Soccer insanity, Piano Lessons....

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Today was a big day for Guayaquil, SOCCER! Emelec vs. Barcelona (both Guayaquileños)Half the city wore blue (Emelec) jerseys, and the other half yellow (Barcelona).. There were parades, and huge crowds of people, and the road by the stadium (which is near our house) was filled past capacity with cars- hundreds at least. In a city of 3 million, a fair few fans come out to cheer! Speaking of cheering, the Emelec fans walked from one end of the city to the stadium, all chanting. It was crazy! We sat on top of the truck and watched at an intersection for awhile, it was this huge sea of blue that lasted for about 20 mins before it tapered off. I have pictures. Anyway, big deal! These people are VERY serious about futbol. VERY. Driving home, on every block there was a big crowd of blues and yellows cheering at a tiny tv. It was pretty awesome to see the entire city engulfed. Games not over yet tho, so I don{t know who won.
The other day I went to piano lessons with Marina. She had been practicing nonstop all day and was really freaked out about it, because her teacher is “muy stricto”! Anyway, I was expecting some older, slightly eccentric man. But, when we went to the house, we were greeted by a young guy in sweats and a “GOD BLESS AMERICA” shirt. Old? No. Eccentric.. definitely. Of course as soon as he heard I was American he got very excited and started trying out his English (not bad, but he had a very Borat-ish accent, it was very funny). I kind of tuned out the lesson and read because I couldn’t understand anyway (except for giant waving arms and laaaaAAAAAAAaaaaaaAAAAAAaaaaaAAAAAAaa!!!) but at the end he pulled out the book of music from “Saturday night Fever” and started to sing Ah ah ah ah stayin alive, stayin alive.. it was great. (oh, and everytime marina made a mistake he would raspberry, but remain very serious) I probably laughed more than was polite, but whats done is done. Afterwards, in the car, it was agreed that Jaime is loco. (in a good way). I´m sorry because its very you-had-to-be-there, but picture anyone singing stayin alive (well except the bee gees of course) and, well, yeah.
I really love the food here (though I do miss a good green salad I’ll admit). The only thing I’m not so crazy about is their use of all parts of the cow. ALL PARTS. We’ve had liver twice now, and I’ve eaten it to be polite, but just tastes very… cowish. Hard to explain. We also ate Juatita yesterday, which had “some part of a cow—no no, its good, its clean” that looked like sea coral. Hm. But enough about the weird stuff. They are good cooks, Ecuadorians, and it is not mexico, there are no tacos or burritos. There is KFC and Mcdonalds sadly. But, you could actually live here and get away with never cooking a thing. Whatever they feel like eating, the locals know exactly which little old lady on which street corner makes it best. Usually for less than a dollar. There is probably at least one house on every street that is just a big kitchen with a bed in it. There{s one two houses down from here, she just cooks for everyone in the neighborhood. Just run over and ask for 4 almuerzos or whatever you need, and she brings it right over to the house. You could also probably get away with never going to a supermarket, because whatever you need will coming rolling down the street at some point during the week- be it toothpaste, papaya, tomato, ice cream, loteria cards, squeaky shoes for kids, limes, pretty much anything! Not to mention the random neighbors with random things for sale- ice, meat, if you live here, you know who’s got what.
So how am I? good, tomorrow’s my first day of school, got my uniform, (blue skirt, white blouse, tall socks.) I have heat rash on my stomach—itttccchhhhyy- but my hostmom has made me some sort of tea that should help. Im communicating a little better I think, (in the mornings im hopeless tho) and last night the neighbors had a quinceñera, all. Night. Long. I didn{t sleep a whole lot, so off to bed with me! Hope you{re well, write me a letter, much love!! Wish me luck 😊

Oh, just on the news.. a kid died in the stadium from a firework gone astray. I told you, its insane!!

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Comments

[Luis E Cardenas]

Thanks for sharing.
Ms. Mia Johnson, I am actually from Georgetown, Washington DC, and my parents are from Ecuador. I am so happy to have read your blog. Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts of your trip. I have not been back since 93. I am an Emelec fan, and i moderate the English forrum section of the fan website for EMELEXISTA.COM I hope that when you have a spare moment you go and check out the site. I am very upset that this young kid got killed yesterday before the game. The game should have been postponed. Anywho thanks again for sharing your thought of Ecuador, and may God bless you and your gang that went there. Here is the link to the site i mentioned: http://www.emelexista.com/foro/index.php?topic=15651.0 Take care. Lu

[hannah]

school uniforms!
oh...that's sooo cute! i always wanted a school uniform even though i probably wouldn't want it once i had it. you can tell me whether it's actually cool or not.

[miaaj]

hello,
i apologize that I've never replied, I only just discovered these messages! but I want to thank you for writing me, I'm so glad you enjoyed my writings! Ecuador was an amazing experience for me. i will certainly check out your website take care!! :D