviembre 2001
mejor
to otavalo with kemi (bought more things. must return
again. mwahaha!)
to a movie with kemi and jessica
peor
up early early to go to otavalo
going without emily, who, er, got sick
fear of quichua (or rather, the bits and pieces i could understand in
otavalo but not enough to get up the nerve to bargain in it. grr.)
silly trashy movie songs remind me of swat dances. *sniffle*
....................
16 noviembre 2001
mejor
guardería: taking pictures, two swiss volunteers now. i'm jealous.
finally buying my ecuador selección tshirt! it's supertacky! i'm
pleased.
food, ice cream, etc. with emily and kemi
peor
actually having to take the pictures at the guardería (felt awkward. plus
i only took a few of the actual children, most were just of the rooms for
my project.)
trying to paint at the guardería. this time outside on one of the walls,
so the kids kept running up and crowding closer and closer and then
sticking their fingers in the wet paint... self-restraint is admirable.
....................
15 noviembre 2001
mejor
brownie (falta de fuerza de voluntad)
the man to whom i lent my umbrella actually returning it
mr. bagel! max! yaaayyyyy!!!
meeting with sebastian about my project: i now have a small degree of
respect for the seminar, because he told me that parts of it sucked.
peor
quichua
usfq architecture - particularly the ledges that are in the da vinci
building, which has an open center. on the first floor you can
comfortably sit on the ledges, but on the upper floors they put railings
on them, presumably to keep us from sitting there and falling in. of
course, what do we do... climb over the railings to sit where there is
enough space, and a three-story drop. whee!
....................
14 noviembre 2001
mejor
pan de yuca again
rain (i think the climate has really truly changed this time. i like
it.)
reading by candlelight (upside of no electricity.)
peor
presentation in seminar (at least it's done with, i suppose.)
electricity gone... but eventually, only in my room. hmmmm.
i always find something to worry about. now it's -- should i get my
family here gifts before i leave? if so, what? or should i just send
things once i get home? or should i just run away?
............................
13 noviembre 2001
mejor
lunch at el pacífico with emily and kalen
not having to memorize quichua after all (heh...not really... we're just
evil. when there's only 3 of you it's easy to say, no, what do you mean,
we didn't have to memorize anything! solidarity!)
cinnamon rolls with chris and fiona after quichua
mail and the other sock on the same day! (this makes sense if you look at
a worst thing for a week ago or so...)
peor
the hassle of being vegetarian here (i'm sure i've slipped up on a daily
basis. oh well. i'll be better when i come home. soon!)
history exam (not too bad, but i'm apathetic. and lots of the ecuatorians
sit all together in the back and talk all through the test even when the
professor asks them not to. good lord.)
............................
12 noviembre 2001
mejor
IMing with david
café cactus lunch with emily
new books from the library
peor
being a dumbass ( you'd think that after 3 months here i'd have a little
bit of a clue, but you'd be wrong.)
............................
11 noviembre 2001
mejor
coffee and sitting (well, sort of. still not quite right. but pancakes,
too. gringolandia! hee.)
sushi again (mmm tofu. yay.)
peor
last night's dream combining elements from the trashy tv show, my family
here, the usfq foreign study director, and me riding a giant german
shepherd with red eyes and fangs that kept eating holes in the
sidewalk.
other people's, er, family difficulties (just leave this one alone, trust
me.)
sick, sore throat, ickishness
......................
10 noviembre 2001
mejor
finishing gravity's rainbow (3 books in one week, then one book in 3
weeks. oh well. and i'm pretty sure a lot of it went over my
head... sigh.)
watching beetlejuice in spanish. hee.
peor
have i mentioned that my bed is really hard? it's like, an inch of
mattress on a lot of wood. although it actually doesn't bother me as much
as it probably ought to.
trashy tv and strange comment
......................
9 noviembre 2001
mejor
guardería
honey candies (which i actually bought about a week ago. but they're
almost just like the ones i get from jungle jim's. yay!)
peor
the astounding rate at which my hair seems to be leaving my
head. sigh.
something in the city was on fire and it was making the dogs
cough. pobrecitos.
......................
8 noviembre 2001
mejor
ecuador colored hair bands
no exam after all!
fondue
to the movies, against my will (we saw legalmente rubia)
peor
too many meals
seminar at night. ick, what a waste of night.
......................
7 noviembre
2001
mejor
peor
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6 noviembre 2001
mejor
peor
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5 noviembre 2001
mejor
peor
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4 noviembre 2001
mejor
peor
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3 noviembre 2001
mejor
peor
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2 noviembre 2001
mejor
peor
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1 noviembre 2001
mejor
peor ......................................................
