Advertisement
Published: July 24th 2006
Wow! These past few days have truly flown by! It makes me so sad when I realize that every day that I spend here seems like 5 minutes. It´s as if each day flows right in to the next and before you know it, it´s one big day! I guess what I´m trying to say is, we´ve kept busy down South here. Since it has been a while, (and I do sincerely apoligize for that) I´ll try and briefly explain what´s been going on since Thursday of last week.
FRIDAY (7-14)
Today was very different from any other day, in that I went to work, not as a teacher, but as a doctor! It was so exciting! I worked with Dorita today and we visited two schools, giving out different meds to kids. It was a very long day...with lots of lil kiddies. We ate salchichas on the street again, but this time I ordered only with rice. Those books my dad thrusted upon me came back into memory when I remembered reading never to eat meat off the steets. Anyway, the food was delicious! The food here is phenominal, and I can´t ever seem to
Me and Tia Toyita
Visiting this wonderful woman kept my mind on my precious abuleitos and made me realize just how much she reminded me of my Mamita (her sister, my grandmother)stop eating. Not a good thing; at least when you´ve gotta be in shape for cross country!
Well, we finished up for the day and it was a little past four. I missed out on my nap, so I was a bit cranky. Dorita needed to help a friend in her English class, so I offered to come too to make the time pass more quickly.
It turned out she was doing a research paper on the clonation of the sheep, Dolly. Now that is what I call hard to translate! But we finally got through what we needed to get through, and they were both very glad that I was there.
When we got home we ate the meal Sra. Maria had prepared for us and kicked back for the rest of the evening. It felt good!
SATURDAY (7-15)
This Saturday was different too, in that I didn´t go to any markets like I usually do. Instead, I headed off to Tia Toyita´s house with Dorita. Only problem was...they weren´t expecting us until the afternoon. So we promised we´d return later that day, after lunch.
We ate a very classy
resturaunt called For You and had the most spectacular buffet ever! It was mostly just various dishes of seafood. For dessert, there was pasteries, ice cream, and fruit-galore! I wish I lived in that resturaunt.
At around 2:30 we finished up, which put Dorita and I at arriving at Tia Toyitas´around 3. When we finally got there, it was so great to see family. Tia Toyita reminds me so much of Mamita and being in Guayaquil with the family kept my mind on Papito, may he rest in peace. It was difficult to hold back the tears, but I was really enjoying talking with everyone there. I hope to be back soon and enjoy more of their wonderful company! To all my family, hugs n kisses are sent with all their love.
Well we did a little shopping at MegaMaxi before heading back home for the night. Sr Loyola had wedding ceremonies he had to be at the church for, so us girls were left at the house. Sra Loyola relaxed in bed watching TV while Dorita and I danced to Shakira next door. It was a real fun night and after a nice shower we plopped on
down to watch a movie before hittin´ the sack for the night.
SUNDAY (7-16)
Well Sunday was, for the most part, very relaxing and easy going. After church we went to eat lunch at the same delicious cafe.
When we were all finished eating, the two Loyola familes split thier ways, and we (Sr & Sra Loyola, Dorita, and I) went to buy some meds at a local pharamcy and then to pick up other misc things along the way. When we were finished, we were off to the house to relax for a while.
In the late afternoon we went to the cemetary because the mother of a co-worker of Dorita´s passed away. It was one of the most interesting things I´ve ever seen. We entered a hall where the body was and the people who were mourning. We said our sorries to the family and wished them a long, happy life. Then we followed the family as they lead the way to the cemetary down the street. It was like a death parade. And the bodies aren´t put in the ground like they are here. Well, they have a few cemetaries
like that, and some people get cremated, but the majoritiy of the Guayaquileñas are stacked like pancakes on top of each other in slots with numbers on them. If you ask me, it was pretty scary.
We had walked such a long way to get to the "barrial" site, instead of walking all the way back, we headed to the nearest gate and called a taxi. My first time ever in a taxi! I was quite glad to have that lift, though, as my feet were begging for a little break.
After we got to the car we took a quick stop at Policentro to pick up some morocho, but unfortunatly they didn´t have any more! So we went to a KFC and picked up some food for the evening. We ate, we were satisfied, and we went to bed!
MONDAY (7-17)
Today at school I taught my Kindegarden classes and my sixth grade class. And since exams are still going on at school, the kids took their English exam today. I´ve learned to appreciate teaching those younger kids who look up to you and are ready to learn. I mean the younger
kids are at a competition level while the older ones don´t think it´s "cool" to be smart. Not to mention that they´re learning the rather boring things like grammer issues and such, while the younger kids learn vocabulary translations. Plus they´ve got cool songs to sing while they´re young. My favorite is "let´s sing the colors; cantamos los colores. red-rojo, orange-anaranjado, yellow-armarillo, green-verde, blue-azul!"
