Hello loves!
I only have time for a quick update, but I will do the best that I can! :o)
My last day of classes at CIMAS was Friday! Woohoo! We turned in our essays and had oral presentations and everything went very well. The rest of my weekend consisted of: unlimited wine and tapas, shopping for warm clothing, dancinnggg, church, and family time.
My host mom took me shopping on Saturday morning to get warm clothing because...believe it or not, I am cooold! Our mission was successful and I think I´ll be nice and calientita when I move to Otavalo...which is Tuesday, by the way..ahh!
As far as moving to Otavalo goes, I feel like I´m just going through the motions, slowly getting my things together and trying not to get emotional about leaving. Change is always a challenge though, and it really is too bad that I am leaving just as I finally feel part of my family, and I finally feel comfortable in Quito. I´ll miss being around my friends too. I feel like we have been spoiled for the last month, being so close to each other. I am sure that everything will go well, though. I am excited for a new experience.
Tomorrow night, Mary is throwing me a tea party for my birthday, since I will not be here for the real thing. She has made it a priority to do something special for me and I´m pretty excited about it...although I feel like maybe I should be having wine instead of tea for my 21st birthday! ;o) Haha, kiddding! She invited the whole family and I invited a few friends...I am pretty psyched for my Ecaudorian birthday. Woot woot!
Nooww I should be getting home...and next time, I´ll be in a new home :o)
Much love and thinking of you all,
Jessica
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Impromptu Adventures, Banana Cake, and “Stressica”
Hello my loves!
(I wrote this Tuesday night..)
I thought about changing it up a bit and saving the weekend adventures until last, but that would not make much sense. I left my house early Friday morning to meet up with Sophie and Emily to start our journey to Papallacta…or so we thought. The plan was to spend a relaxing two days close to Quito, hike, and take advantage of some thermal baths…but that plan changed shortly after getting on the bus. We decided that we were not being adventurous enough and that we should take advantage of the fact that there is a jungle in Ecuador, and decided to extend our journey another 4 hours to Tena. We got off of the bus at a crossroads, and waited for a bus that would take us to Tena. After experiencing one of the most bumpy bus rides ever, we ended up in a cute little town in the Orient with 13 other students from CIMAS! I felt HEAT for the first time since I´ve been here and felt that I had finally arrived to the Ecuador that I had envisioned. ;o)
We visited a park where we swam in the Rio Tena and saw some jungle animals (monkeys, parrots, a TUCAN, snaaakes..eep, and some animals that I had never seen before). On Saturday we got up early to explore the town, then went to visit some caves in another town near by. Our guide taught us how to take advantage of the mud baths inside of the caves, and that we did! :o) When we were climbing up out of the cave, I thought I was in the middle of a movie. As we climbed up, we saw more and more light, and we climbed out onto land where it was raining…beautiful! Overall, a great way to spend our last weekend traveling together before we all move to our internship sights.
Last night, I attempted to make banana bread with my host mom. I was excited to show her one of my very favorite foods from home, but that is not exactly how it turned out. First, she did all of the cooking. She insisted that I do not know how to cook and that I should watch her so that when I get married someday I will know what to do. I thought to myself, “We are making banana bread, this is not gourmet cooking. I think I can handle it.” But I did not worry about it too much and let her “teach me.” She proceeded to let me know that we needed more butter than the recipe called for and added a TON of baking powder, some vanilla, and suggested that I put raisins on the top (note: our bread was put into a circular pan). I did not want to give in completely, so I put raisins on half…bahaha! Our creation turned out while, although not exactly the banana bread that I love…instead, we have more of a banana cake…but that works too! :o)
And that brings us to today. This is our last week in Quito, and unfortunately we have to write an essay before the week is over. The essay was supposed to be a group essay, but our professor decided that our track should write it individually, which is great, but I think I hit the biggest creativity block EVERR today. I thought that I had something great to write about, but quickly realized that my idea went way beyond the scope of what we have learned about education, so I decided to start from scratch. I secluded myself in the basement of CIMAS and listened to my ipod and I started to answer a list of questions that our professor had given us as a starting point. One of the last questions on the sheet was, “How has what you have learned in the track of education changed your perception of Ecuador/Latin America?” I´m not sure exactly why that question made me think, but it did. It made me think that I have learned a lot about this country, especially when it comes to education, and I think I have created a special place in my heart of Ecuador without even realizing it. It has been amazing to experience a developing country. But this country is more than developing…it is a country with aspirations for a better life, with motivation to make improvements where there are challenges. I am lucky to be here.
Well, I am off to bed in hopes of avoiding “Stressica” tomorrow! :o)
Abrazos,
Jessica
(I wrote this Tuesday night..)
