Culture shock - A moment of frustration!

Before you read this post I just want to say that I still love Ecuador and I love being here! I would not change it for anything and if you are considering going you should definitely do it! Just look on the rest of my awesome experiences down here. I just want to explain one of the bad moments of being in Ecuador and volunteering in a foreign country. But please do not let that keep you from doing anything similar! Because this only describes 30 minutes of more than 2 months of awesome experiences.

I want to talk a bit about culture shock. To be honest I have not given much thought about "Culture Shock" until Monday this week.

What happened is that the bus did not stop at my bus stop in the morning when I had to go to work, and it made me so frustrated that it made me say the words "I hate Ecuador, I want to go home to Denmark". (To be fair, the hate part had already disappeared after having the first child through therapy in the morning),

Why it made me so frustrated might need a bit more explanation about culture shock and the bus system in Ecuador.

Normally your culture shock starts out in the "Honeymoon Phase" where you find everything interesting and fascinating.

The next stage is where you find everything frustrating and I think in the start I pretty much skipped this part because I have had a good preparation talking about culture shock in both Denmark and Ecuador. And VASE explained us everything during our orientation camp - including how to take the bus.

The third stage is where you start to adapt to the new culture and get more used to everything. And I think I have been in this stage most of the time and not noticed the small annoyances. But Monday I was definitely thrown straight back into stage 2!

The bus I take in the morning is usually so full that not one more person could fit in and you have to keep near the doors, if you want to be sure to make it out the bus at your stop. In the buses are 2 or 3 stop buttons in total - And they don't always work. And if they do not work, you have to yell "¡Gracias!" and they will let you out of the bus. In the bus you have the driver and a person who you have to pay, when you exit the bus. I have to pay 25 cents to take the bus to work.

When we reached my stop, where the bus usually always stops, I realized it was not starting to pull over (even though the button was actually working!), and therefore I started yelling "¡Gracias!", but nothing happened. And people in the front of the bus even started yelling it too. Then the bus stopped for a red light, and I asked them to open the doors, but once more, nothing happened. One person made me more frustrated by saying that it was not a stop, because the bus did not stop at my stop! At the next stop an annoyed bus driver finally let me out of the bus. And then I had to walk all the way back to my stop before walking the 25 minutes from there to my project.
Normally this experience would only have made me a slight bit annoyed, but because I have not thought about the difference in culture, it hit me hard. Because it was not only the thing about the bus that bothered me. It was all of Ecuador and it systems. And for a good half hour I hated all of Ecuador.

I hated the bus system.
I hated that I do not understand the language.
I hated that there are so many Germans down here and that they always speak German to each other, when we are here to learn Spanish!
I hated how they always use coriander in all of their food.
I hated the Ecuadorian way of never giving a straight answer.
I hated how you always have to watch your stuff closely if you do not want to be robbed.
And I could easily add to the list!

Even when I had my bag sliced open, I could think "Okay, it is my own fault for not watching mystuff closely enough and it is what could be expected". I was only slightly annoyed when that happened.

But it just took me the walk to the project and having the first child through therapy before I was alright again. And I know that I am here to make a difference. I am here to experience these cultural differences, both the good and the bad. I am here to gain a bigger understanding of the world. I am here for the good and the bad moments. I am here to learn. I am here to observe. I am here for so many reasons.
And I love Ecuador. I love my project. And I love being here! I have already almost forgotten this experience and everything is great again.

Ama La Vida! All you need is Ecuador!

Picture Credit:
http://cdn1.theodysseyonline.com/files/2015/08/23/635758951256652806-343703604_178956871-e1424039522241.imgopt1000x70.jpg

Før du læser dette indlæg vil jeg gerne pointere, at jeg stadigvæk elsker Ecuador og jeg elsker at være her. Jeg ville ikke bytte mine oplevelser her for noget som helst og hvis du overvejer at tage afsted synes jeg bare at du skal gøre det. Bare overvej hvor mange andre fantastiske oplevelser jeg har haft hernede. Jeg vil bare gerne forklare en af de lidt dårligere ting ved at være volontør i et fremmed land, men lad ikke dette stoppe dig! For det er stadigvæk en fantastisk oplevelse at være hernede og jeg ville ikke bytte det for noget.

Det jeg gerne vil snakke om er begrebet "kulturchok". Noget jeg ikke havde tænkt specielt meget på indtil i mandags.
Det der skete var, at min bus ikke stoppede ved mit busstoppested på vej til mit projekt i mandags. Og jeg blev så frustreret at jeg faktisk sagde "Jeg hader Ecuador, og jeg vil hjem til Danmark". (Denne følelse var dog forsvundet allerede efter vi havde haft det første barn igennem terapi).

Men hvorfor jeg blev så frustreret kræver måske at jeg forklarer lidt mere om kulturchok og bussystemet i Ecuador.

Kulturchok starter normalt med at du befinder dig i "eventyrfasen" hvor du finder alt fascinerende og interessant.

I den næste del begynder alt at blive frustrerende og for mit vedkommende har jeg indtil nu ikke rigtig befundet mig i denne fase, fordi jeg fra ICYEs og VASEs side har fået god forberedelse på hvordan livet er i Ecuador.

Det tredje stadie er der hvor du vænner dig til kulturen og alting virker mere "normalt". Og for mit vedkommende har jeg, formentligt grundet den grundige forberedelse, for det meste befundet mig i dette stadie, men mandag røg jeg i hvert fald for et kort øjeblik ud af dette stadie og fandt ALT ved Ecuador frustrerende.

Den bus jeg tager om morgenen er normalt proppet med mennesker, og du skal holde dig i nærheden af udgangen, hvis du gerne vil kunne komme ud ved dit stop. Busserne har stopknapper - men som regel kun 2 eller 3 i alt. Og det er ikke altid at de virker!
Hvis de ikke virker skal du råbe "¡Gracias!" for at få bussen til at stoppe. Personalet i en bus består af en. der tager imod penge, når du går ud af bussen og chaufføren. Jeg skal betale 25 cent for at komme fra min værtsfamilie til stoppestedet nærmest mit projekt.
Da vi nåede mit busstoppested, hvor bussen normalt altid stopper, lagde jeg mærke til at bussen ikke begyndte at trække ind for at stoppe (også selvom stopknappen rent faktisk virkede i denne bus", så derfor begyndte jeg at råbe "¡Gracias!", men intet skete. Folk foran i bussen begyndte også at sige det, men det havde ingen effekt.
Lidt senere stoppede bussen for et rødt lys, hvorefter jeg bad dem om at åbne dørene, så jeg kunne komme ud, men igen skete der intet og jeg blev endnu mere frustreret da en ecuadorianer fortalte mig "at dette jo ikke er et stop" - men bussen stoppede ikke ved mit stoppested. Og ved det næste stoppested blev jeg endelig lukket ud af bussen af en lettere irriteret buschauffør. Så jeg blev nødt til at gå hele vejen tilbage til mit busstoppested, før jeg kunne begynde den 25 minutter lange gåtur til mit projekt.
Og normalt ville sådan en simpel episode ikke have gjort mig specielt frustreret og jeg ville have kunnet lade det passere. Men fordi jeg ikke har tænkt specielt meget over det gik alt ved Ecuador mig pludselig på. Og i en god halv time hadede jeg Ecuador.

