Not a Blog About Unicorns

If I were a more responsible writer and friend, I would have been writing religiously for the last five weeks.  However, I’m not, and this is what everyone shall receive.

 

During the last month, I have bungee jumped, zip lined, lounged on the beach, hiked, mountain biked down a volcano, visited beautiful waterfalls, swam in the Pacific and learned Spanish.  I’ve also learned what it’s like to truly miss home.  How can I possibly sufficiently recap this experience?  It seems nearly impossible to capture every moment.  It’s hard to do through photography, I can say that.  They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so I can only imagine this will be more difficult.  I’ll start with the bungee jumping.

 

Bungee Jumping

 

A little know fact about myself, I secretly love semi-risky things.  Secondly, I am weird.  I am afraid of rollerblading, skating, and anything else where I feel like I have no control over falling or not.  However, for some reason, I deem skydiving, rollercoasters, bungee jumping, parasailing and things of that nature relatively safe.  Just don’t try to make me ice skate.  I might fall!  So, of course, I have always wanted to try bungee jumping. 

 

A lot of people in my group had talked about wanting to try it.  Before going on our trip to Baños, I decided there was no way I was jumping off a bridge in Ecuador.  If I were to do that, it would be in the safety of my homeland, the good old United States.  As with most things though, I changed my mind. 

 

When we arrived at the site of future bungee jumps, I saw a girl take the plunge.  It looked amazing.  Then I found out that it only cost $15.  The clincher.  Sometimes, you feel like you have an opportunity to do something and maybe you should go for it.  And sometimes opportunity stares you in the face.  This one was looking right at me. 

 

I decided for sure that I was going to do this thing, and sealed the deal by telling all my friends I was going for it.  And then, I felt nauseous.  I watched a few others jump, and saw one of my classmates get into the bungee gear.  By bungee gear, I mean the small harness they strap around your torso.  I realized that I just wanted to suit up and get on that bridge.  As soon as the old man/bungee worker guy came back to our group, I threw myself to the front of the line and told him I was ready to go.  I mean, I think that’s what I told him.  My Spanish wasn’t exactly up to par at the moment, and I really could have said anything.  I guess he got the point though, because two minutes later, I was wearing a bungee harness and climbing the stairs to the bridge.

 

When I got to the top, another girl, Rebecca was ready to jump.  Our teacher, Mario, was also standing up there with her.  She took the hand of old man/bungee guy #2 and Mario and stood on the edge of the wall.  As she held their hands, she was given the instructions.  Then, when she was ready to go, she jumped.  As I watched her fall, I knew it was my time. 

 

The worker reeled the bungee cord back in after Rebecca had been detached.  He looked at me, and asked me if I was ready.  I said I was, and I got hooked onto the rope.  Then, he indicated that I should mount the railing of the bridge.  If you know me well, you know I’m not balanced.  At all.  The idea of standing on the edge of a bridge is not exactly appealing.  Of course, Mario was no where to be found, because he had joined the other students at the bottom of the bridge, the observation deck, if you will.  So, when I started to climb up, I grabbed the hand of a random middle aged man, who probably thought I had no sense being up there.  Random or not, he helped stablize me.  Then, I found myself standing on the top of a bridge over a river.

 

The scariest part of the whole bungee jumping expierence was, hands down, standing on the railing of the bridge.  I felt ill.  In that moment, I wanted off that bridge more than I have ever wanted anything.  When I was hearing the instructions, I wasn’t listening, I was plotting my escape.  There was only one way off of this thing, and I was about to do it.  I did hear him tell me that once he said, “1,2,3, go!”, I was free to jump.  Anxiously, I awaited my permission, and as soon as he uttered the word, “go”, I was off of that ledge. 

 

I can so clearly recall the view that I had for no more than two seconds.  It was absolutely amazing.  It was such an unnatural view of nature.  I was so close to the trees and the land, but I was above them.  For just a second or two, I was flying—or as close as I’ll ever come to flying.  It took my breath away.  I know that it was only a few seconds, but I remember it as if it were a few minutes.  It was as if time momentarily stopped.

 

Then, I was back to reality.  And I was falling fast.  It was frightening, but more than anything, it was exhilarating.  I felt so free and uninhibited.  I felt to powerful, yet I was completely out of control of my own body.  I couldn’t stop smiling.  After I finished, I was shaking.  It was just an unreal experience.

