CERENI

My host mom made me a birthday cake yesterday, but because I wasn’t home for dinner we didn’t eat it. So this morning she cut a slice for me and wrapped it up for me to take as a snack. I have to say, I’m kind of liking this whole situation. I wake up in the morning and have fresh cut fruit waiting for me, home cooked meals and snacks for my school day. I feel like I am in elementary school again.

This afternoon our group went to the Centro de Rehabiltacion Neurologico Integral (CERENI). The clinic serves all ages that have some type of neurological damage, from children with cerebral palsy to adults who have had strokes or traumatic brain injury. It is one of the only clinics that has programs for adults as well as children. Most of the therapy in Ecuador is for children and my host family was surprised that I would work in a hospital. (They kept asking me what school I was going to work at) CERENI has a strong multi-disciplinary approach to therapy and every patient receives occupational therapy, physical therapy, speech therapy and neurological evaluations from the neurologist on staff. We observed a “speech therapist” doing speech therapy with a young girl who has a language impairment. (I have “speech therapist” in quotes because there is not an organization of SLPs or any certification requirements for someone to become an SLP in Ecuador at this time.) It was interesting to see the clinic’s approach to therapy. CERENI is one of the clinical placement possibilities for me to work at the last couple weeks. Tomorrow we are going to another clinic/school where speech therapy takes place.

The founder of CERENI talking to our group about communication disorders, assessments, therapy, insurance and other speechie related things. (I am in the front, on the left, in the black shirt)

Cumpleanos Feliz

Today was my birthday and I celebrated with people I have known for approximately three days. My mom (my American mom) was very concerned that I wouldn't celebrate my birthday in Ecuador. Before I left los EE.UU, I told my mom that people in Ecuador don't celebrate birthdays, because no one is born in Ecuador. They import people once they turn a certain age (duh). But for some reason I don't think she bought it. But evidently they do celebrate cumpleanos feliz en Ecuador. My Spanish class sang "Happy Birthday" in Spanish to me and my teacher said that the Ecuadorean celebration of birthdays includes spankings with a whip. I told him, "Um, no gracias." But I had a pretty good day overall. I got moved into a more advanced Spanish class (look at me getting all good at Spanish!), ate a piece of tres leches cake that had a ? candle on top, ate a delicious dinner, bought  myself a birthday present (oreos for $5) at the SuperMaxi, and drank two margaritas at a local bar. Alcohol + high altitude = you only need 1.5 drinks. All in all, I'd say it was a good day.

Spill the blood, but not the alcohol

Today my group went to the Historic District of Quito, or the "old town", which is south of my neighborhood. We visited several churches, museums and landmarks in the area. I am very tired from walking up all of the hills, but I took several pictures of my day. We went to a museum of the city and our tour guide gave us a brief overview of the history of Quito by century. One of the things he told us was that at one time the Spaniards tried to outlaw wine and alcohol from other countries. Then they put a huge tariff on alcohol and people started pouring alcohol into the streets so they wouldn't have to pay taxes. So the drunks in town started saying "spill blood, not alcohol". Our guide said that now Ecuadoreans drink all the time, so the saying must have worked.

 In front of La Basilica del Voto Nacional with La Panecillo in the background.

 La Virgen de Panecillo

 The President of Ecuador's house in La Plaza Grande.

 A covenant and museum.

 La Basilica del Voto Nacional.

 Window in La Basilica

View of La Panecillo from La Basilica. 

Guaguas

Before I start my recap of the day, I have an update re: el papa. El papa’s name is Francisco. He likes me now because I attempt to speak Spanish, but he enjoys making fun of my limited vocabulary. He is still intimidating, but his teaching methods are actually working and I’ve learned a couple of new words because he has made me go look them up as soon as I don’t understand something (this has happened twice when I was eating and once when Martha and I were talking). Two of the new words I have learned are: chupa- lick; parranda-fiesta. Some of the words I am learning are not Spanish, but Quechua, which is the language of the indigenous people of Ecuador. Some of the Quechua words I have learned are: guaguas- niños, kids; ñaños- hermanos, siblings.

