so sad. no time. here are the basics:
1. i helped give a spinal tap to a boy with meningitis... WITHOUT passing out this time. (this is improvement over last summer.)
2. we had cow stomach for lunch yesterday. (i opted for a can of tuna after trying a bite... there is just no getting around the fact that you are eating cow stomach with that kind of texture.)
3. my familia latina wants to come to the states for graduation... freaking awesome.
4. i don't want to pack.
5. that is all.
mucho amor,
sarah
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Monday, August 4, 2008
call me 'doctora', por favor...
'why?' you might be asking yourselves? well, because i learned how to suture over the weekend. i pulled an evening shift on saturday and i learned how to sew with one of the younger doctors. we sewed up a guy's head, which was cut pretty deep. deep enough to warrant two layers of stiches. and although it was not the prettiest suturing job ever created, no importa, porque his hair will cover it up when it grows back. no big deal. THEN... there was a guy who cut his finger really deep and we had just finished giving him anesthsia shots when there was another emergency and dr. cristian had to tend to that... so he looks at me and goes, 'well. you know how to suture. give stiches here and here. come get me when you're done.' so. right. i sew the guy up... while sweating profusely and praying that i can capable... it was successful. cleaned him up. went and wrote the prescription... explained the medications (yes, in spanish)... and told the guy to come back in 8 days to get the stiches removed. and LISTO! :)
so i pretty much have my professional degree now. no need for medical school.
and time is winding down here... which is sad and happy at the same time. cristina and her niece want to visit the US in may for graduation... if they can get visas (it's ridiculously dificil)... which would be PHENOMENAL. i can't even imagine. and i have a list that is basically a mile long (not really, only 3 or 4 items) of people who want/need things that you can only get in the states (a pair of shoes for nurses... herbal essences conditioner... and some tape covering thing for your face... etc etc) so i get the privilege of getting all of that when i get home. but with that list of things, i also have a list a mile long (for real) of people who want me to come back and stay in their homes... which is sweet. they all ask me when i am coming back and if i will stay in THEIR house. that is why i love this place. the people are genuinely good people (buena gente) and just kind. i can't describe it. it's a different feeling down here once you are a part of the family. so yeah... i have una familia latina y muchos amigos... y un hogar, mas o menos. es la buena vida. en serio! :)
anyways. off to do... i don't know what... everyday is a surprise. but i can't wait to come home... have a conversation in english... not eat rice... the usual.
abrazos,
sarah
so i pretty much have my professional degree now. no need for medical school.
and time is winding down here... which is sad and happy at the same time. cristina and her niece want to visit the US in may for graduation... if they can get visas (it's ridiculously dificil)... which would be PHENOMENAL. i can't even imagine. and i have a list that is basically a mile long (not really, only 3 or 4 items) of people who want/need things that you can only get in the states (a pair of shoes for nurses... herbal essences conditioner... and some tape covering thing for your face... etc etc) so i get the privilege of getting all of that when i get home. but with that list of things, i also have a list a mile long (for real) of people who want me to come back and stay in their homes... which is sweet. they all ask me when i am coming back and if i will stay in THEIR house. that is why i love this place. the people are genuinely good people (buena gente) and just kind. i can't describe it. it's a different feeling down here once you are a part of the family. so yeah... i have una familia latina y muchos amigos... y un hogar, mas o menos. es la buena vida. en serio! :)
anyways. off to do... i don't know what... everyday is a surprise. but i can't wait to come home... have a conversation in english... not eat rice... the usual.
abrazos,
sarah
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
vamos a la playa...
¡hola! como le va?
i am back in action after a long weekend at the beach with cristina, isidro and paoli (her niece who is an english teacher). it was nice and relaxing... hotter than hell... but a nice break from the chilly weather in the andes. the beach itself was nice, but nothing to write home about... i am not entirely sure why they rave about how beautiful their beaches are. it only reminded me of panama city, florida and the spring break crowd. but who am i?
anyways. i spent the majority of my time lying around on the beach and at the pool, enjoying some running at sea level (THANK goodness), and reading. i have finished 8 books (i think) so far and am currently speeding through my 9th... and last... i am not quite sure what i am going to do about the plane ride back. but i will cross that bridge when i get to it next week. paoli and i also went out on friday and saturday nights to these shack things on the beach where they blast salsa music and serve drinks and juices until about 5 in the morning... i only lasted until my usual 2 AM... mostly because paoli ended up sleeping until like noon and i didn't want to waste the days away... and also because it is SO MUCH harder to go out when you are 1) a gringa and 2) when you are constantly straining to hear what people say so you can begin to attempt to understand them... to be completely honest, it's draining. and of course there are always numerous lessons on how to teach the little white girl to salsa... which is generally very embarassing and awkward. but i am improving. (the whole moving your legs, arms and hips in different directions at the same time is what gets me...) anyways. a lazy beach weekend... reminiscent of spring break florida style.
