feeling our differences baby

So the title is a quote from greg the bunny so unless you have seen this marvelous show you won’t really understand the context, but i put it in there so that the people who have seen it (namely my family, elise, rachel wagner and nick) can enjoy the reference as much as i do.

Anyway so quito has gotten much better. Im getting much more comfortable and im understanding the language better and after my extremely insightful talk with rama (shout out to my small brown friend) everything in general has just gotten better! So now i will take this time to point out a few of the differences i have noticed between my culture and the ecuadorian culture:
1.you cannot flush toilet paper after you use it...you must put it in the garbage...i learned this the hard way...
2.in public bathrooms the toilet paper is located outside of the stall so you much estimate how much TP you will need before you go do your business (and yes i know this is the second bathroom reference...whatever i have a small bladder)
3.PDA is everywhere...in fact you get fined if you dont cur tang with or grope your significant other every 5 minutes...that has to be the reason why every couple shows so much affection outside the privacy of their own home...i cant think of any other reason why literally EVERY couple is all up in each other’s grill 24/7...the good thing about it is you know if someone your interested in is taken...leaves out the awkward “oh this is my girlfriend” moment.
4.In new york its only the bums that try and sell you things while you are in your car attempting to get on the GW bridge, but here in quito its actually a legit way to make a living...they sell everything from phone-cards to newspapers to mints...but dont let me fool you...there are still some of the less fortunate attempting to sell you unnecessary items.
5.Pedestrians and drivers alike completely disregard all traffic laws..i guess its an unspoken understanding that these so-called “rules of the road” are merely suggestions of conduct that probably dont apply but they’ll put a red light or a double yellow line there if you so choose to take the suggestions...
6.When the sun is beating down it is balls hot, but when a cloud covers the sun for a mere second it gets rather chilly...i wont say it gets cold because ever since living in ithaca for 2 winters i truly understand what cold is and the chilly times in quito dont even touch ithaca cold.
7.It seems totally appropriate for guys to cat call here, so for any of you creepy guys in the US if you would like to go somewhere where you can make gringa girls feel really uncomfortable and be accepted for it then buy a ticket...

Well thats all i have for now. I’m actually getting really excited for the next few months. The team im working with on the PBoX is so great and motivated and my living situation is really awesome because im really getting to know more about xime and her family and the more i learn the more i like.

Chao.

estoy aqui.

so ive been in quito for about 4 days now and i have had the craziest mix of emotions ever. i knew culture shock was coming but i didnt know it would be so intense. yesterday was worse than today but i have never felt so disconnected to the world before in my entire life... when i was an anx ridden teenager (and trust me there was a lot of anx). here is the culture shock in bulleted form...
1. i dont speak the language well so essentially i have no idea whats going on 75% of the time. that takes a toll and even tho xime (the girl im living with) and her family are very comforting and speak so that i can understand them (and xime speaks english so thats a plus) its not the same.
2. i am currently the only exchange in quito so i have no one to voice and share my concerns with. so essentially im doing this on my own and i wasnt really expecting that. but i know from this i will be a much stronger person so it has its plus side as well.
3. im not used to having such little independence. at home and in ithaca i can get in my car or walk to whereever i need to go because i know the landscape and im familiar with life there but here i have to rely on xime or another aiesecer to escort me because a. i dont know where the fuck im going and b. im gringa so i stick out like a sore thumb and am an easy target for torment, robbery and whatever else is dealt my way. because of this i feel like a burden even though they may not think that. its going to take some time to adjust to this.

i dont want you to think im having a shit time...quite the contrary i am actually having a great time! the @ers i have met are so amazing and friendly and such characters that i know i will have an amazing semester. also though i havent seen all of quito yet the parts i have seen are so quaint and welcoming that i know i will love spending the next 3 months in the city.

ok so thats it for now...i promise my next entry will be more upbeat.

ithaca really is gorges.

im back from my 24 hours of ithaca love, and to be honest it was the best thing i could have done! last time i left ithaca i was all over the place and in a post-intensely-stressful-semester-that-i-cant-believe-is-over funk, so needless to say my impression of ithaca was not one of a warm, fuzzy, "i want to return to this place" nature...but this time around i must say i am more excited to go to quito and come back to ithaca with a fresh perspective than i have been since i finalized my trip!

im extremely psyched to see what @CN will do this semester because after the LT retreat i realize just how fantastic it shall be! also i had amazing goodbyes with people i am peeing my pants over the fact that i have an amazing senior year with awaiting me and even better ones with those who won't be back but who i know will always be an important part of my life (namely elise).

