I was looking at my weather app last night and seeing some of the places I’ve lived. While most of them were in the 30s and 40s in temps, it was a nice 60 something here. I really can’t complain about the weather. We are officially into “rainy season”, but when its 75 degrees out, rain ain’t so bad. Although every time I take the family outside to go somewhere, it always seems to pour as we are getting in and out of a taxi. Just. our luck I guess.
We’re into November now. No Shave November that is, and once again, to Alanna’s dismay, I’m growing out a beard. At least this time its for charity. I mean, yeah, growing a beard and raising money for charity really don’t go together, but I figure whatever you can do to help other people, in whatever way, is a good thing. So here’s the info for my charity if you’d like to donate –
The family has been here for almost a month now and seem to be adjusting well enough. Alanna LOVES being a stay at home parent. I was lucky enough to do it in the UAE, so I know how rewarding it can be. She’s also fixing up some lovely dinners for me each night when I come home from work. Abby has her crying fits now and then, but for the most part she seems like a happy little baby. I can make her laugh at the drop of a hat, which pretty much makes me happy for the rest of the day. Logan… on the other hand, has been a problem. Are there such things as the terrible fours? He seems to have regressed a little. And going out with him is stressful. Hopefully its just mostly being in a new place and he’ll eventually shape up and get back to his normal self.
We’ve had two busy weeks. Two weeks ago was Family Day at the school. Its sort of like a fall festival, but there’s also a socc…. excuse me… futbol tournament, and the whole country seems to be invited. It was a nice chance to bring the family out to the school for them to meet people and the weather stayed nice. The tournament was fun to watch at times and our school’s team got the bronze medal. I also had to work at the festival just for a bit. I was assigned to monitor the casa de terror, or haunted house for all you who have no idea what I just said. The theme of the haunted house was an abandoned insane asylum. It was created and put on by the 12th graders. I really had nothing to do with it. They did have an introductory video that people watched before they went inside, and I was in charge of pushing play. Let me just say, the graphic, horrific material they put in that video would give most people the frights for weeks. I counted at least 10 kids who walked… ran… out of the room screaming and crying. I didn’t even go through the actual haunted house, but people who came out were white as sheets. Not sure it was appropriate for the 4 and 5 year olds that went through, but hey, its Ecuador right?
Halloween was last week and we actually got out for some trick or treating. Its not a hugely celebrated holiday here, but Logan already had a Spiderman costume he was dying to wear and we didn’t want to disappoint. One of my teacher friends found out her neighborhood was actually doing trick or treating, so we took a taxi over there and then walked around the neighborhood. Only 10 or so houses actually opened their doors for us, but they were all nice and gave candy. Logan had a blast after initially complaining about being sick. Abby was dressed as Minnie Mouse and just hung out in the stroller. There were small groups of Ecuadorian kids dressed up too, as well as 1000 dogs throughout the neighborhood that barked every time we passed them. There are a LOT of dogs here.
This weekend we also had All Souls Day. While its not that big in the States, apparently its huge down here. From what we gathered, locals go to the graves of their departed family members and have… lunch with them? I dunno, I’m still confused about that one. All seemed well and good until about midnight when apparently everyone decided to shoot off fireworks… until the sun came up. So that tended to keep us up all night. They also shot them off the next night as well, not sure why though. They REALLY like fireworks here. And loud noises. And dogs. And socc…. futbol.
Good morning, blog readers. I’m running on fumes this week, but thankfully I’m reunited with the most important people in the world (in no particular order) – Alanna, Logan and Abby. I flew out of Ecuador last Friday at midnight, arrived in Miami in the wee hours, had a lovely layover, got to Charlotte around 1pm and then Hickory where the family was staying with my favorite big sister Angie at about 3:30pm Friday afternoon. And it was all worth it. Honestly, there is no better feeling of seeing your son screaming your name and running to hug you as soon as you get out of the car. Alanna waited patiently while Logan go all his Daddy love in, then she planted a well-deserved kiss on me. Next was Abby. I was a little worried about her. I hadn’t seen her since a week after she was born. Would she remember me? Would she cry when I held her? I have no idea if she remembered me or not, but she gave me the biggest, toothless smile I have every seen when I held her and I knew then and there that all was right in the world. Well, except for the U.S. government, but I digress.