Heeeeere´s Quito

All in all, I would say that my blogs have been a bit...lacking. I guess I just don´t know what to say. That, and the total absence of privacy and quiet time have kind of hindered my writing abilities. I am going to make a concentrated effort to bring more quality to this little blog.

Here is a typical day for me:

I get up at about 6:30, (pray that the hot water is functioning) take a shower, get ready for school, sit through breakfast with or without my family, pretend I understand Spanish throughout said breakfast, knock on Kelsey´s door and listen to the string of goodbyes from her host mother.

Then, we head to the bus stop, wait for our bus to come (pray it isn´t full), the bus is full, wait for more buses, cling to the bus for dear life, climb aboard, stand for 45 minutes with my bookbag on the front of my body for fear of theft, attempt to exit the bus, walk a few blocks to class because the bus let me off several blocks after press the ¨let me off the bus¨ button.

I arrive at school, look at the clock and evaluate how much time I have to get on the internet, see that I have 4 minutes until class starts, use the internet, head to class only after I realize I am the last person not in class already.

Class begins, partake in a debate where I am assigned an arbitrary position that I probably don´t agree with, remember everyone else on the trip is extremely liberal, laugh at them on the inside, continue arguing, stare at clock, play a grammar game, realize how much I don´t remember during the game, read from the book, stare at the clock, listen to people read from the book, stare at the clock while listening to people read, realize it´s my turn to read, check clock again and realize it is time for our break, stare at teacher until she also realizes it is time for the break.

11:30 is the start of our well-deserved break, I use the internet again, tell Matt to get online at 1:30 so I can talk to him, try to load pictures on the internet, get frustrated when the internet stops work, become happy when it starts to work, check clock and realize our 30 minute break has ended, continue to ignore that fact and use the internet some more, realize the teacher is waiting to start class, reluctantly shut my computer and go back to class.

The second half of class starts at 12 and we enter our second meaningless debate, get excited when I hear Lisa´s watch beep at 12:30 and find out we only have an our left, doodle in my notebook, get called on to answer a question while doodling, make something up that sounds possibly right, check peoples´ expressions for confirmation, finish the debate and class.

After school, I pull out my laptop and get ready to use the internet, realize the internet isn´t working, go to the Magic Bean Cafe, let the workers stare at me because they see me so often, order the cheapest thing on the menu, sit there for an hour, try to talk to Matt, family and friends.

I go home for lunch, stare at the rice in disbelief (5 weeks in and I´ve been served rice every day), move the food around strategically, appear to be finished, go up to my room, play with Gabriel and Melisa, feel guilty that I am probably influencing little children to speak with horrid Spanish grammar, decide I want to go hang out with my friends.

Take the bus back to Plaza Foch, meet at the school, walk around aimlessly for a few hours, end up at a cafe, hang out, use the internet, take a taxi home, question why the taxi driver is charging more than the agreed upon price, pay whatever he asks, get out, walk in, go up to bed, attempt homework, realize it is not happening, fall asleep on top of homework, wake up and turn off lights, go to sleep because there is nothing else going on.

Oh, and think about how glorious the weekend will be once you make it through the daily routine 5 times.

Beaches, Buses, Being Babied

I'm still in Ecuador and I still really wish I could have some better form of communication.  It is so frustrating to talk to people at a crowded internet cafe or in the middle of school where 30 people are attempting to use a horribly slow internet connection.  It makes me just want to go home.

However, I did have a great weekend at the beach.  The weather was perfect, there was a bonfire, lots of relaxation and only a little touch of sunburn.  The supposed 6-7 hour bus ride turned into a 10 hours, including 2 straight hours of not moving an inch, or a centimeter as they might say in South America.

I feel very blah, and not like I am exploring a foreign country.  The weekend trips are amazing, but the week is so long.  Then I feel like I am forced to be in school and at home 100% of the time.  I am treated like a little kid.  I am confused as to how this trip that I thought would make me more independent feels me like Babysitting 101...except I'm the one being babysat.  On a side note, I am shocked that babysat is a word.  It seems like something I'd heard on Teen Girl Squad.  Anyway, irrelevant. 