31 octubre 2001
mejor
peor
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30 octubre 2001
mejor
peor
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29 octubre
2001
mejor
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28 octubre 2001
mejor
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27 octubre 2001
mejor
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26 octubre 2001
mejor
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25 octubre 2001
mejor
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24 octubre 2001
mejor
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mejor
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22 octubre 2001
mejor
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21 octubre 2001
mejor
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20 octubre 2001
mejor
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mejor
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18 octubre 2001
mejor
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17 octubre 2001
mejor
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16 octubre 2001
mejor
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15 octubre 2001
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14 octubre 2001
mejor
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13 octubre 2001
mejor
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12 octubre 2001
mejor
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11 octubre 2001
mejor
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10 octubre 2001
mejor
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9 octubre 2001
mejor
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8 octubre 2001
mejor
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7 octubre 2001
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6 octubre 2001
mejor
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5 octubre 2001
mejor
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4
octubre 2001
mejor
peor
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3 octubre 2001
mejor
peor
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2 octubre 2001
mejor
peor
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1 octubre 2001
mejor
peor
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30 septiembre 2001
mejor
peor
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29 septiembre 2001
mejor
peor
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28 septiembre 2001
mejor
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27 septiembre 2001
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26 septiembre 2001
mejor
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25 septiembre 2001
mejor
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24 septiembre 2001
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mejor
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22 septiembre 2001
mejor
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21 septiembre 2001
mejor
peor
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20 septiembre 2001
mejor
peor
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19 septiembre 2001
mejor
peor
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18 septiembre 2001
mejor
peor
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17 septiembre 2001
mejor
peor
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16 septiembre 2001
mejor
peor ..................................
15 septiembre 2001
mejor
peor
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14 septiembre 2001
mejor
peor ..................................
13 septiembre 2001
mejor
peor
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12 septiembre 2001
mejor
peor
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11 septiembre 2001
mejor
peor ..................................
10 septiembre 2001
mejor
peor
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9 septiembre 2001
mejor
peor
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8 septiembre 2001
mejor
peor
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7 septiembre 2001
mejor
peor
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6 septiembre 2001
mejor
peor
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5 septiembre 2001
mejor
peor
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4 septiembre 2001
mejor
peor
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3 septiembre 2001
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2 septiembre 2001
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peor
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1 septiembre 2001
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peor
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31 agosto 2001
mejor
peor
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30 agosto 2001
mejor
peor
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29 agosto 2001
mejor
peor
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28 agosto 2001
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27 agosto 2001
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26 agosto 2001
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25 agosto 2001
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22 agosto 2001
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21 agosto 2001
mejor
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20 agosto 2001
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19 agosto 2001
mejor
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18 agosto 2001
mejor
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17 agosto 2001
mejor peor
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mejor
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14 agosto 2001
mejor
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mejor
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12 agosto 2001
mejor
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11 agosto 2001
mejor
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10 agosto
2001
My flight leaves tomorrow at noon. I'm pretty much finished packing, and
have been for a few days. Four months' worth of stuff fits into one
suitcase, one backpack, and my purse. Impressive. I've got my visa (at
long last), picture album, CDs in nice new big CD case (including Volumes
I-III of The Place That Goes Far Away. I have exercised remarkable
restraint and am saving Volumes II and III for the plane trip, so I have
something to look forward to other than sitting for 9 hours. Yay!). I am
probably forgetting something. Let's not think about that, though.
My mother asks useful questions, like "If you're taken hostage, are you
going to pretend you don't speak Spanish so you can understand what your
captors say in front of you?"
classes cancelled (how can we have school when there's soccer? don't be
ridiculous!)
IMing with sarah (while doing project at the last possible minute. almost
like being at swat!)
can i write 22 pages of a field study-type project in spanish in 2 days
right before it's due? of course i can! whee!
¡ ¡ ¡ SÍ SE PUDO
! ! !
that is to say, we won! ok, we tied. but it doesn't
matter! we have the
one more point we needed! ¡vamos a la copa mundial! (also fun going to
jessica's house, eating too much food, screaming at the television. our
one goal was SO much prettier than uruguay's. theirs was cheap and
ugly.)
my eating schedule... i'm pretty sure i average out to a normal amount of
food, but i do it by being confused and missing meals for several days,
and then eating unreasonable quantities of junk food and extra meals in
one day. ick.
getting second presentation and paper done with
pan de yuca
IMing with people (hollis, jesse!)
last night's dream had no spanish, but there was definitely some
german. that's a step in the wrong direction.
left leg and hand all numb...
skipping quichua to work on seminar project
emily losing large quantities of her seminar project
"why is there no love and only one sock?" (this is what i said to myself
upon arriving home after 9 or 10 hours at school. i think perhaps it sums
up the whole day.)
shower curtain
one paper handed in
juegos de agua (something in carnaval... i think i'll start that when i
get back to swat. it's almost lent... time to throw water at people!)
gossip (my family is really very amusing sometimes. particularly when my
father's absent.)
printers, computers, hassle, ugly ink marks, ick ick ick
no mail : (
randomness... somewhere in my house is playing "losing my religion"
phone call from dad & susie & con & lucy (all at once on the speakerphone,
for a while. hah.)
my family's random, or maybe i'm just still clueless (they leave at 3 or
so, at 7:30 i figure they're not coming back and i go ahead and eat some
plátanos and an apple for dinner, at 9 they come back, i've already
showered and pj'd myself. but then we eat bread and more colada
morada. ok...)