The weekend in the States went by so quickly thanks to me cramming in every single possible thing a person could do in those few hours of time. Friday night, Angie babysat the kids for us while Alanna and I had a quick date. Outback was my choice for dinner. Its not Alanna’s most favorite, but she understands I needed a nice big prime rib and some aussie cheese fries to get me moving through the weekend. We did some quick shopping for items that we needed to take back with us at Target, then headed home, packed a little and then I was in bed at midnight. And then up at 6am. My 20 year high school reunion was Saturday night, but some of my closest dude friends weren’t going to make it. We had originally planned to play a backyard football game, like we did for the 10 year reunion, but between all our other commitments and the main fact we didn’t want to break our old, brittle bones, we ditched the game and just met at Cracker Barrel for breakfast. It was great seeing the fellas. We razz on each other so much, but these are the guys that have been with me since grade school. Although I don’t see them as nearly as much as I would like, and rarely ever all together in one room, I love these dudes like my family and I’m so proud we stay in touch.
I quickly drove back to Hickory after breakfast, ran a few more errands and got a haircut at Sportclips. Mmm… hot towel and scalp massage. Can’t beat that for $23. My parents drove up to Hickory to have lunch with us. We had Bojangles. So good going in, not the best going out, but I love the stuff and obviously can’t get it in Ecuador. I spent some quality time with the family, letting my parents hold Abby and talk to Logan, and then it was time to head out to the reunion in Concord. We left a little early so we could hopefully avoid the race traffic around Charlotte Motor Speedway (it was race weekend, which meant a bagillion extra people around my hometown) and also to see about getting Alanna’s iphone fixed which Logan had dropped in the toilet a month earlier. Quick plug for – Charlotte iPhone Repair. Lot’s of places won’t even touch water damaged phones. Alex, the owner was able to get it working perfectly in about 15 minutes. If you have ANY problems with your iphones, go see this guy.
Well Abby decided to mess up her outfit by blowing out her diaper (you get the picture) and in the rush we didn’t bring a change of clothes with her from Hickory for her. So before the reunion, we had to take a detour to Walmart and grab something quick and cute for her to wear. And yes, I did bring a baby to a reunion. We were those people. Abby is just not good with the bottle yet and much prefers the real thing from mommy. We finally got to the reunion right on time. It was a blast to see my old classmates, some who I haven’t seen in almost 20 years. It was a TERRIBLE turnout, and I would I have loved to see more people, but the ones who were there made it fun and memorable. We’re planning on doing another one for 25 years, so hopefully more people will show up – especially all of you that live 15 minutes away and didn’t really have anything else on your plate that night.
We got back to Hickory around 11:30 Saturday night, finished last minute packing and went to bed…. to get back up at 5:00 so we could drive to Charlotte airport. We said our goodbyes to Angie, hopped in the rental van (with one last Sundrop in tow) and made it to the airport on time and without incident. Well, Logan had to pee once, but that’s to be expected.
Airlines usually allow 2 checked bags for free on international flights. But I guess they can just change their policies at anytime, without telling anyone, even if you’ve already booked your tickets AND have written proof you should get 2 free checked bags. So, we found out that we had to pay and extra $270 at check in. That was lovely way to start our trip back to Ecuador. Oh… American Airlines was the airline we used so feel free to hate on them in whatever way you can. The rest of the trip actually went pretty well. For the most part, Logan and Abby were little angels on both the flights and we even got compliments from other passengers on how well our kids behaved on the plane. This was Alanna’s biggest worry I believe, so the kids being good really helped keep her calm. Did I mention she gets a little nervous on travel days? We got into Ecuador around 7pm on Sunday night and after a little hassle about one of our bags at customs, we made it outside unmolested and the director of our school was even there to pick us up. Some way or another we crammed our umpteen pieces of luggage into his SUV, sat on top of each other and made it to Tumbaco around 9:00. Alanna loves the new place, and Logan loves his new Spiderman themed room. And Abby, well she loves Mommy’s milk I guess.
