2 Cool 4 Colegio

I thought I'd give you a little more detail on my school and daily school routine, so Tuesday I took my camera to school to do a little bit of documenting. To give some more information: my school goes from 7-1 except some days it's a bit different for random reasons. I am in twelve classes: P.E., English, Chemistry, Physics, Religion, Math, Biology, Writing, Business, Civics, Literature and Research. If that sounds like a lot, I can confirm that it feels like a lot. Our class of 32 people stays in the same room and the teachers come to us.

My alarm goes off at 5:55. I stay in bed until 6:10. I need to mentally psych myself up for the moment I exit the covers. I put on my uniform and pull my socks all the way up, fix my hair and put on a little makeup. I grab my bag, which I packed last night for the classes I'll have today (Math, English, Bio, and Writing). Breakfast is tea, bread, and a boiled egg. At 6:50 my host dad drops me and my host mom off.

I go to the school yard and mingle with some other students until the 7am formation. Formation is when every class lines up according to gender and height. Theres a prayer and a short speech. Usually the inspector, who is in charge of discipline, tells us about 40 times the proper way to line up and that we need to stop talking and get our hands out of our pockets. Then we are dismissed, class by class, to go upstairs to our respective rooms.

Our first class is math. This teacher is one hell of a mumbler and he doesn't write anything on the board, so I never know what's going on. But today there's a weird vibe in the air. Apparently my classmates have an issue with his teaching style and that message made its way to him. He's giving us a lecture. It's awkward. Yesterday one of my friends had asked me what awkward means so I think I'll take this opportunity to explain. Our note-passing conversation is as follows:

Me: Remember yesterday how you asked me what "awkward" means? This conversation and the way the room feels is "awkward."

Her: What the teacher is saying or because we're passing notes?

Me: Neither...just the general feeling.

Her: Oh, because we're passing notes?

I don't respond. Supposedly there isn't a perfect Spanish translation for awkward and she doesn't really need to know anyway.

Also in math we are handed back this quiz:

Como se dice valedictorian.

Next class is English. I am so good at English. I actually don't have to do any work. I sit there and draw and listen to music and try to work my way through National Geographic in Spanish. Today the other students have an assignment where they're give summaries of 4 books: To Kill a Mockingbird, Lord of the Flies, Frankenstein and The Hobbit. They then have to write a short statement on how they think the story ends. Apparently my class likes to get creative because everyone keeps coming to me on how to translate their story about how Tom Robinson marries a movie star and makes the best chocolates in all of Paris.

After English is Biology. The teacher announces that we'll be watching a video and I get pretty excited until said video starts. You know in movies when they watch a video in class how it's just some footage of amoebas and someone talking really slowly? This is that video. I want to film it but can' figure out how to do so discreetly.

In the middle of Bio comes recess. During this time we can go to the school bar and buy food. There are two sides: one sells packaged snacks, and the other sells cooked food. The cooked food is actually really, really good. I'm sure since hundreds of kids now want food at the same moment, there's an orderly system of purchasing, like maybe a line...

Or not.

Recess is 30 minutes. We usually mill around and talk. Everyone shares all food, including ice cream cones and lollipops. Today, because I have my camera, we take some pictures. Naturally my friends start going up to guys I don't know and telling them that I want a picture.

 

Some of my friends and I.

At the end of recess we get to do the whole formation business all over again. After we finish the video during our second half of Bio, we get to have the rest of the class free. Ecuadorians seem to love pictures, so they get my camera out again. Everyone seems to have a preplanned pose/face that they do. On the other hand there's me, who often tries to look bad in pictures because that's sure better than looking bad when you're trying to look good.

Our writing class is called Messages. Today a group of students is presenting about the meaning of the word message. The teacher is mad because she's pretty sure everything in their powerpoint was copied and pasted. They show us a short video that I honestly can't remember much about besides the fact that it didn't connect that well to the definition of message.

School lets out at one and we hang around outside for a bit, talking and buying more food. Then a couple of friends and I set out for home. When I arrive at the house, lunch will be waiting. There are two things for certain: there will be soup, and there will be rice.

Lots of Things

The last couple weeks have been pretty busy, so this will probably be a long post.

When I stopped being sick I was really excited about not being sick. Like the kind of excited where you're just really psyched about being alive and breathing and being able to see colors and what not. I had been stuck in bed for over two days and that is not something you want to be.

Last Saturday we went with some family friends out to lunch and . Someone at the table started this word game/riddle; the best English example I could give was that it was kind of like the green glass doors. I understood the rule before anyone else. They were all amazed, so I can put that on my Spanish resume.