Today was the first day that my host parents didn’t have to work and I was able to spend the whole day with them. It was a long, but good, day with mis padres y sus nietos. After breakfast, we picked the grandkids up from their house across the city. All three grandkids are girls, Manuela- 9, Matilde-6, y Maria Eduarda- 3. We took them to La Parque Metropolitano, the biggest park in Quito and Francisco says it’s the largest park in South America. It was nice to talk to the Maria Eduarda- we have about the same vocabulary and comprehension level (actually, she may be a bit more advanced). We had a quick lunch at the apartment and then we went on a road trip.

My host parents have a second house in a small puebelita outside of Quito, close to Pasocha.  I guess it is their “country house”. On our way there, we bought some type of candy from a lady in the street. I think it may have been sugar cane? It comes in pre-cut pieces, and you suck on them, chew them and then spit out the remaining piece. They were pretty good, but I have no idea exactly what it was. Manuela was surprised that I had never had them before. When we got to the house, the nietas swam in the pool and we played games like memory and Battleship. Manuela kept explaining the rules of Battleship to me, and finally I had to tell her that the game is from los EEUU. On the way back to the city, we stopped at an ice cream shop and I had the best ice cream I have ever tasted. All of the ice cream around Quito is made from fruits and I had coco (coconut). I also had a quesadilla, but it was a sweet bread, not a tortilla con queso.

This evening I went to the orientation meeting for my program. It was nice to meet everyone in person and get our schedule finalized. I was also pleased to meet at least two other girls who know less Spanish than I do (whew!). It made me feel better about myself.

Tomorrow we are going on a group tour of the city, so I should have some pictures to post.

Quito vs. Austin

In Quito, the traffic police carry huge rifles and grenades around, strapped to their chests or legs.  In Austin the police carry whistles.

In Quito, the morning is cold, around noon it is hot, in the afternoon it rains and in the evening it is freezing. Not exactly like Texas, but apparently the weather is fickle all over the world.

In Quito, women greet men and women with one kiss on the cheek. In Austin, if I kissed a women or man (that wasn’t Patrick or my family) people would look at me funny.

In Quito, lunch costs $1.50. In Austin, the same lunch would cost $15.

If you are driving in Quito, you don’t have to stop at stop signs or intersections, just honk so that people know you are coming, and keep on driving.

In Quito, when you walk down the street, men whistle and yell ridiculous things like “Jalo, I love you!”

In Quito, there is no air conditioning, just windows to open. In Austin, people would have heat strokes if they couldn’t turn on their AC. 

Shopping

So the plan was to go to La Plaza de Independencia today, but Lisa’s host mother told her we were going there on a group tour of the city on Sunday. We both think it is funny that our host families know more about our schedule than we do. Lisa’s mom printed out a schedule for us to look at that the families were given on Monday. So now we know, roughly, what our days will look like starting next week. In the morning we are taking Spanish classes at La Escuela de Simon Bolivar and in the afternoon we will have speakers at the Universidad Politecnica Salesiana, UPS (see picture below). We still don’t know what clinics we will be going to during the week.

This morning, Lisa and I went to La Museo Nacional where we looked at literally thousands of paintings, sculptures, pieces of jewelry, and other artifacts from the coast of Ecuador. We saw some really interesting and beautiful things, but couldn’t take any pictures.

For lunch we went to Lisa’s house, where her host mom’s sister owns a restaurant downstairs. We had fresh squeezed juice, tomato soup, a pork chop, rice and a type of coleslaw for $1.50 each. Not a bad deal. Interesting note: everyone eats popcorn with soup (you are served your soup and a bowl of popcorn and you put the popcorn in the soup. The soup kind of melts the popcorn. It’s different.)

After lunch, Lisa’s host brother, Sebastian, and his cousin, Bolivar, drove us to a local market. The market had tons of blankets like the one I have on my bed, jewelry, replicas of famous paintings and other trinkets.  We didn’t buy anything, but I’m sure I’ll go back to bring some things home. Then we walked to a huge mall and wandered around for a bit. We didn’t buy anything at the mall either, so it was more of a looking trip than a shopping trip.

Tomorrow Lisa and I are going to meet up with our professor and get a tour of the city from her. She lived in Quito for three years, so she should have some interesting things to show us. Hasta mañana! 

