there's nothing cooler than a dead puffer fish

Hello! Sooo, I haven’t written in a few days! Saturday morning I was homesick. :( A lot. I think it was because I hadn’t been doing much since everyone in my family is so busy. But I know that that will change once I start school and (hopefully) make some friends. I talked to my host mom for a while, and that made me feel a bit better. We went to the mall to get a t-shirt for Ricardo and food for Mika (the dog), and after that I just hung around the house. What an exciting day. Saturday was better though. That night I went out with Claudia and Emilio and some of Emilio’s friends to listen to some band. I got to listen to LOTS of Ecuadorian music and I like it! After every song, either Claudia or Emilio would ask me if I liked that one, and I almost always said yes. :) Before we went out, Emilio asked me what the word ‘though’ in English means, and I found out that that is REALLY hard to explain. Now he uses ‘though’ in almost every sentence, and Claudia and I just laugh. :) Sunday morning, I went to San Clemente (a beach that is about 40 minutes away) with Claudia and Emilio and Emilio’s family. It was really fun! I got to see a Blue-Footed Booby and a dead puffer fish and these things called agua malas (literally ‘bad water’) that are like jellyfish but different. We also walked down to the point of San Clemente where we could see Bahia, another beach that is further north. To the south you can also see Crucita (a beach as well), so it’s really cool! When we got home after the beach, I was SO TIRED! I put my stuff in my room, took off my shoes, and fell asleep in the hammock. :)
After dinner I talked with my host parents for a while, which was really fun! I have decided that my host dad is quite possibly one of the funniest (and sweetest) people in the world. Both of my host parents were teasing each other because apparently both of them snore, so my host dad was acting out what happens every night, and it was quite hilarious. :) Also, when I was sad on Saturday morning, he came over to me and said (in REALLY slow Spanish) ‘If you are sad, then I am sad’. It was really sweet. My host parents were also telling me about summertime and carnaval here. Needless to say, I am quite excited. :) I’ll write more about that when it gets closer.

a salty ocean

This morning, when I was at school, I was telling Noralma’s students about the beach that is closest to Houston (Galveston). I couldn’t think of the word for ‘dirty’, so I tried the French one. They looked really confused. Then I remembered the Spanish one, so I said that one instead, and they understood.
I just realized that (when I used the French word), I told them that the ocean near my house was very salty. :) That’s probably why they were so confused.

hace viento!

Today I went to the school that my host mom teaches at. School starts at 7 (I think), so we left at about 6:50. I am NOT excited about having to do that every morning when my school starts. :/ Anyway, the school she teaches at is an all-girls school, which makes it crazy. I went with her to her first class, and since she hadn’t prepared any sort of lesson for the day, she just had them ask me questions. At first, they didn’t want to say anything (probably because she told them to ask me in English), so she told me to just sit down somewhere, and then they SWARMED! It was a bit scary. :) This week is cultural week (or something of the sort) at her school, so about an hour later, they all had to go listen to some speech. Then Noralma and I went to a classroom upstairs, and I remembered that she told me that Friday was the day that her school was having an English-music festival. Which was more of a contest than a festival, but whatever. It basically consisted of 9 different groups singing songs in English. But the song choices were a bit questionable. The first place group sang some song by Hilary Duff, there were two by Miley Cyrus, one by Avril Lavigne, one by Michael Jackson, one by Paris Hilton (really), and one by the Jonas Brothers. I helped each group with some pronunciation, and after I went walking around the school with two girls. They both took me to their classes, so I got to meet a lot of people. Every time I met another group, they would say, ‘oooh you have pretty eyes. Do you have a brother?’ :) After that, the contest began. One of the judges was late (no surprise here in Ecuador), so Noralma asked me to be the fourth judge (!!). So I did. I’m not going to lie- it was hilarious. I only had to judge the first two songs though because the fourth judge showed up and took my place.
I got to meet my cousins today too! They were at the school because (I think) their mother is someone in charge there. Anyway, I forgot their names but there is a girl who is 21 or 22, and a boy who is 19. I’m pretty sure they thought my Spanish was pitiful. It is, so I can’t blame them. :) I am also pretty sure that they said that they lived close to me! But who knows… :)
I can definitely get used to taking at least one nap every day. It is wonderful. I can also get used to freshly squeezed fruit juice several times every day. :D
Today it is pretty warm, and SUPER windy, so I am sitting outside, since it’s a lot cooler than it is in the house. The only problem is that all of the little baby mangoes are falling off of the mango tree (which means there will be less for me to eat), AND it is SO DUSTY, so I have a thin layer of dust on me and all of my stuff. Oh well. I can get used to this if it means I can have fruit juice every day. :)
LOVE, Kirsty