it's not fair that i miss swat so much and at the same time have this
enormous fear of going back. maybe i will go back to living in my head
and won't have to worry about these things. nah.
this would be the time when normally i would go running until i was
happily exhausted. but i can't really do that here. instead i'll sit on
the floor, listen to the cure, and cry vaguely at nothing. which is
almost the same, right?
not much.... wasn't that bad or anything, but i just sat around working
and listening to music and occasionally drinking tea or doing crosswords.
ate cebiche again, not very vegetarian. bad.
more colada morada (odd holiday drink: thick spicy purple stuff with fruit
in it.)
the simpsons, hah!
guardería closed (i'm kind of stupid... looked confused for a while, then
took the bus back and ate at el campero. coffee and toast and runny
cylindrical eggs for 50 cents.)
i guess this is what i get for picking a book at random from the list to
do my presentation on. (the life of quito's own personal saint, mariana
de jesús. because whipping yourself regularly and wearing barbed wire and
sticking tacks and nails and thorns in yourself and never sleeping or
eating or drinking are really good reasons to be a saint.)
november!
the error message i got in the computer lab... blue screen saying "Error
reading disk drive A. Please insert disk Emily's ass."
chifa! (i ate a mountain of vegetable fried rice. good lord.)
christmas music (i told myself once it was november i was allowed to
listen to my christmas cd. normally i make myself wait until after
thanksgiving, but i thought this was a special situation.)
mutti phone call!
up at 6:30 after going to bed at 2
skipping history class and then seeing the professor three times
immediately afterwards. i'm a moron.
sickish? (or just shaky hot dizzy weird, maybe.)
getting my oral literature presentation over with
hair long enough to put up with a pencil (also blonder, but that's just
weird)
seminar not bad -- interesting speaker on el plan colombia
spontaneous pizza! (not like it just appeared... like emily and i walked
out of seminar, went "i smell pizza! i see pizza! i want pizza!" and
went and got some.)
playing kings with jessica, her boyfriend who's visiting, and kemi (in the
boyfriend's
really ritzy marriott hotel room. whoo...)
no bar, i guess
crazy people who have already finished their seminar papers
the men here, have i mentioned that? (but this time i deflected the one on
the street with a neatly placed elbow to some part of him, i didn't look
back to see...)
i suppose there's gotta be a first time for having beer sprayed on you by
someone standing on the bar in a nasty crowded club (and it wasn't even
good beer...)
huge crowd, especially in the coat line (maybe if i just close my eyes and
press my face into this wall all these people will stop touching me and
shoving and i will be able to breathe again... good lord...)
when quichua prof attempts to speak english ("whot a drahg, mahn..." and
"thuth!")
maaaaaiiiiiiiiiil!
literature midterm (more huevada, my specialty in any language)
i miss my hedgehog, lord only knows why (can i have one next semester,
RA-Tiffany? pleeeease? kidding, kidding...)
ecuador/swat/me/panic (want to be there but it will be different and i
will be different and everything will be different and where should i be
and ack ack aaaaack)
seeing heaps of kittens in the guauuguauu! pet store
window. awwwwwwww!
telnet and AIM from usfq!
fruit and quesadilla with emily at the café cactus (we got a little
punchcard so now we have to eat there 5 more times to get our free
lunch. what a shame...)
amusing conversation with bus-seat-mate (he wanted me to explain the
internet to him, and why do americans read so much?)
running into william while crossing the park! (william the guide from the
rainforest! how random, and cool, is that?!)
realizing that emails have not been getting through very well
weird little man at post office (kept translating the things the cashier
was saying to me into english, with a thick accent. um... ok?)
lunch with emily's family
making caramel apples
very little work done
not seeing my family all day
costumes (amazing what you can do with aluminum foil! we went as devil
and angel, not very creative, but oh well.)
the halloween party, sort of
escaping without our ecua-boy-leeches trying to get our phone numbers or
anything. run away!
not recycling water filter pieces (bad kt, but if i take them on the
plane, they'll probably think they're parts for a bomb.)
pedro escamoso's hair (they sell wigs of it, apparently. ugly curly
mullet. whoo. but the song is funny in an annoying way, and i did the
dance at the party.)
party being way the hell out in the middle of nowhere
opportunities for bad lines provided by our choice of costumes
shark and sailor metaphors
guarderìa (which i suddenly like. jealous of the swiss girl who is
volunteering there every day and doesn't have to go to university)
more successful picture taking (more interesting part of quito, probably
exactly where we shouldn't have been)
ice cream
quichua party (curry, quichua drinking game with flashcards,
conversation...)
creepy dream where my room was full of crabs and tarantulas
i probably won't be able to take any pictures of the guarderìa while i'm
here. sad sad.
getting lost en route to fiona's house and being followed for several
blocks by a strange man promising to sing me beatles songs
maybe i'm just a horrible selfish antisocial person who doesn't really try
to make friends and what's more doesn't really care... (or maybe i'm just
really slow, and miss the friends i already have.)
