The rest of the story!

Thursday was a relaxing day for the most part. Slocomb and I slept late and, after a lovely lunch with Nellie, went to find a phone. Nellie dropped us off near the center of town (near the plaza de hippies were they sell all sorts of jewelry) and found a phone store. We had planned to just get a new one, but the cheapest phones were $50. So I decided to try to get my US phone unlocked and just buy a sim card here for it (thanks for the suggestion, Natalie!). After spending a surprisingly short period of time on the phone with AT&T (1800 calls from skype are free, btw), I got the code that I needed to unlock the phone. Unfortunately, I forgot to take the code with me to the store, and the guy at the phone store wanted to make sure it worked before selling us the sim. So we left empty handed. We then walked back to the house (about a 30 minute walk) and got the code for the phone. There are phone stores on pretty much every block of Cuenca, so luckily we didn’t have to walk too far to find another store. We got the sim, and I tried to get it to work on my phone. Unfortunately, the AT&T person to whom I spoke forgot to tell me that I had to enter *#*# (then the code) *. Luckily I’d seen a youtube video about unlocking the phone, so we went back to the house (after convincing the woman at the phone store that we did indeed want the sim even though it didn’t work yet). I followed the directions on the video, and now the phone works (yay!!!). Too bad it took talking to AT&T, going to two different phone stores, and watching a youtube video in order to get the phone to work. ¡Que complicado!Thursday night we went out with Erin, Maria, Livia, Jenn, and Maria’s cousin, Javier. First we went to the local microbrewery, which was pretty cool. It had a very pub-like feel. Unfortunately, I was the only one who actually liked the drink I ordered. Slocomb and Erin ordered the microbrew (as well they should), but they said it was really hop-y and tasted like it was watered down. Livia and Jenn both got cocktails which were too strong. Jenn’s mojito tasted like Crest toothpaste. Maria just got tea or something, and Javier had the popular beer from Guayaquil, Pilsener. I guess Javier and Maria were happy with their drinks, but mine was definitely the best. It was called a Laydybeer (lady beer, but it needs the extra “y” in Spanish to make it a long “a”), and was Pilsener with amaretto liquor and grenadine. Very yummy.After the disappointing round at the microbrewery, we went in search of a place to dance (because Maria wanted to dance). Maria drove the girls in her car, and poor Javier and Slocomb walked. They were wearing more comfortable shoes tho... Anyway, we first tried this place by the river, which turned out to be completely empty. We found another place back on Calle Largo which ended up way overcharging us (Maria got stuck with an extra $20 in tax at the end), but the music and dancing were fun. I really wanted to dance, but Slocomb, not wanting to draw attention to our gringo selves, said that we really needed to take some dance lessons before we went out dancing. He said he would, so I’m going to hold him to it.Friday was another half day of meetings at CEDEI. After the 12 (but really 12:30) meeting with Ximena and the other international teachers, we had a little time to walk around the city. Jenn and Liv took us to see the house where they are staying, on Mariscal Sucre. It used to be a family compound essentially, but now the family rents out 8 of the rooms (yeah, there were 8 extra bedrooms). It has a beautiful enclosed courtyard in the center, and lots of CEDEI folks live and have lived there. Its a very convenient location, but there’s no family to practice Spanish with or laundry included, so I think we’ll stay put. And I don’t think there are any vacancies right now anyway.We met back up with Ximena at 4 to figure out how to get to the school by bus. Ximena was about 25 minutes late, so we ended up just hanging out in Parque Calderón with Simone, the Professor from Minnesota whose student teachers come and spend several weeks working at the school. I was wearing leather shoes, and I was offered at least 4 shoe-shines for $0.30 or so. Ximena arrived eventually, and we began searching for the proper bus. The only bus that goes anywhere near the school is the #27 bus. Because there essentially aren’t bus maps anywhere in Cuenca, we wandered around a little bit (probably a good 10 blocks) looking for a place to pick up the bus. We found it, paid our $0.25 bus fare, and were on our way. I mapped the route so that Slocomb and I would know where to catch the bus, but unfortunately the closest stop is about a 20 minute walk from our house. There is a but that would connect us (#11), but there’s no such thing as transfer tickets here, so it would cost twice as much. Anyway, the number #27 bus drops off near this big church, and you have to walk through the church yard and down this dirt road for about 5 minutes before getting to the school. I mistakenly wore my brown wedges, so my feet were quite unhappy at this point. I guess the moral of the story is to wear comfy shoes when riding the bus.

We caught the bus back to the center of town (running to catch it next to the church), and Slocomb and I just took a taxi home from there (still only $1.50). Friday was a long day, so we went to bed about 9:30. Lame, I know.

(Flowers in Yunguilla)

Saturday we went to Yunguilla to spend the weekend at one of Maria’s uncle’s houses. Lots of Cuencanos have vacations homes in Yunguilla because it is a good bit lower in altitude (about 3000 feet) and so a lot warmer.

