"I thought I´d seen it all"

We were informed at the beginning of our intensive Spanish month that the last Friday of classes, we would have to do a 20-minute Spanish presentation on a topic of our choice, but it had to be something we had covered in our Talleres class (therefore, something to do with Ecuadorian history or current affairs in Ecuador). My professora, Jacqueline, didn´t make it sound too intense and said we could start on Thursday, when we would be given an hour to work on it. So, Thursday rolls around, and we decide we want to do something with the life story of Rumiñahui BECAUSE Sarah Heimlich (an awesome but crazy girl in my class) has ´I´ll Make a Man Out of You´ from Mulan, on her computer, and we LOVE this song. So, Ashley, Hilary and I start writing the "story" of Rumiñahui, half CREATIVELY made-up, and half actual facts haha, and Sarah and Alec start writing the lyrics to the Spanish/Rumiñahui version of this song. It was fabulous, let´s just say that. Thursday afternoon, Alec, Sarah and Ashley finished up the lyrics to not only "I´ll Make a Man out of You", but also Spanish/Rumiñahui lyrics to the Little Mermaid´s "Part of Your World" and Aladin´s "A Whole New World". On Friday, after I had finished the "story", we practiced and made DANCES to our little skit as well. Let´s just say, we jumped around like horrible ballerinas, pretended like we were warriors, colored a face on a small rock to make the "stone face" and pretended to fight a lot of people, while wearing scarves on our heads to look like warrior band things (they really just looked rediculous). It was FABULOUS! As Faba said afterwards, "I thought I´d seen it all" and really, he has seen a LOT in his life, so we obviously made an impact :) haha. I had so much fun, and in reality, I learned so much about Rumiñahui, I can now easily explain the story, in Spanish or English, to any who wants to know. Just give me the a-okay, and i´ll tellyou the best darn story of Rumiñahui there is!

Anyways, Friday is NOT over yet! Friday afternoon, Mamita, Antony and I went on a search for jungle pants in Sangolquí and found some near the market. They were a whole $8 and they are EXTREMELY attractive. They are navy blue with white stripes and cargo pockets. Y´all should be jealous, that´s all I can say.
Mamita and I had taken naps and therefore left a little late, so by the time we got back to the house it was already 6:15 and we were supposed to be at the end-of-the-month fiesta at SEVEN. Don´t worry folks, we are on Ecuadorian time here. I put on my blue dress from Spain and my mom, dad, sister, and antony went to the fiesta. We had dinner and Lisa played three songs (one in Spanish, can you believe that!). She is an amazing artist, can I just say that. Then it was time to dance! I love to dance, but don´t love it when I am being judged. Let´s just say us folk in Gig Harbor don´t take a lot of dance lessons and therefore are not so great at dancing to Ecuadorian salsa and marengue music. Ie I AM NOT so great at Ecuadorian crazy funky dance. But, my sister tried to teach me (I am a failure, what can I say). Eventually, around 10pm, a lot of the family members had left and we decided to dance GRINGO style (ie. have very little rhythm, jump around like crazy people, and just have fun). I swear, my sister thought I was crazy. While we were Gringo-dancing, she stayed on the dance floor, but definitely did not partake in our bad-dancing-party. It was fun though, so I´m glad I exposed her haha. I went home with my family around 11:30pm (Antony had passed out on mamita´s shoulder around 9pm) and I went straight to bed. Lol, I´m such a party animal.

Saturday morning, the fam was semi-loud so I couldn´t sleep past 8 or so. I got up and hung out until about 12pm when I went to San Luis to meet Eva so we could search for thank-you presents. It is a lot more difficult than one would think. Eva wanted to print a picture of the family, so we went to a photo-developing place. You would be AMAZED at how many options there are on those digital photo things, especially how many frames there are! AHH! It took awhile and then we found out each photo would cost FIFTY CENTS ($0.50) unless she got 50 pictures and then the 50 prints would cost $10.00. Is that not rediculous! I have been educated: Shutterfly is definitely the way to go.

I went home for lunch and we had PIZZA HUT, which in Ecuador is seen as GODLY. It tastes pretty much the same as at home, which, when you have it once in awhile, does taste pretty delicious. But here it is GODLY. After that I took a cab into the boonies to Eva´s house. She lives in a MANSION. I live in a nice Ecuadorian house that I love. She lives in a nice American house, if you know what I mean. We made cookies and brownies for our families. It is much more difficult to cook at 9000 feet. The brownies were good, but they stuck to the pan, so they didn´t LOOK so good haha.

