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Ecuadorian fashion: The camel toe

2009-10-16T15:51:00.000-07:00

This is the post I would like to write. hahahaha.... maybe soon.

Living the dream...

2009-10-16T15:01:00.001-07:00

Taita Imbabura (The big volcano near Ibarra)

I am living COMPLETELY on my own! Woop woop! For the first time in my life, I'm living on my own, renting on my own, and essentially, I'm on my own all the time! There have been great things about it - the independence, privacy, the ability to cook and eat whatever and whenever I want!, to arrange everything how I want it. However, there are also a lot of disadvantages to it - I have to buy all these things for it that I'll have for only a year (fridge, mattress, baskets, shelves, etc.), I have to constantly clean, and well, I'm also on my own for most of the time! But it's definitely been a great experience so far. It's definitely not ready yet to show pictures of the apt, but I wanted to share some pictures of the view I have from the roof.

Cayambe, another volcano visible from the roof.

Some hills and houses.

More houses and some views of the rest of Ibarra.

Cotacachi. She is the wife of Imbabura. When there is snow on the top, they say that Taita Imbabura has visited her in the night...

Rain, Rain, Go Away...

2009-10-10T11:41:00.000-07:00

WAIT! Please come rains!

Now is about the time that the rainy season begins in Ibarra. Well, I´ve heard that it used to start in September, but now we expect the rains to come more near the end of October. Either way, it´s been really dry in Ibarra and no rain. Summers here are dry and really sunny and Ibarra is the epitome of this. Beautifully sunny days with temperatures in the 70s (sometimes getting in the 80s when the sun is really strong). While I relish this, it has been so dry here that all the vegetation has turned yellow and there is dust flying all over the wind. I know that a lot of people are wishing for rain. I can tell by the charred mountainsides all around Ibarra and the ever present plumes of smoke. Many people who live in the Campo (countryside), think that if you burn the mountainsides, the smoke will go up in the sky and cause rain. So, everywhere in Ibarra and around has been burning recently. It´s really unfortunate and sad. So.... Rain, please come soon!

A Regime Change.

2009-10-08T12:28:00.001-07:00

In June, right before I left Ibarra, there was an election for Mayor of Ibarra. The two main opponents were Jorge Martinez (a member of Rafael Correa´s political party) and Pablo Jurado (the current Mayor at the time). Martinez won by a large margin and it seemed everyone was happy.

Well, not so many people are happy now. I have to admit, maybe there was corruption in the government with the previous mayor, but things ran so much smoother! For example, parking was regulated. Now it is not, and traffic is horrible (at least this is what I´ve heard from people in Ibarra). And before, our director, who we call Doctora, was solely in charge of CECAMI with our ever wonderful secretary, Martha. Yes, they had lots of free time and did wash their cars, do online shopping, and put on makeup during office hours. Buuuut, CECAMI was organized, coordinated, and ran well! Now, it´s chaos! The Doctora has been put in charge of Human Resources within the City Hall and CECAMI! And Martha is always with her. We have a new secretary, Lupe, who never does her work. This resulted in not even knowing who was signed up for classes nor which classes I would have for the first day of classes. Literally, there were a bunch of students for Intermediate III and Advanced III waiting outside the office and they didn´t do anything! I took them into my room and told them that I didn´t know which levels I was going to teach, so lets just play some games! Absolutely inefficient. I´ve decided now that I will teach Basic I and Advanced III - completely opposite classes, which means twice the amount of work for me. And now I hear we don´t have money to buy a big bottle of water for the office so we will have to buy that ourselves and that we might be paid later. It´s just crazy!

I think that Ecuador is far different than the US in terms of politics. Here, you really feel the changes at an individual level when there is a political party change. In the States, I feel that usually when a new politician comes to power, no one feels a difference. Maybe that´s why people here are so politically active and people in the US are mainly pretty politically apathetic.

Up and coming.

2009-05-25T19:25:00.000-07:00

First, I have vacation starting on Wednesday and so I will be going to the Oriente (Amazon) with Debby and Stacey (the new volunteer in Ibarra) starting on Wednesday. We'll be taking a tour and it'll be our first time in the Amazon. So I'm super excited! I really want to try the ants that taste like lemon!

Other than that, like the crazy person I am, I signed up for the Ultimas Noticias race in Quito for June 7th. It's a 15 K mainly uphill at 10,000 feet in altitude. What the hell was I thinking?! I haven't run in months and I've only run once a week (one time stopping to eat while running) since I signed up for the race. It's going to be baaaaaad. I know it. I blame Debby for this one. Hahahaha. So, we'll probably be giant lazy bums and stop a bunch and just be happy we finished. But, really, stupid. We'll see how it goes!

It's official. I'm deferred.

2009-05-18T21:49:00.000-07:00

Ok. So it's official official. I am a deferred student at the University of Virginia School of Medicine. I won't enter med school until August 2010! I'm part of the class of 2014! I must say that's better than the class of 2013. Caraaazy!

So, I'll be sticking around Ibarra a lot longer. I hope that means I'll be getting a lot more visits!

Big News.

2009-05-12T22:30:00.000-07:00

Ok. So it's been a really long time since I've written in this at all. And that's because a lot of stuff has happened. I've also been turning a lot of stuff over in my head. If you've been following this blog, you've probably noticed that I've thought about "being a gypsy" or staying here. Well, for the last month or so I've been really really seriously considering it. And I applied to stay with WT here for another year. I got the extension. I have until May 15th to notify UVA med school (my chosen school) to let them know if I will defer or not, which is really just in 2 days.

I think I've come to a decision. Not 100% yet. But 98% sure - especially since I will write the director of Admissions tomorrow morning.

I am staying in Ecuador another year - teaching at CECAMI and staying in Ibarra again.

I will attempt volunteering at a health clinic in the mornings, teaching in the afternoons, learning more Spanish and continuing to travel on the weekends. I hope the experience continues to be great.

You think it's crazy?

Qué tan lejos.

2009-03-15T10:49:00.000-07:00

Qué tan lejos.

I watched this movie last night. It's great. It's an Ecuadorian film about these two women who hitchhike during a road block in Ecuador and have realizations about love and life. Somewhat reminiscent of Before Sunrise.

It's a great movie, but it also shows so much of Ecuador. I feel like it's a great way to explain what my life here looks like.

Here is the youtube link to the trailer. You can look up the whole movie on Youtube too. Also, I will eventually post about the Galapagos and Chugchilan. Eventually...

Procrastination and consumerism.

2009-03-09T20:00:00.000-07:00

I should be doing a lot of things, but I'm not. For example, I should be doing my taxes, my financial aid applications to the individual med schools I got into, writing accounts of my time in the Galapagos and Chugchilan, journaling, and overall improving myself through gaining knowledge. But I'm not because I'm a procrastinator. Not only am I a procrastinator, I'm a horrible American consumer. Yup, you can take the consumer out of America but you can't take the consumer out of the American. Maybe I need to move to a small town here in Ecuador and stay for a long time to beat it out of me.

But anyways, in my delirious oscillations between wanting to stay here forever and become a traveling gypsy and looking forward to the states and med school, I've thought about what things I'll buy when I get home. Yes, what I'll buy.
I've already decided I'm going to buy a mac. Yes. We all know that Kristine Elizabeth Gade is utterly and completely technology challenged. I believe I've killed all the computers I've owned. (This one is already on it's last leg). I'm like the Black widow of PCs. I figure a mac would be essentially Kristine-proof. And let's be honest, macs are just cool and emblematic of the hipster scene. I'm a wildebeest (a follower) and I want in. I want the new macbook. Isn't it pretty? I deserve it, right? I mean I did get into med school...

Well, ok. So that's essentially the only thing that I've lusted over. But I expect I'll probably go on a giant clothes and IKEA shopping spree when I get home (if I get home...). Yay, consumerism.

Being a bookworm. Or at least trying.

2009-03-09T10:27:00.000-07:00

I thought I was going to have so much free time when I came to Ibarra. I thought I was going to read all these books and become so much more informed about the world and have a bank of useless information. Not so right on that. But I have been reading a little. Here´s what I´ve gotten to so far.

