juntos

i've learned here that shards of glass shine even more beautifully in the night than stars do. these are shards of glass used as impromptu barbed wire to protect walls by attaching them to the top, all sticking up like shark teeth or a ridiculous amount of sprinkles on a cupcake.

tomorrow i go to the middle of the world, whatever that means (answer: the equator). there will be music and a couple equators and museums and quichua studying.

today i realized what has fascinated/terrified me most about ecuador and how important this part of the culture is to them and me. it's what i've already talked about, how terribly close my family and apparently most families are. right now this seems like a good idea to study for my directed independent study. today my family ate dinner at the dad's friend's house and i found myself envisioning having random and frequent dinners with friends to help fulfill my life in the future.

25 roses costs $1
3 scoops of terrific ice cream with whipped cream-$2.75
a visit to the reptile vivarium-$2.50

i have the coolest brother ever (in my experience with them).

i found my own personal cure for homesickness, writing! so you may be correct if you stumbled across the idea that the more i write, the more homesick i am (a thought i just had that very well may be wrong).

bloggidy bloggidy bloggidy and goodnight.

i'm old

i came home from a night out with friends, ready to pass out just to find my parents with 2 friends singing along with 'besame mucho' and a bottle of fine wine. the sister is hanging out with her cousin (my cousin) in her room and the brother is out and i don't know where. i've never felt this uncool before.

te con leche

my family is perfect and not necessarily in a good way. i'm finding reasons to complain but i tolerate it, you should, too. they're a picture i am just looking at, from the outside and i can't get in! they have movie nights, they go out and listen to music together, they eat every meal together except when at school. first of all that's not normal for a family with 2 teenage children, secondly, i don't know how to jump into this synchronized lifestyle of happiness and family.

achachay! it's cold in quichua and quito.

alalay! 'ugly' is such a pretty word, i'm down.

que cheverre! supposedly a very ecuatorian colloquiallism but i really think i've heard it around la.

que bestia! and this actually means cool, too, i guess equivalent to 'sick' in a good way.

after a second take at landing we arrived a week ago. it was night, cloudy and south america. since then i wished that we had landed and flown at least the second half of the flight during the day because i don't think i still realize how far i am from home. south america? four months? ay carramba (which no one says). see, if i had seen where i was going out of my airplane window i think that profundity might have stuck, but really i feel like i could be in mexico for all i know. and mexico, that's like next door.

SKINHEADS
they are here. 80 of them. they wear red suspenders and have buzzed heads. a group of us pitzerpeople happened upon them without realizing it. skinheads? neo-nazis? just rebeldes? so maybe they are just rebelling against the system which has done them wrong by taking power in a simple, symbolic manner. well so maybe they should identify with anarchists or punk music and be idiots that way that don't spark hatred or fear in most people. i think that's the general conclusion of those who were there to witness ecuatorian skinheads.

sopa de mariscos (shrimp, chicken, octopus(?), things in shells)-$3.60

unexpected travel stipend-priceless

north pole, south pole, equator

so these are pictures of me and my friends ellie, jed, cami and josh eating good food, being in el centro historico, and in the basilica. these are ellie's pictures i stole.









i'm homesick.

and sick.

and listening to cat stevens (trouble oh trouble please be kind, i don't want no fight and i haven't got a lot of time).

cat stevens is my emo music.

yesterday was little explosions of happiness and now this morning i want my mom's perfect tea and playfulness.

alright, whatever:

something you probably can't do most anywhere else:

climb ALL OVER a basilica including to the top of the towers and through unfinished roof/should be floor. very intensely.


if you are reading this i probably miss you.

pienso que you paresco un poquito como mi mama

i did not bring me a digital camera and so i begged ellie to kindly give me access to just one measly foto of me and so here it is, friends and family, this is maria "maki", my mom.

jótdougz

-quieres jótdougz para la cena?

-(uhhhh) sí!

so i arrive at the dinner table ten minutes later to find none other than hot dogs on our plates. i didn't know what to expect but that familiar food item was not it from the pronunciation of mi mamá maky. muy delicioso.

off to gringolandia (it's a serious wound to my ego to think that i've been there twice now) where a pitcher of mojito for 6 people costs 6.50. then to another of many 3 for 2 places, meaning 3 40s for 2.50.

-chupetes! cinco centavos!

that's the voice of 8 year old luis selling lollipops, cigarretes and candies at midnight in sketchy gringolandia. he wears a chicago bulls sweater and i ask if he knows what the shirt is for.

-torros!

-has oido de chicago?

-no

has oido de los angeles? hollywood?

-no

he later asks me if i know any quichua, which coincidentally i did because i had taken my first class in it that morning.

-ñukaka mayami kani, sabes que dije?

-si, dijiste que eso es tu nombre

and then he replies and i have no idea what he says. and he teaches me a few words in quichua and i tell him a few things in english.

-money for lunch?

-you know english?

-no

and so i give him the equivalent of nothing, my standards, and pay double for two lollipops.


a ten minute taxi ride home costs 2.50.

10 dollars worth of minutes costs 10 dollars.

the juices are still the best.

i need 4 keys to get inside the home i live in after the guard gets off at 10.

correction

so Maya no se gusta papayas is actually supposed to say Maya no le gusta papayas. i guess that's why i'm here.

i have skype do you have skype? skype me. i'm myuhmynameismaya (which is also my aim).

alright well off i go to another orientation by the autobus which only stops when you yell at them to.

How to be an Ecuadorian, Part 1.

When an Ecuadorian answers the phone, they greet with "Halo" (in a Spanish accent of course). Women give men and women one kiss on the recipient's right cheek, but not one on both sides. Men don't do this to men. Ecuadorians say "chao" (spelled that way according to one of the many political graffiti I've found).

Ecuadorians make the best juices, every juice I've had here has been better than any juice I've ever had in the EEUU. And with fruit I have never heard of before like mota and naranjilla.

Ecuadorians love to be revolutionary, as displayed by their 70-something constitutions since Independence and their 7 presidents in the last 10 years (I think). They love to lock doors. The poor love Presidente Correa, who revealed the names on television of the sons of the wealthiest people in Ecuador who were protesting the very popular (by the non-super wealthy) new constitution which is voted on in September. Ecuadorians think these are exciting times.

Ecuadorians are very nice, accepting people. Except for when driving when they have no respect for pedestrians.