Apologies

Ladies and gentlemen,

I apologize for slacking on my blog. I realize it has become a serious problem and I figured I would address it right now while I have some free time. It is currently 12:25AM local time in Santa Cruz, California.

The last three weeks of my life have been pretty much crazy. My last few days in Ecuador were great and even though I was ready to get back to the United States, I was kind of upset to leave my friends and my new "life" behind me. It was a good time though. An update...I got robbed and shot at in Ecuador. Most of you have heard these stories...if not, email me and I'll fill you in. The situations were quite comical and exhilerating at the same time. I didn't write about these originally in my blog because I didn't want people back home to worry about me.

I am tired and for that reason I am going to give a quick run through of the past couple weeks. I got home from Ecuador on a Tuesday. On Wednesday, I visited everyone in Haysi and on Thursday I visited everyone around Emory. Then, me and mom left for Cincinnati on Thursday night. On Friday morning, we woke up and she dropped me off at the University of Cincinnati where I met my friend Colton and his friends Bryant and Nick. We began our trip to Chicago. Chicago was a great city. Out of all the cities I have visited on the east coast and now the midwest, Chicago was my favorite. On Saturday we visited the Museum of Science and Industry, went to the top of the Sears Tower, walked around the city, ate the original Chicago Style Pizza at Uno's...and had a really good time. On Sunday, me and Colton headed to the Amtrak station to begin our journey across the country.

After 60 hours on the Amtrak which turned out to be awesome, we arrived in Tucson, Arizona on Tuesday night. On Wednesday, we hung out with Colton's mom and dad and helped his mom do some stuff around town related to the house they just bought. On Thursday, me and Colton woke up and went hiking in the desert. It was the most intense hike I had ever had up until that point. I didn't drink enough water and I got dehydrated. I think I may have actually had a little bit of heat stroke or something. I was sweating profusely, chilling in the 105 degree heat, and I was also having some emotional problems. It was very intense. Colton's mom hooked me up with a ton of ice and wet towel and she basically nursed me back to health...so it all turned out good. On Friday, me and Colton went to Phoenix with his parents and walked around the city a little bit. It was also a good time. On Saturday, we went to a park about 30 miles outside of Tucson and did some hiking. It was also good.

On Sunday after eating Father's Day breakfast with Colton's dad, we started our journey north. We arrived in Los Angeles and met up with my cousin Mac and his wife Marta where we spent the night. On Monday, Mac took us all around the big places around Los Angeles. On Tuesday, we got up around 5:15, got ready, and went further north. After stopping in Santa Maria, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, and Malibu, we finally arrived around Big Sur at our campground. We walked to the beach which was directly across the road and enjoyed ourselves.

On Wednesday, we hiked 13 miles. Enough said about that. It was awesome!

On Thursday, we headed north to Santa Cruz. We stopped in Carmel and did the 17 mile drive. It was nice. We finally arrived in Santa Cruz and now we are already at work at CTY. The kids get here on Sunday so we have been preparing for that.

Most of the people who read this have facebook...so all of my pictures are on there. I'm not going to put them on google like I did in Ecuador. That would take way too much time.

The past two weeks and the trip was probably one of the best times of my life. It has been a great experience. Now...it's time to work for a few weeks. I'm excited about the kids getting here. It will be a good time. I promise I will update more often now.

Until next time, Zach will leave it at that.

HA

Besides the mountain climbing experience yesterday...nothing exciting has happened.

Otherwise, here are some good stories and random thoughts:
-I rode in a taxi the other night that was driving me 90 kilometers per hour down the city streets of Quito. It was intense.
-Last night, I rode in a taxi that didn´t have brakes and the driver was using the emergency break to slow down and stop.
-My host mom is very funny. She tried to save a handicapped bird that was tied up on the street yesterday. It turns out the people who had it tied up were going to eat the pigeon for dinner...so she left it to be.
-I told my teacher today that I needed to wash my car and my mom. I really need to get these verbs straight.
-I rode on a bus the other day that was so crowded the doors wouldn´t shut.
-I eat rice everyday.
-A week from Sunday, I´m going on a 59 hour train ride across the country with my friend Colton. Some people tell me we are crazy for spending 59 hours of our lives on a train. I beg to differ.
-I attempted to put some videos on YouTube for you to see, but the files are too big and I can´t do it here. Once I get to a better computer, I will do that.

I will be back in the United States on Tuesday! My time here has gone by fast. Even thought I´ve met a ton of people, I´m excited about seeing everyone next week!

Until next time, Zach will leave it at that.

Pictures

At this point in time, I don´t have time to do a long update. That will come probably tomorrow.

