the land of no instant pudding

...and i'll continue to be whoever i am, in whatever country i live in.
Case in point:
1.yesterday.
2. today.

"dirt." 

Yesterday I tried to bring a little bit of home to Ecuador."Dirt" and "Sand" for dessert. Dirt being that precariously combined oreo and pudding concoction that never quite tastes as good as it did when you were six and someone's mom made it at their birthday party. Sand being its counterpart, comprised of vanilla pudding, bananas and graham crackers. Apparently, Ecudorians aren't as wild about getting in touch with the tierra, as I couldn't find any pudding at the grocery store- instant or otherwise. In my infinate wisdom, and being dead set on providing my pals with said dirt and sand- i decided to make pudding from scratch.

"sand."

diastre. disaster. hot mess. big mistake. Whatever you call it, it didn't go well. The vanilla pudding didn't set at all, it smelled like a barn yard and Chelsey compared it to baby food all afternoon. On the other hand, the chocolate pudding was pretty good and I referred to my self as a pioneer woman because of my pudding skills. I'm not sure that pudding was a prime chow choice for pioneer dwellers- but we'll call it poetic license. All that being said, both pudding projects were redeemed by the liberal usage of Ecua gummies on top. Usually, this dirt business is accompied by gummy worms- here they have gummy osos. It is what it is. We fashioned a beach scene on top of the sand, complete with banana surf boards and gummy beach balls. My only regret? No photo documentation, TG for google. Now there can be no doubt I'm not the only freak who makes sweets to look like nature.

Today. Skipped class, tried to register for classes. Had an amazing Ecua- afternoon. A new friend from Juan Valdez (Latin America's answer to Starbucks) asked me to help him practice his English this afternoon. Claro que si. We talked alot about culture, language and how my accent makes me laugh. Also- he told me he can't tell the difference between British English speakers and North American English speakers. Interesting, no? Tonight, theres been a fair amount of procrastinating and listening to all the great play lists i find on 8tracks.com.

Somethings don't change- i love desserts, and i hate homework.

Other news. I went out to CoffeeTree (misleading name, it's a glorified bar.) with Alyse and Caleb on Tuesday night, we had a great time catching up, enjoying totally Ecua (read: non existant and totally foreign here) customer service and getting really decent (sometimes english deserves italics too.)  taxis, both to and fro. On the way, the guy wanted almost double the usual price, which we skillfully argued down. The man on the way home should have been breathalysed, as i'm sure he was barracho.

This weekend should be great- tomorrow going out with the girls to Cafe Mosaico to see some great views of the city and Sunday checking out a friends church to hear him speak and hang out with his family. Any suggestions for next weekend? Its my last free weekend here! (the last two weeks i'll be in the Jungle and at the coast.)

What a long post to say nothing. Life is exceedingy wonderful here in Quito and thinking about leaving makes me beyond sad.

some old stuff and the mountain that severely bruised my ego.

The last week has gone by really quickly. We had a week intensive Worldview course that kept us pretty busy and gave us tons and tons of homework. With the end of all that nonsense- it's turning out to be a rather eventful weekend. 

I posted a bunch of pictures of facebook today, so check those out for maximum creeping. I've been busy busy! Yesterday our Culture class headed to the centro historico to check out the presidents house and a few churches. Awesome. The churches are so beautiful and there are so many close together. The president's house or Palacio de Carondelet was lack luster- the "tour" was a shuffle through three rooms used for meetings and public appearances. Highlight of the Palacio was the guards outside- excellent get ups and stoic expressions.  Obvious tom foolery ensued.  

After Palacio de Carondelet we visited a church built by the Augustinians that I can't remember the name of, and the Compania de Jesus church as well. Lots of pan de oro and old stuff. Breathtaking, but I didn't take any pictures inside. Respect and all, you know.  This is a view of the Augustinian church, walking up to the church from the street- dead on it's just as beautiful.  

