This is mostly for my four friends that happen to also be coming to Ecuador within the year... here's a little taste (no pun intended) of what you can expect. Also, for some reason, a ton of people have been asking me about the food- so here goes.
At home, I barely ever eat _____ but now, it has become a staple!
-Meat (including liver, tongue, haven't yet had guinea pig)
-Cheese (like you've never tasted!)
-Potatoes (as in like four per meal)
-Rice (up the yin yang... but not the asian kind)
-Soda (sin high fructose corn syrup)
-Pastries and bread with no nutrients (only because they're so cheap :)
-Milk (I guess I'm over my prior lactose intolerance, because I pretty sure I've been drinking straight up creme, and I've been fine!)
-Instant Coffee (I'm officially no longer a Starbucks partner)
But I assure you, the food is not horrible! I've been helping my host mom cook and I'm going to slowly start sharing ideas :)
There are also a lot of things I've been doing (and not doing) that I used to never do (or always did)!
-Not making lists, except this one (yesterday I made it halfway one before realizing its pointlessness and tearing it up. That's right, feel free to cheer for me out loud!)
-Sleeping approx 8 hours each night (I know, this is huge)
-Showering with only 2 products (shampoo and a bar of soap)
-Watching TV (but only the best, like America's Next Top Model in Spanish)
-Playing board games and doing origami (with my nine year old brother Sevas)
-Speaking spanish (duh)
-Not planning anything (that went in the basura with the list)
-Wandering aimlessly (is there anything else to do without one's iPhone?)
-Only getting on Facebook 4-5 times per week (but solely for communication with friends)
-Spending money while not making it (can I do this for 6 months?!)
"So you're getting lazy and fat?" you say?
Maybe so, but I am loving doing it!
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Monday, June 22, 2009
iFeliz día de los padres!
(This was really written on June 21st, 2009)
iFeliz día de los padres y feliz cumpleaños a mi amiga Hadley y mi abuelo Papa! I assure you, my time in Ecuador has already gotten much more exciting! On Friday, I had my first day of school at CIMAS and took a Spanish placement test along with my four other classmates from Washington. We met all of the wonderful staff, ate an amazing traditional Ecuadorian meal, and then met our families!! My mami Elsa and her nine-year-old son, Sebas (pronounced Sayvas) which is short for Sebastian, are absolutely wonderful. Today I met my papa, George, who came for Father’s Day, but works about seven hours away on the coast. They are INCREDIBLY nice people, very patient with my Spanish and very, very loving. They treat me as if I am their own daughter, and only ever refer to me as “Mauri” (pronounced Mowree), “mi hija” or “mi amor”. I have my own room and bathroom, and our house is perched high up on a hill overlooking the city.
Yesterday they took me to El Centro Histórico, (Old Town Quito) and I was blown away by its beauty. Mixed among incredible churches and gardens, are hundreds of vendors, selling everything from the cutest puppies I’ve ever seen (seriously), to teeny little sombreros for your hypothetical new puppy. They took me on a tour of the amazing palace that is like a mix of the Capital and the President’s house. After we finished and went out the very high security gates, I saw a group of tourists being given a short description of the place from outside the gates! It turns out, only Ecuadorians are allowed inside, and while Sebas took me to take photos of the nearby garden, my mami sweet-talked the tour guide into letting me come! I think it may have helped that I told him I’d let him take me dancing someday.
We then went to an amazing park that overlooks the entire city! We brought along our cocker spaniel, Cokey, to the dog park, watched a few Saturday soccer games and then walked through an amazing “palacio cristal” called Itchimbía. It is a gorgeous all-glass event space at the top of the hill, in which I vowed I WILL someday have a party.
All in all, I am very happy here. At first, I felt like somebody had taken a vacuum to the Spanish part of my brain… I couldn’t remember anything, but now, after several meals adorned with Spanish conversations about Obama while watching futbol, or “Charmed” in Spanish or this crazy show called Famosas y Mascotas, I am definitely getting the hang of it, and am even having trouble writing this blog in English. This is a good sign.
