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September
21
¡Hola mis amigos! ¿Cómo están? ¿Yo? Estoy muy contenta. Yo amo este
país, la comida, mi colegio, las gentes. Todo es muy bien...es bacanisimo!!!
Hahahaha! Isn’t
that kewl??? Everything’s good now with me. My Spanish is really
improving…school is getting better…my classes are getting
easier…I’m going out...having fun and meeting some really cute specis.
Annnnnnnnnnyway, let’s see. Since my last report I spoke to some family
at home and everything’s fine. There was no damage to my house or
anything…so that’s a load off.
The
weekend of the 10th I went with my Tía Luci to a birthday
fiesta in Quevedo (that’s about 2 ½ hours away from
Portoviejo
. I had a lot of fun on
that trip. We had to pick up the grandparents on the way…their house is
amazing…it’s huge. They have all kinds of animals running around in
their yard…they have an orchard in the back...with
a lot of fruta and vegetables. When we got to Quevedo, we went
straight to another aunt…Tía Lupe. Their house is huge too. They grow
and export the coco plant that produces chocolate…so they’re kinda
well off. The coco field is in their yard and so are the storage houses
for the plants. There are 3 houses on the property: one for Tía Lupe and
her family…one for her parents and the other one for her brother-in-law.
They have a tennis court…basketball court…swimming pool…a conference
house…and cabana in the back. The walk alone from the main house to the
swimming pool is exercise. Friday we basically just hung out…ate…and I
went with a cousin on a ride around the city. Friday night was the
birthday party at a discoteca. It started at
10pm
...and ended at around
4am
. I had a lot of
fun…we danced…A LOT…we ate…we drank (colas)…danced some more…I
met some of my cousins friends…we talked and danced…it was really fun.
Saturday
was kinda mellow. I played tennis with my cousins and his friends…walked
around the yard for a bit…watched
a few movies…went by some family…talked…etc. Saturday night I took a
ride with my cousin around the city with his friends…we played
pool…ate…and walked around the park.
Sunday
I got the chance to go to church with my Tía. The church is
non-denominational. We were late by about a half hour. When we got there,
you could hear the singing from outside and it sounded beautiful. That was
the first time in a month that I’ve heard some gospel music. Of course
being a Spanish church…the service was in Spanish. I understood a few
words here and there so I go the gist of what the speaker was talking
about. She was an excellent preacher. I may not of understood everything
that she said but I knew it was powerful because I felt it. The service
ended in about 2 hours and when we got back to the house…Tía Luci was
packing up the jeep and ready to leave. It was a really really good
weekend.
Last
weekend, I went with my consejeros (counsellors) on a trip to
San Isidro
. Now before I lay out
details of this trip…I must say that
San Isidro
is a very small town
with a whooooooooollllllllllllllllllllllllata horses. Okay the trip from
Portoviejo
to
San Isidro
was about 3 hours. We
got there Friday night but everyone was so tired that we went straight to
bed after we ate. Saturday was eventful. There was a parade of the
candidates for the title of Queen of
San Isidro
…and of course the
horses. There are soooo many horses in this little town. The parade was
great and afterwards we went to the local high school and ate. That night
was the pageant and so we went to that. (Check out the pics) It was really
dark and there was barely any light so it’s hard to see anything. Not
much to report about anything else though. After the pageant…we went
home…talked…ate…laughed…talked some more and went to sleep. Sunday
we wanted to go to the river but it was really low so we came back home
and slept until it was time to leave. This time the trip back to
Portoviejo
took 6 hours because
we took a different route. We went through Bahia de Caráquez. Now that is
a beautiful city on the coast. Wow. I slept on the trip though so I
didn’t see much.
Well that’s it for now. Until next time…peace & love.
_______________________________________________________________________
October
10
Hey yall. Ok let’s see what I’ve been up to. Nothing really. The last
several weeks have been quiet. I’ve had a day or two of feeling really
annoyed by
Ecuador
and Spanish…but
I’m discovering that those types of days will come…maybe not as often
as they do now but they’re unavoidable.
Lately
I’ve been having a hard time remembering some English words so talk a
lot of “spanglish” my parents on the phone, but it’s ok because
according to the other exchangies, that’s normal.
Last
Thursday was my host brother’s birthday…he turned 14. We didn’t
really do anything for his birthday and I don’t know exactly why but we
did have cake which was thee most important thing. And yes, I got him a
present…I bought him a shirt.
Anywho, tomorrow is the start of the exchangies first paseo (trip). All 92
exchangies will be in my city from all over
Ecuador
. We’re staying at
the Hotel Maximo that’s really close to where I live and everyday
we’re going to get on a bus and visit other cities in my
province
of
Manabi
. I’m excited about
it. There’s even a contest for the King and Queen of the Paseo. I have
no idea how we’re going to choose a King and Queen out of 94 exchangies
but time will tell.
Oh
and some other good news… I am on the vacation from school for three
weeks. This week is the paseo, next week my school begins exams that I
can’t take right now, the following week, and then I’m going to
Quito
with my host family in
the Sierra.
