Frolicking, Birthday Celebrations, My Job, and Getting "Acquainted" with the City

So, this Thursday marked exactly 1 week in Ecuador! Even though it's only been a few days since my last post, again, many things have happened. Some great, some ridiculous, some adorable. Also, this is a random thought, but I realized that some of you may not know how to pronounce Cuenca. In case you'd like to pronounce it correctly in your head as you read this, its pronounced: ka-weng-ka. Fun fact for the day.

Hola, montañas. ¿Cómo están?

So I briefly mentioned this outing in my last post, but I didn't post any pictures. I think this trip is deserving of pictures. Last Saturday, my host dad invited me to come with him and his brother and father to his work, which is at a school in a really rural part of Ecuador.  It's easily a 45 minute drive out of the city, waaaayy up into the moutains. Adrian (my host brother) came with us, too.  My host dad and his brother needed to take measurements (?) in the school... from what I could gather from their Spanish explanation. So Adrian and I just wandered around and explored, and found a delightful spot to take a nap, since we were both tired from a late night of salsa-ing earlier that morning ;) 

Our prime napping spot

A family working in a field

The school where my host dad works

Feliz Cumpleaños, Kelsicita! 

As facebook tell us, my birthday was on Tuesday! I have turned the ripe age of 23, and I notice the greys coming in already. Feliz cumpleaños (for those who are Spanish illiterate, like me) means happy birthday :) Kelsicita is Joy's nick-name for me, putting a little Latin spin on my name to match my killer Latin dance moves, naturally. Also, as a friend pointed out, this is my second birthday in a row that I celebrated in South America! (However, last year on my birthday, a friend and I were stopped by Argentine firemen who emerged out of the brush to extinguish an illegal fire lit we in a national park... but that's a different story). Since my birthday this year fell on only my 5th day in Cuenca, I wasn't planning on doing anything all too special for it.  I was completely content to just hang at the house and not even acknowledge that it was my birthday. Joy, however, had different ideas.

Birthday Celebration #1: On Sunday, Joy, Adrian, and I met up with Mike, a friend of mine from Richmond who works and lives in Cuenca, too.  Here, Joy sneakily exchanged numbers with Mike, and thus began the planning of my (first) birthday celebration.   

Joy and I

Adrian, me, Joy, Mike & his girlfriend
for my surprise birthday dinner #1

On Monday night, Joy tells me that she has a meeting to go to at 8:00, would I want to come with her? Sure, why not. Got nothing better to do on a Monday night. So she, Adrian, and I go into the city.  The whole time I try to ask in my limited Spanish where we are going and who we are meeting.  Some people from couchsurfing, they tell me. Given their track record with couchsurfers, this was a totally plausible explanation. We go into the restaurant/bar, and there we find Mike and his girlfriend waiting for us. They surprised me and had table and everything reserved.  We all got drinks and food together and shared some hilarious conversation. It was delightful and so nice and thoughtful of Joy and Mike.

Cake to the face

Birthday Celebration #2: The next night (Tuesday) was my actual birthday, and I was more than happy to again just let it go unacknowledged. Especially with the dinner the night before, I thought that that would be it. But no, Joy continues to be adorable all the time. Joy invites her best friend, Gabby, over and the two of the cook an amazingly delicious dinner, cake and another dessert included. While they were in the kitchen, I was upstairs Skyping my parents, so I truly had no idea anything interesting was going on. Adrian knocks on my door and says, Can you come here for a second? I get off Skype and walk downstairs to find the whole family and Gabby around a table full of food and a candle lit.  After dinner, they even gave me the traditional Ecuador birthday greeting: cake in the face. It was hilarious and, again, so cute and thoughtful. Leave it to Joy. She was given a very appropriate name. 

Home-cooked birthday dinner

birthday presents!

Birthday Celebration #3: Yes, it continued. On Friday, it was another one a Joy's friend's birthdays, so she and Gabby planned a huge birthday lunch with all their friends. Lunch here is the big meal of the day. Joy and Gabby bought me a bottle of vodka, an obnoxiously huge plastic bottle to drink from, and Happy Birthday hats. They baked a cake and cooked a really delicious lunch. We spent the afternoon eating and drinking, and it was awesome. Of course, when it came time for cake, Tati (the other birthday girl) and I got cake in the face. 

