Ecuador: the video montage

My favorite season is spring

It's true.  Even though spring is full of mushy grey snow and wet sneakers, it is also full of happy anticipation and sunshine.

Today I bought strawberries and I've already eaten half of them.  Delicious.

I took a nine page midterm this morning, and I have four hours of rehearsals tonight.  Gross.

But still, it is so warm outside.  So I am happy.

From latitude 0 to latitude 64

I am exhausted right now.

On Sunday night I danced and danced and danced and didn't go to bed until 2 a.m.  I woke four hours later to get on a bus to Mindo to go ziplining.

On Monday night I got on a bus at 10 p.m. to go to Quito to catch a plane.  My plane didn't leave until 6 a.m., and I was planning on sleeping.  But I could only sit in the airport shivering and shivering.  Then I flew and flew and flew.  I caught a total of two hours of sleep among my three plane trips.

Then I got back to Fairbanks, and started on all this homework I didn't do when I was in Ecuador.  I finally finished at 4:30 a.m.  And then I woke up at 8:30 for class.

Add it up.  That's 10 hours of sleep since Sunday morning.

I handle no sleep fairly well.  Unless you count the fact that I laugh or cry at the drop of a hat.

My trip was so wonderful.  So indescribably wonderful.  Ecuador is so beautiful.  The people I met were so welcoming.  The colors of everything were bright and the fruit was fresh and good.  The weather was humid and hugged you close like it didn't want you to leave.  And seeing Valerie was the best.  The best.

Beatboxing needs no translation

This morning, Val and I got back from the coast and headed off to her school.

I was with Val for a couple of her classes.  And then I helped Maryam with her colegio class, which are high school aged kids.  I was a guest speaker and they asked me questions like "Do you like rock music?" and "What is your favorite color?" and "Do you have a boyfriend?"*

Then for the last period of the day, I was with Valerie and her colegio kids.  And I taught them how to beatbox.  Seriously.  I was sitting on the desk, and Valerie was just like "hey, you should teach them how to beatbox."

So then I did.  After that we sang them "Hey, Soul Sister" and played our ukuleles.  Then we tried to teach them "I am a Vampire."  You know, the Antsy Pants song on the Juno soundtrack?  That didn't really work so well.

But they were paying attention when I was teaching them how to beatbox.  I think I might go into teaching as a profession.  I'm so inspired.

This afternoon I played cards with a bunch of the Baha'i youth that are here on their periods of service.  I didn't really understand the card game at all, because it was explained to me in Spanish.  But it was still really fun.  I love being in this Baha'i atmosphere of service and unity.  And even fasting.  Visiting Val on her YOS** has made me really excited for mine.

And then tonight we went to a pie restaurant together.



*Answers: yes, red, and no, respectively.

**Year of service

Different continent, same girls

I got up this morning before sunrise and ate a mango for breakfast.  Then I drank some tea, and said prayers with Valerie, Maryam, and Rosita, and took a shower in a bathroom with turquoise walls.

Everything is colorful here.  Everything is also in Spanish.

The good part is that I actually absorbed some of my high school Spanish, and if I concentrate really hard I can figure out what's going on.  The bad part is that I'm not very good at concentrating hard, and I can't really speak Spanish back to anyone.

So, hi.  If you didn't know, I'm in Otavalo, Ecuador visiting Valerie, who's living here for a nine month period of Baha'i service.

Today I went to the school Valerie teaches at.  She introduced me to her students, wherein they had to practice introducing themselves to me in English.  I helped her segundo students color and they hugged me a lot.  And I pushed her prebasica students on the swings, and played hide and go seek with them.

Then we came back to the place where Valerie and Maryam live.  Since it was raining, Val and I decided that watching old movies starring Johnny Depp would be a good way to pass the time until sunset when we'll break fast.

Different continent, same girls.

Our broomball team is like the Spiderman musical

There are lots of things I love about UAF.  Like paying instate tuition and being able to afford visiting Val.*  Also, the sledding hill is awesome.  And then, of course, I love broomball.

The thing about sports is that I'm not very good at them.  I ran and skiied in high school, but I was always the girl that was valued for her cheerful attitude if you get what I'm saying.

But I'm actually okay at broomball.  And so I enjoy immensely.  I like falling on my knees and accruing bruises and I like sliding on the ice and I like slamming into people while chasing after the little orange ball.

But our broomball team is a lot like Broadway and their endeavor to make a Spiderman musical.  We mean well- we really do- and we're only trying to make the world a better place with our love of Spiderman and broomball.  But we just haven't gotten it yet.  Whether it is scoring a point or opening our musical to the public, it just hasn't really happened.

Tonight was the championship game, and we kept it tied at 0 and ran down the clock so we went into overtime, and everyone was yelling and cheering, and both teams were running up and down the ice, and we were really really excited because we were playing for tshirts and that makes it really serious, and go go go go team go go go.  And the War Squirrels scored.  Damn.

This Plus 5 Bananas

*OH MY GOSH 47 HOURS 16 MINUTES AND 23 SECONDS OH MY GOSH OH MY GOSH OH MY GOSH OH MY GOSH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Fake resume

A lot of my friends are currently on the hunt for summer jobs, and I was kind of inspired by them to write a fake resume.


Elika
you can contact her via the comment section on this blog.

Useless diploma acquisitions
-Went to high school, did not learn much.
-Is currently attending college and is learning marginally more, although still not that much.

Unrelated past experiences
-Played principal oboe on Beethoven's ninth in the Sydney Opera House.
-Won a hula dancing competition in March 2010.
-Had a blog post featured on the nerdfighter website in January 2010.
-Was a member of an intramural waterpolo team last semester that lost every game by at least 10 points.

Irrelevant skills
-Can play the ukulele at a mediocre skill level.
-Excellent at losing important things like library books or syllabi.
-Can take a wicked jumping picture.
-Has kept a blog for over a year that people seem to enjoy reading.

Other things that might make you want to hire me
-In possession of a Spidey suit.
-Can hold breath for an average amount of time.
-Massive fan of John Green.

What would be on your fake resume?

Sunny Sundays at school

Today it was deliciously happily sunny and warm and springlike.

For Fairbanks.  Which means it was still below freezing and it just seemed bright because the sun was reflecting off the snow that seems like it will never go away.  But I didn't wear a coat on the walk to dinner, and I barely shivered at all.

Spring is coming, I believe it.

This weekend has been a lazy weekend full of sleep and episodes of Parks and Recreation.*  Now it's Sunday night again, which means I have a paper to write and a midterm to study for.

But even the imminence of a history test tomorrow morning can't dampen my spirits.

Because 1. history is interesting, and 2. IN LESS THAN ONE WEEK IT WILL BE SPRING BREAK AND I WILL BE IN SOUTH AMERICA WITH VALERIE.

I. Can. Not. Wait.


*About 10 episodes of Parks and Recreation later, I've decided I want to be like Leslie Knope when I grow up.