It is now Sunday morning. I woke up at 7:30am after going to bed at midnight. I don´t know why I can´t sleep in here... it´s very very strange. The sky is clear, blue and it looks deceptively warm out, but I know it most likely is not :( I am leaving at 3:30pm to go to Quito for the night and then to the JUNGLE until Friday!!! We have a lot planned, but the rivers are flooding so we might not be able to travel the rivers and might have to stay at the lodge. I hope they go down though! If we can travel, we will go by motorized canoes to a school to teach them math (I don´t know who thinks of these crazy ideas) and then to play soccer with them yay! I have a feeling we might get our butts kicked by elementary school kids. We also are going to have an art session with clay yay and are going to a building with a disco-ball in the middle (ie a discoteca i guess...)

It should be interesting who wins the fight with my luggage today. I have a feeling that I might lose. Wish me tons of luck though! Chao!

madz

Can´t Believe A Month Has Passed

I cannot believe I was in the Seatac Airport exactly one month and two days ago at 4:30 in the morning. It seems SO LONG AGO! And the even weirder thing is that I´m leaving Sangolquí on Sunday. I´m really sad to leave my fam (I actually am, no lie at all. This is a first for host families) but VERY excited to go to the oriente and to meet my new Quito host family!

The past week I have spent a LOT of time studying at San Luis, the mall nearby, at la café de la vaca. It has free wireless (ie my friends love it) and I can study and get actual coffee. We did learn though that the milk is a little iffy by itself... it was disgusting to be more precise. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons I went to the vaca. We have now learned that around 3:30pm every single friggin day, there is a DOWNPOUR (ie. a TROPICAL THUNDER STORM) so you better be prepared. Therefore, even if the sun is shining so brightly through the bathroom window that I can barely see, I now bring my rain jacket. I find it to be a very smart decision when the rain starts to drench my friends. Don´t worry, I only laugh inside.

I forgot to inform you all of last weekend, AFTER the fun camping incident. Saturday morning I got home and slept only until 11:30am. I decided I should get up because we were going to Adolfo´s for lunch. We went, but neither I nor my fam new many of the people there because it was mostly friends of Joy (Adolfo´s wife). I asked my parents if I could meet my friends at the movies and they were kind enough to drop me at San Luis (honestly, I think they wanted to leave too, but it was extremely kind of them to do so). Libby and Audrey and their host brother´s and I went to "busqueda..." something or other. It was about a 17 year old girl who goes to Paris to vacation with a friend and gets kidnapped to be sold as a prostitute. Lets just say I am MUCH more cautious after seeing that movie because it does relate to me a little bit (I am only 20 and I am traveling abroad with lots of creepy guys all around... scary haha). We went to coffee and then I came home and relaxed for the night. Sunday morning I played in a women´s basketball league with my sister and our team was HORRIBLE. Although we could have easily lost 40 to 4 (and you know how I am with my competitiveness), I held my cool and now realize it was a great workout. That afternoon I met up with Libby and Audrey again. I met them at Quito FEST. There was about a two hour line but we snuck to the front and that line took about 2 mintes (it was a secret all girls line, otherwise known as we are sneaky people and know how to cut haha). Friday at QuitoFest had been all HARD ROCK bands, so I passed. Then there was an EXTREME storm on Saturday and the power went out and there was a lot of thunder and lightning so the concert was cancelled. Sunday was reggae and r&b and I LOVED IT. the music was great, the people were fun but not too crazy, and I didn´t see the cruza roja helping anyone (that´s good!). I took some pics too. It was great because the performers actually looked like they were having the time of their life, and they were big time artists too.

Anyways, that´s my life for now! Hope y´all are having fun wherever in the world you might be. chao for now
madz

I DO know how to have fun

Main topic of this blog: Ecuadorian "camping"

So, last night was, to say the least, an adventure. It made me realize how much I appreciate growing up in the Great Northwest and knowing how to camp and backpack farther than 100 m from a house. Also, a new rule I made for life: once past the age of 13, you are not allowed to sleep in tents when there is a house within 100 m. I like my new rule.