(Jenn relaxing in a hammock)

There were about 15 people from CEDEI who went, mostly teachers from the English department as well as us Escuela (elementary school) teachers. Maria did an amazing job organizing food for all of us as well as organizing drivers, etc. Slocomb and I ended up riding with Jorge, one of Maria’s cousins I think, Diego, a family friend (?), and Maria’s daughter Isabella. Side note about drivers in Ecuador: they are all very aggressive and don’t tend to pay attention to the yellow lines telling you when not to pass, etc. So after a harrowing ride to Yunguilla, we settled into hanging out and playing by the pool. I guess its the nature of the job, but CEDEI seems to attract some of the coolest people. Sam has been teaching at CEDEI since January and has a side career as a hula-hooper. Her boyfriend Lawrence just finished his Peace Corps service in Botswana and is hanging out in Ecuador for several months before returning to the States. Julia started out as a CEDEI Escuela teacher about three years ago, but ended up meeting and marrying a Cuencano, Esteban. They’re eventually going to go to the States for grad school, but Esteban is already a successful architech, so there’s no real reason to go anywhere just yet. John Paul is originally from Toronto (and sounds Canadian) but moved to Cuenca several years ago with his family (some of whom are Cuencano). He’s a big hockey fan, and was really excited about going back to Toronto soon and seeing a Maple Leafs game. Kathleen is originally from Minnesota or Wisconsin (but mid-western invasion nonetheless), and her husband Francisco is Cuban. They tried to move to the States when they got married, but Francisco’s visa was denied, so they moved to Ecuador. They’re expecting their first baby at the end of November, so Kathleen is really hoping that Francisco will be able to get a visa so they can take their kid to the US to meet all of Kathleen’s family. Gamal, the former English Coordinator at the CEDEI school (and the guy who hired us), was also there. He’s from Los Angeles, I think, but has spent a good bit of time in both Chicago and New York doing stand-up comedy. He also was in the Peace Corp which is why he ended up in Ecuador. He served in Esmeraldas, a province on the northern coast of Ecuador which is home to most of the Afro-Ecuadoriano population. He came back to Ecuador to work with CEDEI and is definitely the travel resource.I think that’s most everyone who went with us this weekend, but as you can see, there was lots of very interesting conversation among us. There was a fairly good range of ages and a vast range of experiences, but it was very cool that we were all brought together. For some it was a sense of adventure that brought them to CEDEI, others more out of necessity, but it was a very cool interaction of different people from different backgrounds.

(One of the views from Yungilla)

We came back to Cuenca on Sunday afternoon after eating lunch in Yunguilla. It was kind of incredible because the lunch was a huge bowl of shrimp soup, rice, salad, and meat as well as a sort of iced tea for $2. Insane. I think that 17 of us ate for about $40. Whoa.

(the almuerzo or lunch plate)

After another harrowing ride back to Cuenca, Slocomb and I came back to the Colomas. We didn’t really do much yesterday afternoon, which was a relaxing end to a relaxing weekend (if you don’t count the driving). The only other bad spot about the weekend was the Yunguilla has mosquitos. Lots of them. None of them are malaria carrying (don’t worry mom, I checked the CDC website), but I still have tons of mosquito bites. I am very glad that I brought that Calamine lotion...
Today was another free day because our training this week is Tuesday through Saturday. It gave us a chance to get things together and ready for our (kinda) first week of school. Slocomb and I went to the Feria Libre market today and bought a head of lettuce, two tomatoes, an avocado, and a random fruit that I haven’t figured out the name of yet. For $1.50. And a six pack of toilet paper for $1. Yeah, it was pretty sweet, especially because I did most of the asking and buying. I didn’t really haggle (because it seemed so cheap to start with!), but I was able to ask, “¿Cuanto cuesta?” and figure out how many cents they wanted (though I did ask Slocomb for confirmation sometimes). It was kind of exhilarating.
We also went to the Supermaxi, the grocery store around the corner, for lunch meat, cheese, condiments, and other lunch stuff (we’re packing our lunch for school this week). I also picked up some salsa for Livia and Jenn (which ended up being about as much as we spent at the market) and ziploc bags. The stuff at the Supermaxi was about $15, and Slocomb bought bread at the local bakery (4 rolls and 3 pansitos for $1.14). But all toll, the stuff for our lunches for most of this week was less than $20.
Tomorrow is our first day of planning at the school. We have to be there at 8:30, but because we’re not super sure of the bus situation, we’re planning to leave the house at about 7:45. Not really sure what tomorrow has in store, but as long as we get ourselves and our lunches to La Misicata (the area of town where the school is), it’ll all work out!

Last Tuesday and Wednesday recap...

