Overdue

It's been a while since I've updated you all. Again. But I've finally been shamed into writing an update, in part by seeing how frequently other people studying abroad have been blogging, and in part because I just discovered that I can see how many people check my blog any given day/week/ or month, so I know some of you have been waiting for an update for a while.

The past several weeks have largely been about settling into a routine. I've stopped expecting life here to be new and exotic, which was a harder thing to accept than I expected. For a while, I was frustrated with myself, assuming I wasn't being observant enough to notice the idiosyncrasies of Quito. More recently, however I've come to the conclusion that culture and character doesn't have to shout or make my life difficult to count. The rhythm of live here isn't drastically different than other places I've spent time (Ancramdale and Mumbai being clear exceptions), but I'm starting to notice it's specific paces and rules, like just how long the bus will wait for you to get on before accelerating again, or how much a simple "buenas tardes" is appreciated before giving a taxista directions.

On the other hand, I get frustrated at times that I'm stuck in a limbo between all-out adventure, and truly fitting in. Although I'm frequently told that my Spanish is very good, I still can't understand my family at lunch, unless they slow down to include me. And while I'm often the one giving friends directions from University to point X, I still don't know anything about most of the city. My goal for the next month is to make peace with my status as a temporary resident, try to cover as much ground as I can, and not over-think everything so much.

As for adventures, I've had two major outings in the past few weeks. First, the week after Canoa we went to Mindo, a small outdoor activity village in the cloud forest. In 30 hours and $45, I went whitewater rafting (class 2), zip lining, and repeled down a waterfall. We went zip lining on an especially cloudy day, so you often couldn't see the end of the cable, making flying above the forest especially empowering. I definitely liked the waterfall repelling best, though, because I was entirely responsible for my decent (it was just a rope from the top to the bottom which I fed through my harness at my own pace) and it required some effort and concentration. The freezing water crashing down on top of me was pretty cool too.

My other recent excursion was taking the cable car up Pinchincha, the volcano that boarders Quito on the west. At 4,100 meters, it was a little difficult to breathe at first, and I was surprised to discover they sell cigarettes up there, for anyone who wants to challenge their lungs. The landscape up there was spectacular, with deep ravines, rollings hills, and an impressive view of the city below, when the clouds parted for a bit. We walked around a bit, and discovered that there are horseback riding trails and horses for rent. So, humming the Rohan theme the entire time, I took a half-hour journey on horseback around the mountain.

Classes go on, as they always do. One professor repeats everything he says, then writes it on the whiteboard, then draws corresponding emoticons, then underlines the key words, then says it all out load again. Not my favorite class. My "Crash-Course-in-Every-Social-Issue-in-Ecuador" class is almost over, since it is only meant to be a corollary to my internship, but I've enjoyed the twice weekly discussions about topics such as alternatives to petrol in Ecuador, reducing the stigma of being indigenous, or promoting gender equality. My linguistics class continues to be my favorite, both content wise and socially. Our current unit is essentially about the subtle differences in prononciation for various letters (for instance, the /b/ sound in "bagel" and "label" are different, in English), which is extremely difficult for someone who isn't a native speaker. But it's hard for everyone, and a fun challenge. The other students in the class are very fun and friendly. Today, they invited me to go out with them after class to celebrate Diego's birthday, which was a lot of fun, and a great chance to hang out with Ecuadorians my age for a few hours.

I'll do my best to write again soon. I have a lot of good adventures in the next few weeks (Baños, the Amazon, then Cartagena, Colombia with Kristen!), so I should be motivated to write.

P.S. if you're interested in a reflection on being Jewish here, check out the post I wrote for Hillel's Study Abroad Blog: http://travelingtuftshillel.blogspot.com/

Locals

I'm way overdue for an update. In my defense, it's been a pretty busy week and half.

Last weekend, myself and 15 girls from my program left at 9pm on Thursday night for a 12 hour bus ride to the coast. Canoa is a tiny little surf town that's hugely popular with gringos like us. We stayed in a hostel with handmade steps that were cross sections of a tree trunk and the walls were all green bamboo. The beach itself was excellent. Big waves, sandy sand, cheap piña coladas (with fresh piña!) and lots of sun. Every morning a truck would drive up and down the beach-road with a loudspeaker announcing fresh shrimp, which excited other people more than me, but was still cool. At night, we made friends with Margo, one of the cabaña owners, due the 16 of us buying a ridiculous amount of piña coladas and batidos, and spending several hours dancing to the same 6 songs on the beach with his 3 nieces (ages 3, 6, and 12). On the second night, we convinced him to leave the bar for a bit and dance with us, which I think he enjoyed.

On the second day in Canoa, I got a little tired of speaking English and laying on the beach, so decided to wander down the highway for a while and ended up following a dirt road up a cliff. When I got to the top, there was a half built hotel with a balcony for every room and old guy on the top floor who invited me up. This is one of those times where prudence might have kept me from, say, accepting the coke bottle he gave me, but I decided to trust the world and just go with it. I ended up sitting there, enjoying a fantastic view of the beach, and chatting with Ramiro for over two hours about traveling (he biked the Pan American highway when he was 55), Canoa (he started the first hotel there 20 years ago), and getting lost (the motor on his boat died 20 miles out at sea). It was one of the coolest conversations I've had here yet.

Partially based on hanging out with Ramiro, I recently realized that I'm not spending enough time with Ecuadorians. Luckily, about 12 hours after I had this realization, that started to change. On Thursday, 4 kids in my linguistics class invite me and the other American, Emily, out to dinner that evening. It turned out that "dinner' meant a bar, but it was fun all the same. On Friday, I went out to lunch with everyone from my internship organization, Ciclopolis. All fifteen of them are under 30, and I was the only non-ecuadorian. Also, we basically went to "the Meat House", which was kind of scary for me, but they had thin chicken, so I survived. Finally, on Friday night, I went to Synagogue for services. It was definitely a little strange, not knowing anyone, but they sang some tunes I knew from Hillel (ej. Mizmor Shir), and others I knew from TBE, as well as a few new ones, so I felt pretty comfortable during services. Afterward, a bunch of people introduced themselves and told me to come back whenever I wanted, and one family offered to drive me home, helping me to avoid a 45 minute taxi ride. All in all, a successful adventure which left me feeling very good about my immersion rate the past few days. Although I've definitely missed family and friends some, it's been a good week.