I think I am going to have to pass on a photo today- not particularly in the mood (but perhaps if I take a photo before the end of the day, I will make a photo post). But I will do a post about how going to the Banco de Guayaquil brings out the "Mr. Hyde" in me. It seems that almost every time I enter that place, I am suddenly transformed into an angry human being. Yesterday Adam and I waited patiently in the long line at the bank to figure out how to transfer money from our PC accounts to pay for part of our trip to the Galapagos (btw, did I mention that we are planning to go at the end of May with our friend Renee?!). Well, as it turns out, the teller lets us know that we have to come before 12noon in order to make a transfer.
Moving into today, Adam and I are at the bank at 11am (yes, we should have gone right away, but Adam had a meeting at the university and I had work in my office). The line is incredibly long- the bank recently implemented a number system which is awesome (before you would have people push you aside and cut in front of you in line- now you just have the person cutting in front of you at the number machine...in fact, an old man totally pushed Adam aside today when he was in the middle of swiping his card in the machine to get his number! Adam was like "Disculpe!" and the guy didn't even bat an eye). Anyway, we finally get to the front of the line and the teller (same guy as the day before) says, "Oh, you have to go to that big window over there. We can't do the transfers here." Yeah, thanks for telling us the day before. It turns out the big window had NO line whatsoever. By the time the lady at the bigger window attends to us, she tells us it is too close to 12noon so we will have to come back tomorrow. I was fuming because we wasted an hour and there is NO signage anywhere telling you where to go for XYZ business. And the lady just looks at us like morons- as if it should have been obvious to us not to stand in the long line.
It is exactly the same thing that happened to me last time when I got pickpocketed and had to get a new card. I stood in the line for 45 minutes and then was told that I needed to go upstairs. There is no reception or anyone to ask questions to, so you either have to ask the customers (who don't seem to know either), or wait in line and find out too late. It is not like in the U.S. where there are big signs (like New Accounts and Loans) and where there is usually someone free who can tell you where to go. Oh, and I saw a lot of people at the bank totally confused by the new number system since suddenly there were no lines and just a bunch of chairs.
I know that it is not their fault that I don't know where to go to get certain stuff done or at which unmarked window or floor to go to, but that is the one thing I absolutely HATE about Ecuador. For someone new in town, you would have no idea where/how/when to get things taken care of. It is like the bus system- you just know because you live here, but for the newbie, it will take a good while to figure out the system. Mostly through trial and error. I mean, how in the world would you know that the bus to Riobamba doesn't REALLy take you to the bus terminal- it drops you off on the side of the road a good 3 miles from the terminal. So if you are transferring elsewhere, you have to catch a taxi there. Or that there are two bus terminals in Quito (north and south) that will cost you an arm and a leg to get between (or a cheap 2 hour metro ride where you have a very good chance of getting pickpocketed). This country really is one of the planner's worst nightmares- and sadly, I am a planner. I like knowing where I am going, what I am doing, and having minimal surprises.
So, I was furious that I wasted an hour this morning and accomplished nothing. Adam and I decided to pay by credit card and not bother with the hassle of going back tomorrow and discovering some other step that we didn't know about. Rant over. =D
P.S. We had maggots in our kitchen today, crawling all over our floor. I think they were from our potluck we had this weekend- someone threw away chicken in our trash can below our kitchen sink (usually we throw meat products in the trash bin outside) and we took the trash out today and it was nasty. And then I ate rice at lunch and could only think about how they looked like little maggots. Seriously, today is just not our day!
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
4/14 Photo- School visits and playground games
We don't have any pictures for today, so you will have to be satisfied with an old one from a few weeks ago. I went out with a few of my co-workers to do some home visits with families dealing with abuse/neglect, but we also visited a school with some really great kids. We did about a 2 hour workshop with the kids on children's rights, as well as some arts & crafts activities. These kids live further outside of Loja (about 30 minutes by car northwest of downtown Loja. so much longer by bus) and they clearly didn't encounter many foreigners. They were baffled by my accent (asking why I said my phrases differently) and when they found out I was from the U.S., they wanted to know what "Pablo" or "Juan" would sound like in English.
Oh, and I have no idea what kind of playground game Jeny and Paulina were doing with the kids (I still haven't been able to figure them out. There are ones about wolves getting ready in the morning and such, but I still don't know them. You would think that after several months of doing school visits, I would know by now!).
Notice those benches in the back precariously piled high? Yeah, they almost toppled onto the group of kids below them. YIKES!
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Why I will probably never be a teacher...
Wow, I am just exhausted. Eri and I have been teaching manualidades (aka arts & crafts) on Tuesday afternoons to the kids that wander about in the Centro Comercial (usually their moms are selling produce, bread, coco juice, or random products like socks out on the street) and normally there are just a handful of kids (max 10) so it is super tranquilo (calm).
Today was a whole other story though- we had a group of 20 of the most rowdiest, noisiest kids EVER. It didn't help that some of the kids were maybe 3 years old, and that some of the kids kept taking other people's papers and discarding their own because they didn't like how their work turned out, and we had no extra paper...just enough for the group. So some kids started bawling because they weren't keeping track of their sheets of papers and someone had stolen it. To add to that, I just about lost my patience with all of their "No puedo"s (Their "I can'ts") without even trying and "Senorita, ¡¿cómo, cómo, cómo?!" (Miss, how how how?!) while tugging my arm. But these kids aren't often taught patience, waiting their turn, or paying attention so they can attempt to do the work so the fact that in the end, all of them walked away with little origami Pikachus was an accomplishment. Oh, and no pictures from this adventure because it was way too chaotic so there was absolutely no time to stop and say cheese!