Tomorrow I’ll officially start classes, get a cell phone, and search for salsa classes and pick up soccer games. Be sure to check out my photos coming soon. All my best to you and yours,
~Mauri
iFeliz día de los padres y feliz cumpleaños a mi amiga Hadley y mi abuelo Papa! I assure you, my time in Ecuador has already gotten much more exciting! On Friday, I had my first day of school at CIMAS and took a Spanish placement test along with my four other classmates from Washington. We met all of the wonderful staff, ate an amazing traditional Ecuadorian meal, and then met our families!! My mami Elsa and her nine-year-old son, Sebas (pronounced Sayvas) which is short for Sebastian, are absolutely wonderful. Today I met my papa, George, who came for Father’s Day, but works about seven hours away on the coast. They are INCREDIBLY nice people, very patient with my Spanish and very, very loving. They treat me as if I am their own daughter, and only ever refer to me as “Mauri” (pronounced Mowree), “mi hija” or “mi amor”. I have my own room and bathroom, and our house is perched high up on a hill overlooking the city.
Yesterday they took me to El Centro Histórico, (Old Town Quito) and I was blown away by its beauty. Mixed among incredible churches and gardens, are hundreds of vendors, selling everything from the cutest puppies I’ve ever seen (seriously), to teeny little sombreros for your hypothetical new puppy. They took me on a tour of the amazing palace that is like a mix of the Capital and the President’s house. After we finished and went out the very high security gates, I saw a group of tourists being given a short description of the place from outside the gates! It turns out, only Ecuadorians are allowed inside, and while Sebas took me to take photos of the nearby garden, my mami sweet-talked the tour guide into letting me come! I think it may have helped that I told him I’d let him take me dancing someday.
We then went to an amazing park that overlooks the entire city! We brought along our cocker spaniel, Cokey, to the dog park, watched a few Saturday soccer games and then walked through an amazing “palacio cristal” called Itchimbía. It is a gorgeous all-glass event space at the top of the hill, in which I vowed I WILL someday have a party.
All in all, I am very happy here. At first, I felt like somebody had taken a vacuum to the Spanish part of my brain… I couldn’t remember anything, but now, after several meals adorned with Spanish conversations about Obama while watching futbol, or “Charmed” in Spanish or this crazy show called Famosas y Mascotas, I am definitely getting the hang of it, and am even having trouble writing this blog in English. This is a good sign.
Tomorrow I’ll officially start classes, get a cell phone, and search for salsa classes and pick up soccer games. Be sure to check out my photos coming soon. All my best to you and yours,
~Mauri
Safe and Sound
(This was really written on June 18th, 2009)
Oh boy, so I’m here! Made it safely and soundly to Quito, Ecuador!
My adventure started yesterday at 5 am. As the “seasoned” traveler that I like to think of myself, I decided to double check the luggage requirements the night before leaving my brother’s house in LA. As I read the fine print that I had missed the first time, I realized that in my special case, I could only have 2 50 lb bags, rather than the 2 70 lb bags that nearly every other flight was allowed. So I did some arranging, but to no avail, arrived at the airport, had to pay for my second bag (where was that written?!) and my other bag was still 12 lbs over. What?! After an hour of rearranging and reweighing, I met the requirements and made it on the flight in time.
I ended up sitting next to a man who spoke no English. Here we go! He asked me, “hables espanol?” “Mas o menos” I replied, only to think quickly back to myself shit, I speak much more “menos” than I do “mas”! What am I getting myself into? He started babbling to me, asking me questions, asking me to repeat every single announcement that came over the loud speaker… until I started wishing to myself that I had replied with a simple “nada”.
But I started to understand, and by the time we were up in the air, we were best friends, babbling back and forth, I teaching him, he teaching me, and by the end of the trip, we parted ways grateful for each other’s patience and kindness, and I was quite proud to have been given the exaggerated but thoughtful spanglish title, “the best teacher del mundo!” I guess it’s in my genes.