Read (Pitiful!):
Healthcare Meltdown
Me Talk Pretty One Day

In the works:
Long Walk to Freedom
Pathologies of Power
In the Land of God and Men
How Doctors Think
The Inheritence of Loss
(The last four have fallen by the wayside. I´m a quitter. But I´ll pick them back up again!)

Coming up:
The Glass Castle
Rabbit-Proof Fence
Cry, the Beloved Country

Haha. It´s ridiculous. I have this big bookcase of all these books I got from Amazon and I´ve really hardly touched any of them! I was hoping I was going to be deep and eloquent, but let´s admit, I´m a shallow teeny-bopper at heart. I want to read Twilight.

Musings.

2009-03-08T20:23:00.000-07:00

I can't believe that it's already March. I can't believe I've spent 6 months here already and that I only have 4 more months left! It's really a short time period of time. When I first began, a year seemed to stretch out before me and go on forever. But now with 6 months under my belt and with only 4 months left here, I realize I don't have that much time left and I haven't been able to do everything that I wanted. When I think of it, I oscillate back and forth between panicking and wanting to stay here longer and desperately looking forward to going home. It's a weird sensation to one moment thinking, "I can't leave in July, I haven't done everything I wanted to, I haven't seen everything I need to" to "I can't wait to go home and see everyone and begin med school!".

Some moments I get that same gypsy urge that I've talked about before and I want to post-pone med school and just say, I'm going to move to a small small town here in Ecuador and work with the community and really get to know them. Or maybe I'll drift around Latin America, live in Argentina, Colombia, etc. I sometimes wonder if I'm wasting my youth in med school. If I should go out there and live crazy adventures before I commit myself to my dream (I know I want to do it, but when you're in you're in). But then I think maybe it's just too much wanderlust, and that I'll have a great time in med school and it won't be wasting my youth because it's what I want and I can still travel. But then again, it's not the same as living in a place and getting to know the community. I'm all mixed up. What do you think?

El Novillo - The post where I talk about running away from a bull. With his horns on fire.

2009-03-01T09:31:00.000-08:00

This post has a VIDEO on the bottom!!!! - ok, it's not working. But I'm working on it.

I had heard about the Novillo in Mira from my family from nearly the beginning. It’s a young bull, whose horns they light on fire and then let him run around the stadium with long ropes as drunk men tempt him to chase them. After hearning that, I knew that I wanted to go and possibly run. Duh. But after the Caminata, I wasn’t so sure. When I got up, it was all I could do to limp down to the park where Grace and her friends were. We hung out there for a bit and as the day progressed I started to feel better. I even made it out see some of the Torros, the regular young bulls that the drunk towns people teased in the stadium to chase them.

Novillo Time:

When it was time for the Novillo, all the town gathered in the big stadium area. There were GIANT bonfires, a stage with scantily clad women to sing Cumbia later, the passing of Tardon (strong aguardiente with some naranjilla), and excitement. I went with one of Grace's friends to look into the truck that was holding the Novillo before they lit his horns on fire. I climbed over to see in and he was an angry bull. But he had short horns. Not good, as we would later find out.

Before the pyros came.

I was right there when they took the bull out and when they put a sack over his face, tied him down and lit his horns on fire. It took a while. He's got spirit that bull. I like to call him Charry. Like Charlander from Pokemon. Throwback! Anyways, when he was all lit up, they let him go! I was standing to the side at first with one of Grace's friends. (She would only let me run if I held onto one of her friend's hands the whole time - yeah, they think of me as a baby). And then as he ran away, we would get closer. But always, there were a good amount of people between me and Charry. I have a strategy. And it is this - let other people be my shield. Of course, brave as I am, I would run after him when he ran away. But as soon as he turned around in my direction, you better believe I booked it. You'll see from the video, I never let him get too close to me. A good strategy! Eventually, he stopped chasing people. A lot of people said that it was because his horns were too short and the fire was burning his head. He even sat down once. Poor Charry! So, what's a high-spirited, drunk Ecuadorian man to do? Of course, whistle at Charry, hit him, and do whatever you can to have him go after you. And that's what they did. But Charry had a good laugh at them, because he got some of them. YEAH CHARRY!

Lighting Charry's horns on fire.

After the Novillo, they put Charry's horns out. And then the Cumbia began and the dancing dancing dancing. Not too shabby for a girl who could barely walk that afternoon.

Oh, and guess who was there at the Novillo, presiding. La Virgen. Duh!

The post where I walk in the Andes mountains for over 25 miles. In the dark.

2009-02-25T20:13:00.000-08:00

This post is going way back to the beginning of all the stuff I said I was going to write about.

First, the Caminata from Mira to Ibarra.

Grace and I all fresh at the beginning of the walk.

This is the beginning of the fiestas of Mira, the small town where my host family is from. They do a walk from Ibarra to Mira as part of a penance to the Virgen de la Caridad. It's an over 25 mile walk in the mountains on the Panamericana at night. So, of course I decided I wanted to do it with my host family. On the night of January 30th, at 10 pm, we met up with all the other walkers at a location at the edge of Ibarra. We set out behind a big float with a papermache bull with his horns on pretend fire, and a small version of the Virgen de la Caridad. We cordoned off with ropes behind the float initially so that it was a big mass of about 200 walkers, packed together, walking behind the float and kept to one side of the road. That was ok, but with my gargantuan legs, I kept stepping on the backs of people's feet and I think they were getting angry. This part was nice and leisurely. My host sis, Grace, and I kept singing "I'm Yours" by Jason Mraz and I taught her the words and the meaning.

After a couple of hours, the crowd started to spread out a lot and a bunch of them went ahead of the float. We were some of the last walkers to pass the float and that put us behind schedule. So by the time we got to the next water stop, we had to SPEED WALK for about one hour. Like serious serious, Jefferson Perez style speed walking (He's Ecuador's only olympic medal winner - for speed walking - and he endorses EVERYTHING). I was stretching those long legs and trying to keep up. This is where it became real work. I didn't realize it before either, but I'm sure speed walking tones your legs so much better than running. My butt! Talk about a pain in the ass! We finally got to the next food and water stop in Mascarilla, which is half way there and in the Valle Chota, (and where most people gave up and took buses). From there, most people were spread out or had left, and the float was no where to be seen. So it was just my host sister, my host brother, Erik, and I walking on the Panamericana. The mountains were there, we were there, tired as hell, and once in a while, so was one of the lights from one of our cell phones. But essentially, we were walking in total darkness on the highway, high in the mountains. There were no guardrails, but you could see the faint outlines of the mountains, so I had no fear of falling off. And we could always see or hear a car before it came. This is the part, where we sang songs, walked silently, and played games. The darkest part of the night. 2 AM - 5 AM. At this point, my feet hurt so bad from all the pressure. And my butt hurt from the speed walking. And I couldn't see where I was walking. But it was nice, to just keep walking. To just keep going.

Exhausted after speed walking. Laying down in Mascarilla.

All alone on the Panamericana. Host sis and bro.

It felt like a long time, but eventually, the sky began to lighten. And we began to hear the sounds of birds and animals. But we still had to keep going. UP the mountain. That's right. Since 2 AM it was all UP the mountain. It was definitely beautiful. The sunrise was gorgeous as well as the view. Finally at 6 AM, we hit La Portada (small small town right outside of Mira) where we were supposed to meet with the other walkers and where La Virgen was supposed to receive us to take us back to Mira. We got there, and a small band was playing and there was warm coffee! Ahhhhhhhh.... we sat down for a bit. Stretched and massaged those sore muscles.

The very beginning of sunrise.

After 30 minutes, we were up again. (OH NO!) This time to walk with the large crowd and to carry la Virgen to Mira. This was a nice walk, uphill again. But very pretty. There were priests, and all sorts of people coming up to help carry la Virgen, which was very heavy. Grace was able to help carry her. When we finally got to Mira, we jumped out of the walk to the Abuelito's house. We showered quickly, ate a quick breakfast, took a much needed dose of Advil, and then passed out till 3 PM. I was definitely the last one to wake up, but my body was so sore, I remember thinking, "why would I want to get out of bed?" Well, the answer to that, is the Novillo.