As if all that sight seeing wasn't enough we had dinner as a class up on the rooftop of a restaurant a few blocks from Compania de Jesus. The views were spectacular and the cafe con leche and empanadas de morocho eran muy rico! Basically, I love being surrounded by mountains chowing down on Ecua delights with some of the best company Quito has to offer (that's you semester abroad!)

Sounds like a full day, but I'm like Ke$ha and for night- I went hard. Sharon and I had been invited out to La Ronda with some friends for dancing and silliness. Well, a huge group of us went- Ecuadorians and Americans and had a great night. We started out at La Ronda with more empanadas (i'm telling you it's all about those little yellow bags and the woman selling them- less teeth the better) and some mora canelazo and then we all went to la mariscal. After our 10 minute taxi from La Ronda we met back up and found a small, dark, sweaty salsa/regaeton club. Holy freaking fun night. The place was packed like the trolle, only this time the "grind on me" was intentional. It was a half gringo crowd and i'm pretty sure I couldn't have looked any more foolish- but I had a ton of fun. Mika, an Ecua friend showed us some of her moves and laughed with us when we started to look like idiots. We danced our little cans off and then headed home, calling it an early night because this morning we climbed PINCHINCHA. The mountain that borders the city to the west. 

I should clarify... "we climbed" is misleading. I made it all of 30 minutes at 1400 ft. before I realized by little piernas and pulmones would not make it another 5000 feet up. Let me back track. We all took the Teleferico a little more than half way up the mountain, basically a ski lift that gives you some spectacular views of the entire city as you go up the mountain. From the end of the Teleferico its about a four hour hike to get to the top-i'm not sure why, but apparently people enjoy that type of thing... 

Defeat, 14,000 feet.

Not to worry though, as an act of solidarity I did got for a run after I ate lunch. 15 minutes at 10,000- I'm feeling the burn.

                                               

viente-uno and what it feels like to be legal.

Be warned/disclaimed/told/duly note this: The following will be considerably more serious than the usual mallarky you find here. Feel free to stop reading now. Most of this isn't even about Ecuador...

• I turned 21 on Wednesday. I became "legal" in a country with a pretty loose (technically 18 year-old) drinking age.
• Before the el inicio del semestre I signed a life style contract saying I would "live above reproach" during my time here in Ecuador. (read: no boozin', no druggin', no sexin')
• For the second consecutive birthday, I shared the evening with  two professors (here from Trinity to supervise Social Work field placements.)
• My life is absolutely amazing, bu also incredibly different than anything I ever would have pictured myself doing. 

...that being said. I have at least 21 things to be thankful for. 

1. I am a sinner, saved by amazing grace.
2. I was raised by two amazing, very different people. I am one hell of a woman because they love me the way they do.

3. I have enjoyed relative health for the past 21 years.
4. The friends I have are a second family. Absolutely amazing, there's no other way to say it. Some have known me for 21 years, others since middle & high school,now some from college. From any segment of life, these are the people who have shaped a good part of the adult me. 
5. The feeling I get every time I walk into my childhood home. It seems the same, there's usually food in the fridge and mom constantly reminds me that "i'm always welcome."

6.Extended family- both of my parents have a great network of brothers,sisters, cousins and aunts, uncles that demonstrate the truth, “it takes a village to raise a child”. 7. Parkview Christian Church- one of my first "second homes".
8. Trinity Christian College- a great community for me to experience the college years.
9. The Social Work department at Trinity. I have been challenged and encouraged by the faculty of the department in so many ways. I have been able to connect my passion for service with a degree program that gives me so many career options.  Simply stated, the department has created a wonderful, open space for me to “be me.”
10. My ever increasing ability to embrace what it means to be Elizabeth Alice Brice. With all my faults and flaws.
11. The gift of laughter.
12. Music for every occasion and friends that have the same mental soundtrack I do.
13. The Tapestry Project, Oklahoma City, Josh & Amy. A three month crash course in being a grown up and community development. 
14. Coffee. 
15. The experience of coming to Quito, Ecuador for a semester. I have learned so much here!
16. Books that inspire- reading Anne Lamotte has given me an outlet to feel normal about faith and being a woman who is so not a Beth Moore Bible study.
17. Every summer. The smell of the Midwest on a humid night, growing up and spending summers at Chalet on the lake/Beathwalk/Gobles/POSKIN LAKE..
18. freckles. scarves. my favorite accessories. 
19. the city of Chicago.
20. I know already said this one, but seriously. The parents. Tom and Kath are really something. I love them so much. 
21. The gift of memory- without this simple ability I wouldn’t be able to love and appreciate my life the way I do!

