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| me with the bulls with fire on their horns! |
So since the last time I’ve written,
my life has been pretty interesting. That Saturday Santy was at school all day,
so I just kind of hung out at his house til he got back. He got back super
late, so he surprised me with purple flowers because he knows it’s my favorite
color. We also got caramel apples from the parade which, like I’ve mentioned
before, is like a week long!
Sunday after church we went to get
pizza, as usual, then to Condado to play some video games. We got this card
that we could swipe in a video game and then be able to play. It would
automatically deduct money from the card, so it was an interesting process. The
funniest part about the video games was that they were all in English! As we
waited for this one touch screen game, this little girl swiped her card and
then stood there touching the screen while the “Touch Here to Start” button was
right in front of her face. It was in English, so she didn’t know what that
meant! She touched everything BUT the button until finally I came up and
touched it for her. Every single game was in English: Tekken, Fruit Ninja,
Cranes, Feed Big Bertha, etc. I laughed watching the Ecuadorians because I was
probably the only one there that understood what the games were saying!
So we played video games for a
while, and it was fun. Then Santy and I played each other in air hockey, and I
kicked his butt. I definitely felt it for days; my arms were so sore! And as we
were waiting for air hockey, we watched this insane Ecuadorian play a version
of DDR called Pump It or something. Instead of the 4- up, down, left, right, it
had 5- upper left, upper right, lower right, lower left, and a middle button.
It was definitely crazier and harder than regular DDR. So this kid was one of
those kids you see crowds around because he was on like extreme mode going 60
mph on this thing. He was as skinny as a rail with a nose ring and converses,
which is kind of the typical stereotype of someone you’d see who has no life
enough to be able to play that fast. It reminded me of when I was a teen and
used to play in fast mode on advanced levels with friends, and people would
come watch!
After a sufficient amount of time
playing some fun games, Santy and I got McDonalds for dinner, as usual. I got
chicken nuggets, but there were 10 of them, so when Santy wasn’t looking, I
gave him an extra. He didn’t realize until I told him later. I’m sneaky! =)The next day was pretty interesting, as we had decided to go to Quito to find an English workbook for Santy. However, as I got ready and counted my money, I noticed that money was missing. After talking with Angelica, we believe someone came into my room maybe using the spare key that hangs up next to the door (but now no longer) and took some of money. It could have been happening for a long time because I hadn’t started counting money until recently. I was super angry, but I’ve taken all the precautions to prevent it from happening again. I just hope they don’t take anything from my family, as robbery is becoming serious in Calacali.
So we made the trip to the bookstore in Quito. It was a quaint little place, and as we looked through books, there was only one that was pretty advanced and seemed good for English exercises, so we bought it. I’ve been using it to teach Santiago English lessons every night, and then he works in the book. We then go over the wrong answers together before he has to read the whole page out loud to help with his pronunciation. It’s been pretty fun!
After getting the book we went to
the computer technician where Santy left his computer to be fixed. He,
unfortunately, told Santy that the motherboard was burnt, and when they
replaced it, it started burning everything else. When getting advice from my
sister’s boyfriend, Dan (who works with computers), they have decided to just
get a new computer.
Once we finished there, we were
getting pretty hungry. We searched everywhere for somewhere that didn’t just
sell chicken and rice. We found a cute Canadian buffet, but it was closing. So
we decided to go to the mall instead where Pizza Hut and everything else is. I
was in the mood for Italian, so we went to this Italian place. I was probably
the only real Italian in there! I was hesitant about what to order (even though
everything looked so good), but finally I got pasta and garlic bread. It
actually wasn’t bad. Not the best, but not bad! Santy ordered shrimp from a
different restaurant, and we ate in the food court.
On Tuesday I got picked up by
Angelica, Piedad, the other cook, Anita’s (another cook) daughter, and Holger.
We all went to Condado to buy things for El Refugio. I think it was actually my
first time in an elevator in Ecuador, but I’m not sure, haha. We ended up
buying four carts worth of stuff, and Holger made a bet with me on how much it
would all cost. He said no less than $800 to $1000, while I said no more than
$700! The loser would buy the other ice cream. When I asked Angelica how much
she thought, she said no more than $400. They both lost because it ended up
being $600, and so they bought me ice cream from McDonalds! Also, for buying so
much stuff, they gave each of us a free Iced Tea! It was delicious!
After that we had to wait for
Angelica at a store because she was picking up her shoes. Anita’s 6 year old
daughter and I were left to watch the back of the truck, as anyone could steal
one of the millions of bags. However I was left to also entertain the little
girl for 45 minutes, and by the end I was ready to leave! First of all, try
entertaining a 6 year old who speaks Spanish in a hot car with no toys while
you’re also responsible for watching a bunch of groceries. Not a fun time! I
gave her my phone, but the only game on it is called Sokoban, and it’s really
hard!
I ended up going to Santy’s house
that night, and we were able to Skype my sister for a little while too.
On Wednesday I was going to work,
but apparently they didn’t need me, so I just hung out at the house for most of
the day. Angelica and I sat on the couch talking for a while, which was nice.
Then I went to Santy’s later to talk to my parents.
On Thursday I was finally able to
work, and it was pretty fun. I got to talk to Ally, the other intern, and Erica
about some pretty funny stuff, and the group that’s here is pretty interesting.
They’re all missionary kids from South America! All of them are pretty much in
high school, and as I served them their food, I’d ask where they were from.
