Potato day.

We just spent the entire day in Quito. The house we're staying at is in Tumbaco, which is about twenty minutes from downtown Quito. So today was Día Nacional de la Papa. Yes, that's right, the entire country celebrated potatoes today. There was a big celebration in la Plaza San Francisco that consisted of guitar playing, singing, dancing and "el locro mas grande del mundo" or the biggest soup in the world. In the middle of the square there was a giant pot of potato soup. We got some of el locro for lunch with Laura, a member of our host family. It was potato, queso fresco, and avocado. Muy delicioso!

 

National Potato Day was obviously my favorite part of today. My second favorite part was going to the top of La Bisilica. Well, almost the top. The altitude hasn't been affecting us too badly, but with all the walking today we were feeling a little out of breath. By the time we went up the first set of deathly steep stairs, we decided that one level was enough. We got a beautiful view of Quito, without dying. Our host family was laughing at us at dinner about it, especially as we were describing it and Courtney grabbed her chest and said, "mi corazón!"

Speaking of our host family, they're the best! They're so welcoming and are helping us practice Spanish. Y que rica la comida! We're going to a family lunch tomorrow. We're not sure what to expect but it sounds like a great time. We're also going to go to mass at the church in Tumbaco, the neighborhood we're staying in. Well, estoy cansada so I'm going to go to sleep!

P.S. I feel like Dora the Explorer every time I type a sentence half in Spanish, half in English.

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Estamos aqui!

We're in Quito! Our flights were good but we're both exhausted and glad to finally be here. I can already tell that we're in good hands. There's not much to say yet, other than Ecuadorian babies are the cutest, there are muchos perritos at this house, and I'm pretty sure we are neighbors with a rooster who is confused because it's only 1am and he won't shut up!

 

Miami!

 

 

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God always takes care of us when we're doing His work.

I have to stop pacing! I also have to stop packing. We'll be catching our connecting flight from Miami to Quito at this time tomorrow. TOMORROW! It doesn't feel real.

Today I went to lunch with a few of my favorite ladies, my Aunt Aidi and my cousins Olivia and Natalie. Also my dad! It was so nice to spend time with them and I'm super excited to spend a whole week with them in the Dominican Republic! Have I mentioned that I'm going on vacation after Quito? Since when do I live such a crazy life? I can get down with this.

I found out today that we'll be working with the Sisters of Calcutta! I have a special place in my heart for Mother Teresa's work (she was radical and awesome) so I'm really excited. I also love sisters in general. Huge generalization, but I've never met a sister that didn't have a giant smile and a warm heart.

My grandma also loves Mother Teresa (HEY ABUELA! Espero que está leyendo!) so I called her today to let her know of the great news. She asked me if I was nervous and then said to me, "God always takes care of us when we're doing His work." Her saying that gave me a lot peace about leaving tomorrow. I haven't been very nervous, just a little anxious about what my life will be like for the next two weeks. I'm going to try my best to just let go and let God.

Well, my next post will likely be from the airport, airplane, or maybe even Quito! Thanks for reading and for all the nice emails, phone calls, and text messages the past few days! I have the most wonderful people in my life.

Back when things were exactly as they seemed.

It may or may not have been due to writing in this blog, but I recently found out something interesting (and kind of funny) about myself. So I'm leaving for Ecuador in three days and I have a million things to do but instead of getting them done, I'm doing things I've meant to do for months, like sign up for an account that will host and stream mp3s so I can share one of my songs on here. Anyway, this song is called Always Been and it's about college and love and a whole bunch of other things! I hope you like it.


Upload MP3 and download MP3 using free MP3 hosting from Tindeck.

So now we're dancing through the garden, and what a garden I have made.

Yesterday one of the most important people in my life graduated from high school! Elaine is like my little sister and I love her so so so much! I couldn't stop hugging her yesterday. I'm just so proud of her and really excited for all the new things that she'll experience in college and beyond. She's so great. Here's a picture of the beautiful graduate and myself:

I feel like I just graduated high school...but I didn't. That was three years ago. I'm graduating college in a year. One year. Then real life. Yesterday at Elaine's graduation party I was talking to someone about how college is a bubble. That's really the best way to describe it, especially when you go away to school. It's four years to focus on yourself, your future, and what you want out of life. I know not everyone is lucky enough to experience this, but I'm so grateful that I've been able to.

I wrote the paper for my Philosophy class today. One of my favorite quotes that I included was by Dr. Gil Tippy, the clinical director at Rebecca School, from his book Respecting Autism.