Blog, 31- Aug

So I promised a fuller run-down of last week, so here goes:
Tuesday was our first day of real stuff with CEDEI. We had met the director and gone to the school last Friday, but we got to meet more of the staff and talk more about the school on Tuesday.
We met up at the main office of CEDEI, which is on the corner of Juan Jaramilio and Herman Miguel streets in downtown Cuenca. Slocomb and I decided to walk there since it was a nice day, and the walk took about 40 minutes from our house. There we met Erin and Maria, as well as the main directors of CEDEI. Erin is a fellow American (Minnesota, to be precise) who studied abroad with CEDEI two years ago and is now back teaching at the CEDEI school. She actually started teaching in May, I think, and has been working doing other things at CEDEI all summer. In college, she studied Spanish education, so her Spanish is quite good. Also, since she’s been around Cuenca for a few months, she has been telling us all of the good places to eat and how much things should cost. Very handy.
Maria is the Coordinator for the international staff, meaning that she’s my boss. She is originally from Cuenca but moved to Minnesota (what’s with all of these mid-westerners?) when she was 13. A year ago, she moved back to Cuenca with her daughter, Isabella, who is the cutest kid ever. She’s also been working with CEDEI for several months and has been a great resource. She also has a car and doesn’t mind helping us run errands.
After meeting these ladies and the directors of CEDEI, Erin took us to see one of the other CEDEI buildings (where most of the study abroad action happens) and to get some yogurt and pansitos. Like I said, Erin knows all of the good places to eat in town, and so we got yogurt milkshake kinda things and bread for about $0.50. Yum.
Anyway, after that, we went out to lunch at this nice restaurant on Calle Largo (“Long Street,” but it is where a lot of the good restaurants and hang out spots are in Cuenca). At lunch, we got to meet Braulio, the Director of the CEDEI school (so my 3 boss, kinda) and Ximena, the Academic Director of the school (so my 2 boss). Braulio doesn’t speak a whole lot of English, but his English is better than my Spanish, so I can’t really say anything. Ximena has been really accessible for all of our questions, but sometimes the questions and the answers get lost in translation. As an aside, she’s a very stylish dresser, so I’ll have to ask her where she shops sometime...
Also at this lunch were the two other American teachers, Livia and Jennifer, both from California. They arrived at lunch straight from the airport, so I got a sense of how Slocomb’s and my faces looked when we first arrived in Cuenca. Jennifer just graduated from college with an education major, and Livia just finished getting her teaching credentials in CA. However, since CA isn’t really hiring teachers, Ecuador is as good a place as any to teach. Livia speaks a good bit of Spanish, but Jen is a beginner like me (yay!)
After lunch, which was about half in English, half in Spanish, we went back to the main CEDEI office to talk with Mark, the Executive director of CEDEI, a little bit more about being an American in Cuenca. He had lots of useful tips, including which places of town aren’t really safe after dark. Mark is a great resource too, and seems really excited about the crew of teachers we have this year.
I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned this yet before or not, but things take a long time in Ecuador. The afternoon I’ve just described, which in the states would probably take 3 hours or so, lasted from noon until about 6. There’s a lot of hurry-up-and-wait that goes on here, but I’m getting used to it. As long as I’m on time, it doesn’t really bother me if the people setting the schedule choose to stray from it. A lot. But its all good. Just one of those cultural things, I suppose.
Anyway, Wednesday was a very cool day because all of the American teachers went on a tour of Cuenca and some of the surrounding towns, courtesy of CEDEI. Our tour guide, Wilson, was very informative and fun, and his dad, Mario, was our driver for the day. We started the morning (about 8 am) in downtown Cuenca, and we visited the San Sebastian church (originally the western edge of town) and the adjacent Museo de Arte Moderno. We didn’t spend a whole lot of time at the Museum (we were mainly just observing the mid-19th century architecture), but I am definitely going to go spend some more time there.
We then went to the central park are (Parque Calderón) which is between the old and new cathedrals. There is a big flower market just south of the new cathedral which is adjacent to a Carmelite convent. Wilson took us into the foyer I guess of the convent where the nuns sell different sorts of herbal remedies and religious paraphernalia. However, since part of these nuns’ vows is to never leave the convent or be seen by outsiders, there is a wooden revolving shelf (like a revolving door but just a window) where people go up, ask for what they want, put the money on the shelf, and receive their purchase, all without seeing or really interacting with the nuns. Very dedicated, these nuns.
We also went to the market next to the San Francisco church (a block from the Cathedral - no shortage of opportunities to worship here in Cuenca, so long as you’re a Catholic...). The market had fruits and veggies as well as clothing and blankets and the other randomness one is likely to find at a market. In the parking lot outside of the market is also where migrant workers from the surrounding area come to find work. While we were there, there were lots of workers but not anyone looking for laborers. Unfortunately, I think this may be the case more often than not. Maybe its just cause it is winter time and there is less agricultural opportunity, but it seems as if unemployment (or at least underemployment - people not getting paid nearly enough for the work they can find) is a rampant problem. In Cuenca, the “minimum wage” salary is about $215 a month, but I think that the migrants around here may only see that much money in a quarter if they are lucky.
