Independence

And all of a sudden, I'm done with school and with BCA. It's all over, and now I have 5 weeks to myself before I head back to the states.

Finals were not too bad, just a few papers and two finals. My Quichewa final went well, however my Latin American poltics class final was the worst ever. It's a long story, but basically, I was a half hour late to an hour long final, and the format was different--and in another languge, that just kills your grade. So a struggle, but I got through it.

I also had to do a final presentation/reflective project for BCA, and I'll upload it here soon.

I have also packed up, and moved out of my host familys house for the most part (my stuff in sitting in a suitcase in the closet). It was sad to do, and I learned a lot living with them, both about the culture and myself. I was not always outgoing around them (usually because I was always just too tired), and therefore, my ecua mother takes to calling me timid and quiet (ha). I also realized that a broken glass, or a late night does not make a difference at all. My host mother was so nice to me the entire time and always supported me. I will miss her, the house, and my neighborhood--Jipijapa (pronounced hippy-haupa).

But now, I am at the beach in Montenita! Whooo! It took 14 hours, and 3 buses, but I made it. The town is colorful and full of life--very welcoming to foreigners. I spent the day hanging out on the beach and walking around.

The next few weeks, more travelling. I'll keep you posted.

Basilica del Voto Nacional

A couple of weekends ago, I visited the main basilica here in Quito. It is huge, has beautiful gothic architecture and can be an adventure if you choose to climb to the top.

Here is a view of South Quito and the Panecillo--Virgen of Quito over looking the city. This is from almost the top of one of the clock towers.

The other tower we are going to climb after.

This is literally how you climb a both towers. Crazy ladders and steep, ricketly climbs that would never be allowed in the United States or be considered safe.

A wooden/concrete platform built over the congregation that leads you to the other, smaller tower.

Me in front of the belltowers--the right clock is broken.

Seriosuly--I wish I could explain how the you climb the side of the tower (that was built on--not part of the original tower) to climb up. It is somewhat scary. But provided beautiful sights of Quito.

getting the accent just right

I have been here in Ecuador for almost five months now and WOW has my Spanish has improved. I cannot believe how much more and more it keeps getting better. Instead of translating Spanish to English when I read or hear it, I simply try to think in Spanish. It is weird to realize that when I think about speaking--I think in Spanish, but when I am just thinking in general, it is usually still in English.

Now that I understand the language quite well, I am working on my accent. The problem is if you do not have an accent from Quito, then you are going to get ripped off or it makes you a dead give away if you are trying not to stand out. When I am with my friends from the states, I cannot help but get ripped off as they some of them are blonde and white. I, only being half-white, can fit in if I try. And that's where the accent comes in.

Now, it has gotten to the point where I get into a cab and the driver asks how much I usually pay! He doesn't offer a price, thinking I am a local and he cannot charge me more. This is not because my accent is perfect, but I know exactly how to ask to get to locations. And I practice saying them beforehand as I cleverly try to minimally say the words that I know I can say correctly. The other day though, a taxi driver called me out on it and asked where I was from as he complemented my Spanish, even though I was stumbling now and then in the conversation. It gives you a bit of new confidence and makes me feel as though all of my patience and hard work is starting to really pay off.

Video Blog 6--Galapagos Islands

Here's my video blog about the Galapagos Islands!

Galapagos Pictures

Here are some pictures from my recent visit to the Galapagos Islands!

From the plane

Beautiful coasts and water all around--but don't let it fool you--it was freezing.

The Galapagos are made up of volcanoes--lava rocks everywhere.

Going cliff jumping.

There are 11 species of turtles on the islands

Volcano Sierra Negra--the second biggest crater in the world.

Very old lava tunnels that have since, filled with a maze of water surrounding them.

Video Blog Numero 5

Hi everyone, here is the video for my weekly video post. To view it on YouTube it's under "Semester on the Equator."

Also the link for the Gilman Scholarship is
http://www.iie.org/en/Programs/Gilman-Scholarship-Program

View from my House

This is the view I have everyday when I walk out of my house (and gate). Depending on the weather some days views are better than others. Mountains everywhere--I just cannot get over them as I have lived on flat land at sea level all my life.

QuitoSur

Just as a tiny reminder, I'm living in the capital, Quito. Although I'm not sure, if I remember correctly the metropolitan area of Quito has close to two million people. This city is huge. It is in one long valley which is congested and not well built for the big city that has come to form. It takes two hours to drive across the city unless you take a highway around the mountains where it takes between 30-40 minutes.


