Friday, June 3, 2011

you have to take the journey

...well, I guess I technically ¨took the journey¨ 13 days ago... I´m aware of just how late I am updating this. Unfortunately, I still can´t find a wifi spot for my own computer...which means no pictures for a while. Super sad.. I guess I´ll just be saving those for another. Hopefully it won´t be another two weeks before I get back on! Also, please be patient with mah spelling and punctuation and all.. this computadora doesn´t have spell check, and I can´t really figure out this keyboard..

I feel like I´ve been here much longer than 13 days! I really have no idea where to start! Hm... well, I´m living with this fantastic host family comprised of a grandmother, Rosa (the most wonderful cook, besides Momma P!) and her nine year old granddaugher, Aisha, who coincidentally, is sitting in my lap right now playing Angry Birds on my iPod and beating all of my high scores. Awesome... but really, she´s fantastic. and super intelligent. We´ve had some very interesting conversations about discrimination and racism here in Quito.. she´s quite insightful.  more on that luego.
 
Of course, that whole volunteering thing where I get to play with kids all day is pretty fantastic as well. I´m working with this awesome organization called UBECI. Google it. It´s legit. Basically, what we do is go to a market, set up a tent or play area, round up some of the children of the street vendors and play games and sing songs with them. I really wish I could go into more detail, but I have to save it for another day. I promise it won´t take me two weeks to update next time! I have much more insightful stuff on mah computer that I´d love to share with yáll... as soon as I find some flippin wifi.

I´ll leave you with a couple random facts and things I´ve seen since I´ve been here!

1. I know that mah stepdad is quite curious about what exactly I´m eating, so this is for him.... for breakfast, we have bread and some kind of tea, with the occasional fruit or hard boiled egg. Lunch is soup, rice, and meat. Dinner is soup, rice, meat, and vegetables. Not exactly a wide variety. Mah momma would be proud though, I´m quite the healthie eater here.

2. There´s a church here called the Basilica that is for reals basically just the Notre Dame. EXACTLY the same. quite ridiculous.

3. The market children are unlike any children I´ve ever worked with before. They´re super clingy and are quick to sit in your lap and hold your hand, but it´s SO difficult to get them to smile.

4. Just like in Beijing, many trees here are painted white on the bottom. 

5. Children are not allowed to leave the country without their fathers permission. There aren´t exactly a myriad of great fathers here, so many children are stuck until they turn 18. 

6. There are SO many stray dogs here. I´ve never seen anything like it.. along the same lines, I also saw some dogs, like Rottweilers and Pit Bulls, in the park with their owners training for dogfighting. It was terrifying.

7. This place is super beautiful. We´re over 9,000 ft above sea level here, making Quito the second highest capital of the world. I´ve never seen mountains like this before. 


Like I said earlier, I have a LOT more detailed information (and pictures!) on mah own computer and I´ll share it with yáll the first chance I get. ¡hasta luego!

1 comment:

  1. Hi Emily! Spent the day in Beaufort today and enjoyed being with your family! We had shrimp and vegetables on the grill along with fruit salad and brownies for dessert. Missed you! Love Beth and Jimmy
    enjoying your blog!

    ReplyDelete