I suppose it's time for me to do another one of these... so much has been going on which is great, but it also makes it hard to write. I've often caught myself thinking "wow.. it's already November!" I feel like my first few months have just flown by.

November 2nd here is el Dia de los difuntos or "day of the dead". It's sort of like our Rememberance day and Halloween mixed together... not really, but if I had to make a comparison.. for about a week leading up to it, on the day and a few days afterward, it's tradition to eat colada morada y guaguas de pan.

Colada morada is a warm, thick, purple, sweet, acidic tasting drink with chunks of fruit like pears or pineapple in it. Everyone makes it a little differently but it was equally as good each time I had it which.. if I'm right about about 7 or 8 times. Guagua is a word for "child" so guaguas de pan can be litterally translated to bread children. They don't usually come with names on them but Mami decided to make our first time special for us. The guaguas can be plain all the way through.. or, if you're lucky you'll get one with chocolate, caramel, jam or cheese on the inside. The last hour and a half of school on Nov. 1st we had free so we could all eat colada morada and guaguas de pan. Remember, always eat the head first! We had el dia de los difuntos (a Wednesday) off of school as well as the following Thursday and Friday. A five day week-end = going to our beach house in the coast!

I can't complain about spending vacation at a gorgeous beach with my parents, my brother Sebas, and his friends. Even though the already roller coaster type trek to the beach becomes even moreso when your father is driving a heavy duty pick-up truck as fast as he can. Our beach is in an area of the coast called Pedernales. It's a very quiet beach with not many people.

At first I thought it would be weird to be at the beach with my older brother and his friends (Sebas is 22), but they were all really great. They treated me like their little sister... a feeling I'm not used to... but it was fun anyway. In the picture is Mafer (Maria- Fernanda), Sebas, me, other Sebas, my brother Sebas and Diego (missing Hernan). We played volley-ball on the beach, swam in the HUGE waves, which can be dangerous but my "brothers" showed me how not to die :-p. We drank right out of coconuts usuing a straw, had a slightly failed bonfire, the first night we actually

played musical coconuts (not enough chairs). I managed to lose half my toenail while playing soccer and scrape my knee up on a rock in the ocean. Almost every night we drove to a beach community about an hour away called Canoa. There were a lot more people there and I got to practice my dancing..salsa! Woo! I had a lot of good food too Ceviche de camaron, fresh fish, fruits and rice (as usual) yummmm. On the last day there was a snake near the pool... that was fun, my host dad killed it thankfully. I had almost forgotten that with tropical weather comes tropical creatures.

All in all it was a great vacation, meeting new people is always a plus. Lets just say after all those days relaxing in the sun I did NOT feel like going back to school... but there I was Monday morning, uniform and all. The week started normal... we were having the presidential elections for the school so there were posters up and campagning during the breaks (it's kind of a big deal here). Tuesday Diego and Mafer came to the school and brought me out for lunch before I went to work with the kids. The next two days... I was sick... the first time food has made me sick here, so I had a pretty good run.
Thursdau night I was feeling a lot better so I went to my first rotary meeting! It was in a fancy hotel in Quito. We had a really nice supper and the other girls in the club and I had to give a little improved spee on how we think we are doing so far. They were all impressed with our Spanish.
The next morning (Friday) I went back up to Quito to help sell bracelets as part of a rotary project to raise money for the poor kids in the city. We (Benedicte, Silvia, Lena and I) started off selling them in the hotel... but we moved out to the street. Okay please imagine this; Karissa, walking up to complete strangers in Quito (who would rather get hit by the next city bus then stop to chat) and convincing them to buy a bracelet in support of poor children, all in spanish. OH YEAH! :-) We were really good at it too, we sold all the ones they gave us. Okay, we may have had the "oh cute, they're foreign" advantage but still! It was a proud exchange moment for me.
On Saturday I went to some hot spring pools in a place called Papallacta about an hour from my house. I went with Maddie, Mami, my aunts Ceci and Lili and their cousin. It was a resort/ spa place up in a mountain with gorgeous gardens and naturally warm.. more like hot water pools. (* Angie, you would have LOVED it there.... if you ever plan a trip to Ecuador... :-p).