I made it through Houston, Panama City, and into Quito, greeted by the most intense swine flu precautions ever! After customs, I had to go into a quarantined area, and stand on two “x”s while they used a laser to check my temperature. I later asked the man who picked me up from the airport if there was much of a swine flu presence here- he said none. Well its good to know they’re careful!
Last night I stayed at a very cute hotel/hostel in the area of town called “gringo-landia” I hear it’s just like Des-landia, but minus the Hungarian/Irish influence ☺ But the city is beautiful, as is the weather, as are the surrounding mountains, and I can’t wait to explore more.
Today, I ventured into an internet café, to touch base with folks, and ended up Skyping a friend for a few minutes, only to be interrupted by an envious man babbling at me in Creole. I quickly jumped off the computer, thinking that I may have been on too long. He then asked me in incredibly broken English to help him get on Skype so he could call his family. My two comrades were already waiting for me, so I said I could quickly help him set up an account and he could call his family to have them set up an account. Well, it turns out he’s from Haiti, and I assumed he was trying to tell me that his family wouldn’t be able to use a computer. So I tried to set him up with putting money on his account, so he could just call their phones using Skype. Well, by the time we made it to the billing information (all of this on the spanish computer mind you) he told me his address was 8-6. I asked him what street, confused expression, and then asked him if he lived in Port au Prince. His face lit up… “You know Haiti?!”. Damnit, is this what I get for being a semi-worldly individual? From there, I realized it was doubtful that he had a credit card, since he had no billing address, and just decided I would put money on my account, and let him use it to make his “one minute” phone call. Is this because I just watched “Yes Man” the night before I left? Thirty minutes later, I had to cut the cord. He asked me when I could meet him there again to help him, and not knowing where I’ll be living, I told him good luck and went on my way. I didn’t really have anything else to do, and sure, it was kind of sweet to listen to him babble in Creole for 30 minutes, but a little part of me felt like “the biggest pushover del mundo!” ☺
Despite having consumed only one meal and drinking only “agua mineral natural sin gas” all day, I’ve already had my first bout of diarrhea. Next time I’ll be sure to ask for everything “sin gas y diarrhea”. That’s something Lonely Planet doesn’t tell ya!
I have decided, however, that I really like these “Yogur y Pan Yuca” shops that are all over. There’s all sorts of yogurt smoothies and parfaits and such, and all of it comes with a couple of sort-of yucca donuts all for about $1.50. What is a yucca donut? Certainly not yucky. I think I will be frequenting these puppies the whole time I’m here.
Well, I think I’ve told you about the most exciting parts of my day… Haitian, diarrhea, yogur y yuca, yup, that’s about it! I promise these blogs will get more exciting, but in the meantime, I quite enjoy the quiet life of Quito. In the words of my mother, hasta largo (until we get large?! Hasta gordo?) y muchos abrazos. ~Maura
Oh boy, so I’m here! Made it safely and soundly to Quito, Ecuador!
My adventure started yesterday at 5 am. As the “seasoned” traveler that I like to think of myself, I decided to double check the luggage requirements the night before leaving my brother’s house in LA. As I read the fine print that I had missed the first time, I realized that in my special case, I could only have 2 50 lb bags, rather than the 2 70 lb bags that nearly every other flight was allowed. So I did some arranging, but to no avail, arrived at the airport, had to pay for my second bag (where was that written?!) and my other bag was still 12 lbs over. What?! After an hour of rearranging and reweighing, I met the requirements and made it on the flight in time.
I ended up sitting next to a man who spoke no English. Here we go! He asked me, “hables espanol?” “Mas o menos” I replied, only to think quickly back to myself shit, I speak much more “menos” than I do “mas”! What am I getting myself into? He started babbling to me, asking me questions, asking me to repeat every single announcement that came over the loud speaker… until I started wishing to myself that I had replied with a simple “nada”.
