First Day of December

Today is the first day of December and the start of the advent. We found these great retro advent calendars where you open a little window for every day (there is a piece of chocolate behind each one) - do you remember those? I used to love the advent calendar, opening the windows or drawers and finding some little treat. It made Christmas so real, and made it seem so close. I also like it for the kids because it will help them 9especially Tin) with dates and figuring out time better, which has been a bit of a struggle (could it be the age? When do kids start recognizing today, tomorrow, yesterday, etc.?) Actually, Tin was the one who reminded me that it started today, so it's already helping, although he thought that Christmas was tomorrow...

The beginning of December is also a special time here in Quito, when the Fiestas make the city larger than life and an otherwise somewhat conservative little mountain city comes alive. Parties and dancing on the street, traditional food kiosks everywhere, chivas with brass bands taking over the streets. But possibly my favorite part of this time of year is the bullfights.

We won't be going this year, and I'm a little disappointed. It is truly amazing watching a bullfight, and I really want to read the story Hemingway wrote about it now that I have come to understand it better. It isn't just about the fight, it is the bull, the bullfighter, the olés and handkerchiefs, the wine flowing from the botas, and the general festiveness. Every Quiteño putting on a Spanish straw hat and talking like españoles (a little annoying but something you get used to). It's man versus beast, and so exciting to see who will win. (Secretly I always hope the bull gets a piece of the bullfighter.) It's amazing how graceful both are, when the fight is good. Before I had gone the first time, I thought it was like a slaughter, but once you are there in person you can really see the art and culture and history behind it.

I'm thinking about all of this not because it is the first of December, but because today Tin was running around the house playing "bull". "Corre toro que te voy a matar" - singing it over and over. I can imagine that here little boys grow up dreaming not of being firefighters or policemen but bullfighters.




But it has also brought up another issue. Many people have been protesting the bullfights lately, oh, in the last two years or so. Usually college kids, hechos los hippies (acting like hippies), screaming and freaking out outside of the arena. They put up violent images of bulls being slaughtered (not by bullfighters but usually in slaughterhouses - or maybe the images are even photoshopped, not sure), and scream insults at everyone coming out of the arena. It is really distasteful. They call everyone murderers as they chomp on meat empanadas and hamburgers! I'm no tree hugger and I know living in Ecuador for so many years has snuffed out a love for animals I used to have, but these kids really go too far (I'm sounding like my grandpa now!). Anyhow, I was thinking about them because Tin was asking why they have to kill the bull. And I didn't know the answer. And then he said that he hoped the bull won, too.

to market, to market

Went to the market this morning for Halloween pumpkins. We found quite a few, of all different sizes and colors.



Got some fresh veggies and fruit (ovos and strawberries - mango season is just around the corner so will be on the lookout for those).



Andres needed to stop for some hornado.

Came back and had the in-laws over for lunch. The kids weren't so well behaved...they're sleeping now and I am SO enjoying the quiet.

It's that time of year once again...

Come the end of August, something special happens in the stationary and paper stores of Ecuador. It is the dreaded SCHOOL SUPPLY SHOPPING, and it is back! You may remember my experience school supply shopping last year - what started out as a fun, exciting moment of my eldest being old enough to go to school, turned into a hair-pulling, four-hour long ordeal. Aside from the general lack of product in the stores ("Thin wire? No sorry, we're out. Nope, don't have shiny foam either. No, I've never heard of PLAID fabric paint. We don't carry small rolling pins, and we ran out of markers and colored pencils and modeling clay yesterday"), the fact that the list itself reads like Morse code (1oo hjs papel bond tamaño INEN 75 gr.), and the lines that go to the back of the store, there is an additional problem: everything you buy wrong (brand, size, color) IS SENT BACK! Needless to say, school supply shopping is a small science here, and so this year I came prepared: I brought a translator (my Spanish-speaking and Ecuadorian-raised husband), and I got the list the week before classes started.