Today I went to watch Sebas and his friends play soccer. It was fun, I got to see some of my "brothers" from the beach. Sebas is taking a nap right now... but he promised we'd play soccer when he gets up. Wooo! I do miss playing soccer... the girls here really just watch.

Well that's about it for now, I'm truly sorry about the level of my writing at this point, I'm afraid it's not going to get much better as I focus more and more on Spanish! I have a busy week coming up. The teachers at school have started asking more of me, and on Friday Usman and I both have to do a presentation about Canada for our Lengua y literatura class. I forgot to say I've been learning to take the buses by myself! The ones that sometimes you have to run beside to hop on, the ones you have to jump off while they're still moving and the ones on which you are easily robbed... yeah.. those ones! I feel so Ecuadorian! Haha.

Thinking of everyone at home! Lots of love!

At Home



At Usman's house with my yummy cakes! (Made mostly by Maddie)



I am two months in ALREADY!... Although I have no idea where to start writing. I've been very busy lately, doing something with my friends almost everyday after school. I've gotten very close to Maddie (USA) and Sonja (Germany), I'm thrilled to have friends I feel so comfortable with. There are other exchange students in the valley too; Layla (Canada), Lukas and Liliann (Germany), Sigrid (Denmark), Dixon (USA) and Geraldine (Belgium). We've often gone to San Louis (a huge shopping mall surounded by palm trees) to eat or see a movie. What ever we do, we always have a great time together. There are also the people in my class, I've done the most with Michelle and Salome, but I really love them all.



Lukas, Liliann, me, Sonja and Sigrid on my birthday.







I've started my dance classes, they are on Mondays and Wednesdays after school. Now, I am in NO WAY a hip hop dancer, but I'm learning and having a lot of fun in the process. We are doing a dance show in December and in March we have a big competition in Quito against other dance troups. I've also started volunteering at a foundation here in the valley that deals with disabled children (most of them have down's syndrom). I go Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays from 3 to 4:30 after school. A few weeks ago I went to my first pro soccer game, Ecuador vs Venezuela.. it was so much fun! Although the huge ammount of police officers there were unfortunately necessary.

                                                                 Vamos Ecuador!!

Since the last time I wrote, I've been on two different rotary trips, to Mompiche and Manabi. The first one (Mompiche) was with over 50 of the exchange students at a five star beach resort. We spent our time there having spanish classes, seeing shows, swimming, having impromptu dance lessons by the pool and eating.. A LOT. AND.... climbing the increadible amount of stairs they had between our rooms and the beach, my legs actually got sore from all the stairs! Thank goodness for the stairs though.... I would have gotten VERY large considering all the food I ate :-p. Have I mentioned the food here is amazing? Especially ceviche.... it's a cold soup and it usually has seafood in it. the first time I had it I didn't really like it, but now.. YUMMM! We barely slept at all that week... I went to bed at about 2am every night and that was early compared to some people. We didn't learn a lot of spanish while there... what they were teaching us we had already learned in our first few weeks here, but it was fun anyway. I came out of it with a lot of new friends and my skin, a darker shade of pale. I thought that nothing could be better than a week at a beautiful beach resort with over 50 other exchange students... turns out I was wrong.

                                  Great friends! Lukas (Ger.) Benedicte (Den.) Valdemar (Den.)

The Mompiche trip was great, but nothing can beat the time we spent in Manabi. The hotel wasn't half as nice as the one in Mompiche.. but this time there were over 130 exchange students, and because the hotel was smaller, we were together all the time. For this trip, we didn't have spanish classes only organised activities. We spent a lot of time dancing (as usual), playing games, having camp fires, enjoying the beach and riding on tubes through the huge waves *(COUSINS: the tube we had was the same one as at the cottage!! But the waves were 3 times bigger... my arms were sore the next day from holding on so tight). We got to be in a military parade and we also got to ride around Portoviejo (a town) in chivas! Chivas... are hard to explain.. basically, they are two story party buses, ours had live bands on the top.