GOOOOOOOAAAAAAAL

So, today hasn’t been real exciting. Noralma leaves for work before seven, Claudia and Leonardo leave a little after 8, and Ricardo leaves around 8ish, so I am home with just Fatima and Marybel/vel until about 1 o’clock, when everyone comes home for lunch. It’s okay though, because I know that they are all busy. I study Spanish and read the newspaper, and just keep myself busy. Today I went with Fatima to pick up Ricardo from his kindergarten. It is a 5 minute walk from our house. And that was the most exciting thing that I did today! Wahoo! At about 2, a lady came to our house to do Claudia and Noralma’s nails! Apparently here they will come to your house, and a manicure is only 4 or 5 dollars. I didn’t want one today because I don’t like talking to people in ENGLISH when I get my nails done, and I didn’t really think that it would be much better in Spanish. Maybe next week.
Today after lunch I had a REAL CONVERSATION (well, kind of) with Lenny, the guy who works in the butcher shop and has lunch with us every day. I was quite proud of myself. :)
AAH I FORGOT- last night I went with Claudia and Emilio to the hospital (which is like a 3 minute walk from the house) because they had a friend who was there. I asked why he was there, and we had to look it up- I guess something was wrong with his gall bladder. Anyway, they asked me how to pronounce ‘gall’, and so I did. And they were like, ‘Ah, okay- like GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAL!’. I think that was the best part of my day. :) It was definitely better than the part where a pigeon fell off the hospital onto the ground next to us and died. :/
Right now I am watching a Bourne movie in English with Spanish subtitles. Every time I see a word that I don’t know, I look it up and write it down. I have like 9 pages of random words that I have written down over the past 5 days. :) Hasta Luego!
LOVE, Kirsty

whaaaat?

Hola! I am so confused about what language I am speaking. Every time I can’t think of a word in Spanish it comes to me in French and then I get stuck thinking French and say everything wrong. :)
I visited my school today! It is called Universitario, and it is a high school inside of a university. In Ecuador in La Costa (the coast), the school year does not take place during the same part of the year as the US or other parts of Ecuador! The year begins sometime around April and ends in January. Since I am here in August, I will start halfway through this year and I’ll end halfway through next school year. It’s kind of cool because I get a summer vacation while I am here and then I will return home to the US and ill get ANOTHER summer vacation. :) This year, I will be in ‘Quinto’, which is like Junior year. Since Universitario is new, there is not a ‘Sexto’ this year, but since the school year is halfway done this year (and it will end in January), I will begin ‘Sexto’ next spring. Anyway, I went there with Noralma this morning and we talked to all of the people in the office. It is a small school, but everyone seems nice, and I was told that the students are welcoming and will talk to me. So that is good. I also met the English teacher there, and he joked that now I would have to teach his class while he relaxed. :D after we left the school, we went to get my school uniform (read: terrible outfit that I will have to wear as a form of vicious torture used by most Ecuadorian schools). I had to buy THREE DIFFERENT OUTFITS. One is for ‘special occasions’ and I think Mondays. But I’m not sure about that. Anyway, it is a button down shirt with the school emblem thingy on it, and a skirt that I have to have made for me. Oh, and I have to wear a tie with it. Haha so I am going to have to learn how to tie a tie! Noralma told me I will have to ask the kids next door (who go to the same school that I will go to) to teach me because she doesn’t know how and neither does Leonardo. Wahoo. I also have a polo shirt (with the school logo) and a long denim skirt (read: UGLY) that I will have to wear on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. I’m not quite sure what I’m supposed to wear on Fridays. I guess I’ll figure that out later. I also have a GYM UNIFORM! Haha it is interesting. There is a school shirt that is not that bad, with a pair of shorts and a pair of pants that I’m supposed to wear over the shorts. When we went to the shop today, the only shorts they had were one pair that were WAY too big and one pair that’s a little bit tight. So I chose the ones that didn’t make me look like a cartoon character (the kind of tight ones). So hopefully I don’t gain weight or else they won’t fit. :) That would be embarrassing. Speaking of gaining weight, I’m pretty sure I am going to. I was talking with my host mom the other night and I told her that I like to go running and I asked if there was anywhere here where I could go, and she told me that she doesn’t know of anywhere that would be safe enough. Which really sucks. I’m going to have to find something to do to burn extra energy. And so that I don’t get TOO fat. :/
This week at my school there are only classes for kids who aren’t doing well in school, so I don’t have to go (:)), and next week is a week of vacation for everyone, so I don’t start school until SEPTEMBER 7! So I have exactly two weeks to learn enough Spanish to survive in high school. :/ We’ll see how that goes.
Today for dinner we ate Ecuadorian Pizza! Which is basically the same as regular pizza. Just different cheese and I think there was less sauce. It was good.
OOH I don’t think I mentioned this: my family has TWO maids/cooks/I don’t know? One is named Fatima and she actually lives with us. Apparently she has worked for my family for 18 years! She seems really nice, but she is SUPER DIFFICULT to understand. Like, I’m not sure I have understood ONE SINGLE THING that she has said. Noralma told me she had some sort of illness when she was a child, and I guess it kept her from doing normal kid stuff, because she walks kind of funny and she never learned to read or write. The other one is named Maryvel or Marybel. B’s and V’s are the same here. :) She is only here in the mornings, but she is the one who usually makes lunch. She seems really nice too, but she’s hard to understand too because she talks so fast. :/