the quichua prof falling asleep 3 times in class. that almost made it all
worthwhile.
mr. bagel again! awww max! does max remember us? he definitely will
next time, since we make such a spectacle of ourselves... the part where
emily nearly spit water all over the table in response to me saying "slide
show" was interesting...
no internet
no mail
seminar not horribly unpleasant (closer to actually understanding el plan
colombia)
sick? just pathetic? ridiculous, lazy, whiny? yes!
happy email
quichua (shame how that can kill the whole day)
someone told me that there's some estimate that 60% of the female
ecuadorian students at usfq are anorexic. looks about right. sigh.
more books!
family home
only being able to take 3 books out of the library at a time, and only for
a week
translating quichua poorly for 5 straight hours
attempted picture-taking (until we realized there's nothing photogenic
here)
milkshake (or chocolate soup with nuts and candy in the bottom. but
that's fine with me.)
malfunctioning internet = being charged half-price? ok.
pictures from susie and dad
successful one-hand snap noise (a weird ecuadorian habit. you'll see when
i get home, and then you can kick me until i stop doing it.)
people taking over my AIM (if it doesn't seem like me, it's probably
not! accept no imitations!)
candy from a stranger (weird man with pointy beard and dressed in suit
handing out candy to all the girls in the internet cafe... i think i won't
eat it...)
poor doggies stuck outside! (i think my mother hid the key so i wouldn't
open the door. enzo just cries and cries.)
yoga on the round rug in the front hall
a delightful and very large salad, all full of vegetables and an invented
dressing
spilling some of the salad all over myself (although it just goes to show
how much i liked the salad that i didn't yell, i only looked woefully at
my shirt and finished the bite i was eating and said to no one "it was a
good salad, but it turned on me.")
not leaving the house ALL DAY
guardería, actually. i forgot to think about how many days there were
until i went home, and just sat there with a lap full of small children
demanding to be tickled.
family away again - loud music, funny pasta that mutti sent in my
package
emily over to make cute little pizzas with lots of vegetables and then
really ridiculous domingos (heeheehee) for dessert
the two women outside of my trolley stop this morning, one of them holding
an iv bag (looked for all the world like it was full of mountain dew) that
was connected to the other one who was lying under blankets on the
sidewalk
buying lots of extra food at supermaxi because i forgot to check the
fridge before i left
package! finally! thank goodness! all full of yummy things (er,
including milk and cheese) and paranoid-mutti things (such as masks,
goggles, mylar blanket...)
internet - IMing! ee!
the letters i sent from the actual post office arriving in a timely manner
all the nonsense i had to do to get the package... i cannot even
explain. multiple bus rides, trolley rides, fees, waits, stamps,
papers... absolutely ridiculous.
having to skip my two afternoon classes in order to get the package. oh
wait, that's not really a worst thing. }: )
consolation ice cream (this is becoming a habit...)
books!!! (ok, so it took me halfway through the semester to realize that i
could check out books i actually wanted to read from the school
library. then again, i only got my student id last week because
everything here is so slow, so i couldn't have checked out anything before
anyway.)
sushi and ice cream with jessica, kemi and emily (mmm sushi! and the part
where we were all fiddling with the cute paper wrappers for the chopsticks
and i said "scrapbook" and we all simultaneously looked guilty and tucked
the papers into our bags... hee...)
going to get the package and not being able to get the package
seminar midterm (huevada, whooo!)
sketchy walk home alone in the dark
sarah's summer webpage (ha! we're so cute! and clever!)
meeting at maría's house (spanish conversation, raspberry pie)
halfway! today is halfway through my semester here! wow.
waking up at 5:30
anthrax (including tasteless anthrax joke made by quichua professor)
quichua (back to loathing it. whee.)
trash (everywhere. in piles in the park, people throw it out the windows
of the bus and teach their children to do the same thing, arrrrrgh)
people who pee in public, while i'm on the subject of annoying habits in
this city
the way i am already starting to worry about how i will keep my friends
after graduation, when we all scatter, because i am so good at holding on
to people in my mind but so bad at it in reality
smoothies at café cactus
finally getting the note for my birthday package
getting soaked, umbrellaless, walking home from the pitzer office
more random family (hahhh my uncle wanted to practice his english with me
but my mother said "she speaks perfectly good spanish! don't speak to her
in english!" only in spanish, of course...)
out to see shrek and eat lunch with emily (yayyyy finally! i need to see
it again in english, though, i suspect the jokes will be different.)
meeting difficulties at the mall (we waited at opposite ends for over a
half an hour. brilliant.)
so... much... canguil...
sort of working, ick
bouncy music-y mood, dancing around the house with my discman (family
gone, don't worry, they don't know i'm crazy yet.)
the realization that were i not here, in general, things would be
different
waking up at 6:30 am on a saturday. why is this? what is wrong with
me?
it doesn't work to keep the discman in the waistband of your sweatpants
and walk around... you end up having to retrieve it from about knee-level
in one of your pants legs. trust me. i'm dumb.
no one around, not going out, wah.