That's it for now… chau chau.
_______________________________________________________________________
October 15
Ok well the paseo is over unfortunately. It was a lot of fun…I met a lot
of new people and even learned a sentence or two of German, French, Dutch
and Italian. The first day was basically getting to know everyone. There
are 16 countries represented here…it’s amazing to hear everyone
speaking their own language at the same time. Of course, the
US
made up the majority
of xchangies with 43 students…then
Germany
with 16 and
Belgium
with 7…the rest of
the countries had 1 or 2 people like me. Even though I was the only
Bahamian there…I was and am very proud of my country and trust me...I
made the most noise for it too.
On Tuesday, we left
Portoviejo
and went to Canoa
(about 2 hours away). We
stayed in Canoa for 2 days. We played futbol and volleyball. I was the
goalie for my team (Manabi) in futbol. Go figure!! My team won both of the
competitions and advanced to the finals for the next day. I didn’t go
swimming because I personally don’t like the beaches here…I’m
guessing that’s because I’m used to white sand and clear aquamarine
water. But I did go in the pool. The hotel that we stayed in was very
beautiful and tranquil. It was very relaxing and secluded from the city
life. It reminded me of the
Bahamas
because of the
colourful villas and the wind from the ocean. (sigh) MY
ISLANDS
!!!!
After dinner, the Mayor of San Vicente organised a little show for us.
Some of the locals danced for us and then tried to teach some of us the
native dances….lol it was not a pretty sight. Later me and some of my
friends hung out in the hammocks and talked all night. It was
5am
when we went to bed.
On Wednesday, we played the finals of futbol and volleyball. My team won
the volleyball competition but not futbol. On the whole it was fun…I got
hit REEEEEEEALLLLLLY hard in my stomach with the soccer ball but it was
all for the sake of my team. After lunch, we packed up all our stuff and
went to
Bahia
, which is probably
30mins away from Canoa.
Bahia
is a very beautiful
city on the coast. There we went to the botanical garden. To me, it was
really boring at first because the plants and animals there were similar
to those in my country…so it wasn’t very exciting for me…although, I
did almost get run over by a deer (which we don’t have in the
Bahamas
). The second half of
the tour, me and a few of my friends decided to climb the very high
mountain nearby. Luckily for me I had on tennis shoes…but my friends had
on flip flops. The view from the top was incredible…all you could’ve
seen were mountains covered with clouds. It was a very photo-worthy
sight…but getting down the mountain wasn’t. It wasn’t going down the
mountain that was scary…it was the fact that the tour guide said to
“be careful because the rocks are crumbling below and can’t take much
pressure”. So as we’re going down, I’m freakin’ right out because
clearly my
Bahama Islands
are FLAT. BUT we made
it in one piece...it was ironic because we all wanted to do it again even
though a minute before we were all screaming that we’d never do that
again.
When we came back to
Portoviejo
, we had 20mins to
shower and get ready for dinner. This night was the presentation of
countries. Everyone got all dolled up with our blazers and flags and
whatever else we had from our country. It was a very elegant night.
Everyone presented their country in some form or another…I sung my
national anthem (which is theeee best national anthem ever written). I
really enjoyed the Ausie’s presentation…they did a dance which was
hilarious!! The Americans did the Hokie Pokie, the Germans sung and danced
a traditional song…and I’m still trying to figure out what the
Belgiums
did. Everyone else
either sung their national anthem or danced. Later in the evening, we
elected the queen of the paseo. One girl from every country was the
candidate. The first round elimination was done by applause…the
Bahamas
advanced to the 2nd
round. The 2nd round elimination was done by applause as we
each danced…again the
Bahamas
advanced to the
semi-finals. We danced again….and the
Bahamas
advanced to the final
round. In this round, it was
Japan
, The Bahamas and
Germany
. The winner was chosen
by applause. The second runner up was…
Germany
. The first runner up
was…The Bahamas and the Queen of the Paseo was none other than
Japan
. It was a fun
competition…and to be honest we all cheered for the Japanese girl
because she was sweetest girl there, although she barely spoke Spanish and
only knew a few words of English. She had to pick a King…and she chose
Leandro (the Brasilian). It was hilarious…but we enjoyed ourselves.
We danced for the rest of the night.
On Thursday, we woke up really early because we had
to march in the city and take the official photo of the paseo. It was
hoooooootttttttttttttttttt!!!! And we had to wear our blazers. After that
we went to Manta and Montecristi. I started buying early Christmas
presents to send home.
Thursday night…we had a closing fiesta to end the
paseo. We took a lot of pictures…talked forever and danced to every
song. It was a good way to close out the week of events.
On the whole, the paseo was good and I had a lot of fun. The next one
isn’t until December and I’m really looking to going to
Quito
.
Here ends my report for now since there’s nothing left to say…school
is getting better, my Spanish is really improving and I’m getting use to
the culture. Thanks for listening…peace to all.
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