Happy 2006!
Happy New Year everyone! And Happy Christmas while I am at it! I hope you all had a wonderful time with all the trimmings and love.
I have just had the misfortune of my entire email being erased and so am attempting this for a second time, trying not to throw a temper tantrum while I do it! (I was so nearly finished too!!! OH why don´t I save these things???)
So, as I told you in my last email, I was off to the States for Christmas and New Year, stopping at the beach en route and testing the Pacific waters for the very first time. Although it was cloudy, it was still wonderful to be warm after cold, mountainous Cuenca. Beach adventures included being chowed by mosquitoes and narrowly escaping attack by dog (who favoured my poor friend Bec instead, ripping her newly purchased trousers but luckily not causing any gbh!)
While booking my flight to the States, the travel agent had twisted my arm into spending just $15 dollars more for an accommodation offer and lift to the airport in Guayaquil. I was delighted, then, to be dropped at the door of the HILTON by my taxi and was lost for what to do with a bath AND shower, a pool, a gym and a flat screen tv. Was I really still in Ecuador?? I decided to start with a long hot bath (although heaven knows why as it was about 50 degrees outside – it´s all about the novelty!). After drying off on the fluffy white towels, I realised to my horror that the towel had turned a browner shade and wondered how it was possible for one person to be so dirty after a bath and decided that an extra shower was necessary!
My flight to the States was followed by a gruelling 30 hour bus ride to Virginia (just can´t seem to get enough of the ol´ Greyhound). While sleeping through most of it I also managed to get sicker and sicker the further I travelled from 3 rd world Ecuador and into 1st world America. Finally, becoming the sickest I have ever been in my memories of colds, I was put onto antibiotics and snuffled and coughed all through Christmas.
Christmas was still lovely though and it was so special to be with Jen and Fae and Tom for it. What could be more Christmassy than cutting down your own Christmas tree in a snowy forest? Fae also introduced me to her new love, swing dancing, and before I knew it, I was swinging my way into 2006 in DC. A New Years to remember for sure J.
Time went all too quickly and soon I was leaving Virginia and heading for Miami, this time by plane. I even managed to get an entire plane to wait for ME on the way down (although not my fault as first plane left late).
In Miami I stayed with my dear friend Mel and together we hit the beaches and the belly dancing. Yes, I said belly dancing! While Fae had introduced me to Swing dancing, she also decided that I needed a belly dancing skirt for Christmas (it´s sooooo cool!). While telling Mel about this, we decided to try it out and headed for the nearest class we could find. It´s NOT as easy as it looks (although Mel has quite a knack for it) but it´s definitely lots of fun and I´m not giving up that easily!
Mel was a wonderful host, showing me all over the place and making sure my birthday was celebrated at least twice before I left with legendary pancakes and singing candles. Tanks Mel!
I arrived back in Cuenca sleepy but happy to the sound of birds just waking and me ready to flop into bed (it was after all already 6am by the time I got home). My room, however, was smothered in balloons and banners and presents! I was so spoiled and the rest of the day (after a much needed sleep) was spent catching up with friends and family between birthday cake and new term meetings. Thank you so much to all of you who phoned, emailed, sent hugs and love and thought of me on my birthday. I really did feel the love all the way over here and was completely spoiled! You are all wonderful!
It´s really good to be back in Cuenca. Home away from Home as it has become. And the adventures continue! Someone recently said to me that people who come back from the East are spiritualised, from Africa are earthilised (or whatever the word would be) and from South America are revolutionised. Well, these days it´s hard to walk to class without getting tear gassed in passing! There are big protests going on because the transport costs are going up and the student cards for cheaper transport aren´t arriving. It´s all very confusing though. The papers say very little and people you ask don´t seem to know much about it either. In fact, I have heard from some Ecuadorians that a lot of the time teachers and professors tell the students to protest if they want to pass and so the actual rioters are just pawns it seems. They normally commandeer a bus from somewhere and close off the road. Then the riot police and tanks come and the students start throwing rocks. Then the police (who in my experience seem to be the worst behaved people in town) throw the rocks back at the students and send tanks in and tear gas everyone. The effects of the gas last a long time. The worst I have been hit so far was when the street was entirely empty already. The acrid smell crept into my nostrils and I realised just too late what was happening. By the time we were up the steps and out of the worst of it, I was choking, my eyes were streaming and I could barely see and I thought I would be sick. Students are getting used to us arriving in class with puffy eyes and streaming noses. It´s not fun, but I can´t imagine how bad it must be as it´s set off. It must be awful! It seemed to culminate with the worst of it on Friday though, so hopefully next week will be quieter. I hope it helped their cause.
So, only eight more weeks of teaching and then it´s off for more travels. Time is flying and definitely because I´m having fun!
I hope you are all well. Let me know how you´re doing. Good luck for 2006 and may it keep you all on your toes and loving life J
Love and hugs,
Penny.