Jeg hadede bussystemet.
Jeg hadede at jeg ikke forstår sproget.
Jeg hadede hvor mange tyskere der er her, og at mine største sprogudfordringer er med folk der snakker tysk, og ikke spansk! I et spansktalende land.
Jeg hadede hvordan de altid bruger koriander i maden.
Jeg hadede hvordan man aldrig kan få et direkte svar af ecuadorianere.
Jeg hadede hvordan man virkelig skal passe på ens ting, hvis man ikke vil bestjæles.
Og jeg kan nemt føje flere ting til listen.

Jeg var mindre frustreret, da jeg fik skåret en taske op og stjålet penge, end jeg var over ikke at være blevet lukket ud af bussen.

Men efter at have gået turen til mit projekt og haft det første barn igennem terapi havde jeg det okay igen og den store frustration jeg oplevede har bare været som følge af en ophobning af irritationer. Men jeg ved at jeg er her for at gøre en forskel. Jeg er her for at opleve disse kulturelle forskelle, både de gode og de dårlige. Jeg er her for at få en større verdensforståelse. Jeg er her for de gode og de dårlige oplevelser. Jeg er her for at lære. Jeg er her for at observere. Der er så mange grunde til at jeg er her.
Og jeg elsker Ecuador. Jeg elsker mit projekt. Og jeg elsker at være her. Jeg har næsten allerede glemt oplevelsen og alt er godt igen.

Ama La Vida! All you need is Ecuador!

Two months in Ecuador!

Today I have been in Ecuador for two months! It is crazy to think about how fast time goes by. I have had so many great experiences since I arrived here, I have managed to see some of the country, make friends, have learned enough Spanish to having had an hour long conversation, changed my project and my living situation and a lot more! But it also means that I have spent 1/6 of my time in Ecuador. I get to wake up every day in the lovely country of Ecuador. I get to practice Spanish every day with a lovely host family (who makes me a lunch pack every morning and even cleans my room and my clothes, even though I tell them, that I can do it) and I get to work at a project I love!

Life is great, because "All you need is Ecuador"!

I still have a hard time when people tells me that time has passed in Denmark and tell me about fall and today my parents even sent me a picture from a store selling Christmas decorations!

But then again - time passes down here as well. The rain time has started which means that we have had major showers almost every afternoon since Tuesday. And the fact that rain down here makes me really happy shows one way I have changed since arriving. Normally, I get really depressed from rain in Denmark. But it have been so dry and dusty since I arrived here, so rain is great news! 

And they are also selling Christmas decorations down here and have had for a while now. Time passes by down here as well, but I find it really weird that we are in the middle of October.

I dag markerer den dag, hvor jeg har været to måneder i Ecuador. Det er vildt at tænke på hvor hurtigt tiden går og hvor mange fantastiske oplevelser jeg har haft siden jeg ankom her. Jeg har oplevet noget af landet, jeg har fået nye venner, jeg har lært spansk nok til at jeg kunne have en time lang samtale med min værtsmor og jeg har skiftet både projekt og bosituation i løbet af den tid. Men det betyder også at 1/6 af min tid i Ecuador er gået.

Jeg får lov til hver dag at vågne op i det dejlige Ecuador. Jeg får lov til at øve spansk med min dejlige værtsfamilie hver dag (som laver madpakke til mig hver morgen og gør mit værelse rent og rengør mit tøj, selvom jeg insisterer på at jeg selv kan gøre det) og jeg får lov til hver dag at vågne op til et projekt jeg elsker at arbejde på.

Livet er godt, fordi alt du har brug for er Ecuador.

Jeg har det stadigvæk svært med at folk fortæller mig at tiden går i Danmark og fortæller mig omkring efteråret og i dag sendte mine forældre mig et billede fra en butik, der solgte juledekorationer.

Men: Tiden går jo også i Ecuador. Her er regntiden startet hvilket betyder at vi har haft enorme regnbyer hver eftermiddag siden tirsdag. Og det viser også en måde hvorpå Ecuador har ændret mig: Fordi jeg har været rigtig glad for regnen! Og normalt finder jeg regn deprimerende. Men det har været så tørt og støvet siden jeg ankom, så regnvejr er virkelig gode nyheder.

Yesterday I went with a group of volunteers (Anne, Brónagh, Johanna, Lena, Leonie, Nina, Sofie, Sophie - I hope I did not forget someone!) to an "All You Can Eat and Drink" event at Papa John's in Quito. People was walking around with pizzas and you could get one slice that you had to eat, before you could get the next - and you also had to eat the crust. You could eat for 3 hours, and we arrived at around 4 o'clock, so we ate our dinner there. It was not an Ecuadorian experience and I did not crave pizza as much as the rest of the guys, but it was really nice to meet up with the volunteers that I do not hang out with normally and have a relaxed Friday afternoon and still be home in time to get plenty of sleep.

I går var jeg sammen med en gruppe af de andre volontører (Anne, Brónagh, Johanna, Lena, Leonie, Nina, Sofie, Sophie - Jeg håber at jeg ikke har glemt nogen!) til et "Alt Du Kan Spise og Drikke" event hos Papa John's i Quito. Folk gik rundt med pizza og du kunne få et stykke af gangen, som du skulle spise, inden du kunne få det næste stykke - inklusiv skorpen. Du kunne spise i 3 timer, og vi ankom klokken 4, så vi spiste vores aftensmad der. Det var ikke en ecuadoriansk oplevelse og jeg havde egentligt ikke specielt meget lyst til pizza, men det var rart at mødes med de andre frivillige som jeg ikke ser så ofte, og en dejlig afslappet fredag, hvor man stadigvæk kunne nå hjem og få masser af mad.

Papa John's

Papa John's - All you can eat.
Papa John's - Alt hvad du kan spise

I also woke up this morning thinking "I must have slept in today, it must be 10 or 11 o'clock and I am going to be late." When I looked on the clock it turned out it was not even 7 o'clock! But I get up at 6 o'clock and go to bed quite early normally, so that might be the reason.

Jeg er også blevet vandt til at sove meget og stå op klokken 6. I morges vågnede jeg nemlig og tænkte "Jeg har sovet meget længe i dag. Klokken må være 10 eller 11 og jeg kommer for sent." Hvorefter jeg kiggede på uret og så at den ikke engang var 7!

Orchids and Chocolate
Orkideer og Chokolade

Orchids and Chocholate
Orkideer og Chokolade

Today I went with Brónagh, Rebecca and Stefanie to the Botanical Garden in Quito - "Jardín Botanico de Quito".

Turned out that they had a special exhibition from the 14th to the 18th of October so of course there was a lot of people. The theme was "Orchids and Chocolate" which meant that besides from the normal plants and orchids (there are two permanent houses with orchids in the botanical garden) from all over Ecuador there was a lot of tents with special and additional orchids and a lot of them had won awards. It was pretty cool and Ecuador is the country with the biggest diversity of orchids.

I dag har jeg været i Quitos botaniske have sammen med Brónagh, Rebecca og Stefanie.