Despite my preparation and general prudence, there were still large crowds. My translator was indispensable, and although he does not enjoy this type of shopping at all, I will never again go on my own. Me: "Boxed pencil sharpener?" (He grabs it off the shelf and puts it in the cart. ), "Cheese eraser?" ("I saw those over here..." as he goes to get it), "2 HB pencils? 1 imitation rapidografo, black? 3 large sheets of "comet" paper?" (Hubby scurrying from aisle to aisle, grabbing normal things like fine-lined pens and pencils and tissue paper off the shelves.)

We were in and out within an hour, although we only had half of the items. Since then I have been briefed on what to look for ("brilliant foam sheets" = foam with glitter in it, "thin rope" = thin corded ribbon", etc.) so that over the next few days I can be on the lookout for specialty items, hopefully available in some of the smaller stationary stores. I am still struggling with a "non-traditional story book" (Pinocchio? Aladdin? The Three Bears? What is considered "traditional" here?) and finding a junior-sized rolling pin. Oh, and reusable paper towels - do such things even exist?

And the ever elusive PLAID fabric paint - which I have seen in the U.S. but never here.

So, the hunt will continue and come Monday, will we be prepared? Come back to see!

Note: You may remember from last year that cotton balls were a popular item. It seems that teachers get into fads, since they all ask for the same thing. This year there are no cotton balls on our list, but we have been hard pressed to find the glittered foam sheets and yellow folders. Who says teachers don't succumb to peer pressure?

thankful today for...

It can be frustrating to live in another country - deal with a culture and language different from yours on a daily basis, the little inconveniences and quirks that can get under your skin at a moment's notice. But tonight, coming home from the gym, as I circled the mall to go up the hill, I noticed three stores with little kiddie corners - a place where the kids can go sit, play, watch a video, color, etc. while their parents shop. And I realized that these are in quite a few stores - we've even used them.

And I felt happy and grateful to live in a country that so values children and families.

Back to School

I know, I know. It's a little late for a back to school post (although before the Ecuadorian School Curriculum Reform, schools would have been starting this week), but I have been so busy and haven't had any time to post at all. Also, it isn't technically a back to school post, since this is actually Agustin's first year in school (preschool). I still feel pretty strongly about the fact that he is only three until end of November, and thus, in my opinion, not ready for the vigor of Ecuadorian preschool, which is more like a kindergarten/1st grade mix, but what can a lowly parent do? Every teacher and administrator knows more than I (and me being a teacher myself!) and so, we can do nothing more than abide by the system, perhaps gritting our teeth a little along the way.

But more on how Agustin's doing later. The real question is: how are the parents taking it?
I must admit, it is exciting to see my little baby boy in shiny new shoes and uniform, marching off to school with a backpack slung across his shoulders. It is also heart-wrenching. He is so BIG! When I look at him with the eyes of a stranger I see an older boy, not a little recently-potty-trained and even more-recently-taken-off-the-bottle three-year-old boy.

It is fun to see and hear about all the different things he learned in school, and sad, also, knowing that his horizons are broadening and we (his parents) are no longer the only source of information he has. While it is a relief, at times, to know that someone else needs to take responsibility for things like teaching him numbers and letters and how they work, it is also disconcerting, especially when he corrects me (my Spanish, my knowledge of the difference between rip and tear, the way I taught him how to hold the pencil - wrong, of course). And the nerve of the teacher, which is cultural but also hard for me to stomach - sending home notes telling me that he needs his nails cut (and for pete's sake, they weren't really that long, either! We've had much longer!), or admonishing me for not getting him to complete his homework assignment ("He works so well in class and is so motivated, I wonder what his problem could be at home?"). (On a side note he does complete his assignments, but tires easily, which I happened to mention to the teacher, suggesting that perhaps they were a bit too long?)

