Quito- Old Town

On Sunday Taylor, Amber and I got to do some 'tourist' stuff and walk around Old Town- the originally part of Quito- and see the cool architecture and old cathedrals. We went to one old cathedral, La Basilica, and got to climb up its many bellfrys (well I went up a few but Taylor and Amber went up all of them) and got to see a birds-eye-view of Quito! The Old Town in located in the south of Quito and is very reminiscent of Europe with its coble stones and flower -potted balconies. It is very beautiful but can also be dangerous, especially at night. Thankfully God protected us as we toured around the hilly streets and even brought us to a cute little festival that had traditional food, music and dancing! We ate some of the yummy food-Ecuadorian versions of funnel cake and hush puppies- for only a $1.25 :) enjoy! ps sorry there are so many... hehe i couldn't decide- but hey at least i cut it down to these from the 180 I took...

I love old weathered doors...

La Basilica

It  has cool gargoyles after the local fauna here in Ecuador.

The mural on the main door.

Some of the stain glassed windows of La Basilica.

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Another Ecuadorian detail: A warrior and a llama

lots and lots of stairs to the top of La Basilica!

this is scarier than it looks...

Tortugas!!!

shout out to the galapagos :)

Coblestone roads

cute old couple dancing to traditional music

yummy fried stuff

President's House

So...we should do this again sometime...

While we are here in Ecuador, Taylor and I are growing and learning in the gift of hospitality. We love to host our neighbors and have had a few women from our Zumba classes over for brunch or dinner. We want to show them love through our hospitality, and also show them a different view of Americans. Through my relationships with Ecuadorians here I hope to possibly break a few Western stereotypes. One stereotype that can be challenged is that Americans don't cook that much and have extra money to go out to eat with friends a lot. This might be true for some lifestyles, but I want to show them that we can cook :) haha or at least are learning how to cook. So far we have made scones and pizza with the women and the food has been successful. The conversation on the other hand has been... well interesting. Like I said we are growing in the gift of hospitality. Some of the women we have over carry on conversations with us easily, while some others just sit and answer our questions. Their answers are very simply and they do not elaborate. The funny thing is that the social cues we are accustomed to in the States do not really translate to Spanish. For example, when we say "This was fun! We should do it again sometime" they do not understand that we are politely saying, 'ok the party is done and you can go home now'. Some ladies understand it, but what happens more often than not is that the ladies who do not carry on conversations are the same ones who do not pick up the social cues. Many times, Taylor and I have found ourselves searching for new conversation topics for these times and I have had to stop myself from laughing out loud at how funny this scene looks. We are just sitting there, on the couch or at the table, with no more food on plates and our tea/coffee mugs are empty, and Taylor or I trying to start a new convo which last for maybe 3 minutes. It is quite funny afterwards but at the time it is really hard to know how to politely say 'leave' after 5 previous attempts. One proven method is to say how tired we are and that we will head to bed early :). So as we are learning about hospitality we are also learning new social cues! Hopefully we can pick up some new ones or less the ladies might adopt a new stereotyp- that we like to go to bed early every night!

Fruitarian

I love fruit. All fruit. I don't think there is one that I don't like. But in the states fresh fruit is so expensive it's going to be a luxury when I get back. That is why while I am here I will definitely take advantage of the fact that we get fresh fruit delivered to our door from the fruit truck!! $12 in the states can get you only about a few bananas, a handle full of apples and maybe some strawberries if they are on sale. This morning from the fruit truck we got- ready for this? :)

~ 4 cloves of garlic= .50 cents
~ 20 tomatoes= $2
~ 10 limes= .50 cents
~ 10 apples= $2
~ 20 bananas= $1
~ 30- 40 oranges= $2
~ 3 papayas= $1
~ 3 mangos= $1
~ 20 strawberries =$1
~ 30 tangerines/clementines= $1

I love Ecuador with its fresh fruit! :) Fruit salads here I come!

all for $12 :)

Jane Austen Meets Ecuador

It was a scene worthy for Ms. Bennett, Ms. Dashwood or even Ms. Woodhouse -the female characters from Jane Austen's Pride & Prejudice, Sense & Sensibility and Emma:

A picturesque house with hymnals, lace tablecloths, china on the walls, teacups decorating the tables and bookshelves and the smell of fresh homemade soup and bread.