                              Members from the winning tug of war team! Me, Kelcey (USA), Sarah (Brazil),
                                              Benedicte (Denmark), and Rachel (USA)

One of my favorite nights was probably when we all ended up in the pool. It started with a talent show, afterward we had dancing (have I mentioned that people dance ALL THE TIME here?) Anyway, it was warm out, so some of the boys started jumping into them pool, then coming back out and getting everyone wet. More and more people began jumping into the water. It didn't take long for Lukas and Valdemar to find me, drag me to the pool, kindly allow me to remove my shoes then push me into the water... fully clothed.*(Cousin David: Valdemar is the one who reminds me of you.... this is just one example). ANYWAY, it turned into a huge late night pool party. Everyone was in the water, having a really good time all together.  I made a friend from Belgium so I got to practice my french a lot. We had a good time laughing about the differences between Canada french and Belgium french. I also learned about a.. well about a little... tension, or rivalry between France and Belgium. Since I was with the Belgian..and I speak Canada french, I was aparently an entertaining target for the France guys. As an example... I was talking with Theophile when Alex (from France) came up and was like "hey! The two countries who stoles our language!" It was all for fun though.With the exchange students it's kind if like a huge family reunion, since we all have a huge part of our lives in common, we tend to click pretty easily.

                                   I love these people! Anna- Maria (Ger.), Carla (Ger.) Benedicte (Den.)
                                          me, Otis (Ger.), Theophile (Bel.), Gerrit (Ger.) and Rachel (USA)

                                         There are mostly German and American exchange students...

 I'm really starting to feel comfortable now. I love my family, my school, and all my friends. The other day I went out for lunch (typical food from the amazon) with Michelle, Monica and Jose from my class. Last week-end me and the other girls from my rotary club went to a lodge/camp thing with our councellors and last night I went out to a halloween/ birthday party with Andrea and Sebastian. We dressed up as a spoon, fork and knife, it was hilarious. I've been learning and experiencing so much! I do miss home... but I know it's going to be very hard to leave at the end of the year. I think Ecuador has already stolen some of my heart!

 





SCHOOL

Well, I’ve completed my first two weeks of Ecuadorian high school…or “colegio” here. I don’t even know how to start explaining it, it’s so different! I suppose I’ll start with the fact that we wear uniforms. We have a formal one; plaid skirt, white shirt, navy sweater, navy knee socks (yeah... I know…), and black shoes. The other one we get to wear on the day we have gym, and Fridays. That one is sweat pants, a sweat shirt, a white t-shirt with the school logo on it, white socks (they also have the school logo) and white sneakers. The thing about uniforms is that it makes getting ready in the morning MUCH easier.

                                               Me in my uniform with Lucas (1 of 4 dogs)

My first day of school was something else. It seems like a year ago, but I’ll do my best to remember everything. Mami went in through the gates with me, (the school is surrounded by walls, has a huge gate and a guard at the front). The school is more like a campus with a bunch of little buildings. A lot of parents were there although… I think their children were significantly younger than me. OH WELL! Usman, Maddie (the American exchange student) and I all stood together with our mothers. All of a sudden a siren went off, it sounded like we were being raided or something! Nope, the school bell just sounds like that. Anyway, we followed everyone to the gym area which is outside and includes a basketball court, a small soccer field and track and permanent bleachers. We all had to line up according to grade, then class, then gender, then height facing the parents and staff who were sitting on the bleachers. Here, you don’t choose a list of courses you want to take, you choose one of three areas: chemistry, physics or social sciences and they give you classes based on which course you’re in. Usman and I found the sociales (social sciences) line and started meeting people left and right. Honestly, I didn’t even start remembering names until the second day. Here their greeting is half of the Quebec one. An “hola” and a kiss on the cheek. *Selina- here, somehow everyone knows which side to go to :-p. It took me a while to get used to being greeted like that by everyone every morning, but it’s actually really welcoming.

Alright, back to our lines! All four exchange students ended up at the back, we happen to be quite tall here. We had to stand straight with our feet apart and our hands behind our backs. The principal (who is very nice and speaks English amazingly well), made a welcome speech…of which I understood basically nothing. Then we had to put our right hands on our hearts and sing the national anthem. Haha! I spent the song moving my lips and glancing over at Usman and Sonja (the German exchange student) to see how they were doing. I’ve learned that exchange students click really fast, and we can kind of read each other’s minds seeing that we are usually thinking : “I have no clue what to do, but I’m trying anyway”. After the anthem, the principal called each exchange student up to the front. We stood there while she introduced us to the other students. I’m sure it was something along the lines of “these are the exchange students, don’t kill them”. Not really! ... I just didn’t understand what she was saying. We went back to our lines and got cheered and clapped for, I felt famous or something. When that was all over, Usman and I followed the 14 other students in our course to our classroom. The classroom part of the school is about 4 or 5 rows of single level buildings. Kind of like motels with just 4 or 5 rooms in each. To get from one room to another you have to go outside. Not that it matters much, we never change rooms or seats. The teachers are the ones who move around from class to class. Every time an adult walks into the room we stand up until they thank us and tell us to sit down.