So the story goes like this: On thursday night, my host brother, Galo, invited me to go camping with him, his girlfriend (who´s really nice and awesome by the way), and a bunch of their friends so of course I said yes. He said we would leave around 6, so I got home at 5 thinking I had plenty of time to take a quick nap and get ready. BUT, he wasn´t there. Mamita told me that he had left, and I should grab a jacket and we would go. So, while wearing JEANS, a T-SHIRT, and tennis shoes (the same outfit I wore to go to a museum in Quito earlier that day), I grabbed a jacket, raincoat and hat, and we left. When I texted Jenny telling her I was wearing jeans to go camping in someone´s backyard, she said "I´m sure it will be a once in a lifetime experience!" This is when I should have known something was fishy (who goes camping in jeans???) Although all of the friends were supposedly my age, they seemed younger... I´m not sure why. Maybe it´s a cultural thing? One of the guys looked like Josh Hartnett and I definitely didn´t mind that haha.

The first part of the night was really fun: We got to the house around 7 pm after stopping to get meat and food and hung out for awhile. I learned how to play the Ecuadorian card game ´cuarenta´(i.e. 40) and my partner and I won! YAY! The guys tried to start a fire with a bunch of coals and it took them almost an hour. It was quite hilarious. Once they got it started, they cooked the meat (there was SO MUCH MEAT. Whenever they bbq here, there is ALWAYS extra!) We finished dinner around 11:30pm and decided to go outside and set up the tent and start a fire.

Here comes the good part: It was FREEZING cold outside, I was exhausted from getting up early and walking around Quito all day (ie I was not in a very good mood... Mom and Dad know about this aspect of my life quite well haha) and we didn´t have sleeping pads or blankets. Liz made a fire and I was sitting in the tent, which was about 10 feet from the fire, becuase I didn´t want my pants to get wet (wet=cold and cold=mad maddie). But, that was not okay. And I kept getting asked if I was okay and if I wanted to sit closer, and why was I sitting so far away. So, after about 10 minutes of the questions, I gave in and moved closer. At 1:15am, I looked at my watch and decided if they hadn´t gone to bed by 2:15am I would go on my own. Soooo, 2:15 rolls around and I decided to get in the very uncomfortable cold tent. I found out my rain jacket insulates heat very well, so I kept it on, and used the airplane blanket that Liz´s sister let me borrow, to keep me warm. Around 3:15am, everyone came to bed and a gained a sleeping bag for the ground, and another blanket to put over me. THANK GOODNESS. I was so happy becuase I didn´t wake up once after I fell asleep until everyone else got up. Do you know why I didn´t wake up once? Because we got up at 6:30 freakin AM to take someone home because she had to be there at 7am. I have to say though, once I got home, my bed was like heaven. It was the most comfortable thing I have been in for a long time (I think my judgement was slurred a little bit from the lack of sleep).

I forgot to note that I texted pat around 3:30am telling him how cold and angry I was haha and then this morning he laughed at me and when I talked to Dad tonight (mom had relayed the story to him), he said that "I sure know how to have fun!" It´s true though. Jenny and Dad were right, it was a once in a lifetime experience, and I DO know how to have fun!

INTAG!

I got back from Intag on Tuesday afternoon and it was SO MUCH FUN! I actually learned a lot too, about the mining situation there, and cultural differences, class differences, and biodiversity. But that´s not the fun stuff.

We left Saturday morning about 8 am and after walking into Intag on a trail for about an hour, got to the huts and the house at about 3 pm. We stayed in cabins and the girls shared two and the guys stayed in one. The first afternoon we heard a talk from Carlos, the director of DECOIN, a non-profit organization in Ecuador which I think is focused on protecting INTAG (which is an area of land), the indigenous groups who live there, and the biodiversity in Ecuador in general. He told us all about the mining situation there.

Pretty much, a Canadian company, Ascendente, was trying to put a mine in Intag, but the people there did not want it becuase it would have been extremely harmful to the watershed there and to the environment in general. Carlos got extremely involved so people were threatening him. I guess he had an anonymous source who called him 2 minutes before 19 police arrive at his door who had plans to take him to jail and kill him. Luckily, becuase of the tip, he was able to run for a few months until everything was settled. It was so crazy to hear the story first hand because it sounds like something out of a movie, but it was real! Ascendente has now been pushed away from digging the mine, but it sounds like this fight will continue for a long long while.