Det vidste sig at de havde en speciel udstilling fra den 14. oktober til den 18. october, så selvfølgelig var der en hel masse andre besøgende. Udstillingen havde titlen "orkideer og chokolade", hvilket betød at der udover de normalle planter og orkideer (der er normalt to huse med orkideer fra Ecuador) var en hel masse telte med specielle og additionelle orkideer og mange af dem havde vundet forskellige priser. Det var rigtig flot og Ecuador har også den største biodiversitet af orkideer.

Orchids
Orkideer

Price
Præmie

Winning orchids
Vinder orkideer

Orchids
Orkideer

Orchids
Orkideer

Really small orchids as well! One dollar coin for comparison.
Virkelig små orkideer! En doller i baggrunden for sammenligning.

And what made the day even better? Chocolate!

Ecuador claims to have the best chocolate in the world, and taste pretty good. The chocolate part of the exhibition consisted of tents where you could taste chocolate from the different chocolate brands of Ecuador. And we had a really good brownie (with lots of chocolate) as well.

Og den ting der gjorde dagen endnu bedre? Chokolade!

Ecuador påstår at have verdens bedste chokolade og det er også ret godt. Chokolade-delen af udstillingen bestod af telte, hvor du kunne smage chokolade fra forskellige ecuadorianske mærker. Og vi fik også virkeligt gode brownies (med masser af chokolade).

One place for tasting chocolate.
Et af de steder hvor man kunne smage chokolade.

Me, Stefanie, Brónagh and Rebecca in one of the orchid tents.
Mig, Stefanie, Brónagh og Rebecca i et af orkide-teltene.

At some point we walked into a deserted part of the botanical garden. We were afraid we had ended up a place we were not allowed to be, but there was a playground and we reached the conclusion that it was an old part of the botanical garden.

As the responsible adult I am, who are going to stay ten more months in Ecuador far away from home I decided to try the playground together with Stefanie. And it was really fun.

På et tidspunkt gik vi ind i en del af den botaniske have. Vi var bange for, at vi var gået ind et forbudt sted, men der var en legeplads og vi nåede frem til, at det bare var en gammel del af den botaniske have.

Og som det meget ansvarlige menneske jeg er, der skal tilbringe 10 måneder mere i Ecuador langt hjemmefra, besluttede jeg mig for at afprøve legepladsen sammen med Stefanie. Og vi havde det sjovt!

Playground!
Legeplads!

In the end of the day we had crepes (sweet or salt) and tea at a cafe to relax a bit before heading home.

For at slutte dagen af spiste vi henholdsvis madpandekager og dessertpandekager og drak te for at slappe af, før vi tog hjem igen efter en dejlig dag.

Vamos a la Playa - Atacames.

This Friday was free because it was the Independence Day of Guayaquil. As we had another day off I went with some of the other volunteers to Atacames, which is a beach.

When I told my host family where I was heading they told me that the beach was bad and very dangorous and even my Lonely Planet guidebook said that it was hard to see why people even bothered going to Atacames. However, as we had already booked the hostel we decided to go anyway.

We decided to go Thursday evening at 6 o'clock, as we knew the bus ride would be roughly 6.5 hours. Here we encountered the first challenge. When the persons living near the bus terminal tried buying the tickets a couple of days in advance they were sold out.
So instead, we had to leave at 23.30 and drive all night. So I met up with Brónagh, Constanza, Felix, Rebecca and Stefanie, we cooked together and went to the bus terminal together.
As I sleep very badly in buses I did not get a lot of sleep that night and I ended up observing the other persons in the bus. Since Quito is at an elevation of 2,850 meters and Atacames of course is at sea level, we had quite a steep climb down and one of the others actually got problems with her ear because of this. Lesson learned: Do not sleep on a bus going down almost 3 kilometers without releasing pressure a single time after living almost two months in an altitude of 2,850 meters!
Luckily, I did not have any problems, but maybe that is just because I could not sleep.

We arrived in Atacames at 5 o'clock in the morning, so the bus ride there was actually quick.
When we arrived in Atacames we went straight to the ticket office, that was actually open, to buy tickets for the return bus Sunday (you can only buy the tickets in the place you want to go from). New problem! They only had three tickets for the early bus, and the rest had take a bus 3 hours later.
If we had known the system, we might have been able to catch an earlier bus, because we found out Sunday that they ran extra buses the entire day. We know that for the next time. They probably ran extra buses because of the holiday where all Ecuadorians normally travels towards the beach.

Afterwards we went to our hostel and took a mototaxi that are commonly used there, more than normal taxis. They fit 3 persons normally, but if the police is not around they can fit 6!

Da vi ikke skulle arbejde i fredags på grund af en national helligdag, valgte jeg at tage til stranden i Atacames sammen med nogle af de andre volontører.

Da jeg fortalte min værtsfamilie hvor jeg ville rejse hen. fortalte de mig at det var en dårlig strand og et meget farligt sted. Selv min Lonely Planet guide fortalte, at de ikke forstår hvorfor de lokale altid tager dertil i weekenderne. Men da vi allerede havde booket vores hostel, valgte vi at tage afsted alligevel.

Vi besluttede os for at tage afsted torsdag aften klokken 6, da vi vidste at turen ville komme til at tage omkring 6,5 time. Men da vi forsøgte at købe billetter var bussen udsolgt og vi blev nødt til at tage bussen 23.30 i stedet. Jeg mødtes mod Brónagh, Constanza, Felix, Rebecca og Stefanie inden, vi lavede mad og tog sammen til busterminalen om aftenen.
Da jeg sover rigtig dårligt i busser fik jeg ikke meget søvn den nat. Siden Quito er i 2.850 meters højde og vi tog til havet, var der en stor ændring i højde. Hvilket også medførte at en af de andre fik øreproblemer, der også varede ved efter turen. Men det lærte os noget: Sov ikke på en hel bustur med en højdeændring på næsten 3 km efter at have boet næsten to måneder i 2.850 meters højde.
Jeg oplevede heldigvis ikke nogle problemer, hvilket formentligt skyldes, at jeg ikke kunne sove.

Vi ankom til Atacames klokken 5 om morgenen, og skyndte os hen til billetkontoret for at købe billetter til hjemturen (returbilletterne kan kun købes på destinationen). De havde kun tre billetter til den tidlige bus, så vi måtte dele os op og tre af os måtte tage en bus 3 timer senere. Men måske havde det været muligt for os at komme med en tidligere bus, for vi fandt senere ud af at de havde indsat ekstra busser, men det ved vi til næste gang. Der var formentligt ekstra busser fordi fredag var en helligdag.

Efterfølgende tog vi hen til vores hostel i en mototaxi. Normalt kan man være 3 personer i én, men hvis politiet ikke er i nærheden kan man nemt være 6 personer.

Mototaxi

We actually found out that we should have gotten of the bus a stop earlier, at the city of Tonsupa very near to Atacames, but then we would not have had the possibility to buy the return tickets that early and would probably have been stuck in Atacames until Monday. It was to our luck that no one read the hostel information carefully.
We slept two hours in the hostel before heading out to the beach.

Friday we spent at the beach in Atacames, some people in the water, but most of the day I spent at the beach talking and reading. I think we were lucky that it was a bit cloudy, because it is warm at the beach! It really makes you appreciate the warm, but not too warm climate of Quito and the cold mornings and nights. What also made it worse was the humidity!