We’re slowly settling in this week. I’m back to work of course and Alanna is unpacking and decorating. All of us took a trip to the grocery store last night. Not the best plan, but I wanted to get them out of the apartment. Overall though, we’re doing well and are very happy to have each other again. And I brought back GTA V which should keep entertain me for a fee months! Adios!
Its been a couple weeks since I posted, sorry. I wanted to build up some drama in my blog. Whatever that means. Anyway, life in Ecuador is rolling right along. In less than 3 weeks, I’ll return to my home state of NC to, most importantly, collect my family, but also to attend the CCHS Class of 1993 20 Year Reunion. It will be great to see all the old people. And yes, by old , I mean people I’ve known since Kindergarten AND yes, literally old people. I told myself I’d lose a little weight before the reunion, and I have, but only because I’m in a foreign country and it was easy to drop 10 lbs. That weekend is going to be a little hectic. I fly out of Ecuador at midnight on Oct 11th and get into Charlotte the next morning, pick up the rental car, drive to get my phone fixed (speaker is busted), drive to Hickory to meet up with Alanna and the kids, have family time, shop for items we need to bring back from Ecuador, hopefully get in a date with my wife, sleep, reunion on Saturday night, sleep, fly back to Ecuador with the family and a billion pieces of luggage Sunday morning. Yes, that was run-on sentence.
My 38th (see… OLD) birthday was September 13th. I hated not being able to spend it with Alanna and the kids at Outback (I’m simple like that) but I was able to spend it at an American style restaurant with a good group of teacher friends. The place is called Smoke, and its run by an American dude from Arkansas. They have tasty BBQ and sweet tea! So about 25 people showed up and we chowed down on some good old southern North American food. At this point in my life, good food and conversation is really all that I want for my birthday. Other than skydiving, which I’m working on here too. Some of my students even brought my snacks and candies to class that day. They already know how to get bonus points.
En Fuego! So I think I’ve mentioned that they have forest fires here, right? Well last weekend, someone or some group of arsonists started a fire close to Quito and its been burning steadily since. You can easily see the smoke from anywhere in the area and my kids have brought in pictures on their phones of the actual fires. Yes… they’ve spread and are multiple blazes now. I’m sure they have firefighters working to put them out, but the only thing I see and HEAR are the helicopters. There is large reservoir right beside the school, so this is the spot that every single helicopter comes to scoop up water to dump on the fire. I’m sure these buckets that are attached to the helicopters are larger than they look, but it seems like they wouldn’t do much good against a fire. The copters are so loud though! And they disrupt my class! Stupid arsonists! Ecuador is offering a $100,000 reward for information on the crime. For $100,000, I would easily turn in one of my students if I could come up with some fabricated proof that would stick.
In other news –
The apartment is great, but sometimes loses power (as does the rest of Ecuador it seems). School is still good. Classes are working out. I’ll be teaching and extra after school class for 4-6 graders once a week. I have Direct TV now, and about 30% of the channels are in english. I wish the Redskins would win a game, but my fantasy team is 2-1.
Ok, adios!
Pics…
Teacher Friends
Oh Lordy… Sweet Tea!
Yes, still taking random pics of 23.
And another
Random Superman in a bathroom
This is disappointing to see in Ecuador
Skydiving Santa… a must have
Best care package gift ever.
Theatre Students
Jif is $10???
Forest Fire
So gorgeous
Beautiful family, see you soon.
And a video of a helicopter carrying a water bucket…
The first true week of school has come and gone and tomorrow I’ll start it all over again. I have to say, the kids are pretty good. I have 7-9 graders and 10-12 graders. For the most part, they seem well (enough) behaved and generally interested in me teaching them all about the wonderful world of theatre. I also have a class of seniors for CT. Its community time, kind of like homeroom in a sense but also more about learning different principles to make you a well rounded person. Character counts after all.
