Merry Christmas!!
I hope all is well with all of you! School is over until January 19th, when I will be back in class at 8 AM, raring to go for a new semester, just one day before Obama is inaugurated!
The last few weeks have really been lovely. Finals came and went, and I did well on all of them, or so I can assume. I ended up with a 3.66 GPA and recommendations from two professors who suggested furthering my studies in their areas- Creative Writing and Spanish.
Then I did some work with my dad and came home, and I've hardly left the house ever since! I've been working, wrapping presents, cleaning, making a mess and cleaning up again! But now the tornado has died down and the house is calm and quiet and the wrapping paper is all in bags, so I thought I'd check in! Hope everyone is wonderful, full of eggnog and in bed by nine!
More soon!
25 December, 2008
07 December, 2008
Hello
It's finals time. I am absurdly busy. I will see you all, and this blog, again when classes and testing is all over.
01 December, 2008
Gobble Gobble
Happy thanksgiving! hope all your weekends were restful and loaded with turkey and mashed potatoes. Mine was, for the most part. Aside from working, I hung out, slept a ton, and went to get our christmas tree! Now there are two weeks left of classes and a week of finals, and then i'll be packing and moving home for the winter break. Where, oh where does the time go?
Also, happy birthday Alice! Today was lots of fun!
24 November, 2008
Ick!
What a yucky day! Shakespeare quiz in Intro to Theatre, nothing good at hasbrouck, and sleety icy rain all afternoon! But, on the up side, I have two more classes before Thanksgiving break.
I'm so ready to go home. I promised my boss I would take a shift on Wednesday, so I won't be home until late Wednesday night. I wish it was now!
Hope everyone is experiencing some nicer weather and is spending the weekend with their families!
I'm so ready to go home. I promised my boss I would take a shift on Wednesday, so I won't be home until late Wednesday night. I wish it was now!
Hope everyone is experiencing some nicer weather and is spending the weekend with their families!
21 November, 2008
Bouncing Around
There's so many things to touch on in this blog post.
Starting with the passing of Jack Galloway on Tuesday night. Hard to believe, hard to accept, hard to hear. Jack was a great man and as important to my childhood as anyone else in my family. He will be missed.
Also, in far lighter news, I got my dear Charile, the bike, a tune-up. He's as good as new, with full tires, an adjusted derailer and a replaced screw in the fender. Hooray!!
Apart from Charlie the bike and planning my trip home for the funeral, my days as of late have been so obsessively focused on scheduling for next year! It's SO frustrating to have SO many Gen Ed classes. But, alas, I am chipping away, and hopefully by the end of the fall semester next year, I will be DONE with them!!
So, I hemmed and hawed, and as I went, I discovered that many interesting classes (Intro to Animal Life, Beginner Sign Language, American Civil Rights Movements, Human Evolution, etc.) were full, required a previous lower-level class, or were only for sophomores, juniors, and seniors. It's a rough time for freshman trying to make schedules because we are the LAST to go. Alice's registration doesn't even open until 12:30 today, while some students were able to register three days ago.
My research started with my required classes, moved to the available classes, and ended with RateMyProfessor.com, a truly useful tool, albeit gosippy. I have arrived at the following schedule:
Looks sort of fuzzy, but basically, I'm taking Intro to Painting, History of Jazz, Women's Images and Realities, Comp II, and Microeconomics. Two cool things about this: One, my Women's Images class is two parts, one from 12:15-1:05, and one from 1:40-2:30. The first part is this enormous lecture with all the professors and all the students who are taking Women's Images. Then, for the secon part, we break up into groups and discuss the lecture more in-depth. Another cool thing about my schedule is my Comp II class, my basic required Freshman English course. We were given a list of themes, ranging from Juvenile Fantasy Literature to Mystery and Mayhem, and I am taking "The Madwoman in Literature"! How cool is that?
Aaaanyway. This is longer than I'd planned. Have a good weekend!
Starting with the passing of Jack Galloway on Tuesday night. Hard to believe, hard to accept, hard to hear. Jack was a great man and as important to my childhood as anyone else in my family. He will be missed.
Also, in far lighter news, I got my dear Charile, the bike, a tune-up. He's as good as new, with full tires, an adjusted derailer and a replaced screw in the fender. Hooray!!
Apart from Charlie the bike and planning my trip home for the funeral, my days as of late have been so obsessively focused on scheduling for next year! It's SO frustrating to have SO many Gen Ed classes. But, alas, I am chipping away, and hopefully by the end of the fall semester next year, I will be DONE with them!!
So, I hemmed and hawed, and as I went, I discovered that many interesting classes (Intro to Animal Life, Beginner Sign Language, American Civil Rights Movements, Human Evolution, etc.) were full, required a previous lower-level class, or were only for sophomores, juniors, and seniors. It's a rough time for freshman trying to make schedules because we are the LAST to go. Alice's registration doesn't even open until 12:30 today, while some students were able to register three days ago.
My research started with my required classes, moved to the available classes, and ended with RateMyProfessor.com, a truly useful tool, albeit gosippy. I have arrived at the following schedule:
Looks sort of fuzzy, but basically, I'm taking Intro to Painting, History of Jazz, Women's Images and Realities, Comp II, and Microeconomics. Two cool things about this: One, my Women's Images class is two parts, one from 12:15-1:05, and one from 1:40-2:30. The first part is this enormous lecture with all the professors and all the students who are taking Women's Images. Then, for the secon part, we break up into groups and discuss the lecture more in-depth. Another cool thing about my schedule is my Comp II class, my basic required Freshman English course. We were given a list of themes, ranging from Juvenile Fantasy Literature to Mystery and Mayhem, and I am taking "The Madwoman in Literature"! How cool is that?Aaaanyway. This is longer than I'd planned. Have a good weekend!
17 November, 2008
It's Monday, November 17
I'm big on the visuals lately, I guess.
This photo is on the cover of the NY times today, and the caption reads "Iraqi policemen danced with a United States Army soldier in Baghdad on Sunday, the day Iraq’s cabinet approved a security pact." I found the paper on my way back from a prticularly stinky Comp class, and it made me smile all the way up to the third floor! It's just a happy kind of day.
Things here are good. The weather's getting colder but we still make it out, all bundled up in winter coats and woolen gloves.
This Sunday I'm going to see Measure for Measure with Sam. I get paid on Friday, which will be nice. I'm making my list of what EVERYONE ELSE wants for Christmas now. I've got a few that I'm really excited about! :)
16 November, 2008
Clearing Up Financial Aid
Just days before early registration opens. I feel more or less like this:
That is all.
That is all.
14 November, 2008
Hello All.
Not much of news, except that I cleaned my room, every nook and cranny. Our trash room is in the basement and we're on the third floor. So I haul this huge bag of garbage all the way down three flights of stairs and down the hallway, just 3 feet from the door of the trash room, and my garbage bag tears straight across the seam along the bottom. Apples I never bothered to eat, wrappers from countless Halloween fun-sized candies, and at least a hundred crumpled sticky notes splay themselves across the hallway. A stranger, doing her good deed of the day, helped me clean it up.
Bottles of water at Stop and Shop are actually cheaper than they are at Stewart's after my discount. Can you believe that? I feel so gypped.
My drawings have been getting better because I doodle so much in class. I haven't had any time to paint because a few of my teachers, namely Comp Pol, Comp, and Spanish, have been looooooooooading on the homework. But all my paints are finally here and awaiting the creation of a MASTERPIECE!!
This gloomy fall weather gets me thinking a lot, so if you can't get ahold of me and are wondering where I am, I'm probably inside my own head. :)
Hope everyone's well. Until next time! Hopefully I'll have more to report.
Bottles of water at Stop and Shop are actually cheaper than they are at Stewart's after my discount. Can you believe that? I feel so gypped.
My drawings have been getting better because I doodle so much in class. I haven't had any time to paint because a few of my teachers, namely Comp Pol, Comp, and Spanish, have been looooooooooading on the homework. But all my paints are finally here and awaiting the creation of a MASTERPIECE!!
This gloomy fall weather gets me thinking a lot, so if you can't get ahold of me and are wondering where I am, I'm probably inside my own head. :)
Hope everyone's well. Until next time! Hopefully I'll have more to report.
11 November, 2008
Lady sing the blues so well
If you haven't heard of Regina Spektor, you are missing out!! Her musical diversity, soulful voice, and lyrical creativity is consistently above and beyond any other femal artist I've ever heard of.
So check her out!!
In other news, school is going well. I've been trying really hard to understand my Comparative Politics class, and it's starting to congeal, if you will. Right now, we're talking about things like civil disobedience and comparing it in its effectiveness to political violence, and pontificating why osme groups would choose one over the other. Stuff like that. We watched a video on the WTO riots in Seattle, and a group called OTPOR that overthrew the government in Serbia. I guess it's interesting to me now, which makes it easier not to nod off...
Psychology has likewise taken a turn towards big intrigue. We're starting a unit on social psychology, and today we watched a video on mob mentality and conformity. One of the experiments was a subject sitting at a panel with buttons that induced different amounts of electric shock onto the other participant. [There was no one actually receiving the shock, but the subject didn't know that.] The subject would use an intercom system to ask a question to the other participant, and if they answered incorrectly, the subject owuld have to give them a shock of increasing voltage as a punishment. Each button was labeled with the voltage and how severe of a shock it would induce. The study showed that, when a scientist was in the room monitoring the behavior, 65% of people would continue to ask the questions and give the shock up to a known lethal level of 450 volts. 65%! And the quesitons were things like "Cat is to kitten as dog is to _________". I can't imagine it, but there is footage of these experiments. It's real!
Spanish is more of the same, learning the correct way to form commands. Zzzz... We've started readin Hemingway short stories in my Comp class, and we're beginning to talk about writing plays and musicals in Intro to Theatre. I'm going next Sunday with Sam to see Measure for Measure, a Shakespeare production put on by the theatre majors.
I've been going to the conversation group for Spanish, and a new boy joined us yesterday. He's a senior and he's preparing to do 4 months abroad in Guayaquil! I'm so excited for him. I know I'm a dork, but it's just about the most exciting time of your young adult life. He's going to have a blast :)
I've also been going to the Drawing Party on Wednesdays. I'm trying to get better at drawing consecutive straight lines, like |||||||, without my hand shaking too much. Instead of -, I have a lot of ~. It's relaxing, though, and I think I'm improving... We'll see how my hard work pays off on Wednesday.
The POINT of this post was to announce that I have made my Christmas list. Or, parts of it.
Paints are off the list, because I just ordered some right after my last post, but I can always use more!
So check her out!!