I thought about changing it up a bit and saving the weekend adventures until last, but that would not make much sense. I left my house early Friday morning to meet up with Sophie and Emily to start our journey to Papallacta…or so we thought. The plan was to spend a relaxing two days close to Quito, hike, and take advantage of some thermal baths…but that plan changed shortly after getting on the bus. We decided that we were not being adventurous enough and that we should take advantage of the fact that there is a jungle in Ecuador, and decided to extend our journey another 4 hours to Tena. We got off of the bus at a crossroads, and waited for a bus that would take us to Tena. After experiencing one of the most bumpy bus rides ever, we ended up in a cute little town in the Orient with 13 other students from CIMAS! I felt HEAT for the first time since I´ve been here and felt that I had finally arrived to the Ecuador that I had envisioned. ;o)
We visited a park where we swam in the Rio Tena and saw some jungle animals (monkeys, parrots, a TUCAN, snaaakes..eep, and some animals that I had never seen before). On Saturday we got up early to explore the town, then went to visit some caves in another town near by. Our guide taught us how to take advantage of the mud baths inside of the caves, and that we did! :o) When we were climbing up out of the cave, I thought I was in the middle of a movie. As we climbed up, we saw more and more light, and we climbed out onto land where it was raining…beautiful! Overall, a great way to spend our last weekend traveling together before we all move to our internship sights.
Last night, I attempted to make banana bread with my host mom. I was excited to show her one of my very favorite foods from home, but that is not exactly how it turned out. First, she did all of the cooking. She insisted that I do not know how to cook and that I should watch her so that when I get married someday I will know what to do. I thought to myself, “We are making banana bread, this is not gourmet cooking. I think I can handle it.” But I did not worry about it too much and let her “teach me.” She proceeded to let me know that we needed more butter than the recipe called for and added a TON of baking powder, some vanilla, and suggested that I put raisins on the top (note: our bread was put into a circular pan). I did not want to give in completely, so I put raisins on half…bahaha! Our creation turned out while, although not exactly the banana bread that I love…instead, we have more of a banana cake…but that works too! :o)
And that brings us to today. This is our last week in Quito, and unfortunately we have to write an essay before the week is over. The essay was supposed to be a group essay, but our professor decided that our track should write it individually, which is great, but I think I hit the biggest creativity block EVERR today. I thought that I had something great to write about, but quickly realized that my idea went way beyond the scope of what we have learned about education, so I decided to start from scratch. I secluded myself in the basement of CIMAS and listened to my ipod and I started to answer a list of questions that our professor had given us as a starting point. One of the last questions on the sheet was, “How has what you have learned in the track of education changed your perception of Ecuador/Latin America?” I´m not sure exactly why that question made me think, but it did. It made me think that I have learned a lot about this country, especially when it comes to education, and I think I have created a special place in my heart of Ecuador without even realizing it. It has been amazing to experience a developing country. But this country is more than developing…it is a country with aspirations for a better life, with motivation to make improvements where there are challenges. I am lucky to be here.
Well, I am off to bed in hopes of avoiding “Stressica” tomorrow! :o)
Abrazos,
Jessica
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Spongebob + Outdoor Bed + Mosquito Net = Love
Hola mis amores!
Wowee, I cannot believe that it is already the middle of October! Time is flying by…
Last weekend I traveled with 3 other girls to Mindo, a cute little touristy town about 2 and a half hours from Quito. We got the last 2 beds at a lovely hostel called La Casa de Cecilia, and Cecilia took very good care of us! :o) Before we left for Mindo, Emily and I proposed the idea of camping out in a tent, and although we did not end up doing that, I think we got as close as possible. When we arrived at the hostel, Cecilia showed Emily and I to our bed…she opened the door to what looked like a cute 2nd floor balcony, until I turned my head and saw a twin bed covered in a bright Spongebob comforter with a mosquito net hanging overhead. Needless to say…we were pleasantly surprised.
The highlight of our trip to Mindo was a zipline tour through the canopy of the forest. OOooh my goodness --- so much fun and SO beautiful. We also went on a morning walk to see a butterfly exhibit and then went on a short hike to see a waterfall. We ate some pretty amazing food too…grilled cheese and REAL COFFEE. Haha. It was a nice relief from the food at home, although I think I am finally over my Ecuadorian food low and have been feeling hungry for the first time in weeks.
On Sunday, I spend the majority of the day with family. We went to visit my host mom´s brother for his birthday, then went out to lunch, and visited the Panecillo in the Historical Center of Quito. The Panecillo is a huuuuge, beautiful statue of the Virgen Mary. I really enjoy spending time with my family, and it´s kind of a bummer that I only see them on Sundays. I feel like I am finally starting to feel comfortable with them, but I will be moving to a new city in 2 weeks.
Beyond feeling comfortable with my family, I am finally starting to feel comfortable in Quito is well, and part of me is bummed that I have to leave the comfort behind to begin something new. In 2 weeks I will be living with a new family, in a different city, without any other students, working a new job, without anyone to vent to in English. Although moving to my internship is going to be a huge challenge, I know it is going to be an amazing experience. The transition might be difficult, but I think that I´m ready for it.
...I watched the presidential debates last night! A group of us got together at a friend´s house where we could watch them. Actually...13 of us piled on to her mom´s bed, which we broke. Yiiikes! Anyway, I am not the most politically educated person, so I was really looking forward to watching the debate to better understand what each candidate stands for. I have to say I was pretty disappointed, I could not get myself to focud on McCain´s ideas because I was too preoccupied by his disrespectful and sarcastic behavior. I know that´s part of politics, but I felt like I was listening to some sort of childish argument, not to a potential future president. I won´t say much more than that... :o)
I suppose I should study for my Spanish final now…
You all are always in my thoughts and I hope that life is going well.
