Sunday, October 18, 2009

I shouted out "who killed the Kennedy's?" when after all it was you and me

Hola Amigos,
In roughly two days I will have been in Ecuador for two months. I have found out a lot in these past months. One them being how hard it is to blog. A lot happens in a month, so I´ll try to sum it up in way that makes it seem nothing is really going on.
Since my last post I have settled down on the traveling and lolligagging (I´ve never actually seen that written. It looks offensive, sorry) and have started school. In school, we have a variety of classes including: Philosophy, Sociology, Geography, Civics, Math, Pscicology, Literature, Computation, History and Ecuadorian history class Realidad Nacional. School has proved to be easy. Most teachers don´t really care about the exchange students, but I still do my homework. School is from 7 am. to 1:30 P.M. There is a break in the middle and I eat lunch at home after school. The actual work done in class is very easy. Homework is extremely easy and mostly consists of topics I covered two years ago. Another advantage is that almost every day a teacher doesn´t show up or we don´t have class for some reason or another. We just sit in our classroom and talk until the next period. Three big differences of this high school to mine are 1. The teachers are not called by there names. They are called by a title similar to Doctor, Lisen. 2. When a teacher enters a room, we must stand until they tell us to sit down. 3. The teachers come to your classroom, not the opposite. There is one big similarity: I don´t like it. I won´t complain about it too much, but high school is the same all around the world, I think. I was voted Caballero (Gentleman) and had to escort the Madrina (equivalent to gentleman, but a girl). Essentially, I escorted her for a 20 meter spread and then it was over, but it was cool nonetheless.
In my free time I have continued to wander the city eating, observing, thinking and learning. I know Riobamba just as well, if not better, than most of the kids in my high school by now.
Also, the other exchange students and I have been taking a Latin American dance course that meets every day after school. We learned all sorts of dances like Samba, Flamenco, Reggaton, Salsa, Merengue, and other traditional Ecuadorian dances. Not only has it rasied my BAR (Babe Attraction Ratio) ten-fold, but I have been learning a lot more about the culture while getting some quality excersise. And I know what everyone´s thoughts are " I can´t picture you dancing, Seth", but believe me, I dance with the utmost Grace and Elegance possible. Kidding, I´m lanky, awkward, and tall, but my instructor did say that I was very good at Salsa.
My Spanish is improving day by day. I do speak a lot of English with my brother and friend, Anton, but I my brother says that I´m am doing very well for two months. It´s strange how learning a language works when you´re immersed. Sometimes I´ll be speaking with a friend and just say a word or conjugate a verb without any previous knowledge. After I finish I think to myself " Where did that come from?"
Not much has gone on past that (Big lie), but I will inform as soon as cooler stuff surfaces. I´m going to Cuenca and Latacunga for some Festival/Celebrations in two weeks. Gonna be gnarly. Later, Big Dawgs.

2 comments:

  1. Hi Seth! My name is Cara and I was in Riobamba last year, 2008-2009. I was stalling from homework when I stumbled across your blog, and I have to say, it was like re-reading parts of my own diary from the beginning. You really capture the different aspects of the culture shock awesomely, and a lot of your first impressions are almost word for word the same as mine were. You should really keep up writing--my diaries and blog from last year are my biggest treasures now.

    And Riobamba is an awesome city! En cual colegio asistes? Yo estaba en la Amelia. Y dices que tu hermano se llama Paco...en cual familia estas? Mi amiga, Irene, tenia un hermano el ano anterior que se llama Paco y el sabia ingles...chevere! Bueno, espero que disfrutes en tus ultimos meses, y que pasaste el Carnaval en una locura! I'd love to hear more about your year! I'm done with my Ecuador blog, but now I blog for my university (scarletandgray.osu.edu/blogs). You should definitely keep it up!

    Okay, this is sufficiently long. I was just so excited to see another riobambeno writing about their experiences.

    Cuidate mucho!

    Cara

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  2. nice blog. visit & follow me back

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