whoop whoop!  In the words of Chelsea Smith, I am now Sister-Friend-LB-21.  : )

a lot of things to look at, chronicling the past two weeks.

I just typed a fabulous entry about the past few days, and it somehow deleted itself (read: I have no clue how to use my computer.) I have reconstructed the following from memory.

Pictures from Carnaval.

Getting "Carnavaled"

Look at that, we're some real beauty queens after our hike/shimmy/crawl up to Pailon del Diablo.

In line for Backstreet Boys... IN QUITO. (this is just before the full on pushing and shoving commenced.)

Now, onto what I've been doing with my life since Carnaval...

On Saturday, we said chao chao to our host families with a big barbecue in Tombillo. One of the host families owns a hacienda (farm) there, about an hour south of the city. Its been in their family for over 100 years and has a beautiful farm house on the property. I acted very much like my mother in the dollar aisle at Target- I stopped to look at everything I could in the house. It's a great, big (not to mention old) house filled with so much old stuff it was almost more than I could bear... 

We milked cows with our bare hands right into a glass- which we promptly drank. We were at a farm after all. I also witnessed cow diarrhea first hand. I highly recommend the experience to anyone with a strong stomach and a touch of nasal congestion. 

Some of my pals rode horses around the property- while others of us visited the baby cows and cuy (guinea pigs).  We moved from farm adventure to farm food- pinchos (Ecua shisk-a-bobs) and salads provided by each family (one of which included some sketch, Ecua potato/apple/beer/mayo concoction.) 

Sorpresa, sorpresa I shed a tear while saying good bye to my host family. Perhaps there overly attached hugs exchanged... I am excited to live with each of the other girls again, but I will miss my Ecua family and our daily cultural adventuras. I may or may not have purchased some queso fresco and pancitos at the grocery store yesterday, in an attempt to recreate my desayunos with Lil and Ive. 

I think i'm leaving little pieces of my heart here in Ecuador, the people, the language, the landscape- it's all so amazing. I can't believe we're half way done. (Now, I know what you're thinking, "Liz, we heard this before when you lived in Oklahoma City... don't even say you want to move there.") This is different, while I love it here- I probably won't live here forever... that makes me savor each experience that much more. 

And now, here we are-- in all our glory...

Carnaval.

Wow. I had, and I don't say this lightly, one of the funnest weekends of my life! By now you all know the drill, I'll give you some horribly pedantic description of each day of tom foolery. Skim, scan, survey as you will.

First, a little background on all this Carnaval buisness. To my understanding, Carnaval is an extended Fat Tuesday, from Friday to Tuesday the city is one big pachanga, complete with water balloons, spray foam and a myriad of other fun things to throw at one another. It has been my experience that the bus, while a hub of other undesirable things, is a prime target for being "carnaval-ed." You step off the bus in the city and are water ballooned, or you chuck buckets of water out bus windows and onto the people on the street. Most of us managed to avoid too much crazy while in Quito- but it was on later in the weekend.

Friday- Carnaval kick-off. Class was cancelled, noses were pierced and guacamole was eaten with Ruffles. For a country with more acuacates than I know what to do with, it's depressing that tortilla chips are not readily available here.

