Wednesday I had Translation in the morning. It was fine. Bianca had just registered so the prof told her she had to take a test to see if she could get in the class. He gave her our past assignment and told her to leave the classroom, translate it into Spanish without a dictionary and slide it under the door of his office. Apparently she got it back with a note on it saying she didn’t pass, sorry. I was sure that he was kidding- he puts people on the spot all the time, that seems to be his type of humor- but I guess he wasn’t. Very strange.
After class I went to return my photography book that I no longer needed. I got in line at the customer service desk and when I finally got up there the guy asked me why I was returning the book. I said because I was no longer in the class and he wanted me to prove it by showing him my schedule! I was so taken aback by that- it just seemed so unnecessary- that I just kind of stared at him, so the girl behind me in line told me, in English, that I needed my schedule. I guess that was nice of her to try to help me but a lot of times when I don’t understand someone they think it’s because I don’t speak Spanish but it’s usually that I can’t hear them, or in this case I just didn’t get it. So I went to the copy center, printed out my new schedule, went back to the bookstore, waited in line again and then showed the guy my old and new schedules. All this for a store credit that I don’t even need since I already bought my other books. UGH!
So then he was all ok cool come over to the cash register and this lady will take care of it. Oi. So I got my dumb credit and I’ll let Chris use it since she hasn’t bought her books yet. Then I found Emily L by the lake and we ate lunch. Mary came over to sit by us too and Omar found us just about as soon as Emily left. Then a girl from my Anthro class, another gringa who knows Mary, joined us. We talked ab bit then I went to find a computer lab since our internet was still out. The two I usually go to were closed for classes but luckily I had copied down the room numbers of some other labs from Emily’s notebook. I found one that was practically empty so I checked my email and whatnot. The computers were pretty old but they had internet so I didn’t care.
I went home and started reading for class basically until dinner. Guadalupe called me down and I got myself a glass of water. I sat down at the table, since she won’t let me help or serve myself, and watched the Brazilian telenovela that’s always on. She comes over with my food and says, ‘look at you watching the novela, you like this show!’ I don’t particularly like the show, it’s fine for a novela, but since it’s always on when I eat, it’s either watch it or stare at my plate. So now she thinks I love this show and keeps saying the name all the time. Haha. Tonight, after soup of course, Guadalupe gave me chicken nuggets! They were homemade and delicious but nuggets nonetheless. I ate them all and everything on my plate. I’m finally starting to get my appetite back. Then I went back up to my room to read some more. Both of my classes that have a lot of reading are on the same day so I always have a lot to do those days. I went to bed early since I had class at 8:30 the next day.
Thursday I got up really early (for me) but Guadalupe was of course already up. I don’t think the woman sleeps. At breakfast she offered me coffee and I eagerly accepted even though it was instant. I knew that caffeine would be the only thing to keep me up during this class. It’s interesting but I always have trouble staying awake in early classes. So I went to class and we finished the movie. The ending was sadder than I expected but it was good. We talked about the questions in the packet and that was about it. After that everyone went their own way since they all have class right after. I don’t have class for an hour and a half so I just sat on the stairs and re-read some of my Anthro reading. I was at the inner courtyard and they were setting up tables and food and a band. Apparently the university is celebrating its 22nd birthday so they were having a big shindig.
As I was reading I got a call from Danielle who was supposed to be in class but was at an assembly in the gym where some professors were giving speeches in purple robes. I came to find her, since I had nothing else to do, and we stayed for a while. Neither of us could understand a word the man was saying so we left. We went to the international office to talk to Christina about volunteer work and get our ID cards. We filled out a form for the ID but it seemed to me like it was a credit card. I hope not because I don’t need another accidental credit card. But it’s Diners which is apparently everywhere you want to be in Ecuador. Then we went to Anthro and we talked about the impact of agriculture on society. We did it in groups and our group was pretty good. We came up with some good stuff. The other groups came up with most of the same things but it was still good. Then the first group gave their presentation. They had a little game at the end but I don’t remember who won. Then our group planned to meet up on Friday after class to discuss our presentation. We also discussed going to the artisan fair in Quito.