Today, I visited the Teleferiqo which is a cable car that goes to the top of the mountain behind Quito. It was almost 14,000 feet elevation! It was amazing to say the least.

There are a few pictures at the bottom of this album.

Ecuador

Until next time, Zach will leave it at that.

Apparently, I Like Fire

I apologize for slacking on this lately. Really, nothing worth updating has happened. But, I will provide you with a funny story.

Today, I told my Spanish teacher...in Spanish...that I liked to burn my family and my friends. That is what the subject of this post refers to.

I come home in 6 days! Yes, Ecuador has been a great experience and I have met cool people, learned Spanish, and visited (and will visit) some cool places...but I am ready to get back to the United States. I am not happy with my flight situation on the way back. This may get confusing, so try to follow along:

The American Airlines flight out of Quito that I will take next week is almost always delayed. I have a one hour and 50 minute layover in Miami...which means if the plane is delayed next Tuesday...I will have a short time in Miami. While I am in Miami, I have to go through customs, collect my luggage, recheck my bags, and make my connecting flight in a different terminal. So...everyone hope that my flight from Quito leaves on time and not an hour late as usual. If I miss my flight to Charlotte, I´ll admit...I will cry.

I´m going out with my friends from Clemson tonight. We´ve discovered some neat bars\dance clubs here in Quito and they create for a good time. I´m looking forward to that. Then, this weekend, I am heading to Otavalo...a huge market about 2 hours from the city. It will be a good time as well.

See everyone in...6 days! Yeah!

Until next time, Zach will leave it at that.

You Have Got to Be Kidding Me

So...yesterday.

I went to Spanish class then I came here to the internet café to take care of some business as usual. If you´re wandering, that business consisted of checking facebook, email...and that´s about it.

I decided I was going to visit the Old Town...or the historic part of Quito...just as I am going to do today. I got on the Ecovia (one of the main bus lines) and normally it is packed. Yesterday, it wasn´t. A seat opened up beside a couple of people and I noticed they were speaking english...so I proceded to ask them if they were from the United States. They said they were from North Carolina. I told them my school was about an hour across the mountain from Boone and it was about 20 minutes from the North Carolina border. Here is the rest of the conversation between Channa (the girl) and I:

Channa: Do you know where Bristol is?
Zach: Yeah...my school is only about 20 minutes from Bristol.
Channa: Do you know where Abingdon is?
Zach: Yeah! I go to Emory & Henry!
Channa: Oh my gosh! I graduated from Abingdon High School!

That might not have been the exact wording...but it was similar. I am in the middle of Quito, Ecuador, got on a random bus, and met a girl who graduated from Abingdon High School! It was nuts.

Everything is good. I have the weekend ahead and I´m not sure what I´m going to do yet.

Yesterday, after I hung out with Channa and her friend Estyn for a little while, I visited the San Francisco Monestary and Museum. It was very interesting. I paid $2 and had an english speaking guide walk me around the museum. It was cool.

See everyone in 10 days!

Until next time, Zach will leave it at that.

Spanish Mishaps

Of course, if you´re just learning Spanish, you are going to have words confused and things sometimes aren´t going to come out right. Since I really don´t have anything to talk about on my blog today, I will update you on a few of the mishaps I have had over the past few days. Me and my spanish ¨profesora¨ spent a good time laughing over most of these.

1. She wanted me to write down the past tense of verbs. She said ¨pasado¨ which is the spanish word for past. I quickly asked her, ¨fish?¨ The spanish word for fish is pescado...I had gotten them confused.

2. Today, she was asking me what I ate for dinner with my Ecuadorian family. I was explaining in spanish that my family really doesn´t eat dinner...and I was telling her some of the things I fix for myself. I said, ¨Yo como sanduches de jabón.¨ Translated: I like to eat soap sandwiches. I meant to say jamon, the word for ham.

3. Today, I was trying to tell her that my host sisters in Ecuador do not speak english, that they only speak spanish. I said, ¨Mi hijas ecuadoriana no hablo inglés.¨ Translated: My ecuadorian daughters do not speak english.¨ I quickly turned myself around and explained to her that I was talking of my ecuadorian hermanas, or sisters and I am positive I have no ecuadorian daughters.

4. One of our daily exercizes is that we go through verbs, and I ask my teacher questions in spanish. Yesterday, I asked her, ¨Que gusta hace in la noche?¨ Translated: What do you like to do in the night? I was expecting to get the answer from her, ¨I like to sleep.¨ I think she took my question pervertedly and she thought I was hitting on her and asking her out. It was confusing.

5. I´m not going to try any spanish for this one, but I asked my teacher yesterday why she liked to work in the mountains. I meant to ask her why she liked to travel in the mountains.