Saturday- Otavalo. About two hours south of Quito, this is a cool little town has a lot of history and is packed full of artesian markets.Sharon and I went with our host families, and had a lot of fun joking around and learning new Spanish words (chuchaqui- hangover, apure- hurry up!.) Although it rained like El Arco De Noe Sharon and I manage to bargain for some good deals. We left Otavalo at about 4- and to our surprise, Lilli my host mom, said it was early and we should do something else... Something else was take a three hour scenic drive of the Ecuadorian countryside. Surprisingly beautiful and interesting, we even pulled off the side of the road on a mountain side for some spectacular views of northern Quito. (pictures to follow)
     As if that wasn't enough for a fun-filled Saturday, I got a call when I arrived home at about 8 that Chelsea was spending the night alone in the apartment. Doesn't sound scary, but you've never lived there. I packed up and headed to the rescue of my fellow S.A.er. We were enjoying a drink and the spectacular views of the city from our roof, when we heard footsteps up the stairs... much to our happy surprise it was Sharon "Chun Bun/Ron/Ron Pasas" Chun! The three of us relaxed on the roof, popped some popcorn (on the stove, like mamma makes) and laughed a lot. After eating half our body weight in popcorn we were still surprisingly hungry, and here's where the fun hits. Washing the dishes we realize that we have no hot water, and the water we do have is exploding out of our facet in yellow/orange bursts. Pretty gross. What's a girl to do? Call Bryan Cole, the dean of men for our program. Not only does he come over to help with the water, he takes pity on our hungry souls and TAXIS WITH US THROUGH THE MCDONALD'S AUTO-MAC. I couldn't make this crap up. Our taxi driver thought we were nuts, but we payed him in dinero and paps fritas and he cranked up the Justin Beiber (which I think he had on CD, not Ecua radio.) If that doesn't say fun, I don't know what does.

Sunday- Banos. Wake up in the apartment to no electricity. Did Bryan forget to pay the bills? Nope, the whole block was with out power, we found out at my favorite Panderia, Arenas.  Sweet, doesn't matter. We're going to Banos! (Not as catchy as "I'm going to disneyland" but certainly more fun.) We trolle-ed to the Quitumbe bus terminal in southern Quito to get on our bus to Banos. About six hours later- we arrived. For reference, the ride home was only three hours. Carnaval is like rush-hour on the Dan Ryan. We passed by a Restarat, mourned the lack of spelling education in Ecuador and got ready to party.
     I'm pretty sure we found the worst restaurant in all of Banos to eat dinner at-  only about $4 a person- but we may have been eating cheeseburgers and chicken nuggets made from cabra intestines. After dinner, we wandered down the main drag of the city, where live music was playing. Oh man, we got carnaval-ed! I was blinded for a bout 47 seconds by a foam shot directly to my eye. It was insane, abuelos, ninos and the whole familia were shooting anyone within reach (especially targeting the gringos) with this soapy colored foam. Another Ecua experience that words lack the power to describe, it was SO MUCH FUN! We went back to our hostel and some people showered (if you know me, you also know I was not in that group) and played some cards while we got ready for our Chiva ride.
      Chivas are the Ecua equivalent of party buses, but are all open and some times have an upper deck you can sit on. Our Chiva left at 11pm and was a hybrid tour bus/party trolley. We Chiva-ed up to the top of the active volcano (!!!)  blasting reggae-ton and watching our friends get shocked by the electric wires that are very, very close to the top of Chiva (true story, Caleb is an idiot.) Sadly, it was too cloudy to see the volcano, but we did witness a huge town camp-fire. The chiva driver told us the men around the fire were paisos (clowns) but with their baggy pants, chained and slicked back hair they looked much more like the average urban teenage to me. Apparently is possible to live on the side of a volcano, and a good number of Banos-ians do. We all kept looking at each other and thinking "where the crap are we?!" It was great. Oh yeah, and there was more Canelazo, the hot, alcoholic drink you know and love from La Ronda. The Chiva driver told us the alcohol was just "flavor." Later on, he tells us it's Parajo Azul and it's "fuerte and barato." (strong and cheap.) classy.