In other news, school is going well. I've been trying really hard to understand my Comparative Politics class, and it's starting to congeal, if you will. Right now, we're talking about things like civil disobedience and comparing it in its effectiveness to political violence, and pontificating why osme groups would choose one over the other. Stuff like that. We watched a video on the WTO riots in Seattle, and a group called OTPOR that overthrew the government in Serbia. I guess it's interesting to me now, which makes it easier not to nod off...
Psychology has likewise taken a turn towards big intrigue. We're starting a unit on social psychology, and today we watched a video on mob mentality and conformity. One of the experiments was a subject sitting at a panel with buttons that induced different amounts of electric shock onto the other participant. [There was no one actually receiving the shock, but the subject didn't know that.] The subject would use an intercom system to ask a question to the other participant, and if they answered incorrectly, the subject owuld have to give them a shock of increasing voltage as a punishment. Each button was labeled with the voltage and how severe of a shock it would induce. The study showed that, when a scientist was in the room monitoring the behavior, 65% of people would continue to ask the questions and give the shock up to a known lethal level of 450 volts. 65%! And the quesitons were things like "Cat is to kitten as dog is to _________". I can't imagine it, but there is footage of these experiments. It's real!
Spanish is more of the same, learning the correct way to form commands. Zzzz... We've started readin Hemingway short stories in my Comp class, and we're beginning to talk about writing plays and musicals in Intro to Theatre. I'm going next Sunday with Sam to see Measure for Measure, a Shakespeare production put on by the theatre majors.
I've been going to the conversation group for Spanish, and a new boy joined us yesterday. He's a senior and he's preparing to do 4 months abroad in Guayaquil! I'm so excited for him. I know I'm a dork, but it's just about the most exciting time of your young adult life. He's going to have a blast :)
I've also been going to the Drawing Party on Wednesdays. I'm trying to get better at drawing consecutive straight lines, like |||||||, without my hand shaking too much. Instead of -, I have a lot of ~. It's relaxing, though, and I think I'm improving... We'll see how my hard work pays off on Wednesday.
The POINT of this post was to announce that I have made my Christmas list. Or, parts of it.
Paints are off the list, because I just ordered some right after my last post, but I can always use more!
- Really, anything made for acrylic painting that can be found on dickblick.com would probably be useful.
- Hane's V-neck undershirts. These are comfy, a good fit, and look nice under any shirt. I don't know exactly what size mine is because the tag rubbed off, but I'm guessing it's a Medium.
- Skullcandy head phones. These are the best on the market for your money. In my wildest dreams, Santa would bring me those amazing Bose noise-canceling headphones, but all I really need right now is a pair that work so I can listen to music in peace. The reviews on these headphones are all stellar, and both Skullcandy and Best Buy have great return policies.
- Drawing pens [.5mm tip], again from dickblick because they're so darn cheap, and a pack of printer paper. I could draw for days!
05 November, 2008
I don't wanna talk politics! I wanna talk democracy!
I wanna talk about the first election in how many years? where the winner of the popular vote was the president elect. Where people voted for change when we need it the most! Where voter turnout was 64%, the highest it's been since 1908. 100 years. That's stunning! That's the voice of the people! 136.6 million voices of the people, to be exact.
And last night, at exactly 11:00, I was slouching on our sofa, with Sam resting her head on my legs, as I watched them announce Barack Obama the next president of the United States. By 11:30, I was receiving word that New Paltz was rioting, for lack of a more all-encompassing term. People were dancing, screaming, running around with torches, running around naked. This is HISTORY. and I was there! Well, I was here.
Next step is to get to D.C. for the inauguration. This is unprecedented on so many levels. I'm proud of us! Hooray democracy! Obamanos!
EDIT
I also wanna talk paint!
My acrylics came today!
And they are MASSIVE. tubes as long as my forearm.
shown here: royal blue, yellow, orange the color of my t-shirt, "raw sienna"-roughly the color of clay, and of course BLACK. which means I still need green, red, white, and maybe silver.
so, that leads me to item number one on my christmas list: MORE PAINT! any color you do not see here- especially LOTS of WHITE!!
The same paints, in smaller tubes, are about $7 apiece at Manny's Art Supplies in town.
The whole 5 tubes, including shipping, was around $30. Thank you, dickblick.com !
I wanna talk about the first election in how many years? where the winner of the popular vote was the president elect. Where people voted for change when we need it the most! Where voter turnout was 64%, the highest it's been since 1908. 100 years. That's stunning! That's the voice of the people! 136.6 million voices of the people, to be exact.
And last night, at exactly 11:00, I was slouching on our sofa, with Sam resting her head on my legs, as I watched them announce Barack Obama the next president of the United States. By 11:30, I was receiving word that New Paltz was rioting, for lack of a more all-encompassing term. People were dancing, screaming, running around with torches, running around naked. This is HISTORY. and I was there! Well, I was here.
Next step is to get to D.C. for the inauguration. This is unprecedented on so many levels. I'm proud of us! Hooray democracy! Obamanos!
EDIT
I also wanna talk paint!My acrylics came today!
And they are MASSIVE. tubes as long as my forearm.
shown here: royal blue, yellow, orange the color of my t-shirt, "raw sienna"-roughly the color of clay, and of course BLACK. which means I still need green, red, white, and maybe silver.
so, that leads me to item number one on my christmas list: MORE PAINT! any color you do not see here- especially LOTS of WHITE!!
The same paints, in smaller tubes, are about $7 apiece at Manny's Art Supplies in town.
The whole 5 tubes, including shipping, was around $30. Thank you, dickblick.com !
03 November, 2008
First in November
Hello all! How was your halloween?
Mine was wonderful! I went to work in costume, and I pass a couple of frat houses on my way home from work, so when I hears the thudding of what I assumed was a bassline, I didn't think much of it, until I got to Front Street... I had assumed it was TKE, which had a notoriously huge halloween party, but the sound just continued to get louder, until... As I passed TKE, though, and rounded the corner, I could feel the dum--dum--dum--dum pulsing and the people chattering, and THEN I saw the half-moon of people playing bongo-esque drums. COOL! Of course, in classic New Paltz style, all performers were in costume. I stayed for just a moment before heading up to my dorm, and then got changed and went to a party on Mohonk Ave... Not the most elegant of gatherings, but we danced and danced and laughed at the HILARIOUS costumes... At least four Sarah Palins. Oh, it was good.
We got back to the dorms around midnight and after an episode of Desperate housewives, I was out like a light! I worked again on Saturday and then went to church yesterday. Hum-drum weekend, but this week Sarah's coming to visit me from home! YAY!! I can't wait to show her around and induct her into independent living -- breakfast for dinner, high internet usage, the merits of clean socks vs. not having to do laundry...
I should be studying for a psychology test right now but I wanted to check in and make absolutely certain that EVERYBODY VOTES TOMORROW. Vote however you want, but don't relinquish your one [loose] grip on the government.
Tomorrow's itinerary is as follows:
Psychology 8-915: TEST!
Spanish 925-1040: QUIZ!
HOME by 5:15 :D and watching history in the making. BE THERE OR BE SQUARE!
Bye!
Mine was wonderful! I went to work in costume, and I pass a couple of frat houses on my way home from work, so when I hears the thudding of what I assumed was a bassline, I didn't think much of it, until I got to Front Street... I had assumed it was TKE, which had a notoriously huge halloween party, but the sound just continued to get louder, until... As I passed TKE, though, and rounded the corner, I could feel the dum--dum--dum--dum pulsing and the people chattering, and THEN I saw the half-moon of people playing bongo-esque drums. COOL! Of course, in classic New Paltz style, all performers were in costume. I stayed for just a moment before heading up to my dorm, and then got changed and went to a party on Mohonk Ave... Not the most elegant of gatherings, but we danced and danced and laughed at the HILARIOUS costumes... At least four Sarah Palins. Oh, it was good.
We got back to the dorms around midnight and after an episode of Desperate housewives, I was out like a light! I worked again on Saturday and then went to church yesterday. Hum-drum weekend, but this week Sarah's coming to visit me from home! YAY!! I can't wait to show her around and induct her into independent living -- breakfast for dinner, high internet usage, the merits of clean socks vs. not having to do laundry...
I should be studying for a psychology test right now but I wanted to check in and make absolutely certain that EVERYBODY VOTES TOMORROW. Vote however you want, but don't relinquish your one [loose] grip on the government.
Tomorrow's itinerary is as follows:
Psychology 8-915: TEST!
Spanish 925-1040: QUIZ!
HOME by 5:15 :D and watching history in the making. BE THERE OR BE SQUARE!
Bye!
28 October, 2008
Yuck!
Terrible, awful weather all day long! The kind of day where you feel drained of energy just from looking at the sky. Last night, the forecast said high of 39 degrees. And it was wrong- it got all the way up to 44. So, I went to my classes and ran to hasbrouck before the rain started up again, ate, and came back to my dorm. I've been here ever since, a good 3 or 4 hours now, watching movies and showeiring and resting. Tonight, there's a movie being shown in the library on democracy in latin america, and the filmmakers will be there. Extra credit for spanish class!
My paintings are coming along okay. There are currently two on my wall: one of a flower in a bush with a red-orange-yellow background, and one of a woman in a red dress dancing in a blue-green room. It's just been fun to be able to play around with the paint. :)
I saw Hard Candy last week. So good! I was so into it, and the ending was good, which is saying a lot-endings rarely satisfy me. I recommend it; a little scary but great acting and a good plot.
Music reccomendation is Joanna Newsom, a solo artist who sings and plays the harp. Her voice is an acquired taste, but really addictive once you learn to like it.
One teeny-tiny week remains until my generation makes history, one way or another. As my spanish teacher says, Obamanos!
My paintings are coming along okay. There are currently two on my wall: one of a flower in a bush with a red-orange-yellow background, and one of a woman in a red dress dancing in a blue-green room. It's just been fun to be able to play around with the paint. :)
I saw Hard Candy last week. So good! I was so into it, and the ending was good, which is saying a lot-endings rarely satisfy me. I recommend it; a little scary but great acting and a good plot.
Music reccomendation is Joanna Newsom, a solo artist who sings and plays the harp. Her voice is an acquired taste, but really addictive once you learn to like it.
One teeny-tiny week remains until my generation makes history, one way or another. As my spanish teacher says, Obamanos!
22 October, 2008
Exciting days are upon us! Yesterday marked just two months since I was a nervous high school graduate, shredding my cocoon and becoming a college student! Hard to believe it was only two months. It feels like years.
Last night, we went to see W at the movie theatre in town. It was okay. I was kind of unimpressed, but oh well. Today I got my voter registration card in the mail, hooray! I can't wait for election day. It should be a very cool experience.
