Baños

Some photographic updates:

cuy, ie guinea pig

jas, dani, yo, lianna, herman

niños

bella vista

the closest you'll get to an ecuadorian sunse

abuelitos de la calle

[1]
It was my second day at Abuelitos and Dona Suzy had me working in the kitchen. I was handed a knife and preceded to chop frozen cantaloupe until my fingers were red with numbness.... and that's when I knew I had to get out of the kitchen for good.
After finally escaping the wrath of frozen fruit, I joined a group of abuelitos in their morning exercises (which involves stretching, wiggling fingers and twirls). After loosening up our muscles, Dona Suzy told us partner up, close our eyes and stand facing one another, palm to palm. And as such we stood, in silence, for almost five minutes, after which we were asked, "¿Como te sentían?" (How did you feel?) My partner raised her hand, smiled at me with her eyes and said, “I felt very loved. I felt so much love."

mis abuelitas

yes, swordfighting is part of morning exercise

me encanta quito

Courtyard in Museo del Ciudad

Centro Historico

La Virgen

amor

morning sky outside my house

Beautiful art exhibition at Centro Metropolitano

Gorgeous Church

I illegally took this picture so it doesn't even begin to do this church justice

Nukaka super unkushkami kani.

Ah to be sick at 10,000 feet... is it possible that altitude makes everything feel so much worse? Granted, I probably could have taken better care of myself. For one thing, I should not have gone dancing Friday night, nor should I have eaten that cheap ass Chinese food... or street Shawerma (although, according to Jed, shawerma cures all)... or gone to the casino (there's free beer!)... or taken an hour long busride to El Mitad del Mundo, but it was all so wonderful, I'd do it again. Needless to say I spent all of Saturday morning/afternoon in bed and on Sunday I passed out at 4 and slept until 7:30 this morning. I wish I could say I'm fully recovered, but I'd be lying.

Jed and one of his many shawerma men... some might call him a shawerma slut, but I like to call him an enthusiast.










It's incredibly hard to beleive I've only been here a week, but that's what the calendar keeps telling me. So far, my schedule is as follows:
Monday- Kichwa 9-12; Seminar 4-6
Tuesday- No classes = adventuring in the city
Wednesday- Kichwa 9-12; Ethno Methods 4-6
Thursday- Voluteering at Abuelitos de la Calle (Grandparents of the Streets) 10-1
Friday- Kichwa 9-12
Kichwa is proving to be both a hilarious and frustrating experience. Hilarious and fun when taught by Jose and terribly frustrating when taught by Jaime, his brother. Jose is the type of language teacher that inspires students and is a constant reminder of why we're taking the time to learn Kichwa. Jaime on the other hand, well... I think he tries, but its just a pretty miserable experience. The only "redeeming" quality of Jaime's teaching are his drawings...













Fig 1. happy and/or angry
Fig 2. bad
Fig 3. sad
Fig 4. happy and/or angry
Fig 5. angry (notice the pinneapple)
Fig 6. sick
Fig 7. a mouse
in essence, nothing he draws makes any sense and you're always wrong in your interpretation.

More later, its lunch time in my house and my brothers just got back from their first day of school...

la casa del rio oglan

my street, rio oglan


my house's fruit basket... i can't even name all of these


the planes overhead are so close, they set off car alarms

the light in quito is so, so spectacular

After a long summer of anticipation, I am finally in Quito.
My first few days here were spent at the Hostal Santa Barbara, reuniting with Pitzer friends, going through tedious orientations and adjusting to the altitude change. I've never been so winded after going up two flights of stairs or so drunk after una cervesa. But now that my red blood cells have doubled, I'm breathing easy and enjoying every moment in this city.
In brief....
My family is wonderful, wonderful, wonderful. Mi madre es Sonia, y mi padre es Diego. Tengo dos hermonos, se llaman Francisco, 13, y Juan Diego, 12, y un perro, Luke Skywalker. Perfecto, no?
I've only had one Kichwa (Quichua) class so far, but it was quite fun. Nukaka Camillami kani. Nukaka kuchillami kani. Nukaka Washingtonmantami kani. (My name is Camille. I am happy. I am from Washington). It's a very strange language....
La comida es muy muy rico! There are so many fruits I've never seen before and every morning I wake up to fresh squeezed juice.
I go to sleep and wake up to the sounds of airplanes directly over my head. It seriously looks as though they're going to crash into the buildings (I'll post a picture of this soon. Secretly really really terrifying).
Anyhow, I'm having a hard time putting together complete thoughts seeing as my brain is a little fried from all the Spanish. I've realized I know more Spanish than I thought, but being here reinforces how much more there is to learn.
Besos a todos, mas fotos y cuentas manana.

ke rata botswana