...is among some of the many great sentences that involuntarily come out of your mouth in front of groups of people when learning Spanish. All you have to do is mix 'yo soy' with 'yo voy' and you are on your way to looking like a complete idiot. ´´I am going to the toilet' suddenly turns into 'I am a toilet'...at least everyone finds it amusing :)
On Tuesday Caroline, Xavier and I went to a football world cup qualifier between Ecuador and Peru. Truly amazing experience...Ecuadorians are so full of life and passion...I didn't even mind when beer came raining down on us after a well deserved goal by Ecuador...though hair and clothes needed a thorough wash. A flag the size of our entire 'general-beer swilling-football chanting-section' was often passed overhead and the view from the 'outside' must have been phenomenal. Ecuador took the match by 2:0 so the city was in celebration mode. For me, this meant no taxi home (as i had to be home for dinner with mi papa y mama) and whilst I really shouldn't have walked, had no choice. My Quito Mama had dinner ready for me, so I sat down with mi familia and tried to discuss my day in spanish...but ended up mostly bumbling through in broken English...ooops! It's such a brain drain...
Yesterday was another 4 hours of lessons with Xavier, Lisa and Sebastian - max in a class is 4 so you get a decent amount of attention. We had told our host families that we would be out for dinner, so we headed to 'Gringolandia' (I'm sure this makes sense to most!?) and spent a fanastic night together drinking the national beer...and listening to Rhianna, the Boss and Katy Perry (dont altogether know why!) and some random German music that Lisa and Sebastian thought we needed to hear...muchas gracias guys!!
This morning was an early start to class and this afternoon I meet with my GVI organisation contacts in Quito and had a bit of Galapagos orientation. Im gonna be working my butt off over there! Its a lot worse (or should I say more involved...) than I thought...I guess busy is good eh (cant seem to find the correct keys on this keyboard for punctuation, so things are a little bit messed up). Might be leaving for San Cristobal in the Galapagos on Sunday, not Monday as anticipated due to flight schedules, and just the fact that Im in Sth America...apparently we just shrug and say ´´no problemo´´ and move on. Not something Im used to, but is happening all the time!
Right, off to visit a store that sells camping-outdoor equipment...amazingly called ´´camping´´...too funny...
oh...as of the weekend, Ill only have internet access once a week...and thats assuming I make the 45min truck journey from the research station to town...so dont miss me too much! Perhaps I can get one more post in before I head off into the complete unknown.
Hasta luega amigos
X
ps. is rude to come to the dinner table without shoes on...who knew...