I had my first professional development of the year this weekend. It was Destination Imagination. Although the little seminar wasn’t the most exciting, the program itself is really impressive and the school will be hosting an event it next April. Here’s the info about it if you’re bored…
I did finally move into the new apartment, aptly dubbed Casa Gringo Loco. Its nice, quiet and it takes me at most 15-20 minutes to get to school each morning. I can live with that. So now I’m out of the big city and living in the burbs – Tumbaco to be specific. There are still plenty of people everywhere here, but it “feels” less crowded and that’s what matter most to me.
After my professional development on Saturday, I took a bus to Guapulo, a little suburb nestled right up against Quito. Some of the teachers live there and the town was throwing a big festival – again, something about Mary I think. I think they just use any chance they can to party. So the bus ride wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. If you read the blogs and travel guides or talk to Alanna, you’ll come to the conclusion that riding a bus in Ecuador is dangerous because you will get robbed. People pickpocket you, use knives to cut open your backpack to snag items, you know, that kind of unsavory stuff. Honestly, I have heard the stories, even from other teachers, but the bus ride costs 25 cents so its hard to pass up. We got on first too, and got nice seats so we didn’t have to stand (which is when you get robbed).
We made it to Guapulo and safe and sound. I had a nice dinner and game time at a friend’s house and then a bunch of us ventured down to the bottom of the hill where the festival was being held. It was in a courtyard like area in front of a big church and there were a bagillion people there by the time we arrived. There was a huge band on stage playing, plenty of food vendors and half of everyone there was dressed in costumes – mostly clowns ans gorillas. I have no idea what this has to do with the Virgin Mary, nor did I make any attempt to figure it out. Everyone was dancing, conga lines were passing by, and somehow one the teachers decided it would be a great idea to weave our way through the throngs of revelers and stand right in front (below) of the stage. We were dancing and having a generally great time when a woman came up to us with her little boy. I’d say he was 3, 4 years old at the most and was dressed like a clown, She asked us (I think) in Spanish to pick the little clown up and put him on stage. So we did. She then shook her head and told us to sit him down on the stage. So we did. And then she smiled and walked away. Yeah. I know. So here the two of us are, standing beside a 3 year old clown boy sitting on the stage. He didn’t seem very happy, so I took his hands and helped him dance back and forth. He did this just fine, even swung his tiny clown legs around as well. He still never really looked happy. I guess he was a little confused as to why his mother left him to be babysat by two gringos. The lady finally came back and retrieved her son, and we mingled back through the crowd.
We’d also heard rumors that they shoot fireworks off, sometimes into the crowd. Stories about burn holes in clothing and scars on faces were running rampant. So… when I actually saw fireworks being shot off, of course I ran right for them. A little history about Rob – Back in my younger days, I was the rabbit of our group of friends. A rabbit, in medium to long distance comptetive running, is a special guy or girl who runs at the front of the pack. His job is to be the pacesetter for the race. Many times the rabbit doesn’t even finish the race. So, long story short – I was a rabbit, in general terms. Just ask Matt Ford or Jeff Heglar. They’ll tell you countless stories about how I was the one who always volunteered to do something first, to test it out, no matter how dangerous and completely idiotic it might be. So back to Guapulo – in true rabbit tradition, I headed right for the fireworks. Now these weren’t the kind that shoot up in the air (those were later), but were more ground based fireworks on some kind of metal contraption that men were carrying around. They’d light these suckers and hot, fiery like missiles would shoot horizontally into the crowd. There was a large circle of people jogging around this, but me… I decided to go inside this circle and directly up to the firework missile launcher thingamajig. Rather, I was pushed towards it. Anyway, it was me, the missile launcher and about 50 people in a circle blocking my escape. So these missiles start firing off, smacking every bit of body I brought with me into the circle. It didn’t hurt at first, then these hot fiery objects started smacking exposed skin – arms, face, the back of my neck. This was a tad bit unpleasant. So I did what any brave man would do – I ran like a sissy. The only problem was the circle of people blocked my way out. I tried to push my way through, and at one point I caught an elbow to the face, which of course knocked off my hat, glasses and almost sent me to the ground. I quickly retrieved my belongings and finally found myself safe from the missiles and crazy circles of people. So I learned my lesson… until I do something even more stupid next time.