OH WAIT. here's the crazy part of the trip... lengthwise, in the united states, the drive to the beach should take MAYBE 3 hours. MAYBE. but here, it is a different story. the roads are so potholed that cristina was forced to weave around them... all. of. the. time. (which also made it impossible to sleep... even when we left at 5 AM.) like seriouly. ALL of the time. it is the biggest pain in the butt ever created and makes the trip take roughly 6 hours. in the heat of the equator... sans air conditioning. yes, the car HAS ac. it is american. but do we USE the ac? no. of course not. this is ecuador and ecuador does not do anything by the books. typical. so yeah. of us in a little car... sweating like crazy for 5 hours... oh right. and i had found out that i had parasites the day before... so that was fun too. my 9 day stint of miserable time in the bathroom was FINALLY diasgnosed as parasites, even when the tests were negative. so basically i got 3 different drugs, killed my parasitic amigos, and i'm fine now. awesome. :)
this week in the hospital is shaping up to be pretty interesting. i started an IV yesterday with the help of a nurse... the guy's veins were pretty bad and it took 3 times... but... i mean... it was my first time. lo siento? and i left the hospital early today because i am going back later tonight to learn how to suture. there is this crazy nurse that i love (and only understand roughly 50% of what she says) and she is set on teaching me things. so that is good. she told me to come back after 7 tonight, because i can learn how to suture a head shut. she said it doesn't matter how pretty the head sutures are because people are not going to see them. ¨good practice¨ is what she called it. haha. awesome. qué más? umm...
last night i had an interesting debate with isidro which kind of put me in a foul mood. we were talking about school and university and medical school and life and blahblahblah and basically it got to the point that he was like, ´man, i wish i had your life because i love to study.´ and i was like... umm... no. no, my friend, you do NOT want the life of a pre medical student at vanderbilt. i know i chose it and i am sticking with it, but trust me. it is hell. and it went on like that for awhile and i got frustrated because 1) it was like him telling me about how easy the studying life is and 2) i want so desperately to be able to pick the perfect words to explain my thoughts... but it is impossible. sure, i can communicate my point effectively... but. i want others to really feel me. to understand me. in time, i suppose.
after that conversation, crsitina was like... what's up... what's going on... i said nothing... blahblahblah... but we ended up talking about the impossibility of saying 'i want your life.' i mean, sure, you CAN say it. but it is not possible to really know that. hypothetically, you don't know my life. you cannot possibly understand what happens day to day and what i go through. and it is the same vice versa... how can i say, 'oh i want YOUR life.' it just does not make sense. and this paragraph is meaningless because i cannot explain myself.
but that is where i am.
and i am off to make tacos for lunch. yesssssss! NO RICE FOR ME! :) only 9 more days in ecuador. wouw. crazy how that works.
abrazos,
sarah
i am back in action after a long weekend at the beach with cristina, isidro and paoli (her niece who is an english teacher). it was nice and relaxing... hotter than hell... but a nice break from the chilly weather in the andes. the beach itself was nice, but nothing to write home about... i am not entirely sure why they rave about how beautiful their beaches are. it only reminded me of panama city, florida and the spring break crowd. but who am i?
anyways. i spent the majority of my time lying around on the beach and at the pool, enjoying some running at sea level (THANK goodness), and reading. i have finished 8 books (i think) so far and am currently speeding through my 9th... and last... i am not quite sure what i am going to do about the plane ride back. but i will cross that bridge when i get to it next week. paoli and i also went out on friday and saturday nights to these shack things on the beach where they blast salsa music and serve drinks and juices until about 5 in the morning... i only lasted until my usual 2 AM... mostly because paoli ended up sleeping until like noon and i didn't want to waste the days away... and also because it is SO MUCH harder to go out when you are 1) a gringa and 2) when you are constantly straining to hear what people say so you can begin to attempt to understand them... to be completely honest, it's draining. and of course there are always numerous lessons on how to teach the little white girl to salsa... which is generally very embarassing and awkward. but i am improving. (the whole moving your legs, arms and hips in different directions at the same time is what gets me...) anyways. a lazy beach weekend... reminiscent of spring break florida style.
