chao ecuador!

Well… I’m no longer in Quito. Sad day. But also very exciting! I get to see everyone again : )

Saturday was a very nice day. Maria and I hung out in the early evening and just walked around town. Then a bunch of us got together at La Naranjilla Mecánica (inspired by the movie, A Clockwork Orange). It was Tammy, Jenny, Ivan, Me, Maria, Danny (Cathy’s son), Diego (Maria’s host brother), and his two friends Andrés, and José (who I had never met before), and AnnMarie and Xavier. It was so fun : ) We sat in this posh room with cushions in Dalmatian pattern and the walls were all furry. The food was suuuuuper good. It was just great!

After, some of us went to Augijon to dance. The music was some reggaton/a little hip hop/randomness that I don’t even know what it was. It was okay to dance to but the people I was with made it really fun. : ) I really like all the friends I made in Quito! ☺

En Domingo, fui a iglesia con Maria y mi amiga Kristen (I met her my first Sunday at church). It was nice to see her one last time before I left! Then I went to lunch at a Cuban place with Cathy and her family. They are such a nice family. I really like her daughter, Stephy. She’s 16 and a junior at Colegio Americano.

After lunch I went home and finished packing. Sunday night was just a chill evening. I met up with Maria and we went to dinner at Honey & Honey. After we bought some good desserts and walked back to Jenny’s place. We hung out with Jenny for a little bit and then returned home!

I had sooo much stuff to pack that I had to leave the following things in Ecuador:
Old addidas sweatshirt
Gray zip-up
Raincoat
Tennis shoes
And lots of other random odds and ends

Eventually I got it all packed and went to bed around 10 or so. Woke up at 3:30… taxi picked me up around 4:20 (he was late... Marga had to call and discovered he had forgotten). I ended up sitting next to this very nice lady named Antoineta. She was from Ecuador but now lives in Miami. We spoke Spanish together and after we landed in Miami got our luggage, and went through customs all together. She was soo sweet : ) It was nice not to be forced to speak English the second I landed in Miami… haha I wasn’t quite ready. Actually, still not ready as I’m sitting here in the Miami airport writing this. I keep thinking or translating things into Spanish in my head. I’m going to miss it so much!! So beware all… I’m going to sometimes say things in Spanish to you. Probably not on accident, but because I want to. That hasn’t happened yet… but almost!

Well, between now and then I also hung out with Franny and the kids. So wonderful! : ) I’m so glad I was able to see them on the way here and on the way back… The kids are growing up so fast and They are just so darn cute! I had a great time with them and on the way back to the airport Abigail kept saying, “Mommy, I don’t want AnnMarie to go on the airplane.” : ) : ) : ) que linda… And when we were walking around Pauly would try to walk behind me and hold on to my legs, it was super funny. Franny and I had a few good laughs because of those kiddos. Well, that’s all for now! Oh! I also gave them their presents and they seemed to like them : ) PJ’s soccer jersey might be a little small… I didn’t realize he was such a tank. ; ) Haha

Alrighty, that’s all for now! I had an amazing time in Quito and can’t believe it’s already over. It’s such a mixture of feelings as I’m returning. I’m super sad to leave and feel like I didn’t have enough time. I love the country and really like the people I met so much but at the same time I am sooooo excited to see everyone I left behind in Minnesota : ) All I can tell myself is I’ll probably be back. : ) Maybe even as soon as August! We shall see. God is in control.

Chao for now! We’ll see if I write anything else later to update you on job searching.
anamaria : )

coming to an end

Today was so great : ) My last day student teaching and the kids “surprised” me with a little party during the last hour of both classes. They were all very, very sweet! The first class gave me a little picture frame and a card. The second class gave me a large card from the whole group. I will definitely be saving all these things. Christian wrote me a card that said: I can’t live without you. Don’t leave please. I < 3 you. Of: Christian

Hehe they have a hard time with that because “de” means of or from but they’re not sure when to use which.

After school I went to centro historica un otra vez and visited la Basilica. It was muy hermosa. There were gorgeous stain glass windows in the whole thing and the ceilings were so high with arches everywhere. On the outside were random animal statues (kind of like how gargoyles would be). I didn’t get to visit the Compañia because it was closed by the time Danny and I left the Basilica. We had empanadas de morrocho (or moroccho… I don’t remember - mi faaaaavorita) and Canelazo – a very traditional Ecuatoriana drink. You can have it with or without alcohol. I had it without alcohol but for the first time (later this evening) I tried it with. Blech. It’s an alcohol the indigenous people made from sugar cane. SUPER strong (something ridiculous like 48% proof). So needless to say, I didn’t enjoy it.

After Centro Historica I went to Maria’s house and hung out with her host brother and Ivan came over. Then we went to Guapulo Café in Guapulo and met one of Ivan’s friends and his girlfriend. Guapulo is a higher part of the city that overlooks the main part of Quito (que hermosa la vista!). That’s where I tried some canelazo with alcohol and also this warm wine drink mixed with fruit. That’s the first time I’ve tasted something wine-y and liked it. Haha

Well, tomorrow I’m going to start packing and then have a small goodbye party in the evening.

Chao mis preciosos. : )
annmarie

Running out of time...