After escaping near death from fire, we found a tent area that had these old fussball tables and tons of kids playing on them. And when I say old, I mean old. These things looked like they were made 50 years ago. But the kids loved them. So, of course, I had to play. A friend and I worked our way over to the tables and managed to challenge all the kids to a match. So me and him were on one side, and all the kids on the other, with about 10 more kids just crowded in to watch. We crushed them. Come on, its their national sport right? Soccer? Futbol? These kids were no match for our obviously superior fussball abilities. Ok, Ok, yes they were pretty much all under 10 years old and we were grown adults, but hey… we won. It was a blast. They didn’t speak English, I didn’t speak Spanish, but it was a very neat cultural experience and just to see those little guys having a great time was so rewarding.
Finally, the big fireworks started. They were unsafe, ungoverned, but impressive. There was even one that shot up little some kind of spinning UFO and then exploded. I don’t think I’d ever been that close (directly under) fireworks that big, but I’d almost lost an eye to the smaller ones earlier. Why should I be worried about these? All in all, it was a blast to hang out with the locals and soak up Ecuadorian culture. And I made it out without any burns or ruined clothes so no harm no foul.
Pics!
Casa Gringo Loco
Gift from MT NJ Show Cast – You guys rock.
My taxi driver has a wee bit of a mullet.
Professional Development Project – We taped it up in the director’s office FTW.
Teacher Pals – Comfy Bed
First look at the festival
People everywhere!
Here’s the unhappy clown kid.
Told you we got close to the stage.
The church
Fussball Game Face
It got serious
Victory dance.
Kaboom.
Kaboom 2
UFO Firework thing
And a Video! Imagine me right in the middle of all that taking an elbow to the face.
Another week has flown by here in Ecuador. I spent last week pretty much getting ready for school to start today, plus a few soirees on Friday and Saturday with teachers before the real work began. Last week were suddenly told by the Ministry of Education (No, not Harry Potter) that we needed to take a battery of health tests. This process, which thankfully was done at school, involved an eye test, hearing test, breathing test, blood test and….. a urine and stool sample to top it all off. Some teachers chose do their “business” at home and carry it on the bus with them to work. I chose to just “do it” at school. I even left the samples in my classroom overnight. Ok, enough about poo.
We also had the first of what teachers say are many mini forest fires in the area. They spring up during the dry months. I could see the fire from my classroom on the side of one of the mountains. Soon thereafter, a helicopter was hovering over a reservoir beside the school. It had one of those giant bucket things. It scooped up water a few dozen times and had the fire under control in about half an hour. Just your average day in Ecuador I suppose.
Speaking of fire… There are a variety of street performers and vendors in Quito. You see on the corners at stoplights. When the light is red, they’ll move out into an intersection and in between cars. To date, here’s a list of people I’ve seen blocking an intersection:
Jugglers – Balls, fire stick things, swords
Unicycle Juggler Guy who is terrible and yells at his girlfriend when she tosses him a bowling pin
Fire Breather Guy – He has a stick with fire on the end of it. He drinks some gassy fluid and blows fire everywhere.
Wash your windows people – Same thing you see in the states
People selling –
Oranges
Candy
Cigarettes
Plants
Corn
Water
Electronics
Mops
Shovels
So if I need a good deal on any of these items, all I need to do is go for a drive.
I signed the contract for our new place – Casa Gringo Loco, at the end of last week. I’m purposely not going to post pictures of it, so Alanna we’ll be totally surprised when she walks in the door. That’s just how I roll. It is really nice though and out in the country just a little bit. I’m still sort of living in the studio apartment in Quito, but I should be fully in the new place by the end of this week. And then… scooter. And by then… I mean a few months from now I hope. Right, honey?