birthday party for my 3-year-old cousin! so cute! also met my mother's
sister's u.s. student, who is named katie and is from
ohio... freaky. much fun, and yummy cake with raspberries.
failing to interview people at the guardería
amusing conversation with eduardo
quichua not too painful
yoga (i have been doing it every night, it would just get repetitive to
tell you.)
spilling soda (argh. always so clumsy.)
apparently my first phone conversation with mutti, for 33 minutes, cost
$119. good lord.
all the good and evil rhetoric. arrrrrrrrrrrrrrgh.
package from cathy
last minute jungle report
out to crepes and waffles with emily (mmm. cheese and broccoli and
mushroom crepe, shared dessert waffle with nutella and bananas and ice
cream.)
scary pictures and newspapers in the package (not really, i did want them,
i need to see.)
the "we need hatred" editorial
buying excessive food
still no birthday package
48 bug bites. i counted.
fast internet (new server at usfq, i think)
tolerable quichua class
mail and a package slip
itch itch itch, damn jungle bugs, hope the malaria pills work
stupid me... skipped class to go the post office, knew it was a national
holiday, but it didn't occur to me that the post office would be closed
finally! no rain, and we saw the parrots and macaws and parakeets eating
clay on the riverbank! so many colors flying in all directions.
a sloth in a tree
using a blowgun
mail waiting for me at home
they made us come back to quito! waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!
strange questions
too too hot
the fact that our president seems to think his job is to rid the world of
evil. what is he, a saturday morning cartoon?? oh god...
parakeets eating clay
hike and explanation of how the achuar view the forest and spirits and
visions and things. we want to drink ayawasca and have visions too, but
they said no.
baby caimans and a huatsin bird
understanding a spanish pun, rapidly
picnic lunch
clouds and clouds of butterflies on the riverbank, all blue and white and
green and yellow swirls
visit to an achuar community: drank chicha, played with the pet coatimundi
(the kinkajou ran away, and the boa was not, er, very domesticated at
all. eek.), swam in the river/waterfall with the children there
excessively strong coffee, which is what happens when i let emily make
it
cuentos by the fire (so i fell asleep for a few... i was in a hammock... i
couldn't help it.)
i dress like a piña and we're both aniñadas and william tells me i have an
accent like a mona and kalen like a campesino... but that's another
story...
raining again, no loros
bugs bugs bugs
not being able to forget that chicha is fermented yucca juice and spit
fake chicha at the lodge dinner... turned out to be that dreadful oat
drink that my mother buys for my lunch, and that i loathe.
early morning canoe ride to look for loros - saw papagayos, gallinazos,
chachalacas, golondrinas, gaviotas, matin pescador... (oh, those are in
spanish. er, macaws, vulture type things, swallows, terns, a
kingfisher...)
also a row of bats sleeping under a log like little camouflaged lumps
a longer hike, this time about medicinal plants (poisonous, edible,
coagulants, etc etc... i can't imagine how they figured it out at
first. a lot of trial and error... watching little animals drop
dead... hm.)
rubén made a backpack out of palm leaves, i'll show you the picture when i
get back
lunch, the amusing (only to us) phrase "¡me duele como un bicho!"
kayaking!!!! and swimming! down the cool green river with all the
rainforest noises! and emily and me taking turns being the rowing wench
type person, and then just being silly... and we saw river dolphins!
the shower... ha. it was very funny at the time, but i couldn't laugh, or
i would have drowned.
late night hike: all sorts of bugs, a tarantula, a very poisonous snake,
little frogs, an enormous slug...
no loros in the morning due to rain
fear of catfish parasite things in the river
i was all paranoid about my bag weighing more than the permitted 25
pounds... turned out it was 11. i always underpack
all the green green green from the plane on the river everywhere
yummy lunch full of vegetables
cute cabin-hut with palm leaf roof and mosquito nets over the beds and
hammock on the balcony
introductory sort of hike, amusing guides, plants that walk
pineapples just *growing*
caimañada (we saw a caiman sitting right there on the bank in the dark and
we got closer and closer with the canoe and we could see it breathing and
finally it startled and jumped into the water and scared us all)
two flights in teeny tiny airplanes, one of which was (does anyone else
think this is a dreadful idea?) named "icaro"
hot hot humid
lit. fem. (chopin and mozart and writing and drawing)
bagels!!! finally!!! yayayayayay!!! (three of them between the two of us,
and black coffee for me. soooo good. happy!)
mail from grandma t
weird sleep (went to bed at 11 the night before and woke up 2 hours later,
then back to sleep at 4 and up for class at 6:30)
history test (again, not hard, just me being lazy)
quichua (*wrath*)
bus ride (some days quito is just good... live music on the bus,
remembering to look out the window at cotopaxi all snow-covered and
cloudless sky)
peacocks apparently for sale on the median in the road. weird.
seminar birthday party, for everyone, cake and yummy things
heather's birthday dinner (fondue, people, just enough wine)
eileen mail!
