chau: the most common way to say goodbye in Ecuador
Friday night I flew from Cuenca to Quito. Made friends with an Army Dr., he was nice, helped me find my gate. And when I got to Quito I made a deal with my taxi driver to come pick me back up in the early morning to catch my next flight. that was a smart move on my part. look at me being a savvy world traveler and all! I spent the night at the Hilton, it was ritzy! I took a bubble bath and did yoga. and stole a pillow. they were too comfy not to. shhh don't tell.
I got to the airport at 3am. most of the time was spent going through customs. during this time I noticed that all the customs ladies had the same hair style. I wonder if their zig zag part bun was mandatory.
on the flight to Houston I found a funny contradiction in the airplane bathroom...a no smoking sign above an astray?! I also did a crossword and it's funny that the only words I knew were "NRA" and "Pacman" and "Eer." good for me. seriously though, crosswords are hard. hey did you know that thinking burns calories. no joke.
finally, when I got into AMERICA! I had to restrain myself from kissing the ground. it was arduous, but I did it. I almost kissed the customs agent too, but that was only because his southern accent was Ah-dorable. and guys, everyone one here is speaking English! whoaw! so much English. this is going to be difficult to get used to. also, I realized that I am no longer average sized, I am so small compared to other Americans. so so tiny am I. also also also, I can flush toilet paper in the US of A!
update: after my parents took me to black angus, I ate way too much and am now sick :|
4/11/10
va ca
“Va ca”: how my host family shortens up "vamos a comer" (or "we are going to eat" in English)
As usual the magnitude of things I have to say is uncontainable, so much that my thoughts are spilling out of my brain onto the floor. Right now, I have my hand tightly pressed over my mouth and if I were to remove it, I would barf all of these words up and they would get all over your fancy new shirt (actually I don’t know if it is a new shirt of not but nevertheless you wouldn’t want word vomit all over you, now would you) so I’m not going to do that. Instead, I have picked up a few of those words that spilled onto the floor for you to read on your own. Without further adue, here is a synopsis of all that I want so explosively to share.
My time in Ecuador has been contradictory. And by that I mean it has been swift but also exhaustive, amusing but also dreadful, tranquil but also tumultuous. I have experience a great deal of amazing and absurd things in the last four months. I would very much like to say that these experiences have all made me grow as a person, and in some sense they have, but for the most part, I’m just not quite ready to say that yet. With time and more reflection this will come. However, there have been instances where I’ve thought to myself, “this, THIS! This thing that I am doing right now is part of my college experience. Someday I will tell my grand babies that I did this, this amazingly wonderful and somewhat outlandish thing, for college credit!” And then there have been instances where all I can think is “oh fuck! what have I gotten myself into?” just pure whatever the emotion is for “oh fuck!” Above all, I have gained an immense amount of respect for the US of A. I have also learned that I need to be more attentive and considerate. This I will work on in the coming months. And I’m now fluent in Spanish! But really though I am exhausted, just holding these words in is tiring, my arm is getting numb, and for that reason I am going to find a toilet or a trashcan to throw up my thoughts into and then we are going to eat! “Va ca!” as my host family would say. p.s. I can’t wait to return to more than 5 pairs of shoes, safe pedestrian cross walks, country music radio, texting, concerts, our family dog Chicken, and food (mostly cheez-its, Tillamook yogurt, twizzlers, pop-tarts, and Caesar salads)
here are some pictures from my cell phone:
As usual the magnitude of things I have to say is uncontainable, so much that my thoughts are spilling out of my brain onto the floor. Right now, I have my hand tightly pressed over my mouth and if I were to remove it, I would barf all of these words up and they would get all over your fancy new shirt (actually I don’t know if it is a new shirt of not but nevertheless you wouldn’t want word vomit all over you, now would you) so I’m not going to do that. Instead, I have picked up a few of those words that spilled onto the floor for you to read on your own. Without further adue, here is a synopsis of all that I want so explosively to share.
My time in Ecuador has been contradictory. And by that I mean it has been swift but also exhaustive, amusing but also dreadful, tranquil but also tumultuous. I have experience a great deal of amazing and absurd things in the last four months. I would very much like to say that these experiences have all made me grow as a person, and in some sense they have, but for the most part, I’m just not quite ready to say that yet. With time and more reflection this will come. However, there have been instances where I’ve thought to myself, “this, THIS! This thing that I am doing right now is part of my college experience. Someday I will tell my grand babies that I did this, this amazingly wonderful and somewhat outlandish thing, for college credit!” And then there have been instances where all I can think is “oh fuck! what have I gotten myself into?” just pure whatever the emotion is for “oh fuck!” Above all, I have gained an immense amount of respect for the US of A. I have also learned that I need to be more attentive and considerate. This I will work on in the coming months. And I’m now fluent in Spanish! But really though I am exhausted, just holding these words in is tiring, my arm is getting numb, and for that reason I am going to find a toilet or a trashcan to throw up my thoughts into and then we are going to eat! “Va ca!” as my host family would say. p.s. I can’t wait to return to more than 5 pairs of shoes, safe pedestrian cross walks, country music radio, texting, concerts, our family dog Chicken, and food (mostly cheez-its, Tillamook yogurt, twizzlers, pop-tarts, and Caesar salads)
here are some pictures from my cell phone:
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