Abrazos,
Jessica
Thursday, October 9, 2008
Escuelitas, Baños, y Enfermedades
Hola mis lovelies,
I have once again failed at being a loyal blog updater. Maybe every 10ish days is a more feasible goal for me...bah, I´m trying!! :o) I have lots to write about, but I´ll try not to make this too much of a novel.
Last Wednesday and Thursday, the education students went on a trip to visit a couple of rural schools. First, we visited a school in Cangahua that went up to the first year of bachillerato (that´s like the second year of high school for us) and had 440 students. They gave us the most awesome welcome. About 10 of the students dressed in traditional indigenous dress and sang a couple of songs. It was a very humbling experience to see how excited all of the children were to see us there. We returned their welcome by singing them ¨Do Re Mi¨ from The Sound of Music, which we had practiced, full with motions, the entire busride there. Unfortunately, we did not get to spend a lot of time with the kids, but we had a very interesting discussion with the faculty about the challenges of bilingual education.
From there we travelled to a small indigenous community called San Clemente where we stayed the night with indigenous families. This was the part of the trip that I was most nervous about, but turned out to be one of the experiences that I am most thankful for. The community is absolutely breathtaking. Beyond that, the 135 families of the community work together to be completely self sufficient. They have built all of their own homes, raise their own animals (including CUY = guinea pig...a delicacy...so they say), grow corn, potatoes, herbs, grains...everything. We had the opportunity to sit and talk with the dad of the family about life in the community and also helped to prepare the meals (which were by far the best meals I`ve had here). I also experienced some natural medicine! The mom noticed that I was coughing so she warmed about some eucalyptus leaves by the fire and handed them to me to breathe the ¨fumes.¨ Who needs Vick´s Vapor Rub?? :o)
We also visited the school in San Clemente which went from kindergarten to 8th grade and had only 4 classrooms and 4 teachers. It claimed to be a bilingual school (spanish and kichwa) but did not have any bilingual teachers. We definetly did not have to look hard to see the challenges that the face. Despite the challenges, the kids all seemed to be genuinely happy and were very welcoming. Wonderful :o)
I returned to Quito on Thursday to sleep, then travelled to Baños for the weekend with some chicas...photos??
I have once again failed at being a loyal blog updater. Maybe every 10ish days is a more feasible goal for me...bah, I´m trying!! :o) I have lots to write about, but I´ll try not to make this too much of a novel.
Last Wednesday and Thursday, the education students went on a trip to visit a couple of rural schools. First, we visited a school in Cangahua that went up to the first year of bachillerato (that´s like the second year of high school for us) and had 440 students. They gave us the most awesome welcome. About 10 of the students dressed in traditional indigenous dress and sang a couple of songs. It was a very humbling experience to see how excited all of the children were to see us there. We returned their welcome by singing them ¨Do Re Mi¨ from The Sound of Music, which we had practiced, full with motions, the entire busride there. Unfortunately, we did not get to spend a lot of time with the kids, but we had a very interesting discussion with the faculty about the challenges of bilingual education.
From there we travelled to a small indigenous community called San Clemente where we stayed the night with indigenous families. This was the part of the trip that I was most nervous about, but turned out to be one of the experiences that I am most thankful for. The community is absolutely breathtaking. Beyond that, the 135 families of the community work together to be completely self sufficient. They have built all of their own homes, raise their own animals (including CUY = guinea pig...a delicacy...so they say), grow corn, potatoes, herbs, grains...everything. We had the opportunity to sit and talk with the dad of the family about life in the community and also helped to prepare the meals (which were by far the best meals I`ve had here). I also experienced some natural medicine! The mom noticed that I was coughing so she warmed about some eucalyptus leaves by the fire and handed them to me to breathe the ¨fumes.¨ Who needs Vick´s Vapor Rub?? :o)
We also visited the school in San Clemente which went from kindergarten to 8th grade and had only 4 classrooms and 4 teachers. It claimed to be a bilingual school (spanish and kichwa) but did not have any bilingual teachers. We definetly did not have to look hard to see the challenges that the face. Despite the challenges, the kids all seemed to be genuinely happy and were very welcoming. Wonderful :o)
I returned to Quito on Thursday to sleep, then travelled to Baños for the weekend with some chicas...photos??
...up before sunrise to go to a mineral bath at the bottom of a waterfall
...at the top of Bella Vista...beautiful hike :o)
Oh AND...I bungee jumped off of a bridge!...I have a video to prove it...but that will have to wait until next time..haha...
After my fabulous weekend, I returned home to be horribly sick on Sunday and could not leave my bed. So I´ve spent the week regaining my energy and working on some pretty intense school stuff...I´ll admit that I may have gotten a LITTLE bit homesick. I feel like that´s an immediate consequence to being sick though :o)
I hope that you all are doing well and enjoying life, I´m thinking of you and sending hugs!
Ciao!
Jessica
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