Cosas A Que Me Estoy Acostumbrando

Disclaimer: I don’t know if my title is correct grammar. Lilly?*

 

Regardless, after a day of touring options for the volunteer portion of our program yesterday and registering my visa today, the fact that I am going to be here for a long time is juuuust beginning to become a tangible reality to me. Because of this, though I hope to have many more funny stories to share, many things feel more serious to me.

 

Here are some things I’m getting used to as I adjust to Quito:

 

Food/meals: I’ve never been great at eating a lot in one sitting (unless it’s ice cream) so the Ecuadorian way of eating is a double whammy for me. Not only is it three meals a day (I’m one of those people that likes to eat a bunch of small “meals”/snacks), but breakfast and dinner are small to make room for a huge lunch. I like eating a lighter meal around 20:00, but I cannot seem to get myself to eat a full lunch. I’ve generally liked the food. It’s pretty plain here which is perfect for my super-tasting taste buds. Plus we drink tea or fresh juice with everything, which I am completely down with.

 

Climate/Altitude: Quito is about 9,350 feet (higher than A/U but lower than Leadville). I have gone on two highly successful (haha) runs since I arrived. After taking only three days off, I was itching to run again, and after 10 minutes each run, I was done. We’ll say I’m still adjusting. My host mom keeps reminding me how high the altitude is and how I need to take it easy. Weather wise, Quito is on the equator so there are barely seasons although technically it is the rainy season through May. This means that it is always a dry 70 degrees, which I absolutely love. However, just stepping outside in Quito makes me sweat like crazy. I have no idea why. It’s not straight up hot, but the sun is intense here. The combination of slightly chilly, but incredibly sunny apparently makes me sweat a ton. Even my feet, which is definitely odd. I’m hoping I adjust so that stops happening. Sorry for all that personal info…

 

Feeling lonely: I like being alone, so I’m not used to feeling lonely. It’s silly because I have access to internet whenever I’m home so I can keep in touch well with the world outside Quito, but I’m more alone than I’m used to.

 

The dress: DEAR PITZER, MAKE A BETTER PACKING LIST!!! To be fair, our packing list suggested we dress in layers, which I highly recommend, but it left out many crucial details. People in Quito always look nice! Not just clean, but put together. I feel constantly underdressed in my jeans, vnecks, sweatshirts, beat-up sneakers, and no make-up (the things that Pitzer recommended).

 

The toilet paper: it goes into a trash bin next to the toilet rather than in the toilet. I have to be careful to think about this. I have a more specific story on that, but I don’t know that it belongs on a public blog.

 

Noises: I am decidedly not a big city person. There are always dogs barking, cars, alarms, and who-knows-what-else sounding through the windows. We live near an airport though, so the sound of planes flying overhead is a comforting reminder of home.

 

Transportation: The main form of transportation here is bus. I will be using the bus to get from my house to my school to Pitzer to the place I’ll be volunteering at etc. Our host mothers are taking the bus trips with us for this week. Yesterday, for our first bus ride in Quito our host moms accompanied us. My host mother and I met up with the two other host families that live in my neighborhood and we headed towards the bus. We got to the stop shortly before our bus arrived and Lilly’s mom, Lilly, and Caroline boarded the bus, and I was up next, but as I stepped on, someone said something to me in Spanish and the bus began moving. To clarify: I had not actually fully gotten myself on the bus, so when it began moving I was completely surprised. I don’t know exactly what happened next, but I ended up stepping off the bus and turning towards my mom and Caroline’s mom just in time for her to exclaim “¡Mi hija!” as Caroline was taken away by the bus. Fortunately, we managed to get on another bus a few minutes later and we all made it safely to Pitzer. The ride home went much more smoothly. I’m still working out exactly which bus to take. So far what I’ve learned about buses in Quito: the bus does not care, you think it’s full? Haha let’s cram in 5 more!, and my oh my traffic truly is a mess.

 

In other news, I finally figured out my family! Specifically, I’ve figured out the ages of my siblings. My brother, Xavier is 32. My sister, Natalí (I may have spelled that wrong) is almost exactly my age. She was born on December 2^nd of the same year as me. When we discovered this she proudly exclaimed “¡Ah ha, estoy mayor!” (“I’m older!”). I felt that this was an appropriate reaction, as mine would be similar if I had grown up with a constant influx of foreigners and finally found myself to be older than one. And I bet you’re all curious about that baby, huh? Don’t you worry; he is my sister’s, not a stray.

 

I also believe I’ve decided where I am going to volunteer, but I’m going to hold off on that story until I’m sure just in case something changes. Spoiler alert: it involves children hugging me.

 

Orientation for school begins tomorrow! Wish me luck on the bus.

*Lilly has corrected my grammar and I have changed the title to reflect that