The biggest happening was that on Tuesday we went to Quito. My host parents had to go deal with some documents and decided we would all go. I got out of school and spent the morning taking a nap at the American embassy (they were getting visas for a vacation to Disney World). After that we went to the Equator. There's this big tourist park thing there, with museums and a planetarium. There were a lot of stores selling sweaters with alpacas on them. I'm on the hunt for the perfect alpaca sweater. Good thing I've got time to be picky.

After the Equator we went to this place where you can take a cable car up a mountain and get a good view of Quito. The city is long and skinny because can only grow through valleys. The mountains themselves are beautiful. I heard that there was a student one year who trained and got a guide and climbed Cotopaxi. Sometimes for like 30 seconds I think I want to climb some mountain. But then I see pictures and it looks like Hoth up there and thats a whole lot of physical exertion.

The View

Quito is a really interesting place. I hope to get back there and explore some other things. Naturally, I'm into the historic aspect. We drove through the colonial center and it's beautiful. Apparently it is also crawling with thieves because of the tourists. I saw quite a few Americans. Good lord do we stick out. I always want to talk to them and make the American connection, but I never know how to start the conversation. It would be a little awkward to just walk up and say, "Hello, I assume from your North-Face-Rayban-iphone combination that you are also from the United States." Maybe I'll just stand near them and quietly sing the Star Spangled Banner.

Friday was Ricky's (my host brother) 11th birthday. I gave him some money and a St. Louis keychain. His big gift was a new skateboard. We celebrated with some kids from the neighborhood, a fried chicken dinner, and a chocolate cake. There was a lot of laughing.

Yes to that cake.

Last night I went out with my host parents. That might sound lame, but it was really fun. We went to a restaurant/bar and it was packed. There was a Michael Jackson impersonator who was actually pretty legit. I can't dance very well but everyone else can. My host mom can bring the party.

I've been in Ecuador 6 weeks and school 4 weeks. My Spanish is improving. I get excited when I think about how much I'll be able to say come June, but I take it day by day, and I think that's the best approach to this whole thing.

Sick But Not Like That / Death by Bathing

Thus far I have been blessed and not experienced any food-related illness. I still have 9 months to go, so plenty of opportunities left. I am sick in a way I usually associate more with North America than South.

Thursday I woke up with a sore throat. I didn't think too much of it, but my mild cold continued for 4 days. Yesterday during lunch I had no appetite. Let me tell you, this is not a common occurrence. After lunch I went to my room and started to cry for no reason. Again, not something I do on a regular basis. I accidentally fell asleep and woke up two hours later with my entire body sore and feeling like I definitely had a solid fever going. My host family called our doctor neighbor and he made a house call. He told me I have the flu and prescribed some medicine, but somehow also gave me the ok to go to school and participate in gym class.

Thankfully my host mom vetoed that idea and today I am home from school resting. What's not so fun is that I tend to miss home a whole lot more when I'm sick. Also in Ecuador apparently it's a thing to drink hot lemonade if you aren't feeling well. It tastes better than it sounds.

I always crave Bread Co. when I'm sick, but this will have to do.

For the second part of this post I'm just going to start with a haiku that illustrates how I feel about the shower situation here:

Electricity.

Hey, let's mix it with water!

While we're naked.

Back in the old US of A, we have hot water tanks. Not the case here. Sinks actually don't seem to have hot water at all. So the way you get a hot shower is through an electric shower head. These things freak me out. I am deathly afraid of electricity entering my body. Also, they just don't quite live up to the the water pressure of an American shower. And after doing some research on these things online, it turns out there is a lot that can go wrong with them. They are sometimes referred to as "widow makers." Cool.

Please note the wires.

Saturday Night I was just minding my business, taking a shower before bed. And then as I'm finishing up my shower, there is a sudden flash of blue light. Naturally I got out of the shower. And what did I see when I looked at those wires? Just a casual little fire.

The scene of the crime.

The first thing I did was blow on it. That made the fire bigger. Nice going, Grace. I put some water on it and sizzled out. Apparently some guy from Quito is coming at some point to fix the shower. Good news is I was totally unharmed. Bad news is I will probably fear showering for a long time.

Other exciting news is that now I have taken an over-a-month break from my college application, I get to back to work on that! Wow, so excited! College apps don't really seem to be a big deal here.

People like to say that I'm having the time of my life, and I'm not going to disagree with that. But part of the point of an exchange year is it's not like a trip where it's fun and busy all the time. You experience real life. There are good days, bad days, sick days, and days where your shower catches on fire.

