Ecuador: Day 3 and 4

Day 3:
Unlike the first day in Ecuador, when I awoke it was cold and cloudy. It looked as though it might rain and in fact it did drizzle a bit. For the first portion of the day we stayed at home in the hotel. I drew and listened to my book on tape while Greg worked on his presentation. At around 3:00 we met Eduardo and his wife, Maria. We drove across the city to eat lunch at this nice restaurant. The restaurant was on top of a hill with a nice view of the city. I quite enjoyed looking out the windows while we were eating, seeing the building and the tree covered hills. The clouds here are quite amazing. I think I’ve seen all three types of clouds in the same day, which is very very rare in California. For lunch I got the “Ensalada Camilla” which was a salad of tomato, cheese and pesto and the Locro Soup, which is a traditional potato soup from Ecuador severed with avocado and cheese. They were both very good but I especially enjoyed the soup. We also got a juice called Guanabana with blackberry. Guanabana is a fruit from Ecuador which I haven’t found the translation for yet. Its quite good; sweet and white. After lunch we decided to go see the statue of the Virgin of Quito which is on the top of one of the big hills. Maria and Eduardo didn’t know how to get there so we drove threw many winding cobblestone streets asking people for diresctions. Even though it was really bumpy, I actually found it quite fun!
We reached the top after maybe half an hour of looking for the right way. The statue is really big and made of metal, though it looks rather like concrete. It’s is like the statue of liberty in the way that you can climb a staircase inside her. It was odd because the outside was quite grand yet the inside was painted a pale blue with painted flowers and odd almost cheesy little dioramas. It was rather incongruent. The furthest up you could go was a balcony by her feet. It was very very cold and rather windy as well. One of the most interesting things there were a bunch of old pictures showing when it was being built. They were in black and white and were really quite nice. The statue was built by a priest who had dreamed of building it for many years. The sad thing is, it was build over an ancient ruin.
We drove home and it was nice to be in the warmth of the hotel since it was so cold outside. I wrote some poetry and went to sleep.


Day 4:
Today was sunny in the early part of the morning. As the day progressed the wind grew and the clouds began to cover the sky once more, The weather here is odd because one moment it is sunny the next it is cold and cloudy. Greg needed to work on his presentation so we stayed home in the morning. I didn’t do much, just relaxed and worked on my computer. I finished up my poem from the night before, which I actually quite like, and tried to pick a picture I’m submitting to a contest. We ate lunch at the hotel restaurant, I had a penne pasta, which was supposed to have garden vegetables with it but it didn’t, and this mix of tropical fruit juices which I love and have every-time we go there. We had to hurry to pack everything before we met Sebastian, Eduardo’s friend from the collage who was to drive us. The drive was really nice. It was much more jungly and the had some interesting buildings. It also had my favorite, cobblestones which meant it was really bumpy. We arrived the collage, met Eduardo headed over to the presentation room. The collage has a nice campus. I especially liked the inner courtyard. There was this building across the way that was covered in ivy and I really liked. The presentation room is rather odd but also sort of cool. Its painted red and blue with golden Fleur de Lis print all over. Eduardo said it makes him think of Disneyland but it makes me think of like a magician’s room or something. Greg set up for a couple hours while I worked on my computer.
Greg’s talk went really well, except sometimes the translation broke his flow. There were some funny people at the talk as well. It was fun observing them and seeing their odd mannerisms. We got back to the hotel at around 9:30 and went up to the restaurant to eat (I wasn’t very hungry). We returned to our rooms to finish up some things before going to sleep. I am very tired myself and my whole body feels like its craving sleep.

Ecuador: Day 1 and 2

Day 1:
At 5am yesterday we packed our suitcases into the car and headed off for the airport. It was foggy and a gray blue color hung over everything, save little pinpoints of lights here and there. We arrived at the airport and began the ordeal that LAX requires. Go here, go there, show passport, take your jacket off, go here, wait here. Only two of our seats on the plane were together, so me and mom sat next to each other while Greg sat further back. I had forgotten how much I dislike taking off in a plane. But once we were in the air I felt much better. We soared above the clouds; a fluffy blanket of under us. It was quite lovely. I slept a bit, listened to music, drew and listened to a book on tape. The flight felt rather long, five hours to be exact. We arrived in Miami at around 3:50 Miami time, but unfortunately we had to wait on the runway in the plane for about 30 minutes. It was really nice being able to see the lovely green-blue water as we were flying in. We ate at the airport, walked around a bit and then bored our next flight. This time we were all together, which was nice. I enjoyed this flight much more than the first one. Maybe it was because it was getting dark and I didn't feel like I was missing out on the sunlight. I fell asleep several times but I would always get woken up, either from someone bumping into me or a tap from mom or Greg. The food was, well, just as you'd expect airplane food to be. Not great, not awful. After about four or five hours we arrived in Quito, which is the capital of Ecuador. All we could see were flickering lights. We got our luggage and went through customs. The lady who was helping us said to her friend in Spanish "I thought this man was a girl" (about Greg) and mom replied to her in Spanish asking why that was so. I guess she didn't expect that we understood her.
We met Eduardo, who is our host (the Dean of Illustration at the school Greg will be teaching at) and his wife and they took us back our hotel. The room we were staying in was rather small and had a strong perfume smell. After not to long I fell asleep exhausted.