But I started to understand, and by the time we were up in the air, we were best friends, babbling back and forth, I teaching him, he teaching me, and by the end of the trip, we parted ways grateful for each other’s patience and kindness, and I was quite proud to have been given the exaggerated but thoughtful spanglish title, “the best teacher del mundo!” I guess it’s in my genes.
I made it through Houston, Panama City, and into Quito, greeted by the most intense swine flu precautions ever! After customs, I had to go into a quarantined area, and stand on two “x”s while they used a laser to check my temperature. I later asked the man who picked me up from the airport if there was much of a swine flu presence here- he said none. Well its good to know they’re careful!
Last night I stayed at a very cute hotel/hostel in the area of town called “gringo-landia” I hear it’s just like Des-landia, but minus the Hungarian/Irish influence ☺ But the city is beautiful, as is the weather, as are the surrounding mountains, and I can’t wait to explore more.
Today, I ventured into an internet café, to touch base with folks, and ended up Skyping a friend for a few minutes, only to be interrupted by an envious man babbling at me in Creole. I quickly jumped off the computer, thinking that I may have been on too long. He then asked me in incredibly broken English to help him get on Skype so he could call his family. My two comrades were already waiting for me, so I said I could quickly help him set up an account and he could call his family to have them set up an account. Well, it turns out he’s from Haiti, and I assumed he was trying to tell me that his family wouldn’t be able to use a computer. So I tried to set him up with putting money on his account, so he could just call their phones using Skype. Well, by the time we made it to the billing information (all of this on the spanish computer mind you) he told me his address was 8-6. I asked him what street, confused expression, and then asked him if he lived in Port au Prince. His face lit up… “You know Haiti?!”. Damnit, is this what I get for being a semi-worldly individual? From there, I realized it was doubtful that he had a credit card, since he had no billing address, and just decided I would put money on my account, and let him use it to make his “one minute” phone call. Is this because I just watched “Yes Man” the night before I left? Thirty minutes later, I had to cut the cord. He asked me when I could meet him there again to help him, and not knowing where I’ll be living, I told him good luck and went on my way. I didn’t really have anything else to do, and sure, it was kind of sweet to listen to him babble in Creole for 30 minutes, but a little part of me felt like “the biggest pushover del mundo!” ☺
Despite having consumed only one meal and drinking only “agua mineral natural sin gas” all day, I’ve already had my first bout of diarrhea. Next time I’ll be sure to ask for everything “sin gas y diarrhea”. That’s something Lonely Planet doesn’t tell ya!
I have decided, however, that I really like these “Yogur y Pan Yuca” shops that are all over. There’s all sorts of yogurt smoothies and parfaits and such, and all of it comes with a couple of sort-of yucca donuts all for about $1.50. What is a yucca donut? Certainly not yucky. I think I will be frequenting these puppies the whole time I’m here.
Well, I think I’ve told you about the most exciting parts of my day… Haitian, diarrhea, yogur y yuca, yup, that’s about it! I promise these blogs will get more exciting, but in the meantime, I quite enjoy the quiet life of Quito. In the words of my mother, hasta largo (until we get large?! Hasta gordo?) y muchos abrazos. ~Maura
Where I'm at and Where I'm Going....
(This was really written on June 1st, 2009)
This is the point at which folks are constantly asking me, “can you believe you are already halfway through college?!” Though most people expect that I will say no and elaborate on how fast time has flown, my real answer to that question is,“no, no I cannot believe I am only halfway through college. I feel like I should be done by now. How can I possibly be desiring that Senior-esque realization of “oh shit, the real world…” when I am still in the free, comforting, non-threatening confines of dorm life as a teen? Am I really only 19? I should really double-check my birth certificate.
But seriously, is this normal? As I sit here, reflecting, listening to a Pandora station that might as well be called “Soundtrack to Nostalgia”, I look back on this year and realize that I really packed far too much into it… so much in fact, that it feels like the ratio of productivity:time is experiencing a seriously real deficit of time. More time should have passed, right? Which sounds crazy, I know. High productivity should never be a bad thing…
… unless it leads to burnout- which I am probably dangerously close to.