Well, unfortunately I have to return home like  a 14 year old junior high student so I can eat lunch.  I'll try to write more later.

So, I'm probably going to fail my oral exam today.  

Quito in Motion

Driving in Quito…frightening.  I mean, I’m not the one driving, but still, riding in Quito is an experience.  I went with my host mom, her kids and her sister to go pick up their mom from their aunt’s house.  First of all, I really had no idea where we were going and why, possibly because my Spanish is that bad, but I just think they didn’t mention it.  All I know is that my madre’s sister said, “Vamos a la casa de mi tia en diez minutos,” (We leave to my aunt’s house in 10 minutes).  Okay then.  There was a bunch of running around and excitement, then we took off for the house.  I had no idea what was going on and why we were going there.  So, basically I just stared out the window the whole time and watched the traffic. 

 

Watching the traffic sounds boring, and I guess that it is—if you don’t think your life depends on it.  It was absolutely insane!  Cars flying everywhere.  They DO NOT stop for pedestrians.  Motorcycles just weave in and out between the cars.  People go about 45 mph in places that would surely be 25 mph zones in the United States.  Also, some of the roads are really steep here, like nothing I’ve ever seen before. We drove up this really steep street today, and I wondered how endangered my life was at the moment.  Plus, I kept worrying that we would hit someone.  Besides all the swerving, not stopping at red lights or stop signs and the pedestrians coming from all directions, the kids in the back seat were totally unrestrained.  No carseats, no seatbelts, nothing!  The little boy, Gabriel, is four years old, he was sleeping in the car, laying down across the seat, and Melisa, the 2 year old, was standing up or laying on the lap of her aunt.  I kept thinking about how that would go over in America. 

 

I would never want to drive in a place like this…SCARY!

Wrote This a While Ago, Clearly

Quito is beautiful.  Ecuador is a great country. The people here are very friendly and willing to help.  My family is great.  I have a mom, a dad and two kids.  The kids are named Gabriel (age 4) and Melissa (age 2).  They are so cute and curious about the new person in their home.  “Quieres jugar?” (Do you want to play?) they have asked me about 20 times in the last two days.

 

Speaking of kids, one weird thing I noticed is that people give their children a lot more freedom.  For instance, in the super market, Gabriel saw a playground set and wanted to play on it.  Ingrid (my host mom) allowed him to stay there by himself while we looked at fruit on the other side of the store.  I cannot imagine anyone in the states to leave a child to his own devices like that, especially in a store the size of Walmart.  It was strange to me, but there were many other children just roaming around the store and at the Centro Historico.

 

Many things are different here, but much of it is also the same.  It is very interesting.  In the store, there were so many American brands.  Almost all the toys were American.  I saw brands like Duncan Hines, Bisquick,, Fruit Loops.  This morning I had a breakfast of pancakes with Aunt Jemima syrup.  I’m glad there are familiar things around me.  It is comforting. 

 

Tomorrow is my first day of school, so I am very nervous about it.  I guess it is just another hurdle to get over…

 

Leaving Tomorrow

Welllll, this is my last night in Ohio, then I'm shipping out to Quito, Ecuador for the next 2.5 months. I'll be living with complete strangers in a land where I barely know the language. You could say I'm a little more than nervous. EEK! Luckily, I'm also going with my friend/roommate Kelsey. Thank goodness, because I would be reeeeeally freaking out if I were not traveling with her.

In between Spanish classes, we'll be traveling to various locations in Ecuador (our excursions). Here is my itinerary:
January 10--Arrive in Quito
January 24--Visit Cotopaxi (the world's highest active volcano)
February 7-8--Banos (a tourist town known for its hot springs)
February 14-15--Esmeraldas (beaches and rainforests)
February 21-25--Rainforest and Papallacta
March 12-17--The Galapagos Islands
March 25--Back to Ohio!

I have no idea what I'm getting myself into. Hopefully, it will be a great experience though...

On another related note, saying goodbye is not fun at all. It's actually horrible, and I hate it. This is just such a long time to be away from everyone. Thankfully, the only few goodbyes I have left are to my parents tomorrow morning.

Ohhhh, tomorrow morning...waking up at 4am (note that it is currently past 12am). So, I guess the next time I post to this I'll be in Ecuador!