OH WAIT. here's the crazy part of the trip... lengthwise, in the united states, the drive to the beach should take MAYBE 3 hours. MAYBE. but here, it is a different story. the roads are so potholed that cristina was forced to weave around them... all. of. the. time. (which also made it impossible to sleep... even when we left at 5 AM.) like seriouly. ALL of the time. it is the biggest pain in the butt ever created and makes the trip take roughly 6 hours. in the heat of the equator... sans air conditioning. yes, the car HAS ac. it is american. but do we USE the ac? no. of course not. this is ecuador and ecuador does not do anything by the books. typical. so yeah. of us in a little car... sweating like crazy for 5 hours... oh right. and i had found out that i had parasites the day before... so that was fun too. my 9 day stint of miserable time in the bathroom was FINALLY diasgnosed as parasites, even when the tests were negative. so basically i got 3 different drugs, killed my parasitic amigos, and i'm fine now. awesome. :)
this week in the hospital is shaping up to be pretty interesting. i started an IV yesterday with the help of a nurse... the guy's veins were pretty bad and it took 3 times... but... i mean... it was my first time. lo siento? and i left the hospital early today because i am going back later tonight to learn how to suture. there is this crazy nurse that i love (and only understand roughly 50% of what she says) and she is set on teaching me things. so that is good. she told me to come back after 7 tonight, because i can learn how to suture a head shut. she said it doesn't matter how pretty the head sutures are because people are not going to see them. ¨good practice¨ is what she called it. haha. awesome. qué más? umm...
last night i had an interesting debate with isidro which kind of put me in a foul mood. we were talking about school and university and medical school and life and blahblahblah and basically it got to the point that he was like, ´man, i wish i had your life because i love to study.´ and i was like... umm... no. no, my friend, you do NOT want the life of a pre medical student at vanderbilt. i know i chose it and i am sticking with it, but trust me. it is hell. and it went on like that for awhile and i got frustrated because 1) it was like him telling me about how easy the studying life is and 2) i want so desperately to be able to pick the perfect words to explain my thoughts... but it is impossible. sure, i can communicate my point effectively... but. i want others to really feel me. to understand me. in time, i suppose.
after that conversation, crsitina was like... what's up... what's going on... i said nothing... blahblahblah... but we ended up talking about the impossibility of saying 'i want your life.' i mean, sure, you CAN say it. but it is not possible to really know that. hypothetically, you don't know my life. you cannot possibly understand what happens day to day and what i go through. and it is the same vice versa... how can i say, 'oh i want YOUR life.' it just does not make sense. and this paragraph is meaningless because i cannot explain myself.
but that is where i am.
and i am off to make tacos for lunch. yesssssss! NO RICE FOR ME! :) only 9 more days in ecuador. wouw. crazy how that works.
abrazos,
sarah
Thursday, July 24, 2008
¡viva los cumpleñaros!
i have absolutely no idea if that is how you spell what i am trying to spell in spanish. but i am going to go with it. bottom line: my birthday yesterday was nothing short of the usual adventure. i went to the hospital... all was normal... and i came back home for lunch and my room was basically revamped. my blue bedspread was switched with this fancy white frilly thing... complete with pillows... and i had a big bunch of flowers and a card from cristina and isidiro. (apparently the white bedspread thing is some sort of birthday thing... so i went with it.) so that was fun. and we washed the car, because we are getting set to roadtrip out to the coast this weekend for some beach time and r&r. that turned into a water fight carnaval-style... also exciting. what else? oh right... got my hair cut. in ecuador. for $2. ha. kind of shorter than i anticipated... but... adventure, no? it actually looks fine... nothing drastic. just shorter than i bargained for. hmm... oh yes... we followed up hair cuts with leg waxing... why, you might be asking yourself? i don't know. but that's what people do here... so. i am just fitting in. :) it may or may not have been one of the most painful experiences of my life to date. but. other than that... a success.