An inviting field in the backyard speckled with wild flowers and a lone tree casting its shadow waiting for company.

A picnic menu of mangos, papayas, apples, oranges and tree tomatoes and a side of a perfect blue sky.

...Ok enough of my cheesiness...

But last week the girls had a great day at Sandi's truly cozy house. It began with an old school photo shoot out back to get pictures for her new cooking blog. The theme was a classic, vintage look. It was fun to dress up and go outside for a quick/fake picnic. Then we starting our cooking lesson- Sandi is an AMAZING cook and is kind enough to bestow her gifts to us young girls. The majority of us haven't had to cook on our own since we ate at saga (Wheaton's nationally top ranked cafeteria). But now with the fact of cooking for the rest of our lives in front of us- we are more than excited to learn from Sandi! We made homemade sourdough breadsticks, chicken tortilla soup and homemade citrus marmalade (as just an extra thing to learn, it didn't go with our meal). The food was delicious and was shared as lunch for our women's bible study :)

Hopefully in the future we will have more cooking dates and picnics!

Nail crosses made from the original nails of the Nate Saint House

yummy :)

Part of the ingredients for the citrus marmalade- with all that peel it's really tart! But Amie likes it :)

Otavalo

The day started at 5:45am with no coffee and barely any breakfast. Taylor and I met up with Amber, our friend and the other intern here with Compassion Connection, at 6:15am and waited for our bus into Quito. Two and a half hours, 3 buses and 1 metro line later we arrived at the North Quito Bus Station- Carcelen- and found our 4 bus of the morning to Otavalo. Finally after the bus dropped us off at the side of the main highway at 10:45am we found the market and first things first- we found coffee :)! After apx. 5 hrs of traveling we spent a relaxing and  pleasant afternoon in the market bartering and practicing Spanish.

The Otavalo Market is a major tourist attraction because of the beautifully detailed hand-made trinkets, art, jewelry and the brightly colored fabrics used for scarves, bags and hammocks. I hope these pictures convey the rich culture that can be found at this market in the North Highlands (Andes) of Ecuador!

Scarves for $2.50 each!!

Hammock Fabric

Typical Ecuadorian artwork on mugs.

An abundance of necklaces and colors.

Llama socks!

Old school colored pencils in real wood/ bark.

An example of the bright colors used in the artwork and that one stall can be packed full with one time of product. This one was selling many hand painted scenes from around Ecuador.

Merchants taking a break and playing a common betting game.

Futbol scarves

More bright colors.

even more bright colors and necklaces!

flutes

panama hats

"Mi madre es de las filipinas y mi padre es de hawaii"

Here is a typical conversation (translated) that I have about once a day, or about every time I met someone new from here:


person- o where are you girls from?
taylor- the United States
me- the United States
person- (with an intrigued look on their face) o really? both of you? (pointing to me) I thought you were from China. Where in the states are you from?
me- Wisconsin, it's a state kinda near Chicago, up north close to Canada
person- well where are your parents from?
me- (smiling because I knew this is what they were wondering about from the beginning) o well my mom is from the Philippines and my dad is from Hawaii (hence the title of this post)
person- o you're not from China or Japan? I thought you were
me- (still trying to be polite and smile) no. I am not. I'm from the United States
person- (still with an intrigued look on their face) o ok... well nice to meet you. bye 'Chinita' -translation: little chinese girl...

As kinda obvious with this convo, I am still getting used to the fact that people here just call people out by their physical appearances. In the states no one would ever just call me 'la chinita' because of how I look, or at least call me that and get away with it. If someone did call another person out by a racial/physical difference in the states we would label that person rude or a racist in a heartbeat, but here it is part of the culture to nickname someone just by their physical attributes. They do not mean it in any kind of racial or demeaning way. This significant cultural difference is something that I am still learning to cope with and respond to. I am not gunna lie, it's hard for me to not get mad when something thinks I'm from the movie The Karate Kid just because I am asian and happen to be wearing a belt. But the Lord is gracious and kind. He has been giving me patience to try and respond in love and through a cultural lens to people here that label me right off the bat as "la chinita". I don't think I'll ever fully be ok with it, but I am learning to see and accept it as a term of endearment in this culture. Continue to pray for patience and kindness for me as I grow in this area.