Anyway, towering over the parking lot full of migrant workers in Cuenca is the new cathedral (as well as San Francisco church, just a block away). The cathedral was started in 1885 because the old cathedral was way too small for the inhabitants of Cuenca (and heaven knows that there weren’t nearly enough churches....). Its is constructed in the romanesque style (I think) with the altar (in 24k gold leaf) modeled after St. Paul’s Basilica in Rome. The building itself is immense and (according to Wilson) the largest cathedral in South America, measuring something like ? x ? m. The stained glass windows come from Germany and Belgium as well as some designed by Guillermo Larrazabal, a Basque artist who worked in Cuenca for a long time. The inside of the cathedral is actually rather plain, excepting the three or four shrines on each side. There are plain wooden pews only in the center, and the largest statue is of Pope John Paul II, commemorating his visit in 1985, I think. Also, the cathedral is still unfinished, though work ceased in 1980 or so. Unfortunately, something went wrong in the design of the cathedral, so the two huge spires planned for the two front towers were not added because the weight would have caused the building to collapse. Oops!
After seeing the cathedral, we left Cuenca to go see some of the artisan villages in the surrounding area as well as two small market towns. Our first stop was in the town of San Bartolomé, another example of a town where a huge church dominates an otherwise poor area. In San Bartolomé, we saw an example of how many people in the more rural areas live, essentially subsistence farming. The house we visited was above a corner store, and the family also has a wood-burning oven where neighbors bring bread to break. This family, with their multiple pursuits (the store, the bread, the farming, as well as hosting tourists for tea and coffee), seems as if they may be fairly well of, at least compared to families who can only farm. In this family’s garden, we saw many interesting plants, including an amaranthus plant which is used to make tea, babaco, a squash-looking fruit that has a wonderful flavor when cooked, and several types of verbena. The family also had a larger plot where they grow corn, I think. Oh, yeah, and they also raise guinea pigs. They seem fairly busy, don’t you think?
After leaving the ‘down-town’ of San Bartolomé (all four or five blocks), we went out to a guitar workshop where a family hand-makes guitars, mandolins, and the small, 10-string Andean charango to sell all over the country. They come into Cuenca every Thursday to sell their instruments at the San Francisco market, and a simple guitar costs about $50. However, since it takes them a week to produce this guitar, it is not nearly enough to really consider guitar making and selling an efficient way to make a living. Many of the beautiful handicrafts from the Cuenca area are in the same situation, too time-consuming to be a hobby but still not enough to be a full time job. Because of this, many of the children of these artisan families are choosing (perhaps wisely) to abandon the handicrafts in favor of professional jobs in the cities or in other countries where they can make a much easier wage.
After leaving the guitar workshop, we went to the small market town of Chordeleg, a popular destination among tourists because of its inexpensive silver jewelry. None of us bought anything except for a little ice cream, but it was a very pretty square. You never know, we might go back. Unlike the regular tourists, all of the American teachers at CEDEI will have more opportunities to go back and do more shopping.
Just down the mountain from Chordeleg is the town of Gualaceo, where we stopped to see the large central market and the smaller fruit market outside. We also had lunch at this market. Sorry to anyone whose sensibilities might be offended by the idea of whole pigs roasting inside on the off chance that people come by for lunch, but there were at least 5 different people with 5 different pigs roasting. A plate of pulled pork (pulled right off of the pork, mind you) with mate (fried hominy), a tomato salad, and mashed potato cakes was $2.50. And that’s even a little bit expensive. Some places you can get the same meal for $1.50. Anyway, as if we didn’t have enough food already, Slocomb and I also bought a couple of humitas and a tortilla. Humitas are a sort of sweet-corn tamale filled with cheese and steamed inside the corn husk. They are also my favorite new thing that I’ve had since coming to Ecuador. Tortillas in Ecuador are not the same as those with which we are familiar in the US. In Ecuador, they are much more like a corn pancake, thicker and with more substance than the flat corn or flour ones that are more in the Mexican style. Add a bottle of water for $0.30, and my huge lunch was only $3.20.
After lunch, we browsed around the fruit market and saw tons of interesting fruits that I had never seen before. Slocomb is keeping a list of all of the new fruits we have had since coming here, and it is becoming quite immense.
Anyway, the last stop on our tour was another artisan workshop where they make scarves and shawls using a weaving method that predates the Spanish arrival in South America. They actually design and dye the wool different colors before weaving, meaning that the pattern is set into the thread rather than in the loom. Crazy amounts of skill... I broke down and bought my first souvenir of Ecuador, a beautiful (and warm) shawl made at this workshop. It is red, black, and coral, and I am waiting for a special occasion to wear it. I’ll make sure to take pictures when I do.
So that’s Tuesday and Wednesday. I think I’ll post now, just to not overwhelm you too much, but I’ll write about the rest of the week and the weekend later on!