the best part of the day, however, was when we went to blanca's casa (one of cristina's sisters) for a birthday party because her oldest brother has the same birthday as me. bottom line: abuelita and all EIGHT of her children (con familias) were there for dinner and dancing. and of course, dancing always means 'let's try to teach the gringa how to salsa'. awesome. awesome and awkward. but fun. and loud. and so distinctly latino. but i love their family and they all like to tell me how they are my aunts and uncles and cousins and how i can come back and be in the family whenever i want to. so funny.
and that's the birthday festivites in a nutshell. hope all is well... only 2 weeks and 1 day left here in ecuador! loco...
the best part of the day, however, was when we went to blanca's casa (one of cristina's sisters) for a birthday party because her oldest brother has the same birthday as me. bottom line: abuelita and all EIGHT of her children (con familias) were there for dinner and dancing. and of course, dancing always means 'let's try to teach the gringa how to salsa'. awesome. awesome and awkward. but fun. and loud. and so distinctly latino. but i love their family and they all like to tell me how they are my aunts and uncles and cousins and how i can come back and be in the family whenever i want to. so funny.
and that's the birthday festivites in a nutshell. hope all is well... only 2 weeks and 1 day left here in ecuador! loco...
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
no tengo tiempo!
sorry i am a bad blogger... life in ecuador is fast paced... but slow at the same time, which leaves me wondering exactly what i did with all of my time and where it went. anyways... it is good and bad to be so busy because looking back on my journal, i wrote every single day when i was in quito... and now... i find myself 5 days behind and a little OCD about the whole matter. needless to say, the blog has taken a backseat in mi vida ecuatoriana. the past week has been eventful and uneventful at the same time... i have been battling the most obnoxious case of traveler's sickness the entire time... and after two stool samples, i can still proudly announce that i do not have parasites. but. that leaves me wondering what the heck is going on. i think i have spent more time in the bathroom than in the hospital... fun. however, i think today is better... and i am taking it one hydrated day at a time. (not with the tap water.)
some highlights of the past week included my adventure to the discoteca (spelling?) with cristina's nieces, pauli and mariela... which was fun. of course, i was the sola gringa there... but i learned some salsa and didn't get much sleep. the next morning (sunday), pauli and i went with fannita and the family to this river in lita... which is on the border with esmeraldas. we parked the car and played in the river for about 5 hours... it seems to be a popular spot with the locals, and for good reason. it was so beautiful and the water was so clear... and it was just good to pick a big rock and relax in the beautiful weather. we got back and hung out with pauli's family (her mother is cristina's sister) which was fun as well. her mom wants to learn english... which is always my favorite. :)
hospital highlights... umm... i am writing prescriptions and test orders and instructions... and doing vitals and such... i can't remember all of the patients, but there was an 8 year old girl today who came in basically unconscious due to ingesting something poisonous... but they don't know what yet... that was the exciting case today. yesterday, there was a boy with measles or mumps (could not translate which one)... which is rare even for ecuador due to the vaccination. so yeah. the exciting and sometimes boring life of the emergecia department.
umm what else? spanish is still improving and i am able to better explain myself cada dia, which is nice. i went to a tienda for some bread yesterday and the woman ran back into her house and brought me this bottle of vitamins that had instructions in english and she needed me to translate... so that was fun. (plus she wanted calcium, but there wasn't enough in the multi vitamin... so i told her to go get pills with calcium and vitamin d... because they are dumb here and sell calcium with vitamin c... which just counteracts the action of calcium... strange.) and today dr. muñoz thrust this big scientific article in my face about experiments with treating acute diarrhea in children... in english... and said, 'translate this please.' umm... ok... i have been speaking spanish for 7 weeks now... hmm... but it worked. so that was nice too.
i guess these little things like translating for the random woman and dr. muñoz, teaching the family english, and having real conversations (beyond 'hi. how are you?') with cristina is what this is all about. i didn't expect to be a miracle worker or anything here, but i also didn't realize the power of small interactions. and i think i like the small things better. (plus, cristina can only say like 5 things in english, one of them being 'shut up donkey'... which makes the whole trip worth it... seriously... maybe the funniest thing ever... and she calls me sarita maria joesphina... also well worth the trip. don't be surprised if i come home with 10 other people in tow because i don't want to leave!)
gotta run... no money for the cafe! ah! ciao!