Vi fandt faktisk ud af, at vi skulle være stået af bussen et stop tidligere i Tonsupa, der ligger lige ved siden af Atacames. Men hvis vi var stået af det, så havde vi ikke haft muligheden for at købe returbilletter og var formentligt strandet i Atacames til mandag. Vi var heldige at ingen læste informationen omkring hostellet.
Da vi ankom sov vi to timer, før vi var klar til strandtur.

Fredag tilbragte vi vil stranden i Atacames, og selvom mange af de andre var meget i vandet tilbragte jeg dagen med at snakke og læse. Vi var formentligt ret heldige at det var overskuet, fordi det var stadigvæk helt utroligt varmt. Og luftfugtigheden gjorde det endnu værre. Da det også var virkelig varmt om natten fik det en til at savne Quitos perfekte klima: Tilpas varmt om dagen og koldt om natten.

Atacames

Saturday morning I spent with Felix and Stefanie at the beach in Tonsupa and I spent most of the time playing around in the high waves. In the afternoon, the others joined us, and I again spend most of the time in the water. 1½ hour playing in the waves without a break and without getting cold. There was a lot of people, but I really enjoyed the beach, but maybe the other beaches are way nicer and that is why people say "Do not bother with going to Atacames".

Lørdag formiddag tilbragte jeg sammen med Felix og Stefanie i Tonsupa og denne dag tilbragte jeg størstedelen af tiden i vandet. Om eftermiddagen tog vi til stranden igen hele gruppen. Hele dagen var der store bølger og om eftermiddagen tilbragte jeg 1½ time i vandet i streg, hvor jeg legede rundt i bølgerne. Alt i alt en rigtig succesfuld dag og den dejlig strand med rigtig mange mennekser, men måske er det bare fordi vi ikke har oplevet de andre strande i Ecuador?

Atacames

Sunday we had to go home and I took the late bus with Brónagh and Rebecca. As we had to wait until 13.30 before the bus left, so we went to Atacames, enjoyed the last views of the beach and had an early lunch. When we headed back the bus ride ended up taking a long time! As everybody was heading back to Quito there was a lot of cars and buses on the road and we was back in Quito at 9 o'clock, and had to share a taxi back to where we live.

As I spent the weekend at the beach, I ate lots of fish and seafood that you do not normally eat in Quito, because it is expensive. I tasted had Ceviche, a dish where the seafood of your choice is cooked in the acid from limes and tomatoes. The taste is nice, but with all the acid you feel like you need to go to the dentist afterwards. Ceviche is normally served with popcorn and banana crisps on the side.

Søndag skulle vi hjem, og jeg tog den sene bus sammen med Brónagh og Rebecca. Fordi vi skulle vente indtil 13.30 før vi kunne komme med bussen tog vi til Atacames, nød stranden en smule og spiste tidlig frokost.
Busturen tilbage endte med at være noget længere end busturen dertil, fordi alle andre naturligvis også skulle tilbage til Quito. Derfor var vi først tilbage ved busstationen klokken 9 og blev nødt til at tage en taxi hjem.

Fordi vi var ved havet, bød vores måltider også på fisk og skaldyr, som du normalt ikke spiser i Quito, da det er meget dyrt. Jeg smagte blandt andet Ceviche, der er skalddyr eller fisk kogt i syren fra tomater og lime. Det smager meget godt, men i længden bliver det meget syre og du slutter måltidet af med tanken om, at du nok har fået syreskader på tænderne. Ceviche serveres normalt med bananchips og popcorn ved siden af.

Ceviche
Photo credit: http://ecuatorianoenvivo.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/ceviche-de-camaron.jpg

I also tasted Encocado, which is seafood cooked in a coconut sauce, served with rice and cooked green bananas. It has a very rich taste and I would definitely recommend you to try that if you ever visit the coast of Ecuador.

Jeg smagte også Encocado, der er fisk eller rejer i kokonødssovs, serveret med ris og stegte grønne bananer. Det smagte virkelig godt og er helt klart en af de ecuadorianske retter jeg ville anbefale til andre.

Encocado
Photo credit: https://fromjuliewithlove.files.wordpress.com/2014/04/tsachila-the-leap-284.jpg

One month in Ecuador!

I wrote this post last Thursday, when I had been in Ecuador for one month, but when I had almost finished writing it, I lost connection and it only got back today. So I will post it now, but just keep in mind that I wrote it on the 17th of September.

Today I have been one month in Ecuador!
It is crazy to think about how long I have been here already and how much I have already experienced. And that changes are on their way - it's gonna be exciting!

I feel really weird about having been here for one month! Because as I said I have been here for quite a long time. I have been away from home for longer than I have ever been before. But I do not feel that I have been away for that long time. It is so weird. I think for now it just feels like a small holiday, but I know that it is not true. I still have 11 months left here, and I really look forward to experiencing more! There is still a lot of experiences that awaits me.

I still do not regret coming here! Sometimes I think "Maybe I would have had a better experience if I had gone to .... Or if I had just spend time travelling to .... Or maybe I should just have started studying...". But I also know that I would not have had any of the experiences I have had so far if I had done anything different! And I would not change any of my new friendships or experiences for anything. I know that this is where I am supposed to be right now, so I have just decided to not regret a single thing and just enjoy my life down here. Maybe I would have another experience somewhere else? But I certainly would not have my experience. And I love my experience!

Furthermore it is pretty weird to hear about life in Denmark. How it is turning into fall and the weather is gray. Seeing a new bunch of students write on my high school's Facebook page. Hearing about people's university studies - life goes on in Denmark as well and I am definitely not the only one up for new experiences.

Tuesday I had a pretty important meeting with VASE and when everything is settled I have big changes in sight and probably some explanation to do! I cannot really update you yet, but so far I am happy!

Today and yesterday I have been of work because I have been sick. Which have also shown me a bit about the Ecuadorian way of doing things! I had no clue on who to contact from the kindergarten as I have been given absolutely no contact information.
The apartment we live in are on top of an office belonging to the administration of the organisation where a couple of persons are working each day, so when my roomie left for work she told them, that I was sick and asked them to call the kindergarten. As it turns out they did not inform the kindergarten before the end of the day and the kindergarten teachers had been really frustrated with the fact that I were not there.
So that is just the Ecuadorian way of doing things! It can be a bit frustrating sometimes, but I just have to get used to it.

As I have taken no new pictures during the last 1½ week or so, I will finally give you some pictures of the apartment I am living in at the moment.
And some funny moments we have had:

Like the bathroom door locking from the inside and us being unable to open it so someone from the project had to come and spend 15 minutes trying to open it so we could take a shower. It has actually happened a number of times, so we have made the agreement: Never close a door unless you are inside a room.

Or that we are supposed to have hot water. Supposed to. During our almost 4 week stay here I have had one shower that was fairly warm. And I have had numerous showers with ice cold water!

We are also washing our clothes by hand, which is pretty ambitious when we have no hot water.

We have also finally gained access to our roof terrace! The door had been locked and the key we where told was the right key was definitely the wrong key. But we have had a temporary roomie who have been living her on and off for two weeks and volunteered on the project earlier. And she knew where the right key was!

Shower in one room and toilet in another.
Toilet i det ene rum og bad i det andet. 