i also realized how excited i am to live at 209 college with rama chanani poonani and kel! we are going to have the best year of our lives together because we will all be fresh off the boat from our abroad experiences, which is a recipe for PERFECTION!

and so i continue the frantic packing/appropriate emailing/doctors (aka satans) appointments and the like keeping in mind that the juice is worth the squeeze (yes thats right i quoted "the girl next door")

three days baby...three days.

beauty and the beast.

snow is beautiful. it paints everything white. it symbolizes christmas time, my favorite time of year even tho i do not celebrate the actual holiday. when you drive in it at night it makes you feel like you're flying thru the galaxy at warp speed, passing billions of stars along the way. anyone in the US who lives north of the mason dixon and east of the mississippi appreciates snow...mostly because you don't really have a choice.

unfortunately its beauty can be alluding. snow is unpredictable both in physical manifestation (flurry vs. blizzard) and in how it affects whatever it touches.

today i was driving down route 35 in yorktown, ny heading toward mt. kisco to visit my friend casey who is going back to school tomorrow. at this point it was dark and flurrying, so i was content appreciating my mock travel through the galaxy making sure to drive carefully because as i said before snow is unpredictable...

then everything changed. as i round a "hidden drive" as the sign indicated, i saw a red VW with its drivers side one with the pavement, a teenage girl outside of it hysterically crying trying to get cell phone service to call i would believe to be her mom...i was in complete shock because all i could think was there is no way she is the driver because there is no feasible way the driver could have gotten out of that car and be standing up without a scratch...before my shock could wear off i saw police lights, a firetruck and ambulances which i believed to be heading toward that car, but in fact they were all stopped...not a half a mile away from the red VW was a gray sedan flipped completely upside-down on the side of the road with 3 people, 2 of them wrapped in blankets hovering near one of the police vehicles...

i'm now sitting here in my home in one piece watching news channel 12 to see if there is any news on these two independent incidents on the same road in the same mile...

snow is neither solely beauty nor solely beast. it is both...simultaneously...in fact everything in life is both beauty and beast simultaneously...you can't have one without the other, nor can you appreciate one without the other...so living in fear of the beast leaves you without beauty...and what kind of life is that?

growing up?

so today i got my first semi-kind-of-taste-more-like-a-slight-lick of growing up...i got asked on a phone interview for an internship :) this may not seem like a big deal to most, but for me this is HUGE...the company i got the interview with is Recycline (http://www.recycline.com/) and they do not have an actual internship program but the new product design department is willing to "explore possibilities" with me...this means i must have done something right for them to take the time to talk to me about a summer internship which is very hard for me to fatham because compared to almost everyone else in my life i have done zilch...but i guess its all relative aint it.

come to think of it i have met some absolutely inspiring people in my life...not necessarily out-right inspiring people...more often people who are greatly underestimated and/or underappreciated but truly are extraordinary in certain ways...on such individual is featured here-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBp-dZmG8zQ...this young sir is silly and outrageous but one of the most brilliant individuals i have ever held a conversation with, but people misinterpret his outrageousness as natural craziness when in fact his humor and actions are meticulous planned to produce the hilarity that one sees before them...people like him really make me appreciate individuality and the many different approaches there are in life...there is never just one way to do anything which makes me eager to be 60 and exusably grumpy and to look back at how i approached my life...

so as much as the process and unforseeable journey of growing up can be unnerving, the retrospect one acquires is worth every risk and every mistake and ever success...

quito in 8 days baby...let the growing up commense.

limbo is lame.

12 days until ecuador (YAY) with little to do except pack...and im actually going insane. this happens every time i have more than one week at home...once day 8 rolls around i go awall and i either:
a) fall into a strange depression and sit on the couch for days on end,
b) thoroughly clean my room or
c) take a trip of some sort (ie ann arbor during freshman year)

i just dont know how to relax...if im not feeling as if i am doing something productive in my life im just not satisfied...and i know its going to come around and bite me in the ass at some point in life (if it hasnt already)

im not going to lie but this blogging experience feels a little bit like live journal...but instead of displaying the internal turmoil instigated by annoying but developmentally necessary teen angst i get to write about external life experience's impact (i know...i just used impact...how aiesecly cliche) on my maturity and growth :) if you want to check out my 17 year old self on livejournal my name was _factisfiction_...i think im going to check it out now so that i can be grateful that i actually grew up and am not 17 anymore.



PS: if you have free time and want to watch a movie watch "drop dead gorgeous"...you'll thank me later.

on nomadlife.org now :)

i've officially moved over to the dark side.

testing.

im testing this shizzle out...at this moment i have very little to [publically] say.