Just a quick note...

Hi Everyone,
Slocomb and I are about to leave to go to Yungilla, a vacation town about a hour from Cuenca. One of our co-workers, Maria, has a uncle who has a home in Yungilla, complete with pool and warmer weather than in Cuenca. So we're going to spend tonight and most of tomorrow hanging out with our CEDEI co-workers and having a relaxing weekend.
It has been a very busy week, so I haven't had a lot of time to post. On Tuesday, we met the rest of the international staff, meaning Erin from Minnesota and Jennifer and Livia from California. Maria is the international staff coordinator and is originally from Cuenca but lived in Minnesota for 20 years.
Wednesday we went on a guided tour of the city and the surrounding area including the towns of San Bartolomé, Chordeleg, and Gualaceo (see pictures on my facebook). I'll write more about the tour later.
Thursday we had the day off, so Slocomb and I finally got the phone situation worked out. Our phone number (if calling from the States) is 011 593 08 144 6690. Incoming calls for us are free, so call us if you want. However, it'll probably cost you an arm and a leg to call, so maybe we should keep it to emergencies only.
Yesterday we had a noon meeting (meaning that it started at 12:30) about the school's teaching philosophy and mission. We'll get into the nitty-gritty of school stuff starting Tuesday when all of the teachers will be at the school planning. The kids' first day is September 7, so we have a lot to do next week!
Anyway, there's a quick recap of this week. I'll write in more detail tomorrow hopefully. Things are going very well here in Ecuador, and I hope that the same can be said about all of you guys!

p.s. I miss Ted Kennedy.

Running errands in Cuenca

Today Slocomb and I decided to run some errands in town. Nellie dropped us off near the center of town before running her own errands, so Slocomb and I walked up to the downtown area to try to find a cell phone. We didn't realize that today was one of the first days that people came back from holiday, so the streets were very busy.
We found the phone store and even found a clerk who spoke English (whoo!!). Unfortunately, we also found that the least expensive phones were more than $50 (boo!). At this point, I remembered Natalie telling me that she was able to unlock and use her American phone while she was in Italy, so I suggested to Slocomb that we try that. The thing is, if we can buy a pre-paid phone card, we can get about 25 mins or 60 texts for $3. But that doesn't do us any good if we don't have a phone. Boo.
So we walked back from the center of town, and I saw this very intriguing old building on the corner of Mariscal Lamar and Convención del 45. I'm not sure what it is, but the different paint layers and the fruit tree outside seem very Cuencan to me.

After coming home from errands we had a lovely lunch of soup with potato and fresh avocado from the Coloma's garden, hamburgers with guacamole and peanut sauce, and rice. Then, while Slocomb was taking his siesta, I emailed the phone company asking if there was some international unlock code. Hopefully they get back to me soon because I'd really like to get this phone thing worked out.

There are also a couple more pictures I'd like to share. I took them from the third floor balcony of the Coloma's house, and you can see the storm clouds moving in over Cuenca.
There is this one mountain south of the city that always seems to be eaten by clouds, so hopefully you can see it in the picture.
Anyway, that's it for now. Tomorrow we're going to have lunch with the rest of the international staff from the school and start talking about our job this year!

Pictures

I have posted all of my pictures so far on facebook, so here are the links. If you have any trouble accessing them, let me know!
First days in Ecuador:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2160649&id=2610285&l=264843ca68
Hosteria Uzhupud:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2160648&id=2610285&l=b0a7781b37

The weekend...