On the other hand, the kids at the orphanage are used to us by now and are fairly well behaved and easygoing (except when they don't get their way and start forcing tears...wow, talk about getting trained on being parents! Selena, who is about 12, pulled that on me on Monday when she wanted to have a 2nd turn on the computer but it was time for their dinner. She brought those waterworks out so fast). On Monday we got them on the "new" used computers that the orphanage just received and they were so excited. They don't really get a lot of time or have a lot of experience on computers so we just had them playing around on Paint. Next week we are going to try and get some educational programs on the computers, like Mi Primer Encarta, Pipo (a kids educational game here) or something.
Today was a whole other story though- we had a group of 20 of the most rowdiest, noisiest kids EVER. It didn't help that some of the kids were maybe 3 years old, and that some of the kids kept taking other people's papers and discarding their own because they didn't like how their work turned out, and we had no extra paper...just enough for the group. So some kids started bawling because they weren't keeping track of their sheets of papers and someone had stolen it. To add to that, I just about lost my patience with all of their "No puedo"s (Their "I can'ts") without even trying and "Senorita, ¡¿cómo, cómo, cómo?!" (Miss, how how how?!) while tugging my arm. But these kids aren't often taught patience, waiting their turn, or paying attention so they can attempt to do the work so the fact that in the end, all of them walked away with little origami Pikachus was an accomplishment. Oh, and no pictures from this adventure because it was way too chaotic so there was absolutely no time to stop and say cheese!
On the other hand, the kids at the orphanage are used to us by now and are fairly well behaved and easygoing (except when they don't get their way and start forcing tears...wow, talk about getting trained on being parents! Selena, who is about 12, pulled that on me on Monday when she wanted to have a 2nd turn on the computer but it was time for their dinner. She brought those waterworks out so fast). On Monday we got them on the "new" used computers that the orphanage just received and they were so excited. They don't really get a lot of time or have a lot of experience on computers so we just had them playing around on Paint. Next week we are going to try and get some educational programs on the computers, like Mi Primer Encarta, Pipo (a kids educational game here) or something.
Monday, April 12, 2010
4/12 Photo- A Little Bit of Heaven...
Last week Jason mentioned to us that one of his fellow cyclists had opened up a new Mexican restaurant in town (there is one that exists in Loja, but it is...underwhelming and expensive). His friend is from Mexico but married to a Lojana, so Adam and I decided to check it out. When we got there, we ordered a couple tacos each (pork and beef) and waited while it was getting prepared. Adam got to chatting with the guy and noticed the dried red chili peppers hanging in the kitchen. Turns out the guy can't get them here in Ecuador, so he grows them in his garden and dries them out. Which meant that we ate our tacos with some of the best hot sauce in town! Yummmm!!
Also, portions were huge. We ordered 2 tacos each, but he gave us 4 homemade corn tortillas each, and a mountain of filling. So it was like we had 8 tacos and 2 drinks for around $6. I had to take one of the four home (which you see in the photo below). I think Adam and I have a new place to go to when we aren't feeling like cooking!
For you folks in Loja, the restaurant is located on Olmedo, between Catacocha and the small street right after Lourdes. I can't remember the name of the restaurant (doh!) but it starts with a "Ch-" and says Italian Mexican food on the outside (Italian because he lived in Rome for 8 years and worked in a restaurant there). ETA- I think they are only open in the evening Mon-Sat.
Sunday, April 11, 2010
4/11 Photo- A visit from Chamico Alberto
Today we got a nice visit from our dear friend Chamico- aka the inbred crazy dog.
Our landlords have a dachsund named Chamico (middle name- Alberto) that we sometimes swear is inbred because he doesn't always recognize us and often goes beserk when we are coming and going from the apartment (our apartment is connected to their home on the second floor but we have a separate entrance). We always leave our front door open in the daytime to get fresh air and a breeze in, and every now and then he escapes from the house and walks up the stairs and finds his way into our apartment. Today was one of those days. I was reading on our couch/futon thing when I suddenly saw something brown and furry moving close to the couch. I sat up totally startled and Chamico starts barking. We didn't even hear him come in (which is usually how it goes- we will suddenly see something move in the corner or hear a slight click clack on the tile, and then realize it is Chami wandering about and we just hope he didn't pee on anything). So today when he came to visit, he hung out at our apartment for a few minutes before Susana, our landlord, hollered "Chamico! Ven!" (which means "Come!").
Oh, and normally he wears a camisa (shirts that are specially made for him, some look like a cape) but today was an especially hot day so he went without.
Our landlords have a dachsund named Chamico (middle name- Alberto) that we sometimes swear is inbred because he doesn't always recognize us and often goes beserk when we are coming and going from the apartment (our apartment is connected to their home on the second floor but we have a separate entrance). We always leave our front door open in the daytime to get fresh air and a breeze in, and every now and then he escapes from the house and walks up the stairs and finds his way into our apartment. Today was one of those days. I was reading on our couch/futon thing when I suddenly saw something brown and furry moving close to the couch. I sat up totally startled and Chamico starts barking. We didn't even hear him come in (which is usually how it goes- we will suddenly see something move in the corner or hear a slight click clack on the tile, and then realize it is Chami wandering about and we just hope he didn't pee on anything). So today when he came to visit, he hung out at our apartment for a few minutes before Susana, our landlord, hollered "Chamico! Ven!" (which means "Come!").
Oh, and normally he wears a camisa (shirts that are specially made for him, some look like a cape) but today was an especially hot day so he went without.
Adam petting Chamico after he finally recognized we weren't predators.
Chamico checking to see if we have something better to eat than what Susana was preparing downstairs (he usually eats rice with some veggies and leftovers I think- no Pedigree dog food for him!)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)