There were kids from all over: Bolivia, Peru, Mexico, Argentina, and others. It
was cool to hear all the different countries and their southern accents, as
they were from a Southern Baptist mission’s organization.
So I worked for the day with
Angelica and helped her cook. When we came home, we made some delicious apple
crisp, which I had been craving forever! Then Santy and I watched that Selena
Gomez movie “Spring Breakers”, which was terrible! I ended up having a
nightmare that people were trying to kill Santy and I!
Friday I spent most of the night
talking to my parents and my sister and Dan on Skype. My Firefox and Google
Chrome crashed, so I had to ask for their help to fix it. I had wonderful fish
and ice cream for dinner, too!
Saturday was quite an interesting
day, as it started out with me wanting to see Rebeca’s dance in the parade
early in the morning. I ended up missing it, and Santiago and I got into a
fight. I didn’t talk to him the entire day and instead decided to just go sit
down and be by myself, surrounded by the mountains of Ecuador. As I was
sitting, Angelica came up in a car on the way to El Refugio. She asked if I was
okay, and then as they were about to drive away, they backed up and asked if I
wanted to come. I decided to go, and when I got there they gave me some
leftover French toast, which was good. Then I helped out in the kitchen a bit
and served the team again. I got to talk a lot to Angelica again, who gave me
advice and whatnot about everything, and then we went back home together to
change. Angelica’s god-daughter (I think that’s what she is) is temporarily
staying in our house with her two daughters because of some personal home
problems, and she decided to find a job here and move to Calacali. It’s crazy
because she’s only 23; she got married at 14, and is now divorced at 23 with a
3 year old and a 7 year old. That’s pretty much my age, which is crazy to me.
So we all got ready and went to the
park, where the party was continuing. We walked around and saw the horses that
were being announced and shown off. We took several pictures and just hung out
for a good amount of time until we decided to take pictures on the horses. I
actually got to go up on a horse and walk around a bit! I still want to go
horseback riding, though!
After that we got a ride back home,
where I made some macaroni salad and talked to Angelica’s god-daughter. She
told me about her life, but it was hard to understand parts of it because she
talked super fast and had a costal accent (she’s from the coast, and they have
this weird accent!). So we talked for a bit, and then I decided to take a nap.
Once I got up, I got ready and then
met the El Refugio interns to go see the bulls! We walked around a bit then
went into the stadium. As I said last year, the bulls here at night are the
coolest. They put fire on their horns, and then he runs around the ring, which
is pretty crazy, as people almost get attacked by him! It’s definitely an
adrenaline rush to be in the ring, and I convinced Katelynn to go in with me! It
was a lot of fun, but also scary! I was definitely closer to the bull than last
year, and at one point they put another bull in! It was a lot of fun, and we
stayed until the very end, where they put 7 bulls in at one time. We even got
to see cool fireworks, too!
After that we just walked around a
bit before going to Santiago’s house, where I got to talk to his brother,
Wilmar, about stuff. He’s so wise for being only 18, and I’m so grateful for
him! I ended up falling asleep for a little but then Wilmar drove me home with
a car the missionaries let him borrow. I stayed up watching Aladdin for a
little while before falling asleep.
Santy ended up coming to my house in
the late afternoon, and we talked about a lot of things as Princesa, the family
dog, wanted us to continually pet her. We decided to go out for pizza, of
course, which was awesome, as usual! Then we just hung out and Santy did his
English homework!
Yesterday (Monday) Santy and I
decided to go to Condado to buy some things. We got some snacks, pasta base
sauce to make some better tasting pasta, cheddar cheese, and some other things.
After that we, of course, ate McDonalds for dinner and got some cookies from a
bakery (delicious!) before heading back home to do some English homework. I
gave Santy a test on the last few units we’ve gone over, and he got to do some
interactive activities on the computer from the CD that came with the book,
which was pretty sweet!
This morning he successfully made
breakfast burritos, and then we headed out with Ryan and Erica, missionaries at
El Refugio, to show them Yunguilla, a cute little town close to where we live.
It’s a town that thrives off of tourism, yet it’s like this somewhat hidden (it’s
all the way up a mountain) treasure of Ecuador. It’s lush and green and filled
with every so many different kinds of fruits and flowers. It’s literally a dirt
road once you pull off to get there, and it’s a bunch of twists and turns to
get to the actual farm land. Santy guesses that about 30 out of the 50 families
in the community are related to him. His mother was from there, and he spent
many a summer there when he was growing up. He also worked there for a period
of time, as well, before getting more carpentry work here in Calacali.
We walked around a bit, and Santy
got to practice his English, as he gave us a little tour of where his family
members live and what they do. We also got an actual tour guide, who showed us
the economy of Yunguilla, which is carpentry work, work in nature (gardening),
and products like their own fruit jellies. There are even Americans living
there as interns, as I heard them talking in English as they washed dishes. The
houses are especially beautiful, as they are designed in cool wood and brick.
Santy showed us a lot of the things he had made when he worked there, including
reconstruction in many houses. We got to swing on a tree swing, too!
So we had a pretty fun day with
them, and I’ve enjoyed the last week of finding other several “hidden treasures”
that Ecuador has to offer! Fun parades, video games in English, a cute English
book store, Pizza Hut, Italian restaurants, a great host mom, crazy bulls (with
fire on their horns), and the beautiful farm lands of Yunguilla are just a few
:)
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