Joy and her friends

Cake to the face round 2

So, do you just pretend like you have a job down there?? 

Well, for the record, yes, I am working and teaching down here in addition to many other shenanigans. CEDEI is one of the best language schools in Cuenca, and it's main school is in this beautiful, old, historic building right in the center of the city.  It's 4 floors all open-concept architecture with a glass atrium-like ceiling. Really pretty and cool looking. For my schedule, I work Monday through Thursday 3:00pm-7:00pm (ballin), since I found someone who wanted to take my 4-hour long Saturday class. Boom roasted. So, I am teaching 3 classes, 2 are ninos (children's) classes and one is an advanced writing tutorial, so I have quite a spread of skill levels.  My first class of the day is ninos low-beginner... aka they have never spoken a word of English.  Did I mention I don't speak Spanish? That makes for a fun teaching environment. I said "Hello!" on the first day, and they looked at me like I had 3 heads. But, it is pretty cool how much you can convey with elaborate hand gestures and repetition and pictures.  It took all of the first class to get down, "Hello, my name is. What's your name?", but hey, they're making progress!  I think this class will be the most rewarding at the end of the cycle, because any progress is huge progress. They are my biggest class, with 9 kids ages 9 to 12.  

My second ninos class is by far my favorite. They are high-beginners, so they know just enough English to be absolutely adorable.  The class is just 4 girls ages 9 to 11. They are all so animated and fun and they all love the games we play in class. Today, I actually ran 5 or so minutes over time, and after realizing, I told the girls it was time to go. In unison, they all go, "Noooooooo, don't make us." It was too cute.  My last class got tacked onto my schedule at the last minute, but I'm actually pretty excited about it. The class is a writing-intensive class for advanced students. I have 4 high school students, all about 16 years old.  They're all good students but aren't quite as animated as the little ones (shocker). However, as many of you know, I LOVE grammar and editing (but seriously, I do), and I have an annoyingly meticulous eye for grammar mistakes, so I really think I'll have a lot of fun with this class. Today we reviewed all the verb tenses.  Remember the good ol' days of future progressive, present perfect progressive, and past perfect? Throw some verb agreement exercises into the mix, and you've got yourself a real party. 

(One of these days I'll bring my camera to class and show you my students and the building. Sorry, no pictures for right now! But I'm sure my high-beginner girls will be all about posing for pictures... the high schoolers, maybe not so much). 

"Dónde... the fuck am I?!?!" On Getting Lost: Really, Really Lost

This time, I found myself up in the mountains far outside Cuenca in an abandoned bus yard amongst some cows... and not much else. Did I mention this was me attempting to get to work, near the city center?

So it probably comes to surprise to anyone that I managed to get myself EPICALLY lost the other day. I've gotten myself into quite a few pickles before, but man does this one take the cake.  My sense-of-direction gene must have gotten lost somewhere with my height gene, because I am severely lacking in both categories.

It all began when I had to go to the central CEDEI building for a meeting (there are 3 CEDEI buildings, each about a 10 minute bus ride apart). I work at the El Paseo location, and was just getting down the house-to-work bus route, when this centro-to-work route had to throw a kink in my plans. I am all proud of myself that I found the correct bus line, until I notice that I'm going in the wrong direction. But, I was out of quarters (you have to have change for the busses) and I had given myself an hour for a 10 minute commute, because I know I ALWAYS manage to get lost. So I figured, Why not take the long way to work? The busses drive in a loop, don't they? How much longer could it be to ride it the wrong way? I have an hour. I should be fine. Right??

So, I'm riding along, riding along and the bus is going in a giant loop around Cuenca. Perfect. I get to see the city, and I still have plenty of time before my class. Then, suddenly bus starts driving through the "slums," if you will, of Cuenca. It's not a place I want to get off the bus, but not only that, I have no idea where I am, so getting off the bus would hardly solve anything, except alert the people in these areas that not only am I a lone gringa, but I'm a lost, lone gringa who can't speak Spanish. So, I stay on the bus. It's bound to head back into the city soon, I kept telling myself. Any minute now...