In the past 30 years, Quito has doubled in size (which is also happening all over the world) and there is now QuitoSur (South Quito). QuitoSur is the southern part of the valley that is known as the poor part of the city. In the past 30 years Quito has doubled in size by adding on QuitoSur as people have migrated to the city. Most of the migrants are poor, darker-skinned, and come from other parts of Ecuador that Quitanos (people who have lived in Quito for generations) are known to discriminate against.

Unfortunately, Quitanos know very little about the southern half of their city and most rarely go there. When I ask other Equatorianos if they have been there a common response is "I got lost there once..." or "for class..." is all. Other comments include "that's where all the crime and criminals are. That is where the problem of the city comes from..." Whether or not that is true, it is quite obvious that people from northern Quito feel an invasion of their city.

I recently went to QuitoSur with my study abroad group to get a glimpse that I will probably not have again. We went to the lookout to first describe the city from afar and compare it to northern Quito (where we all live--very far north--it is just closer to our university). QuitoSur is the result of shanty towns that have been built up over the years. The houses are plain cinderblocks buildings as paint is expensive. They are also built with reams of concrete and metal on top, waiting to keep building up as the owner hopes to someday build up more. Cars show you have money. Everything is a bit dreary, and as the southern half of the city is higher in elevation, it has a fitting chiller atmosphere.

Then we took a long way through to see more of the environment before arrived at a school where we volunteered for the afternoon.

I really enjoyed QuitoSur. It was more of what I had pictured Ecuador of being before arriving here and I really do think I could have lived there. But I live in the better part of Quito and go to one of the best if not the best university here where everyone dresses nicely. I can see that my Ecuadorian friends drive nice cars and their houses are just amazing. For the most part I am hanging out with the higher class of society here in Ecuador. It was not what I was expecting when I signed up to come here, and QuitoSur makes life more humble.

I did go to a friends house in QuitoSur recently and an Ecuadorian friend yelled "WHERE?!" when I told him. Back to the criminals and crime in QuitoSur. I argued with him saying I had felt comfortable and safe with my friend and it was not fair of him (someone who lives in one of the best neighborhoods in the city) to judge my friend like so. I'm not completely sure I could compare QuitoSur to southern Chicago or the Bronx, but maybe more like southern Indianapolis. I just believe as long as you are smart and with people who know the area, it is ok and QuitoSur just needs a better reputation here. However I have been told that in another 10 years, with more expansion, QuitoSur could be more in the middle of the city...

Video Blog Numero 4

Ok, Ok I know I am terrible and I haven't updated in a while. But I had a couple computer problems when I tried and I was super busy other wise. But--here is my next video blog talking about the police riots that happened in Ecuador on September 30th. You can also find the video under the same title as my blog on YouTube.

Also, if you are interested in the Gilman Scholarship go to the website:
http://www.iie.org/en/Programs/Gilman-Scholarship-Program

Police Riots in Ecuador

So I got to my university today and everyone was on their phones outside. Found out all classes are cancelled--we are staying at my university which is out of the city and guarded pretty well.

here are some links about what is going on.
NyTimes
BBC News
San Diego
CNN
NPR

I'm safe, but I am hearing rumors that the president has been kidnapped or injured. I do not really know--however Ecuadorians are not worried and it will probably be solved by tomorrow.

Semester on the Equator Week 3

Hola everyone, here is the third  video of my weekly blog!

 

You can find the videos on YouTube under the same name.

If you receive the Pell Grant--check out the Gilman Scholarship to help fund your study abroad experience:
http://www.iie.org/en/Programs/Gilman-Scholarship-Program

Library Quietime--or Lack of

I am sitting on the floor of the library studying right now. Yeah--the floor. The library here is very different the the library at DePauw.

When you walk in--there are signs everywhere that say no talking and no cellphones. However, neither of the rules are followed as I can hear many people talking--some about school, but for the most part just chatting. Also, I hear people answering and talking on their cell phones (one just beeped next to me as someone got a text). As long as you are not talking loudly--they do not seem to care.

The library itself is barely two floors of books. With only 20 study stations on the first floor and 20 four person tables with another 20 study stations on the second floor--it get crowded pretty fast. This is not the first time I have sat on the floor as I study--with over 5,000 students here, it is pretty common to see. The university does not have a huge library (or any other study space) as students do not live on campus and all commute everyday.

And when you leave, you have to have a guard check your bag to make sure you are not stealing any books. Overdue books cost you a fine too. Oh and the computers... well they are Macs that have a few years on them and do not always work. Sometimes you will get on them and they will all stop working at once for some unknown reason. It can be frustrating at times. And the campus has wireless but it does not always work either--sometimes it goes in and out too.

