Blog 2: Things we have learned in three short weeks.
1. What it must feel like to have cholera...... Enough said.
2. That the reputation of “used car salesmen” extends to the other Americas.
3. How to text message. We have found that it is far easier to read a text message from said car dealer than to interpret rapid-fire-intermittent-cell-phone-monologue-shouted-over-blaring-television-in-crowed-room-Spanish. It is also easier to appear smarter when we send a text message, armed with dictionary and verb tense textbook.
4. How to fumigate a room so that it is uninhabitable by bugs and humans alike. Unfortunately, our attempts to get rid of biting spiders resulted in a petroleum-based nausea-inducing cloud that lasted for days. Julia was unable to use her room after the treatment so she spent a week on the couch. What a trooper.
5. How to greet Ecuadorians in the proper way: kissing the right cheek. It is customary to greet every single person in the room or at a table when you first see a group of people who you are about to talk with. Women kiss everyone. Men shake the hands of each man and kiss the women. Even the children kiss other children. This was quite an eye opener when Sarah, Julia and Ellen realized they needed to kiss, and be kissed, even by boys who were peers!
6. How to buy a tank of LP gas necessary for cooking. Step one: Shout up to person on the second floor of a certain unmarked building. Step Two: wait at the equally undistinguishable gate. Step Three: pay $2.50 for a 25 gallon refill.
7. How to launch an Optimist sailboat from a ramp without ever getting your feet wet. Step one: have a marineria (boat hand) wheel the boat to the water’s edge. Step two: wait for him to motion you to get on board. Step Three: get wheeled into the water once you are on board. When docking at the end of the day, reverse steps.
8. The full impact of the words, “It’s 10:00. Do you know where your daughter is?? Sarah has found some wonderful friends to hang out with on weekend evenings. We have been careful to always drive her to the destination, taking careful note of how to get there (of course there are NO street signs and very few street lights) so that we can pick her up again at the end of the evening. Imagine our distress when she texted us last weekend, “The party moved to Puerta del Mar. Follow the noise. Having lots of fun.” Luckily, we were having dinner with another couple whose son was at the same party. We were able to retrieve Sarah because the other parent was familiar with this practice of “following the noise.”
9. How to create delicious desert recipes following two rules: a) no recipes allowed and b) each concoction must have a name containing the word Chipipe. So far, our recipes have included Chipipe jengibre (Ginger) Concoction, Chipipe Coco Loco (coconut) Cake-coction, Chipipe Manzana (apple) Cake-coction, Chipipe Limon Cake-coction, Chipipe Pie de Limon, and Chipipe Pan de Maize (corn bread).
10. What it feels like to pay $2.00 per gallon for high test gas. Ah the good ol days…
1. What it must feel like to have cholera...... Enough said.
2. That the reputation of “used car salesmen” extends to the other Americas.
3. How to text message. We have found that it is far easier to read a text message from said car dealer than to interpret rapid-fire-intermittent-cell-phone-monologue-shouted-over-blaring-television-in-crowed-room-Spanish. It is also easier to appear smarter when we send a text message, armed with dictionary and verb tense textbook.
4. How to fumigate a room so that it is uninhabitable by bugs and humans alike. Unfortunately, our attempts to get rid of biting spiders resulted in a petroleum-based nausea-inducing cloud that lasted for days. Julia was unable to use her room after the treatment so she spent a week on the couch. What a trooper.
5. How to greet Ecuadorians in the proper way: kissing the right cheek. It is customary to greet every single person in the room or at a table when you first see a group of people who you are about to talk with. Women kiss everyone. Men shake the hands of each man and kiss the women. Even the children kiss other children. This was quite an eye opener when Sarah, Julia and Ellen realized they needed to kiss, and be kissed, even by boys who were peers!
6. How to buy a tank of LP gas necessary for cooking. Step one: Shout up to person on the second floor of a certain unmarked building. Step Two: wait at the equally undistinguishable gate. Step Three: pay $2.50 for a 25 gallon refill.
7. How to launch an Optimist sailboat from a ramp without ever getting your feet wet. Step one: have a marineria (boat hand) wheel the boat to the water’s edge. Step two: wait for him to motion you to get on board. Step Three: get wheeled into the water once you are on board. When docking at the end of the day, reverse steps.
8. The full impact of the words, “It’s 10:00. Do you know where your daughter is?? Sarah has found some wonderful friends to hang out with on weekend evenings. We have been careful to always drive her to the destination, taking careful note of how to get there (of course there are NO street signs and very few street lights) so that we can pick her up again at the end of the evening. Imagine our distress when she texted us last weekend, “The party moved to Puerta del Mar. Follow the noise. Having lots of fun.” Luckily, we were having dinner with another couple whose son was at the same party. We were able to retrieve Sarah because the other parent was familiar with this practice of “following the noise.”
9. How to create delicious desert recipes following two rules: a) no recipes allowed and b) each concoction must have a name containing the word Chipipe. So far, our recipes have included Chipipe jengibre (Ginger) Concoction, Chipipe Coco Loco (coconut) Cake-coction, Chipipe Manzana (apple) Cake-coction, Chipipe Limon Cake-coction, Chipipe Pie de Limon, and Chipipe Pan de Maize (corn bread).
10. What it feels like to pay $2.00 per gallon for high test gas. Ah the good ol days…