I hope everything is good in the United States. I return in 11 days. Although I am enjoying Ecuador, I´m ready to get back.

Until next time, Zach will leave it at that.

The Excitement of a Bank

So,

Ecuadorian banks are not like banks in America. Well, banks in Southwest Virginia that is. The bank I went to a few minutes ago was very similar to a DMV. You walk in, punch in some information on a computer, and you are given a number. When I got there, I received number C400. The tellers were on number C345. That meant there were 55 people in front of me! I ended up waiting about 45 minutes to see a teller.

Anyways...two interesting things. Most little shops, especially the internet cafés in Quito, won´t take bills larger than 1s! They won´t even change a $5 bill. So, I went to the ATM and it gave me two 20s and two 5s. I didn´t know what to tell the teller, so my host mom wrote out a conversation for me on a piece of paper. When I went to the window assigned to me, I kindly said, ¨Hola! Yo no hablo español,¨and then I handed the teller my money and instructions...haha. It was basically like one of those robberies where a person walks up to the bank window and hands the teller instructions on what to do...except my instructions said graçias with a big exclamation point at the bottom. It was a good time and the teller laughed because of the instructions and fact I wanted 50 one dollar bills.

The other interesting thing. People get really excited when they´re number is called. If you went to a bank and had to wait 45 minutes to see a teller...you would be excited too! Anyways, there was this shorter lady in a business suit who had on really high heels and she was sitting in the seat beside me waiting. Her number was called. She jumped up really quickly not noticing that the front of her foot was wrapped around the chair leg in front of us. She flattened out in front of the whole host of people waiting to see tellers. Everyone from Ecuador was like ,¨ahh!¨ and they ran to help her. I, on the other hand, had to keep my cackle inside. I think I was the only one laughing. I really need to learn not to laugh at inappropriate situations like that.

I don´t know what I´m going to do this afternoon. I may go to the Vivarium...it´s a museum with all kinds of live reptiles. On the other hand, I may go back and take a nap.

Until next time, Zach will leave it at that.

A Day in the Life of Zach

I said a few days ago that I was going to educate you on the culture of Ecuador. I have a list of topics made up...but I figured I would do something different. Here is a day in the life of me, in Quito:

6:15- I wake up because the sun is coming through my window. I roll over, pull the blankets over my head, and try to sleep a few more minutes.
7:00- This must be when everyone begins to drive to work because this is when car horns start blowing. By now, I am awake...and I probably won´t go back to sleep. My bed is comfortable so I continue laying there for another 30 minutes.
7:30- Now, it´s time for me to start getting ready. I only have an hour to get to the spanish school. I gather all of my shower stuff and head to the bathroom.
7:33- I walk in the bathroom and turn on the hot water and wait for it to make it´s way from the water heater in the kitchen. This takes approximately 3 minutes.
7:36- The water is steaming, so I step in. I make sure the large window in the shower is barely cracked so that the neighbors in nearby apartment are not blinded by my white, American posterior.
7:45- I get out of the shower and head back to my room to get dressed. I put on my clothes and make my bed because it would be rude for me to leave my room a mess in someone else´s house.
7:53- After getting dressed and making my bed, I head to the bathroom to brush my teeth. I have to be careful not to swallow any of the water out of the sink when rinsing my brush so that I don´t contract E-coli which could lead to bad number 2´s.
8:00- I head to the kitchen where Cecilia, my host mom, has a slice of pineapple waiting on me. I pop two pieces of toast in the toaster, layer it with ¨marmalada de frutas¨, and eat the toast along with my one ¨omelette egg¨, as Cecilia says.
8:15- After discussing the weather, breakfast, and some Spanish with Cecilia, I head back to my room to gather my things. I put $5 in my back pocket in case of a mugging, my keys in my left pocket, change in my right pocket, and grab my backpack.
8:21- I´m out the door!
8:22- I wait a minute for the elevator to get to the top of the apartment building, then I ride it down.
8:24- ¨Hola, amigo! Buenas dias,¨ I tell the apartment guy as I walk out the front door.
8:25- Now, I´m at the intersection of Seis de Diceiembre and Orellana. I rush across the road to keep from getting hit by a taxi all while having a bus honk it´s horn at me. It´s not very often that a unusually tall, red bearded gringo is running across the streets of Quito.
8:27- I turn the corner of Yanez Pinzon street and head towards the language school. I pass many people in suits who are headed out to work. I, the gringo (American), am in my Gap pants, an E&H tshirt, and either my trusty North Face sweatshirt or my favorite Old Navy sweatshirt.
8:30- I arrive in front of the Equinoccal language school and hit the button to have the gate opened for me. After they look through their little security camera and see it is me, they buzz me in.
10:30- By this time, I have had two hours of español and I want a break. My teacher lets me go get a drink of water and chat with my friends at the school for a bit.
12:30- I am starved! After having them buzz me out of the gate at the language school, I head straight for my apartment.
12:43- After taking my backpack to my bedroom, I head straight to the kitchen where Cecilia has a plate of food waiting on me.
1:07- I usually finish eating my rice and whatever else around now and I head to my bedroom to put some more change in my pocket.
1:15- I leave now to head to the internet café to check my email, check my facebook, and update my blog!! Yea!
2:45- Depending on the amount of email and such that I have, I usually head out of the internet café around this time.
2:45-5:15- During this time, I may go a park, a museum...something like that. After I am done with that, I head back to the internet café before it gets dark to check my email and facebook one final time for the day. Sometimes, important messages come within those three hours!
6:15- I usually head back to the apartment around this time.
6:25- I arrive back at the apartment and head for my bedroom.
6:32- After thinking about the day for approximately 7 minutes, I pick up my book I´m reading and read until around 7:45.
7:45- I head to the kitchen a fix a ham sandwich...yeah! My splurge of American food each day.
7:55- I head back to my bedroom and do my Spanish homework. Usually, it takes me around 45 minutes.
9:00- I go to my closet, grab my toothbrush, floss, head to the bathroom, brush my teeth, floss, and then I head to bed.
11:10- I usually wake up around this exact time every night. I think there is a really loud plane that goes over around this time every night.
11:13- I´m back to sleep.
12:30- A car alarm goes off. Awake again. Then, I´m back to sleep and sleep until 6:15 the next morning!