And finally, school officially started today. I was able to meet with each of my classes for about 20 minutes (first day schedule), and I’m pretty excited about the kids. They seem smart, creative and ready to go. Tomorrow will start a normal full schedule day. I’m going to need a lot more coffee.
37 more days until Alanna and the kids…. hurry up.
I’ve now finished up my second week in Ecuador. I’m still doing OK, for the most part. Not seeing my family is a huge downer though. Abby turned 4 weeks old today, and Alanna said Logan was telling some random kid at Chick-Fil-A that his dad is in Ecuador. Thankfully I have Skype and can see/talk to them everyday, but that extra personal affection of a touch is something that nothing can replace.
Missing them and my wife. (Wife not pictured)
The last week went by slowly but surely. Turns out the spot we picked (before we moved) to live in Quito isn’t the best place for us. Its not horrible, but its just not the right spot for a family. Alanna would be stuck inside all day and it takes me about an hour each way to get to and from school. So while Quito has lots of neat stuff to do, we’ve decided to move to Tumbaco, a smaller, greener, flatter town located much closer to the school. I began looking at places last Monday. I was stood up by realtors twice, cancelled on twice and generally had rotten luck with the search. Thankfully near the end of the week I found a perfect place for us and I’ll be signing the lease for it in a few days. AND…. Alanna says I can have a scooter. I am so excited. Driving here is a big crazy, but with a scooter I can take the back roads and get to work easily enough. Did I mention I’m excited? Alanna technically says I have to wait though and make sure its in our budget. Budget, smudget. Hopefully I can have it by November.
This is what I’m going to look with a scooter.
School is going well still. The students start next Monday, so I’m still getting things in order. I got a computer in my classroom today. And they cleaned it. And they added mirrors. I’m moving up in the world. Oh, and I’m totally getting a scooter.
Pics…
I have about 100 pictures of 23. Why? Cause that’s what I do.
It’s been a whirlwind amazing first week here in Ecuador. I won’t bore the reader with too much “school stuff”, but so far I really like my job. We had new teacher orientation Wed-Fri. The staff is very friendly and seems to be on the ball about pretty much everything. We had a little “incident” on Thursday when we went to get our Visas finished up though. When we got the place, one of the teachers (she will go unnamed), accidentally grabbed one of my needed documents and put it with her stuff. Of course I couldn’t find it, and was freaking out. I took a taxi quickly back to my studio to look for it, and even called the school to see if it was there. So that day ended with Rob not in a good mood. Yes, I went all 3rdperson on you. Thankfully that night, I got a FB message from the teacher and hopefully tomorrow I can go back and get it done.
The school paid for the new teachers to go on a little overnight excursion this weekend. It’s a place called Zuleta, about 2 hours north of Quito. It was overnight stay, and a hike was planned. We left early Saturday morning on an uncomfortable bus. About an hour in, we stopped at a market town called Otavalo. It has a huge market that’s sales all kinds of crazy items. We were pretty sure that many of these items were shipped from China, but were relieved to see some of the vendors were actually making stuff right there in their stalls. I mostly window shopped, thinking that I’d bring Alanna here when she comes so we can buy some stuff we might actually use. I did sample some of the local cuisine while there. Let’s see… I had sugarcane, some kind of bread thing… and boiled quail eggs. They’re smaller than chicken eggs of course, but taste about the same. You could buy 10 for a $1.00. No, I didn’t eat them all. I made my colleagues eat them with me since I bought the eggs. We also saw what we thought was a child serial killer, a man playing 3 instruments at one time, whole stacks of dead chickens complete with the heads, and some other weird things I can’t remember.