Anyway... Fall is beautiful here, I have not seen trees this color in a really long time. The reds are like stop signs and the oranges are like reflective vests, and there are leaves everywhere! The weather's been murky the last couple days, and it's actually freezing in the mornings, but still so worth every minute of it.
Today we listened to a song in my spanish class HERE that our teacher gave us on our last day of spanish classes IN ECUADOR. Ah, the song gave me the chills, and totally brought me back to us cramped in the little classroom with the tiny foldup chairs, singing and dancing and laughing as Thimo took the solo... What a ridiculous boy. It seems like so long ago but it's been less than a year! Where has the time gone?
Last night, we went to see W at the movie theatre in town. It was okay. I was kind of unimpressed, but oh well. Today I got my voter registration card in the mail, hooray! I can't wait for election day. It should be a very cool experience.
Anyway... Fall is beautiful here, I have not seen trees this color in a really long time. The reds are like stop signs and the oranges are like reflective vests, and there are leaves everywhere! The weather's been murky the last couple days, and it's actually freezing in the mornings, but still so worth every minute of it.
Today we listened to a song in my spanish class HERE that our teacher gave us on our last day of spanish classes IN ECUADOR. Ah, the song gave me the chills, and totally brought me back to us cramped in the little classroom with the tiny foldup chairs, singing and dancing and laughing as Thimo took the solo... What a ridiculous boy. It seems like so long ago but it's been less than a year! Where has the time gone?
13 October, 2008
The Boys
So the boys just left, and they deserve some mention in here! Sam, Giuliano, and Cameron are three boys from Minerva (My roommate Alice's brother, exchange student, and neighbor, respectively) who came to stay for the weekend! We had fun!! We walked the rail trail, shopped at the Salvation Army, ate ice cream at Stewart's, painted, saw our friend Chelsea's band play, and the three of them went with Emma, our soccer captain and fellow Minervian, to se Huguenot Street, the oldest continuously lived-on street in America. They were kind and funny and unobtrusive, hardly even making their mark, except when our suitemate walked in on Sam changing... The only debacle of the whole weekend! Sam came back to our room looking like he wanted to laugh or hide and couldn't decide which to act on. Very nice kids! They left a note on my whiteboard this morning, and now they're gone and all that's left of them is the empty bag of Sour Patch Kids in the garbage.
06 October, 2008
October
Hey guys! Sorry I haven't posted in a week or two... Hard to believe it's been that long! Things have been good, but really busy. I've got tons of work to do for classes, plus my job, plus my friends, boyfriend, family, and peers, plus my room's magnetic pull on clutter, plus the beauty of seeing fall come to be! I'm constantly running- sometimes even literally. This past saturday was a really fun day: I slept in a little, did some reading and hung out, then went and played in the intramural soccer game at 2! It was so much fun! I ran hard, played a mean defense, and even though we lost to the most rotten fraternity on campus, we still had a great time. Plus, the weather was picture perfect; a sunny, breezy 65 degrees. I brought clothes to the game, changed after, and went on to work 3:30-12. I came back to my room and talked to Andrew and Alice for a little bit and proceeded to fall fast asleep. Yesterday was nice, too; I went to mass with Andrew, got tea at The Muddy Cup, and walked back to the dorm. I was laying down for a nap when two of my friends from Colonie sent me a text message saying they were in New Paltz! So I showed them my dorm and intoduced them to some of my friends, and when they left, I had lunch and walked to Manny's Art Supplies and bought string to weave bracelets and a masquerade-esque black eye cover mask for our autumn-themed eveing, and Alice bought paints, Marc bought a fake mustache, etc. We came back to my dorm and went to the kitchen and baked pumpkin pie! While it cooked, Marc read his new book, Alice painted a huge picture, I wove bracelets, Sam and Kevin ran the music, and Emma sewed her quilt. We were all feeling pretty crafty and very fall, and when the pie was done we all took spoons and ate it without plates.
Today is a typical monday. I feel like I don't know where 6 weeks has gone, and already teachers are talking about midterms... I'm feeling competent, though, and had a very productive day today in which I cleaned my room from top to bottom and inside-out. Tomorrow Alice and I are going to see a $4 movie, and Thursday all classes are cancelled for Yom Kippur. It should be a nice week! Hope everyone is well and as warmed as I am by the changing leaves. I missed this color palette last year!
Today is a typical monday. I feel like I don't know where 6 weeks has gone, and already teachers are talking about midterms... I'm feeling competent, though, and had a very productive day today in which I cleaned my room from top to bottom and inside-out. Tomorrow Alice and I are going to see a $4 movie, and Thursday all classes are cancelled for Yom Kippur. It should be a nice week! Hope everyone is well and as warmed as I am by the changing leaves. I missed this color palette last year!
24 September, 2008
Hello Again!
A fabulous thing happened tonight.
I got de-tripled!
Imagine, if you will, our dorm room- a small room with one loft bed, one bunk bed, three desks, three dressers, two closets, clothes, junk, shoes, books, lamps, a fan, and general chaos.
Then subtract the loft bed, one of the desks, one of the dressers, and a lot of the chaos. Take apart the bunk bed.
This is the reality of the last couple hours for Alice and I. Sara has moved to another room in our suite so that we don't get a ninth girl to share one shower with.
It is glorious. The whole room feels less sardine-like, more homey. Alice has been 50/50 with climbing into her bed and leaping on it, just to leap.
The whole atmosphere of our room has changed. There is just more space. A thousand things are easier now. There is less filth because we cleaned as we went. It is actually feasable to sit on our beds and read because it is actually feasable to sit upright on them. It just feels like there's room! It is the difference between a towncar and a stretch limousine. Air to breathe. It allows for people to hang out in our room. It leaves wall space for posters. It leaves less crap in the upper half of our rooms so the whole thing just looks brighter.
Oh, it is wonderful! I wish every freshman got to live like this.
Alice says "We could do aerobics!" And she is a fabulous roommate.
In other news, I went to my first protest today!! It was organizerd by a group called NORML, which is pretty much known as the druggie club because their main goal is legalizing marijuana. But they've teamed up with the public interest group on campus for a student whose rights were violated in what they consider an unlawful search and seizure. So we assembled! With clever signs like "Stop weeding out your students" [har, har] and "Hottest small state school throwing out its biggest class". A New Paltz alum gave a speech that really got me. I have never been motivated to get involved in the push to legalize marijuana, I don't smoke it and never will, but this young man stood in front of us and told us that if we are ever confronted on our beliefs, all that needs to be said is [indicaing towards his head/body] "This is mine." That's all. And it became that simple. Most of the kids there were all about the fact that marijuana was involved, but it's beyond that. It's an issue about human rights. We are losing our liberties little by little. My friend Marc was saying that if a man is wearing a diabetic ID bracelet and you see him with crumbs around his mouth, you don't push him around and search him for cookies. It's his right, whether it's responsible or not, to do what he chooses with his body. So when they see people wearing a dancing bear tie-dye t-shirt and immediately suspect they're smoking pot and bully them into signing warrants for no real reason, it's really not their call.
Like I said, I've never been a big player in the legalization scene, but today got me fired up. I want to stand up for my rights. I feel like it's my duty as a citizen, and maybe that's extreme, but it's like that saying about how first they take this minority, then they take this group, and no one says a word, then they take the gays, then the jews, and no one stands up for them, and there's no one left to notice when they come for us. I think that's from the bible? What I mean is, I am making a karmic investment by standing up for underrepresented people, so there will be someone shouting and holding signs when it's my turn to be prosecuted.
Exhausting day. Also rode my bike up the hill without stopping for the first time since I got here- I had a doctor's appointment for a vaccination. Ouch :(
That's all for tonight. I'll update again soon! TTYL!
I got de-tripled!
Imagine, if you will, our dorm room- a small room with one loft bed, one bunk bed, three desks, three dressers, two closets, clothes, junk, shoes, books, lamps, a fan, and general chaos.
Then subtract the loft bed, one of the desks, one of the dressers, and a lot of the chaos. Take apart the bunk bed.
This is the reality of the last couple hours for Alice and I. Sara has moved to another room in our suite so that we don't get a ninth girl to share one shower with.
It is glorious. The whole room feels less sardine-like, more homey. Alice has been 50/50 with climbing into her bed and leaping on it, just to leap.
The whole atmosphere of our room has changed. There is just more space. A thousand things are easier now. There is less filth because we cleaned as we went. It is actually feasable to sit on our beds and read because it is actually feasable to sit upright on them. It just feels like there's room! It is the difference between a towncar and a stretch limousine. Air to breathe. It allows for people to hang out in our room. It leaves wall space for posters. It leaves less crap in the upper half of our rooms so the whole thing just looks brighter.
Oh, it is wonderful! I wish every freshman got to live like this.
Alice says "We could do aerobics!" And she is a fabulous roommate.
In other news, I went to my first protest today!! It was organizerd by a group called NORML, which is pretty much known as the druggie club because their main goal is legalizing marijuana. But they've teamed up with the public interest group on campus for a student whose rights were violated in what they consider an unlawful search and seizure. So we assembled! With clever signs like "Stop weeding out your students" [har, har] and "Hottest small state school throwing out its biggest class". A New Paltz alum gave a speech that really got me. I have never been motivated to get involved in the push to legalize marijuana, I don't smoke it and never will, but this young man stood in front of us and told us that if we are ever confronted on our beliefs, all that needs to be said is [indicaing towards his head/body] "This is mine." That's all. And it became that simple. Most of the kids there were all about the fact that marijuana was involved, but it's beyond that. It's an issue about human rights. We are losing our liberties little by little. My friend Marc was saying that if a man is wearing a diabetic ID bracelet and you see him with crumbs around his mouth, you don't push him around and search him for cookies. It's his right, whether it's responsible or not, to do what he chooses with his body. So when they see people wearing a dancing bear tie-dye t-shirt and immediately suspect they're smoking pot and bully them into signing warrants for no real reason, it's really not their call.
Like I said, I've never been a big player in the legalization scene, but today got me fired up. I want to stand up for my rights. I feel like it's my duty as a citizen, and maybe that's extreme, but it's like that saying about how first they take this minority, then they take this group, and no one says a word, then they take the gays, then the jews, and no one stands up for them, and there's no one left to notice when they come for us. I think that's from the bible? What I mean is, I am making a karmic investment by standing up for underrepresented people, so there will be someone shouting and holding signs when it's my turn to be prosecuted.
Exhausting day. Also rode my bike up the hill without stopping for the first time since I got here- I had a doctor's appointment for a vaccination. Ouch :(
That's all for tonight. I'll update again soon! TTYL!
