At 6:35am on Thursday, August 19th, I left Quito. Sad. After some vexing seat shenanigans on the plane, I squeezed myself into the middle seat, neither window nor aisle, and cried a little bit. Probably more than I'd like to admit. As the plane sped down the runway, I looked out of the window and thought "So that's where the golf course is!! Damn!" Sure enough, it was right next to the airport the entire time and I never once made it out for a round.
I am back home now writing this from Chicagoland and enjoying things like home cooked food, driving and my sister's little dog, Chewy (I've taken a shine to calling him Chewish.) Although, there happens to be quite the list of things I'm not enjoying... things like American prices. I just dropped 70 bucks so I can have a functional cell phone for the next month. I find myself saying, "In Ecuador..." a lot. For example, "In Ecuador, I put $6 on my cell phone and this amount lasted me anywhere from 2-3 weeks." Sigh...
I've been compiling a list of reverse culture shock moments for your amusement:
1. Fighting urges to say (or at least attempt to say) everything in Spanish. But I still talk to Chewish in Spanish... I think he likes it.
2. Epic battles between the left side and the right side of my brain on the issues of throwing toilet paper in the toilet. I'm still looking around for the trash.
3. Not expecting cars to stop for me when I'm in the crosswalk and then genuinely confused/surprised when they do.
4. Getting carded for buying a beer. What's the drinking age here? Do you really care? Interesting. Where's my ID?
5. There's XM in my mom's car and I've noticed one of her favorites is the 24/7 Elvis station. That's not so much culture shock, but just annoying. Sorry, mom. Love you!
6. Forgetting to lock doors and being somewhat okay with it. (this may be a Midwest small town, thing...)
There will no doubt be more to report but I think I'll leave the list at 6 right now. For those of you in MI, I will see you in less than a week! Feel free to call me at my same ole number... preferably after 9pm when I get free nighttime and weekend minutes....
After I go take my clothes off the line, I think I'll go for a bike ride.
Un abrazo,
C
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oh also!
ReplyDelete#7 - I just uploaded over 90 pics to FB and it took under 5 minutes... not to mention the video...
Went to get a pedicure yesterday with my mom, sister and grandmother.... that was weird, too. Probably the 2nd one I've ever gotten in my life. My grandma was shocked when I chose a black color with a subtle white design. I don't think I'll ever get used to pedicures :)
ReplyDeleteEcuador is one of the most beautiful countries of South America. Nothing compares to the landscapes of the Highlands, the lush of the Amazon Rainforest, the exotic Beaches of the Coast and the mystery of the Galapagos Islands.
ReplyDeleteHi Chrissy, you were my teacher in Intermediate Two at CEC Institute. I don't know if you remember me.I found you in Facebook, and I read some of your notes, all of them are really beautiful. By te way, you were a good teacher at CEC. A lot of classmates remember you as a good teacher. I hope you are Ok. I know that it's really hard when you leave a country, but you were in a diferent country, with a diferent language, you met diferent people, so it's is awesome!! I hope that you have learned a lot spanish, if you like it. It's really easy, and I'm sure that you can speak spanish right now.
ReplyDeleteI hope that you understand me, sorry by some mistakes.
Greetings.
Raquel