Something really different: the notebooks here all have graph paper; it’s what they write on! I only have one book with plain lined paper and that’s for English class. I have 12 different classes:

Realidad nacional, Lengua y literatura, Ingles, Sociologia, Psycologia, Educacion ambiental, Historia del Ecuador, Problemas geopoliticos, Educacion física, matemáticas, Informatica y Civica. We have 8 classes and 2 breaks a day. During break, we talk, walk around, eat a little. The other day the guys got me to play soccer and basketball with them. Girls here aren’t really into playing sports.

Okay, back to the first day! We got to the classroom and both ended up sitting at the very front of the class. There are four rows of four chairs, a lot of windows, 16 lockers and a white board in the classroom. The reat of the day we played a lot of “getting to know you” games which was SUPER useful. The people in my class have known each other/ have been friends since pre-basica (kindergarten). They’re pretty much a big family. It’s a really fun and warm environment to be in. They all call me Kari here, not Carrie, you have to say it with a Spanish accent J.

For the first week, I would come home from school absolutely exhausted. I always change out of my uniform right away then go to have lunch between 2 and 2:30. After that, it’s kind of up in the air. I go for walks/ runs now!! Do my homework (which takes 10x’s longer in Spanish), run errands with Mami… One day our entire class went to Pizza Delight for lunch, another day we went to the mall.

       

I love these people!

    

My Spanish is coming along, today I wrote two essays, all in Spanish! Obviously I used a dictionary… but still! This week I registered my visa and got an Ecuador I.D. Now they can’t deport me! Yay!

All the exchange students in the Quito area are going to a rotary/ Spanish camp at the beach this week. That means… NO HOMEWORK!! I’m excited to meet all the other exchange students.

So far, I’ve been having a really amazing time. This is such a learning experience in so many ways! I’ve also been able to spend a lot of time reading my Bible and just strengthening my relationship with the Lord in general. I have such a great support team at home that I think I needed to be taken away from everything to really understand what it means to fully rely on God. Yes, it’s difficult, there are trials and challenges but it’s also kind of exciting because I never feel really alone, and that’s amazing.

Love from Ecuador!           

 

Team Canada doing our homework. You can't tell, but

a spanish/enlgish dictionary, word reference.com and a

verb chart were all in use. Mami thought it was very entertaining

 and took a picture.

Learning slowly

Two weeks! Sometimes it feels like I’ve been here forever and other times it’s like I just got here yesterday. David (my host brother) left for Germany on his exchange last Friday, which is when I met my host father for the first time! He didn’t stay long however, and since Andrea is away at University most of the day, usually it’s just me and Mami.

I feel like I want to say way too much to write in chronological order, so I’m going to go through a typical day and try to fit everything in that way.

Alright, so I wake up and I usually have to wait a few minutes to get over the dream I just had. I have no idea why, but my dreams here are MUCH more vivid and seem very real compared to the ones I had at home. Lately I’ve woken up terrified, completely depressed and furious. So I manage to pull myself out of bed all happy again and go to take a shower in the bathroom that happens to be in my bedroom! I get dressed and make my bed (yes mom, every day).

I always take a deep breath to put myself back into “Spanish mode” and then make my way out to the kitchen.

Like I said, breakfast always consists of fresh fruit. The yogurt here is very runny, so yogurt and milk are kind of interchangeable. I’ve often had my cereal with yogurt. This morning I had an apple and half a banana mixed with yogurt. Mami made strawberry milk (basically put milk and strawberries into a blender) and orange juice from the oranges we got at the market last night. Breakfast has to be big enough to tide you over to “la hora de la comida” which is never before 1:30 pm. After desayuno (breakfast) I either help Mami get lunch started or study Spanish and verb conjugations…. Which is less fun, but very necessary.