This soundtrack is bringing to mind a year of two steady jobs, overloading 400 level classes, 14 (roundtrip) flights around the country, the founding of two new committees, seven conferences, an exponentially expanding “network”, zero illnesses, countless conference calls, two laptops, three iPhones, and four new google hits, to scratch the surface. All in the name of social responsibility, right? Though I know these are all means to an end, about which I constantly remind myself, sometimes I still feel like a walking contradiction.
But to continue the economics analogy- still, there is no such thing as a free lunch. As a result of all of this, I have trained my body to not need much sleep, my friends to not expect much of my time, and my family to not worry about me as much. Which has been okay, for now. But, I don’t want it to be this way forever. Nobody wants to have few hours of sleep, few friends and unconcerned family in the real world that I have tricked myself into desiring. Don’t get me wrong, it has been an amazing year, and I’ve been very happy, but its time to break the cycle.
That’s why I’m leaving. The country. In 16 days. I’m going to Ecuador, to learn Spanish, become a salsa master, take siestas, and explore the mega diversity of the Galapagos Islands, Amazon Basin, and Andes, with a side of Machu Pichu and other such wonders of the world. I’m not going to allow myself to worry about anything other than verb tenses, lack of veggies in my diet, and whether or not it will be 72 degrees or 75 degrees on any given day.
Though culture shock may affect me to a certain extent, I am much more anticipating life-style shock. Boredom, feelings of unproductiveness, a dwindling bank account, slowly eating meals at a table (and not at scarfing them down at my computer), and actually having time to think about my home, and miss it. But I’m not going to worry about it. Worrying is for sophomores…. and I only have 10 more days of that.
I will say, however, that I’ve stopped planning for the future. A good friend asked me yesterday, why I do what I do. He asked me if it was specific long-term goals that drive my specific short-term actions. And I realized that, while I used to set strategic benchmarks for myself, I no longer do that. Though I thrive off of the same color coded iCal that Kraig referenced in his last years’ reflection, I have come to realize that setting goals for myself, is almost tantamount to setting limits. For instance, my goal to volunteer in India last Fall quarter was interrupted by a promising job, through which I have come to be more passionate about environmental issues, which has now led to this study in Ecuador. I realize, that if I had dictated my life according to that year-old plan, I likely would have missed out on this amazing opportunity before me.
Again, the nostalgic music is spurning thoughts of what might have been. I am amazed, yet content with the fact that nearly everything we do in these four years that may or may not fly by, is likely to have a completely differing outcome from its original alterative. And while I may temporarily ache to move on from the temporary bubble of Seattle University, I realize that this bubble, unlike that of the real world, provides choice and security, a combo-luxury we are quick to forget.
I am proud of the path that I have foraged this year, and the many future paths that it invariably offers me. I am coming to a place where I am confident that I can take this opportunity for cultural immersion, and use it not to make my resume more well-rounded, but to instead balance out my life of productivity, to encompass productive conversation, rather than simply productive emails.
I look forward to continue building my relationships with my friends and family here, while forming new bonds with my future Ecuadorian friends and family. I am ready to step out of this bubble and get a taste of the real world in a different culture, in hopes that it will further ground my expectations (or lack thereof) of my role and future within the imminent real, real world that waits for me just two years away.
In the worlds of my new Ecuadorian Spanish teacher, Emilia (with whom I’ve been emailing)…
“Muchos abrazos” ☺
Maura
This is the point at which folks are constantly asking me, “can you believe you are already halfway through college?!” Though most people expect that I will say no and elaborate on how fast time has flown, my real answer to that question is,“no, no I cannot believe I am only halfway through college. I feel like I should be done by now. How can I possibly be desiring that Senior-esque realization of “oh shit, the real world…” when I am still in the free, comforting, non-threatening confines of dorm life as a teen? Am I really only 19? I should really double-check my birth certificate.