The last leg of the Caminata. The crowd with la Virgen de la Caridad.

Carnaval time has come and gone.

2009-02-25T18:56:00.000-08:00

A picture's worth a thousand words? Then this is Carnaval.

I feel this a pretty representative picture of the craziness that is Carnaval. Even the dancers in the parade were not spared.

Ok. So this is a waaaaay overdue post. I've been meaning to write about many things, but well, let's be honest - I'm lazy. And busy living life. I figure I'll just first write about what has happened most recently and then get to that other stuff.

So. Carnaval. Kind of awesome.

In Ecuador, Carnaval is celebrated a little differently. It's not the samba dancers and scantily clad women that you think of when you think of the Carnaval in Brazil. Think water. Eggs. Flour. And Carnaval foam (in an aereosol can to spray at people). In Ecuador, they throw all of that stuff at you. Yeah, there is dancing, drinking, cultural events, and parades. But I would say the most distinctive characteristic of an Ecua-Carnaval is throwing water and spraying Carnaval foam (flour, eggs, and other nasty stuff in other places). And Carnaval starts early. The actual official days are Monday and Tuesday (Feb 23 and 24), but I would say I started to see little boys throw water balloons at people, buses, bikes, anything as early as Feb 5th. At that time, it was few and far between. It crescendoed closer to Carnaval and during my walks to class there were a few times when I got hit in a drive by water ballooning or hit from a roof of a house. Before Carnaval frenzy came, I remember thinking I was going to love Carnaval with a big water fight. But then when I got hit walking to class, I realized that I didn't like the sneak attack wetting.

For Carnaval, Debby and I had planned with some other vols to go to Guaranda and Ambato as those are where the biggest Carnaval celebrations are. All I had heard about Guaranda from my host fam was that it was crazy, cold, and that it was a free for all of flour, water, and eggs. Ambato is one of the few places where water is not allowed and it is known for it's parade of fruits and flowers.

Guaranda:

We got there in the afternoon and went to our hostal (which was a total sketchballish type place despite the fact that it was set up through the host fam of one of our friends) and then went out to one of the small parades (as our friends we were meeting were in another town next door for the bigger parade). We ended up in the parade for that barrio with the cross dressing group and danced around in the rain. That night, there were concerts in the parks and dancing all around. We avoided water balloons and flour that night and thought we were good.

But then there was the next day. Which I was looking forward to. That's when the craziness started for us. We got to the town center at about 10 am, which was absolutely packed. We bought our Carnaval foam and took up our spots to watch the parade. While there, we essentially entered the war zone. In seconds, we were covered in foam so that you couldn't see, breathe, or hear anything but the crackle and pop of the foam. Then the water balloons came. And then the flour in the hair and face. And the poor people in the parade were no exception to this craziness. The folk dancers and the reinas had to just take it and continue on their way. People were even shooting the foam into the band's tuba. And instead of giving out candy or flowers from the floats, they gave out small bottles of parajo azul which is essentially pure cane alcohol and some sugar. That's how Ecuador does! We fought with the rest of Guaranda and watched the parade in the rain for pretty much the whole afternoon. It was just as we expected. Crazy, cold, and a free for all. That night, we went out dancing in the cold Andean rain in the main plaza for probably hours. I'm probably paying for it now with a cold, but it was worth to have my first crazy Carnaval experience and to see a lot of the other vols.

Ambato:

The next day we made our way over to Ambato, which has a larger Carnaval celebration, but a little more cultural and sophisticated. The big parade was at night. These were some fancy floats made entirely of fruits and flowers. And I've never seen so many reinas with crazy elaborate costumes (some of them had the samba thing going on) as well as great dancers from all over. A great parade and a very different vibe than Guaranda. More put together and cultural, but more subdued too. Until after the parade, when the giant crowd went crazy with the Carnaval foam (the only thing they do in Ambato). They were not taking prisoners either. They went straight for the face and eyes. In some ways, more malicious than Guaranda. But overall, really fun too.

When we got back into Ibarra, I saw people everywhere with GIANT buckets of water just throwing it at people passing by. It was a free for all of water in Ibarra. No one was spared. Being tired of being abused by water and foam, I quickly took a cab and made it back to my house. It looks like Carnaval in Ibarra was pretty fun too.

In summary, it was a great Carnaval for me. My very first experience which was pretty awesome.

Why don't we have Carnaval in the U.S. I mean we have Mardi Gras, but that's only in New Orleans and it's different. I want to just sneak up on any one on the street in DC and throw a bucket of water on them and foam them in the face. But I have a feeling I'd get arrested for that. Oh well.

My Hero! .... And Coming Soon.

2009-02-15T20:04:00.000-08:00

My Hero: Dr. Paul Farmer

This was an NPR article he wrote on the theme " This I believe..." He's an amazing man with great ideology he actually puts into practice. He's definitely a role model. Read it. We need health care change.

And... COMING SOON:

I just got back from my whirlwind trip and I have so much to write about. Not just from my trip, but from before. As I don't have time to write about it now (as I start a new module tomorrow), here is a little teaser.

La Caminata de la Virgen de la Caridad - where I walked from Ibarra to Mira at night, without light, in the mountains for over 25 miles and 10 hours to "carry" the virgin to Mira.
El Novillo - where I ran away from a bull with his horns on fire.
Galapagos Islands - where a good friend came to visit and we swam with sea lions and sharks.
Chugchilan - a small town high in the Andes where I went horseback riding and then hiking a crater lake.

I'll write about all these soooooooon! It was pretty amazing. =)

A Biology Major's Dream Come True!

2009-01-20T19:16:00.001-08:00

I'M GOING TO THE GALAPAGOS ISLANDS!!!!!! Excitement. Excitement. Excitement.

I'm so very excited! (If you can't tell.) I thought I wasn't going to be able to swing it because it's pretty expensive to go. But I was able to book a land tour (much much cheaper) and I decided I'm just going to be poor. I can't miss this opportunity.

I'm going when my friend Cara (more excitement!) comes to visit me during my vacation. We're going to the Galapagos, then after, we'll be going to hike Lake Quilotoa and stay at this awesome ecolodge, Black Sheep Inn. Check it out! I've heard such good things about it. And maybe we'll hit Mitad del Mundo (the equator museum) and Mindo (a cool cloud forest area I've heard about).

I'm super excited about my first vacation (I don't count December because that was interviews), though I'll be broke!

Oh. And in other exciting news (I think excited/exciting is the word of this post), we have a new president! I got to watch the Inauguration on CNN Espanol and I tried to make out as much of the speech as I could from how much they went over it in Spanish. History, my friends.

So, to end. GALAPAGOS!!!! And, as my co-teacher Debby would say, "Como se dice!? Como se llama!? OBAMA! OBAMA!".

In other news.

2009-01-16T12:10:00.000-08:00

Oh, and in other news : Ecuador experienced a country-wide power blackout yesterday.

Well, that's what I've heard. There have been multiple accounts - coming from our school director, the cab driver, my family, everyone! Most say that the whole country's power went out. And many people said that it was a problem with the main power grid for the country. But then our taxi driver last night told us that it was part of the indigenous protests, which seemed completely plausible. There have been major indigenous protests recently, usually around the Cuenca area. The indigenous groups there have placed large boulders all around the roads to Cuenca so that cars aren't able to pass. It seems that it's completely peaceable, but that they're doing more and more to get the government's attention. I could see how they might cut out the power for a few days to prove a point. How they would have the power to do that, I'm not sure. But this morning, my family said that only 70% of the country didn't have power and that it was because of a lightning strike. So, I guess that's the truth?

