Thursday, September 29, 2011

Vive La Vida Loca!

          I have been here in Ecuador for over a month now so I figured it was about time I made another post. Bear with me through this as I am bursting with news and information that may take more then a few short paragraphs to explain.

          The first couple weeks here were more like a surreal blur. I spent my days going to museums and meeting countless family friends. Because both of my host parents work, I usually rode the bus places with the Rocio, the women who helps out around the house. This way I saw the real Quito early on and not just the commercial stores and tourists friendly streetways.

a view of Quito, from on top of a mountain

          Living in the capital city is a teenagers dream come true. After feeling like a caged bird in the small town of Northfield for 18 years, life here in Quito is exhilarating and adventurous. In this city there is always something new going on and it is certainly a place for the young and restless. The night life is bright, busy, and loud as it gives off its own electric feel. However, with the big city perks there are also some downsides. The biggest one of all would be how dangerous it can be. Its already dangerous for locals to walk around by themselves or after dark. But it just so happens that my bright hair, green eyes, and lack of spanish make me target numero uno for theives, lonely men, and taxi drivers looking for pay day. Here there are two vital rules you must follow if you want to keep your personal space and belongings. The first is that you never ever go out by yourself (even with others its dangerous) past 6:30 unless your going down a very crowded street. Rule of thumb, if the street your about to go down looks like it belongs in a slasher sequel and your internal creep-o-meter is going off, its best to just walk the other direction and fast. Rule #2, never help/trust anybody you dont know on the street. You may think that you are being a good sameritan by helping a man who looks like he's just been beaten, but two minutes later he'll probably be walking away with your purse and the contents of your back pocket. It's a hard truth to except, but here people will literally do anything they can to get what they need to survive. Its weird to go from usually forgetting to lock the back door to always being on gaurd for my safety even in my home (ours was very close to being broken into). Something that I have yet to get used to here is the poverty. Here you can have a super nice building and then sitting right next to it will be a rotting shack used as a home. In a way the poor and the rich intermingle. Because I live in heart of quito I don't see as much of this, but as soon as you go towards the southern edge of town things start to look worse and worse; and the nice houses placed between the shabby ones dissappear. There is a legend in Quito that the northern part of town is richer because the statue of mary that sits on a large hill is facing and smiling down at them. But the southern part is poorer because the same statue has her back turned on them. No matter how many homeless children or begging mothers I pass on the street the heartbreak is no less. My host mother says that I will get used to it with time but this may be one of those things I never get over. Another, but very random, thing that I have noticed is that here in the city you can never see the stars. I didn't realize how much I took looking up at a beautiful night sky full of stars for granted untill now.

the statue of the virgin mary that sits on a hill a "watches over us"

           The next big thing in my life right now is school. I attend a small private school close to my home called "Colegio Bacqueral". Here I take normal classes like math and history; all while wearing our super classy uniforms of course. But while the other kids take english I go into the elementary school and help out with the first and second graders. I promise I am not being self obsessed when I say that they kids here absalutely adore me. from the second I walk into the door I am immediatly swarmed with teeny arms wrapping themselves around my legs and little voices yelling "raquel raquel, hug me first!!". Besides that my school day is relatively long and boring. The teachers usually ignore the exchange students because they know we dont really understand them so I am not included in the assignments. Though I do try to participate in class when I can. For the most part I can get the idea of what the teacher and other people are saying when they talk in spanish but I still get lost all the time. The main problem is that people here talk at super sonic speeds. America's best rappers can't touch the speed they talk at here. So even when I do know what the words mean, I have a hard time telling what they are actually saying because most of their words just jumble together.
          I was told before coming here that  people would always want to speak english so that they could practice but for me it has been the complete opposite. None of the kids want to speak english with me and even though it will help me in the long run, it doesn't make for a long conversation. If it weren't for the other exchange students in my school I might have gone crazy the first few weeks from not talking. Which brings me to my final subject of this post, the other exchange students. I'm not sure how to even start with these guys. They are the craziest and most outgoing group of over energetic teenagers I have ever met. Put us all in the same room and prepare for the consequences. About a week and a half ago I went to my first camp in Mompiche, a resort right along the ocean and the most beautifull place I have ever been. Here all of the exchange students in Quito and two of the surrounding valleys swam in the ocean waves, danced, laughed, and stayed up to our hearts content. From the moment we were all squished onto the bus at six thirty in the morning we became fast friends. Being with people who knew exactly what you were going through had a way of lifting everyones spirits. I know that I am going to make some lifetime friends and cannot wait untill our next trip together.
          Though time here travels at its own quickened pace its hard to imagine myself here for another nine months. But I know that these nine months will be filled with plenty more amazing experiences that I can share with you all! Adios untill then!
                                    -Rachel
The exchange students, doing our thing on stage

the view from my hotel room in Mompiche, where we had our first camp