Kitchen and living room in one. I miss something soft to sit in!
Køkken og opholdsrum i et. Der mangler dog en blød sofa.

Night view
Udsigten om aftenen.

Jeg skrev originalt dette indlæg den 17 september, da jeg havde været her en måned. Men da jeg var færdig med at skrive indlægget, mistede jeg internetforbindelsen, så derfor får I indlægget nu.

Wuhuu, i dag har jeg været i Ecuador i en måned!

Det er virkelig vildt at tænke på hvor lang tid jeg har været her og hvor mange ting jeg allerede har oplevet. Og der er ændringer på vej - det bliver spændende!

Det føles meget underligt at jeg har været her en måned. Fordi som tidligere nævnt har jeg jo været her ret lang tid og været væk hjemmefra længere tid end nogensinde før. Men stadigvæk føles det ikke som om at det er en måned siden jeg rejste hjemmefra.

Lige nu føles det nok bare mest af alt som en kort ferie eller noget i den stil. Men jeg har jo stadigvæk 11 måneder tilbage og jeg glæder mig virkelig til at opleve masser af flere ting. Der venter mig jo stadigvæk mange nye oplevelser.

Og jeg fortryder stadigvæk ikke mit valg om at tage herned. Nogle gange tager jeg mig selv i at tænke "Måske ville jeg have haft en bedre oplevelse hvis jeg bare var taget til .... Eller hvis jeg bare havde besluttet mig for at rejse til ... Eller måske skulle jeg bare være begyndt at studere...".

Men jeg ved også at jeg ikke ville have haft nogle af mine hidtige oplevelser hvis jeg havde været et hvilket som helst andet sted i verden og gjort en hvilken som helst anden ting. Og jeg ville ikke bytte mine oplevelser eller nye venskaber for noget. Jeg ved at det er meningen at jeg skal være her nu, så jeg har bare besluttet mig for ikke at fortryde noget og i stedet nyde mit ophold hernede. Måske ville jeg have andre oplevelser et andet sted? Men jeg ville jo ikke have min oplevelse!

Det er også ret underligt at høre nyt fra Danmark. Hvordan det bliver efterår, se nye elever skrive i min gamle skoles Facebook-gruppe og høre om folks nye liv på universitetet. Jeg er bestemt ikke den eneste der får nye oplevelser,

I tirsdags havde jeg et ret vigtigt møde med VASE og når alting er planlagt, så har jeg store ændringer i sigte og formentligt nogle forklaringer at komme med. Jeg kan ikke fortælle jer hvad endnu, men lige nu er jeg glad!

I går og i dag har jeg ikke været på mit projekt, da jeg har været syg (igen). Hvilket også har givet mig en lektion i hvordan man gør tingene i Ecuador.

Jeg har ingen kontakt information på folk fra børnehaven, og vores lejlighed ligger oven på et kontor, hvor der er administrative medarbejdere hver dag. Så da min roomie tog afsted til hendes børnehave fortalte hun dem at jeg var syg og bad dem om at kontakte børnehaven jeg arbejder i. Hvilket de selvfølgelig ikke gjorde før slutningen af dagen og alle pædagogerne havde været virkelig frustrerede over at jeg ikke var der. (Det skal nævnes at de er 3 pædagoger til 70 børn).

Men det er jo bare den ecuadorianske måde at gøre tingene på. Det kan være frustrerende, men jeg må jo bare vende mig til det.

Da jeg ikke rigtig har taget nogen billeder den sidste 1½ uge, kan I endelig få lidt billeder fra lejligheden, der er at finde imellem den engelske og danske del.

Og nogle lidt sjove øjeblikke...

Som for eksempel at døren indtil vores badeværelse gik i baglås, ikke kunne åbnes med en nøgle og nogen fra projektet bruge 15 minutter på at åbne døren. Det er sket flere gange, hvilket har medført aftalen: Du lukker ikke en dør, medmindre du er inde i rummet.

Det er også meningen at vi skal have varmt vand. Men det har vi bare ikke. I løbet af vores tid her har jeg været så heldig at få et nogenlunde varmt bad. Og rigtig mange iskolde bade!

Og vi vasker vores tøj i hånden, hvilket er lidt ambitiøst, når vi jo ikke har noget varmt vand.

Vi har også endelig fået adgang til vores tag-terrasse. Den nøgle vi havde fået var ikke den rigtige, men vi har haft en midlertidig roomie, der har været frivillig på projektet tidligere og som kunne vise os hvor den rigtige nøgle var.

My new favorite place, hiking, being sick and starting my project.

So when I left of the last time, I left you at La Mitad del Mundo and I told you that a lot had happened during the last weekend.

Saturday Rebecca's and Constanza's host mom had arranged a small trip that I went on with Stefanie, Sofie and Brónagh. She had rented a small school bus, that could seat around 12 people.
We had to meet up at Terminal Carcelen and on our way me and my roomie thought we took the right bus, because it said Carcelen. Which of course made us end up in the middle of nowhere... Later it turned out that the bus said Carcelen Bajo - which is a part of a city. But we got a bus to the terminal and was ready to head out on the trip.
We had to drive somewhere between 2 and 3 hours and on our way, we passed the equatorial line - again. And this time the drivers ensured us that it was the real equator. But who knows? Probably not... I have lost my faith in that there will be a monument at a real site.

Det sidste indlæg jeg skrev sluttede ved La Mitad del Mundo og jeg fortalte jer, at der var en sket en masse igennem min weekend.

Lørdag have Rebeccas og Constanzas værtsmor arrangeret en lille tur, som jeg tog på sammen med Stefanie, Sofie og Brónagh. Hun havde lejet en lille skolebus, der havde plads til omkring 12 mennesker.
Vi skulle mødes ved Terminal Carcelen og vi var overbeviste om, at vi var på vej i den rigtige retning - indtil vi endte ved verdens ende. Vi havde taget en bus, hvor skiltet sagde Carcelen og vi opdagede først efterfølgende at skiltet sagde Carcelen Bajo, der er en del af en by. Ups! Men vi fandt en anden bus og vi kom kun en smule for sent.
Vi skulle køre mellem 2 og 3 timer og på vejen passerede vi et monument der viste den ækvatoriale linje - igen. Og chaufførerne forsikrede os om, at dette var det rigtige sted. Men jeg har altså opgivet håbet om at jeg vil se et monument på det rigtige sted.

Equator? From the left: Stefanie, me, Sofie, Constanza, Brónagh and Rebecca.
Ækvator? Fra venstre: Stefanie, mig, Sofie, Constanza, Brónagh og Rebecca

On the trip to Otavalo we also had a stop at a lake and it was probably the most exciting 15 minutes because we saw a lake, took pictures there and we saw lamas and took pictures with them.

På turen til Otavalo stoppede vi også ved en sø og det var nogle meget spændende 15 minutter, for vi så både en sø og lamaer og fik massere af billeder.