The power went out around 5 PM, during my first intermediate class. And I was able to continue with the lesson as there was still sunlight. But by the time the 6 - 8 PM class time started to come around, I thought we would just have to cancel that class as there was no way the students would be able to see what I was teaching. However, my directora told me to continue with classes. What? How? My class gathered in my classroom, in a circle, in the dark. Because I wasn't even going to try to teach, we just told ghost stories, played "ummmmmbrella" (which was particularly mean to people who cannot speak English well), and "light as a feather, stiff as a board" all in the light of one lone candle. That was my first time playing that! And it's so crazy! Oh and during the ghosts stories, one of my students raises his hand and says, "a plane crashed in New York." WHHHAAAAAAT? "In the river." Still, what? What happened there?

It was a Thursday, which means it's "gringo night". So, Deb and I were still determined to meet up with the gringos. We were still able to get pizza (all the tiendas were open, with candlelight), go to our friend's house, and watch the new batman on his laptop.

So, for a blacked out night, with no water, it was still a good night. Horror stories, "light as a feather, stiff as a board", and Batman. Not bad.

The New Schedule.

2009-01-16T11:21:00.000-08:00

Ok. According to my school contract, I was supposed to work until July 30th. That would be my last day teaching at CECAMI. But with med school starting August 10th, wrapping up all my stuff in Ecuador, doing a last bit of traveling in Ecuador, getting ready for med school in the U.S., and oh yeah, breathing for a second, I realized that it wouldn't fly.

So Debby and I had a meeting with la Directora explaining our situation (as she needed to get home a little earlier too) and she was surprisingly willing to accomodate us (as we thought she would think we were skimping on work). We worked out a deal where we would work Fridays for modules 4 & 5, to move up our schedule. That means my last day of teaching is JULY 8th! And the giant goodbye party will be JULY 9th! It works out! YAY!

So here is my new work schedule. Let me know if you want to visit because I would LUUUUURVE to have you!

Current module- (module 2): ends February 5th
Module 3: February 16 - April 7th
Module 4 (begin working Fri): April 15 - May 26th
Module 5: June 1 - July 8th

This means for vacation I have the weeks:

February 5 - 15th (already have a visitor planned!!!!)
April 7 - 14th
May 26 - 31st

This makes me realize that I really don't have that much vacation. I know a volunteer who had all of December and January off. Oh, and had 3 day weekends too. Yeah, I'm a bit jealous!

But overall, the schedule worked out marvelously! Wooop! I hope I can travel around and relax a bit before med school.

So, in summary. Come and visit me. I'll be waiting. =)

New Years in Mira!

2009-01-14T19:06:00.000-08:00

My new year’s experience in Mira was pretty awesome and I’m so glad that I had it. I had the opportunity to go to the coastal town of Montanita, which is really popular with Gringos, with some other WT vols. However, I heard that it was just a giant staying-up-all-night-drinking-dancing-around-fires-with-surfers-on-the-beach sort of affair. Which admittedly sounds completely and totally awesome, but I feel like I can have a crazy drinking gringo night any old time. The cultural aspect of Mira was great and I was really glad to spend it with my host family.

So here goes the recounting of my tale. Disclaimer: This one might be a long one. But I’ll try to keep it interesting.

December 31^st

The family and I wake up really early to make sure we get a good (as in not packed where you have to stand the whole time) bus to Mira. We take the 7 AM bus. I for some reason was not able to sleep the night before. Not so good as I was determined to make it till 8 AM dancing in the street as I was told I would. When we got to Mira, (The more you know moment – Mira: a small town of about 13,000 people high in the Andes about an hour north of Ibarra, called the Balcony of the Andes) we put our bags in one of the rooms, though that didn’t mean we would be sleeping there. In fact, we were planning on not sleeping as there were no beds. There was too much family, and not enough house that weekend. I tried sleeping a little until Debby came. When she finally came, the family (host sis’s and bro, Deb and I) went to the cute plaza park area, did some mingling, helped put together a little stage for some live music that night, and popped into a house during a jam session preparing for the night.

Deb and I "participating" in the Jam Session.

The rest of the day entailed eating, talking in the house and super super super intense primping sessions with the host fam girls. We were going to look good for 2009, damn it!

The results of said primping.

During primping, some monos, which literally means monkeys came into the house trying to get through the doors to stain us/terrorize us. Completely harmless and fun as the monos are people who dress up with masks, and put tar or something on their hands and threaten to stain you unless you give them money. Usually a dime or a quarter will suffice. And the only reason they got into the house was because they were good family friends of my family. I only heard super super super high screaming and the girls rushing to shut the door. I had noooo idea what was happening. As usual. Supposedly, it’s a custom that is only really in Mira and a little in Southern Colombia.

We went to the town plaza with the whole family, carretas (masks) and all, to look at the ano viejos (the dolls representing the old year and the things they don’t want to carry into the new year) around town. Many of them were simple, but many of them were these huge ordeals.

Like this one.

But I liked the smaller, more personal ones like this from the uncle of my host mom.

After walking around, the parental units went back to the house and the kids went to the plaza to listen to the live music (which seemed to be in many streets in Mira). We went to the street with the stage we set up for the band we knew. At this point, most of Mira was milling around the park listening to the live music (no one was dancing at this point) with some ladies setting up stands of boiling liquor and some sort of juice? We listened to the music out in the street and then about 10 minutes to midnight we hightailed it back to the house to indulge in our pyromaniac tendencies. We took down our Ano Viejos, put them in the street, doused them in loooots of lighter fluid, and lit those bad boys on fiiiire. Then to make it more fun, we got to hit the ano viejos as they were burning with sticks. Yeah, Ecuador is badass like that. It was midnight around that time. We didn’t really know what the exact countdown was, but we guesstimated, counted down from 10 and then kissed and hugged everyone.

The family with the burning and beaten ano viejos.

And me dancing around a fire, with a mask on. What else is new?

At that point, the kids went back to the park area and we danced in the street until 5 AM. This included moments of passing around one bottle of hervido (hot boiling juice liquor thing) with one cup, for every person to drink out of, getting potato chips, oh and more dancing. When we finally made it back to the house (which was probably 50 feet up the road), it was 5:30 AM and we were tired. But remember, there are no beds in the house. So what do we do? Go to sleep in the neighbor’s house, of course! I love Mira. And that is not sarcastic. We went to the neighbor’s house (who was not a stranger, though that could have been a really interesting story had they been) and went upstairs and jumped into bed. When we woke up at 11 AM on the 1^st, who do I see but two other random people passed out in the next bed and on the floor. Yesssss! We tip toe down in our pajamas and run into our house.

January 1st

What’s the best cure for danced out feet? A trip to a hot springs. Yes! Part of the fam jumped into the back of the truck and went on the 30 minute GORGEOUS ride to la calera. The springs is set in a gorgeous setting, but the springs were a little lacking. First off, not even HOT hot springs. Think merely lukewarm. Then, think incredibly crowded. Like I don’t know who you are but I’m touching parts of your body I probably shouldn’t in this dark murky water sort of crowded. So after all of a hot second in the hot springs and 30 minutes in the steam room (next to the woman with the molting skin), we went to just sit and stare at the la calera view.

Gorgeous, isn't it? And the mountains aren't that bad too. Haha. I made a joke!

Though it wasn’t all roses. Because being the silly person I am, I wanted to sit as close to the edge to take in the gorgeous view, the fresh air, and feel alive! But ruining my nature moment was another call of nature. I sat in nice, warm, fresh urine. Of course that’s where all the men pee!

Not happy about pee on my butt!

When we got back to Mira it was about 6 PM and we waited around until 8 PM when the host uncle could take Deb and I back (the host mom wanted to stay another night to bake bread the next day). As there were again limited seats, Deb and I scooted to the truck bed with a nice blanket for the hour drive through the mountains at night back to Ibarra. Can you say amazing? I think I’ve decided that I only ever want to travel by truckbed, in fresh air and gorgeous scenery, and with good company.

So overall, New Year was amazing. Mira is awesome. And I love Ecuador. And truckbed traveling.

Love/Hate Relationship.

2008-12-30T12:44:00.000-08:00

This is a Love/Hate list of Ecuador so far. But I'm too much of an upbeat optimist person too actually hate anything. So this is an Enthusiastic For/Not Enthusiastic For list. Hahaha.

