I slept in this morning, at least by Ecuadorian standards. Ten o’clock is still early for me, so I’m going to have to learn to go to bed earlier. After a short struggle to get warm water out of the shower, I finally washed off the travel dirt, then unpacked. Lucía made breakfast (an interesting combination of fruit, coffee, and grilled-cheese sandwich), and then she showed me around.
We took her car along the bus route to the university so that I’ll know where to go come Monday, and then she showed me other major streets and parks. I got thoroughly lost after a while, but at least the school is very easy to find, and the bus ride is only 25 cents. After that I got to experience the local auto mechanic, which is one of those things that seems so small but is different enough to be no end of amusing. They change your oil while you wait in the car, then wash it, engine included. Then they dry the car, clean the windows, and vacuum the inside…and all of this for $18!
I’m understand a lot more of the language I heard than I was afraid I would. I had imagined being practically unable to communicate, wandering around completely lost and frustrated, but that thankfully has not been the case yet. Sometimes I have to ask Lucía to explain a word or a concept differently, but in the end she always manages to make me understand.
I’ve learned more about her today, because we chatted for a while over breakfast. She has two sons, both married with children nearly my age, and a daughter who is a diplomat. One of the sons is a computer engineer and I think the other is a bank manager. She’s originally from Guayaquil, but married a man from Quito, which is why she lives here now. Her husband died three years ago – I didn’t catch the reason – but from what I gather, she’s almost never alone here. Her maid works Monday to Friday, and she always has exchange students. She says most of the students are from Belgium, but she’s also hosted people from Germany, Austria, England, the US, Japan, and Holland. I think I’ll get to meet Raquel, the girl from Colorado, on Monday.
When we got back to the house, Lucía made lunch, and explained to me that lunch is the largest meal of the day here, unlike in the US, where it’s usually dinner. She makes her own ají, a hot sauce that is wonderful on pretty much anything. It contains “canchos,” something whose equivalent I didn’t manage to come up with in English, but they’re sort of a cross between lentils and chickpeas, or maybe lima beans.
After lunch I took a nap, and then the two of us went for a walk around town. Many of the shops were closed because it’s Saturday, but not all. Now I know how to find the internet spots (I can’t use my own computer, but at least the use of theirs is cheap), clothing stores and bakeries and restaurants. Lucía suggested that us four students and our families go to La Mariscal tonight, a tourist district that apparently parties on Saturday nights, but Marie isn’t feeling well. Braulio’s mom said he would call us later, though, so we might still go.
Since I got the internet card to work on my computer last night, Lucía asked me to get it to work on hers as well. She doesn’t know a lot about computers, and to makes things worse, her operating system is in English, which she doesn’t speak at all. So I have become the bilingual tech support. I got her internet working and ran a standard cleanup on her machine to try to make it faster. I’m a geek no matter where I go!
Her grandson Pablo Javier came over with two of his friends a few minutes ago. I thought they might be staying for dinner, but they’re on their way out. He seems nice, but I can’t understand his friends, who speak Spanish as fast and as slurred as I speak English.
I did find a place from which I can make calls to the US at .09 a minute, so I will probably wander down tomorrow and put it to use. I can also use the computers in the internet stores for calls and web chat, and I bet I can upload my photos that way, too, since I brought my thumb drive. Then I can post them in the blog and you can all see where I am!
We took her car along the bus route to the university so that I’ll know where to go come Monday, and then she showed me other major streets and parks. I got thoroughly lost after a while, but at least the school is very easy to find, and the bus ride is only 25 cents. After that I got to experience the local auto mechanic, which is one of those things that seems so small but is different enough to be no end of amusing. They change your oil while you wait in the car, then wash it, engine included. Then they dry the car, clean the windows, and vacuum the inside…and all of this for $18!
I’m understand a lot more of the language I heard than I was afraid I would. I had imagined being practically unable to communicate, wandering around completely lost and frustrated, but that thankfully has not been the case yet. Sometimes I have to ask Lucía to explain a word or a concept differently, but in the end she always manages to make me understand.
I’ve learned more about her today, because we chatted for a while over breakfast. She has two sons, both married with children nearly my age, and a daughter who is a diplomat. One of the sons is a computer engineer and I think the other is a bank manager. She’s originally from Guayaquil, but married a man from Quito, which is why she lives here now. Her husband died three years ago – I didn’t catch the reason – but from what I gather, she’s almost never alone here. Her maid works Monday to Friday, and she always has exchange students. She says most of the students are from Belgium, but she’s also hosted people from Germany, Austria, England, the US, Japan, and Holland. I think I’ll get to meet Raquel, the girl from Colorado, on Monday.
When we got back to the house, Lucía made lunch, and explained to me that lunch is the largest meal of the day here, unlike in the US, where it’s usually dinner. She makes her own ají, a hot sauce that is wonderful on pretty much anything. It contains “canchos,” something whose equivalent I didn’t manage to come up with in English, but they’re sort of a cross between lentils and chickpeas, or maybe lima beans.
After lunch I took a nap, and then the two of us went for a walk around town. Many of the shops were closed because it’s Saturday, but not all. Now I know how to find the internet spots (I can’t use my own computer, but at least the use of theirs is cheap), clothing stores and bakeries and restaurants. Lucía suggested that us four students and our families go to La Mariscal tonight, a tourist district that apparently parties on Saturday nights, but Marie isn’t feeling well. Braulio’s mom said he would call us later, though, so we might still go.
Since I got the internet card to work on my computer last night, Lucía asked me to get it to work on hers as well. She doesn’t know a lot about computers, and to makes things worse, her operating system is in English, which she doesn’t speak at all. So I have become the bilingual tech support. I got her internet working and ran a standard cleanup on her machine to try to make it faster. I’m a geek no matter where I go!
Her grandson Pablo Javier came over with two of his friends a few minutes ago. I thought they might be staying for dinner, but they’re on their way out. He seems nice, but I can’t understand his friends, who speak Spanish as fast and as slurred as I speak English.
I did find a place from which I can make calls to the US at .09 a minute, so I will probably wander down tomorrow and put it to use. I can also use the computers in the internet stores for calls and web chat, and I bet I can upload my photos that way, too, since I brought my thumb drive. Then I can post them in the blog and you can all see where I am!
2 comments:
I'm searching diligently to learn more about "canchos" and not having any luck. Are you sure about the spelling? And it seems strange to have a legume in aji. Please see what else you can find out about this - I'd like to try making it.
Yay for exploring and having good Spanish. Glad to hear you've made it and are settling in well.
Things here are good; I've been writing every day, and feeling domestic with Jaz, and my summer job has recently changed in interesting ways.
Classes start for me in almost exactly twelve hours. Whee!
Love and Hugs,
Eric
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