Fútbol with llamas

Well it´s been a week since I last posted and I have to use my schedule of activities as a reference for what I´ve been up to...yesterday seems a lifetime ago and when I think I´ve only been here two weeks I get a little dizzy. In an attempt to supply information promised several posts ago, I´m going to try to summarize a week in a couple short paragraphs...here we go...

This week began with our first actual seminar, led by the amazingly-intelligent and rapidly-speaking María. I´m really excited for everything about this class, we´re going to be looking at social change in Ecuador and studying the different social movements occuring today. Tuesday night we had conversation tables with a couple English classes in the Catholic University. It was a really fun experience and I think I´m going out with some of the students later this week. Wednesday we visited El Panecillo (a hill on the southern end of the city and home to an enormous statue of the Virgen de Quito) and the City Museum. On Thursday we took the Teleflórico (a big cablecar) up Volcán Pinchincha and hiked around the volcano and enjoyed the amazing views of the city. We could even see Cotopaxi 50 kilometers to the south. I also checked out a rock climbing facility with some friends and I´m excited to improve during my stay here.

This past Saturday we had a picnic in Parque Metropolitano with all of the host families and students. It was a really fun time and it was amazing how easily you could pair students with their families. We played games of charades and soccer (battling off the llamas in the park) and got to know each other´s families.

OK, now, today I had my interview for my intership today (definitely the most important component of my program). Originally I was going to be teaching in a school for indigenous families who recently moved to the city but there was some kind of problem there and they couldn´t take an intern. Martha, my program director, then told me about another larger and more formal indigenous school. That was the plan for a couple days before we found out that the school wouldn´t really have anything for me to do. So then we arrived at my third and final internship: Sol de Primavera (Sun of Spring). This organization works with children who work in the streets and live in one of the poorer barrios of the city. The organization gives them a safe space and provides meals, school, and healthcare to the students free of charge. I have yet to determine how the program is funded but I´m excited to work there. I´ll be teaching and organizing activities in the mornings and then will be part of a community outreach team in the afternoon. They said I´m also free to design and implement my own projects in the program so I´m excited to learn more about it. It´s about a 30 minute walk from my house and I start tomorrow...I´ll let you know.

In just two weeks I feel incredibly comfortable with my family and life in Quito in general. I´ve learned that although the city has several streets named for important dates, if you try to organize them chronologically you´ll be a mess. I´ve learned that you fit in better if you look kind of angry while waiting for the bus but smile at people when you get on. I´ve learned that (as my host mom warned me) if I start a conversation with our maid/cook Myriam (whom I adore) she will never ever stop talking. Most importantly I´ve learned that I can feign understanding frighteningly well but also that I´m not as well informed as I thought I was.

Also in the course of writing this I´ve discovered that pictures take a long time, bordering on forever, to load on blogspot so I made a different album instead, sorry for the barrage of links...

http://picasaweb.google.com/aventurasdenate

Coming soon: first week of internship, the middle of the world, and my host father