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.