Wow...that turned out much longer than I expected. I hope you like it though.

Until next time, Zach will leave it at that.

Yesterday, I Walked on the Equator

A few times that I have updated, I have told about what I considered to be my best time yet in Ecuador. Once again, I will say that yesterday was the best day I have had thus far in Ecuador.

I took a trip with the group from Clemson. We met at the school around 9 yesterday morning and headed north of Quito towards the equator. On the way, we stopped at an overlook. I forgot what the name of the volcano was that we were looking at, but it was an amazing view. There is a picture in my photo album.

We left there and headed towards the equator. We first encountered the equator at a museum we visited. It was a museum that demonstrated how the Incas lived. It was very interesting. In this museum is where the equator passed. It is where all of my pictures of the equator were taken. There were many neat instruments they had placed on the equator to demonstrate the forces of gravity and the sun telling time and seasons and such.

We left there and visited La Mitad del Mundo, or, the middle of the world. We ate lunch at a nice little café and then visited an ethnographic museum that explained all the different peoples that live in Ecuador. It was very interesting. Even though most of the day was spent learning stuff in Spanish, I got the general idea of what the guides were trying to tell us.

We arrived back in Quito around 4 yesterday evening and then we went out to a bar\dance place last night. It was fun. There was a ton of spanish music and all of a sudden...Usher came on. Of course, I danced a lot. Since it is dangerous to walk from my apartment to the ¨Mariscal¨, or club area of the city, I had to take a taxi by myself to the Mariscal last night. I got a taxi, told him where I needed to go, negotiated a price, and paid him...all in spanish! It was good. Even though it may sound simple, and it was, I was proud of myself because I did the whole thing in spanish. At around 1230, I took a taxi back as well.

I stayed in bed until 1030 this morning which is different for me considering I have been waking up at 7 every morning. It was good to just relax. I don´t know what I´m going to do this afternoon. I may go the park not far from where I live and finish reading my book I´m on. I will have it done by this afternoon. That will make two books that I have read since I have been here. And, I only brought two. I´m going to have to seek out an english bookstore here in the city and buy a couple more to last the rest of the time while I am here.

I added a few new pictures from the equator to my album:

Ecuador

Until next time, Zach will leave it at that.

It´s Friday!

Here in Quito, Friday´s feel the same as they do in the United States...I am glad they finally come around. I have two days free of spanish classes which is a big relief. Even though my spanish classes are going pretty good, it´s nice to have a break.

Yesterday, I visited the Botanical Gardens. It was actually a good visit. It cost me $3.50 to get in and I could walk around as much as I wanted. A couple good pictures I took are in the photos I have uploaded.

After I visited the Botanical Gardens, I went and laid by a pond in a park for about an hour and just watched people. It was fun.

Tomorrow, I am headed off to la mitad del mundo...the equator! I leave here around 9am in the morning and I will get back around 5 tomorrow evening. I am going with the language school so there is no need in worrying about me getting lost somewhere in random Ecuador. I will be fine.

I put a few new pictures in my album. Enjoy-

Ecuador

Until next time, Zach will leave it at that.