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.

Prom

A couple weeks ago we had our Prom. I wasn't looking forward to it very much because I remembered last years as not being super fun. I woke up on Saturday ready to experiment with my hair and find a really nice wayof putting it up. After many odd attempts I finally managed, by accident, to do something I quite liked. I was planning on going with My and Ventana, so I showed up at My's house at around 4:40 so that we'd have time to get ready together. Ventana showed up an hour or two later and soon after that we set out to North Hollywood.The prom was held at a club called the CIA (California Institute of Abnormalities), which had a strange circus theme to it. There were stripes and clowns painted everywhere and lots of odd manikins. I actually thought it was sort of an interesting place but it was way to small for my liking. It had an outside area which was nice, but there weren't enough places for everyone to sit down or even stand without it being really cramped. The dance floor was also to small. I found myself being jostled by people and was either on the edges of the crowd or squeezed in the middle of everyone. There were also very intense lights that flashed which made it rather hard to see sometimes. I danced around a bit with my friends which, in spite of the fact that I am very awkward trying to dance, was fun. I also talked to lots of people. It was nice because I have some friends who aren't really "dancers" either. After prom, Ventana, Claudia, My and I went back to My's house. We talked about what everyone was wearing, the event and just had a good time even though we were all very tired. Last year after prom when I spent the night at My's house we ate watermelon, pickles and drank chai tea so we decided to carry on the tradition this year. It may seem like an odd mix, but it is quite nice actually! In all I had a really good time.

Contact

On Saturday night my mom and I decided to watch the film Contact. The film was very interesting and I quite enjoyed it. At first I was rather sceptical, but as it progressed I found it tied in with my interests of Quantum Physics and wormholes. I also found it interesting that it is much like one of my favorite television shows, Strange Days at Blake Holsey High. I makes me believe the writers of the show must have been influenced by the film. The film started Jodie Foster and Mathew McConaughey, it had many supporting actors who I thought did quite a good job like Jena Malone and John Hurt. Not only was the acting well done, but the look of the film was great as well. There were some shots that I loved and were stunning. Especially the ones of outer space. Contact tells the story of Elle who through out her life has had the dream of finding other life in outside our planet. When her satellite dishes pick up a mysterious noise Elle finds that her dreams are no longer in the realm of science fiction. The story deals with the frame of reality and deals with the ideas of spiritual beliefs rather than scientific ones. I would recommend the film because it leaves you thinking and wondering about this place we are in; the world, the universe. It made me look at how small we really are, at the size of the enormous galaxy and beyond.

Spirit Week 09

Well Spirit Week has come and gone. I must say it was rather stressful and I would much rather go without it. May I just think it is so much work and energy for something that really isn't all that fun.

Monday was the first day and the events were, obstacle course and tug-o-war. Obstacle course can be fun to watch but it can also be rather tedious. I thought we did pretty well, especially Alison who flew threw the course. Unfortunately, we came in forth place. Since we had more people then were needed to participate in tug-o-war I got to watch from the sidelines, which suited me better. It wasn't much of a fight. Basically they shouted pull and our class was pulled forward by the twelfth grade into a big heap. I must admit although it was sad, I laughed very heartily. We also lost to the ninth grade putting us in, you guessed it, forth place.

Tuesday was the day I was most looking forward to. Teacher Impersonations. This is one of the events I actually look forward to in Spirit Week. I love participating in it and I also love watching the skits of the other classes. This year I decided to impersonate the physics/math teacher Dr. Craddock. He is quite a character. He looks as a goat would look as a person with a wonderful British accent and does many strange gesture when he talks. Wyatt impersonated Quatro, our history teacher, and was amazing! I had to keep myself from laughing while doing the skit. Phillip impersonated my favorite teacher, Dana, who is the art/eurhythmy teacher. He did a pretty good job and I think he captured some of the odd faces Dana makes while drawing. Alison impersonated our English teacher Ms. Meyer. She was really good because she did her swaying movements really well. She also captured some of her bubbly personality. The last person in our skit was Joey W who impersonated our biology /geology /physiology /anatomy /botany teacher Mrs. Lovell. He didn't really want to do the skit at first but in the end he did a great job imitating her tone of voice. In the skit he had Mrs. Lovell fall asleep and after we were done Mrs. Lovell came up to him and said "you know, I actually do fall asleep in class sometimes." It was really funny. We got second place in teacher impersonations, but we were very close to getting first.

Wednesday was javelin toss, football toss, balloon launch and costumes. We came in forth on javelin toss and tied for third in football and balloon toss. For costumes our class was a game of war, the card game. We made giant card costumes out of cardboard and played an actual game of war with each other. The ninth grade class was "Famous pairs" the eleventh grade was a circus and the twelfth grade was movie posters. I personally thought the twelfth grade was the best, they pulled off the posters quite well. In the end eleventh grade got first place, twelfth second, ninth third and we got forth place.