After all that is said, I want to clarify that my chief concern remains: will my cat remember me when I return home?

The Fine Art of the Forro (and other happenings)

Back in the U.S., on the first day of school the teacher would say, "you need a binder," or perhaps, "you need a notebook." That would be it. But here, things get really specific. Example: for physics, I need a light blue folder with 50 sheets of graph paper and a 100 sheet graph paper notebook with a light blue paper cover (forro) and a plastic covering over that. School supplies are serious business and there are special stores (papelerías) that cater to your super specific needs.

My host mom's a master at paper covers.

Also, people here don't seem to just write their name on notebooks. I guess that would be too disorderly. They sell special labels for all your supplies and you write your name, grade, subject, and school. There is to be no confusion about who that notebook belongs to. Perhaps this is so important because everyone has to have the same color stuff. Everything gets a label. I've seen students with clear-barreled ballpoint pens and inside the pen is a little slip of paper with their name. Wouldn't want to lose your ballpoint pen!

Color coding is no joke.

Other things that have been going on:

• I think I'm in the process of making some friends. I went to a classmate's birthday celebration on Thursday and there was delicious cake, which I was of course happy about.
• Friday, Ecuador and Colombia had a soccer game. Ecuador lost, a big disappointment to my host father and brother. My sister had friends over and they seemed to not mind the loss because the game gave them an opportunity to paint faces and popcorn. I was more in the latter group.
• Today was the second anniversary of my host dad's father's death. It sounds like it might be a grim occasion, but it wasn't. The whole family went to church, then visited the cemetery. Afterwards we went out to lunch at a family style restaurant and got ice cream. There's a flavor of ice cream (which is often sold in a popsicle form) here called taxo (a fruit) and I am all about it. So about it that I burned my entire tongue from prolonged contact with the cold.
• I taught my host sister to make friendship bracelets. I was worried it would be difficult to explain, but she got it right away and was really excited.
• I think at some point I should make a plan to limit my exposure to English. I'll give myself another week, but then I need to set specific times to avoid non-essential internet and books.
• After two days of gloriously sleeping in, not really looking forward to tomorrow morning.

Possible Moment of Progress

Whoa guys, something crazy just happened to me. I just effortlessly thought and said a Spanish sentence that I would have never said three weeks ago. I was trying to decide whether I wanted to eat lunch or wait from my host brother and sister to get home from school and I asked, "¿A qué hora regresan los niños?" Before I was in Ecuador I didn't know the verb regresar and, more importantly, I would not have put the words in that order. I think this means that I may actually be starting to learn new Spanish and unconsciously learning the grammatical patterns of the Spanish I am hearing. Hopefully this learning Spanish business will continue, because I would really like to know what the hell is going on during school.

It Was Good

My first day of school went well, but I feel roughly like I just had to take the SAT while simultaneously caring for newborn triplets. Here are some things that happened:

• Praying! A lot of praying. I think I got mentioned in a class prayer. I'm not sure when we were praying and when we were just talking.
• Yes, I know I have blue eyes.
• "Are you in 7th grade?"
• At one point I looked up and a boy was taking a picture of me from across the room.
• Someone asked me what kind of music I like (which I have trouble answering in English) and literally 20 people gathered around for the answer.

But overall everything was good and people were very nice to me.

Super Senior

12 hours from now (school is from 7-1), I will have started my first day of school! I'm super excited because while I anticipate not having any idea what I'm learning, this is my first opportunity to meet my classmates and hopefully some of my future friends.

I switched schools about a week ago. I was supposed to go to a public school, the name of which I don't know how to spell. My host mom is an English teacher at an elementary school (though this ultimately isn't super helpful because her English is as good as my Spanish). The elementary school she teaches at has a high school attached, kind of like Oak Hill/Villa Duschesne if you're familiar. This new school is better, safer and more convenient because I can drive with my host mom. I got in without tuition because they want an exchange student.

I had to have a skirt made in my size because I'm coming so late and had to buy shoes, so I didn't get my uniform completely together until yesterday.

My uniform: skirt, polo, sweater, knee socks, mary-janes. 

My uniform on gym class days: sweatpants, shorts, t-shirt, jacket, socks, sneakers.

González Suárez, my new school, is coed and Catholic, affiliated with the Los Padres Josefinos de Murialdo parish. At least I think that's all correct. There are supposedly about 35 people in my grade. I'll try and get a first day picture tomorrow in uniform, but this is going to be quite an early start so no promises!