La Floresta

I woke up early this morning, around 6:45. I had a delicious breakfast of strawberries, melons, yogurt and granola with fresh squeezed orange juice that Martha, my host mom, made me. While I was eating breakfast, I met el papa del casa. Honestly, he's probably one of the most intimidating people I've meet. He rattled off questions to me in Spanish so fast that I could literally only understand the first and last words he said. I, of course, resorted to my old survival tricks and just smiled, nodded, and threw in an occasional "si". Needless to say, I don't think he was too impressed. He told me he thought that I had to take a Spanish proficiency test to get to come on the program...Umm, nope. Sorry, dude. Martha came in and rescued me from the conversation though and el papa left the room. 

Last night, I told Martha that I was planning to meet another student from the program, Lisa, at a hostel in the city so that we could site-see together. Martha was very concerned about me and gave me a long lecture about not using a purse, keeping my passport at the apartment, and only taking a little bit of cash with me. I think because my Spanish skills are severely lacking, that Martha thinks I'm not the brightest bulb in the box. So this morning, since I was up so early, Martha decided to walk me to the hostel and to her office at the Universidad Catolica. Martha works as an administrative assistant at the university and el papa (whose name I do not know) is a professor of political science and economics at La Universidad Central. So, I met Lisa and we started walking... and walking.. and apparently only walked about five blocks. We mostly walked around La Floresta, the neighborhood where our houses are located. My apartment is on the very western side of Quito (any more west and you are on a mountain).  After we explored a little bit, we went back to my apartment for lunch. Martha had asked me to be back at media dia (which in my head meant noon, but apparently means anytime between 11-2). I brought Lisa with me to lunch because her host mom hadn't given her a key to their apartment yet. Lisa was impressed with my super nice apartment (see pictures below) and couldn't believe I had my own bathroom. Lisa has studied in Latin American countries two times before and has taken numerous trips to Mexico and Central America, so her Spanish is much better than mine. I was glad to have her as a buffer from el papa when we sat down to eat lunch. 

Lunch was a three course meal including soup, a rice and meat dish with chicken, shrimp, fried vegetables, cucumbers and tomatoes and fresh strawberries with yogurt for dessert. The meal was served by my family's maid, Luz Maria, who has worked for them for 38 years. Lunch went better than breakfast, because Lisa could talk to my host parents while I listened and chimed in when I could figure out what to say. Lisa said she likes el papa and I told her she could come over and talk to him anytime she wanted. I'll stick to talking to Martha, who uses a slow speech rate and repeats her short phrases for me. (Again, not sure if that's because she's trying to teach me or she really thinks I have some learning disabilities. Either way it's nice to be able to understand her.) 

After lunch, Lisa and I took a bus to La Casa del Cultura. The bus ride was interesting. Apparently there are only a few designated bus stops, but if you know the bus route, you can flag it down when you see it and they will stop for you. The bus was packed because it was starting to rain, but we only rode it a short way and it cost $.25. Pretty sweet deal. As soon as we got to La Casa del Cultura, it started pouring. Martha had given me an old umbrella that was broken on almost all sides, but it helped to shield a bit of the rain. Inside the casa, we saw paintings from Ecuadorean artists and huge, gorgeous murals on the walls and ceilings (see pictures below). When we had seen all of the paintings, we walked to the Parque de Carolina. The park had a lot of playground equipment for kids, a waterfall, paddle boats and a skate park. We also found an interesting stairway to nowhere and tree (see pictures). We decided we should start walking home (Martha told us that we shouldn't be walking out by ourselves past 7PM and we had no idea how long it would take us to get back).  So we walked. I felt like I had walked all over the city by the time I got back to my apartment, but we really stayed in a fairly small area. 

Tomorrow we are going to La Plaza de la Independencia and to see the sites in the historic district. Tonight, I am still full from lunch and tired from walking so I will probably go to bed early. I'm a real thrill seeker, right? 

Much love from Quito, Meg. 

My bedroom.

My room at the apartment. 

 A good view of the mountains in the morning from my bedroom. 

 The formal living room in my apartment. 

 Mountains from the balcony. 

 Quito from the balcony. 

 Un conejo.

 La casa de cultura en Quito. 

 La casa del cultura.

 En el parque de carolina.

En el parque de carolina con mi paraguas viejo. 

Travel Log Day 1

4:00 AM: I’m awake and cannot go back to sleep, despite the fact that my alarm was set for 4:30 a.m.  I get up, get dressed and realize the zipper on my jeans (the only pair of pants I own, that fit, that I didn’t pack) has broken.