Slocomb’s been working on his blog for about an hour now, so I thought I should try to catch up (don’t wanna be outdone, of course). I guess I’ll just give you all of the boring details of our relaxing weekend.
Katya left to go back to the States today from Guayaquil, so she and Nellie left yesterday to spend the night in Guayaquil. While they were gone yesterday, Slocomb and I went to this restaurant, Punto, just across the perimeter (Avenida de las Americas) from the Las Pencas neighborhood where we live. It was a bit of an experience ordering because I wanted to be polite but just didn’t know how. I ended up just saying, “Quiero (I want) this and that...” I’m still working on my Spanish politeness. Sticking to the rule to get whatever is in the style of the city where you are (thanks Dad!), I had the locha cuencanos, a chowder of potatoes, hard-boiled egg, avocado, and corn in a very buttery cream sauce. For the main part of the mean, I had chicken in a mushroom and bacon brown sauce (very bacon-y, but good) which was accompanied by french fries and a salad. The salad was carrot, peas, lima beans (I think), and corn dressed with mayo (not my favorite). The french fries were really good though, and the ketchup was an experience. Salsa de tomate is sweeter in Ecuador than it is in the US, and this particular one had a bit of a tang to it. Quite good, but a little strange to my palate. I guess I’ll get used to it.
The one thing that is part of every meal in Ecuador is ají (ah-hee) sauce. I’m not really sure how its made, but it looks like yellow queso dip with green chillies. The base is butter I think, and it has tree tomatoes and cilantro in it. Its fairly tangy because of the tree tomatoes (not the same as your good ol’ Granger county tomatoes to be sure). I liked it the first time I tried it, but its not been appealing to me since then. The jury is still out on the ají.
Sorry, that aside was to say that at Punto, we were brought a gravy boat full of ají. We didn’t really use it, but it is everywhere in Ecuadorian food.
After lunch we went to do a bit of shopping. We went first to Su Kasa (as in “Mi casa es su casa” but spelled differently), a home goods store, really reminiscent of Bed, Bath, and Beyond. I think even some of the brands of sheets were the same. I bought a new pillow, but we had no luck finding a foam mattress pad. Oh well. Maybe Ecuadorians are just used to sleeping on hard mattresses.
After Su Kasa, we went to the Super Maxi, the local supermarket. Even though we were still completely stuffed from lunch, we decided to go ahead and get stuff to fix dinner. I wanted something simple, just pasta with veggies, but the pasta selection was very slim. After we came back to the Colomas’, I found Barilla pasta in the kitchen, so I know its available. Yesterday, though, I bought what I could find, and it turned out to be fairly blah pasta. I think that the basic grain in Ecuadorian cooking is rice, so its not surprising that pasta is a little bit on the fringe.
The vegetable selection here is fairly similar to what you can find in the US. The fruits on the other hand are very numerous. We had these fruits today called uvillas (translation - little grapes) which were quite tart. They looked like cherry tomatoes but orange. Very interesting. Last week, Nellie made a pie from babarco, a fruit that is shaped somewhat like a butternut squash and is bright yellow. I’m not quite sure how to describe the flavor. It was almost like a pineapple mixed with a peach. Don’t know if that helps, but its really yummy.
Another thing that I’ve eaten a lot of in Ecuador so far is queso fresco. It’s a lot like mozzarella but more mellow, I think. It may just be our host family, but it seems like people eat a lot of queso fresco here.
I guess this entry has turned into being about Ecuadorian food rather than about my weekend. On the whole, the food here has been very, very good. There are some things that I’m getting used to, like ají, but I have no doubt that I will learn to love Ecuadorian food as much as the food I miss from home.
Speaking of food I miss from home, they did have Kraft blue box Macaroni and Cheese at the supermarket. It was almost $3 a box.
As for the rest of the weekend, Slocomb and I have been mostly relaxing. We did do laundry today, which was easy because the washer is in English. There isn’t a dryer, so we had to hang everything out to dry. Line drying everything isn’t a problem, but I think that I will miss the way clothes come out of the dryer, all warm and smooth and fuzz free. But again, something I’ll get used to.
We also are in the process of downloading the fourth season of Weeds from iTunes. Not a very Ecuadorian thing, but its a lot easier to watch than television in Spanish. One of these days, I think I will try to watch TV in Spanish, but at this point I think it would make my head hurt. Being surrounded by Spanish everywhere is enough at this point without me seeking any more out.
I guess that’s all that I have for now. The food is good, the Spanish is hard, the altitude is less noticeable, and the laundry is the same. I’m not adjusted yet, but I’m getting there.

One thing I forgot!

Sorry, I forgot one thing that I found exciting. I'm sure there will be others, but I'll add as I think of them.

On Tuesday evening as we were hanging out in the downtown of Cuenca, a group of people were marching around the square, obviously protesting something. Nothing disorderly, but not something that we see in the US on an everyday basis.

Neille said today that she read in the paper that they were workers from the tire factory (Cuenca's main industry) protesting the firing of twenty or so workers who were powerful in the union. Also, the workers and management came to the agreement that the fired union workers would be re-hired.

Anyway, Neille says that people don't go on strike very often here, but it was still funny that the second fully day I was in Ecuador, a strike broke out...

What a difference a day makes!

Well, I am just finishing up my third full day in Ecuador, and they have been three days of extreme contrast for me.

We arrived in Quito late Monday night and took a taxi straight from the airport to our hotel in the Old City. The hotel, called the Hotel San Francisco de Quito, was very nice if a bit small. It reminded me of a European hotel, but luckily there were private bathrooms.