08 September, 2008
Today was very much a New Me kind of day.
I say that for a few reasons... mainly, though, because it shows how much I've changed in the last year or so. I went for a long walk and loved it, a healthy choice I would have dreaded just a couple years ago. I went to a meeting for the comittee that runs Latino Week- I had to represent the M&Ms, the honorary latinas-maybe it doesn't look like chocolatey goodness on the outside, but it's what's inside that counts! Back at my dorm, I listened to a lot of reggaeton and talked to some friends from Ecuador. I am missing it a lot today. It's sometimes hard to believe I was really there.
And for that, I think it's important to say, for my benefit and for anyone reading, that this blog serves an evolving purpose; it was, for a long time, my Ecuador blog. But this is my blog, first and foremost, and it will be my college blog wholly and truly after just a few entries. And in light of that, there is no longer a difference between the life I led in Ecuador and the way I think today. It was the last year of my life. It is hat I do, it is what I know. This blog carries over just as much of the past as I do!
-----------
College is going the same, more or less, as it was last week. I've been trying to call home and/or call around in general more often, especially when I have built-in 10 minute walks across campus with which to make these calls. We've been invited to twenty frat parties but haven't been to one. A song written specifically about New Paltz says it best: "You'll never see the smart girls rollin' with the frat guys"; that is to say, if you're smart about frat parties, you won't attend them. And so we don't; we join a whole other flock of people, listening to acoustic musicians at 60 Main, watching movies in one of our residence halls, washing laundry, singing on the lawn, staying up until bizarre hours talking about anything that comes across our minds, tiring ourselves of dining hall food, cleaning, napping, and studying, of course- all of which I have done in the last 3 or 4 days.
I was sick for Monday and Tuesday of last week, but I'm better now. I was lucky enough to see three different doctors, not one of which ever came to any conclusion. The two most likely theories are 1) a burst cyst on my ovary being reabsorbed into my system, or 2) a nasty reaction to the dining hall. Either way, I was in wincing, bent-over discomfort that came and went in waves for about 48 hours. I feel better now, but, come ON!- three doctors? no results? What is this world coming to?
An excellent addition to my college life in the last week would have to be the family portraits I finally framed and propped up on my desk! Smiling faces that I miss all the time- a real gift. Thanks, Dad and Kim!
My music choice of the week is a woman named Tender Forever- if you're into hippie-esque music by middle-age lesbian folk singers, TF will be right up your alley. Her music is sweet and sexless and romantic and above all, fun!
(Oh, and note to self; be wary, if you're ever trying to get a taxi again on a Saturday in the pouring rain. You'll probably be late for work!)
I say that for a few reasons... mainly, though, because it shows how much I've changed in the last year or so. I went for a long walk and loved it, a healthy choice I would have dreaded just a couple years ago. I went to a meeting for the comittee that runs Latino Week- I had to represent the M&Ms, the honorary latinas-maybe it doesn't look like chocolatey goodness on the outside, but it's what's inside that counts! Back at my dorm, I listened to a lot of reggaeton and talked to some friends from Ecuador. I am missing it a lot today. It's sometimes hard to believe I was really there.
And for that, I think it's important to say, for my benefit and for anyone reading, that this blog serves an evolving purpose; it was, for a long time, my Ecuador blog. But this is my blog, first and foremost, and it will be my college blog wholly and truly after just a few entries. And in light of that, there is no longer a difference between the life I led in Ecuador and the way I think today. It was the last year of my life. It is hat I do, it is what I know. This blog carries over just as much of the past as I do!
-----------
College is going the same, more or less, as it was last week. I've been trying to call home and/or call around in general more often, especially when I have built-in 10 minute walks across campus with which to make these calls. We've been invited to twenty frat parties but haven't been to one. A song written specifically about New Paltz says it best: "You'll never see the smart girls rollin' with the frat guys"; that is to say, if you're smart about frat parties, you won't attend them. And so we don't; we join a whole other flock of people, listening to acoustic musicians at 60 Main, watching movies in one of our residence halls, washing laundry, singing on the lawn, staying up until bizarre hours talking about anything that comes across our minds, tiring ourselves of dining hall food, cleaning, napping, and studying, of course- all of which I have done in the last 3 or 4 days.
I was sick for Monday and Tuesday of last week, but I'm better now. I was lucky enough to see three different doctors, not one of which ever came to any conclusion. The two most likely theories are 1) a burst cyst on my ovary being reabsorbed into my system, or 2) a nasty reaction to the dining hall. Either way, I was in wincing, bent-over discomfort that came and went in waves for about 48 hours. I feel better now, but, come ON!- three doctors? no results? What is this world coming to?
An excellent addition to my college life in the last week would have to be the family portraits I finally framed and propped up on my desk! Smiling faces that I miss all the time- a real gift. Thanks, Dad and Kim!
My music choice of the week is a woman named Tender Forever- if you're into hippie-esque music by middle-age lesbian folk singers, TF will be right up your alley. Her music is sweet and sexless and romantic and above all, fun!
(Oh, and note to self; be wary, if you're ever trying to get a taxi again on a Saturday in the pouring rain. You'll probably be late for work!)
28 August, 2008
PHASE TWO
It's august of 2008 now. Three months ago, I was packing for our final trip to Quito. Now, here I sit, in a dorm room with a flag of Ecuador and a map of the world, and I am on a whole new adventure now.
On August 21, I moved into my dorm room and met Alice and Sara, my roommates. Alice is a former exchange student who went to Spain through Rotary, with an undeclared major and a biting wit. Sara is a second-degree blackbelt, a pre-med grocery store cashier who dreams of Eastern Europe and her boyfriend, Vjeko. Together, since that day one week ago, we have set out to make friends, and make friends we did;
Kevin and Mark, childhood friends from Farmingdale,
Anthony, with an accent as thick and obtrusive as steel wool, [we get a kick out of making him say dawluhz and dawg and cleassy]
Brian, with a whining voice and supreme height,
Andrew, who requested we call him Beast,
Alex, Ryan, and Cody who play keyboard, guitar, and harmonica, respectively,
Steve, a horseback rider who came over to watch a movie after class,
Madeline, a darling girl from Sweden,
Shaun, the quntessential young "gay guy" of the group [and proudly so],
Stacy, who hardly makes a peep,
Sam, our favorite, from Staten Island,
Ashley, whose upperclassman suitemate tried to scare her and the other freshman into switching out,
Andre and Oliver, who we sat with through an acoustic "jam session" on move-in day,
Will, who warns us against the frathouse evils [like we didn't already hear it a hundred times],
Pamela, the Ecuador-born girl form our Spanish class,
and a thousand more.
On monday we started classes; we set our blaring alarms, shoved new notebooks into old bags, and trudged down to Humanities, or Coykendall, or Wooster, or the Lecture Center, or wherever our schedules directed us to go. My first class was Introduction to Comparative Politics, with a teacher who requests we call him Robert. We went around and introduced ourselves and talked a little, and before i knew it, I'd done it! I'd survived the class! it was time to go!
Then, I proceeded to survive other classes. Freshman Composition, a general ed. requirement taught by a twentysomething dork. Then Intro to Theatre, with professor Kitsakos- I had to write out kit-SOCK-os, who kept us riveted and begging for more. Tuesday, Psychology with a professor who asks for what we want to learn and any music recommendations we have, followed by Spanish with a thoroughly latina teacher- Patricia Fitzpatrick. Har, har.
Tuesday night is $4 movie night and we finally all see The Dark Knight, in a theatre that maybe seats 50 or 60 moviegoers. We are 10 of oly 20 or 25 in the audience, though, and it is quaint and personal- I get up to go to the bathroom, and the man at the concession stand says HEYhowyadoin' before I have the theatre door all the way open. I fele like they were expecting us, putting the show on only for us.
Wednesday I start to get a little claustrophobic, so Alice, Sara, Sam, Kevin, and I walk to the nearest Stewart's-about a mile each way. I have some quality conversations, we get our necessaries- mouthwash, a pint of ice cream, bubblegum... We walk back, I finish my reading, and we go to bed.
Now, getting into my loft bed is very strategic. You can squeeze between the bed and the window and climb up the planks as if they're a ladder. You can do the chair-hop-to-the-bed acrobatic manoeuver, or you can do my personal favorite; the foot-on chair, foot-on-desk, knee-on-bed, pull-body-up move. It's pretty foolproof.... until I tried it last night in the dark, and stepped on my laptop. It never even occured to me that maybe my computer would be on my desk when I tried to climb up until- CRACK!- and at 7 the next morning, assessing the damage, I realize the CRACK was my entire body weight cracking my laptop screen. It's still functioning [obviously], but it's like I was racing Gravity to see who could break it faster. I've only been here a week! I've only taken it out to the bench by the door to study! How can I have already broken it?!
There are a few fixes to this kind of problem, but all of them mean I have to fix it. That's what really gets me. It's BROKEN! I am stunned. It feels so unreal that in one teeny tiny week, I've already done what few college students can manage in 4 years. Some days, the cards are stacked against you.
On the upside, I started work tonight- Wait... That IS an upside, right?
Sorry I'm so awful at answering or returning calls. Pick some names off the list, and they are probably the people I'm traipsing across New Paltz with. Oh, the glory of youth!
On August 21, I moved into my dorm room and met Alice and Sara, my roommates. Alice is a former exchange student who went to Spain through Rotary, with an undeclared major and a biting wit. Sara is a second-degree blackbelt, a pre-med grocery store cashier who dreams of Eastern Europe and her boyfriend, Vjeko. Together, since that day one week ago, we have set out to make friends, and make friends we did;
Kevin and Mark, childhood friends from Farmingdale,
Anthony, with an accent as thick and obtrusive as steel wool, [we get a kick out of making him say dawluhz and dawg and cleassy]
Brian, with a whining voice and supreme height,
Andrew, who requested we call him Beast,
Alex, Ryan, and Cody who play keyboard, guitar, and harmonica, respectively,
Steve, a horseback rider who came over to watch a movie after class,
Madeline, a darling girl from Sweden,
Shaun, the quntessential young "gay guy" of the group [and proudly so],
Stacy, who hardly makes a peep,
Sam, our favorite, from Staten Island,
Ashley, whose upperclassman suitemate tried to scare her and the other freshman into switching out,
Andre and Oliver, who we sat with through an acoustic "jam session" on move-in day,
Will, who warns us against the frathouse evils [like we didn't already hear it a hundred times],
Pamela, the Ecuador-born girl form our Spanish class,
and a thousand more.