bananas or potatoes?

Here are some pictures! The first is la playa Crucita!
The second is of people cleaning fish at Crucita. See the little girl? Yeah, she's cleaning fish! :)
The third is of Claudia (my host sister) and her boyfriend Emilio at Crucita.
And the fourth is of me at Crucita.
There are more pictures posted at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/estoyenecuador

Today was good. I LOVE my family. My host mom’s name is Noralma, and she is SO SWEET. I feel totally comfortable around her. My host dad’s name is Leonardo. He doesn’t speak English, so it is more difficult to communicate with him, but he is funny. Today he wanted to know how the lemonade at a restaurant that we went to was made so he told the waiter that I was American and I wanted to know. :) The waiter told us! Oh and he calls me Kris because Kirsty is too hard. My host sister’s name is Claudia. She did an exchange to California two years ago, so she knows English very well and knows what it’s like too. She is 19, so we are very close in age as well. She goes to the university here in Portoviejo, but she is on vacation for the next 3 weeks I think. She speaks Spanish around me almost all the time, which is good because that will make it easier (??) for me to learn. My host brother’s name is Ricardo, or Ricardito. He is 4, and he is SO CUTE! It’s hard to communicate with him because he doesn’t speak English, and his voice is harder to understand because he’s a little kid. But he’s still really funny.
Today I woke up and ate cereal, which is different. The cereal is the same, but the milk isn’t. I’m not quite sure what it is, but I think it’s milk with no lactose. So like a milk-imposter. Haha but it’s not bad- just different. I don’t think I mentioned this, but my family owns a small butcher shop that is like 1 block away. Noralma works there every afternoon, and the boy who works there for them comes and has lunch at our house every day. Ooh I got the internet on my laptop set up today too. I tried to figure out how to do it myself, but that didn’t work, so I asked Leonardo (my host brother who is in Clear Lake- I guess he’s actually Leonardo Jr, since my host dad is named Leonardo too). He helped me for a while but we still couldn’t figure it out, so he asked his cousin to come over to the house to figure it out. So he came over and it took him about 30 minutes to figure it out but it works now! I skype-d my mom and dad for the first time (not counting the times we ‘practiced’ talking from upstairs to downstairs). For lunch, we ate ceviche, which is alright.
This afternoon/evening we went to see a beach called Crucita. It was high tide, so there wasn’t much of the beach to see, but there were tons of people! My family also showed me the place where the fishermen bring all of the fish that they catch to be cleaned and then taken to the tuna or sardine factories. It was very smelly but the birds really liked it. We drove up to a little place on top of a hill that looks out over Crucita and it was so pretty! We couldn’t see very far because it was cloudy there. BUT that is a place where you can go hang gliding! Like, you just run off the edge of a cliff. I’m not so sure about that. We went out for dinner a bit later. It was REALLY GOOD- I had some sort of breaded fish and I really liked it.
I don’t understand plantains. Sometimes they taste like potatoes and sometimes they taste like bananas. I think it has something to do with how ripe they are, but still, that’s weird. I like them best when they taste like bananas. The restaurant that we went to had really good limonada too, which is TOTALLY not lemonade. It’s made of limes and it’s better. This was when Leonardo used me to ask the waiter how they made the limonada- apparently they cut it into slices and then put it in a blender and used the juice.
Right now we are watching the Miss Universe pageant because Miss Ecuador is from Portoviejo (she was one of Noralma’s students at some point in time), and she was supposed to be a favorite. But she didn’t make it into the top 15. :/ oh well.

