Hello!!

I have been adjusting to Ecuador and liking it here more and more everyday. It’s cool when I think, hey, I live here, I live in Quito.

My students are adorable. They call me, teacher, or teacher Kelli, or tia, or profe. And those little voices speaking Spanish (and English of course) just melts my heart.

I promised to post some pictures of my apartment (I forgot a picture of the living room).



kitchen



dining ¨room¨









My bedroom







My picture wall



Here are some foggy pictures of Northern Quito from my school. You can barely see the mountains through the fog. The stadium that says LAN is the Liga soccer stadium.

The traffic here is crazy; this must be what cars are thinking as they drive:

Yes, this is a red light, but I’m not even going to slow down, that’s right I’m going right through it.

What do you mean speed limit?

Yes, I am a bus at a stop sign, and that taxi coming has the right of way, but I’m just going to go.

I do see the pedestrians, but they’ll stop.

Yeah, that’s okay that this is a two-lane road, I’m small.

I’m a motorcycle, and I can go WHEREVER I want.

I know that honking won’t make anything move because we’re at a standstill, but I’m going to do it anyway.

Of course I can pass on this residential two way street.

Yeah, I saw all those people waiting for me, but I was in the other lane passing a car and couldn’t get over in time; they’ll catch the next one.

And I don’t think automatics exist, needless to say, I could never drive here.

Last Wednesday, I watched the South American championship soccer game (Liga Ecuador vs. Argentina) at a restaurant. Soccer fans are crazy (maybe more exciting than the game)!!! Liga won, so everyone was very happy afterwards.

Last Friday I went to the tourist district with Jessica, another American teacher and her husband, we ate dinner at a cute coffeehouse/restaurant/hostel. As an appetizer, we got an avocado peel filled with guacamole and chicken salad and served with pita bread on the side. It was so so good. The tourist district is really nice, and I felt a little bit like I was on vacation.

Last Sunday, I went on an all day hike around the Quitalo volcano with three other teachers. This was quite an excursion. We left Quito at 5am and got back at 8pm. I completely spaced and forgot my camera, so no pictures of beautiful Quitalo (google it!) It was amazing, we hiked the ridge around a crater filled with turquoise water, and on the other side of the ridge was the mountainous countryside. It took 4.5 hours, and some parts were difficult (probably due to the 4000 meter altitude), but it was very good experience.

I started a cooking class on Tuesday with some other teachers at my school. But, for the first class, one of the other English teachers and I were the only teachers there, with a room full of Ecuadorian women, and we had no idea what was happening. We got a list of things we need to buy, and we cannot figure out what one of the things is, according to my dictionary, it’s a cigarette holder. So we’ll have to see.

On Thursday Cami and I went to Mega Maxi; it’s basically like a Super Target. They have everything and more there. They even have Jif peanut butter, but I could not bear to pay $8 for a jar. But I did buy cheddar cheese! We spent a long time wandering around and finding things to buy.

We also “did” laundry, or dropped it off at the laundry place outside our gate. It is only .50 more to drop it off at that place than it is to sit at the laundromat and do it ourselves.

This weekend, Cami, her boyfriend, Jessica, and I went bowling, and the machines kept breaking and knocking down extra pins. It was quite the experience. On Saturday, we got haircuts and pedicures, $8 for both. It was a nice, relaxing weekend.

Missing you all still!

Until next time, ciao! (that’s what they say here)

First few days in Ecuador!!!

Hola desde Ecuador!


Hello everyone! Here is a synopsis of my adventures since I left home:

I arrived Saturday night after a full day of traveling without any major hitches, very nice!! Here’s a picture of my farewell crew at the Madison airport.

Sunday, my wonderful roommate, Cami, and I ran all over town with a few other teachers. We browsed a mall (there are a lot here, I’ve been to 3 so far), I bought a phone (I still don’t really know how to use it, I have yet to make a call). Then we went to one of the Ecuadorian teacher’s apartments for lunch, delicious! After that we went to El Mitad del Mundo, the center of the world. It was really fun and cute; I felt like a tourist. Here are some pictures.

After Cami and I said goodbye to the other teachers and took the bus back home, we walked to the grocery store, which is just a few blocks away. Going to grocery stores in foreign countries is always fun, so I was excited to experience it in Quito. It was small and had interesting things, such as huge packages of liver and chicken stomach lining. Good thing I brought peanut butter. Cami and I made chicken with rice and peanut butter sauce for dinner and watched a movie.

Monday was my first day at school, and I worked on my lesson plans the whole time. Everyone was busy getting ready for Wednesday, the first day of school.

Tuesday after school, we ate hamburgers in the food court at the mall, they were so good, but I missed ketchup a little bit. And when we were done, I brought a tray to the garbage that was right by our table, and a worker rushed over to take it from me, and Cami started laughing because you don’t bus your own trays here, I’m still learning.

Today was the second day of school, and I taught my first class by myself; I think it went pretty well. I am teaching quite a myriad of classes: fifth grade science, third, fourth, and tenth grade speaking (it correlates with the science classes), and ninth grade international culture, all in English. Tomorrow, the elementary school kids start, so I will have a full day of classes (I feel like I’m in back in college when I say that).

Cami and I have went to the market twice so far, the first time I bought a necklace for $3, and the second time, I didn’t buy anything, but I got lots of ideas for all of your Christmas presents! On the way home from both market trips, we stopped at a few stores, and we now have drinking glasses and food storage containers!

We live in a big apartment complex that’s really close to a lot of stores and businesses. Our apartment is really nice, I’ll post some pictures soon. I got a cool bedspread at store called Rose, and now my room is all set up, with plenty of pictures hanging on the walls. Oh, and our complex has a pool, steam room, and sauna! The downside is that it’s not open everyday, and we have to pay $2 to use it, but I am so happy I can still take saunas here!

I think my Spanish is improving, but I wish I was fluent right away, I don’t like it when I don’t understand people, and I just stare at them with a blank face and say, que?

I’m a little bit homesick, and I miss you all! But overall, I’m having a great time, staying busy, and staying safe. Thank you so much for all your prayers!