5:00 AM: Patrick drops me off at the airport in Austin to leave for my 6:10 flight to Dallas (then on to Miami and then to Quito) and I see more people than I have ever seen in ABIA at one time.

5:00-5:40 AM: Checking-in takes forever, so a ‘customer service representative’ suggests that I do the self-check in. Fine. Except that I have a huge suitcase and there is a weight limit on the self-check luggage. Of course my suitcase is overweight (6.4 lbs overweight to be exact). So I spend forever deciding what to throw away- I decided I could part with brand new, unopened bottles of shampoo, conditioner, body wash and lotion. Despite my best efforts to purge the heaviest things in my suitcase, I am still one pound overweight and my sweet friend who is exemplifying customer service isn’t doing me any favors. So I stuff as much as I can from my luggage into my backpack. Finally my new friend lets me pass on to security.

5:40-6:07 AM: Security takes forever. I’m anxious and sweating and texting Patrick every three seconds about how I am not going to make my plane. What happens if I don’t make it? But my bag is already tagged to be on that plane! Am I going to have to pay more for a new flight? What if there aren’t any more flights and I miss my flight to Miami and then miss my flight to Quito? (I know this sounds a bit irrational, even for me, but it was early.) As I’m waiting in line, I hear someone over the intercom saying it is final boarding for my plane. Finally it’s my turn to walk through the metal detector- and I set it off and the security guard tells me I should probably take my cell phone out of my pocket. As soon as I walk through the metal detector (passing with flying colors this time), I hear my name over the speaker.

6:07-6:10 AM: I am running (no, more like sprinting) toward my gate as they page me overhead for the second time. I’m a hot mess- I am running in my socks, carrying my shoes and all of the crap that made my suitcase too heavy to begin with. When I get to the gate, the flight attendant at the end of the walkway tells them to “Wait! Here she is. Don’t close the door.” They close the door to the plane right behind me.

6:11 AM-4 PM: I am the person camping out at the gate for two hours before their flight departs. I chose to eat in restaurants that are directly across from my gate- I didn’t want a repeat of this morning.

7:00 PM: I arrive in Quito.  It is already dark when I arrive, so the lights of the city wedged in between mountains is breathtaking (no really, I can't catch my breath because of the altitude). 

8:00 PM: My host sister, Erica who is probably in her late 20s, drove me to my home for the next 6 weeks. Apparently the pareja that they told me about also includes two twin sisters (one doesn’t live at home and the other is only here through July) and the bunny.

The “apartment” is bigger than my parents’ house, so I’m having a hard time referring to it as an apartment. But, it’s really nice (and so are the people I’m living with). I have my own room and bathroom, Wifi internet, a maid that does laundry on Mondays, and a cook that Erica says is the best cook in Ecuador. My host mother even offered to lend me her grandchildren’s books so that I can practice reading Spanish. The title of my first book is “Un día en el parque”—so obviously my Spanish is impressing everyone. I’ll post pictures of my apartment and the city tomorrow. Hasta luego. 

Adios Austin

At this time tomorrow I will be on one of three flights that will take me from Austin to Quito. I am traveling to Quito as part of a Spanish immersion program for Speech-Language Pathologist. I will be taking Spanish classes and doing speech therapy in the city. Before I leave, I wanted to share some facts about Quito, Ecuador and what I know about the family I will be staying with for six weeks. During my viaje, I will post to this blog as often as possible (hopefully daily). 

Quito, Ecuador

-Quito is the capital of The Republic of Ecuador which is located in South America. Ecuador is bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south and the Pacific Ocean on the west. 

-Quito is located at 9,400 feet above sea level and is 14 miles south of the equator.  

-The valley of Guayllabamba River, where Quito is located, is flanked by volcanoes. The closest volcano to the city is called Pichincha.

Mi familia de Quito

-I have very little information about the family I will stay with while I am in Quito. (And for some reason, I'm not worried about it- which is kind of uncharacteristic of me). Here's what I do know: they live in un edificio ladrillos (a red brick building), they have un conejo (a rabbit) and they will meet me at the airport in Quito tomorrow night. 

My next post will be from Ecuador. Adios Austin. Voy a la Quito.