Day 2:
I awoke today at around 8:13 (6:13 LA time). The view outside my window was quite nice. Jungle covered hills, mountains, a far off volcano and some buildings. I realized that even though it doesn't seem like it, we have become very spoiled. Things that we take for granted we don't have here. Our hotel in Canada seems like a palace compared with ours here. Greg desided he really didn't like our room so him and mom went to find a new one. I wasn't feeling very well, so I lie around while they explored different rooms. When they got back we all went upstairs for breakfast. The room had a gorgeous view of the other side of the city. It looks rather like Moraco or other dessert city but with jungle covered hills. The city is large and sort of climbs up the hills. Mom said it looks like a weaving and I think that is a very good description. We moved into a new room which I like a lot better. It has a much better feel to it and it doesn't smell like perfume. Its very nice! We lounged about in the new room for a while, I read and drew while Greg was on the computer and mom ironed a dress. When we received the ironing bored mom saw stains that looked like burn marks so she ignored them and began ironing her skirt. She realized, a little late, that it was chocolate and thus had ironed chocolate into her nice skirt.
We ate a small lunch at the restaurant, I had pumpkin ravioli and an amazing smoothie thing, and then at 2:00 we met Eduardo to go out and about. He wanted to show us Down Town Quito so we loaded into a cab and drove off. Being in down town made it very apparent that it is a third world country. It was very crowded with people, cars honking and speeding by and children begging for money. It makes one realize how well we have it back home.
Some of the building are really great. They're old and some are painted in this fantastic ocher color. We went into several churches which were filled with stunning carvings covered in gold leaf. There were also lots of really lovely paintings. Unfortunately I couldn't bring my camera inside so I don't have any pictures from them.
Next we went to a museum that was all about everyday life in Quito through the ages. They had lots of exhibits and copies of housing and everyday things as well as real old pots and clothes. It had some really nice courtyards as well, with great little fountains and trees. We walked around some more and went to a little restaurant where we got La Empanadas Verdes, plantain filled empanadas, which were really yummy and Humita which is like a corn tamale like pastry that was delicious as well. After we took a cab back to the hotel and even though it was only 7:15 (5:15 LA time) mom and Greg were both exhausted and went to sleep soon after. So far, it has been a good trip. It's very different from back home and I couldn't imagine living here, but its been really nice to see a new place and experience something fresh.

Summer Break Has Arrived

School is out as of last Friday (June 12th). I must say that even though I didn't want it to be over, I'm rather happy I have so much time to do as I please and relax. I'm feeling so much calmer and stress free.
The last week of school was really good. We a bunch of tests but overall it felt relaxed as though everyone was in summer break mode already. We had an Eurhythmy performance on Thursday which was, well, alright. See we weren't really prepared and overall I suppose its not one of our classes strongest subjects. We had a test on the Great Gatsby which was on our reading list. I didn't quite know what to expect from the book, but I found myself really enjoying it. I loved the wording the author used to make a situation come to life. He has a real gift with words.
To be honest, I already miss school a bit. Mostly I miss all my friends, eating lunch in the garden and my watercolor class. I think some of my paintings from that class turned out really well. This is my favorite one:
Looking back on this year I think that even though it was much harder than last year I had a ton of great times. I grew closer to lots of people and made a wonderful new friend as well. This year I was much more confident and less self conscious. I had fun on the Native American Trip and I'm so excited for nest years trip. I am amazed that we actually completed Pippin and it turned out as well as it did. And even though we lost Spirit Week I still had some great times. I think Teacher Impersonations was one of the most fun things this year. It was hard not to laugh during it because everyone was so good at their impersonation. I'll have to come up with a teacher to impersonate next year because I can't imagine not being a part of that group. I'm going to miss being "golf buddies" with Yoni. We were both in golf and both at about the same level of playing. We had tons of fun trying to be in a golf group that we liked and trying to escape Ms. Vrudney. Its sad knowing we wont have another Frankenstein class again. I had such a blast in that class; reading, discussing out there theories and fringe sciences. I loved sitting next to Joey W and Liz, they made the class all the more enjoyable. It was really great to have Ventana back in the class. She fits right in and I almost can't believe she wasn't there last year. Her, My and I have had some very good times this year.
I feel that the thing that I would have changed about this year was not an event, but rather an overall way I looked at things. I found that I was in a bad most for a good three quarters of the year. I think if I had taken the time to look around and not mope about how things could be I would have seen how great things really were. Next year I'd like to begin the year with a clean slate and be more open to things.
In all it was a really good year and I still can't believe its over. I'll miss the seniors, the campus won't be as colorful or musical without them, that's for sure. But you never know what the new freshmen will have to offer. Even though I'll really miss all my friends I hope to see them during the summer. Thank you all for making this year all it was.