 “I want to be on the side of the debate that respects children. That treats children in the way that loving parents have treated children since man first walked upright...I want to be on the side of the debate that believes that thinking is the work. I do not want to be on the side of this debate that plans to ignore children, that disrespects their basic humanity”

I didn't include the entire quote, but I was really excited to relate some of Dr. Greenspan's work to my paper. I mostly discussed how public schools in America are failing to recognize the individual learner and person. I think the DIR model is a really good foundation for that debate, even though it's designed for children with developmental disabilities. Across the board, kids are unique individuals and should be treated that way!

Check out more about the DIR model here: http://www.icdl.com/dirFloortime/overview/index.shtml

I'm off to Quito in four days!!!!

Solamente una semana!

I'm leaving for Ecuador in a week, which is making it extremely difficult to write a paper for summer school. I'm taking a course called Philosophy of American Thought. My thesis for my final paper is going to be something along the lines of education failing due to the disregard of individual differences in learning. I'm kind of wishing that I could write it after my trip because I think the education system in Ecuador will give me a lot of insight into this topic (not to mention, make me ease up on my criticism of American education!)

I can't believe we're leaving in a week! Seven days. It seems like we've been counting down for the last few months but these past couple of weeks have really flown by. I feel ready. The only thing that I'm still a little nervous about is my Spanish. I know it's all up there in my head, but I tend to freeze up when someone starts talking to me in Spanish. Apparently people in Quito speak very slowly, so that has been reassuring to me. I've been brushing up using a podcast called Coffee Break Spanish. I'd highly recommend it to anyone interested in learning Spanish.

So as I've mentioned in previous posts, I'm going to try to write a lot while I'm in Quito! I'm going to try to cover a few different areas of the trip: our housing, the project, the food, the city, and the people. I think that should give everyone a good idea of what I'm up to.

ONE WEEK!

Spicy Tuna Lettuce Wraps

I was in the mood for some sushi today (well, I'm pretty much always in the mood for sushi), but didn't want to spend the money on it. I searched through the fridge and came up with a new recipe with ingredients that slightly resemble sushi. It hit the spot ;)

Ingredients:
1 can of tuna in water
1 tbsp of light mayo
1-2 tbsp of sriracha
1/4 avocado
2 tbsp light cream cheese
3 romaine lettuce leaves


Open and drain tuna and place in bowl. Add mayo, sriracha, and salt and pepper to taste. Spread cream cheese on lettuce leaves. Add a slice of avocado to each leaf. Spoon tuna onto each leaf. Enjoy!

Took me about 10 minutes, and only ~300 calories!

The Perfect Backpack Quest.

So for the last week or so I've been on a quest for the perfect backpack. Well, to be honest, I found the perfect one not too far into this quest, but decided that I couldn't spend $69 on a backpack, no matter how perfect it was.

The perfect backpack. $69 at Urban Outfitters.

After spending days searching all over the internet, I decided to enlist some professional help. I got my cool fashion designer friend Ashley on board with the mission. She referred me to some sites and then found the second most perfect backpack in the world for half the price with free shipping!

The second most perfect backpack. $36.45 at ASOS.com

I ordered it today! Mission accomplished. Sometimes it's so worth it to wait it out and check out your options. I'll enjoy this backpack so much more knowing that I spent half the amount of money that I considered spending to begin with.

All that being said, let's be real, I'm probably going to stay out of Urban Outfitters for a while, at least until The Perfect Backpack is out of stock.

July...

In three weeks, I'll be saying goodbye to June and New York and saying hello to July and Latin America. I'll be spending the first two weeks of July in Quito, Ecuador on a service trip, and the third week of July in the Dominican Republic, on vacation with my family. These trips will obviously be very different in nature, but I think they will create a really nice contrast to one another.

I've been preparing for my trip to Quito, little by little. Courtney and I will be living with a host family and spending our days working with little kids in Quito. I'm excited to meet all the people that will be part of our lives for those two weeks. I've been getting small waves of anxiety about the trip every few days. I've never been out of the country for as long as I will be. While I'm ready to take on whatever Quito and the people there have to offer, I'm nervous for all the unexpected things that will likely come my way. Pero estoy lista para aprender todo sobre la gente de Quito!

I plan on blogging during my trip as much as possible. I'd like to write every day, but I don't know how practical that is. I'd really like to try so that I can document and remember everything about my time in Quito. I'll do my best!

Photo: themurfs/mybudgettravel