It's not a terrible library, it has plenty of books that my friends and I have no trouble finding (even the Harry Potter books in English) it's just such a different atmosphere than I am used to studying in. I really do not have a quite place to study. My home is quite for the most part--but I live in a big city, so quite means you can still hear the cars going by, the neighbors talking next door, car alarms going off, and many types of sirens throughout the night.

Thankfully--I brought ear plugs to Ecuador! They are my savior as I cannot do homework with noise. And they are so stylish.

El Jardin Botánico

I went to the Botanical Gardens here in Quito this weekend. Yeah yeah yeah, I know what you are thinking--whatever--a bunch of flowers. Wrong--there is so little you know! Ecuador is a MEGADIVERSE country when it comes to the botany and animals here. There are the Galapagos Islands, the Coast, the Mountains, and the Amazon all in a country the size of the state of Colorado. This creates great diversity in the plants and animals found here.

Ecuador is the most diverse country in the world per square mile (or kilometer) in relation to species and plants. So the botanical gardens hosted a wide variety of plants that I had never seen before. Although that is the case, I am in Ecuador and it is not kept up as well as the Botanical Gardens in Washington D.C. for example.

Here are a few pictures from the garden.--p.s.--the flowers are HUGE here. Roses and flowers both bigger than both of your fists.

Video Blog Numero 2

Hola! Below is the my second video blog--enjoy!



Check out the Gilman Scholarship here:
http://www.iie.org/en/Programs/Gilman-Scholarship-Program

taxes and then some

Last week I received a note to go the post office and pick up a package. After finally finding the post office I get there and I have to pay to pick up my package. Why? Because of taxes on imported items. If an item is considered a 'luxury' and not needed to live--then it gets taxes pretty heavy when it is imported. President Correa's economic policy reflects on buying items in the country rather then sending your money out of the country.

Myself and many others in my program packed little when we packed up for our semester here because we figured (and we were told by many people) that South America is cheap. No problem--pack what you need, buy what you want when you arrive. However, because everything that is imported is taxes (up to 30% depending on the item) prices here are just as much or more than they would be in the states.

A few examples:

• a sweater here is easily $30-$50 while you can get cheaper ones of the same quality for $20-30$ in the states
• Imported shampoo and conditioner is $15 here and and $8-$12 in the states
• SHOES--oh my gosh-- a pair of shoes at a Payless here can run from $40-$90 easily where in the states Payless usually does not run over $30 (all shoes here are expensive though)
• Converse sneakers are $90 here and $50 in the states

It was a disappointment when I arrived to see the prices, however, it has also made me more aware. Now when I shop, I look for the yellow, blue, and red spiral thumbprint that says the product was made in Ecuador--therefore making it the cheaper. It's like buying the store brand vs. the name brand. It's also interesting to see which companies have factories in Ecuador--some that are United States-ian (lay's chips, coca-cola) and therefore the same price as the Ecuador brand.

It makes you more aware as a consumer and I think do I want to save $1.00 or just pay it? A dollar, not that much--but here, that's my bus fare for two days. I could ride the bus more and just eat the cheaper and generally same food. But then again--ONE DOLLAR or thrity-five cents? I am getting hung up on less than a dollar? It makes me feel like a cheap United States-ian as I attempt to rip off the already impoverished and cheap country. I should feel lucky that I can buy a bottle of soda for .35 or a a piece of fruit for .10.

But instead, all I see are the higher prices and ways to save money like any college student would. It's a hard choice that I face everyday--take the $1.00 taxi and get there quicker or walk fifteen to twenty minutes instead. I can easily spend all the money I would like here and not save as much and be fine for the most part. Or realize how I spend my money and save the quarters and dimes as much as I can.

Video Blog Numero 1

Here is the first of my video blog series: Semester on the Equator. Part of the blog is to inform others about the Gilman scholarship opportunity to help fund their experiences abroad. The Gilman Scholarship is a federally funded scholarship to help those that receive a Pell Grant. To learn more about the scholarship head over here:

www.iie.org/en/Programs/Gilman-Scholarship-Program

(You can also find the video on YouTube under 'Semester on the Equator').

Hope you enjoy the video--It's my first and I'm still learning all the tricks and whatnot so please be nice.

"Oh Hey, How was the Homework for You?"

I've been in class for three days now at Universidad de San Francisco de Quito (USFQ) and wow. It's kind of like high school--times 10. Everybody has a group of friends and they just hang out sitting on steps everywhere just talking all the time. I feel like such an outsider. After three days--I think I have made one Ecuadorian friend.