But seriously, is this normal? As I sit here, reflecting, listening to a Pandora station that might as well be called “Soundtrack to Nostalgia”, I look back on this year and realize that I really packed far too much into it… so much in fact, that it feels like the ratio of productivity:time is experiencing a seriously real deficit of time. More time should have passed, right? Which sounds crazy, I know. High productivity should never be a bad thing…
… unless it leads to burnout- which I am probably dangerously close to.
This soundtrack is bringing to mind a year of two steady jobs, overloading 400 level classes, 14 (roundtrip) flights around the country, the founding of two new committees, seven conferences, an exponentially expanding “network”, zero illnesses, countless conference calls, two laptops, three iPhones, and four new google hits, to scratch the surface. All in the name of social responsibility, right? Though I know these are all means to an end, about which I constantly remind myself, sometimes I still feel like a walking contradiction.
But to continue the economics analogy- still, there is no such thing as a free lunch. As a result of all of this, I have trained my body to not need much sleep, my friends to not expect much of my time, and my family to not worry about me as much. Which has been okay, for now. But, I don’t want it to be this way forever. Nobody wants to have few hours of sleep, few friends and unconcerned family in the real world that I have tricked myself into desiring. Don’t get me wrong, it has been an amazing year, and I’ve been very happy, but its time to break the cycle.
That’s why I’m leaving. The country. In 16 days. I’m going to Ecuador, to learn Spanish, become a salsa master, take siestas, and explore the mega diversity of the Galapagos Islands, Amazon Basin, and Andes, with a side of Machu Pichu and other such wonders of the world. I’m not going to allow myself to worry about anything other than verb tenses, lack of veggies in my diet, and whether or not it will be 72 degrees or 75 degrees on any given day.
Though culture shock may affect me to a certain extent, I am much more anticipating life-style shock. Boredom, feelings of unproductiveness, a dwindling bank account, slowly eating meals at a table (and not at scarfing them down at my computer), and actually having time to think about my home, and miss it. But I’m not going to worry about it. Worrying is for sophomores…. and I only have 10 more days of that.
I will say, however, that I’ve stopped planning for the future. A good friend asked me yesterday, why I do what I do. He asked me if it was specific long-term goals that drive my specific short-term actions. And I realized that, while I used to set strategic benchmarks for myself, I no longer do that. Though I thrive off of the same color coded iCal that Kraig referenced in his last years’ reflection, I have come to realize that setting goals for myself, is almost tantamount to setting limits. For instance, my goal to volunteer in India last Fall quarter was interrupted by a promising job, through which I have come to be more passionate about environmental issues, which has now led to this study in Ecuador. I realize, that if I had dictated my life according to that year-old plan, I likely would have missed out on this amazing opportunity before me.
Again, the nostalgic music is spurning thoughts of what might have been. I am amazed, yet content with the fact that nearly everything we do in these four years that may or may not fly by, is likely to have a completely differing outcome from its original alterative. And while I may temporarily ache to move on from the temporary bubble of Seattle University, I realize that this bubble, unlike that of the real world, provides choice and security, a combo-luxury we are quick to forget.
I am proud of the path that I have foraged this year, and the many future paths that it invariably offers me. I am coming to a place where I am confident that I can take this opportunity for cultural immersion, and use it not to make my resume more well-rounded, but to instead balance out my life of productivity, to encompass productive conversation, rather than simply productive emails.
I look forward to continue building my relationships with my friends and family here, while forming new bonds with my future Ecuadorian friends and family. I am ready to step out of this bubble and get a taste of the real world in a different culture, in hopes that it will further ground my expectations (or lack thereof) of my role and future within the imminent real, real world that waits for me just two years away.
In the worlds of my new Ecuadorian Spanish teacher, Emilia (with whom I’ve been emailing)…
“Muchos abrazos” ☺
Maura
A Simple Disclaimer...
Given that my internet access is limited, its likely that I will post several blogs from different sittings at my computer, all at the same time.... so just pay attention to the date I list, and hopefully things will remain in sequential order. The following post is just a bit of background, a simple reflection that happens to be in the form of my Sullivan end-of-the-year-letter.... (where Im at and where Im going).
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