first week of classes
i´m a little bit sick. i feel fine though, just my nose running constantly.
the first week of classes was a bit stressful. people have told me usually when studying abroad, classes are easier and there´s less work. but in greece i think we had a lot of work. and i´m am not finding this perception to be the case here. i think part of it has to do with the whole other language thing-everything takes me twice as long. the history of mesoamerica is also confusing me a lot. i think it will get better.
i set off my family´s alarm again the other day. NOW i know how to work it.
i feel like i´m doing a whole lot of reading and listening and not much talking (in spanish) which is a source of frustration. i think though, that everyday i talk a little bit more, but i feel like in class there´s not much opportunity to talk, and then i have so much homework i can´t really just sit around with my family, although i have been trying to so that as much as i can because i love them. speaking is also painful because i think of things to say in my head and then expect them to come out like normal speaking pace and they come out more like a slow leaky faucet. does this analogy work.
i really have a lot more to say, as always but have to go now. chao
getting adjusted
yesterday i set off the alarm in my house. i knew that i had 40 seconds to leave but i didn´t know that when i entered and no one´s home, i have 40 seconds until it goes off. so i set it off. my mom came home soon afterward and i didn´t know how to say that i set it off, so i thought everything would be fine if i didn´t tell her. some time later the phone rang and it´s my sister wondering what´s going on. apparently when the alarm goes off, it sends a signal to the cell phones of my 3 siblings and my dad. my mom told me a story of another student they had who set off the alarm and all the kids came home, the police came, the neighbors came...what a disaster. thankfully, nothing really happened in my case. the funny thing is that i had been discussing with my host brother the verb ¨soñar¨which is to dream and i asked him if there was a verb with sounds, like to sound. he said no and then yesterday i told him i looked for it and there is one, it´s ¨sonar¨ and my professor had used it that morning and he thought about it and said, ¨oh, i need to learn spanish.¨ anyway me setting off the alarm gave them a chance to use the word ¨sonar¨because that´s what my mom said the alarm was doing. so you see, i did it on purpose to show them that in fact, the word sonar is commonly used.
this is all goofy stuff, i have better material but not time right now to write it. chao!
aqui
i have been in Ecuador now for 5 days. we spend 3 in Quito, the capital, one day in Baños, a town right near Cuenca, and then came to Cuenca. instead of the usual drive down from Quito to Cuenca, we had to fly because of the roadblocks. apparently in the US press there has been attention put on the ¨state of emergency¨in Ecuador and also there was a plane crash in the Cuenca airport. the state of emergency is only for 4 provinces and doesn´t affect us at all. the plane crash actually happened about 2 hours after we left the airport-it was a company we would not be riding with and it was because the plane didn´t get enough air. surrounded by mountains, it´s a difficult airport.
ok, after that, my impressions: so far i like almost everything. it´s different, for sure. it´s absolutely beautiful, the food is great. what i love: the fruit juice. oh man this is not like Dole. i´m in love with it. it´s basically like a rich smoothie. and it´s so good. also my family. i have a bother, 27, who works in some computer company i think, a sister, 22 who is studying biochemistry and farmacy. and another sister who is somehwere in the 20´s and i don´t really know what she does. and of course, mom and dad. all the kids live at home. my house is sort of large, very open, all hardwoord floors and has a very upper class look, to me. i love my family although they are very quiet. when they are talking amongst themselves, i can´t really understand them. when they talk to me, it´s louder and clearer and i might need repeating once. but i feel like i haven´t talked in a long time. the group was separated yesterday at noon when we met our families (nervewracking). i´m timid around them but we´ve had some good laughs so far. trying to speak a language is fun. i was pretty nervous but i have found daily communication much easier than i thought and the whole thing is going smoother that i would have expected.
i went to mass with the women today. it was very similar to mass at home but because it was in a huge cathedral, there was an echo and i couldn´t understand very well. the priest was very passionate though, that i got. later we took a ride to a small town outside Cuenca. we crossed a river (on foot) on one of those bridges that don´t look safe but it was fine really. a fun experience. and it was so beautiful.
along the road, you can see lots of barbecues, mainly chicken. we stopped at one and had a delicious lunch. i´ve been eating vegetarian but i had a little chicken.
i still feel uncomfortable in the house. this is normal i think. for the past two days, ive had absolutely nothing to do, so i don´t really know what to do with myself around the house. but they invite me everywhere, or rather, insist that i go (not in a bad way, i like it).
i kind of miss the group. i love them all and we have a lot of fun together. actually the first several days were rather rough because i was missing greece a whole lot. i felt like i was reliving the trip, only with different people and in a different place. and everything is new now, but i could think back to greece and remember every step of the way and i missed it so much. it´s a little better now that we´ve stopped traveling and i´m with my family.
i think this is a little long. tomorrow i start classes, for which i´m very excited. thanks for reading, bye.
the last minute
well it's early in the a.m. and this feels awfully familiar. when i was leaving for greece exactly one year ago, it was the same situation. me, at the computer, doing last minute stuff while i should have been in bed 4 hours ago. in a perfect world. i remember i was frantically printing out the 100 pages of articles we needed for the history part with bill. (i've decided i'm not going to explain many names and past references. if you know it, great, if not, ask me if you want to know.) so although i planned on being prepared, packed, and ready, i'm not. this is no surprise.
to be honest, i wish i was leaving for greece and i wish i was doing that whole trip over again. but i only feel that way because i've already been and had a great experience and just want to relive it. i won't let you know how much i still think about greece...
so i'm not excited yet. i think it's because i'm tired and stressed out. it took a lot to prepare for this trip. a lot of blood was spilt (figuratively) but hopefully it will be worth it. i'm nervous. everyone's told me not to be, but i can't help it.
what has been on my mind the most is the language: i just can not imagine myself speaking another language as my daily communication. it completely weirds me out. i know tons of people do it, in fact most of my friends, but i'm just...it's weird.
i'm really going to have to learn to keep my posts succint yet descriptive, informative and comprehensive. i tend to ramble if i'm just writing. so i'll go. tomorrow i'll be in ecuador. traveling weirds me out too. but ever since 2 fridays ago, my bones have been ready to go. that nice weather (which didn't last) said to me, "get out of here." so i'm going.
hello
hi. i don't know what to write. i feel like i'm meeting someone for the first time but i can't say "what's your major?" "where are you from" "when's your birthday?"
or it's like the first page of my diaries i wrote when i was little. "today i sat next to my crush. it was great. when i came home from school my mom made me macaroni and cheese. i lost my favorite pencil today."
ok, i'll figure this blog thing out. i promise it won't be like my 3rd grade diary.
until then...