Monday- El Pailon del Diablo. no big thing. Hiked to the top of mountain, climbed through a very small rock passageway to the top of a water fall. El Pailon del Diablo. Absolutely breathtaking and amazing, albeit exhausting, I won't even try to describe it. Seeing that waterfall after a pretty intensive climb made me more aware of the bigness of the God I serve. Something that beautiful comes from somewhere, and I'm glad I know who He is. I will try to post pictures of it later.

Tuesday- headed out early with the girls for the BACKSTREET BOYS concert. Yep, it was just as ridiculous as it sounds. Lots of stock images from when there were five BSBs and the same dance moves from the original music videos. Absolutely crap-tastic. Love it! The Ecuas knew more of the words than we did which was amazing, but had no clue what they meant, which was evident when any backstreet boy would say anything- the entire crowd erupted in girlish screams, squeals and cheers. Fabulous.

...and thats it. The long and the short of it (most just the long.)

¡Sale Albo!

 It's pretty much been business as usual around here- workin', schoolin', hangin', only gerund nouns, basically. 

    Things at the orphanage are great- in the past two weeks there have been two different teams from the States that have come to help out. Both from Boston, one high school group and one college group, it was refreshing to speak English at work! I also started a new project for the home, electronic memory books. Basically, I am making scrap books on the computer using a special software. Most of you know, this is my ideal service opportunity. I am loving it!

     School is, well- school. Papers and procrastinating- nothing new there. I have discovered that I can listen to my iTunes playlists (sample: Canadians, songs with numbers in the title, food titles...) and play spider solitaire for hours and still write only half a page of a paper. Single spaced.

Now, the fun- and to explain that obnoxiously showy Spanish title (Tom Brice called me a "show off" on the phone on Wednesday.) Last night the semester abroaders went to a Liga Futbol game.Obviously I don't enjoy or understand organized sports, but a Liga game requires little to no sports knowledge to enjoy.We got to the stadium early, like an hour and half early. The perfect amount of time to take in the scenery. The south end of the field is a section called "Muerte Blanca"or white death. Liga's home jerseys are white, and for home games this section is filled up with the craziest, most die-hard fans. So crazy in fact, that they lit fire works from the stands when the team came out onto the field. (The picture above is just a google image search, last night the smoke was red, and much more intimidating.) During this gaseous,smoky haze they also chant, "Sale Albo, Sale Albo, Saaaalleeee Albo!" (come out white, come out white.) That one was easy- two words while jumping up and down. Got it. But, there's also a bunch of longer songs the fans sing during the game (whilst jumping, screaming obscenities, and gulping down the Pilsner like they're going to the e-chair...)  Lucky for us- Chelsea's host dad came to the game with us. Gus has been a Liga fan for all of his 30 somethimg years and was more than happy to teach the gringas a thing or two about his favorite equipo. There was one more chant we learned- "Yo soy de la U!" (I am of the U.) Even with expert townie guidance, I think we had the most fun jumping around and yelling out spanish sports phrases (my vocabulary has grown exponentially...) "Eso Es!" (that's it!) "Si Se Puede" (Yes they/you can!) "GOL!" (goal, duh.) I would like to believe that our expert gringo cheers helped herald in the 3-0 victory for Liga against the Argentina International Club (?) 

In other news, Alyse and I are getting our noses pierced today and i'm heading outing out to the jungle town (?) of Baños for this hopefully, lluvia free, Carnaval weekend. Carnaval is the weekend leading up to fat Tuesday and is practically a national holiday here. Schools get all of next week off and almost everyone doesn't work Monday and Tuesday. I'm going to the artesian markets in Otavalo with my host family on Saturday and the study abroaders are doing Baños Sunday to Tuesday. But wait, there's more! Tuesday night we're also going to see BACKSTREET BOYS in concert. As in, transplant a large portion of my life from '98-'00 and bring it to Latin America. If that's not chevere, I don't know what is!