Byeee Quito, what up Portov!

LAST WEEK OF ORIENTATION!
Although it’s been great to hang with the WT kids in Quito, spending days on end in a conference room was getting old so luckily a bunch of crazy stuff happened this week. Monday was Cate’s (volunteer who’ll be in Manta, like 40 min from Portov aka one of my new besties for the year) birthday so we went out to an Irish pub to watch the Boise-VA Tech game. I had a cheeseburger and fries and watched football with a bunch of Americans.. pretty awesome. Wednesday night was the second part of the Recopa de Sudamerica (South American Championship) so Liga (the Quito soccer team) played against the Estudiantes from Argentina again and the score from the game two weeks ago got added to this game to see who wins the championship. We went to the big plaza downtown by all the bars to watch the game because they projected it on a huge screen. It was super crazy and fun, everyone was going nuts the whole time and doing all these cheers we tried to learn but didn’t and just drinking in the streets. There were a few fights which got a little scary but overall it was super awesome to be right where everyone was especially because Liga ended up winning the championship so it was craaazy and everyone started throwing their bottles around so we got out of there super quick but it was still great. Thursday night we went to an Irish pub to watch the Vikings/Saints game which was a sad loss but really fun to watch so much football in one week. Everyone is either from the south or hates Farve so I was the only Vikings fan in the bar (and probably in the country) but it was super fun and hopefully I’ll be able to watch a few more games. Also on Thursday night my host sister Evelyn had her baby, Sophia Emelia!! She wasn’t due until the week after we left but had her early so we got to see the baby on Friday! I’ve never seen a newborn baby before and she was so adorable but had a full head of hair so looked older than a newborn but it was so great to be a part of. Friday was our last day in Quito so after seeing the baby we had a party with our Spanish class and made canelazo (hot wine) at the Spanish school then went to a karaoke bar at 1:30pm and sang horrible karaoke for two hours, it was great. I definitely sang some Daddy Yankee and other reggaeton favorites. Friday night we had a party with our practice teaching class and met them at this little Cuban bar and were just hanging out for awhile but then it came up that I had learned to dance meringue in the DR so we danced with our students and they taught us meringue and salsa which was so much fun. After class we had our final WorldTeach dinner with all the volunteers and our directors at this awesome Italian place with great pizza but I’d been sick all week (better now) and didn’t need to be sick for my 9 hours bus ride at 8am on Saturday so ordered spaghetti which came INSIDE a pizza crust. Literally insane and the coolest thing I’ve ever seen. We tried to go out afterwards but 33 gringos in a bar is a horrible plan so I ended up just saying goodbye to people and going home early.