I keep checking my watch. My 60-minute pocket of time is slowly closing. 20 minutes till my class now. We MUST be turning around soon. As I tell myself this, the city is suddenly lost behind me and the bus is trekking high into the mountains. Shit. Shit. Where the hell is this bus going?? Meanwhile, EVERYONE is getting off the bus, except me, of course. I keep sitting there looking hopefully out the window, wondering where Cuenca went. The bus driver keeps checking his mirror and starring at me, and I can tell he's thinking, Why doesn't this gringa get off the bus, already? Alas, the bus driver pulls into the bus yard, which is a virtually abandoned bus yard in the middle of NO WHERE. He tells me this is the end of the line and I need to get off. "Can I get a taxi from here?" I desperately ask in my awful Spanish. He just chuckles. I check my watch. Work in 15 minutes.

The end of the line for the bus route, as I have learned.

What's up, cow? Any idea how to
get back to Cuenca?

I pull out my phone to try and call anyone to help me. No service. Of course. Also, low battery. Excellent. I can't call a cab. I can't call anyone to let them know I'm not going to make it to work on time. My only option, the bus driver tells me, is to wait for the bus #3 to start it's route ALL the way back into the city. That would be at least an hour. Or, I could wait for a taxi that will never come. I stand on the side of the dirt road next to a grazing cow, and pray that a taxi will pass by. 10 minutes till class. Like a miracle, a taxi appears!! God knows what it was doing up in the mountains, but I run into the street and flag it down. I give the taxi driver the address of my school and he shakes his head. "I don't drive that far. That's all the way in the city," he tells me. But I'm not getting out.  I give him my best, PLEASE HELP ME face, and he agrees to drive me to the nearest town. MUCHAS GRACIAS! MUCHAS GRACIAS! He was awesome, like most Ecuadorians. Not only did he drive me to the nearest town for FREE, but he called a friend of his to come pick me up. He waited with me in the taxi till his friend arrived, and he gave the friend the directions of where to take me. The friend was in a huff because it was a 40 minutes away. Yes, FORTY MINUTES. You can get from one side of Cuenca to the other in about fifteen. A 40 minute ride is absurd by anyone's standards. But, the first taxi driver fights with him a bit and insists that he take me. Thank you, my savior. Alas, I say "Muchas gracias" to him about 12 more times, give him a hug, and I get into the second cab. Forty minutes later and 35 minutes late for work, I arrive at CEDEI.

I dash into the building, and see the building coordinator sitting looking confused. I say "Lo siento!" (I'm sorry) about 10 times and dash by her up to my class. My students were ANGELS. It's my beginner ninos class, and all 9 of them were quietly sitting in their seats, wondering where the hell their teacher was. The worst part: They don't speak English and my Spanish isn't nearly good enough to explain, "Sorry, I'm late. I got lost in the mountains. My bad." So, I did what any English teacher with a class full of non-English speaking students would do, I say "Lo siento, class!" and begin my lesson: "My name is Kelsey. What's your name?..." 

The first post! A Smattering of Thoughts

Hola y bienvenido a mi blog! I have been in Ecuador now for 4 days, and it's been nothing short of amazing. This is my first post, and a lot has happened in the past 4 days, so, as the title implies, you are getting a smattering of thoughts. I'm going to try to separate topics in my posts, so people can jump around to the ones that interest you, and you can breeze over the ones that don't. Enjoy :)

Cuenca! To give you a visual of
 where I am. ~6-8 hrs South of
Quito by bus.

"So, what the hell are you doing in Ecuador??" 

Ecudaor, Ecuador, Ecuador.  I decided to move to this country because I heard from several different people that the Ecuadorians are some of the most friendly and welcoming people in South America and that the country itself is one of the most beautiful--with every type of landscape: coastlines, mountains, jungle, farmland, rivers, you name it.  I hardly considered moving to any other country in SA, and basically decided on a whim without doing really any further research that Ecuador was where I wanted to be.  So far, I haven't regretted my impulse decision one iota.

For those who I haven't already told, you may ask, why did you want to move to South America in the first place? You had a perfectly good life in Kennett Square. Well, for one, I love to travel and I am always itching to begin a new adventure. Secondly, I just graduated from college in May and I wanted to take time off from school to see the world and experience living in another country before I go back to school and "real" life gets in the way of spontaneity. Lastly, I wanted to learn Spanish.  I currently have less than 20 Spanish phrases in my back pocket, and I have never studied Spanish formally in high school or college (yes, I was one of those people who studied French).  So, learning the language here will no doubt be challenging, frustrating, and exhausting, but above all I believe it will be one of the most rewarding achievements I can imagine.  I have always wanted to become fluent in another language, and I hope this experience brings me that much closer to my goal.