After his lecture, we had our first dinner at Intag. OMG the food was so good. All home grown, and they grow their own coffee!!! (don´t worry mom, i got 4 lbs that will be ready right about when you guys get here!! it´s SO GOOD) the food was all natural and so delicious.

on sunday, we were split into groups and my group had an art lesson. although it sounds silly, it was really fun. we had to draw leaves, but we weren´t allowed to look at the paper, only at the leaf. we had to follow the outline of the leaf... then we moved to people. i drew my friend audrey and she turned out looking like a monster pretty much. it was a very attractive drawing. lets just say i have NO idea how i drew such a good picture of mom when i was only in SECOND grade. i think my artist skills have sky-dived lol.

Monday, my group went on a 4 hr hike through the cloud forest. We saw some AWESOME stuff: poisonous snakes, weird insects that looked like thorns on a rose bush, salamanders, butterflys, and lots of waterfalls. It was actually a pretty hard hike, but really fun. I have TONS of pictures and filled my memory card. I´ll try to post them soon.

In the afternoon, a women´s group came. They make purses and other crafty things out of a plant from the rain forest. The purses were gorgeous and there were a ton of other things too. Waterbottle holders, place mats, bags, wallets, hot pads for the table, etc... and they were so inexpensive. it was insane and really cool to hear their story because normally women aren´t allowed to work and make money but have to stay at home and do things for their family (don´t get me started on my opinion of this lifestyle).

On Tuesday, we left and went to Otavalo, an indigenous city where there is a huge market. There was so much amazing stuff, but the annoying artisans make me so mad when they try to take advantage of me and up the price because I´m a gringo! I´m planning on going back during evals and buying a GORGEOUS hammock for denver... it´s gonna be GREAT!

I´m about to head to a puppet show that Faba, my academic director, suggested we go to. It´s at a café at the mall and has a political theme. I don´t think I´ve been to a puppet show since like third grade and this one is in Spanish, so it should be interesting. haha.

anyways, hope all is well.

chao!

Before I enter the Big Bad cloud forest

HAPPY 19th BIRTHDAY BRO BRO!!!

I hope you go out and have a super fabulous time tonight with all your new hopefully cool friends who I´m sure know how to have an AWESOME TIME. Right? And for all you who don´t know, Pat´s new basketball number is 22! YAY!

Okay, on to me. I´m heading to Intag, which is a private ecologocial reserve in the cloud forest near Otavalo. IT´s GONNA BE AWESOME! I´m so excited to get out of the city for awhile, but mostly to see such sweet animals. Apparently there are REDICULOUSLY gorgeous birds there and there is like a bird-mating place really close by that is really unique because it´s so accessible and we are lucky enough to be able to go there! So, if you haven´t noticed, i´m STOKED. We leave tomorrow morning at 8am and come back Tuesday night around 6 pm (or that´s the plan at least). There are 2 waterfalls we can go in (although they are freezing :( but thats okay), hikes we can go on by ourselves, and apparently Faba (one of our directors) is going to tell ghost stories. Although the ghost stories sound rediculous, i have faith that they will be great! He gave a lecture today on ecological biodiversity in ecuador and had pictures at the end that he took. He had one of an alligator EATING a pirana (the fish that is). IT WAS SO AMAZING. I guess pirana´s are almost 99% vegetarian but if you are bleeding you shouldn´t go in the rivers because groups of pirana´s swarm and attack you and can be very dangerous. Just so you know that is.

More things I´ve learned in/about Ecuador:

*When riding the bus, if you want to look more like an Ecuadorian, fall a lot and ram into the seats when you are getting on (it´s not hard to do because the drivers are REDICULOUS). It´s normal actually. EVERYONE DOES IT.
*Whining is normal also. From ages 1 to 99, whining is taught and listened to (don´t worry, I won´t bring this tactic back to the states. I hate it!)
*When I am successful at bargaining, it makes me so happy!

Ecuador!

Hace dos semanas

Sorry it´s take so long for me to update my blog. School and family stuff keeps me very occupied, even though I definitely am NOT in the school mode yet. School goes from 8am every day until either 1pm or 4pm depending if we have FSS (field study session) or not. Pretty much we talk about all the cultural things that are ¨under the surface¨ in the cultural world. Yesterday we had FSS and it was so ironic because this weekend I was a tad bit homesick and then we had the session and the first thing our teacher talked about was how right now is when culture shock really starts to set it and people start getting homesick for the luxuries of the US, for friends and family, for the norms that we definitely aren´t getting here. Don´t get me wrong, I LOVE it here, but the Spanish thing is getting really hard and I feel like I´m plateauing a little bit in my ability to learn more Spanish. Patience is a virture though, right. haha.

