On Wednesday, after Translation, I met up with Emily L by the laguna where I was eating my ‘lonchera.’ We were planning on eating at the crepe restaurant in the university with Kevin and Danielle but we had to wait Kevin to be done with class and Danielle to get there from home. A while after Danielle showed up Emily got a call from Kevin wondering where we were. Apparently he was already in line. On the way to the restaurant we ran into Omar and invited him to join us. The crepes were kind of expensive but pretty tasty. I got pesto chicken which was good. It was pretty cool though because you watched them make your crepe in front of you. They used this little wooden tool to spread the batter around on the griddle to make the crepe. I’d never really seen a crepe made before so I thought it was cool.
After lunch I went to MT’s office to finally check out some volunteer opportunities. Mary and I had gone last week but MT was busy so she told us to come back today. I wasn’t sure where we were going but I was hoping there was some where free of children since I’m bad at working with children in English, let alone Spanish. But when I got to her office she just told me, “you’ll be volunteering from 2-3 Mondays and Wednesdays at the public school in Lumbisi and tell Mary. I’ll be in the cafeteria if she needs to talk to me.” I was a little taken aback but I couldn’t say no.
So I texted Mary and headed home. On the way out I saw Mary coming in so I relayed the message in person and she told me that may not work out for her. I hope it does since I don’t want to do this alone. Lauren was also there and she walked home with me since the mountain climbing gear store she needed to go to is on my walk. I showed her where it is and continued home. I took a nice nap, had some dinner and worked on my homework.
Thursday I had Cine class for the first time this week since we skipped Tuesday. We basically went over the movie packet with class but didn’t have to turn it in. If I had known that I wouldn’t have worked so hard on making it look nice. Good thing I didn’t type it up and print it out. That was a waste of money I successfully avoided. After Cine I figured I’d hang with Lauren since I know she has the same break as me and she usually gets lunch then. Apparently she dropped her 1pm class so she’ll be getting lunch at one. During this break she needed to do some homework so it looks like I’m back to spending my break eating my lonchera alone by the lake. Which I did, in full sun. Not a good choice.
In Anthro we watched a movie about Incan mummies which was pretty interesting but I started nodding off halfway through since the lights were off and I was tired. Once I start falling asleep I can’t keep myself awake, no matter what I do. Then I went to dance class where the teacher grouped me with the good dancers, telling the newbies to watch us if they get lost. I felt really good about that…then I kept messing up. Of course.
After soc, which was fine but not too exciting, Chris, Danielle, Lauren and I all went to the Supermaxi to get chocolate for Mary’s that night. She had sent out an email inviting all of us to her house for movies and chocolate and I was really excited. We ran into Keunae there too. We had the same idea. I bought some Noggy- milk chocolate balls with hazelnut- and an Ecuadorian coffee chocolate bar to contribute and a box of alfajores for myself!
We decided to meet at the bus stop at 6:30 to take the bus to Rio Coca and then take cabs from there since it would be cheaper. I tried to call a cab but the number I had didn’t work. So eventually I had Guadalupe call for me. When she asked me if I had the house number and I said it never worked, she explained why and it all made sense. Apparently cell phones and landlines have their own extensions but I didn’t get that at first. So I was a tad late getting to the bus stop but it wasn’t a problem.
We walked from Rio Coca to Lauren’s house, which is really close, and tried to call for cabs there but they said they didn’t have any nearby and couldn’t help us. It was weird. (Side note: Lauren’s house has a sunken sitting room where the seating is flush with the normal floor and the rest is sunk in. Crazy!) So we hailed a couple cabs and got there fine. The address was a little confusing but we made it. Mary’s brother Fernando let us in to a full house. Several of his/Andres’ friends were there along with our group. Their house is sweet.
For a while we just ate chocolate and talked but eventually the brothers’ friends bought some booze and we had chocolate fondue and the party really started! Then they broke out the guitar and the rest of the night someone was singing and playing. Most of the songs we gringos didn’t know but the Ecuadorians did. The main guy playing guitar and singing was really good. Fernando and Andres both play too but Andres didn't really sing too much. The only songs the gringos really sang along with were Wonderwall, two Jason Mraz songs and Juanes! Red cap guy even said, “Juanes nos une” “Juanes brings us together.” It was really fun but we left kind of early since it was a school night after all. At least for some of us.
Hasta luego,
Caitlin
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