On monday we started classes; we set our blaring alarms, shoved new notebooks into old bags, and trudged down to Humanities, or Coykendall, or Wooster, or the Lecture Center, or wherever our schedules directed us to go. My first class was Introduction to Comparative Politics, with a teacher who requests we call him Robert. We went around and introduced ourselves and talked a little, and before i knew it, I'd done it! I'd survived the class! it was time to go!
Then, I proceeded to survive other classes. Freshman Composition, a general ed. requirement taught by a twentysomething dork. Then Intro to Theatre, with professor Kitsakos- I had to write out kit-SOCK-os, who kept us riveted and begging for more. Tuesday, Psychology with a professor who asks for what we want to learn and any music recommendations we have, followed by Spanish with a thoroughly latina teacher- Patricia Fitzpatrick. Har, har.
Tuesday night is $4 movie night and we finally all see The Dark Knight, in a theatre that maybe seats 50 or 60 moviegoers. We are 10 of oly 20 or 25 in the audience, though, and it is quaint and personal- I get up to go to the bathroom, and the man at the concession stand says HEYhowyadoin' before I have the theatre door all the way open. I fele like they were expecting us, putting the show on only for us.
Wednesday I start to get a little claustrophobic, so Alice, Sara, Sam, Kevin, and I walk to the nearest Stewart's-about a mile each way. I have some quality conversations, we get our necessaries- mouthwash, a pint of ice cream, bubblegum... We walk back, I finish my reading, and we go to bed.
Now, getting into my loft bed is very strategic. You can squeeze between the bed and the window and climb up the planks as if they're a ladder. You can do the chair-hop-to-the-bed acrobatic manoeuver, or you can do my personal favorite; the foot-on chair, foot-on-desk, knee-on-bed, pull-body-up move. It's pretty foolproof.... until I tried it last night in the dark, and stepped on my laptop. It never even occured to me that maybe my computer would be on my desk when I tried to climb up until- CRACK!- and at 7 the next morning, assessing the damage, I realize the CRACK was my entire body weight cracking my laptop screen. It's still functioning [obviously], but it's like I was racing Gravity to see who could break it faster. I've only been here a week! I've only taken it out to the bench by the door to study! How can I have already broken it?!
There are a few fixes to this kind of problem, but all of them mean I have to fix it. That's what really gets me. It's BROKEN! I am stunned. It feels so unreal that in one teeny tiny week, I've already done what few college students can manage in 4 years. Some days, the cards are stacked against you.
On the upside, I started work tonight- Wait... That IS an upside, right?
Sorry I'm so awful at answering or returning calls. Pick some names off the list, and they are probably the people I'm traipsing across New Paltz with. Oh, the glory of youth!
10 June, 2008
Final four
It's the other end of this long and crazy journey. I am home and unpacked from the last trip. I am looking at every valuable and wondering if it is worth its space in my suitcase. I am writing letters and taking pictures and mending loose ends, and I am going full-speed ahead towards June 14th; my return to Colonie.
The trip was amazing. We started in Quito and snaked our way down through Ambato, Riobamba, Banos, Cuenca, and finally arrived in Guayaquil on Friday. I have literally over 1,000 photos, some of which will find their way on the internet later this week.
For the time being, I am not waiting for upload bars. I am not napping. I am drinking coffee and working through my droopy eyelids the best I can. I have only a few days left to enjoy all this country has to offer.
And on that note, I'm off to have dinner with my friend Michaela and plan for the coming days.
SEE YOU SOON!
The trip was amazing. We started in Quito and snaked our way down through Ambato, Riobamba, Banos, Cuenca, and finally arrived in Guayaquil on Friday. I have literally over 1,000 photos, some of which will find their way on the internet later this week.
For the time being, I am not waiting for upload bars. I am not napping. I am drinking coffee and working through my droopy eyelids the best I can. I have only a few days left to enjoy all this country has to offer.
And on that note, I'm off to have dinner with my friend Michaela and plan for the coming days.
SEE YOU SOON!
12 May, 2008
Standard update
It has been a really hectic couple of weeks! The details are hard to appreciate if you're not here, so here's the reader's digest version:
School is back in session! It's been good to see my friends again but I'm taking some really boring classes, like Social Bioethics and Technology and Philosophy and Research Methodology-mostly practical, but whoa, not exciting. We have an unprecedented amount of class hours in English now, something like 15 to 18 out of the 45 hours in a week are things like "Business", "Critical Thinking" and "Level 3 Grammar". On Wednesdays, we have 5 English classes. They hate it, but for me it feels like justice. It's MY turn to talk in class!
Got in a few more trips to the beach, one with my friends and another with my host family. It was great, the latter was one of the nicest weekends with this family so far. We played about 100 games of Crazy 8s, we watched Twister [dubbed, of course], we made HUGE banana milkshakes, and of course, we spent the majority of the time in the hammock or in the sand. The weather has changed, though. It's cloudy more, and the ocean is terribly cold- like pins and needles all over. Either way, we had a lot of fun, and I of course got a sunburn... SPF 45 protecting MY skin on the equator is like an inflatable chair keeping you afloat in whitewater rapids... Good luck.
The OTHER countdown is on-remember in July when the countdown to Ecuador began? I'm now in the countdown to Albany-less than 5 weeks and I will be home, sweet home. I'm terrified, sort of digging in my heels, don't want to say goodbye, but there is another side of me that is SINGING! I can't wait to hug my little brothers. I can't wait to drink vitamin water and walk the streets after sundown. I can't wait to see my house, with new siding and an extended deck and the yearly landscaping overhaul. Not to mention going back to my job, graduating high school, seeing my best friend!, and a thousand other things that feel long overdue.
School is back in session! It's been good to see my friends again but I'm taking some really boring classes, like Social Bioethics and Technology and Philosophy and Research Methodology-mostly practical, but whoa, not exciting. We have an unprecedented amount of class hours in English now, something like 15 to 18 out of the 45 hours in a week are things like "Business", "Critical Thinking" and "Level 3 Grammar". On Wednesdays, we have 5 English classes. They hate it, but for me it feels like justice. It's MY turn to talk in class!
Got in a few more trips to the beach, one with my friends and another with my host family. It was great, the latter was one of the nicest weekends with this family so far. We played about 100 games of Crazy 8s, we watched Twister [dubbed, of course], we made HUGE banana milkshakes, and of course, we spent the majority of the time in the hammock or in the sand. The weather has changed, though. It's cloudy more, and the ocean is terribly cold- like pins and needles all over. Either way, we had a lot of fun, and I of course got a sunburn... SPF 45 protecting MY skin on the equator is like an inflatable chair keeping you afloat in whitewater rapids... Good luck.
The OTHER countdown is on-remember in July when the countdown to Ecuador began? I'm now in the countdown to Albany-less than 5 weeks and I will be home, sweet home. I'm terrified, sort of digging in my heels, don't want to say goodbye, but there is another side of me that is SINGING! I can't wait to hug my little brothers. I can't wait to drink vitamin water and walk the streets after sundown. I can't wait to see my house, with new siding and an extended deck and the yearly landscaping overhaul. Not to mention going back to my job, graduating high school, seeing my best friend!, and a thousand other things that feel long overdue.
12 April, 2008
Galapagos!
I think the Galapagos could only really be explained with photos. It was: Early mornings, long walks, completely kicking the crap out of my sneakers, the most refreshing showers at the end of the day, white beaches, HUGE TURTLES, marine iguanas, blue-footed boobies, 3'-tall pelicans, sea lions, rooming with Kourtney as per our usual routine, snorkeling, cliff jumping, blue blue skies and blue blue water, lazy afternoons, bike rentals, high prices!, tons of americans, dancing, singing, swimming, and a big adventure.
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU to everyone who helped make this trip possible! Grandma, Grandpa, Grandma Sanger, Dave, Tom, Mom, Aunt Shelley, Aunt Sis, and of course Dad and Kim, you are amazing. You can't imagine how good it was for me. THANK YOU!!!!
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU to everyone who helped make this trip possible! Grandma, Grandpa, Grandma Sanger, Dave, Tom, Mom, Aunt Shelley, Aunt Sis, and of course Dad and Kim, you are amazing. You can't imagine how good it was for me. THANK YOU!!!!
02 April, 2008
Part of the Family...
Alicia Holzapfel and I with my birthday cake!Last night was my sixth and final celebration of my 18th birthday... the second one in the form of a Rotary meeting! I went last week as well, but our club was meeting with the original Rotary Club Guayaquil and weren't meeting in our usual restaurant. They sang and were very nice, but this week was the real celebration.
It was the best and worst Rotary meeting I've ever attended. Aside from celebrating my birthday, there was the dinner, of course, and we were offered 2 dishes: Chicken and a vegetable medley, or something they just told me was "traditional Ecuadorean food." So, being my exchange student self, not wanting to say no to their culture, I said "I'd like the traditional Ecuadorean food." Well, about 25 minutes later, the plates were brought in. The chicken and vegetables looked really good, but the other plates smelled and looked even better: meat in a peanut sauce, fried banana, avocado halves, and rice. So I tried it. The meat, which I knew off the bat wasn't chicken, was very salty and almost too gummy to chew. I tried a few bites but didn't really like the texture, so I just enjoyed the rest of the dish and left the rest of the meat there.
After dinner, they told me what the dish was. AFTER dinner. The dish is called "Mondongo", and it's typical of Ecuador. It is, like I'd guessed, prepared in a peanut sauce, and has to be cooked very carefully, or the texture of the meat is almost unchewable. Oh, and the meat? Cow stomach. I excused myself to the bathroom and cleaned my mouth out. My stomach still churns at the thought of it.
After the meal talk, the president of the club stood up with a gift bag in his hand. "It seems we have a birthday girl among us..." he said. He handed the bag to Alicia, my counselor, and she handed the bag to me. Presents? Really?
Inside the bag was an offical Rotary polo shirt, an offical Rotary baseball cap, and a teddy bear, holding a heart pinned with the flag of Guayaquil.
After the presents we had cake: Chocolate cake with chocolate and whipped-cream frosting, covered with a hard chocolate shell! Between picking me out a dreamy all-chocolate cake, and embroidering my name into the hat and shirt so I wouldn't lose them, I'm starting to feel like I have yet aNOTHER set of parents looking out for me! I really feel like a loved part of the Rotary family.
27 March, 2008
Quito, et cetera.
The links lead to pictures! You can choose them as you wish.
This past weekend, I had the opportunity to visit Quito with my host family.
Quito is: info thanks to Wikipedia, la enciclopedia libre
-The capital of Ecuador, with 2.1 million inhabitants
-Located 2800 meters above sea level
-Cold! The average annual temperature is 12 degrees Celsius, or 54 degrees Fahrenheit.