Even though the whole SCHOOL thing is hard to get used to, I love my profesora and love the other four girls in my class. We laugh more in class than I have laughed in any other class. We probably aren´t the most focused class, (ie we talk about very off-subject topics such as food, girl-stuff, crazy ecuatorian men, why weird things happen in our houses, and odd spanish telenovelas) but its hilarious and I love it! Five hours is definitely hard of entirely Spanish, but thats okay. We are going to an indigenous market on Thursday called Saquisilí and apparently everything is REALLY inexpensive becuase it is not focused towards tourists and therefore the prices aren´t raised. I´m hoping to come back with a TON of jewelry, purses and maybe a hammock?? What do you think? Oh and we have to buy some sort of food there to make for the group for Friday because we are having lunch/taste-testing for awhile on Friday. YAY!

This weekend most people went to a bull fight in my town, Sangolqui, becuase there was a festival there. At first it sounded interesting, but I´m so glad I didn´t go. Apparently, three people and a horse died :( and the horse´s death was completely the fault of a drunk guy who rode the horse in front of the bull and the bull kicked the horse and killed it! The town builds a stadium for this annual event, but they rebuild the stadium each year and only take about three days to build it. It´s made of planks and rope and logs... and hundreds of people jump around on it... sounds super seguro to me haha. Anyways, I guess last year the stadium collapsed! So, after hearing about the deaths and the stadium falling, and then going to the festival for about five minutes and being super confused haha, I wanted to leave. It was definitely interesting to see, but a little was enough for me.

Instead of going there, on Friday night I went to the Mariscal (ie. Gringolandía becuase its where are the foreigners go) in Quito with about ten people from the group and their host siblings. We went to ´Tomato´for dinner becuase we still haven´t gotten completely used to the no-eating-dinner thing haha. Libby´s host brother (who definitely has a mullet btw... it´s the in thing) found the concept of dinner outright strange lol. It was really delicious!!! Then we went to a discoteca and although there were tons of gringos there too (I knew because the girls were wearing dresses... I´ve learned people don´t wear dresses here haha. It´s like sandals... its like stamping ¨gringo¨on your forehead haha. It was really really fun to go out with all my friends. They played a ton of Madonna for some reason (odd eh?) and some regatón and salsa and I don´t know the other kinds. I should learn though because EVERYONE asks you what kind of music you like and what kind of music you dance to... and I always just say ´everything´ haha.

On Saturday my fam and I went to Molinuco, an ecological reserve where there are a lot of hikes to waterfalls and views of volcanoes. I LOVED IT. There are pics on my slideshow (if i can get it to work... wish me luck!) It was gorgeous. The hike was pretty much straight up so my mamita and papa and sister only came halfway and then went back down to do a different hike. I went with my brother Galo and his girlfriend Elise (i definitely was calling her Liz for awhile... to her face. lol woops. good thing i figured it out!) We went in the water, took tons of pictures, and laughed at me a lot pretty because I almost ate it hard core.. at five or six different places. More importantly, I didn´t haha.

Sunday was family day and we drove to pick up Anthony and had lunch there. It was delish but OMG they gave me SO MUCH FOOD. This week is diet week haha. I´m so excited because today I realized that my good friend Alec (who´s a girl) lives REALLY CLOSE to me. AND she wants to go running with me and to this dance/aerobic class (I think it´s like Zumba) with me tonight. I´m going with my mamacita so it would be great to have anther person. so YAY!

This week is apparently the ¨longest¨week because after this there is a lot going on to keep us extremely busy. We are headed to Intag, a town in the Cloud Forest, on Saturday and are staying there until Tuesday. I´m SO STOKED FOR THIS. I´m going to take SO MANY PICTURES it will be insane. I think we have a few lectures while we are there, and of course talk about the diversity in culture and biodiversity as well, but I´m just excited to be out of the city and to go hiking! We´ll see how it goes. I´ve heard its really fun! We have to get big rubber boots and I def wanna get some super sweet bright yellow ones haha. Why not make it fun right? Then on Wednesday night... I´M GOING TO A SOCCER GAME!!!!!!!!!! YESSSS!!!! SOOO EXCITED! So pretty much my life is awesome for the next week!

To leave you be, here are some things I´ve learned in and about Ecuador:

*the people her eat, sleep and dream rice.. and i have a feeling i´m going to get sick of it FAST

*how to take cold showers and use cold water for washing my face

*mullets are very popular for Ecuadorian guys

*knowing how to dance is a MUST... especially if you are a guy

*skirts and dresses are a no-no

*abortions are illegal

*everyone loves to talk about the new Constitution (voting occurs Sept. 28th)

*if you like people´s food, you apparently like them...