seminar
attempting to study for history
francisco
supermaxi lunch with emily
pan de canela and gossip with kemi
no quichua
yoga (i can almost do a diamond! really!)
stupid computers
spending money
pobre encito (doggie is sickly. whimpers.)
sick again, sniffly
october! finally!
trophies and pictures from my sisters' dog show. cute!
no package
meeting
weird censo guy hitting on me in the street
excessive cookies
not understanding the news
writing letters
ice cream instead of bagels (inadequate replacement)
mr. bagel closed!!! sob!
another dream in spanish!
pineapple for breakfast
cookies!!! (emily and i made over 100 chocolate raisin oatmeal cookies,
soooo goood...)
to emily's house later that night, for general hanging out
cab driver on the way home (he wanted to practice his english, so we
talked... heehee.)
oven difficulties (i imagine there's a better way to turn on the oven than
"turn on gas, light match, wave around underneath oven, remove arm rapidly
from shooting blue flames." i just don't know what it is.)
soooo many cookies... ugh.
dreaming in spanish
guarderia, mostly
family gone!!! ( i like them and all, but...)
emily over to make stir-fry with lots of vegetables and listen to loud
music in the kitchen while we cook, yay!!!!!
then out to see thirteen days and eat too much popcorn (kind of a scary
movie to see right now, though)
confusing colombian man on trolley
stupid pockets (almost lose wallet in taxi, almost lose keys in movie
theater, do lose chapstick somewhere...)
juice and dessert with emily and kalen
no quichua class
thunderstorm
buying fries
still no package!
not going out (what does this mean? i have no idea.)
not buying food (this is probably getting a bit dull...)
half-assed last-minute discussion direction with sarah still better than
what the prof does
seminar (although... "cuves and lubes".... allow to me expire from
hysterical laughter!!! LOL!)
vigil at usfq ( a little strange, but mostly good. peaceful
comments. although the part where my candle paper cup ignited was
bad.)
news that at least one of my letters has actually arrived
essay in lit. fem. (not hard, i'm just lazy)
kemi's problems with her family here
excessive purchasing of comestibles, yet again
um... i didn't write anything down... i don't think it was that bad,
though
nonfunctioning internet
too much food
strange man barking at the dogs over the fence
cute turtle earrings from my family here
IMing with tiffany
out for pizza with my family
call from dad and susie
call from mom (cece came home!)
crepes and waffles with most of my pitzerfriends, for my birthday! and my
free birthday pina colada!
twenty years old.... erk....
house to myself
nap
grilled cheese and milk
up at 8:30, despite having gone to sleep only 3 hours before
hail! (oh, hail! hahaha...)
phone call (from the hospital, but very clear, and i talked to mutti and
oma and opa and opa even sang me some of the traditional kawecki birthday
song!)
folklore ballet (some of it...)
no bar with jessica and kemi, although they played dumb songs
painted hands from the guarderia
they tell me cece has gone missing
ballet (the naked deerskin dance)
banana cocktail
taxis
"vigilante" ?? (as in, the random guy firing a gun in the air while we
were loitering on kemi's street at 3 in the morning...)
to bed at 5:30, as the rooster was crowing
card from grandma k
consolation ice cream cone at mcdonald's after failed movie
pig castration dialogue in quichua
failed movie (2 taxis, wandering... it later turned out that kemi had told
me the wrong street and they waited for me but i never showed up...)
always burning my index finger trying to light the thingie for hot water
willpower!
yoga
stupid pitzer check, stupid me (the whole ordeal involved three cabs, two
banks, and me taking out a wallet full of $370 all in $5 bills while in a
cab... not so clever)
seminar
adequate lunch
buying food (good company and such, bad spending money)
computers shutting down mid-email
bin laden wallpaper on my computer (changed it to clouds)
"viva bin laden" written on my desk (scribbled it out)
quichua teaching strategy (if i speak quichua at them for long enough,
they'll eventually figure it out!)
no willpower (brownie AND cinnamon roll)
only buying permitted coffee and bus fare
mashed potatoes
embroidering jeans
yoga
the part where i was alone in the kitchen after dinner and felt greedy and
tried to get a piece of bread from the cupboard and then my mother walked
in just as one of the dogs ripped half of the piece of bread from my hand
and then the other dog ate the other half... i'm just just a
dumbass...
sick? sniffly, ick.
natabuela (got there in a truck, ate nice lunch and ice cream)
having the house to myself
having to stand up for most of the 2-hour bus ride back to quito
dreams (over several nights: pichincha erupting and all of us running
around the city trying to escape the lava, me and sarah somewhere trying
to get to a safer place only everything was likely to explode, me trying
to cross the west bank.)
pancakes
old warner brothers cartoons
to ibarra with jessica, her brother and his work friends
renting a paddleboat on a lake between the mountains
singing
eating mandarinas
to sambuca light, lots of dancing
falling on the concrete steps
accidentally stopping in a random-nothing-town
bus ride
first time having my own hotel room. weird.