mi familia

So, I have arrived in Portoviejo. But let me start from where I left off yesterday. We landed in Quito just fine. I got my bags and made it through customs quite easily- I think it was because I told the customs officer that I didn’t speak Spanish and he didn’t really want to deal with that. Anyway, I walk out of the customs section and see everyone waiting to pick up people. BUT I don’t see anything else. So I end up walking around for a while and asking people where the domestic departures are, and I eventually find it. I guess I was confused because I had to walk outside to a different building and I was kind of nervous that I was leaving the airport. But it was okay. My flight to Guayaquil was fine, and when I got off the plane and got my luggage, Noralma (my host mom), Leonardo (my host dad), and Ricardo (my 4 year old host brother) were waiting for me! We ended up staying at Leonardo’s sister’s house in Guayaquil that night because it is a 2.5 hour drive to Portoviejo and that wouldn’t be very much fun in the nighttime. So we stayed there and then this morning we left around 9 ish. It ended up taking about 3 hours to get to Portoviejo. OH but it is so funny how everyone drives here. All of the buses drive in the middle of two lanes. I don’t know why, but they do. And everyone honks at everyone and that is my favorite part. The road to Portoviejo was good for about half of the trip, and it was pretty bad for the rest. There are a lot of potholes and lots of construction that is not marked so you just all of a sudden realize that there is now one lane for both directions of traffic and it is VERY SCARY when there is a huge truck coming towards you. But anyway, when we got to the house, I was shown my room, which is small but VERY cute. I like it. I have my own VERY little bathroom and my own VERY little closet too, which is perfect. I will try to post some pictures. OH and my family got me some flowers, which was really nice. We just had lunch- some sort of chicken soup that had yucca in it, and some rice and meat and fried egg that had a name that I have already forgotten! MY SPANISH IS TERRIBLE! I don’t know any vocab at all. Boo.

I will post pictures as soon as i can. I am using my host family´s computer right now, but as soon as i figure out how to connect to the internet on my laptop, I will upload some!

LOVE, Kirsty

hola!

Hello! I guess this is my first real official post! Except I’m not in Ecuador yet, but I almost am, so we will just have to pretend. I am on the plane to Quito right now, so this won’t be posted until later, but that’s okay. Today was hard. I pretty much spent high school anticipating this moment, but it was a lot worse than I imagined. It’s really hard to say goodbye. I cried A LOT at the airport (sorry guys), and some more in the airplane. It’s probably a good thing that there wasn’t anyone sitting next to me because I might have cried on them.  Anyway, I somehow managed to pack my suitcases PERFECTLY. One was 49 pounds and the other was 49.5. The limit is 50 pounds, so I was quite proud of myself. Hopefully I also did a good job packing so that all of the gifts and things in my bags aren’t broken. We’ll see. I made it though security at the airport in Houston just fine and I got a window seat AND an empty seat next to me on BOTH of my flights so far!  I also just filled out my customs papers, so that was exciting. All of this is pretty mundane, but I have nothing better to write about and I have nothing better to do so I’m going to write mundane things. I saw 3 other rotary exchange students in the Miami airport (I could tell because of the BEAUTIFUL blazers), but I didn’t talk to them because I was more focused on finding my gate before my plane left. I succeeded, and bought a sandwich y un agua tambien! Haha yeah this is really boring. OH, but time zones REALLY confuse me. My flight to Miami was 2 hours and 15 minutes long, but I arrived at 2 something and that would mean that the time change is 2 hours but it’[s only ONE HOUR. I don’t understand. I am just leaving my watch until I get to Ecuador and then I’ll figure out what time it is there. OH BOY we are landing in TWENTY FIVE minutes! The pilot just told us that. And he thanked us for flying with American airlines. Hooray. It is really cloudy outside, which really sucks because I can’t see South America yet! But I can see South American clouds. Okay well I am going to go because the captain is going to ask us to ‘please turn off all electronic devices’ pretty soon and that means my laptop. I WILL WRITE MORE SOON I PROMISE!
LOVE, Kirsty