Anyhoo, back to the beginning. We got his school supply list the first day of school, and was I ever in for a shocker! It seems that school supply lists in Ecuador are quite the science, since mine looked like a calculus formula or another language. Here, for example, is an excerpt (and following in parentheses a loose translation):

• 1 caja de pinturas 12 colores PAX CROMO MEGA 5.5 mm lápiz gigante
• 2 frascos de témpera grande: 473 ml. 16 oz. Azul-amarillo
• 2 lápices triplux delgados, 1 borrador de queso
• 1 tabla pegada fomix de 30x20 cm y 1 punzón punta metálica
• 1 marcador de tiza líquida PAPER MATE EXPO (rojo)
• 1 sacapuntas de caja doble orificio para normal y triangular
• 1 diario escolar
• 1 pliego de cartón corrugated (morado)
• 1 cuaderno parvulario grande de 50 hojas anillado
• 1 juego didáctico para 5 años, bloques lógicos 48-50 figuras
• 20 cartulinas muresco o iris de colores tamaño INEN

• (1 box of paints, 12 colors, PAX CROMO MEGA 5.5 mm gigantic pencil)
• (2 bottles of big tempera paints 473 ml 16 oz blue-yellow)
• (2 thin triplux pencils, 1 "cheese" eraser)
• (1 30x20 cm table glued fomix and 1 metal-tipped "stabber")
• (1 PAPER MATE EXPO liquid chalk marker - red)
• (1 double-holed box pencil sharpener for normal and triangular pencils)
• (1 school diary)
• (1 large posterboard of corrugated cardboard, purple)
• (1 large preschool notebook, spiral-bound, 50 pages)
• (1 didactic game for 5-year-olds, "Logical Blocks, 48-50 pieces")
• (20 cardstock A4 papers (Muresco or iris), various colors)

Well, things would have been easier if I had know that "paints" can also mean "colored pencils", a "cheese" eraser is a soft white one, PAX CROMO MEGA and Muresco/Iris are brand names, and there are certain kinds of pencils that are considered normal and others that are considered triangular (although honestly they both look the same to me). But these are the things I will learn, I guess. The list, by the way, goes on and on for a page more, including, among other things, 12 rolls of toilet paper, a towel (no size specification, although the original was sent back two weeks later with a note that we needed one slightly larger), baby soap, band-aids, cotton balls, colored Popsicle sticks, masking tape, glitter and regular glue, a 20-piece puzzle, various types and qualities of colored paper, fine markers, modeling clay, 2 used magazines for cutting up pictures, scissors, a bag of confetti, a hard-covered two-ringed folder... I could go on but you get the picture. (Notice that I'm not even counting the textbooks for class.)

Exciting! Imagine - those of you who know me can easily: I get to go on a shopping spree buying all kinds of stationery items - papers, markers, pens, pencils, glitter, glue, etc. I was thrilled, and not at all daunted by the size of the list...

UNTIL...

I get to the store. Now, remember, it is the first day of class. All 6 million Ecuadorian students have entered class on the same day, receiving lists of various pages of supplies that need to be bought, not by next week but by tomorrow. Hence the mad dash to the stores.

I saw the line of cars, stopping traffic, outside of the store. But still I persisted on. I mean, really, when do I ever have "permission" to go crazy buying tons of things I wouldn't normally need? I needed this excuse to shop, so I took Agustin's hand and went in with him (he was also very excited too, by the way).

No carts. We waited at the cash registers for the first available and only waited a few minutes. Not bad so far.

Well, imagine a store the size of your local gas station, a store in which close to 300 people and their kids have walked into, a store that has in reserve probably 50 shopping carts of which every single one is used... it was CROWDED. To make it worse, as I didn't know what the bleep I was looking for exactly, I would inch my way to an aisle, and after 10 minutes make it there, painstakingly read the itsy-bitsy fine print on the mylars, only to realize that no, no mention of a triangular pencil. We spent about 1 1/2 hours doing this. Occasionally a worker would whiz by and be able to help for a fleeting second, but they were being bombarded by every other parent in the store and also clearly stretched to the limits.

All the while, Andres and the baby were out in the car. He finally decided to make an appearance, to my relief, and help out with some of the language barrier situations I mentioned above. It still took us another half an hour to determine that we had gotten most of what we could (some things were already out of stock) and then I got in line.

The line of the century.

This line stretched to the back of the store, weaving in and out of desperate shoppers and crying children. This line moved one cart-length approximately every 10-15 minutes. This line took us almost 2 hours to get through. Utterly exhausting.

Agustin was so good during the whole thing. He barely complained and remained in good spirits. I was a little more than irked, as you can imagine, but the closer we got to the register, the better I felt, knowing that soon we'd be going home. It got dark, Andres and the baby were sent outside to peer in through a large window at our progress as the store employees, tired and wondering when the stream of people may stop, decided to close the store 2 hours early.