some highlights of the past week included my adventure to the discoteca (spelling?) with cristina's nieces, pauli and mariela... which was fun. of course, i was the sola gringa there... but i learned some salsa and didn't get much sleep. the next morning (sunday), pauli and i went with fannita and the family to this river in lita... which is on the border with esmeraldas. we parked the car and played in the river for about 5 hours... it seems to be a popular spot with the locals, and for good reason. it was so beautiful and the water was so clear... and it was just good to pick a big rock and relax in the beautiful weather. we got back and hung out with pauli's family (her mother is cristina's sister) which was fun as well. her mom wants to learn english... which is always my favorite. :)
hospital highlights... umm... i am writing prescriptions and test orders and instructions... and doing vitals and such... i can't remember all of the patients, but there was an 8 year old girl today who came in basically unconscious due to ingesting something poisonous... but they don't know what yet... that was the exciting case today. yesterday, there was a boy with measles or mumps (could not translate which one)... which is rare even for ecuador due to the vaccination. so yeah. the exciting and sometimes boring life of the emergecia department.
umm what else? spanish is still improving and i am able to better explain myself cada dia, which is nice. i went to a tienda for some bread yesterday and the woman ran back into her house and brought me this bottle of vitamins that had instructions in english and she needed me to translate... so that was fun. (plus she wanted calcium, but there wasn't enough in the multi vitamin... so i told her to go get pills with calcium and vitamin d... because they are dumb here and sell calcium with vitamin c... which just counteracts the action of calcium... strange.) and today dr. muñoz thrust this big scientific article in my face about experiments with treating acute diarrhea in children... in english... and said, 'translate this please.' umm... ok... i have been speaking spanish for 7 weeks now... hmm... but it worked. so that was nice too.
i guess these little things like translating for the random woman and dr. muñoz, teaching the family english, and having real conversations (beyond 'hi. how are you?') with cristina is what this is all about. i didn't expect to be a miracle worker or anything here, but i also didn't realize the power of small interactions. and i think i like the small things better. (plus, cristina can only say like 5 things in english, one of them being 'shut up donkey'... which makes the whole trip worth it... seriously... maybe the funniest thing ever... and she calls me sarita maria joesphina... also well worth the trip. don't be surprised if i come home with 10 other people in tow because i don't want to leave!)
gotta run... no money for the cafe! ah! ciao!
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
¡Qué rico!
this is the other phrase i hear roughly 5 hundred times daily. it means pretty much anything you want it to be. if you don't know what to say about something, just say 'qué rico!' and someone will agree with you. (i'm so fluent.) ok. so. i have my traveling issues back in order... after a cab ride home (it's faster) where the driver asked if i wanted him to show me around ibarra because i have a guapa face... and then proceeded to give me his cell phone number. he was probably 28 and looked 40. welcome to my life. anyways. updates galore...
1. last thursday/friday-ish: we (the three of us... me, novio y cristina) went on a 2.5 hour walk that was about 6 miles, but had some incredible views. ibarra and san antonio are literally surrounded by moutains, hills and volcanoes on all sides, so you really can't lose around here. on friday i went with cristina to the school where she works. she teaches technical drawing (think pre-architecture) in collegio, which is the same as our high school. she had to give 6 boys an exam to see if they knew enough to be granted acceptance into the school... apparently her school is a very good private school in ibarra. it was much nicer than i expected. the classrooms all open to outside, so it's kind of this big outdoor mall style high school with the mountains in the distance. qué chevere, no? (chevere is like cool/awesome/etc.) after that, we cleaned up the house and ran errands and other non-interesting things for the big fiesta that was happening on saturday. later that night, her son, andrés, and his girlfriend plus another friend and girlfriend showed up at the house (they live in quito) so they could spend the night before the birthday party. i have never in my life heard people talk faster than these people... i mean, i could not separate a single word from the whole mess of a paragraph. so basically i felt like the stupid gringa amidst the group of people that are my age and i should understand. it wasn't so much fun. but that's ok. it takes some struggle to learn i suppose.
