Quito Week Something

So things have been busy in Quito. My weekday schedule has completely changed. A group of 16 students from Ohio State arrived last week, and I’m now taking class with 6 Ohioans. Some of them can’t speak really at all, and some of them will be great practice to talk with. They’re a good group, but it’s strange to be part of a group that is virtually all undergrad and all with the same program. Classes for me are now four hours, and during our break I’m downstairs helping Christian in the café. I serve cinnamon rolls to my fellow classmates before heading back to class with them.

But before they got here was father’s day weekend. I went out for the first time since I got here – sad, I know – on Saturday night. Jose Luis and I met up with an acquaintance of Jonah, and we talked about movies, politics and traveling over some beers. I went out in the neighborhood known as the Mariscal, which is apparently where I will be living before too long. My school is also in the Mariscal, but I am rarely out there past dark. So going out gave me a chance to find out what my soon-to-be hood will be like at night. And lord, it is going to be hard to sleep. It’s an area littered with bars and clubs, and people are always hanging out in the street in groups. It’s crowded inside and outside. Especially now, because this is the high season for Quito, things in that neighborhood are constantly moving.

But we didn’t stay out too late on Saturday on account of the fact that I had to work Sunday morning. So I went to work Sunday Brunch at the café, which was a delightful four hours of washing dishes. But then when I got home, there was a group waiting. I walked in, and down in the dining room was my family with five people I had never met before. They all chorused “hola”s to me, and I felt my cheeks turn red at the thought of having to speak Spanish to all of them. The guests were a family that used to neighbors with my family, and they had come over for a Father’s Day dinner. It was pretty great because within the hour someone suggested cards, and I was super excited. We played a game sort of like Phase 10 but without all of the rules and with betting. It was a great game. Then we tried to play Cuarenta (40), which I didn’t understand at all. Then we played Spoons, Kemps and Assassin, all games I already knew from the States. We were all amazed that the games existed identically in both countries. After many hours of cards and then some really fantastic sweet empanadas, we talked about haunted houses and bowling, then they left. It was a fabulous Sunday afternoon.

With the arrival of the new students, the week flew by. One night, Ana had a hankering for pesto… so we got all of the ingredients that are available here (no pinenuts, very unfortunately) and made the pesto. And then we made the pasta as well… it was great! Ana has taken a lot of cooking classes, so she had a pasta maker. We made some great angel hair.

Later in the week, I went by a school for kids without homes to see about volunteering, so I’ll be starting that soon. I didn’t do anything for design because I never had time, and the days just flew. Thursday was Rudolf’s birthday, and he had friends come over. They played a version of Ecuadorian poker and I watched, and eventually I started playing a one-on-one game of Speed with Jose and then Max. I only lost one game, so I think my marathon games with Ben Eckerson during middle school paid off. To end the night, we had some delicious pizza and homemade marble cake with fresh strawberries.

Friday night I went out to meet up with the students. I went with Jose Luis and Diana, a Colombian friend of the family who is here visiting her mom during her summer break from the university. Unfortunately, we were hanging out with mostly gringos – who had been drinking since 6 p.m. no less – so there was a lot of English. Jose liked the challenge, but Diana was lost. I definitely empathized with her because her facial expression matched the way I feel a lot of the time here – trying to so hard to follow the conversation and figure out what the hell is going on without wanting to seem bored or frustrated. But it was a good night. The students were a little out of it… for most of them, I think the mix of the altitude and being able to drink freely underage with a receipt for getting drunk before sunset. But I got to talk to most of them outside of class, which was good.

Saturday I didn’t do much. As usual, my parents here left for the day to go to a nearby town for their business. The boys and I, along with Max, went to a local mall to eat lunch. Food courts here are different than in the states. You can get things like McDonald’s, Pizza Hut and Baskin Robins… but they also have places that sell full, restaurant-style meals. We went to a grill, and Max and I ordered a grill plate for two… it had two pieces of beef, two pieces of two different kinds of chicken, various sausages (including blood sausage), salad, beans, French fries and a mousse for dessert. It was quite a spread, and it’s typical to have restaurants like that in food courts.

I ended up going to bed early on Saturday night after starting a new book. On Sunday, we went on an excursion. We headed to Ibarra, a town to the North that is past Otavalo, and I once again enjoyed the outside-of-Quito views. We drove around the town and stopped for ice cream that is made a special way here, with ice and fresh fruits and ingredients. I got blackberry and vanilla, and it was delicious. Afterwards, we headed back toward Quito and stopped for lunch at my second grill of the weekend. This time I got a huge piece of meat with a mountain of potato wedges and salad. It was delicious, and it came with a tomato and guacamole salsa that was very tasty. On the way back, Rudolf senior asked me about Native American groups in the US, and I felt wholly unqualified to answer the questions. Then we started talking about social problems in each country, and how much of a problem corruption is here, and we talked about the educational systems and life in general. It was a good conversation, but it was quite tiring because it involved a lot of Spanish that I had no idea how to use, and a lot of tenses that I didn’t know. But I got through, even with a few jokes, and I only had a small headache by the end. Oh, the woes of learning a new language.

Anyway, this week promises to be as packed. Ana’s birthday is this week, I’m supposed to start volunteering, class isn’t going to get any shorter, and I’m supposed to actually do some design work. And I really want to read the book I’ve started… J

I’ll update on how it goes. Also, I have a few pictures, and I will post them when I have chance...