to jessica's house to eat unbelievable quantities of american junk and
watch american junk movies and spend the night
sickish
fear (my mother here announces '¿sabes que los estados unidos estan de
guerra?' while i am trying to eat lunch. i spend the rest of the
afternoon hiding in my room half-sleeping and half-freaking
out.)
fast computer
ska/punk concert with jessica and emily and andres
(chocar-bailar! hehehehe!)
too much food
meetings
worry
crush of people, cigarette smoke, aguardiente
rain
food
news/webpages/emails/lack of news/not knowing/fear
phone call from mutti (the first home phone call)
the random puppy in our house
here is where i don't even know where to begin. but i stood staring at
the tv in the cafeteria for most of the morning. i couldn't decide
whether it was worse to be here or there, suddenly. the answer is that it
doesn't matter, there is still home and i was all the way here watching it
fall apart.
green sweater (julie said it was the same color as my
eyes. score! heehee.)
stupid banks
scary story about the park i have to cross to get to school (involved
someone hiding in a tree with a hammer.)
attempt at tea (ancient box of loose tea, big mess. but not bad. the
world is now a more civilized place.)
bimbo brand bread! lol...
yoga
so tired. pathetic, i start falling asleep before 9.
sleeping in ( til 9 or so... but it's so hard here, what with the sun and
cars and dogs and freaking rooster...)
rain (the climate is changing, time is actually passing)
usfq party! (dancing, barra libre, grapefruit from a tree, some cool
people)
100 messages from my swat address (i'm sure there's a way to get off some
of these lists, but i'm to lazy to investigate.)
flippy hair
party (barra libre and no food, being way the hell out in the middle of
nowhere, sketchy people)
guarderia
letter from eileen (with pictures! ooh! haha, including the one
where there are three people eating my clothes...)
making my own lunch
seseribo (even though i can't really dance salsa and i don't really like
beer)
guarderia - i had to feed the children soup with feet in it!
stupid trolley/bus/me
not being able to find seseribo for quite a while
spending money
normal ketchup with the cafeteria fries
cinnamon rolls with emily and kalen
buying too much stuff
eating too much stuff
realizing that the paper here is about 1/2 inch longer than normal
paper...no wonder i was confused
dinner - i swear, with my family, i'll learn more about dog shows than
about ecuador or spanish or anything here
pitzer seminar
all the skirts i have here: stupid packing list. everyone in the whole
world just wears jeans.
tema, proyecto, blah
classes, mostly
successful eating
i seem to be the only american who knows who her godparents are. weird.
seeing dead dog in the street on the bus ride to school (white fluffy
dog. well, half of one, plus pinkish stuff trailing down the road...)
trying to learn quichua in spanish from a french professor
stupid computers
free USFQ t-shirt (had to go for the misspelled one, ha.)
buying a jar of peanut butter!
swat starts. sigh. miss swat, and home, and everything. silly kt.
assembling filter water bottle
sick, thirsty, dying...
seafood soup
program issues. the whole thing just seems really forced and stupid to me
right now.
it's not august anymore! whoooo!!!
lunch (coke, pasta, corn on the cob that was wrong but still nice,
company)
to the mall again
too much food at the mall (more bolones, a big honkin' helado with fruit,
ack.)
not going to the salsa club (but how could i, after all that food?)
sleep
guardería (amusing children)
the look on poor enso the dog's face with all 5 of us in the kitchen,
maría whistling and alejandra spraying him with a squirt gun and josé luis
rattling a chain at him and giovanna rushing around opening and slamming
drawers and me just laughing...
no bar! (for jessi's birthday! glad i overcame my anti-social-dorkiness
for once and went out. danced for nearly 4 hours. fun fun fun.)
guardería (children everywhere, ack.)
walking through some pepper spray outside of no bar. stupid guards with
stupid rottweilers.
classes, mostly (especially history)
recovering stomach (actual consumption of food.... imagine that...)
email from mutti with a picture
card from susie
the difficulties all the professors have with american names. haha. (i
am kah-tee too-ning)
stomach hates me
8:30 class (have to leave the house at 7:30.)
classes more or less all day
feeling mostly semi-human again
first USFQ class (at 12:30... score!)
the feel of USFQ (like a set for a tv show about high school in southern
california... cell phones and cigarettes and skeletal girls in skinny
pants. bleh.)
seminario pitzer
registration - classes i wanted, minimum difficulty
oregano tea from mi madre
long speeches
weed smell during the speeches... that was odd...
too much chocolate
stomachache, sick sick sick
USFQ orientation (tour, lunch, dumb talks)
huaira (a restaurant. i even got there all by myself, taking dangerous
public transportation after dark. whee!)
weird sense that USFQ will collapse
scary impending work and lots of time here
scheduling difficulties
answering the phone ("¡ah, Usted es la gringa!")
going home early from the restaurant (although probably just as well)
v
sort of sleeping in
going to the mitad del mundo with my mother and sisters (i stood on the
equator! whee!)
to quicentro with my family (well, some family. and we sat in a little
restaurant in the mall and ate bolones and drank batidos and listened to
music. hee.)
hot
wanting Proper Tea
seeing the sun come up over the mountain
best bargain (36 pairs of pants for $100 shared among 8 people)
more shopping shopping! (sarah r. and me: "i just want to buy
things... and then have them!")
pie (pai!)
letter from grandma t when i got home
3 hotel rooms shared between 11 people (me, kemi, jessica and emily in 2
beds. erk.)
having to get up at 5 to see the sunrise
being locked in the hotel
bargaining (i suck. even when we tried jointly.)
