There's Always a Window

When God closes a door, he opens a window, right? Well, my job lately has consisted of finding the windows, lots of them. Although that might sound discouraging, and has been at times, it's also been so eye-opening to see and do things that I wouldn't normally think of trying. You also may be wondering why I've had to find windows? Aren't all the doors open to try new things on exchange? Well, yes, normally, but I am still having a bit of problems with my knees being swollen, so I've been coming up with alternatives for dance lessons or randomly walking all around.

My proud creation!

One of the first things I've been doing, I already mentioned in my other blog post; cooking! Well, last week I decided to make one of my family's favorite dishes in the US; Thai chicken stir fry. At first, it looked like it was going to be completely different because I couldn't find anything for the sauce. But as it unfolded, my host brother and his wife helped me with the ingredients I needed. It was a bit of a process that took lots of time and help, but it turned out much better than I expected, and a healthy meal at that!

Riding on the mountain... before the rain

Our organization has activities at the end of every month, and this month we went up a mountain in a cable car. It was pretty amazing, and I found another window; I can ride horses! We rode for an hour, as the sky opened up and let us have it, rain, wind, hail. You name it, and we were riding in it on the top of a mountain. On top of all of that, I had the prettiest horse, and the spunkiest. He would take off running, bite the other horses, or just stop in his tracks and start eating. After the hour was done, we were all soaking wet, just about frozen to the bone, not to mention sore from using every muscle we didn't know existed, plus we had to hike to the cable car to go down. But there was a little grass hut with a fire and they had hot chocolate for sale, so of course we stopped to warm up, chat, and wait out the weather. That might not sound like a very good day to the average person, but I already know it will be one of my favorite memories, because it was one of my best days yet.

Sorry I haven't been able to keep the blog updated exactly every week, but I've been a bit busy. Hopefully I'll get back in the groove of writing every week, but until then, my random stories will have to do. Thank you for reading and don't forget to follow in the upper right hand corner! As they say here in Ecuador, Chow!

Cooking... Not what I expected?

So, one of the only parts of exchange that you can expect is that it never goes as expected. That said, my exchange has been no different. Even though I've wanted to play a sport or take dancing lessons, I've had a couple of problems with my knees, so I've been struggling to find ways to spend the hours after school. After a particularly difficult day, a wise woman told me that although having knee problems isn't a normal part of exchange, not knowing how to get involved is very normal. That piece of advice made me think, and made me realize that there is no "normal exchange," but that it's up to me to make this the best experience possible. (Thanks mom)

This is a bit random, but the rain here is huge! those marks are from individual raindrops!

Since I realized that, I decided there are still so many things that I can do to immerse myself in the culture and stay busy. The first thing I decided to do was cook! I knew I wanted to make my family's famous homemade pizza from the US here, so that's what I did. Trying to find all the ingredients in Spanish was hard enough, let alone the same as in the US. Then came trying to make the dough and get it to rise and bake until it was a perfect balance of fluffy and crispy. After all the worrying and hoping that it would turn out alright, I peeked my head over the oven door as I prepared to pull it out of the oven and... It was perfect! The crust was golden brown and the cheese had melted perfectly, with just a bit burned around the edges. It was as perfect as could be, ad surprisingly delicious!

The entire family enjoying their homemade "American" pizza 

The entire family enjoyed it, and I'm sure they will be more than happy if I make it again. I'm excited to cook Ecuadorian food, and also to find new things to help me immerse myself in the culture! Thank you for reading, and I hope this is encouraging! If you want to stay updated, press the button in the top right to follow. Until next time!

Being a tourist on exchange!

Hi guys, sorry I forgot to update you all at the one month mark a week ago, but it's been pretty busy. It's easy to realize that it's been busy because I've already been here for 5 weeks! Anyways, daily life has remained the same, which I will write about one day. For now, I will share about my experience at the center of the world! (the equator) It was so surreal to be able to stand in both hemispheres at once, and that's not something many people can say they've done. Now I'll get on with it and share some pictures!

This is what cuye looks like!

First off, I tried cuye yesterday! For those of you who don't know, that is that name of the Ecuadorian dish of Guinea Pig. That's right, I ate Guinea pig! It tasted like meat with a lot of salt on it, but it wasn't bad, I wouldn't make a habit of it, but I definitely enjoyed the experience of tasting it.

We actually went two different places yesterday; the real equator where they do experiments to show you differences between the hemispheres, and then the big statue that was built about 240 meters away from the real equator before they knew it was wrong. Now, you may be wondering why we would go to both? Well, the real equator is a little museum that tells about other parts of Ecuadorian history in the Amazon, Andes, and coast. They also perform experiments, like draining a tub of water on both sides of the equator, and the suction spins clockwise in the southern hemisphere, counterclockwise in the northern hemisphere, and straight down without spinning on the equator. It was pretty cool!


And now, why did we go to the big monument if it isn't really the middle of the world? Well, it's actually called the city of the middle of the world for a reason. There is traditional Ecuadorian dancing, shops, museums, and it's famous! Even though some people say there's no reason to go there, I enjoyed it just as much as the museum. More than anything, it was just a good day of memories and checking items off my bucket list.

Thanks for keeping up with what I've been doing, and I hope you enjoy reading about everything! If you would like to hear about a specific aspect of life as an exchange student in Ecuador, let me know and I'd be happy to write about it! Don't forget to follow in the upper right hand corner if you want to stay updated. Until next time!