I have just had the misfortune of my entire email being erased and so am attempting this for a second time, trying not to throw a temper tantrum while I do it! (I was so nearly finished too!!! OH why don´t I save these things???)
So, as I told you in my last email, I was off to the States for Christmas and New Year, stopping at the beach en route and testing the Pacific waters for the very first time. Although it was cloudy, it was still wonderful to be warm after cold, mountainous Cuenca. Beach adventures included being chowed by mosquitoes and narrowly escaping attack by dog (who favoured my poor friend Bec instead, ripping her newly purchased trousers but luckily not causing any gbh!)
While booking my flight to the States, the travel agent had twisted my arm into spending just $15 dollars more for an accommodation offer and lift to the airport in Guayaquil. I was delighted, then, to be dropped at the door of the HILTON by my taxi and was lost for what to do with a bath AND shower, a pool, a gym and a flat screen tv. Was I really still in Ecuador?? I decided to start with a long hot bath (although heaven knows why as it was about 50 degrees outside – it´s all about the novelty!). After drying off on the fluffy white towels, I realised to my horror that the towel had turned a browner shade and wondered how it was possible for one person to be so dirty after a bath and decided that an extra shower was necessary!
My flight to the States was followed by a gruelling 30 hour bus ride to Virginia (just can´t seem to get enough of the ol´ Greyhound). While sleeping through most of it I also managed to get sicker and sicker the further I travelled from 3 rd world Ecuador and into 1st world America. Finally, becoming the sickest I have ever been in my memories of colds, I was put onto antibiotics and snuffled and coughed all through Christmas.
Christmas was still lovely though and it was so special to be with Jen and Fae and Tom for it. What could be more Christmassy than cutting down your own Christmas tree in a snowy forest? Fae also introduced me to her new love, swing dancing, and before I knew it, I was swinging my way into 2006 in DC. A New Years to remember for sure J.
Time went all too quickly and soon I was leaving Virginia and heading for Miami, this time by plane. I even managed to get an entire plane to wait for ME on the way down (although not my fault as first plane left late).
In Miami I stayed with my dear friend Mel and together we hit the beaches and the belly dancing. Yes, I said belly dancing! While Fae had introduced me to Swing dancing, she also decided that I needed a belly dancing skirt for Christmas (it´s sooooo cool!). While telling Mel about this, we decided to try it out and headed for the nearest class we could find. It´s NOT as easy as it looks (although Mel has quite a knack for it) but it´s definitely lots of fun and I´m not giving up that easily!
Mel was a wonderful host, showing me all over the place and making sure my birthday was celebrated at least twice before I left with legendary pancakes and singing candles. Tanks Mel!
I arrived back in Cuenca sleepy but happy to the sound of birds just waking and me ready to flop into bed (it was after all already 6am by the time I got home). My room, however, was smothered in balloons and banners and presents! I was so spoiled and the rest of the day (after a much needed sleep) was spent catching up with friends and family between birthday cake and new term meetings. Thank you so much to all of you who phoned, emailed, sent hugs and love and thought of me on my birthday. I really did feel the love all the way over here and was completely spoiled! You are all wonderful!
It´s really good to be back in Cuenca. Home away from Home as it has become. And the adventures continue! Someone recently said to me that people who come back from the East are spiritualised, from Africa are earthilised (or whatever the word would be) and from South America are revolutionised. Well, these days it´s hard to walk to class without getting tear gassed in passing! There are big protests going on because the transport costs are going up and the student cards for cheaper transport aren´t arriving. It´s all very confusing though. The papers say very little and people you ask don´t seem to know much about it either. In fact, I have heard from some Ecuadorians that a lot of the time teachers and professors tell the students to protest if they want to pass and so the actual rioters are just pawns it seems. They normally commandeer a bus from somewhere and close off the road. Then the riot police and tanks come and the students start throwing rocks. Then the police (who in my experience seem to be the worst behaved people in town) throw the rocks back at the students and send tanks in and tear gas everyone. The effects of the gas last a long time. The worst I have been hit so far was when the street was entirely empty already. The acrid smell crept into my nostrils and I realised just too late what was happening. By the time we were up the steps and out of the worst of it, I was choking, my eyes were streaming and I could barely see and I thought I would be sick. Students are getting used to us arriving in class with puffy eyes and streaming noses. It´s not fun, but I can´t imagine how bad it must be as it´s set off. It must be awful! It seemed to culminate with the worst of it on Friday though, so hopefully next week will be quieter. I hope it helped their cause.
So, only eight more weeks of teaching and then it´s off for more travels. Time is flying and definitely because I´m having fun!
I hope you are all well. Let me know how you´re doing. Good luck for 2006 and may it keep you all on your toes and loving life J
Love and hugs,
Penny.
posted by sb @ 4:37 PM
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