Sadly, after school and after lunch we went to another funeral. This time it was a lady who lived on the same street Escuela Semillita is on and was a friend to the Loyola family. Sr. Loyola spoke at the funeral and I couldn´t help but shed some tears as the son of the deceased wept on the coffin crying out "¡Mamá!" The only real difference today compared to yesterday was the fact that today there were people singing hymns and playing instruments at the service. It was soothing.
On our way out, we stopped to buy some white lilies, and since those are my absolute favorite flower, I got to steal one away from the group. Then we stopped again along the street for Sr. Loyola to get his hair cut. He looked
stunning afterwards, and we continued on our way with a few more medicene stops and food stops. We would´ve only needed to stop once, but once again they were out of morocho at Policentro! We´ve tried a lot because the Loyolas know I´m hooked to that stuff, and each time now there hasn´t been any!
Instead we picked up some pizza and headed home for the night.
TUESDAY (7-18)
First grade (my favorite) and seventh grade (not even close) were both honored with my presence today for English class. And once again, we were off to more exams. But haleluja today was the last day of exams for those kids! A whole week, starting last Thursday. I went to La Cancha again with the high school guys and showed ´um how to really play soccer, american style! Just kidding, I know if they were a little older, the same age as me, they´d be giving me a run for my money! My team won again, woo-hoo. And we got tired of playing the game, we circled up and juggled for a while.
After our lunch and nap we all headed out to go
with Sra. Loyola while she went to see the doctor. After telling the doctor about our trip we were planing for the Sierra, he told us that due to the volcano erruption of Tungurahua, it´s not a good idea to go to Riobamba. It´d be bad on her health and wouldn´t irriate her throat and cause a lot of un nessasary aggrevation. While I waited in the waiting room with Sr. Loyola for Dorita and Sra. Loyola, we watched that baseball/basketball movie I think is called "Baseketball" and I was totally unhumored. Horrible movie...horrible.
Well when we left that place we stopped at the pharmacy to fill the perscriptions and then picked up a few misc groceries before heading over to grab some Chinese food to go. That was probably the most delicious dinner I´ve had!
WENDESDAY (7-19)
Finca Hormiga, like usual on this day. Except we had another stop before we got there. We stopped at the house that Sr. Loyola is building for Srta. Lupe in Congon so she can have her own place to live! It was so beautiful! I think I mostly loved it for the fact that it was
being given to her by the most generous and warm-hearted people ever! When I first saw the house, it was being held up by bamboo, and now it´s concrete base is up and tiles and plumbing are being instaled. By the end of the year the house should be done, according to Sr. Loyola. The neatest thing about the AMAZING gift from the Loyolas is that it´s a surprise for Srta. Lupe! I´d love to be there to see her face when they break the news to her and take her to her new house...
After lunch and when Dorita came home, we went to San Marino shopping center to look around. We both bought pink shoes at a Payless there and I bought some clothes on sale at a dept store. It was awesome. We spent quite some time there because we got there around 2:30 and went to buy tickets to Superman Returns and the next show after the 2 o´clock was 5. Let´s just say we saw everything there is to be seen at San Marino. The movie was great, by the way, if you haven´t seen it, go!
We got home and Sr. &
Sra. Loyola had already picked up some KFC for us so we had a nice bite to eat before we headed upstairs for the night.
THURSDAY (7-20)
Today I took a field trip with the students in grades Kindegarten, first, second, and third. It was so much fun! We went to Parque Historico Guayaquil and saw the most amazing things EVER! I was in the tour group with the K-class so I could keep an eye on Andrea. There were also a few other people in our group who weren´t from Escuela Semillita who I found out later were Americans. Only, they looked so hispanic, I was really shocked that I knew more Spanish then they did. Lucky for them, our tour guide was bilengual and could comunicate with them too. I helped him out on several occasions, though, to his surprise. I´m so glad that I fit right in with culture now.
In the park there were animals on display that we, back home, see daily in the streets as roadkill. It was funny to see the response Ecuadorians had on squirrels, coons, and deer. What I was exciting about seeing was the
crocadiles and monkeys. There were so many exotic animals there. Not to mention entire sections dedicated to fruits and anothor to flowers. It was such an amazing experience!
Today we didn´t end up going out any where, except to buy some food in the evening to eat. I was certainly glad too!
FRIDAY (7-21)
There was another field trip today, only this time involving the high school kids. We were headed to Puerto Hondo for the day, and I´m sure everyone had a blast. I know I did! The bus ride was hilarious...I was showing the girls my dance moves in the back of the bus to some kind of Spanish rap. If I tried, I could understand what they were saying, but it was hard to hear over the screaming and chanting the girls were doing.