Enthusiastic For!
-the emphasis on soups
-ice cream everywhere and at any time!
-walking everywhere
-the mountains/countryside
-multiple ecosystems within small distances
-learning Spanish
-"eternal spring"
-fruit salads at the park
-mists in the mountains
-avocados with meals
-my host family
-scarves
-camilla, the new adorable puppy
-walking through gorgeous cemeteries
-dancing

Not Enthusiastic For
-the stares I get when dancing gringo style
-getting coffee "to go" in a take out bowl
-instant coffee
-having rice, potatoes, bread, and pasta all in one meal
-having to plead to get my package at the post office
-bureaucracy
-hard afternoon rains when I'm walking to school
-appearing to have no personality because I cannot express myself
-stray dog poop
-being a less independent woman

Ok. I do have one hate.

Hate!
-Oregano Tea

As you can see, the Enthusiastic For list is larger than the Not Enthusiastic For list. =)

I'm Baaaaack!

2008-12-28T19:39:00.000-08:00

My visit to the U.S. is officially over and I'm now back in the land of "ya es de todos" until August.

I had a really good visit, though it was hectic and shorter than I would have liked. I loved being able to eat Korean food, effortlessly eavesdrop, throw toilet paper in the toilet, and oh yeah, seeing family and friends! There wasn't enough of that (seeing fam and friends, not throwing tp in the toilet. I got enough of that) as far as I was concerned.

My time cruncher was interviews. Fie on you interviews! It was super hectic. As soon as I landed I was off on my first interview. I ended up completing 6 interviews in about 10 days. But they were all really good. Very conversational and surprisingly not stressful. Some of them didn't even ask me the usual expected questions, but were rather a whole conversation on some tangent. However, a couple were a little weird. At one, the interviewer went on about how he hated med students and medical education. Uhhhh.... ok. What do you want me to say to that buddy? That I agree with you and thus am self-loathing? And another one was panel style with more rapid-fire questions (but not in a weird or mean way). But it paid off. Cuz this girl is GOING TO MEDICAL SCHOOL! Got accepted to UVA. WAHOOWA! Not yet sure I'm going to go there, but there's a good chance. So, I can chillllll and do my spanish lessons here, horseback riding, maybe some salsa. Oh, and traveling on weekends!

But after interviews, I prob slept for two days straight and then got some good fam and friend time in. Nice dinners, vino, and talking. Perfecto! Christmas was really chill and it was nice to just mope around the house and eat MOUNTAINS of turkey, stuffing, and pumpkin pie. I knew I would miss some good food, so I brought choc chips, brownie mix, and a can of pumpkin back to Ibarra with me. I expect I'll get some baking in. And I expect I'll probably get some tubbiness with that too. =)

Some happy photos of my visit below.

Gathering at the Jeffer's.

P.F. Chang's Get Together.

Alfie on Christmas.

Seriously playing Jenga with my family. I don't mess around.

Reverse culture shock.

2008-12-13T10:12:00.000-08:00

$5 coffee. Dropping money on the ground and someone handing it back to the rightful owner, not taking it. Following traffic laws. 30 degree weather. Chipotle. Ethnic food. No Cumbia on the radio. Driving. Standing in lines and not cutting. Not riding in the back of pickup trucks. No aji. No afternoon rain. No stray dogs. Giant malls. Real coffee. Massive traffic. Eating fruit without washing it.

Yeah. It's a shock.

Got back to the States on the 7th. And on the interview circuit. Wish me luck! Back to Ecuador on the 27th.

Local Celebrity.

2008-11-24T20:05:00.000-08:00

And this past Sunday's paper means that I have now been in the Ecuadorian news in some form 4 times. Yup. I'm kind of a big deal.

Different times in the News:

First time was when we ended up in the small Afro-Ecuadorian town of Salinas and were waiting at the bus stop on the side of the highway for our bus back to Ibarra. Apparently, three gringas on the side of the road in Salinas is a strange sight. We attracted a news crew, which began to film us and ask us questions (why we were there, what we were doing, and of course, what we thought of Ecuador) without ever giving an explanation or asking for permission. They said we would be on the news that night. I never got to see it. And it's probably better that way. They closed in on my face and asked me questions in rapid fire Spanish which I actually tried to answer back in Spanish.
El Norte, the major newspaper for the northern region of Ecuador, came to Caribou Bar (Canadian bar in Ibarra) where we went to watch the U.S. election in English on their TV. They asked to take pictures of us, which we thought was for an article on the election. It turned out that when I got the paper, there were big color photos of us in the social section, but that it was all about the bar.
CECAMI our school took pictures of Debby and I, bien guapa as we are, to make an advertisement. They then put that in the El Norte.
Another Ibarra newspaper, La Verdad, came to Cafe Arte where we were celebrating my host sister's birthday on Friday night. They asked to take our picture again. Lo and behold, we were in the social pages again on Sunday.

I live a glamorous life. Hahaha. That's four times so far. I'll keep counting!

Teaching.... And the Honor Code.

2008-11-18T18:07:00.000-08:00

Hip Hip Hooray!

I am finished with my very first module of English classes. And I think they were successes, if I do say so myself! Even though teaching can be really tough (it really is) and can be frustrating when they don't get it or when they have bad behavior, my classes did really well. On the final, a 70% is necessary to pass the class. For my basic class, I only had two students who didn't pass. One was my 75 year old student Luis (the same one who did hip thrusts all down the soul train line). I think he might be slightly illiterate or had a stroke (I notice he has trouble writing and talking). However, he was so endearing as he was always tried so hard in class! Whenever, I shouted out, "What? What? I don't hear you! ENERGY!", Luis would scream back what I wanted them to say over everyone else and would add a "Miss Kristine" to the end. I think he was just too old to keep up with the class. The other student was a girl who just never came to class. I don't think she really cared. As for my intermediate class, they all passed with flying colors!

Now that the first module is done, Debby (the other teacher at CECAMI) and I are rearranging our schedules. For the first module, we each taught a basic and intermediate class (in addition to our conversation class). That was nice since we lesson planned together, but it was overall a lot of work since we were planning for 3 classes in the morning (all morning!!!) then teaching for 5 hours straight ( 3 - 8). Now, we've split it up so that I have both intermediate classes (so I get to keep my intermediate class, who I loved. My beginning class was the naughty one.) and Debby has both basic classes (she gets to keep her basic class that she loved). I hope this cuts down on the work that we do. Lesson planning is hard!

So our last class was a good celebration. We combined all the classes in the biggest classroom for speeches (everything here goes with speeches, so formal!) and a talent show. My intermediate class is so organized. They organized a few songs - Stand by Me and More than Words. I have the videos, I have to upload them. They were also really cute because my intermediate class organized a whole party after in a Karaoke bar. They organized bringing pizza and drinks and splitting the costs. We had a huge table of probably 30 people. We ate, sang Karaoke (Debby and I did a stunning and embarrassing rendition of Barbie Girl and Total Eclipse of the Heart), and then of course, broke out into dancing. It was actually a really fun night! I heart my intermediate class!

So now I start classes afresh (but with many of the same students) tomorrow. I hope it goes well!

Here are some pictures that I took of my beautiful school. I think it's probably the most gorgeous school of all the WT placements.

My classroom

My classroom from the grounds

View from my classroom

Debby and I on the grounds

Things I have learned about teaching (so far):

You need a lesson plan. Lesson plans take a long time to make.
Every Ecuadorian when they come in late will not go quietly to their chair. No, they will yell from the doorway while you are at the front teaching, "Hello! Good Afternoon!", then go to their seat. For us it's rude to interrupt. For them its rude not to say hello. At first, I was wondering what the hell they were doing.
Honor does not exist in Ecuador (at least not in the schools). Cheating is so prevalent here. In total nostalgia for my UVA honor code days, I instituted an honor pledge on all exams. It's been edited to make it easier for my students. They had to write "On my honor as a student, I did not cheat on this exam." I was hoping this would guilt them into being good. Maybe a few. But others, no. I had to watch them like hawks in the exam. There was blatant whispering and mouthing of words across the room. I had to move people several times and I should have cashed in on my threat to rip up papers if I saw cheating, but I couldn't really do it. Sigh. If only the honor code applied here.
To be an engaging teacher, you must be slightly like a circus animal. Always playing games and being a little goofy, but at the same time strict. It's all so confusing!