We woke up to our first full day in Ecuador (Tuesday) and had a lovely breakfast at the hotel, complete with jugo de guyaba (guava juice) to which Slocomb took an immediate liking. The hotel had wireless internet, so we were planning to book a flight from Quito to Cuenca from the hotel. Unfortunately, the airline which we wanted to fly only took Diner's Club credit cards (who only takes Diner's Club? Seriously...). So, we decided just to go to the airport and buy the tickets there. We ended up taking the 1pm flight, which made things a little complicated once we got to Cuenca. The Colomas (Angel and Neille, our "home-stay parents") were planning to pick us up at the airport, meeting the 2 or 2:30pm flight. However, we were not able to call from the Quito airport to confirm our plans because all of the pay phones have specific phone company cards. Anyway, we took a taxi ($3 - and that was too expensive, we've been told!) from the airport in Cuenca to the Coloma's house on the East side of town. And, luckily, the Colomas pulled up to the house at the same time that we did.

Tuesday afternoon, Neille invited Slocomb and I to come into town with her and her niece, Katya, who is visiting Ecuador until Saturday. We did a few errands and got to see the largest market in town (I didn't take any pictures yet, but I will). After a short bite and coffee at a cafe, we went on a bus tour of Cuenca, seeing a good bit of the city. It got dark about half-way through the tour (by 7pm!), so we saw half of the city during the day and half at night. Unexpectedly, the tour bus (a double-decker, open air top bus) was a little bit... invigorating because the low-hanging power lines made all of us on the top of the bus pay attention or risk getting caught! Anyway, the tour took us up to a church on a hill on the south side of the city which gave us a great view of the town. Cuenca is actually a good sized city, about half a million in the city proper, but it is very close together. Most of the houses are built adjoining to one another, so there are a lot of people on a small bit of land. I guess when your choices are to live in the valley between mountains or on the mountain, people live closely together in the valley.

Tuesday was a very nice day, at least until bed time. I had started feeling a little queasy when I was getting ready for bed, but by midnight, I was definitely sick. Very sick. And then, about four hours later, Slocomb started getting sick too. Very unpleasant. So all of our plans for Wednesday were off because all Slocomb and I could do was lay around and be sick. At first, I had thought it was from this green salad that I had eaten at a cafe on Tuesday (and how many times had I been told, don't eat any fruit or veggies that you haven't cleaned and peeled yourself...). But Slocomb didn't have any salad and Katya didn't get sick either, so I think it was a bit of food poisoning from the quick bite we had at the Quito airport instead of something in Cuenca. So the combination of not being able to eat on Wednesday and altitude has kept us fairly fatigued today, but we are both feeling much better.

Us being sick was also an interesting way to get to know our host family. I managed to make it downstairs Wednesday morning, and Neille asked if there was anything that I might possibly be able to eat. The only thing that sounded good was applesauce, so I asked if they had any by chance. They didn't, but Neille insisted on making home-made applesauce from the apples they had around. And when Angel heard that we were sick, the first thing he did was call his gastroenterologist friend and ask his advice. The doctor recommended some medicine, which Neille promptly bought for us, as well as some pedialyte to keep us hydrated. I guess it wasn't the most fun way to really see the character of the Colomas, but it certainly gave us some insight into these very caring, wonderful people.

Anyway, after sleeping in a little today, I felt well enough to go out with Neille and Katya to this hacienda about 45 minutes outside of Cuenca. It was converted into a hotel about 30 years ago, and is a very popular relaxation place from Cuencanos. Neille relaxed on the lovely porch while Katya and I rode horses for a little bit. The horses were very calm, but they were also very stubborn. Even Katya, who is a more experienced horsewoman than I am, was not getting her horse to obey. Oh, well, I guess that's the trouble with attempting to have such intelligent beings at your disposal.

This evening we came home and had a light dinner at the Colomas and then played Canasta for a couple of hours. It reminded me a little of being home with Mom's parents and all of the games that we play together. I guess that playing games is a family tradition the world over.

And so, I suppose I am up to speed on everything that has happened in the last few days. There have been some ups and one major down, but I hope that it is all up hill from here!

Hola!

Well, we have arrived in Cuenca after spending the night last night in Quito. I am about to go out with our home-stay family, so I will have to fill in the details later. Just thought I would let everyone know that we are arrived safely!
Also, using a Spanish keyboard means that you can not use contractions. That is going to take some getting used to!

Packing...

Today is my last day at home. Its the last day that I will both wake up and go to sleep in my own bed. So, its also my last day for packing...

I don't actually leave until Monday, but since my flight leaves from Atlanta, we're going to spend the weekend with Dad's family before going to the airport Monday.

Packing is a strange activity. Its both exhilarating and frightening. It lets me imagine when I'm going to use certain items, like going to church in Ecuador or what I'm going to wear at school. But at the same time, I worry if I'm packing the right things. Do I take nicer clothes or casual clothes? Do I take practical things or my favorite things? What if I lose my luggage? There's also this cognitive dissonance (grad school phrase!) because its the height of summer here, but I'm packing for a city where 70 degrees is a hot day.