We then got to Zuleta in the late afternoon, checked into our little rustic (but nice and clean) cabins, and then headed on a short jaunt to a Condor preservation they have here. It was cool I suppose. They were in cages and you really didn’t get a very close up look, but hey… it’s a condor, right? We had the choice to ride the bus back to where we were staying or walk, so most of us chose to hoof it on foot. Well, some of us got lost. I would say about 7 of us straggled behind, and then took a wrong turn. Well, 2 hours and 5 extra miles later, we finally found our way back in the dark. They served us dinner and then we headed to a local festival – something or other about the Virgin Mary sleeping. I dunno. Anyway, it was a neat little time. There was a DJ, dancing, a guy dressed as a bull trying to gore children, a huge bonfire, and also a little boy lighting a tree on fire for some symbolic reason. And fireworks. Sort of like you see on Fourth of July, only 20 feet away from us shot out of cans. We finished the night off with some board games and then off to bed. Speaking of my bed… when I sat down on it the first time, I broke it. I mean really broke it. I literally snapped one of the sideboards into two pieces. I need to lose some weight or the beds in Ecuador aren’t made well. Probably both.
This morning we got up, were served a breakfast of scrambled eggs, along with a grilled ham and cheese. Tasty. We then went on our “hike”. I’m used to nice hikes through the woods, at low altitudes. This, however, was a hike up a mountain, starting at 10,000 feet. I knew as soon as we started that this wasn’t going to be pleasant. The altitude already has me not being able to get a full breath and then today I combined that with a vigorous mountain hike. About an hour into the hike, with about 30 more minutes left to get to the summit, I began to see spots in front of my eyes, and felt like I was either going to immediately pass out or throw up. This was about 12,000 feet. I sat down, drank some water and one of the peeps with me said I had altitude sickness. He said I probably shouldn’t continue to the top. Trust me, I was done. Thankfully, there were quite a few, about half, of us that didn’t make it to the top, so I didn’t feel like too big of a wuss. After relaxing for a bit, I started the hike down and once I got to 11,000 feet, I felt perfectly fine again. So I guess 12,000 feet is my limit at the moment before I become a walking disaster.
After the near puking/passing out experience, we made it back to our lodging. They served us trout for lunch, as they have a local trout farm nearby. I’m used to fish with no heads when I eat them. My trout had a head, as did the rest of them. Even the eyes were still there. One of the teachers asked me if I was going to eat the head. I figured she was joking and told her only if she did. Well it turns out, that’s what they do here. They eat heads and all. So I did… eat head and all, including the eyes, and it tasted just fine. After lunch, we piled on the bus, stopped in a small town for some Ecuadorian bread thing and cheese, and got back to Quito tonight just after dark. I’m sore, extremely tired, and would absolutely love to kiss Alanna and the kids right now, but all in all it was a good first week here in South America.
I’ve been in Ecuador for just over 24 hours now and my first impressions are mostly positive. I haven’t had that big “culture shock” moment yet, but I’m sure it will come along sometime soon.
Here is a recap of the past 24 hours…
Yesterday I flew from Charlotte to Miami to Quito. The 2 flights, for the most part, were uneventful. During the flight to Ecuador though, there was a strange young man on board. He was American, in his early 20’s and was just…. weird. As he got on the plane, he sat down in a exit row seat, you know, the one with extra leg room. Soon enough, the actual passenger who was ticketed that seat came along. The strange guy checked his ticket and got up, then moved 4 rows back to a center seat of a three seater. He still at this time had his carry on bag, a large roller than I assumed would barely fit in the overhead bin. He meandered to his correct seat and then began to work on putting that carry on in the bin above. Do you ever get that feeling you know something bad is about to happen? Well I felt it. I KNEW he was going to drop the luggage. And he did. On the head of a lady. Who had a baby. She was really nice about it though, and didn’t seem to have been hurt at all. Baby was fine too. Ok… one more incident with strange guy – about half way through the flight, he got up and pulled his carry on back out, sat it in the middle of the aisle, squatted down and was there for the next 20 minutes. Passengers and flight attendants alike were crawling over and around him. Apparently, he was taking some medication – for 20 minutes. On the floor. In the aisle.