Oh well. It was a good first module! Now, I'm looking forward to another one (hopefully with less lesson planning hours a day)!

Weekends.

2008-11-11T19:39:00.000-08:00

Ok. So this is going to be a mammoth post. Expect lots of writing and lots and lots of pictures.

2 weekends ago (Nov. 1-2):
A good friend of mine from WT, Melea, visited me from her small town. When she got into the "big city", as she called it, we had a nice leisurely catch up time in a cute cafe that has really good, like really American, apple pie. Then Debby, the other WT volunteer who works with me in Ibarra, caught up with us and we really indulged and got facials (this is because there are no such services where Melea works). Afterwards, more indulgence by going to this awesome Italian restaurant where a real Italian lady, Tiziana, hand makes all the pasta. DE-LI-CI-OUS gnocci! I swear, I usually don't live like this in Ibarra, but I wanted to show Melea a good time. =)

The next morning we took the tourist train, El Tren de la Libertad, from Ibarra to Salinas, this small Afro-Ecuadorian town. We sat on the top of the train (kind of like a double decker bus) and got to get a really good view of the beautiful scenery. We went through the mountains, through several tunnels in the mountains, and then down into the valley where it was much warmer. At the beginning of the ride, we were wearing jackets and by the end, we were wearing tank tops. Ecuadorian weather is very fickle and I will have to write about that another time. Here are some pictures from the train ride.

Me, Debby, and Melea cheezing on top of the train.

The scenery from the bus. You can see some of the tunnels we went through.

Melea and I in front of the train when it got to Salinas.

When we got to Salinas, we decided to get off the train and catch a bus back to Ibarra instead of riding the train back (which took much longer and cost more). So, we got off and walked around Salinas, which is very small and poor. It's very different from Ibarra, which is quite commercial and has many stores and industries. Salinas is almost entirely a town of farmers. And culturally, it's quite different. It's almost entirely Afro-Ecuadorian. Not completely black (or as small) like Santa Ana, but enough so that it felt like a different culture. We walked around a bit, looked at the church, and well that's pretty much all there is to see. We stopped in what looked like the only comedore and ordered Cokes (nothing better than coke in a glass bottle!) and papas fritas. Then, we headed to the "bus terminal", which is essentially a bench on the side of the Panamerica highway. We were sitting there for a while waiting for the next bus when this car with "EV Noticias" on it drove by. They saw us, did a double take, stopped the car and immediately brought out a news camera and started filming us. Not talking or anything. Just nonchalantly started filming us. Being awkward me, I started to wave and make faces. As weird as it was I figured it was Debby's blonde hair that gave us away from the road as gringos and that they wanted to film us. It's funny what you get accustomed to. Finally, someone came out with a microphone and began the first communication. They came up to us with the microphone and camera and began to ask us questions. Mainly, "why are you here?", "what are you doing in Salinas?", "what do you think of Salinas?", "what are you doing in Ecuador?", and the always present question, "what do you think of Ecuador?". We all answered their questions in Spanish and there was a good chunk of time with me struggling to answer back in Spanish. They said they were from a news channel in Quito and that they were going to put it on the news. I never saw it, but I don't really watch TV. So, I'm sure that Debby, Melea, and I were on the news at some point that week, speaking in broken Spanish about how much we love Ecuador. It's probably better that I never see it. They zoomed in on me speaking after a 3 hour dusty ride outside. We flagged down our bus and made it back to Ibarra, where we packed up and caught a ride to Mira, the small town where my host family is from, to celebrate Dia de los Difuntos (Day of the Dead) with them. Yeah, we were busy that weekend.

So when we got to Mira, we immediately went to the family's house where I swear the whole family had gathered. Probably 15 or so people in the house, coming and going. We got some Merienda, coffee, and then headed to my host aunt's house as there was no room in the regular family house for us. So that night we were super lucky and got to sleep 3 girls to one small wooden slat bed. Wooooo! But before we went to sleep. Way before, we got ready to go dancing in Mira. Mira is a really small town, a pueblo, of probably less than 10,000 people. So, our version of pre-gaming was standing under the roof of a bus stop in a circle of probably 12-15 people (mostly all cousins), in the rain, passing around only one cup that was constantly refilled with whisky and sparkling water for each person to drink before being passed to the next person. Melea and I didn't partake because women don't really drink whisky here. But we were standing there in the cold (really high altitude) and in the rain and were starting to get antsy. After what seemed like an eternity we finally went dancing. This is the part in the story where Melea and I gave Americans a bad rep forever in Mira. We were holding our own for all the latin songs, then oddly enough, a rock bands comes out and starts playing. Immediately all the Ecuadorians sit down as I feel they only dance with steps and there are no steps to this music. So there was no one on the dance floor, but Melea and I were already in the dancing mood and started doing crazy hippy dancing, like interpretive dance and stuff. You would not believe the stares we got! And my host sister was literally begging us to stop. Hahaha. Really, it was not that bad. We were just being crazy and free! Oh well! Just reinforcing the idea that gringas are loca!

The next day was Dia de los Difuntos and we went to the cemetary where my host mother's mother had just been buried 3 months ago. This was my very first Day of the Dead and it was really interesting. It's not really a somber occasion at all, but very festive, with people selling flowers, food, little decorations outside of the cemetary. Inside, families were gathered around their graves, cleaning and decorating and some just hanging out. Even some with crates of Pilsener (the local beer). It was really pretty too, looking at all the graves. And there was this one really old indigenous woman. I was watching her and I noticed she kept going to all these different graves and was quietly talking. I thought it was really sort of beautiful, praying for each of the people there. That, or she was crazy.

The cemetary on Dia de los Difuntos. Old indigenous woman is on the right.

After that, we went back to the house where we ate Cuy (Guinea pig) for lunch. From there, to the family's land to pick mandarin oranges and avocados! They have a gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous area of land. I mean gorgeous. Perfectly set in the mountains. With mandarin orange trees and avocados!!!! We spent the whole afternoon climbing trees, picking avocados, and eating on the mountain. I might never come back!

Here are the some of the kids climbing in the trees.

Obligatory picture of me with my avocado, displaying the mountains.

Overall, a really good weekend.

ELECTION NIGHT!
Yup, those of us outside of the U.S. were eagerly watching it too! We wanted to watch the election in English so Debby and I after teaching classes booked it over to Caribou, the Canadian bar in town to meet up with our gringo friends, mostly PC volunteers and other professors at other schools. It was a super exciting night for us and we were glued to watching the TV. We were just a giant group of gringos and the local newspaper, El Norte, came around and took pictures of us. Yeah, what can I say, I'm just a local celebrity. Haha. We thought they were doing a story on the U.S. election, but it was really a social pages thing on the bar we were at. But we did have a giant color photo in the newspaper. Overall, it was an awesome night. Go Obama!

Our gringo group watching history!

Debby and I super excited and pointing to Election stats, which disappeared on the screen just as we took the picture.

Last weekend:
Does this post go on? Yes. Yes, it does. Isn't it exciting? =)

Last weekend, Debby and I were supposed to meet up with some of our Quito friends to go to the La Mama Negra festival in Latacunga. But that was canceled unexpectedly because of a horrible freak accident where when they were getting the floats ready, a school boy died from a fire work going off. Sad. So, we changed our plans and decided to go to Banos, which is a really touristy town in central Ecuador (a good 7 hour ride from us). It's a small town thats set in the mountains and is really pretty. There is a lot of adventure sports and hiking there and they have thermal springs. After spending Friday night at our friend's house in Quito, we set off for Banos, which is a good 4 hour bus ride on some windy mountain roads.