2. saturday: the big fiesta day. all morning long we cleaned and prepared for this fiesta of around 40 people... as we prepared, i was getting increasingly nervous, because it is so awkward to not understand everything... especially when someone asks you a question and you answer it incorrectly because you changed around one word. so yeah. i ditched the house in the early afternoon and went to call a friend, because i hadn't talked to anyone in forever and seeing this big group of friends sitting around and laughing made me miss my friends and the comfort of being understood more than anything. so yeah. talked to her for awhile and ran into molly, the other town gringa, when she was yelling my name from across the town square. we are always the spectacle. i talked her into coming to save me from public humiliation and we walked back to mi casa and jumped in. of course, there was pilsener (the ONLY beer in this country) and liquor abound (welcome to the latin culture)... which made conversation come a little easier and made me less embarassed... bonus. but all in all, it was fun... and we got asked the same questions over and over.. so i could answer quickly and seem like i know what i wsa talking about. :) (i only made an ass of myself when i fell down the stairs due to a lack of traction in my sandals and slick marble stairs... in front of a circle of chairs containing roughly 30 25-year olds. awesome. no, it was not the pilsener.) the fiesta lasted until 2 am... which was quite enough for me... my head was full from so much spanish and i was ready for bed. but it was a success and i know cristina appreciates having someone help pick up trash... (that is one thing i can't stand about this culture... machismo... she does everything around here... and i feel bad.)
3. i got up early sunday morning and joined fannita and the rest of the family to head to the thermal springs somewhere that i can't pronounce, nor spell. cristy stayed at home because her sons were still in town... so it was just me and the fam, all 1 million of them. she has 7 other siblings... 5 of them were there. plus their families and the grandma. i rode in the car with abuelita, which was quite the experience. she was very nice... and at one time said she was very chuchaky (hung over) and i was like, WHAT?!?!... apparently chuchaky can mean super tired too. strange. we also paused to check out this resort-ish place that they might rent for a family gathering sometime later in the summer... in the middle of the tour, i turn around and abuelita is hugging this enormous eucalyptis tree, which her arms cannot completely embrace... while saying 'energia'... i wish i had my camera on me. priceless. absolutely priceless. anyways. we made it to the thermal springs and hung out and played in the water all day. post thermal springs, we went back to one of the brother's houses in ibarra and made these doughy things and played cards and chatted... and that is about it. went back to san antonio after that and had a really great conversation with cris about family and things like that... so yeah. good day.
4. monday: yesterday the hospital was pretty lame. nothing too exciting going on... i can't remember it all (i have it written down) but there was a 24 year old woman with tuberculosis who was getting treatment... i suppose TB is nothing too out of the ordinary, but it kind of hit home more than usual because i just read 'moutains beyond mountains'. i mean, TB is virtually eradicated in the united states and i think it is sad that we can't get proper treatment elsewhere. i don't know. just more frustrations. i talked to my secretaria for ahile about nothing in particular, but her daughter is in the hospital for gastritis or something like that... so we went up to visit her... then i headed home for almuerzo and we ran errands all afternoon. mainly looking for light fixtures. (sometimes it scares me because cristina is doing a lot of house remodeling and looking for light fixtures and things... and she wears striped shirts and the same shoes as my mom... it's kind of like my mom in ecuadorian form. crazy.) we finished out the day by teaching me this ecuadorian card game which is completely illogical... but then again, so is ecuador... if the shoe fits? we played until midnight with the 3 of us and her nephew (fannita's son). pretty wild and crazy night of card playing. haha. i also learned that cristina knows a lot more english than she has lead on, as she understood an entire slighly awkward conversation that marcelo and i had... and the entire time she acted like she didn't know what was going on. now she thinks it is hysterical that i can rant in english and she can understand me... i half think it is funny and half want to bash my face against a wall because i can think of half a million times when i just wanted to explain what i meant in english and thought any attempt was futile. grr...
5. today: woke up at 6:30 and went for a run with marcelo and the novio... made it back to the house and got ready for the hospital... didn't feel good, but went anyways and got hit with the wave of traveler's fun (my new term for it)... so yeah. came back and rested and had lunch and rested. and here i am. we are going to go play basketball later this afternoon... which will be fun. and those are the plans for the day.
nothing too overly exciting in the life of sarah, but i am enjoying the day to day activities and talking with people... and running into people all over town who know me. in the last week, i have run into a patient that remembered me from the hospital in the street and in the bus, a woman who brought a girl into the hospital from the orphanage that i visited, a man who works for a funeral home that knows me from the hospital, and the man who works the library. popular gringa, apparently. :) i don't know. i just like the daily musings and conversations... and i don't feel the urge to flee on the weekends to try to see as much of ecuador as possible. i am enjoying living the daily life and getting to know my family here.