-Minutes' drive from the equator, thus subject to hundreds upon hundreds of tourists.
-Relatively well off for an Ecuadorean city, with 7% unemployment and $387 avg. monthly wages.
-Beautiful. Quito is one of those cities whose beauty makes you take a deep breath. While it is a bustling city, the atmosphere is really enjoyable. There are street performers and tons of majestic cathedrals with huge stained-glass windows and clock towers that take a real effort to climb. But we did it! And the view was incredible.
While in Quito, we were really busy visiting with family and seeing the sights, but just as I was feeling homesick for my Easter basket, we took a special trip to try our hands [or ankles?] at ice skating. It was for sure a challenge but we loved it, except Pamela who couldn't quite get the hang of it.
In short, Quito is great. A city not to be missed!
This past weekend, I had the opportunity to visit Quito with my host family.
Quito is: info thanks to Wikipedia, la enciclopedia libre
-The capital of Ecuador, with 2.1 million inhabitants
-Located 2800 meters above sea level
-Cold! The average annual temperature is 12 degrees Celsius, or 54 degrees Fahrenheit.
-Minutes' drive from the equator, thus subject to hundreds upon hundreds of tourists.
-Relatively well off for an Ecuadorean city, with 7% unemployment and $387 avg. monthly wages.
-Beautiful. Quito is one of those cities whose beauty makes you take a deep breath. While it is a bustling city, the atmosphere is really enjoyable. There are street performers and tons of majestic cathedrals with huge stained-glass windows and clock towers that take a real effort to climb. But we did it! And the view was incredible.
While in Quito, we were really busy visiting with family and seeing the sights, but just as I was feeling homesick for my Easter basket, we took a special trip to try our hands [or ankles?] at ice skating. It was for sure a challenge but we loved it, except Pamela who couldn't quite get the hang of it.
In short, Quito is great. A city not to be missed!
17 March, 2008
70%
Two crazy weeks! First, the day after my last post, we packed up and headed for Manta, a few hours up the coastline of Ecuador. We drove all day, sopped a few times along the way to see where the National Assembly is held, things like that. We stayed overnight and the next morning, picked up Cecile's family from the airport. Cecile is from Belgium, and her parents hosted Maria Jose, my host family's daughter. Cecile lives in Quito so, naturally, when the family wanted to come see the coast, my host family offered to show them around. It was fascinating. We went from Manta to Puerto Lopez to Salinas to Guayaquil, all the while working through the language barrier- a silly-sounding mix of Spanish, French, and English. We went deep-sea fishing, kayaking, drove a lot, slept a little, and played a lot of ping-pong, a universal test of brains and braun.
The day after we came back to Guayaquil was my eighteenth birthday [3/6], and what better gift is there than my family coming to visit? Their flight was scheduled to land around 5, and I spent the whole day thinking of things I needed to tell them- Traffic is crazy, don't flush the toilet paper, haggle with the taxi drivers, etc. etc. etc. I think it was partly just because I couldn'tbelieve they were really coming, couldn't imagine being with them, and then there they were. The airport was an intense moment, running and hugging Allison before I even got in the door, seeing how tall Christopher had gotten, hugging, crying, etc.
We spent the first couple days in Guayaquil, got to see the boardwalk and climb the Santa Ana hill and have some traditional Ecuadorean food, and Saturday we bounced around; had breakfast with my current host family, stopped in to visit with the Leivas, and had lunch with my friends from school and Exchange. My dad loved that part. I did too.
We spent Saturday night until Friday morning in Salinas, which was freaking fantastic. We ate ceviche and road jet-skis, kayaked and suntanned and bought at least 40 or 50 DVDs. It, of course, went way too fast, but was so great, so fun, and I felt so lucky to be laying in a hammock, having a "Heavy-Deep-and-Real" conversation with my dad until the middle of the night, sometimes later, like I'd never been gone at all.
Yesterday marked 7 months down. I offically feel pressure, like there's just not enough time left. The next 3 months are already filling up with activities, trips and school and birthdays and at the end of May, our little exchange family starts breaking up when Kourtney goes back to Ohio to graduate. Then Rose and Karlijn, then me, then Eden, Ayla, Nils, Thimo, Michaela, in succession, broken up by a week or two in between. I feel a little dread, like I would slow it down if I could. I don't want to leave this comfortable little home I've made myself, but then again, I felt the same way leaving in August. Just gotta keep looking forward...
The day after we came back to Guayaquil was my eighteenth birthday [3/6], and what better gift is there than my family coming to visit? Their flight was scheduled to land around 5, and I spent the whole day thinking of things I needed to tell them- Traffic is crazy, don't flush the toilet paper, haggle with the taxi drivers, etc. etc. etc. I think it was partly just because I couldn'tbelieve they were really coming, couldn't imagine being with them, and then there they were. The airport was an intense moment, running and hugging Allison before I even got in the door, seeing how tall Christopher had gotten, hugging, crying, etc.
We spent the first couple days in Guayaquil, got to see the boardwalk and climb the Santa Ana hill and have some traditional Ecuadorean food, and Saturday we bounced around; had breakfast with my current host family, stopped in to visit with the Leivas, and had lunch with my friends from school and Exchange. My dad loved that part. I did too.
We spent Saturday night until Friday morning in Salinas, which was freaking fantastic. We ate ceviche and road jet-skis, kayaked and suntanned and bought at least 40 or 50 DVDs. It, of course, went way too fast, but was so great, so fun, and I felt so lucky to be laying in a hammock, having a "Heavy-Deep-and-Real" conversation with my dad until the middle of the night, sometimes later, like I'd never been gone at all.
Yesterday marked 7 months down. I offically feel pressure, like there's just not enough time left. The next 3 months are already filling up with activities, trips and school and birthdays and at the end of May, our little exchange family starts breaking up when Kourtney goes back to Ohio to graduate. Then Rose and Karlijn, then me, then Eden, Ayla, Nils, Thimo, Michaela, in succession, broken up by a week or two in between. I feel a little dread, like I would slow it down if I could. I don't want to leave this comfortable little home I've made myself, but then again, I felt the same way leaving in August. Just gotta keep looking forward...
27 February, 2008
My Nightmare: Rotary Edition
When I think back to the spring and summer of 2007, the time I now refer to as "when this whole thing started" in respect to my exchange, a few things stick out to me: The night we wikipedia'd Ecuador for the first time, the exchange conference in May, my first email from my first host family, and my first Rotary meeting, when I met the exchange students our club was hosting and saw them give their Big Presentations.
For those of you who are not so familiar with the exchange rules, each exchange student, at some point in their exchange year, is asked to present to the Rotary club that hosts them about their home town, home state, home country, etc. We saw three different presentations, from Marie about her town in France, from Ciro about his city in Bolivia, and from Olga about her town in Germany. I brought a red spiral-bound notebook and a pen and took notes on the presentation styles, ALREADY sweating the day when it would be my turn to get up and say "Aaaalllbaaaanyyyyy" and flash through slides of Washington Park, New York City, my high school, my house, etc.
Well, a few nights ago, my host mother Cecilia called me into their bedroom and said "Sabrina, have you been to a Rotary meeting yet in February?" [Spinning through my mental datebook....] "Uh, no, I haven't," I said, so she offered to call my counselor and get me in for the meeting the night of Feb. 26th. I knew I'd have to do my presentation when I went, because I'd been scheduled to do it in January but there was a conflict on my night, and so we'd postponed it but never set a new date.
The following morning, I brought out that notebook and flipped to my notes and got to work, starting with Googling pictures of those Oneonta snowbanks that were in the Times Union last year, the 22' tall ones. My goal was to show the differences; the climate, the population [Guayaquil has more than 30 times as many inhabitants as Albany], the demographics, etc.; but also do it in a blatant, sort of funny way: I wasn't going to put in pictures of my house in August, I'd show it under 2' of snow. I wasn't going to show our mall vs. their mall, but instead represented their population with 15 stick figures and ours with half of one.
I worked for a couple hours without stopping, also including the Tulip Festival, the Egg, stuff that would keep them awake but would show them what we're about at the same time. I changed the backgrounds of the slides, put together animation, and when I was happy with it all, I burned it to a CD and wrote my name on the label, slipped it into a case, and saved a copy on the computer. I put together a cheat sheet and scanned it every few hours throughout the days remaining between me and my big night.
On Feb. 25th, I got a call from my counselor, Alicia. "Hola, Sabrina," she says, and she asks me what I'll need for my presentation. I tell her I need a computer and an InFocus [to project the slideshow] and a screen or some sort of backdrop to make it visible. She tells me no problem, asks me how my presentation is going, and says she'll see me the following night at 8:30.
The big night started out bad, which I guess I should have taken as an omen. I had to change my outfit 3 times and my banner from the Colonie-Guilderland club, even though I'd kept it rolled up for the last 8 months, was all wrinkled, and I couldn't think of a way to flatten it without ruining it. I took a deep breath, went over my notes, practiced what I was going to say, got myself some juice, and calmed down to a hand-jitter-less state.
Then, my host parents got home from their volunteer work at 8:31, leaving us negative 1 minute to get to the meeting on time. I sat in the back seat, sweating, rolling and unrolling the banner, muttering my presentation to myself.
I got to the meeting at 8:40, and the sliding doors were shut. I opened them with a horrible CLACK-CLACK-CLACK-CLACK and walked into the silent room, scanning it for my counselor... who wasn't there. The minute I sat down, a Rotarian called me out of the room to tell me the man who was going to bring the InFocus [the projector] couldn't make it. I let out a sigh of relief for another postponement until I realize he's still talking, telling me to wing it. "Good luck!" he says and walks back into the meeting.
I go back in and sit down. My chest feels tight. I sit staring at my disc and my cheat sheet and feel like I might cry, but I take a deep breath and wait my turn, thinking about the bits of information from the slideshow that wll still be worth sharing without the pictures. I don't have a pen and I can feel ideas coming to my mind and flying back out. I wait for what feels like an hour and then I am introduced as the exchange student "Sabrina.. Add-a-kiss" who will be telling them... about how my exchange year has been going so far. Huh?
I walk up and stand in front of the room and the words just seem to flow. I tell them Hello, my name is Sabrina, and I come from the United States, the state of New York but not the city. I tell them my father is a Rotary club president and I come from a big family, and then I tell them about working with the blind children and visiting impoverished families at Christmastime. I tell them about the Amazon and Quito and I tell them, not because I'd planned to but because I mean it, that my ear as an exchange student has been the most important year of my life, and that it has been an opportunity to grow and learn and see things, and I appreciate the opportunity so much. I say thank you and ask for questions. One rotarian asks me how I like the food and I tell him I love it, he asks me how I like the boys and we all laugh and he says "I mean, not me, of course, sorry, I'm married." I look around and realize they're all smiling at me, and it feels really good to be able to tell them how cool my year's been. I guess that means there was a happy ending!