*Ecuadorian guys are very blunt and don´t hold anything back

*Caution: If you tell someone that they *es buena/o* you are telling them they are sexy

*Americans are funny just by being present...doesn´t matter what we do, we could stand there, and we are funny.

*Ecuadorians listen to the funniest American music

*You are allowed and should saludo (ie as a girl give a kiss on the cheek) to everyone when you walk in the room, or else you are WEIRD.

okay chao for now

my new ecuadorian family

I LOVE my ecuadorian family and all I can say is they make up a million times for the families I have stayed with in the past. My Mama (her name is Mercedes Toro but I call her mama) is fabulous. She is super nice, completely understanding and treats me like a daughter. My papa, Galo Sr., is hilarious and always cracks jokes with me. Sometimes I don´t quite understand them (what can I say, I´m sorta slow sometimes haha) and I get really confused then mama tells he´s joking and I sometimes then sort of understand what is going on. He´s really super nice to me. He´s a civil engineer and contracts out to people. It´s nice here how they have almuerzo as a main meal because then everyone comes home for lunch and you get to see them. Anyways, I also have a sister, Estephie (short for Estephanie) who is 17. I love her so much and it´s great cuz she´s like the sister I never had. She is a senior in collegio and wants to be a lawyer (dad, you´ve got another one on your side... I don´t know if that´s a good or bad thing). She loves make-up and manicures and pedicures and LOVES basquet... ie I think she would be infatuated with Patrick if she met him. I haven´t had a chance to show her any pics of the fam or my friends yet, but I will soon. The internet was down yesterday and Saturday night, so I couldn´t get on. That´s why I haven´t written for awhile.
As a group we came to Los Chillos (which is the name for the valley we are in) and then I came to my host family´s house in Sangolqui. They have a three-story house in an urbanizacion (which is pretty much a neighborhood) and I have my own room on the top floor next to Stephie´s room and my padres room. I have a bathroom right across the hall which I share with Stephie. I also have a TV. I LOVE IT!
Friday night I went grocery shopping with my padres (this is a much bigger experience in Ecuador than in the states... at least in my opinion. There are more fruits here than one would EVER imagine. I´ve got to try a lot and almost all of them are RICA!!). We picked up Stephie at the chocle, which is a big huge statue of rainbow colored corn. She had taken the bus to Quito and was coming back. Then we picked up Galo Jr. at the San Luis mall. Galo Jr. is 20 and really nice but he´s never home (hmm who does that remind you of haha) because he is always with Liz, his girlfriend. She seems very nice though.
Saturday we went to both of the older brother´s houses. They are both married. The second oldest brother wasn´t there though because he works in the jungle and has a schedule of 20 days on, 10 days off. Mom and Dad, you would love this: We had to take the truck becuase their grandson is staying with them and we had to fit his bike in the back, so Stephie and me sat in the bed of the truck on pillows. It was totally safe (not) lol but it actually wasn´t too scary. We listened to every variety of ecuadorian music and it was really interesting. We then went to the other brother´s house (Adolpho). He is very friendly and told me if I ever want to come back I am welcome and also that he is coming to visit us in the US next year haha. I said okay and he´s welcome too.
Saturday night Stephie and I went out to a bar/restaurant with her friends. There were people EVERYWHERE and of course everyone was dancing. There was defintely at least a 20 degree change between inside and outside from all the people dancing and moving around. I danced too cuz nobody could see me in the pitch black so i figured i wouldn´t be made fun of too horribly. The music here is fabulous. Stephie said she would make me a CD so hopefully she will.
Yesterday Stephie and I went and got our nails done. it cost a whole THREE dollars. can you believe THAT??? And it only costs $5 for a pedicure. Im definitely going back. they do these crazy designs though so I might calm it down next time. I´ll take a pic of my nails in the current state and put it up. Right now they are half light pink half neon pink. it´s loco. Then Last night we went to la momia which is the mummy. It was in ENGLISH. i was slightly ashamed to say it, but i was SO GLAD. it was so nice to be able to understand it. I actually liked the movie too. the acting wasn´t so fabulous, but the action and scenery was great.
Anyways, I´m about to go to some aerobics/dance class at the community center. My friend Joanna from the program is going and wants me to come so i´m going too. I´ll let you know how it goes. Chao!