ME BEING A MORON
bus ride to otavalo ($2 for 2 hours, view of mountains and river and
giant
piles of bananas)
dinner! (5 pizzas for 11 people, $5 per person, what drinking age? live
traditional music, so fun!)
waking up before 6:30 of my own accord
stupid song making me cry
little car-clock key chain stolen on the trolley (but if that´s the only
thing i have stolen while i´m here, i´ll be in good shape)
visiting the guarderia (although those are a lot of small children. a bit
frightening.)
mailing letters
plans for otavalo
getting completely lost going to the guarderia with tamara and jessi (up
the hill... down the hill... back up the hill in a taxi....)
stupid internet cafes
being home (funny how someplace is home when i have my own room and my
stuff there and i know what´s going on, mostly)
listening to over the rhine (which is somehow equated with walking to
campus in nice fall weather and morning sun)
letter from aunt cathy (she wins the first letter prize! yayyy!!!)
doing the dishes
tareas
pitzer seminar
seymour norte: nesting blue-footed boobies and frigates
competent return to quito-home (took taxi, remembered to ask my sisters
about the dog show)
shower and clean clothes!!!
up early
traveling
homework
bartolome: mostly land formations, craters, little lava lizards
last snorkeling - freezing cold but worth it (ray, sea urchins, more shiny
fish, another sea lion, a shark!)
big lava field (bahoibahoi, the slow trickly kind, really weird
formations)
cocktails and dancing with everyone, since it was the last night
burnt back from snorkeling
nasty boat shower! arrr! the mildewy evil smell!!!
isla genovesa: birds - frigates, boobies, finches
demanding galletas after lunch (oreos! hehehe!)
to bed early (i literally couldn´t stay awake. probably good for me.)
garua (icky rain-mist)
already imagining what we´ll do as soon as we get home
isla rabida: sea lions everywhere (¡lobos de mar!), flamingos, lots of
birds
snorkeling (glimmery pink and turquoise fish, a sea lion doing somersaults
a foot or so away from me, amazing everything...)
katie saving one of my rainbow hair-ducks (pride ducks!)
el sombrero chino: sea lion mother and baby, iguanas, coral
playing cards
sitting out on deck after dinner and looking at all the different
hemisphere stars
seasickish - skipped lunch
everything WET, so gross
losing the other hair-duck to the pacific ocean
galapagos!
estacion charles darwin: giant tortoises, baby and full-grown
playing in the ocean (such a long time since i have been in the
ocean... so perfect.)
maria informing us that the guard at the pitzer office thought we were
from some modeling agency the first time we all came in. i guess we´re
just that hot, as a whole ; )
up super-early
traveling
still feeling sick
nasty little damp cabin and bathroom
tour of USFQ
maria's house (choosing courses and eating little cakes)
finally using the internet
more creepy dreams (this time a rat in the kitchen. i cut it up a lot
with a big knife, but it still got up and crawled off.)
getting off the bus too early (long walk. i'm a dumbass.)
bad enso dog trying to eat my shoelaces and pants drawstrings and, well,
everything
feeling sick, can't sleep
eating at the mall with 8 other pitzerkids and some host siblings
back to kalen's house to watch the big ecuador-argentina game
successful navigation home
up early
getting censos (cutting and pasting and signing, ridiculous.)
silly food (pizza, chips, beer. how ecuadorian...)
losing the game. sigh.
walking home alone in the dark
museum ("los incas consideraban el oro como el sudor del sol y la plata
como el llanto de la luna")
more sculptures etc. of the virgin with wings (symbol of the city)
great big lunch at a nice restaurant with all 13 of us and our
mothers! so noisy, very cute
hot shower!!!!!!
disturbing dreams, disturbing crucified christs at the museum, medical
stuff and academic stuff, more freaking out
meeting my family and going home
two big plush friendly dogs (se llaman enso y donna)
embassy/ministry/much stupid paperwork
the freaking-out finally kicking in
graffiti
view of the mountains
the virgin with wings on el panecillo
wandering around the city as a big mob at night
trolley (crowded hot bad, and we got lost)
"vegetarian" food (i.e. fish)
orientation
prostitutes
cold shower
all my family (well, lots of it) seeing me off at the airport
listening to volumes II and III of the place that goes far away
descending into quito at night, with the city lights all glitter in
between the mountains
maria waiting at the gate at the airport
to the hotel floresta with other clueless people
no eating from nervousness = dizzyhot hard time staying vertical in the
houston airport
heavy luggage
men asking us for tips
trying to remember not to drink the tap water
Gosh. I hadn't really thought about that one, mom. But now I will...