Thursday was jump rope and Quiz Bowl. We could have gone rather well in jump rope, but some of the guys in our class are well, lets just say not gifted at jumping rope. Thus we got forth place. In quiz bowl we did very well and were actually in the lead for a while. The ninth grade did extremely well and came in second to the twelfth. We were set in third place but we pretty much cheated out of it by an unfair distribution of points to the eleventh grade.

On Friday was the biggest event of all. Lip Sync. I was rather nervous for this event because not only did we fail miserably last year, but I had to do a dance that I was less then confident about. Our theme was "Nursery Rhymes" and once I watched one of the run-throws of it, I started to feel that we might not do that badly. I played Hansel along side Brenan who played Gretel. We actually did very well. We tied for third with the ninth grade who did "High school stereo-types."The eleventh grade, who got second place, had the theme "the Six Types of Love" which had its moments but overall was just okay. The twelfth did amazing. They were "the Process of Making a Smoothie" from growing the plants all the way to it being drunk by a giant mouth. It was so good and they deserved first place.

In all Spirit Week had some fun moments but was overall very stressful and overly competitive. I'm glad I have a whole year before I have to do it again.

Knitting Publicity

Some months ago my grandmother Martha and I opened up an Etsy shop to sell our knitted and crocheted goods. We, along with mom, were recently approached to do a mothers day article about all three of us. It was published today for all eyes to see and I am extremely excited! It is such an honor and I feel it is the beginning of good things to come. You can read the article here.

In other news I have also been featured as a model on the shop of the lovely Xenotees. That is also quite exciting. Take a look here.

Right now I am on Spring Break and enjoying my freedom as well as finding myself rather bored. We begin school on Monday and are launched straight into Spirit Week. I can't say I'm looking forward to it, but I am excited to perform our teacher impersonations skit. I hope to do a post about Spirit Week by the end of next weekend.

I hope you all are well.

Pippin!

About a month ago my high school drama department had their performance of the musical Pippin. It was my first time doing a musical and over the course of the five months we worked on it I learned many things. Some lessons I learned were musicals are very different from plays, that singing in front of people can be an extremely nerve racking thing, you must be very specific when requesting a role because you might be misinterpreted, that some people are born singers and others are not, that lots of people are in the drama department for social reasons and not because they like to act and lastly that singing while jumping and dancing is very very difficult. I must admit I did not particularly enjoy doing the musical this year, not that I didn't have fun, because I did, but overall it was a very stressful, difficult, and sometimes tedious five months. Besides many of the people in drama were rather, to be very harsh, arrogant, judgmental and not welcoming. But I am making everything seem gloomy, I must fix that. There were many good times as well as bad. The show it self was proof of that. It was such a thrill to be inside the tent they put up, under the colored lights singing your heart out. I had a fairly small speaking part but I made the best of it by playing many little parts and having fun with my characters.
like we would actually be able to pull it off. See you mustOnce everyone had their costumes and make up I began to feel understand that the week before our play we were supposed to work in the tent but there were so many problems that that was not always possible. The costumes were not done until the day before the show, the lights weren't working, the heater wouldn't turn on, people were sick, and we ran out of time. I guess you could say our dress rehearsal was opening night.
Our four shows got better with each one. Friday night was good, Saturday matinee better and Saturday night amazing. Sunday matinee was great as well, but to be honest, Saturday night was the best. It had a wonderful cast and huge amounts of energy. Everyone seemed like they were having lots of fun.
I really loved the stage we had to perform on because you could sit backstage and watch your favorite parts while you waited to go on. I found there were some scenes that I would watch every show because I loved them so much. But my favorite part was being wheeled on stage in a chart of fake body parts as the character of the decapitated head. That scene was really fun and although it was quite short I enjoyed it very much. I especially loved doing a posh British accent.
Everyone did wonderfully, my friend My was phenomenal as the grandma Berthe. She gave her character a special flare and life. She has a wonderful voice as well which only made the scene even better. Ventana who played the queen, Fastrada, was also very good. She acted perfectly sweet and evil at the same time. I remember the first time she practiced her scene she had this catlike strut which became her trademark. I thought Tiffany who played one of the leading players was wonderful and Sean, who played Catherine, was lovely as well. I thought Dusty, who played Pippin, did a great job but I think it would have been better if he had taken the character a little farther.
In all everyone was wonderful and the show turned out extremely well. Part of me is sad that it's over and another part is happy because of how much work the whole project was.
Now you may wonder, was it really worth it? Was it worth all the hardships for four short shows? I'd say yes, even though it was extremely grueling, I was proud to be a part of it. We all worked as hard and I think it really showed. I know many people were pleasantly surprised when they came to see the show. Some even said it was better than the professional one playing at the Mark Taper. I think we all came together and made magic on that stage and it became apparent. I still can hardly believe we did it. I have many pleasant memories and I'm so happy I joined the musical and was apart of it all.
"We've got magic to do, just for you."