Debby, my host sister, and our Quito friend, got there, ate, and then by that time most of the day was gone! We decided to take a bike ride to enjoy the mountain scenery and see some of the cascades. Never mind that it was already starting to get late (4 PM), that I hadn't ridden a bike in probably 10 years, and that we had to ride our bikes on the downhill, curvy, and busy highway (still set in the mountains and gorgeous, though). I was being all romantic and thought it was going to so poetic to enjoy the mountain scenery and cascades on a bicycle. I mean, I did. It was really pretty. But I probably would have it enjoyed it more if I had listened to the others and decided to do the ATVs. I was so preoccupied about how to ride a bike and not get hit by cars! And then thats when we biked through the dark tunnel through the mountain, where we had an almost collision between bikes and almost subsequent being hit by cars. Yeah, sometimes I'm not so smart. But don't worry! I'm all safe. =) After that, though we hit a path that cars couldn't come on and we saw some cascades and really enjoyed the biking and scenery at that point. At least, I did. And we also got a little follower. This little 13 year old boy biked with kept talking about how he was only 13, but he had a 15 year old girlfriend. Hahaha. Finally, we hit the highway again, and got a ride on a bus back to Banos with our bikes.

At that point, we got some food, some vino and then hit the thermal springs. I mean thats what you do in Banos. That's why it's called Banos! It was a really nice setting (there was a waterfall right next to it), but I was overall disappointed in the springs. They were really crowded and only luke warm. Papallacta is so much better! After that, I was sleepy and a party pooper. Some of the girls went out dancing. I went to sleep. I live a crazy and dangerous life. what can I say? The next day, we checked out the church, but that was it. We got back on the bus to Ibarra (7 hours on the crazy bus ride back with our driver that kept eating fritada and driving the bus with his elbows). I definitely think that if I go back to Banos, that I will need to spend more time there and do some hiking.

This is our bike riding group in front of one of the cascades. You can see it in the bottom left corner.

And this is me with another cascade. Pretty.

Well, that's pretty much it so far. Tomorrow I'm going to the El Angel Biological Reserve with my host sister. I've heard it's gorgeous. And then on Sunday, going to prepare the final I'm going to give to my students. I hope they do well!!!!

Ahora, estoy feliz!

Halloween.

2008-11-05T20:09:00.000-08:00

So I had a good end of week and weekend. But right now I only have time and internet speed to write about the awesome Halloween party. Weekend stuff will come soon, I hope.

On Thursday (Oct. 30), we held our Halloween party. It was a success if I do say so myself. I don't know if I really imparted much cultural knowledge or any English that day, but we succeeded in getting all the students to wear costumes, eat ungodly amounts of candy, pass apples with only their necks, and of course, do a soul train line. It was a good party. We definitely got everyone dancing, including my 75 year old student Luis who dressed as Dracula and did hip thrusts all down the soul train line.

Yup, I came to Ecuador to volunteer and I end up throwing parties. I live a difficult life. Haha. But really, it was a lot of work getting ready! There were all sorts of expectations. As North Americans, we must obviously know how to throw a huge Halloween party and should impart some sort of cultural lesson. We were feeling a little bit of the pressure and tried to make sure we had good decorations, games, and costumes. We went early in the week to the costume shop and ended up getting roped into being costume models. In these costume stores, they take pictures of people in the costumes and put them on the wall. I think they jumped on the chance to get pictures of gringos. So, I ended up wearing a snow white costume, several variations of an indigenous Zuleta costume, and a doll outfit. That was fun and I ended up going as the doll. Not too shabby for a Halloween outside of the U.S.

Here are some pictures of my classes!

My basic class

My intermediate class

Me dancing with Luis, hip thrusts and all

Being my model self, you know, the usual.

More to come soon!

Epiphany.

2008-10-28T22:32:00.001-07:00

I had an epiphany. Sort of.

I´m not ready to start the real world in any way, shape, or form. As excited as I am to start med school (sadly, I´m big enough of a dork to really look forward to it), there´s still so much of the world I want to experience and do.

Part of me wants to say ¨Forget med school, I´m going to be a gypsy.¨ and just go with the flow and take whatever opportunity that comes up. Live in France, live in a park in Big Sur, work my way around the world by taking small odd jobs.

So far in Ecuador I´ve met a lot of cool and crazy gringos with lives I secretly and not so secretly covet. They take off and travel the world, moving to different destinations as they meet people and opportunities arrive. Or people who come to visit a friend in Ecuador and decide to stay and make it work and then see where things will take them next.

What´s next in my list of opportunities to take? Living in Europe? You better believe I will make it happen (if even for a short while). Working my way through India (We shall see!)? Southeast Asia? Or maybe I´ll just stay in South America longer. We shall see. But I refuse to just ¨settle down¨ once I am done with Ecuador.

Now, to incorporate that with med school...

HALLELUJAH!!!

2008-10-28T22:01:00.000-07:00

The skies parted and God said, ¨There shall be internet!¨ and it came to pass.

I have internet in my house!!! This is super special. Now, I shouldn´t have to pay to use the internet all the time and even more special, I can use the internet after 5 PM! HOOORAY!

Expect more posts and pictures soon! Maybe, if I can stop being lazy and stop leaving the house early to make a stop by the yummy bakery for a galleta or roll.

Also important, I am coming home. After a day of fiesta on the 6th of December in Quito, I will be flying home on the 7th and be staying until the 27th. Unfortunately, I don´t have a ton of time to hang out (but I will make time for you, if I like you!) because I will be doing interviews. On that note, WOOP! I have interviews from VCU, EVMS, Temple, Georgetown, and Einstein so far.

Coming up, a halloween fiesta for my class. Can I pull off a giant party for my Ecuadorian students and impart upon them the importance of Halloween, candy, scandalous costumes, and jack'o'lanterns? TBD.

I hate computers.

2008-10-20T10:34:00.000-07:00

I just wrote a long blog post with pictures and witty descriptions and then the computer just turned off. I was about to push "publish".

Because I am angry and I refuse to rewrite and computers suck, you all miss out. I will write it again another day. Le sigh. If I ever have time! Hahaha.

Oh well, here´s one picture of this rich blonde Ecuadorian girl from the Caceria del Zorro. I was a big time creeper and took a million pictures of her. She´s just so adorable with her riding jacket and crop!
As a side note, there is no movie theater in Ibarra. How will I ever watch Batman!?

Oh well, I´m enjoying my time here! Yay!

Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous.

2008-10-20T09:52:00.000-07:00

This was the post I tried to post when I posted "I hate computers". I thought I deleted it, but really it was saved. I'm just that technologically challenged. Well, here you go.

The glamorous side of Ibarra.
On the 4th of October, we had the Caceria del Zorro which is this festival/event thing where there are Zorros, dressed as Zorro (hat, mask, cape, everything black) on horses. The point of the festival is to crown the next Zorro. At Yahuarcocha lake, in the afternoon, the Zorro races and there are a bunch of other people on horses who chase after him to catch the flag at the back of his horse. Whoever catches it is the Zorro for next year. It´s an event that happens every year and it really is just an excuse for all the Ibarreños to go out and drink and socialize at the race track. But earlier in the morning, the Zorros and the competitors have a parade on Bolivar street. That part is for all the rich Ibarreños to come out and show off their expensive horses, designer clothes, and very European looking children. I´ve never seen so many blonde and red headed Ecuadorians or so many popped collars outside of UVA. Talk about feeling like I was in a Ralph Lauren advertisement. But it was really fun and really pretty. I don´t want to write anymore, so here are pictures.

Zorro on Bolivar street.

A cute little Ecuadorian blonde rich girl. I took many pictures of her. I´m a creeper.

The actual race track with a female Zorro, not a zorra...

The Nonglamorous side of Ibarra.
That would be me. Yeah, I was a sick little gringa during the Caceria. I will not disgust you with details.

Another side to Ecuador.
On Saturday, Debby and I went to an AfroEcuadorian town of Santa Ana with some PC vols. They were nice enough to invite us to experience the different culture of an AfroEcuadorian town while they distributed eyeglasses from a project they had worked on earlier. We took a bus to Santa Ana and helped with the distribution. It´s a small town of about 600 in the Sierra and it really is very different culturally. It is a much smaller, poorer town, but the people were so personable and warm. And the town itself was small and rural, but the area around it was gorgeous. We couldn´t get a bus out of the town so we got a ride on the back of a truck to the Panamerica highway. That was a pretty ride. Then we flagged a bus down on the highway and got back to Ibarra. Good day.