Ecuador: The People and Their Culture

Now, away from me and back to Ecuador. The people here really ARE amazing, and the country really IS beautiful.  I have yet to meet a single person here who hasn't been overly friendly to me or who hasn't gone out of their way to help me. This afternoon, for example, I was in the center of town and needed to catch a bus back to the house I'm staying at (more on that below). I was waiting and waiting and waiting, but bus #3 never came.  There was a man at the stop too waiting for a different line, so I ask him in my terrible (but rapidly improving!) Spanish, "Does bus 3 come to this stop?" "Si, si" he says, and begins talking to me while we wait. 15 minutes pass and still no bus #3. He then walks me to another bus stop and waits with me again. 15 more minutes. Still no bus #3.  The whole time we're having a hilarious conversation together with me speaking in my limited Spanish and with lots of hand symbols and he being patient with me as I struggle to convey anything.  It's funny how much you can convey with such a limited vocabulary. Alas, bus #3 still didn't arrive, so he flagged down a taxi for me, told the driver where to go, paid for the ride, and then was on his way. I can't even imagine an American person going so utterly out of their way to help a complete stranger--especially one who can't even really speak the language.

The city too, is just beautiful. Firstly, it is shockingly clean. The people of Cuenca take a lot of pride in their city, and it is evident when you walk around. The architecture is beautiful. Lots of old, intricate buildings. There is also a great variety of food, and its all so cheap and fresh! I ate a delicious vegetarian lunch today for $1.50. What could be better?? I can't wait to really explore the museums and more of the city here... and actually learn my way around.  Although, if I become too good at directions, how will I make new friends at the bus stop? Being lost has its perks.

View of the city. 

Cuenca at night, from a lookout.

The Wonderful World of Social Media

So, my experience thus far has been better than I could have ever imagined, almost entirely due to social media. Namely, facebook and couchsurfing. On facebook, I joined an Ecuador Expats group, which is basically a group for Americans living in Ecuador.  Before I left, I posted in the group just explaining that I was an 22 year old American living in Ecuador for the first time. Any suggestions, packing or otherwise? About 20 people respond to my post, offering really helpful information. Multiple people gave me their emails and contact information, and one family even offered to come pick me up from the airport when I arrived! So, within a few hours, I had several contacts in the city and a welcome committee at the airport. The American family was wonderful. The picked me up, brought me to their apartment, took me to lunch in the city, showed me around a huge market here, and got my phone activated and working (not as easy as it seems...).  They even offered to let me live with them until I was able to get settled.

However, I never ended up staying a night with them, because that same day (day 1 in Cuenca) an Ecuadorian girl that I had connected with through couchsurfing.org* told me to come meet her at her university, about a 15 minute walk from the American family's apartment. I was able to leave my bags with the family, and I met the Ecuadorian girl at her university. We got coffee together, and.... drum roll please, enter stage left: Joy.

(*For those who don't know what couchsurfing is, you should. But actually, it's this amazing community of people who offer their homes and/or company to travelers. It's free and an absolutely amazing way to meet local people and have an experience unlike any other when you travel.  I not only met Joy, who offered to host me in her home, but have also met and connected with several other Ecuadorians here who met me for coffee or invited me to come out to the bars with them. Truly a community unlike any other).

Oh Joy, It's Joy!

Joy is one of the most friendly, welcoming, amazing people I have ever met. She has lived in Cuenca her whole life and hosts couchsurfers all the time. She is 23 and lives with her brother, Adrian (24), and father (really normal here... no one really moves out with their parents until they're married). We are chatting away and it was so great to meet such a friendly face on my first day here. As a bonus, she studies English at her university and speaks very well, so I am able to help her with her English and she helps me with my Spanish. About 5 minutes into our conversation, I mention that I'd love to live with an Ecuadorian family so I can really learn about Ecuadorian culture and learn Spanish. Without a seconds hesitation, she goes, "Oh, you can live with us." "Really? For a long time?" "Yes, yes I'll have to ask my dad, but I'm sure it's fine." Like that, I not only had a (second) place to sleep tonight, but potentially a family to live with in Ecuador.