We got home around 7:30 pm. I thought that my four-hour ordeal was nearing its close, but I was soooooo wrong. Next came the part that was really labor-intensive: putting Agustin's name on every notebook, bag, marker, pencil, piece of chalk, etc. And if you think I'm exaggerating...

Let's just say I'm not.

I was up until half past midnight, labelling all of his things in the Ecuadorian way. We had three plastic bags full of his supplies, all labelled (hopefully) correctly and organized for the teacher. We still had some things to get (every school-aged child in the country must be asked to bring cotton balls, because we couldn't find any in any of the pharmacies we went to), but for the most part we were finished. And I was exhausted.















It was going to be a long year...

Lunch with the Ambassador

OK, so it technically wasn't lunch, but on Tuesday we did have a meeting with the damas group at the Ambassador's residency in Quito, and it was quite a nice time. Ambassador Linda Jewel seems like an amazing person, and Ecuador, in my opinion, is very luckly to have her, especially during the presidency of Correa, which, at times, is a bit inflammatory. At the meeting she spoke about relations between the two countries and gave a lot of insight into how the U.S. plans to handle issues in Ecuador in the next couple years. After the last ambassador, I would say this is a wonderful, pleasant change.

And the house! It is a gorgeous, colonial mansion, so amazing! The grounds alone are remarkable, and the art within lovely and beautiful (part of the ART in Embassies program, I was to find out). Anyhow, it was a great day - informative, interesting, and great for networking. I met some important people from the Embassy, connected with some new friends, and even met (for the first time) a woman who happens to be "related" to me (through my husband). It was nice to see all the "damas" again, and I am so glad I went. No meetings now for the next two months, but I plan to try and remian active in the organization, regardless.

The Amazing Race in Ecuador!

For Amazing Race fans (not saying who that may be, although some of you out there actually know me!), the reality TV show has finally made it to Ecuador. I missed most of the episode, but there may be a bit left in Ecuador next week.

Arghh!!!... or The Idiocy Behind Bureaucracy

I don't know why certain things about living in Ecuador bother me so much. For instance, the long lines everywhere (having to get up at 4 a.m. to get "a place" in a line), the ridiculous rules and horrible inadequacy and inefficiency of virtually every sector - public or private, Ecuadorians' acceptance of that's just how things "are". Well, I am tired of getting in an outrage about the way people are treated, about the DUMB things that you're told when you are trying to do some paperwork, about the fact that SEVEN months after my son is born he is STILL not registered in the book of birth certificates and therefore we are STRUGGLING to get his passport ready for our trip, tired of worrying about the fact that my mother-in-law is losing her land, losing her retirement, losing her job basically because the doctor says she is absolutely NOT allowed to work and the silly government offices will not respect her doctor's orders. And I am most definitely tired of being in an outrage and then told that I shouldn't be. Why do people tell me these things? Isn't it to make me feel outraged? And, if not, then I refuse to get outraged anymore.

So, basically I will just accept my lot. Granted, once Nicholas's paperwork is out of the way, we will have far fewer things to do. Once I get my foreigner censo, which will now be good for like four years or something, I will have less to worry about. And once I get my ID updated, I will not have to worry again until it is time for my driver's license. Of course, all the paperwork seems to come at the same time.

In the meantime, I will be taking some days off of work in order to get all these chores done - as well as waking up at the crack of dawn and standing in line for eight hours only to be told to come back tomorrow cuz the system is down or they are no longer attending. Worse thing is, we have to go through this all at the U.S. embassy to get Nicholas's passport, and it is no better there. You'd think they were run by a bunch of Ecuadorians. Anyway, that's my rant for the day, and - hopefully I will be able to keep my word for it for a long time from now.

By the way, anyone know if standing in line burns calories?

