6th day

Yesterday I had my Andinismo class. It meets in the Coliseo, which is basically a basketball court, ping-pong tables, and seating. It’s a little different than the facilities U of I has. The professor, who supposedly is funny, (the Ecuadorians laugh a lot, but I don’t get anything) talked about the history of mountaineering in different countries, the philosophy of climbing, safety, and then we learned how to tie different knots. Next is Temas de América Latina, which is un poco dificíl to understand. Also, 10% of our grade is participation, and there’s a lot of students in the class and the non-natives can speak fairly well and the Ecuadorians I can never understand, so it’s really intimidating. I wish I took my Spanish classes more seriously! I got A’s in every Spanish class I’ve taken, but I still cannot understand Spanish well or speak competently. I’m realizing how terrible the Spanish classes I’ve taken were. For two, I never went to class and got A’s. I feel like most international students are more advanced than I am, especially since I’m living next to Kay. She wants to be an ESL teacher and has lived in Spain and Guatemala, and she makes me feel so stupid when I can’t speak correctly, and she sounds near-fluent already.

After my classes I hung out with Charlotte, and we went to get our censo photos taken. The censo is identification for visitors. Don’t ask me why a visa isn’t enough… Next week we’re going to get our censos by giving them two photos and four dollars. We are supposed to carry a copy of our passport, visa, and censo all the time. I ate lunch at a restaurant at the university that makes crepes, after talking to Jeremy how he made crepes with his grandma. I was able to Skype with him for the first time in an abandoned computer lab. He could hear and see me, but I couldn’t hear him, so it was interesting responding by voice when he typed a question to me. Skype is awesome and free, but it isn’t the best for my emotions. Seeing someone on a computer feels so real, yet not being able to be with that person is a terrible feeling.

I went to the Supermaxi (Sounds like a feminine hygiene product, but it’s like a Jewel) in Cumbayá to buy a few things to replace my trial-size toiletries and then talked with Maria, the resident director, about volunteering. There’s a clinic in Cumbayá that has great physical therapy. On Tuesday I’ll visit and fill out an application. I’m so excited! I wish I could just not have school and instead work with physical therapists. School is kind of a bummer for me because none of it counts for anything. They’re all electives and will have enough credit to graduate without all these classes, but these classes will show up on my transcript and affect my GPA, which I worked so hard to keep high. I wouldn’t be so afraid of my classes if getting C’s was okay. Additionally, I’m not the best at making friends with Ecuadorians, and many of my classes are mostly gringos, so all this feels so pointless. Now that I have a family, some friends, and resources, I want to just focus on learning Spanish and physical therapy. Maybe I’ll like my classes once they actually start, we’ll see. The professors seem really awesome here.

Oh, I got a huge desk, a mirror, garbage can, and a hamper recently from my family. They also cleared a space for me to put my shampoo and stuff in the bathroom. I’ve never been so happy for those kinds of things!