Where to begin... I’ll just touch on the big things that I can remember. Then you aren’t all stuck reading a very detailed, pointless recap on my previous two weeks here. After the 20 somethings group on the 2nd I made some friends who told Maria and I that we should meet up with them on that Thursday for this girl’s birthday. So we did and it was a lot of fun : ) We went to CoffeeTree and then to a discoteca called Bungalow (but just to play pool and hang out). Then Friday I hung out with Cathy’s son, Danny, and his girlfriend, Caro. We went to the teleferico (cable cars) and visited the Centro Historico of Quito. It was a LOT of fun! Then that night I ended up going back to Bungalow with my friend Fernando and we met up with some other people. It was pretty fun but mostly just North American music was played. Saturday I went to Otavalo with Xavier, Ann Marie (Annie), her sister & her sister’s friend who were in town visiting. I bought LOTS of things!! : )

Then there was a whole lot of nada, or at least just randomness that isn’t super important, until the next Thursday night (11th)… when I went out for Indian food with Jenny, Tammy, Chantal (Jenny’s friend from Canada), and Maria. It was soooooo delicious. After dinner Maria and I met up with our friend Ivan from church and we went to El Café Mosaico. It had a beautiful vista of Centro Historico. I hope to go back there before I leave! Friday night (12th) I went salsa dancing with Maria and Ivan and his friend Enrique (nicknamed QiQue – no idea on the spelling… haha). It was a lot of fun but I’m not that good (so... Michael, you need to teach me. You know how to dance, right?).

Wow, I've caught up pretty fast. Just this past weekend I went to Mindo with Jenny, Chantal, Maria, and Ivan. We visited the butterfly garden which was super cool because they just landed on you and stayed there and they were ginormous. They made you kinda scared and jumpy… haha but it was still awesome. The hummingbirds here are amazing. There’s SOOO many and they aren’t as skiddish as they are in Minnesota. They are definitely more used to people. On Sunday we went on a hike to Cascada Reina. We didn’t spend as much time at the waterfall as I would have liked to... but we kinda had to go. Bummer. Oh well, next time! : ) Then I went ziplining with Chantal and that was very, very fun as well. Then we headed back to the town, grabbed some lunch, and went home.

Sunday night was officially my worst night here. I was sicker than I’ve ever been before – in my entire life! Must have been food poisoning or something but whatever it was, I never want to experience that again. I couldn’t sleep all night. I felt so absolutely, positively, horrible. I didn’t go to school on Monday but by that evening I was all better. Thank you Lord!

So here we are, it’s my last week of school. Tuesday I went to the 20 somethings group for the last time. Today I went to the market por la ultima vez with Cathy’s daughter, Stephy, and her friend Anthenela (I think…), and bought my final gifts. : ) Then Maria and I went and got manicures/pedicures and how it is time for bed. : )

Not sure what the rest of the week is going to look like for me but we shall see! Hopefully not too crazy busy, but at the same time filled with lots of fun and amazing times for my last week here. : )

See you all very soon!
Chao,
amc

A post for the most recent pictures.

In the first batch sent out, you'll see some shots from a bus of the city. Almost every store and house is surrounded by large walls. So when driving down the street it looks very different than in the states. Most walls have broken glass, spikes, or electric fences on top of them to keep robbers out. The random street sign is cause I thought maybe it would be cool to take pictures of all the different kind of street signs I take while traveling. There is also a lovely picture of my peeling shoulder.. this is just because I rarely burn, and when I do, I even more rarely peel. So.... I thought I needed to capture this. haha Sorry for that one.. There's also a picture of a notebook. The kids had to write sentences using some spelling words for homework. Look at the top sentence (they know I'm going to school to be a teacher and that's why I'm in their class). Oh, and that's me on the bottom. After Ariana showed it to me she gasped and said, "I forgot freckles!" And the note is from Sebastian. It's not an uncommon occurrence if mine and Cathy's name are written on the board with a big heart around them. It's awfully cute :)

The next pictures are jardín botanico, mitad del mundo, and the liga soccer game. I think I wrote about these things in the last post. There are pictures of Cathy's absolutely adorable house. It looks very puebla and authentic! The soccer picture of the goal with all the toilet paper is because fans throw toilet paper onto the field at the start of the game or at the beginning of the second half (in this case) right before the goalie gets there. They hope it will distract him and even though workers clean it up there's usually some blowing around for a while after.

That's all for now! I'm going to a 20 somethings group with Maria tonight. It should be fun! :)

Chao,
annmarie

fotografias

have no fear. pictures are near. i've uploaded bunches and bunches tonight and will share them with you all tomorrow.

con amor,
amc

quick update!

Yesterday was so great :) I went to church, met a nice girl named Maria. Went to the Liga soccer game, which was very fun. They won 5-0. After that I went to a cajun restaurant, named C'est La Vie, with a bunch of teachers to watch the very intense Canada vs. USA olympic hockey game. That was also a lot of fun :) Then I walked home, graded some math tests, and watched the closing ceremony.

Today I stopped by the director's office and asked if there were any openings for the 2010-2011 school year. She said there aren't but I should leave my resume and she'll let me know if anything opens up... So..... my goal is to apply to 2-3 schools per week. I'm not super worried. God's in control and if he doesn't want me at this school then there's going to be something better for me. I'm going to start applying to some in Quito, so if they wanted to talk to me while I'm here, they can. Then I think I'll try some in Central America, and then South America again. I met a couple who taught in Honduras so I'm going to talk to them about that.

That's all for now. Chao :)
annmarie