Quito Week 3

A funny conservation this week started with one of my nightly juices. With dinner, I get something fruity that Ana always asks if I like. And typically, I do. The only time I haven’t been the biggest fan is when tomato and orange were mixed – I’m just not a V8 fan, and no matter how much I try, tomatoes belong on sandwiches and not in drinks.

So anyway, the night this conversation happened I was drinking something pretty sweet, and I was enjoying it. After affirming that I liked it, Ana explained that it was Quaker oats mixed with a sweet fruit naranjilla. Except that she didn’t say “Qway-ker” – she said “Qua-ker” sort of like it looks like it should be said. After a few times repeating it and explaining to me that everyone in the US drinks this stuff, I finally realized she was talking about the brand Quaker. Apparently if I go to a restaurant, I can ask for Quaker, and I will get this delicious drink with any number of combinations. Maybe Quaker with pineapple, maybe with rice, maybe with naranjilla, or maybe with something else all together.

So then we started talking about how English words have crept into Spanish vocabulary. If you want a razor somewhere, don’t say the Spanish word. Say “give me a Gillette”. If you want toothpaste, it’s “give me a Colgate”. If you a person in charge of watching a construction site, then you say “Estoy trabajando en Watchiman”. If you are waiting impatiently for something for someone, then you say “Estoy awaitando” as an alternative to the Spanish verb for “to wait”, esperar.

This was interesting enough, but what was more interesting was when we started talking about names, and how English is all over the place in strange ways with Spanish names. For instance, the family I am living with right now is the Estrella family. Let me just share with you some of the names that I may see here in front of a Spanish last name, using Estrella as an example:

Gorgewashington Estrella
Jefferson Estrella
Burgerking Estrella
Steveaustin Estrella
Deliciouspilsner Estrella
Statueofliberty Estrella
Dosporuno Estrella (Funny because some kid got stuck with a final soccer score as a first name)

They also have tons of Kevins, Daniels, Jonathans and Stefanies now. A lot of times, this person with a very typical English first name will have a very indigenous, very long last name.

Though the don’t have Starbucks here, the infiltration of my homeland is alive and kicking.