Disappointment at the Polls

What can I say? Eleven years here and I've yet to see a sound decision at the polls. Noboa or Correa? The answer is clear, in my opinion. But HOW could Noboa and GILMAR GUTIERREZ get more votes than Roldos, and for that matter, Cynthia? I think it is time to get rid of the mandatory vote - get rid of the populism, stop letting (making) illiterate people vote, educating people to vote for the candidate who best represents your interests, not the one who gives you two pieces of bread and a baggie of rice. Some say that that shows just how poor the country is... I don't agree. I think it just shows how ignorant the population is, which is another reason to chuck the mandatory vote, also.

Sigh. Here we go again. I doubt Correa will last, and I predict that Noboa will go no longer than three months (He is barely literate himself, in fact, and shows all the signs of brain damage). Of course, I could always be pleasantly surprised.

I’ll Always Hear the Rooster

There’s nothing like a rooster to wake you up in the morning.

Yes, a rooster has gotten loose in our neighborhood.

He’s living in the park behind our house. I suppose he belongs to someone in one of the housing complexes to our north, so I doubt he will be homeless for long. But, in the meantime, he’s made a place for himself up against our back wall.

Roosters are strange animals. Contrary to popular belief, they do not only crow at the crack of dawn. Actual, they crow all day and all night long. I guess they are actually trying to claim their territory by scaring off predators.

In our old apartment there used to be a rooster belonging to the family behind us. After seven years of its crowing (or that of its successors – I doubt that that rooster was allowed to live so long, I’m sure he made it into a soup along the way) I got accustomed to it. And early this morning, when I heard our new neighbor’s fierce crows, I felt oddly at peace.

They are a cultural phenomenon. Ecuadorians don’t seem to notice them at all. The other day I was in class observing one of our teachers when, to make small talk, she asked the students if the rooster outside the building bothered anyone during class. Now, our school is located in the business and tourist district, and the traffic, especially the bus traffic, is noisy and annoying. The class was at the top of the eighth floor, yet she had heard a rooster at some point that morning, and the noise it had made had registered somewhere in the back of her mind.

I didn’t know what was sadder – the fact that there was a rooster in the city, or the fact that this teacher had never had the chance to actually hear a rooster in “real life”, despite being from a small town in the U.S.

The students never noticed it, they said, and even seemed skeptical of its existence. All I could think of was the fact that, inadvertently, she had set herself apart from the others – made herself instantly foreign.

I myself proudly agreed with the students. I had not heard the rooster. I am becoming more and more Ecuadorianized.

Yet I will never fully be Ecuadorian. Last night's intruder woke me from a sound sleep, and I doubt DH even registered his cries. I will, without fail, always hear the rooster. The difference is, now I will welcome his noise.

Unluckiest person in the world

Sometimes I think that the unluckiest person in the world is my mother-in-law. Not only does she have this crazy disease, polymyalgia rheumatica, she now is having problems getting permission at work to get the rest she needs. Even though the doctor has said she should not return to work (she works at a night school and the cold is really bad for her), because it is a public school, she can only get 7 days at a time (the doctor gave her a month, and then said she'll probably need three months in total to get back to "normal"). At work they gave her the permission, but to get it "legalized" (what is it with Ecuadorians and their love for LEGALIZING EVERYTHING?) she has to go back to the State Department of Education and get it stamped. There, they tell her they can only sign permission for 7-14 days. She goes back to the doctor to get him to rewrite the permission in increments of 2 weeks, and now she is told that they can't do it because it is "past its time." So, three months before she is eligible for retirement, it looks like she will be fired because of this crazy mess. Which means her retirement will be seriously compromised.

All of this is just unnecessary and crazy paperwork, since she was granted permission for the last two weeks - but not the first two (so, the dr. says I have this disease on Sept. 4, but I can't get permission to be sick from Sept. 4 to Sept. 17, but I can get permission from Sept. 17 to Oct. 4?). Also, she has a substitute in her place who she is paying out of her paycheck, so what, really is the big deal? I don't get it and never will, I guess.

On top of this mess, she has decided to try selling her family lot in Calderon. She finally found someone who wants to buy it, ASAP, and when she went to sell it she finds out that the city government has ordered that the lot is only good in order to build schools, public hospitals, or parks on. Not even houses can be built on the property, which contradicts everything since HER house is already built on the property. (Not the first time, by the way, that she has had problems with land in Calderon. She once owned another lot that she had bought herself, and it was taken by the authorities to build the new highway through.)