For those of you who are not so familiar with the exchange rules, each exchange student, at some point in their exchange year, is asked to present to the Rotary club that hosts them about their home town, home state, home country, etc. We saw three different presentations, from Marie about her town in France, from Ciro about his city in Bolivia, and from Olga about her town in Germany. I brought a red spiral-bound notebook and a pen and took notes on the presentation styles, ALREADY sweating the day when it would be my turn to get up and say "Aaaalllbaaaanyyyyy" and flash through slides of Washington Park, New York City, my high school, my house, etc.
Well, a few nights ago, my host mother Cecilia called me into their bedroom and said "Sabrina, have you been to a Rotary meeting yet in February?" [Spinning through my mental datebook....] "Uh, no, I haven't," I said, so she offered to call my counselor and get me in for the meeting the night of Feb. 26th. I knew I'd have to do my presentation when I went, because I'd been scheduled to do it in January but there was a conflict on my night, and so we'd postponed it but never set a new date.
The following morning, I brought out that notebook and flipped to my notes and got to work, starting with Googling pictures of those Oneonta snowbanks that were in the Times Union last year, the 22' tall ones. My goal was to show the differences; the climate, the population [Guayaquil has more than 30 times as many inhabitants as Albany], the demographics, etc.; but also do it in a blatant, sort of funny way: I wasn't going to put in pictures of my house in August, I'd show it under 2' of snow. I wasn't going to show our mall vs. their mall, but instead represented their population with 15 stick figures and ours with half of one.
I worked for a couple hours without stopping, also including the Tulip Festival, the Egg, stuff that would keep them awake but would show them what we're about at the same time. I changed the backgrounds of the slides, put together animation, and when I was happy with it all, I burned it to a CD and wrote my name on the label, slipped it into a case, and saved a copy on the computer. I put together a cheat sheet and scanned it every few hours throughout the days remaining between me and my big night.
On Feb. 25th, I got a call from my counselor, Alicia. "Hola, Sabrina," she says, and she asks me what I'll need for my presentation. I tell her I need a computer and an InFocus [to project the slideshow] and a screen or some sort of backdrop to make it visible. She tells me no problem, asks me how my presentation is going, and says she'll see me the following night at 8:30.
The big night started out bad, which I guess I should have taken as an omen. I had to change my outfit 3 times and my banner from the Colonie-Guilderland club, even though I'd kept it rolled up for the last 8 months, was all wrinkled, and I couldn't think of a way to flatten it without ruining it. I took a deep breath, went over my notes, practiced what I was going to say, got myself some juice, and calmed down to a hand-jitter-less state.
Then, my host parents got home from their volunteer work at 8:31, leaving us negative 1 minute to get to the meeting on time. I sat in the back seat, sweating, rolling and unrolling the banner, muttering my presentation to myself.
I got to the meeting at 8:40, and the sliding doors were shut. I opened them with a horrible CLACK-CLACK-CLACK-CLACK and walked into the silent room, scanning it for my counselor... who wasn't there. The minute I sat down, a Rotarian called me out of the room to tell me the man who was going to bring the InFocus [the projector] couldn't make it. I let out a sigh of relief for another postponement until I realize he's still talking, telling me to wing it. "Good luck!" he says and walks back into the meeting.
I go back in and sit down. My chest feels tight. I sit staring at my disc and my cheat sheet and feel like I might cry, but I take a deep breath and wait my turn, thinking about the bits of information from the slideshow that wll still be worth sharing without the pictures. I don't have a pen and I can feel ideas coming to my mind and flying back out. I wait for what feels like an hour and then I am introduced as the exchange student "Sabrina.. Add-a-kiss" who will be telling them... about how my exchange year has been going so far. Huh?
I walk up and stand in front of the room and the words just seem to flow. I tell them Hello, my name is Sabrina, and I come from the United States, the state of New York but not the city. I tell them my father is a Rotary club president and I come from a big family, and then I tell them about working with the blind children and visiting impoverished families at Christmastime. I tell them about the Amazon and Quito and I tell them, not because I'd planned to but because I mean it, that my ear as an exchange student has been the most important year of my life, and that it has been an opportunity to grow and learn and see things, and I appreciate the opportunity so much. I say thank you and ask for questions. One rotarian asks me how I like the food and I tell him I love it, he asks me how I like the boys and we all laugh and he says "I mean, not me, of course, sorry, I'm married." I look around and realize they're all smiling at me, and it feels really good to be able to tell them how cool my year's been. I guess that means there was a happy ending!
14 February, 2008
Ooh ee, ooh ahh ahh....
.... ting, tang, walla walla bing bang!
Home from the amazon, and I will be the first to say it was the trip of a lifetime!
The trip started out thursday night at 8:00, when we [Kourtney, Rose, Karlijn, and I] boarded the bus to Quito. We rode all night which, in the rainy season, is not exactly a walk in the park; every time we finally nodded off, the bus rode over a gigantic pothole and we were back where we started from. We finally arrived in Quito around 5:30 or 6:00, freezing, feeling grimy, and ready for a nice warm breakfast. We stopped in Le Petit Cafe and got hot cocoa, grilled cheese, eggs, croissants, the works!
From there we boarded our little puddle-jumper plane with the other 12 exchange students en route to Coca. We stopped in Coca long enough to use the bathrooms and canoodle with the domesticated monkeys and birds, then got in the canoe for the 3 hour ride to Yachana, which in the native Quichua means "Learning". Upon arrival we wer informed by the head guide for our group, Juan, all the need-to-know basics about the trip: what hours we'd have electricity, powered by solar panels and biomass; meal times; towel and sheet rotations, etc. etc. We were also assigned our boots: Black rubber rain boots that we would be wearing daily for the duration of the trip.
The lodge itself was nothing like I'd expected. The other students said they were "cabins", so I expected candlelight and splintering floorboards and a hose in the shower, haha. I was reeealllly pleasantly surprised when we got to our room: 2 REALLY comfortable twin beds, a hot shower, ceiling fan, cubbies to hang and organize our clothes, and a small porch with a table and a hammock. The food was above my expectations, as well: Hot coffee and teas, granola with warm milk, fruit upon fruit, fresh juice, eggs and bacon and pancakes for breakfast, hot soups, rice, meat, and veggies for lunch, fruit cocktails for dessert, and heaping plates [with themes] for dinner: one night was what we believe was American Night, because we had chicken with barbecue sauce, potato salad, a garden salad with ranch dressing, and lemonade- YUM!
Much of the trip is a blur, a fun and fast paced and amazing blur. We hiked, long and hard, for a minimum of two hours a day and a maximum of five. We visited the nearby highschool, where the students learned not only english, math, and sciences, but also handcrafts, agriculture, and worked at the lodge, building steps on tricky parts of the trail, interning as tour guides and assistant cooks, screen-printed souvenir tshirts, you name it-they learned it. We watched a couple pan for gold; a backbreaking, low-tech job that earns $20 a gram... and the couple has 12 children. We ate bugs!, both living and roasted. We had a great balance of busy activities and downtime, which we spent swinging in the hammocks, playing carcds, doing our nails [of the 16 of us, 14 were girls], and relaxing in our beds. We made baskets and sang songs and taught the guides cardgames like Bullshit and Spit and got to know the other students a lot better at the same time. By the time we came home on Tuesday, we were begging to stay!
The canoe ride on Tuesday morning was shorter because we were going downstream. We arrived in Coca about an hour before our flight, puddle-jumped back to Quito, had lunch at Pizza Hut, and were on our way back to Guayaquil by 4:30. Unfortunately, because of the weather, the trip back was longer than it had been the last time we went, and we arrived at the Guayaquil terminal at 2 in the morning, exhausted and grimy all over again!
I'm glad to be back in Guayaquil, but glad at the same time to have had such a wonderful opportunity. It was definitely a highlight of the year!
Home from the amazon, and I will be the first to say it was the trip of a lifetime!
The trip started out thursday night at 8:00, when we [Kourtney, Rose, Karlijn, and I] boarded the bus to Quito. We rode all night which, in the rainy season, is not exactly a walk in the park; every time we finally nodded off, the bus rode over a gigantic pothole and we were back where we started from. We finally arrived in Quito around 5:30 or 6:00, freezing, feeling grimy, and ready for a nice warm breakfast. We stopped in Le Petit Cafe and got hot cocoa, grilled cheese, eggs, croissants, the works!
From there we boarded our little puddle-jumper plane with the other 12 exchange students en route to Coca. We stopped in Coca long enough to use the bathrooms and canoodle with the domesticated monkeys and birds, then got in the canoe for the 3 hour ride to Yachana, which in the native Quichua means "Learning". Upon arrival we wer informed by the head guide for our group, Juan, all the need-to-know basics about the trip: what hours we'd have electricity, powered by solar panels and biomass; meal times; towel and sheet rotations, etc. etc. We were also assigned our boots: Black rubber rain boots that we would be wearing daily for the duration of the trip.
The lodge itself was nothing like I'd expected. The other students said they were "cabins", so I expected candlelight and splintering floorboards and a hose in the shower, haha. I was reeealllly pleasantly surprised when we got to our room: 2 REALLY comfortable twin beds, a hot shower, ceiling fan, cubbies to hang and organize our clothes, and a small porch with a table and a hammock. The food was above my expectations, as well: Hot coffee and teas, granola with warm milk, fruit upon fruit, fresh juice, eggs and bacon and pancakes for breakfast, hot soups, rice, meat, and veggies for lunch, fruit cocktails for dessert, and heaping plates [with themes] for dinner: one night was what we believe was American Night, because we had chicken with barbecue sauce, potato salad, a garden salad with ranch dressing, and lemonade- YUM!
Much of the trip is a blur, a fun and fast paced and amazing blur. We hiked, long and hard, for a minimum of two hours a day and a maximum of five. We visited the nearby highschool, where the students learned not only english, math, and sciences, but also handcrafts, agriculture, and worked at the lodge, building steps on tricky parts of the trail, interning as tour guides and assistant cooks, screen-printed souvenir tshirts, you name it-they learned it. We watched a couple pan for gold; a backbreaking, low-tech job that earns $20 a gram... and the couple has 12 children. We ate bugs!, both living and roasted. We had a great balance of busy activities and downtime, which we spent swinging in the hammocks, playing carcds, doing our nails [of the 16 of us, 14 were girls], and relaxing in our beds. We made baskets and sang songs and taught the guides cardgames like Bullshit and Spit and got to know the other students a lot better at the same time. By the time we came home on Tuesday, we were begging to stay!