PORTOV!
Now I’m finally in Portoviejo and I’m super excited about it. We were told the bus ride would be 9 hours but we actually got here in about 7 so that was an excellent surprise (especially because there was a screaming baby in the seat right behind us. Perfect). My host mom Ruth came and picked me up from the bus station.. Heather and I were sitting together therefore we were very easy to spot (I’m pretty sure we’ll be almost the only blonde people in the entire city). She’s adorable and excited to have me and has been explaining to me how everything works which is really nice. She’s a civil engineer and designed the house that they live in now (which is AWESOME.. get to that in a sec). My dad’s name is Artillio and he’s really funny and always tries to say stuff to me in English even though he doesn’t know very much and is always making jokes. He’s an electrician at the hospital which is like three blocks from my house and put all the electrical wiring in their house and is very handy and already helped me fix the drawers in my room. Paul is my host brother who is 23 and is writing his thesis this year and still lives at the house and Johanna who is a journalist in Quito. I just met Paul this morning and haven’t talked to him very much.. but he’s one of the best competitive swimmers in Portoviejo and there’s a big competition this fall that I’m super excited to go to and he’s been to national and international tournaments and stuff and has a ridiculous amount of metals and trophies. He’s also in a rock band which I can’t wait to find out about .Their house is beyond cool.. they told me that every weekend people take pictures of it when they drive by because the architecture is so different from any of the other houses in the neighborhood (I’ll put pics up soon). There’s a gate/garage door that’s really sturdy so that makes me feel safe and you walk around the house to the driveway/patio where they park the car and also have a little seating area and hammock (and they told me they have dance parties out there too.. super jacked for those to happen). My room is right by the back door; I have a double bed, a desk, two nigh stands, and not a real closet but a place to hang all my clothes with drawers below it so there’s plenty of room for all my gear. My bathroom is right next door and it’s the only bathroom on the main level but I don’t think anyone uses it but me (we also have no hot water because it’s so hot here all the time.. getting super jacked for 365 days of cold showers). Next to my bathroom is an empty room that they’ve used for other volunteers (5 bedroom house, it’s huge). They have a really big living room with super elegant furniture and the kitchen is MASSIVE (it would miserably put the chateau kitchen to shame).. there are huge marble countertops and a big island where everyone eats (everyone in the family has their own spot and I learned mine at breakfast this morning) as well as a table with some fancy chairs that appears to be more like a dining room table that’s for special occasions. Also really exciting about the house.. I have a roof again like I did in the DR!! It’s pretty hot and humid here so I’m not sure how much time I’ll really spend up there but it’ll be so nice to have somewhere to go and read and attempt to not be so white and gringa. Oh and another awesome thing about my house… for $15 a month I get unlimited internet which is super great because the internet cafes that are close are like $1.50 per hour soo I’ll be able to work in the evenings (and skype and watch Glee which were also top priorities).

After my tour of the house and unpacking, my parents took me out for dinner. On the way we stopped at the bigger mall so they could show me around.. it’s a super nice mall that’s two stories and has a walmart type thing attached to it and a Payless and basically anything else I’d need. Oh and hilarious, the mall is called “Paseo Shopping.” Nice. For dinner we went to a “BBQ” place which just means a lot of different kinds of meats grilled and the BBQ sauce is actually green and nothing like American BBQ sauce but still really good. I could already tell I was going to get along with my fam because they love to sing and dance to any music that’s on and they tipped the little boy who cleared our table because he was dancing the whole time we were there. They both have a ton of energy and have had volunteers for 9 years (and one extended and lived with them for 2 years) now so I think everything will be awesome this year. My parents usually go to bed at like 9 so I watched Sherlock Holmes and went to bed early.

Today was a really fun day with the fam.. for lunch I tried ceviche for the first time which was super awesome and they have it every Saturday so I’m pretty jacked about that. They also eat a ton of chifles which are basically chips made from plantains (Artillio’s brother owns a factory and is really proud of his fam’s chifles) and really good juice.. so far my mom is an excellent cook and I can’t wait to keep trying more stuff. She’s also really excited that I don’t drink milk or coffee because she doesn’t either and she likes that I eat like her. After lunch we went to the mall to buy random appliances.. for Christmas this year they’re redoing all the bathrooms in the house so we hung out in the hardware section for awhile and got a bunch of gear. This afternoon we went to this pool/sports/restaurant place that’s like an hour from Portov for my cousin’s 16th birthday so I met a bunch more people in my family. I rode with Paul and two of my cousins there and we listened to his ipod on the way there.. it was pretty much all American classic rock and more current rock so I knew like all the songs. It’s kind of weird to sing Bon Jovi with your Ecuadorian host brother but it was pretty badass. And it was really nice to be able to see the country on the coast.. it’s definitely not as crazy impressive as the mountains in the sierra and it’s mostly just rolling hills with brown vegetation and palm trees but I honestly couldn’t be more pleased with my placement. It’s nothing fancy but has everything I need and I am so excited to feel like I’m part of a real community rather than constantly being surrounded by Americans. I definitely stand out and everyone stares at me but I think I’ll be able to ignore that pretty quick. I can’t wait to start making ecua friends and to start classes and start real (fake) life.. I can already tell this year is going to be so awesome and challenging and the best thing I ever could have done.

Ok, hopefully I never write this much at once again but I finally have free time and am so excited to finally be here so lo siento and I’ll write again soon! AMOR.