When they told me that Valle de los Chillos was small, it’s because they were comparing it to Quito. The valley is about the size of Moncton and from what I understand it also had three main parts: Conocoto, Sangolqui and San Rafael. I live just outside the San Rafael part…. I’m pretty sure… The view in the valley is gorgeous, you can see mountains in every direction. All the businesses and wealthier peoples’ homes are all closed in by huge walls, usually made of concrete or stone I suppose. A lot of the walls even have broken bottles and other forms of glass or wire sticking out on top. Usman’s host mom calls it cheap fencing. I’m thinking the glass and wire would add an exciting element to parkour (Jeff). Even though we’ve driven by my school several times, today was the first day I actually saw it due to the huge wall and gate enclosing it. Similarly to many of the stores here, there is a guard at the gate of my school.

Back to my day! After lunch I go out for a walk. I’m not allowed to go any farther than our street by myself and I have to take a call phone with me when I go. My dad put it this way: “You’re white and a girl”. I miss the freedom of Sackville, but I do enjoy my walks, no running yet! It is quite harder to breathe here, and being the asthma kid that I am, I have no chance…YET! Once I manage to make it up our street (I use “up” because of the HUGE steep hill) without needing to catch my breath I’ll try running. I was really serious when I wrote about the animals all over the streets. I’ve counted at least seven stray dogs (on our road), one of our neighbours has a pig in his front yard and yesterday I actually walked behind a chicken!

                                              Me at the bus stop at the bottom of our street.

                                                               A neighbour's house.

                                                  Three minute drive from my house.

Due to my still existing lack of Spanish skills I have done a lot of hopping in the car with no clue where I was going. My favorite word is probably “vamos” it’s kind of a synonym for adventure. Last Saturday Mami, Andrea and I went to La Basilica. It’s a huge gothic style church in Old Quito, and it’s absolutely gorgeous. We got to climb up to one tower and then to the bell tower. We used ladders and tiny stairs to get to the top. It was pretty much as scary as rock climbing (Patrick, Selina + Daniel). The church isn’t finished being built yet and Andrea told me it’s been under construction for over 100 years!

I think it was Monday that Mami, my aunt Ceci, a few of her friends and I went to see the German youth orchestra. They were performing at the German University in Quito and were very good. I had to keep reminding myself that I was in Ecuador, most of the people at the concert were German! That was also the first day I took a bus here in Ecuador! Let’s put it this way; I tried to take a picture, but the bus was gone before I could turn on the camera. You basically have to jump on to it and personal space isn’t really an option. The ride was fast, bumpy and hot… I kind of loved it! I’m not allowed to go on buses by myself either, but once I learn how they work, Mami said I’ll take the bus to Quito with my friends a lot.

I’ve been to Quito very often; it’s a really cool city! At red lights, people swarm the cars selling fruits, books, candies and other things. There are also performers who stand at the line and either juggle or do magic tricks. It’s all perfectly timed too, when the light turns green, everyone has cleared out of the way of the cars. Cool fact about Quito: from what I’ve understood, there are certain days that cars aren’t allowed to drive through the city because of the last number on their license plate. For example, the last number on our license plate is a 6, so we’re not supposed to drive through Quito on Wednesdays.

                                                     A fruit and vegetable shop.

I’m understanding much more than I did two weeks ago. I can have little conversations with people as long as they speak slowly. Although, I do love using the “hablo ingles” line when someone is trying to sell me something. Once again I want to thank everyone for your thoughts, prayers and support. All I can do is smile when Mami tells someone that I’m the only exchange student she’s had that hasn’t gotten sick because of the food or water. I do miss home, but this country is really starting to grow on me.

Ciao for now!

With love, from Ecuador

I’m going to start off by saying…errr..writing that I’m not really sure how all this blog stuff works, but I’m going to give it a try. Thanks to Mom and Angie for getting it all set up for me. Okay, here goes nothing…

Everything is different here. The food, the colors, the people, the language (especially the language) and the whole mood of this country is brand new. It was when I was sitting in a car parked on the wrong side of the street, facing the wrong direction that it clicked… I am definitely not in Canada anymore!