It's really hard to make friends here because it is a completely different system of meeting people--it has to just sort of happen.
--you cannot go up to people and introduce yourself
--you do not approach a group of people if you do not know them
--you wait for a moment when someone is by there self, in class and ask "oh hey, how was the homework for you?" and hope they keep the conversation going
--you introduce yourself at the end of the conversation and say "I'm Kelly by the way"
--but in the lunch line is not an appropriate of a time to casually talk to someone either as talking about food is not a way to create a friendship
--when people invite you out--YOU GO OUT and do whatever they are doing, otherwise it is an insult and you can kiss that blooming friendship goodbye
--you make one friend, they introduce you to their other friends, who introduce you to their other friends and so on
--small talk does not really exist outside of the first few sentences you exchange. If you have nothing in common then talking will be strained (or maybe it's just me as my Spanish is still struggling)
--when you are introduced to new people you kiss all of them on their right cheek, and also when you leave--also a cultural insult if you do not (and they may snub you from now on)
--when you say you are from the United States more than half the time (if they go to the University) they will start speaking to you in English and then it's awkward to try and switch the conversation back to Spanish.

I did not just make these rules up, other Ecuadorian's have told me. It is a different system of making friends for me and I wonder how to do it without good Spanish.

Non-existent Ecuadorian friends from USFQ aside, I found the first Harry Potter book in Spanish at my university's library! (haha after rereading that last sentence I now know why I have no new friends here...)

It's like searching for the Holy Grail

So I am on a mission--to learn Spanish! So I decided to read a book I've read before. What better than Harry Potter--I've read it almost 10 times in the past 10 years. So I go to buy the book. NOTHING. I went to EIGHT bookstores and they would have the books in English, or have a couple from the series in Spanish, but not the first one. I am shocked. It's basically the most popular children's series of all time--and Spanish is a pretty common language around the world. I think someone is sneaking ahead to all the stores and buying it before I get there.

On another note--class starts tomorrow! I get to sit through hours of lecturing each day in Spanish! I hope it goes well...

Canoa y Rio Muchacho

This past week I have been MIA because I was traveling! With my BCA group, we took a seven hour night bus to the beach--only our bus broke down and it took more like 11 hours to get there.

We went in Canoa--a small little (wannabe) surfing town where the locals walk around barefoot.


Unfortunately, the weather was not great, we had about an hour of sun, yet a few people still managed to get burned.




They sell coconut juice in real coconuts on the beach!


After an afternoon in Canoa we went to Rio Muchacho--an organic farm twenty minutes from the beach. The farm is vegetarian and has NO trash, and composts everything (which means we cannot use even our shampoo and conditioner because they are not environmentally friendly--and it would wash into the river)!

Here's one of the founders of the farm Daniel explaining composting at the environmental primary school in the valley.


They have over 150 crops that they use to cook with--here's some of them.


Dining area--hammocks!


The bowls that the food is served in are from local clay and the spoon and cup are made from coconuts. All the breakfasts are the same, and the other two meals rotate between a few options. Below is breakfast.


This is the front porch to my cabin.


A baby goat that was born the day before!


Me cooking coffee! First we took the seeds from the fruit, roasted them, ground them, and then made coffee!


On the day we went down the valley to see a Howler Monkey forest, we had to make our lunch. So we all picked banana leafs and looked like ants carrying them back to the kitchen as they were bigger than us.


After our hike/horse back ride, our unwrapped food--I don't know what was in there except for rice, a hard boiled egg, and onions--but it was so delicious!


Two thousand year old tree--Risa trying to climb it.


Mama Jovita's house! She lives on the land where the howler monkey forest and refuses sell it to turn a profit with crops. She is eighty something years old and still weaves. On another note I have no pictures of the monkeys. We climbed straight up a mountains (no joke) slipping and sliding in our boots in the mud. Then we spent much of the time looking at the hard to see monkeys while trying to avoid them as they tried to pee and poop on us. haha.


On the way back to the farm, those that hiked got to ride back. However, we crossed 22 streams and the truck got stuck a couple of times.


Me sitting on my mule waiting for the truck to be unstuck.


After Rio Muchacho, we had the option of staying at the beach. I decided to with some friends but it was sprinkling rain and was not beachy at all. We stayed at the Coco Loco Hostel and shared a room with some other travelers. The night scene was great, but we left the next morning because they weather was not going to be good that day either. We took the 630 bus back--which did not show up until 730--typical Ecuador, and seven hours later--back home!
(Thanks to Meghan, Kristen, and Yui for the pictures!)