Moving along, I got to Ecuador at 7ish last night, made it easily through customs, got my luggage and then headed out to the lobby area where someone from the school was supposed to be waiting to pick me up. An HOUR LATER, and no one is around. I checked inside and out, then finally settled on a taxi. I speak very little Spanish of course, so the taxi driver ripped me off and overcharged me for the ride to my studio, but the school said they’d pay since they screwed up. Seems that some emails got mixed up and they thought I was coming in tonight, not last night. No matter, I made it to my studio safe and sound. I checked in with Alanna and the kids and went to bed.
This morning, the lady who owns my studio took me on a quick walking tour of the local area. She showed me some little places to eat, etc, and then took me to Supermaxi. Yes, I know… make your funny jokes. Supermaxi is a large supermarket chain pretty much like you’d see in the states. It is not a really absorbent feminine hygiene product, although those are sold there as well. The store has a good mix of American and Ecuadorian items, though the American stuff seems to be marked up quite a bit. I bought some simple groceries, then took a taxi back to my place. Its a 15 minute walk uphill with groceries at 9000 ft. I’m not quite acclimated to the altitude yet, so I’m getting short of breath easily and I have a mild headache most of time. Should go away soon though.
This evening, I took a taxi to a local mall just to get out for a bit. They have a KFC there, so I chowed down on some southern fried chicken. I shopped for a bit, mostly window browsing and then headed back to the studio to call it a night.
Tomorrow I’m meeting some of the new teachers for lunch, and then we’ll start working on Wednesday. Everything is pretty good so far but I do really miss my family. Its going to be a long 2 months without them.
Ok enough for now. Here are some random pics…
The view from my bathroom.
A tree in the middle of the road.
This dude had a 23 on his shirt. So I took a pic.
In case you forget that this is still a third world country, here are some kids playing in the trash.
As I said in my last post, we’re getting down to the nitty gritty. One major event that was greatly anticipated was the birth of my second child, a daughter – Abigail Lane Staton (Abby). I am happy to say my little angel successfully came into the world at 2:19pm last Tuesday weighing exactly 8lbs and is as healthy as… well whatever something healthy is. Since I’m a man, I won’t tell you the story “push by push”, but here’s a link to my wife’s blog with all the cool details…
So now we’re down to just over a week before I fly to Ecuador. A few things left to do – I have to finish up my last week at Medieval Times, my last show on Aug 7th. We have to pack up the house on Aug 5th. I’ll drive to NC on Aug 8th, spend few days with my parents, and then I’m off to South America.
I’m getting excited. This is how it works for me. My wife gets nervous/anxious/excited IMMEDIATELY when news happens and stays that way through the fruition of the event. I stay pretty mellow initially and then a week before, every crazy though begins to kick in – I’m leaving Medieval Times, I’m moving to a foreign country alone, I’ll be without my family for two months, I’m teaching drama to Ecuadorians, I will miss Chick-Fil-A.
I’m ready for everything though, which thankfully makes things much easier on my nerves. I’m still nervous, but I’m ready for my new adventure.
Sorry I haven’t posted in awhile. We’re not technically in Ecuador yet, so our mundane daily NJ lives aren’t that interesting to write about. I am now under a month until I’m off to South America though. Last week we hit up the Ecuadorian Consulate in Newark and (after 3 hours of sitting around), we got our visas. So now I’m pretty much set for the move. The little things like packing, both my suitcases and the house, are coming along slowly but surely. Its also a bagillion degrees here in NJ right now so that doesn’t make ANYTHING easy.
Did I mention we are having a baby soon? Yeah, little Abby should be popping out any day now. That’s our last big step in NJ. The wifey is in the miserable stage of the pregnancy and the hot weather makes it even worse. The baby seems healthy though so hopefully she’ll just fall right out with no pain at all. That’s how it works, right?
Some important dates –
July 29th – Abby arrives by induction if she doesn’t come early. Aug 4th – Last skydive in the States for awhile. Aug 5th – Load ALL of the house into Pods for transport to NC. Aug 7th – My last show at the castle. Aug 8th – Drive to NC to hang with the parents for a few days. Aug 11th – Fly to Ecuador!
Alrighty, I’ll update again when the little girl arrives, and then right before I leave. Adios!