The end.

2008-09-25T09:56:00.000-07:00

Well, Orientation has come and gone. Yesterday was the last day. It was spent doing evaluations and saying "goodbye" at dinner and dancing. It´s funny because it feels like something is over. But it´s not. It is literally just the beginning.

I´ve already said goodbye to a bunch of the other volunteers. And in a couple hours, I will be leaving for Ibarra. I will say goodbye to my precious Quito host parents and then say hello to my new host family in Ibarra. Pretty crazy. We´ll see how it goes!

Ecuador - 2, Kristine - 0

2008-09-16T15:08:00.000-07:00

So Ecuador is an interesting place. Too bad I haven´t had too much time to explore with our 16 hour days of orientation. For 16 hours, I´m practice teaching, taking classes on teaching and Ecuador in a hotel with 40 other gringos, and then off to Spanish class. Can we say intense?

In all this intensity, Ecuador has scored the first few points in our epic battle (our friendly epic battle, but battle nonetheless). Yes. When I went to visit Ibarra (which I will write about when I have time and internet cafe money), I had my jacket, camera, and cell phone stolen. Nothing scary or anything. Rather me being careless. So yes, that is a point to Ecuador and shame head shake for Kristine. It´s ok, I´m getting it all replaced. So, smile!

Then in the intensity of our schedule, I got something with a little bit of a fever, aches, and tummy unhappiness. That´s spread to everyone now. But I was one of the first. So, again, when the other volunteers went dancing, I lay in bed like the awesome person I am. Ecuador, you get another point. And an obligatory laugh at my gringo weakness.

But all in all, it´s a friendly battle. Because every day Ecuador, you give me an awesome 4 course almuerzo for under 2 bucks, I see the Andes, am surrounded by cool people and get to see things like La Compania. So, Ecuador, thats why you and I are friends.

In Quito.

2008-09-03T15:09:00.000-07:00

I am officially in Quito. Well, I have been for the last few days.

It´s been pretty awesome, but also really busy. There are 37 of us and everyone is really cool. But we´re talking about 12 hours of work a day.

A typical day consists of waking up at 6:15, having desayuno with my very old and precious host parents (which consists of pan, bananas, cafe con leche y jugo), taking the bus to the hotel for classes, almuerzo of a couple hours (at a lot of places 3 courses - soup, main entree with rice, meat, and vegetables, and postre, and juice - all for about 2 or 3 dollars), classes for a couple hours, go home on the bus, have dinner with Victor y Mercedes (host families), struggle to speak Spanish with them, have Victor demonstrate how ladrones steal on the bus, watch some Spanish TV, have Victor y Mercedes laugh at my attempts to speak spanish and then pass out.

Today we saw Old Quito, which is gorgeous. I´ll try to post pictures soon (when I don´t have to go to an internet cafe - who knows when that will be). Tomorrow, I´m taking the bus to Ibarra to speak to my host family and the director of the school. I´m pretty nervous. But stay there for most of the weekend and then return to Quito.

I also got an Ecuadorian cell phone. Email me for the number.

So far I´m loving Ecuador and I haven´t gotten any altitude sickness or stomach issues. YAY! Go me! And I´m loving seeing the Andes every morning. They´re right there and beautiful.

Missing everyone!

Awesome host family in quito.

2008-08-20T17:15:00.000-07:00

Ok. Already I'm a hopeless loser blogger person - this being my second blog of the day. But, how awesome is this!? It's the description of my host family in Quito.

Family Members: Mercedes (late 70s), Victor (late 70s), Francia and Juan Carlos (30's) live behind house

This is a wonderful family that has been hosting WT and PC vols for 30 years! Despite their age, they are still pretty active. They make vols. feel like special guests. Both have a great sense of humor and will probably tease you about falling in love with an Ecuadorian. They are warm people and offer good meals. Mercedes is a former soap opera star! You will have lots of independence and privacy. The location of the house is pretty centrally located and only about 20 minutes by bus to the orientation site. Their daughter, Francia, lives very close by and will be over often, with her husband, Juan Carlos.

Yeah. That's right. I'm living with a 70 year old soap opera star. Be jealous!

Some thoughts on English.

2008-08-20T09:11:00.000-07:00

While teaching English, I've come to realize that it's a difficult language. This probably stems from the fact that it's a hybrid of many other languages, but it's hard when you're teaching someone that "seen" has a long "e" sound but "been" has a short "i" sound or why "two" sounds the same as "too" and "to".

Languages are always changing and I guess that reflects the fact that cultures are constantly evolving. I had this thought while I was teaching contractions. It's interesting that we can interchangeably say, "No, she is not", "No, she's not", and "No, she isn't", by choosing which words to contract.

I hope Spanish is easier than English.

Ibarra or bust.

2008-08-18T11:25:00.000-07:00

Only 10 more days until I leave DC! Crazy!

I've just found out where I'll be living for the next year! And it is...... IBARRA!!! I'm very excited. It seems like the just the sort of place I want to be for the next 11 months - medium-sized city, teaching at a community school, in the Sierra, with lots of hiking and backpacking opportunities. Here are some snippets from my email about my placement:

"Ibarra is a small or medium, proudly 402-year-old city in the sierra, about 3 bus hours north of Quito. We're actually just north of the equator. It's very handy to be this close to Quito, but at the same time, it's nice that it's lower than Quito. That makes the weather a little warmer and the oxygen a little less scarce. It's also just more attractive and safer than Quito and some other cities. "

On my teaching assignment:
"You'll be working for a little municipal-run capacity-building center, El Centro de Capacitación del Municipio de Ibarra. It's a really cute little campus with a nice garden. "

"CECAMI accepts any student age 12 and up, so your classroom age-range can really vary from teenagers to middle-aged adults. "

My thoughts on it: AWESOME!!!

Well, things are winding down now. I've finished work, finished all but two secondaries (Temple and Georgetown), and gotten most of my things in order. So now is the time to enjoy and have fun and shop! I've had a few fun days and I'm looking forward to more.

Some pictures from some happy days!

Wow. First Blog Experience Ever!

2008-08-04T10:55:00.001-07:00

Wow. I've never had a blog before. So, this is a new experience for me. In fact, I've always considered myself "technologically challenged", so bear with me! Since I will be soon leaving for a year of teaching in Ecuador, I thought that starting a blog would be a good way of recording adventures, keeping in touch with friends, writing down thoughts (if I have them!), yada, yada, yada.

It's been really busy this summer with getting ready for Ecuador and applying to med schools. I've gotten to the point where I'm starting to feel CRAZY/hertmit-ish/want to write "just accept me!!!!" on my applications. I have less than 4 weeks before I leave for a year! My departure date is August 29th. I'll be leaving DC on the 28th. Before that time, expect me to be SCRAMBLING to do 5 secondaries, teaching, volunteering, seeing people, drinking wine, learning Spanish, working, raising money, and overall preparing for Ecuador. Yeah, I don't sleep much. But who needs that? I'm excited!

I think I've gotten to the point where things are starting to fall in to place (I think I've fundraised most of my fee - thanks to the wonderful donations from family, friends, and my wonderful co-workers at work! Thank you guys! You know who you are. :D ). All I have to do is keep doing what I'm doing and focus on the secondaries to crank them out. Once I'm done with UVA and EVMS, I think most of them will be easy after that. This is what I've finished so far:
-GWU
-VCU
-UPENN
-NYMC
-Albert Einstein
-Mount Sinai
And those that have yet to be done:
-UVA
-EVMS
-Georgetown
-Cornell
-Temple

But who cares about that? I'm supposed to be living the life (which I haven't)! So, if you are a friend, kick me in the butt so that I go out with you and spend time with you before I go traipsing off to Ecuador! But yes, time is now limited, so get in line! =)