When we arrived we got split up into three groups, but luckily it was only for about 30 minutes until we were all together again. We were taught all there is to know about birds in Guayaquil, and then we went on canoes to see them live! I impressed a lot of people by rowing our
canoe down the river. And our tour guide fell in love me. A different kind of love than what you thinking: SHE and I were the only ones who really talked during the canoe ride, and she wasn´t even on my canoe. There were two canoes and she was standing in the front of the other one. I kept her laughing with my witt and made the canoe trip "different and entertaining" for her. My pleasure!
I impressed a lot more people when I started juggling in a circle with a group of the guys. And when they had to go and left me to juggle solo I got a lot of compliments and even juggled with another Ecuadorian who was there. Only, since we were so close to the river, he hit it in! Though he waded out in the water to fetch it so I wasn´t too mad, haha. Overall it was one of the most fun days ever.
Though it did turn around slightly towards the end...Dorita came home and we got dressed to go watch a graduation they were having for the English students. Only problem is, she didn´t realize that she was graduating
herself! (don´t ask me how...) So she was really upset that nobody had told her and the fact that she was so casually dressed for the occasion. On that note, we left. While we were walking back to the car, I tried explaining to her how it´s not important what you wear, nobody will remember, and how it´ll be a good thing to go to. But she was convinced on not going back. We were on our way home, when we suddenly did a Uie and headed back to the building. We ended up sitting down around 7 and we left as soon as Dorita got her diploma and it was already 9!
It was the most boring thing I´ve ever attended. And it was English, that´s the sad part! I didn´t even understand what the speakers were saying half the time. Through a thick accent and mixed nouns and verbs, I gave up trying to understand an hour in. Though there were some really cute shows they had...
They had a group of kids sing the National Anthem, which still amazes me how much we, as Americans, are looked up at. I mean, if we were taking a Spanish class back home we would never sing another countries´ anthem! There´s people back home who don´t even know that there´s a country called Ecuador! It´s amazing. And there was a little skit that was performed by a group of singers, which was really funny. And then the cutest of the night (that we saw) was a young couple (ages aprox 8) acting out the song "Pretty Woman" and it was so great! I couldn´t stop laughing! My dad always plays oldies like that song, and the funny thing is that it´s the way I feel the Ecuadorian guys are here. It was precious. Those kids were great and especially the little girl was so cute!
Since it was so late when we left, we went through KFC´s drivethru and headed home to eat before we went to bed. I was sad to hear that I missed my parents phone call that night...
SATURDAY (7-22)
The morning was nice because we got to sleep in a while, and since we have vacation this week, there was really no need to go shopping at the markets. Plus, Sr. Loyola had to be at the church for some kind of ceremony, which made that a girls´ morning out, so to speak. Our first stop was at this styrofoam letter store when we bought more stuff for Dorita´s work, that we would have to paint later on. I bought letters for to make a poster for our Youth and Government club, hopefully they´ll be OK on the plane ride back.
Our next stop was at Riocentro to pick up the paint and the paint brushes. I know I have something to look forward to now...
Well, we came back home, but Sr. Loyola wasn´t home yet, so at 1 we left to go eat lunch. On our way, he called, so we met him at the Green House for a delicious vegetarrian meal. We even saw a few kids from the school there. It was nice.
We came home after eating, and didn´t end up going back out. Sr. Loyola had wedding ceremonies to conduct, and we all helped Dorita with painting and making things for her work. There´s going to be an openhouse tomorrow morning, and we made sure all the signs looked great! And they certanly did.
I ended the night with a long phone conversation with my parents, brother, and sister-in-law. It was really great to hear from them. And like I told them, I´ll tell you guys: I really wish you were here!!
Until next time,
Shir
<3
Advertisement
Tot: 0.087s; Tpl: 0.015s; cc: 10; qc: 52; dbt: 0.0501s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
Titi Jackie
non-member comment
Dear Shirlinita!!!
My dear and beautiful Shirlinita, you are so funny girl... you made me cry, smile and laugh; the death parade and the stacked like pancakes on top of @ other!!! u have no idea how much I wld like 2 b in Guayaquil with u!!! I love morocho, seafood, fruits, family and old friends... sorry 2 let u know that my friends and I wl b going to Ecuador in September, the first wk of Sept. and my b-day is Sept 7!!! Mamita was so happy 2 c u and tia Toyita together, her tears came out and made me :-( but anyway, mamita love to see you and her family together. Hey, tell Sr. Loyola 2 take u 2 Ayacucho 4 morocho and tortilla de verde!!!! oh my God!! delicioso!!! tortilla de verde con queso, oh marona mia!!!! rico.... keep doing great!! see you soon can't wait! God Bless You and I Love You!