Rainy Weekend

It has been a little while since I have written and a lot has happened. First let me say that I really appreciate the comments! It´s so good to hear from people while I´m here because sometimes I feel really lonely or cut off.

This weekend has been cold (by Ecuadorian standards - probably 50 degrees) and rainy. We were supposed to have a big picnic yesterday in the Parque Metropolitano but it was moved indoors which was too bad. On Friday the mothers of two other students came to my house to prepare food to bring to the picnic. It was a mini-fiesta! I helped them cook and we also danced salsa, drank cachaza which is a Brazilian drink, and chatted over tea. I really enjoyed listening to all the Spanish and understanding most of it. I also made my mom´s cauliflower dish all by myself which was a big hit.

I ate a ton at the picnic the next day and it was all really good. I also got to see and meet a lot of family members of the other students. My family came with me but my two brothers were very shy and anti-social. I don´t think they had a lot of fun! Oh well! We left pretty early and apparently I missed some good dancing and guitar playing. Back at home I took a siesta and then had a movie night with Sandra and Ian. They rented two movies, I am Legend and Fracture, both of which we watched in English! I am such a cheater! We also ordered pizza which has never tasted so good...I´ll admit to missing American food.

I didn´t end my Saturday night with movies. At 9:30 Emily and her host siblings, Jorge and Renata came to pick me up and go to a party at Laura´s house. It was SOOO fun! Her host brother Daniel is like 25 but he is totally nuts. First he made everyone "vino hervida" which is boiled wine with orange juice. It´s served hot and it´s nice and sweet. We drank that and chatted. After that he put the music on and we danced for hours (and some people may have taken tequila shots at Daniel´s urging...) It was such a fun party! A lot of kids from the program were there but there were also a lot of Ecuadorian guys. A totally great atmosphere! Also, Laura´s drunk host uncle danced the night away with us which was hilarious!

Today I went to the Centro with Sandra and Hardeep. We shopped in a giant market and had a coffee together before returning home for a giant family luncheon at my grandma´s. It was delicious but I think it made me sick with my first episode "you know what." She served a very traditional soup called Fonesca that is always made during la Semana Santa. We also had a traditional desert of figs and cheese. The soup has a story behind it. Apparently when the Virgin Mary was pregnant she went around asking everyone for a little food. She got a little bit of 12 different kinds of grains from the local poor people and she used them to make Fonesca. It has tons of grains and beans and legumes in it and is served with fish and fried plantaines and nuts on top.

The rain is a little depressing, I´ll admit. I´m a little bored and feeling a little neglected by Sandra today for the first time since I got here. She´s really bad about introducing me and making me feel included at family gatherings. I think she doesn´t really like the whole big, extended family get-togethers but it means that I end up feeling really awkward. Then again, if I had a foreigner living in my house I´d probably get really sick of them really quickly. All things considered I am SOOO lucky to have a great host mom like Sandra. We are going to go running in the park tomorrow. Then I may go by myself to check out a church in the Old City, buy some fruit at the market, and print some stuff at an internet cafe before afternoon class. Tuesday my work finally officially begins with my internship interview! YAY!

In other news I also took a cable car up to the top of Pinchincha which was amazing! But I´ll have to leave that story for another day.