i guess the one thing i would change would be: LESS carbohydrates, POR FAVOR... all they eat here is carbs. that's it. por ejemplo, today i have eaten: bread, papaya, corn, potatoes, chicken, and this drink made from the naranjilla fruit... does ANYONE SEE A TREND?!?!?!? :) but i am making dinner this week and i intend to throw some spice in there. (that is another thing... everything is so bland!) however i think that if the food is all i have to complain about, life is pretty good. (i guess i could do without the traveler's fun... but... i'm working on it...)
i hope all is well in the states and africa and everywhere else...
abrazos, sarah
1. last thursday/friday-ish: we (the three of us... me, novio y cristina) went on a 2.5 hour walk that was about 6 miles, but had some incredible views. ibarra and san antonio are literally surrounded by moutains, hills and volcanoes on all sides, so you really can't lose around here. on friday i went with cristina to the school where she works. she teaches technical drawing (think pre-architecture) in collegio, which is the same as our high school. she had to give 6 boys an exam to see if they knew enough to be granted acceptance into the school... apparently her school is a very good private school in ibarra. it was much nicer than i expected. the classrooms all open to outside, so it's kind of this big outdoor mall style high school with the mountains in the distance. qué chevere, no? (chevere is like cool/awesome/etc.) after that, we cleaned up the house and ran errands and other non-interesting things for the big fiesta that was happening on saturday. later that night, her son, andrés, and his girlfriend plus another friend and girlfriend showed up at the house (they live in quito) so they could spend the night before the birthday party. i have never in my life heard people talk faster than these people... i mean, i could not separate a single word from the whole mess of a paragraph. so basically i felt like the stupid gringa amidst the group of people that are my age and i should understand. it wasn't so much fun. but that's ok. it takes some struggle to learn i suppose.
2. saturday: the big fiesta day. all morning long we cleaned and prepared for this fiesta of around 40 people... as we prepared, i was getting increasingly nervous, because it is so awkward to not understand everything... especially when someone asks you a question and you answer it incorrectly because you changed around one word. so yeah. i ditched the house in the early afternoon and went to call a friend, because i hadn't talked to anyone in forever and seeing this big group of friends sitting around and laughing made me miss my friends and the comfort of being understood more than anything. so yeah. talked to her for awhile and ran into molly, the other town gringa, when she was yelling my name from across the town square. we are always the spectacle. i talked her into coming to save me from public humiliation and we walked back to mi casa and jumped in. of course, there was pilsener (the ONLY beer in this country) and liquor abound (welcome to the latin culture)... which made conversation come a little easier and made me less embarassed... bonus. but all in all, it was fun... and we got asked the same questions over and over.. so i could answer quickly and seem like i know what i wsa talking about. :) (i only made an ass of myself when i fell down the stairs due to a lack of traction in my sandals and slick marble stairs... in front of a circle of chairs containing roughly 30 25-year olds. awesome. no, it was not the pilsener.) the fiesta lasted until 2 am... which was quite enough for me... my head was full from so much spanish and i was ready for bed. but it was a success and i know cristina appreciates having someone help pick up trash... (that is one thing i can't stand about this culture... machismo... she does everything around here... and i feel bad.)
3. i got up early sunday morning and joined fannita and the rest of the family to head to the thermal springs somewhere that i can't pronounce, nor spell. cristy stayed at home because her sons were still in town... so it was just me and the fam, all 1 million of them. she has 7 other siblings... 5 of them were there. plus their families and the grandma. i rode in the car with abuelita, which was quite the experience. she was very nice... and at one time said she was very chuchaky (hung over) and i was like, WHAT?!?!... apparently chuchaky can mean super tired too. strange. we also paused to check out this resort-ish place that they might rent for a family gathering sometime later in the summer... in the middle of the tour, i turn around and abuelita is hugging this enormous eucalyptis tree, which her arms cannot completely embrace... while saying 'energia'... i wish i had my camera on me. priceless. absolutely priceless. anyways. we made it to the thermal springs and hung out and played in the water all day. post thermal springs, we went back to one of the brother's houses in ibarra and made these doughy things and played cards and chatted... and that is about it. went back to san antonio after that and had a really great conversation with cris about family and things like that... so yeah. good day.