The canoe ride on Tuesday morning was shorter because we were going downstream. We arrived in Coca about an hour before our flight, puddle-jumped back to Quito, had lunch at Pizza Hut, and were on our way back to Guayaquil by 4:30. Unfortunately, because of the weather, the trip back was longer than it had been the last time we went, and we arrived at the Guayaquil terminal at 2 in the morning, exhausted and grimy all over again!
I'm glad to be back in Guayaquil, but glad at the same time to have had such a wonderful opportunity. It was definitely a highlight of the year!
28 January, 2008
1/2 = 50%
All the little markers have pointed to its passing... 2007 transitioning into 2008, marking off 152 out of 304 days, and now, this week, changing host families: My exchange is halfway over!
It amazes me, if I stop and think about it. I can hardly believe that this is what I was so nervous about back in August- the passing of 10 months just seemed so.... painstakingly... slow...
Now that I'm in it, now that half of it has gone by, I wish I'd done some things differently! I wish I hadn't worried so much about it, and I wish I had made the very most of my first months. Even though I was really busy, I still have this feeling like I wish I'd done more. Mayb I would have had this feeling regardless. Who knows.
The first months were really a blast. I got to spend a TON of time at the beach; I counted it up last night and between mid-November and now, I spent about 20 days at the beach. I also spent a ton of time at school, of course. As an exchange student, school feels like a blessing instead of a burden. For me, it was an opportunity to meet people I could go out with instead of sitting home. It was also a perfect environment to practice Spanish, both speaking it with classmates and working on my ear for it while teachers gave lectures. Plus, I learned a thing or two- actually, I learned a lot, not just in classes like Ethics, National Reality, and Psychology, but also in English: rules on grammar and word order and even spelling that they learned as basic steps to speaking that, because I grew up speaking it, I was never formally taught.
I also got in with a fantastic host family, one that took me in truly as a member of the family. I'll be sad to be leaving them soon! My next family is very different; for one, the host siblings are younger than me, instead of older. The house is inside a gated community called Stella Mar, and it has a pool and a gym that are accessible to residents, so I can busy myself during this long break from school. It should be really interesting. I just hope it all goes well.
The next 5 months supposedly go really fast. That worries me! But I'm pretty sure that when I leave here in June, it will not be forever. I'd love to come back and visit when I get older, maybe even get a house here. It just has a peaceful, slow pace. Especially on the beach. I guess you'd have to see it for yourself!
The next few weeks are going to be busy for sure. I have my family change, then I have to give my presentation to Rotary, and then we have the option of going to the Amazon for a few days in February. Exciting stuff...!
It amazes me, if I stop and think about it. I can hardly believe that this is what I was so nervous about back in August- the passing of 10 months just seemed so.... painstakingly... slow...
Now that I'm in it, now that half of it has gone by, I wish I'd done some things differently! I wish I hadn't worried so much about it, and I wish I had made the very most of my first months. Even though I was really busy, I still have this feeling like I wish I'd done more. Mayb I would have had this feeling regardless. Who knows.
The first months were really a blast. I got to spend a TON of time at the beach; I counted it up last night and between mid-November and now, I spent about 20 days at the beach. I also spent a ton of time at school, of course. As an exchange student, school feels like a blessing instead of a burden. For me, it was an opportunity to meet people I could go out with instead of sitting home. It was also a perfect environment to practice Spanish, both speaking it with classmates and working on my ear for it while teachers gave lectures. Plus, I learned a thing or two- actually, I learned a lot, not just in classes like Ethics, National Reality, and Psychology, but also in English: rules on grammar and word order and even spelling that they learned as basic steps to speaking that, because I grew up speaking it, I was never formally taught.
I also got in with a fantastic host family, one that took me in truly as a member of the family. I'll be sad to be leaving them soon! My next family is very different; for one, the host siblings are younger than me, instead of older. The house is inside a gated community called Stella Mar, and it has a pool and a gym that are accessible to residents, so I can busy myself during this long break from school. It should be really interesting. I just hope it all goes well.
The next 5 months supposedly go really fast. That worries me! But I'm pretty sure that when I leave here in June, it will not be forever. I'd love to come back and visit when I get older, maybe even get a house here. It just has a peaceful, slow pace. Especially on the beach. I guess you'd have to see it for yourself!
The next few weeks are going to be busy for sure. I have my family change, then I have to give my presentation to Rotary, and then we have the option of going to the Amazon for a few days in February. Exciting stuff...!
11 January, 2008
It's good to be on vacation...
A short background note: because Guayaquil is just south of the equator, and because we're on the coast, the summertime is relatively cold, meaning low 70's, and the wintertime is a little warmer, up to around 95.
Due to these two factors, the school schedule is different here than it is in the United States-Even different than in the mountainous regions that don't have the same type of rainy season.
So... Today was my last day of school! I'm on winter vacation until April, when I will go back as a senior [ FINALLY going to rule the school :) ] until my return home in June!
Aside from that, we [the exchange students] are starting to settle into a fairly normal rhythm; that is, Spanish classes are over, we've done our sightseeing, our Spanish is much improved, and we've been here for- wow!- 5 months. This settling-in has been gradual since we got here, but now that it's more or less over, now that we know our way around the city and have memorized important phone numbers and know when a cabbie is ripping us off, I, for one, am starting to feel boredom- Not in the sense that I'm bored, per se, but more that I'm not so easily thrilled anymore. It's a good thing, for sure! But it's important in this period to keep busy [which makes summer vacation a mixed blessing], because homesickness is also a lot more likely when we're vegetating with our iPods or our telenovelas on TV.
The saddest even we've had as of late is Liz's departure: Liz is an Australian exchange student who, since she's also from south of the equator, was on a January-January year as opposed to an August-July year, like many of us are. Her going away party was Tuesday, and she will be greatly missed. She's been a great influence on us all: Never broke the rules, bonded deep-down with her host family, stayed involved in school, and really enjoyed speaking Spanish. I remember meeting her in August and thinking that she was the kind of exchange student I'd hoped to be. We wish her the best down undah!
That's about it. I'm happy, healthy, and about halfway back to Albany- Tuesday marks 5 months down, less than 5 to go!
Due to these two factors, the school schedule is different here than it is in the United States-Even different than in the mountainous regions that don't have the same type of rainy season.
So... Today was my last day of school! I'm on winter vacation until April, when I will go back as a senior [ FINALLY going to rule the school :) ] until my return home in June!
Aside from that, we [the exchange students] are starting to settle into a fairly normal rhythm; that is, Spanish classes are over, we've done our sightseeing, our Spanish is much improved, and we've been here for- wow!- 5 months. This settling-in has been gradual since we got here, but now that it's more or less over, now that we know our way around the city and have memorized important phone numbers and know when a cabbie is ripping us off, I, for one, am starting to feel boredom- Not in the sense that I'm bored, per se, but more that I'm not so easily thrilled anymore. It's a good thing, for sure! But it's important in this period to keep busy [which makes summer vacation a mixed blessing], because homesickness is also a lot more likely when we're vegetating with our iPods or our telenovelas on TV.
The saddest even we've had as of late is Liz's departure: Liz is an Australian exchange student who, since she's also from south of the equator, was on a January-January year as opposed to an August-July year, like many of us are. Her going away party was Tuesday, and she will be greatly missed. She's been a great influence on us all: Never broke the rules, bonded deep-down with her host family, stayed involved in school, and really enjoyed speaking Spanish. I remember meeting her in August and thinking that she was the kind of exchange student I'd hoped to be. We wish her the best down undah!
That's about it. I'm happy, healthy, and about halfway back to Albany- Tuesday marks 5 months down, less than 5 to go!
04 January, 2008
2008....
2008is here and we've hit the ground running. My host family and I spent midnight on the beach in Salinas with thousands of people throwing confetti, popping champagne and lighting fireworks and all that. We made a short video to send to Diego in Germany and then one to send home to my dad. It was nice to have everyone put in like that. We burned a "viejo", a papier-mache doll that represents the year that's passing and all the regrets or unhappy events of the year before. From there I went out with my friends and we had an absolute blast on the boardwalk until 5 AM. New Year's night was only part of a perfect beach weekend, relaxing, sunning, riding on one of those banana boats until it flipped and we all got soaked, drinking banana smoothies, and doing typical girly teenage things.
Since I got home I've been paying my post-beach dues, picking at a bad sunburn and trying to catch up on laundry. I checked in on school today, talked with my teachers whose final exams I was worried about and even took the first final of the weeklong testing-got a 95% in history. If only I could get credit for it back home...
Other than that, time is moving along as usual. I'm so close to halfway done, I can smell it. School ends in a week, and at the end of the month, I change to my new host family, the Stacy family, with a mom, dad, brother [13] and sister [8] in a gated community further into the city, but still on the outskirts. Their current exchange daughter, Karlijn, will come to my house. I'm going to miss my family but I'll also be glad to change.
61 days until I turn 18... The excitement is building...
[EDIT] PS: Here's some photos!
Karlijn, me, Nils, and Eden on the equator!
Trip to Quito, 15/12/2007
Nia and I shopping for Viejo dolls on a street named "March 6th"- My birthday!
25/12/007
Nia and I during the gift exchange, around midnight
25/12/2007
Christmas dinner: Nia, Marco, Abuela, Marco Antonio way in the back, me, and Mirta
That's it for now. More soon!
Since I got home I've been paying my post-beach dues, picking at a bad sunburn and trying to catch up on laundry. I checked in on school today, talked with my teachers whose final exams I was worried about and even took the first final of the weeklong testing-got a 95% in history. If only I could get credit for it back home...
Other than that, time is moving along as usual. I'm so close to halfway done, I can smell it. School ends in a week, and at the end of the month, I change to my new host family, the Stacy family, with a mom, dad, brother [13] and sister [8] in a gated community further into the city, but still on the outskirts. Their current exchange daughter, Karlijn, will come to my house. I'm going to miss my family but I'll also be glad to change.
61 days until I turn 18... The excitement is building...
[EDIT] PS: Here's some photos!
Karlijn, me, Nils, and Eden on the equator!
Trip to Quito, 15/12/2007
Nia and I shopping for Viejo dolls on a street named "March 6th"- My birthday!
25/12/007
Nia and I during the gift exchange, around midnight
25/12/2007
Christmas dinner: Nia, Marco, Abuela, Marco Antonio way in the back, me, and Mirta
That's it for now. More soon!
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