Joy and I at a bar in Cuenca

She walks to the American family's apartment with me, helps me with my bags, and we take a taxi together back to her house. She lives in a really beautiful house that's just north of the city center. I meet her brother and father, both of whom are so nice and friendly. Her brother speaks English fairly well, but he father doesn't speak any, so it's been a really funny and beneficial experience speaking with her dad. In her house, there were already 3 other couchsurfers from France who were cooking away in the kitchen. The French couchsurfers, her family, and I have a delicious and really funny tri-lingual dinner together since the French couchsurfers speak French and Spanish, I speak English and French, and Joy and her brother speak Spanish and English.

Adrian, me, and Joy

For yet another example of how wonderful Joy and her family are, just consider the sleeping arrangements of all of us in their home. Adrian (the brother) gave his room to the French couchsurfers, and he slept with his father.  Joy carried all my bags into her room and said, "Now, my room is your room." I insisted that I am more than happy to sleep on the couch downstairs, and she said, "No, no of course not. My bed is plenty big. We will both sleep here." Alas, after having known Joy and her family for no more than a few hours, she and I are sharing a room and bed, and it couldn't have been more normal or delightful (...she has a really comfortable bed).

Since the first night, the family has shared absolutely everything with me: their time, their food, and their company. The father even invited me to join him, his brother, and his father (Joy and Adrian's uncle and grandfather) to a trip to their father's work this weekend, which is a school high in the mountains around Cuenca. It was undoubtedly the most rural school I have ever seen (even more rural than some of the remote towns in Montana from the bike trip), but the mountains were absolutely beautiful. Plus, I got to see how rural Ecuadorians live (...lots of crops, livestock, and hard work).

To Vegan or Not to Vegan?

Well, this should really say to vegetarian or not vegetarian, but it didn't sound quite a catchy. Upon arriving here, I already knew I would not even attempt to maintain a vegan diet, because there is too much culture that is learned and shared through food.  The food here is also fresh and livestock is not artificially raised like it is in the States, so I do not have the same ethical qualms about eating it. Meat, however, I decided I would only eat if it was given to me or if it would be rude of me not to eat, but I wouldn't seek out meat or cook it on my own accord. Well, the "staying mostly vegetarian" thing didn't last long.  The first evening in Cuenca, the French girls cooked us a really delicious quinoa (!) and salmon dish and a chicken, mushrooms, and rice dish. So, I ate meat for the first time in a year and a half.  Since then, we've had meat for dinner here each night. So far just chicken or fish, which I am happy about. No red meat yet, which as many of you know, has never been may favorite, although I am sure that I will be eating it quite a few times here.  Eating meat again hasn't been as weird as I thought it would be, and the food the cook here is really really delicious. Lots and lots of rice, of course, lots of vegetables, and almost every meal is served with fresh, homemade juice (soooo good). Can't wait to keep trying new foods :)

Dinner at Joy's house on the first night in Cuenca,
with her father and the 3 French couchsurfers

Dance: The Universal Language

Salsa here is HUGE. Basically everyone can salsa and seemingly everyone loves to dance. Good news: I love to dance. Bad news: I can't dance salsa. Great news: Everyone loves to try and teach a gringa ("white girl") to dance salsa. Plus, as long as you move your hips, try to mimic the other person, and don't care if you look like an idiot, you can sort of pass as a salsa-er.  The best part, though, is that you don't need to speak the same language to have an amazing time dancing together.


Joy and Adrian took me and the French couchsurfers out to a bar and then to a salsa club on Friday night.  It was SO fun. Sorry American guys, but most of you just can't dance like Latino guys. Adrian was dancing with me first, showing me the basic moves of salsa and being patient with me when I stepped all over his feet. You couldn't really help but laugh. He showed me several different steps and soon we were dancing away to the music--spinning and shaking our hips all over the dance floor. Next, I met another Ecuadorian guy who showed me how to dance Merengue. He and I had a great time dancing together, and when the DJ played Will Smith, I showed him how Americans get down ;)

The group at a bar before salsa-ing

Outside the salsa bar, about to head
home. Joy, Adrian, the 3 French
couchsurfers, and me