Me and my new friend.
Mig og min nye ven

On the trip we went to Otavalo, where we visited a market - the city is mostly famous for the big market. I found a nice alpaca-sweatshirt and it is so soft!
We had a traditional meal for lunch in the city( which might have made us all sick), where after we started the rest of the tour. We headed past a waterfall where we took pictures and then towards a really beautiful lake, which was (for me) the best part of the trip! I loved it there. It is my new favorite place in the world. I could have spent hours there looking on the lake and the hills in the lake and the mountains behind, but we had to move on. We were given the possibility to either go sailing on the lake or go to another city, where they sold leather goods.
I had clearly been more up for the boat trip, even though we would have to wait for almost an hour, but almost all the other girls wanted to go to the city with the leather goods, so we went there and some of the others really loved the place and really wants to go back there.
We spent some time in the city and drove back afterwards and got to see the night view on our way back and was back at the apartment pretty late.

På turen tog vi til Otavalo, der mest af alt er berømt for et stort marked, som også var hvad vi besøgte i byen. Jeg købte en alpaka-sweatshirt, og den er simpelthen så dejlig blød!
Vi spiste også en traditionel frokost i byen (der formentligt er skyld i at vi alle blev syge) før vi begav os videre på turen. På turen passerede vi et vandfald og derefter en virkelig smuk sø med bjerge i baggrunden - jeg kunne være blevet der i timer og bare have kigget ud over søen. Vi fik muligheden for enten at tage en sejltur på søen eller tage til en by, hvor de solgte forskellige læder-ting.
Jeg ville helst have været på bådturen men de fleste af de andre ville hellere til byen og de var rigtig vilde med byen og alle læder-tingene.
Vi var i byen i en times tid, hvorefter vi kørte tilbage mod Quito. Det nåede at blive mørkt inden vi kom tilbage til lejligheden.

The lunch that might have made us all sick. Beef, corn (both soft and crispy), potato-puffs, salad and cheese empanadas.
Den frokost der formentligt har gjort os alle syge. Oksekød, majs (både bløde og sprøde), kartoffel-puffere, salat og empanadas med ost.

Waterfall.
Vandfald.

My new favorite place in the world!
Mit nye yndlingssted i verden.

The (second) lake we visited.
Den anden sø vi besøgte.

Of course we also had plans for Sunday, where I went with my roomie to Pichincha wish is a volcano that overlooks Quito. Normally people just take the telefariqo up the first way and take a look at the view, but we also wanted to hike! So we hiked to one of the peaks in 4696 meters height, which is normally a 5 hour hike, but we spent a little more as we decided to take lots of breaks and take it easy to the top to be sure to make it instead of ending up having to give up halfway through. It was a very beautiful hike, but as it was quite cloudy that day we actually hiked into the skies. And we made it to the top, talking with a couple of other guys and every time you met someone they said hi.
On the top we had no view as we were in the cloud, but just before we left they started clearing and we had a few moments where we could see the view.
Instead of showing the pictures from the hike here on the blog I made a small video from the hike, including all the beautiful views we had on the trip - I did not want to make the video longer than 3 minutes, but I just had so many pictures.

Og selvfølgelig havde jeg også planer for søndag, hvor jeg besteg Pichincha, en vulkan, sammen med min roomie. Normalt tager man bare en kabelbane op det første stykke a vejen, men vi ville helt til toppen. Så vi vandrede op til 4696 meter (en stigning på 600 meter). Normalt tager det cirka 5 timer at nå toppen, men vi besluttede os for at tage det stille og roligt, fordi vi ville være sikre på at nå toppen.
Det var forholdsvis skyet så vi vandrede faktisk ind i skyerne. Vi nåede toppen og mødte en masse mennesker på vejen - Og selvfølgelig hilser man da på hinanden.
På toppen havde vi ikke rigtig nogen udsigt, da toppen var indhyllet i en sky. Heldigvis nåede skyerne lige at forsvinde inden vi begyndte tilbageturen. Så vi nåede lige at se udsigten - heldigvis.
I stedet for at smide en masse billeder op besluttede jeg mig for at lave en video (imens jeg var syg), der kan vise den smukke udsigt fra turen. Jeg ville ikke lave en video der var længere en 3 minutter, men jeg havde simpelthen så mange flotte billeder fra turen.

After the hike, for me starting Monday morning, we got ill. And it turns out that almost the entire group I went to Otavalo with have been sick, so I think it might have been some food we ate on the trip. Tuesday we where supposed to start our project but only had a short meeting, where after we got the rest of the day of to hopefully feel better and I have been feeling a bit bad until now and I am not sure that I am feeling a 100 % well yet.

Wednesday I started my project. Me and Stefanie are working in two different kindergartens belonging to Fundación Sembrer Esperanza. She can walk and I have to take the bus. The work hours are from 8-16 and I have lunch and some fruit at the project. As I have not brought my camera to the project I have no pictures from there.
I have been put in the group of 2-3 year olds, but my best experience so far have been with some of the older kids.
They have a kind of toy that you can put together and build things of. I put together a crown, found my dictionary and found out how to say "princess crown" and told the kids that it was a princess crown and put it on the head of one of the girls. All the kids loved it and they are also really fascinated by my height and my blond hair.

Otherwise I have been doing the following things.

1. Changing diapers
2. Entertaining and looking after the kids
3. Feeding the kids (they eat breakfast and lunch at the project)
4. Preparing some name-tags for the children.
5. Changing their clothes
6. Cleaning their faces
7. Helping with cleaning the kindergarten.
8. Comforting the children
9. Watching the children and make sure that they do not make trouble during nap-time.

In the start a lot of the children go home early, because they have to get used to being at the kindergarten, so after 11 a lot of the children went home.
Those who know me have a pretty good idea of how much I like the work ;)

This weekend I have not done anything exciting at all. I have just relaxed and tried to get well again. Next week I will go back to having plans again.


Efter vandreturen blev vi syge. For mig startede det mandag morgen, og eftersom det viste sig at alle fra vores Otavalo-tur har været syge, så tror jeg at det har været frokosten.
Tirsdag var det meningen at vi skulle være startet på projektet, men efter et kort møde fik vi fri resten af dagen til at få det bedre. Jeg er vist også stadigvæk en smule syg.

Onsdag startede jeg så mit projekt. Stefanie og jeg arbejder i hver vores børnehave, der hører under Fundación Sembrer Esperanza. Hun kan gå og jeg skal tage bussen. Jeg skal arbejde fra 8-16, men bliver givet frokost og frugt i arbejdstiden.
Jeg er blevet sat til at arbejde med de 2-3 årige, men min bedste oplevelse indtil videre har været med nogle af de ældste børn.
De har noget legetøj som kan "bygges" sammen. Så jeg lavede en krone, fandt ud af hvordan man siger "prinsessekrone" og satte den på hovedet af en af pigerne. Og de elskede det!
Derudover er de alle sammen meget fascinerede af mit lyse hår og min højde.

Ellers har jeg lavet de følgende ting:

1. Skiftet bleer
2. Underholdt og holdt øje med børnene
3. Madet børnene (de får morgenmad og frokost på projektet)
4. Forberedt navneskilte til børnene
5. Skiftet deres tøj
6. Rengjort deres ansigter
7. Hjulpet med at rengøre børnehaven
8. Trøstet børnene
9. Holdt øje med børnene og sørget for at de ikke har lavet noget problemer under deres lur.