4. monday: yesterday the hospital was pretty lame. nothing too exciting going on... i can't remember it all (i have it written down) but there was a 24 year old woman with tuberculosis who was getting treatment... i suppose TB is nothing too out of the ordinary, but it kind of hit home more than usual because i just read 'moutains beyond mountains'. i mean, TB is virtually eradicated in the united states and i think it is sad that we can't get proper treatment elsewhere. i don't know. just more frustrations. i talked to my secretaria for ahile about nothing in particular, but her daughter is in the hospital for gastritis or something like that... so we went up to visit her... then i headed home for almuerzo and we ran errands all afternoon. mainly looking for light fixtures. (sometimes it scares me because cristina is doing a lot of house remodeling and looking for light fixtures and things... and she wears striped shirts and the same shoes as my mom... it's kind of like my mom in ecuadorian form. crazy.) we finished out the day by teaching me this ecuadorian card game which is completely illogical... but then again, so is ecuador... if the shoe fits? we played until midnight with the 3 of us and her nephew (fannita's son). pretty wild and crazy night of card playing. haha. i also learned that cristina knows a lot more english than she has lead on, as she understood an entire slighly awkward conversation that marcelo and i had... and the entire time she acted like she didn't know what was going on. now she thinks it is hysterical that i can rant in english and she can understand me... i half think it is funny and half want to bash my face against a wall because i can think of half a million times when i just wanted to explain what i meant in english and thought any attempt was futile. grr...
5. today: woke up at 6:30 and went for a run with marcelo and the novio... made it back to the house and got ready for the hospital... didn't feel good, but went anyways and got hit with the wave of traveler's fun (my new term for it)... so yeah. came back and rested and had lunch and rested. and here i am. we are going to go play basketball later this afternoon... which will be fun. and those are the plans for the day.
nothing too overly exciting in the life of sarah, but i am enjoying the day to day activities and talking with people... and running into people all over town who know me. in the last week, i have run into a patient that remembered me from the hospital in the street and in the bus, a woman who brought a girl into the hospital from the orphanage that i visited, a man who works for a funeral home that knows me from the hospital, and the man who works the library. popular gringa, apparently. :) i don't know. i just like the daily musings and conversations... and i don't feel the urge to flee on the weekends to try to see as much of ecuador as possible. i am enjoying living the daily life and getting to know my family here.
i guess the one thing i would change would be: LESS carbohydrates, POR FAVOR... all they eat here is carbs. that's it. por ejemplo, today i have eaten: bread, papaya, corn, potatoes, chicken, and this drink made from the naranjilla fruit... does ANYONE SEE A TREND?!?!?!? :) but i am making dinner this week and i intend to throw some spice in there. (that is another thing... everything is so bland!) however i think that if the food is all i have to complain about, life is pretty good. (i guess i could do without the traveler's fun... but... i'm working on it...)
i hope all is well in the states and africa and everywhere else...
abrazos, sarah
¡siga no más!
EVERYWHERE, and i do mean EVERYWHERE, you hear people yelling this... i have found that it means a variety of things, but i think my favorite is the translation 'keep following!' because, let's be honest, that has been my life for the past month and ten days. just. keep. following. if you don't know what you're doing, act like you do until you can form the correct sentence in order to ask someone. (a useful technique.) life here is crazy. not fraternity party crazy, or no sleep crazy, but eye-opening crazy. that nonstop internal dialogue crazy where your mind never rests because you are continually thinking about something. some days are hard, and everyday is frustrating (for one reason or another), but i really love it here. (in ibarra, quito... not so much...) i am learning a lot. a lot of spanish. but a lot about life too. a lot about life outside of los estados... and i might just like the culture and life outside of los estados better... but that has yet to be officially determined. i also have about a bajillion things to update on about life in ibarra and the fam here... but. i seem to be suffering from roughly the 4th round of traveler's... traveler's... umm... discomforts? with the food? you following me? so time seems to be limited... and now is one of those times. but i am alive and going... and i can't believe i only have 3 and half weeks left. and i promise to write about the weekend soon (including her son's 25th birthday extravaganza, the hot thermal pools with her other 7 siblings, their families, and the abuelita... who may or may not have hugged a tree while saying 'energy', and more.) later dudes. (the enter key is not working...) besos, sarah
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