Día 144 | Sábado, 23 de Mayo | 2009

Calle San Salvador...

Last night's goodbye dinner was truly great.  They fed us so well (all you can eat buffet) and it was just very calming to be able to feel the accomplishment of finishing the quarter.  My Andean Literature class performed a traditional Kichwa song, I played guitar as one of my mates read the Kichwa version of Dust in the Wind, and I also performed Nuestro Juramento (a song by Julio Jaramillo) solo. 

Today was the first day of sleeping in since I don't know when.  Slept until about 8 or 9 and then got some breakfast (the typical mandarin orange, two mini-bananas, and a cup of tea) and then I went up to my room to work on my book report that is due on Monday. 

The day passed on pretty lazily – I ended up taking a nap after lunch from 2 until about almost five.  I woke up on my own and then went out on the street to take this picture.  Here is a picture of my street here.  This is the view I saw everyday when I would go out to walk to class.  In the distance you can see the Coliseo – the main sport / political / musical venue in Cuenca.  Some nights, if there was a big concert or if Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa was in town, you could hear the shrills and shouts of the crowd from our house. 

Today was the first day I have started to realize that I will be leaving here in couple days.  The truth is that I feel so many emotions, I can't say clearly how I feel about it.  I will miss my family for sure though.  They have been really nice to me and I am so thankful.

My family invited me to a first communion party and I said yes.  The party started around 8:30PM and lasted until about 3:30AM.  It was held in a banquet hall that kind of reminded me of a YMCA except everything was decorated very nicely.  I danced Salsa and Merengue with quite a few little old ladies and then later I was asked to play some songs on the guitar.  At first I was really nervous playing for about 150 foreigners that I had never met, but after I thought about it for five minutes or so, I wasn't so afraid.  I played Stand by Me, Nuestro Juramento, Black Bird, and Cucurrucucu Paloma.  Everybody seemed to like it – it is weird that in South America the audience starts to applaud randomly in the middle of the song if they like what they are hearing – and I left the stage feeling nice and warm. 

After the songs, I danced with my sister Verónica.  It was a fun little Russian number called Moscow.  There were a lot of folded arms and choppy leg kicks.

Día 124 | Domingo, 3 de Mayo | 2009

Balcón...

This is the view from my bedroom window.  The view is mainly of another house nearby but it is a view nonetheless.  If I have talked to you on the phone in Ecuador, chances are I am looking at these walls during our conversation.

Today was pretty uneventful.  I had lunch and dinner with my family and I felt really comfortable coming back to Cuenca.  It was so nice to be able to get back into the mountains with the crisp, cool, and thin air.  The coast was just too humid.  It reminded me of the deep south in the way that your shirt just stuck to your body and everything was just damp.  For fifteen minutes, I took a glorious shower today.  You can't see it in the picture, but the shower is situated right on the balcony and there are three big windows looking out of the shower.  It is such a lovely experience to take a shower there because you can see out into the Andean mountains to the right as the day begins.  I think I will miss that when I return to Ohio.

Día 89 | Domingo, el 29 de Marzo | 2009

Cuarto...

As stated in my blog description, I knew that there would be times this year I would not be able to post in real time (i.e. the day the picture was taken and the day the picture is posted).  I'll get back to putting my journal entries in later today (if I have time) or tomorrow.  The internet connection here at CEDEI (Center of Interamerican Studies) is fairly strong -- a huge contrast with the Internet Cafés on the street.

I love you all!  Thanks for reading.  I miss you!

I'll be back later.

Later:

Here is my room in la casa de Oscar Trelles y Lida Martínez.  It's a really nice room and I live there comfortably.  Lida (my host mother) is so nice.  She is always really kind to me -- makes me breakfast, lunch, and dinner, does my laundry, and helps me with my spanish.  I have been trying to figure out some Spanish jokes but they have mostly been to no avail.

Today was a really important soccer game:  Ecuador versus Brazil.  I watched it in Oscar's and Lida's room (along with Verónica, Johana, and Lida's sister [I can't remember her name]) and it was really great.  The game ended up being a 1-1 tie, although Ecuador should have won.  Ecuador squandered so many great opportunities -- they probably had about 15 shots on goal and only one of them went in, whereas, Brazil was lucky.  Brazil had about 5 shots on goal and they still ended up with a goal.  Sometimes, that's just the way things work.