Then I went to dance class which was fun as always. The first day of dance there were more gringos than Ecuadorians but now it’s the other way around. It’s weird that they must have all dropped but I’m glad I have a class with some Ecuadorian students in it. We learned a new variation and it was cool. My knees and hips and back are starting to hurt from this class though. I have bruises so I’ll have to be careful next time. After dance I went to Soc. We discussed the three methods of solving social problems and broke into groups to create strategies that followed one of the methods.
After class I walked home to find it empty. And Guadalupe wondered why I wanted a key! I played around on the internet for a while then watched some Dexter. When Guadalupe came home she asked me what I wanted for dinner since she hadn’t made anything, having been out all day. She suggested a Spanish tortilla and I was down so that’s what she made. It was really tasty. Of course it came with a side of steak and rice and salad, but I ate it all. Then I went up to talk to my parents on skype. I also talked to Zach then finished the last episode of season 3. I’m going to have to buy season 4 soon.
Friday Miria came back so when I got up Guadalupe was still in bed. I went down to the kitchen though and there was my breakfast, laid out as always. I ate with little Dennis in the kitchen playing with his cars. On my way out I said goodbye as always and, as always, Guadalupe made me late. This time she asked if I had had coffee and when I said no she kind of freaked out. Eventually I gathered that she thought I hadn’t eaten breakfast. When she realized I had, she relaxed. She didn’t even insist on giving me a lunch today since I told her I’d eat in Quito.
I had translation again Friday but there were only three of us in class for some reason. We talked about translation as a science and other stuff and, like always, class ended abruptly. After class I sat by the lake until Danielle showed up. We went to eat a wok n roll for Asian-like food. It wasn’t the best Asian food I’d had but it wasn’t bad. I had orange chicken style chicken wings over noodles. Then Cari- the other girl in out presentation group- and her friend Ericka showed up and we went into Quito to the artisan fair. As soon as we got there Danielle ran off to find her shoes and I stuck with Carrie and Ericka. I bought a runner and a beautiful ring for mom. Danielle had been looking for a ring for a while and we saw this really nice display but assumed they’d be really expensive. The lady opened up the case for us and we fell in love. They were silver with semi-precious stones but the settings were really pretty. I can’t really explain them. The lady was really nice though, and very helpful. She sized our rings for free and let Danielle come back Monday for her sized rings without paying. Her daughter was also there and she was showing and telling us about her creations. She said that all her bracelets were sold! She was cute. At one point when we were talking with the lady about school the little girl said, ‘I have no idea what you just said’ so the mom had to explain it to her.
We left the market and got back on the bus and shortly before we were going to get off, Danielle realized her phone was gone. She thinks someone stole it and that the old lady sitting next to her saw it and told her but Danielle couldn’t hear her clearly. Once we got back to Cumbaya we went to our favorite panaderia for some ice cream. I got dark chocolate with chocolate chips and ‘chocochip’ which was vanilla with pieces of chocolate chip cookies mixed in. It was great! Then we went home and found Guadalupe still in bed in her pjs watching TV as always. I told her about my day and then she got out a bunch of necklaces to show me and she gave me a couple. She told Miria when she came in that she was having her own market. It was cute. But she gave me three necklaces and two pairs of earrings! It was really sweet of her. She liked mom’s table covering so I think I’ll get her one. Or maybe give her that one and get a brighter color for mom. Idk yet. We had dinner pretty much right away and I got soup and a kind of beef stroganoff type thing. She also gave me passion fruit juice. It was delicious. She said that it’s really good with rum in it! Haha.
After dinner I made plans with some girls for tomorrow which is our hacienda ‘fiesta’ that starts at 7:50 am and ends at 6pm. We will be doing some activities that may get us dirty and we get two beers and a cocktail. I honestly have no idea what to expect. We’ll see what happens. If we ever come back…
Hasta luego,
Caitlin
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