La Integración

It is crazy to me that I arrived in Ecuador only just over a week ago. It feels like so much more time has gone by.

The past four days have been awesome and intense. This blog is about Wednesday-Friday, I have another one about yesterday that I’m writing now called “El Día en La Selva” but due to reasons I can’t post it until May, so look forward to that.

Wednesday through Friday was full of orientation for PUCE, the Ecuadorian school we will be taking classes at. [note: I will either refer to it as PUCE or as La Católica]. They scared us sufficiently about the safety elements of living in Quito, but overall it was fun to meet the other students studying abroad. I tested well enough in Spanish to take at least one regular (non-Spanish specific) class at the university, so I was able to pick out a couple to visit next week. Despite the concentration in the classroom, a few great things happened during the week.

First, I told my first joke in Spanish. Host Mom and I were clinging to the poles made for people standing on the bus as it stopped and started with traffic. We kept lurching around, trying to keep our balance without knocking anyone else over as more and more people piled in. Because Host Mom always worriedly tells me to take it easy when I head out on runs, I decided to assuage her worries with a joke by telling her, in Spanish, that I wouldn’t have to do core exercises at home because I’d gain muscles from holding onto the bus everyday. Apparently it was successful because she laughed. She did correct my vocabulary about one thing, but later I heard her telling another mom about what I had said, so I’m feeling good about that one. I’d also like to mention here that the Pitzer crew has successfully taken the bus for the past couple trips without our moms.

The day after my successful joke was full of adventure. Caroline and I got lost looking for the building that had our passports and ended up walking a good hour and a half in the hot Quito sun. We had turned back at one point because we had gone too far. It turns out we had gone just short one block. When we finally saw arrived the building we were on the wrong side of the street. We could have walked another half a block to the nearest crosswalk, but we didn’t. After running across two lanes of traffic one way, a bus lane, getting stuck between the bus lane and the next two lanes, and sprinting across the last two lanes of traffic going the other way, we made it safely to the building. I never ever want to do that again. We got a little lost going back to La Católica, but made it in time to enjoy a delicious crepe (and for Caroline a yummy looking salad) from one of La Católica’s cafeterias.

The last part of our day consisted of dance lessons. I am bad at dancing. I like dancing a lot, but I probably shouldn’t be allowed to do so. Anyway, they put the short people, including myself because the group is mainly Americans, in the front of the room (I’m average to tall for Ecuadorians). The first dance we worked on was salsa and it was going pretty well for me for a while. Not that I was amazing or anything, but I had the steps down and I was starting to feel pretty good about myself. Then somehow, and I’ve tried to figure out how since and still can’t work out how, I tripped on my own pants. And this is one of the only pair of pants I own that aren’t too long for me. I took that as an extra sign that I really shouldn’t dance. All-in-all it was a really fun time.

On Friday, all of the foreign students were gathered together, put on a bus, and driven somewhere. Host family asked where they had taken us and I didn’t realize until then that I really had no idea. The day was fun – we did sack and wheelbarrow races, egg tosses, and other bonding activities. My team "Chulos Elefantes" lost, but had a blast the entire time. For lunch, we had all brought food from our host homes and ate them while talking on the courtyard grass under the shade of the trees. I realize this sounds peaceful and a little picturesque. It was, but I was way too distracted by the stories I was hearing to enjoy it in that way. Some of the foreign students have been here for a whole semester all ready and man I have honestly never heard such crazy stories in my life. It sounds like Ecuador likes to go hard. I’m not even sure what else to say about them because it they were so hilariously shocking and told with such a straight face.

The rest of the day was more relaxed and normal by my standards. Some people went into the pool and some others (myself included) played cards and laughed a lot.

When I got home I knew I needed to shower, so I did so without thinking too much about it. The water was it’s usual cold. I thought that maybe a little colder than usual, but it was also pouring as we walked home so I decided that it was probably just that I wanted it to be warmer. That night at dinner Host Mom and Host Brother asked me if my shower water was cold. I shrugged and said a little, but that is was fine. Host Brother then informed me that the gas for the hot water had been out and they didn’t know because I hadn’t said anything. Host Mom was laughing and told me to tell her next time. So I don’t actually need to take cold showers here.

School starts tomorrow, I am looking forward to the adventures that that will bring.