Needless to say, it really sucks. She is looking for a lawyer (of course the one she was recommended to use is out of the country until December) who might be able to help her, but in the end she will either lose the land or have to bribe and pay off who knows how many officials. And the worse part is that all of this was caused by her neighbors, who under good Ecuadorian philosophy believe that everything yours is mine, and that no one should have anything more than what I have (even though I don't work or do anything in order to get it). They think that my mother-in-law is rich because of the land (which she inherited) and so they wanted her to pay for paving the road that runs around her land. My mother-in-law is a schoolteacher, however, and while not dirt poor is by no means equipped with enough income to finance a city road. They got angry when she refused, and went to the city government and cried and complained that they needed a hospital, and then got the officials to "donate" my mother-in-law's land.

Now, I have nothing against building hospitals for low income families, lahdee lahdee, but the way people go about things is so corrupt that it makes you want to just cry, close your eyes, and give up once and for all on this country.

Getting Around

gettingaround
Originally uploaded by kalymiller.

I love going from the mountains down to the coast. Not only do things start warming up, but you can almost feel like you're in another country. Sometimes it is because of the extreme poverty you see. Other times it is because of little things like vocabulary or dialect. But one of my favorite differences between the coast and the sierra is the transportation. Here you can see a bunch of people riding on an open ranchera - the people inside ride with no doors or windows to avoid heat stroke. What I loved best about the ranchera, however, was the piglet riding along. Someone's pet? Someone's supper? Someone's next paycheck? Either way, he was having a blast as the warm coastal air howled around him...

Tungurahua

tungurahua
Originally uploaded by kalymiller.

The other night my father-in-law gave us a copy of a homemade video that some of his friends near Ambato took the day the Tungurahua began exploding. It was impressive. I was really glad to see it, since I hadn't seen any of the images on TV when it was happening (having two little kids means that all you see on television are Barney and Elmo). The explosion was much bigger than I imagined. If I can figure it out, I will try to put a clip up on the blog. Until then, here is what the volcano looked like about four months before it exploded. It is now about 200 meters shorter, and isn't so cone-shaped. (It has actually been somewhat active for the past seven years, so has been slowly reshaping itself over that time.) This picture was taken on the way down to Baños. We happened to witness quite a few ash clouds that day.

World Cup...Go Ecuador!!!!

Something else I should mention...
The World Cup has already gotten underway in Germany, and there is World Cup fever everywhere in Ecuador, since our national team is participating for the second time in a row, and this time has gone on to the next round of finals. Everyone is very excited about tomorrow's game vs. England. Should be fun.

On a different note, I'm having a bit of homesickness today, since I just heard from my mother and once again, as expected, everyone is up at the lake. what I wouldn't give to be on Lake Pokegama with them...DH (dear husband) is planning a trip at Christmas but more snow! No thanks. I'd rather get sunburnt. Of course I need to do some serious dieting before the swim suit goes on...I've got this great blog with South Beach Diet recipes taht I think the whole family will be trying...

Quito's Parties

I love this time of year. The hot HOT sunny mornings, the rain in the afternoon, the comidas típicas, the games of cuarenta, the red and blue streamers garlanding the city. Celebrating the foundation of Quito is one of my favorite things. Now, with Agustín's birthday just a couple weeks before that, and Christmas and New Year's right after, it is definitely my favorite time of year. Plus, the mangoes are coming out - juicy and ripe and fragrant. The only thing I'm missing this year is the music - all my Fiestas de Quito music got left in the states a couple years back...
I need to get some pictures of Agustín up on this blog. I have been so bad about taking pictures since we left the States this summer. I think I have taken ONE picture of him, maybe. I also need to videotape him more. He is at the cutest age. And he is so sweet. He kisses and hugs you and says "Love" and then grabs your arm and hugs it. The other day I was sitting on the couch and he put a pillow down and forced me to lie on it. Then he lifted up my feet and put them on the couch so that I would be comfortable. All of this topped with a juicy kiss!!!!
Anyway, I am still trying to figure out how this thing works. Bear with me. I will try to be better about writing.