Packing is also stressful for me. Gathering everything together is proving to be difficult, especially for someone whose natural tendency is chaos. As an aside, learning that nature tended away from order was one of my favorite things about chemistry. I felt vindicated in keeping my room in a disorderly state. Anyway, that disorder is frustrating now. I can't find this shoe or that necklace. And its a bigger deal than just packing for vacation. If I don't find x, y, and z today, I'll be without it until at least December. Quite an intimidating thought.

I guess I should stop griping about packing and actually do it. But writing is much more fun...

p.s. The picture is all of my stuff laid out on the guest room bed...

About Cuenca and CEDEI

About Cuenca:

Cuenca is a city of just under 500 thousand people, with an addition 115 thousand in the surrounding area. It is in the south central part of Ecuador in Azuay province. It is high in the Andes Mountains at about 8500 feet about sea level, meaning that it will take me a while to adjust to the altitude.

The old part of the city is an UNESCO World Heritage Site and mostly dates from the mid-sixteenth century and the Spanish colonial era. The earliest settlement in the area dates to about 500 AD, probably by the Cañari people. Much later, the Inca conquered the area, naming it Tumebamba. It was the second most important city in the Inca empire, superseded in importance only by Cuzco. But the city was abandoned before the Spanish arrived for reasons unbeknownst to history.

The climate of Cuenca is about the same as the rest of Ecuador, meaning mild most of the time. Even though Cuenca is only 2 degrees south of the Equator, the high altitude keeps it between 60-70°F during the day, and 40-50°F at night. Supposedly there is a “dry” and a “rainy” season, but I have heard from other sources that its not really like that. I suppose we’ll just have to figure that one out at we go.

Random side-note: Contrary to popular belief, Cuenca is (or claims to be) the origin of the Panama hat.

About CEDEI:

The school where Slocomb and I will be working is part of a foundation called “Centros de Estudios Interamericanos” (or the “Centers for Inter-American Studies”). In addition to centers that teach English to Ecuadorians and study abroad programs for Americans to come to Ecuador, CEDEI runs an elementary school for 2-year-olds to 5th graders. The school day runs from 7:30 in the morning until 1:30 in the afternoon, giving us plenty of time in the afternoons to take Spanish lessons, hang out in the markets, and do other Ecuadorian kinds of things (not sure what those are, but that’s part of the fun).

This isn’t for sure yet, but I’m probably going to be teaching Computers and Technology for all ages, and Slocomb has been assigned to Science with the older kids. He really wants to do Corporeal Expression (aka gym), so hopefully that can be worked out.

In addition to us and a few more Americans who will be teaching in English, the CEDEI faculty is made up of Ecuadorian teachers who will teach the more traditional subjects (the three R’s) in Spanish. The whole point of the school is to create a natural, bilingual environment where the kids are comfortable using and learning in both Spanish and English.

Anything else you wanna know? Let me know!

Are you there blogosphere? Its me, Leslie!

Well, here we go, I suppose.

I've never really kept a journal before, but I feel like I should. Here's my attempt to keep my family and friends informed about my adventures, remind myself of the great stuff out there, and hopefully enlighten someone about something. I don't presume to be the best writer or even the most interesting, but I do hope that my blog with be fun and entertaining.

About me: I'm Leslie. I'm 21 years old. I'm from Tennessee, went to school at Emory in Atlanta, and am about to move to Ecuador for a year. Sounds random? Well, it is.

How it happened: Slocomb (the long term boyfriend) and I knew we wanted to do something adventurous after graduation. He already spoke Spanish, and I thought it would be good to learn, so we decided to look for opportunities in a Spanish-speaking country. Being the cynic I sometimes am, I shot down Spain because of expenses, so Latin America was the next logical choice. In some great serendipity, both my Aunt and Slocomb's RA boss Paul both suggested Cuenca, Ecuador. Paul was also kind enough to introduce us to his parents, Neille and Angel, who live in Cuenca, and with whom Slocomb and I will be living. We also were lucky enough to be hired by an elementary school to teach. So, to make a long story short, we found a country, a city, a home-stay family, and then a job by March of this year.

The only hitch in the system has been the visa. As you might imagine, it requires a lot of paperwork and verification to get a visa to work in a foreign country for a year. Even though we were hired by the school in March, we didn't receive the proper paperwork until the end of July. Luckily, the Ecuadorian Embassy in Washington is awesome. I mailed my paperwork to them on Monday and received by visa and passport back by Friday. Yay Embassy!!!

This summer has been a lot of getting ready and getting excited. And now, its almost upon us. We will arrive in Ecuador on Monday, August 17th, and then in Cuenca on Tuesday, August 18th (hopefully).

And now I must get back to packing!

T-minus 10 days.