 Let me start at the beginning. It’s 4:30 am, tired, confused and nervous I stand with Mom and Papa to check my bag in the Moncton airport. Everything after that is a blur of hugs, gifts goodbyes and yes…a few tears. I couldn’t have asked for anything more than to have everyone there, it was a great way to say goodbye. Not to mention I felt like royalty or something.

Skip forward to take off. I imagine I looked like a five year old in the window of a toy store with my nose shoved up against the glass, but I wasn’t going to miss anything! I need to say that clouds are MUCH cooler from the up side. Everything in the airports went very smoothly although I did get a few strange looks from people… but yes, “little sister Karissa” made it to Quito all by herself. I met the other Canadian going to my school in the Huston airport. His name is Usman and I was THRILLED to have someone to actually hold a conversation with. The flight from Huston Texas to Quito Ecuador is…well…LONG. We finally arrived and according to Usman I looked sick as a dog. I was so tired! We made it through customs, security, then said good luck as we went off to meet our new families!

My family is AMAZING! Andrea, David, Mami, one of my aunts Lili and my counsellor Pablo were all there to meet me at the door. All at once questions and introductions in Spanish started flying at me from every direction. All the preparation I had done, the lines I had practiced…nada…  I must have looked pathetic because very quickly Andrea started translating it all for me. Thank goodness, I think I might have died…or fainted…or...never mind. Either way, it was a little overwhelming. I didn’t get much of a chance to explore my new, gorgeous home because at seven the next morning we started out on a five hour trek to the beach!

I’ve come to realise that road signs, lines, seat belts and speed limits are pretty much optional…some of the limits are really funny though : 164Km/h or 57. You pass someone if they are in the way no matter what the lines are even if it means driving head on toward another vehicle. Another thing, there are HUGE speed bumps pretty much everywhere! It makes sense I suppose.

The colours and foods in this country are really amazing. It’s fun to look out the window and see houses and shops painted in bright oranges, blues, yellows, greens and reds. Don’t even get me started on the food! Down at the beach we had fresh sea food every day, que rico! Here, the main meal is lunch and we have it anywhere between 1:30 and 3:00. Supper is more of a snack whenever we get hungry in the evening; usually we have it at 8 or 9. For the first bit I found myself getting pretty hungry, but I’m used to the schedule now. With breakfast or desayuno, we always have fresh fruit. Mami often makes a papaya and tomato smoothie. Now that might sound gross, but one of the kinds of tomatoes they have here is really sweet. They also have this green banana that they fry; it’s treated more like a vegetable. My favorite meal so far has been arroz con camaron (rice with shrimp) along with tomatoes and fried bananas. MMMMMMMMM

I got to do and see so much down at the beach! It was a pretty popular spot, kind of like a small community of beach houses. The water was beautiful, just cool enough to refresh you and there were big waves! I couldn’t help wishing that everyone from the cottage could be there. You all would have loved it! I was there with Mami, David, Andrea, Ceci (my other aunt) and my grandparents. One morning Mami and Ceci took me into the small village to buy some things. We went to an open fish market, it was incredible! Mami assured me twice that all the fish had just been caught that morning. All the streets in the beach communities are either cobble stone or dirt. All the streets (even in my valley) are full of stray dogs, graffiti and you can’t go far at all without seeing chickens or cows. It’s such a different environment! I also got to try “La Banana”; a banana shaped tube attached to a motorboat. SO.MUCH.FUN. The taxis at the beach are little carriages attached to motorcycles. We took one, and I could have reached out and touched every car that passed us. It was kind of scary but very cool.

Well, I’m back from the beach now. I’m getting to know my family, the valley, my house and this language a little better. I’m just taking everything one day at a time, soaking up everything I can about this amazing place. Yesterday in the car I noticed I was really liking the song on the radio and almost cried when I realised I was listening to Seek Ye First in Spanish! As much as this all sounds like a vacation, it is probably the hardest thing I have ever done. Up to now, I don’t think I’ve spoken more than 2 sentences at once since the airport. I really appreciate all the love, prayers and support I’m getting from home. It really means the world to me, having so many people care. I try not to think of home too often though. Obviously there is no way I will forget where I come from or the people I love, but for now THIS is my country, my valley, my family and I’m going to love it all like I never knew anything else.   

Heading off tomorrow morning!

The flight leaves tomorrow at 6:30 !!