Her i starten tager størstedelen af børnene tidligt hjem, fordi de skal vende sig til at være der. Så efter 11 er der stort set ikke nogen børn tilbage. Dem der kender mig har nok en meget god idé om hvor meget jeg bryder mig om projektet ;)

Den her weekend har jeg bare brugt på at slappe af og jeg har absolut ikke lavet noget spændende. Jeg ville gerne være rask. Men jeg har allerede planer for næste uge, så det er jo skønt!

Where to start! And Mitad del Mundo.

A "small" update here from Ecuador. I do not really know what to tell you, where to start and how much to tell you!
It feels like so much time have passed since my last post(I actually started writing this post friday, but so much happened during the weekend and I got sick!). Still it feels like no time has passed. That is the problem when you do so many things that you feel like a lot of time have passed but you have not had time to reflect upon them or just to do nothing, so you feel like no time has passed a lot.

Maybe I will just start where I took of the last time. I had my birthday and we went to El Centro...
Saturday we had a football game where we had the possibility to meet our mentors (Ecuadorians who are going to help us and be our friends during our year here.) Instead of playing, I talked to one of my mentors. Our conversation involved some threats about a creepy clown that were going to kill me.. ;P (And yeah, it has been a "joke" ever since I actually saw a person dressed as a creepy clown in La Ronda [a part of Quito] the same evening!)

Yeah, so Saturday evening I went to La Ronda with Stefanie, my roomie and Brónagh (from Ireland) where we met up with Rebecca (England), Felix (Germany) and Constanza (Mexico). They have lived together during these 2 weeks. They were with their host mom when we met up with them, and we sat down at this cozy bohemian place, where after we went to a salsa place to dance the salsa! However, for the next time I think we need to find a place where people are a little bit younger. And not between 30 and 40 years old.

En "lille" opdatering her fra Ecuador. Jeg er meget i tvivl om hvad jeg skal fortælle jer, hvor jeg skal begynde og hvor meget jeg skal fortælle!
Det føles som om der er gået så lang tid siden mit sidste indlæg (jeg begyndte at skrive i fredags, men så skulle jeg en masse i weekenden og jeg blev syg). Men alligevel føles det som om der nærmest ikke er gået noget tid siden sidst. Jeg har lavet så mange ting at det føltes som om der er gået lang tid og alligevel som om ingen tid er gået fordi jeg ikke har haft tid til at tænke alle de ting der er sket igennem.

Jeg tror bare jeg starter hvor jeg sluttede sidste gang. Jeg havde fødselsdag og vi var i El Centro. Lørdag var der arrangeret en fodboldkamp, hvor vi kunne møde vores mentorer, der skal hjælpe os og være vores venner hernede. I stedet for at spille snakkede jeg med min mentor, og vores samtale handlede blandt andet om en ond klovn der ville komme og dræbe mig.. ;P (Det har været en joke siden jeg så en person klædt ud som en ond klovn samme aften i La Ronda [en del af Quito].)

Lørdag aften var jeg som sagt i La Ronda sammen med Rebecca (England). Felix (Tyskland), Constanza (Mexico)(de tre har boet sammen de sidste 2 uger), Brónagh (Irland) og Stefanie (min roomie). De andre tre var sammen med deres værtsmor da vi mødte dem på en bohemian café, hvorefter vi tog hen til et Salsa sted, for at danse. Næste gang tror jeg dog vi skal finde et sted hvor folk er yngre og ikke et sted hvor de er 30-40 år gamle.

This week we have had more language-classes, which meant that we had to get up at 6 am from Monday to Thursday. I have started reading in the busses on our usual routes, which is making the bus rides a lot shorter!

I have had a hard time with the language-classes, as I am not usually good at learning languages and much better in skill based learning, for an example math. Languages depends too much on your memory (you have to remember how to conjugate the verbs, what the word means, how to put together a sentence and stuff like that). It also confuses me that in Ecuador you don't use second person plural and you usually don't mention the subject, but you have to figure it out based on the conjugating of the verb. I have been in the basic class and I actually feel like I have improved a lot during the two weeks of classes, and hopefully it will keep improving! I feel like the rest of the class has improved a lot more than me, because they have had host families that could help them practice.

The times where I can feel that I am getting better at Spanish is when I succeed in buying something in a shop where they do not speak Spanish and where there is no fixed prices.
Stefanie and I have managed to buy meat at a butcher (and we even got a bill, which we had to ask for) and we have been to the fruit store, where we, you guessed it, bought fruit (reminds me of another blog entrance I have to make - all the different and delicious fruit of Ecuador). The lady in there was so sweet and wanted us to taste an Ecuadorian fruit, so she broke on in half and gave it to us, so we could taste it. Down here you don't buy fruit in an amount of numbers. Instead you buy fruit in an amount of dollars. So you can buy bananas for 1 dollar or 2 dollars.

Vi har haft mere sprogundervisning i denne uge, hvilket også har betydet, at vi har været nødsaget til at stå op klokken 6 fra mandag til torsdag. Jeg er begyndt at læse i busserne på de ruter vi normalt tager, hvilket har hjulpet en del på hvor lang transporttiden føles.

Jeg har haft det svært med sprog-undervisningen, og jeg er normalt ikke specielt god til at lære sprog, da det oftest handler om at huske hvordan man bøjer verberne, sætter sætningerne sammen og ordenes betydning. Det er også en smule forvirrende at de ikke bruger 2. person flertal i Ecuador og at man normalt ikke bruger grundled, men man skal i stedet gætte sig frem til grundledet ud fra hvordan verbet bøjes. Jeg har været på begynder-niveauet og føler rent faktisk at jeg er blevet bedre til spansk og jeg håber at jeg bliver bedre endnu. Jeg føler dog at resten af mit hold er blevet langt bedre end mig, fordi de har haft værtsfamilier at øve deres spanske med.

De tidspunkter hvor jeg kan mærke at jeg er blevet bedre til spansk er når jeg køber noget et sted uden fastsatte priser og hvor de ikke snakker spansk. Så vi har både købt kød hos slagteren (hvor vi endda fik en regning) og frugt hos grønthandleren. Sælgeren ville have os til at smage en ecuadoriansk frugt, så hun brækkede en i halv og gav os en halvdel hver (hvilket minder mig om at jeg på et tidspunkt skal lave et blogindlæg omkring nogle af de frugter de har hernede). Det er også meget interessant at du køber frugt i dollars og ikke i antal. Så du køber ikke 12 bananer, du køber bananer for 1 dollar.

A quite interesting cultural thing also happened at the school during this week, because Wednesday the students had their first school day and there is some differences from Denmark:
They have to wear school uniforms, which isn't so weird.
The strange part is that after our break Wednesday the older kids had to stand in rows and started marching. They did different exercises and we couldn't figure out why! Was it PE, a punishment or maybe to enforce the unity of the school? They marched, had to turn around and do the things simultaneously, sometimes there where music disturbing our class and sometimes they chanted some things.
I ended up asking my teacher about it, and she told us, that they were doing an exercise on how to honor the flag! And they did the same thing Thursday, but this time it was to honor the foundation of Quito. We were told that it is a duty of every citizen to be able to and to honor the flag/the foundation of Quito. You certainly do not see that in Danish high schools. And I hardly doubt that you would ever be able to make Danish students do something similar to that - maybe you could make them dance the Gangnam Style. Maybe.
It was quite interesting to observe and definitely a proof that the culture here is very different from the danish culture.

Vi oplevede også en ret spændende kulturel ting ved den skole hvor vi har haft sprogundervisning. I onsdags havde eleverne der nemlig første skoledag og for det første, så skal de alle sammen bære skoleuniformer.
For det andet, og det her er den underlige del, skulle de ældre elever stille sig på en linje og begyndte at marchere og de skulle gøre forskellige ting. Nogle gange skulle de råbe nogle ting og andre gange dreje rundt og de skulle gøre tingene synkront. De havde også musik, der godt kunne lyde some national-sang noget af tiden. Vi undrede os meget over hvad de lavede. Kunne det være en form for idræt? En straf? Eller skulle det bare gøre at de følte sig mere som en enhed?
Jeg endte med at spørge min lærer om det, og hun sagde, at de øvede sig i at ære Ecuadors flag. De gjorde det samme torsdag, men denne gang for at ære grundlæggelsen af Quito.
Jeg tror næppe man ville kunne få danske gymnasieelever til at gøre det samme. Måske ville du kunne få dem til at danse Gangnam Style?
Men det var en oplevelse af at kulturen her er anderledes end den danske.

Honoring the foundation of Quito
Skoleelever øver sig i at ære at Quito blev grundlagt

Every day during the week we stayed in Quito after school. Why go straight home, when you are in a foreign country with lots of cool people (some of whom I don't know when I'll see again, as they are being relocated to go to their projects outside of Quito.)

So we have been eating lunch in the city, and gone on some sight seeing, which included a street in La Mariscal with trees?? We agreed afterwards, that we had to throw out the guide that showed us there and accidently set fire to the trash can.

Hver dag igennem ugen blev vi i Quito efter skole. For hvorfor skulle vi tage direkte hjem, når vi er i et fremmed land med massere af dejlige mennesker (og hvor vi ikke ved hvornår vi vil se nogle af de andre igen, fordi de er blevet flyttet til projekter udenfor Quito).
Derfor har vi spist frokost i byen og været ude og se lidt forskelligt, for eksempel en gade i La Mariscal hvor hovedattraktionen var træer... Vi blev efterfølgende enige om, at vi bliver nødt til at smide guidebogen der viste os gaden ud. Og måske sætte ild til skraldespanden efterfølgende..

A street featured in a guide. The main attraction? Trees.
En vej der var omtalt i en guidebog. Hvorfor? På grund af træerne.

Hanging out. Clockwise around the table starting with Felix (the only guy in the picture) we have Felix, Sofie, Rebecca, Brónagh, Stefanie and me.
Hygge. Med urets retning startende med Felix (den eneste dreng) har vi Felix, Sofie, Rebecca, Brónagh, Stefanie og mig.

Friday we went to la Mitad del Mundo. The middle of the world, which made for some cool pictures at the "equatorial line". "Equatorial line" because we visited two places and both claimed that they where in the middle of the world, but both places should be off by a couple of hundred meters (but of course that depends on who you ask!). I probably shouldn't have told you that, because now my pictures will seem less impressive. However, it's still almost true and Ecuador is very proud of their position on the equatorial line, so proud that they even tell you in the name. Ecuador actually means The republic of the equator, or something like that.
I have also read that some scientist agree that the equatorial line is not a few milimeters tick but actually 5 kilometers.

Fredag besøgte vi La Mitad del Mundo, verdens midte, hvor man kan få taget virkelig seje billede ved "ækvator linjen". "Ækvator" fordi vi besøgte to steder, der begge påstod at være verdens midte, og begge steder skulle have ramt forkert med et par hundrede meter (men det kommer selvfølgelig an på hvem du spørger). Jeg skulle sikkert ikke have fortalt jer det, for nu virker mine billeder mindre imponerende ;). Det er nu stadigvæk næsten sandt og Ecuador er meget stolt af dets placering på ækvator. Ecuador betyder rent faktisk Den ækvatorianske republik, eller noget i den stil.
Jeg har også læst at nogle videnskabsmænd mener, at den ækvatoriele linje er 5 km tyk, og ikke bare et par få millimeter eller centimeter.

La Mitad del Mundo

The first place we visited was a large official monument with a lot of museums, but we only looked around and ate our lunch there.

The second place was a something called Museo Intiñan, which showed different tricks to "prove" that this was the real equatorial line.

Det første sted vi besøgte var et stort officielt monument, hvor der var rigtig mange museer. Vi spiste frokost der og kiggede os lidt omkring.
Det andet sted var et sted kaldet Museo Intiñan, der viste forskellige ting, der skulle "bevise" at deres linje var det rigtige ækvator.

La Mitad del Mundo - again

Tricks:

1. That you can balance an egg on a nail, because the liquid inside the egg falls evenly down on both sides. If you were able to do it you became the Egg-master.
2. That your muscles weaken on the equatorial line (which was shown by doing strength tests involving different volunteers)
3. That it is possible to walk in a straight line with both of your eyes closed, as the gravitational force on the inner ears is 100 % equal.
4. That water spins in a different direction on each site of the equator when being drained from a basin, and it will not spin if placed directly on the equatorial line.

But these 4 tricks should all have been disproven by science, and I took videos of the guy poring the water into the basin, and on the line the water had been still for a long time before we came there. On one side of the line he poured it in and created a clock-wise spin and an anti-clockwise spin on the other side!

Beviser:

1. At du kan balancere et æg på et søm, fordi væsken inde i ægget falder lige ned på begge sider. Hvis du kunne gøre det fik du titlen som æg-mesteren.
2. At dine muskler er svagere på den ækvatoriale linje.
3. At det er muligt at gå i en lige linje så længe du befinder dig på den ækvatoriale linje, eftersom tyngdekraften påvirker dit indre øre lige meget på hver side.
4. At vand i et kar vil falde lige ned hvis du lader det falde ud fra et hul i bunden af karet på linjen. Og at det drejer henholdsvis med og mod uret på hver sin side af linjen.

Men alle disse 4 beviser skulle være modbevist af videnskaben, og jeg tog en video af alle vandkarforsøgene.
I forsøget på linjen havde vandet været stille i baljen i et langt stykke tid inden vi kom der.
På hver side af linjen hældte vores guide vandet op, så han skabte en lille bevægelse i det der gik med/mod urets retning og derved påvirkede hans bevis i den "rigtige" retning.

Can you become the egg-master?
Kan du blive æg-mester?

Someone did not make it as an egg-master
Nogen blev aldrig æg-mester.

Even though these tricks are a fake proof of the equatorial line I managed to balance the egg on the nail and I recieved a certificate. I am now The Egg Master! And our guide told us about the culture in Ecuador of earlier times.

I am sorry for the long post! Please write a comment, if you have any questions about me, my stay here or maybe something about Ecuador - then I will try and figure it out.

Selvom alle beviserne rent faktisk er falske, så balancerede jeg alligevel et æg på et søm og fik et certifikat. Jeg har nu fået titlen som Æg-mester! Og vores guide fortalte os også om Ecuadors tidligere kultur.

Jeg undskylder for det lange indlæg. Hvis du har nogen spørgsmål omkring mig, mit ophold her eller måske omkring Ecuador eller bare en kommentar, så må du meget gerne skrive en kommentar, og jeg vil forsøge på at svare efter bedste evne.