Los Chillos

Okay, the much awaited third post (sorry folks).

I have so much to tell... Okay, so a week from this past Friday I arrived in the Valley of Los Chillos. I live with the Haro family: mom: Nora/dad: Pepe/brother: Guillermo (22)/brother: Esteban (19)/sister Gabby (16). They are wonderful and treat me like a family member with perks. Like, I'm a member of the family but I"m not allowed to do dishes..etc.

I have classes every weekday--5 hours of spanish every day and sometimes seminar after that. It's definitely rough, but I imagine it'll be very effective. I find myself thinking a little bit more in Spanish these days, and understanding what's happening around me (at times) without having to translate into English. I definitely have a hard time understanding quick conversations happening around me though. I keep reminding myself that I've only been here 2 weeks, and that I'm sure in 8 or so months, that'll change.

Generally, I have to take a step back every day and question whether this is real life. I pretty much feel like David after Dentist at all points (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txqiwrbYGrs&feature=fvst). Is this real life? Is this gonna be forever?
1. I arrived at my gated community last week to learn that my host uncle is called the Coronel, works for the army, and lived in Georgia for three years as the DIRECTOR of the School of the Americas. And everyone here is really excited about it. Yes folks, SOA, like, the place that I've been twice to protest. Like, the topic that I wrote my "intercultural experience" essay on for my application for this program (which is sitting in my family's living room, by the way. Excellent.)

2. My gated community (conjunto) nearly burned down last week. As the Valley and Quito are very prone to fires, everything was on fire last Monday, and there were no firefighters left to take care of the fire that was slowly but surely advancing towards our conjunto. Unbeknownst to me, the fire began around 1130 or so, and my extended family started calling the firefighters around noon to no avail. By 2:30, after finishing lunch, I went out with my host dad to check on the smoke to see whether we would need to call the firefighters. We went to the end of the compund to find a frantic aunt who explained her failed efforts. Pepe (host dad) and Gaby (host sister) began calling the 911 equivalent, only to be told that all firefighters are busy, and we are a community, so we should just put it out ourselves. Eventually, 2 firefighters are sent on motorcycles with machetes to cut away at the grass so the fire doesn't spread (¿....?), but to a different location pretty far from the fire threatening to destroy the conjunto. So we drove out to them, Pepe frantically pushed them to go to the real fire...40 minutes later we gave up and came home. By the time we got back, the entire place was engulfed in smoke. You could barely see, barely breathe, tears streaming down your face, etc. Forutnately, Nora (host mom) sometimes cooks with surgical-esque masks, so everyone got to wear a face mask. (real life? i think not.) People are running around with buckets of water. The fire has spread to TWO perimiters of the conjunto by this point, and a devastating language barrier leads me to believe that a house is on fire, which it is not. I am running around like an idiot, frantically asking anyone i run into how i can help. Everyone tells me i can't, and then disappears. They all seem to have efound something to do except me. I'm wearing three surgical masks, smoke-induced tears and snot streaming down my face, panicking because I think a house is on fire, that the firefighters are not coming, and that everything is going to burn down. Fortunately within 5 minutes of this panicked state, the firefighters arrive and begin to put out the fires on both sides. The fire has spread to the cathouse in my uncle's backyard and the firefighters are busy with the giant fires, so we create an assembly line of bucket passing to put out the cat house. Again, real life, I ask you? Absolutely not. Two of my friends who are living in families across the street eventually came over to see the ruckus. As Alanna and I began throwing lemons from a tree across no-longer-burning-ditch that separated us, she was sprayed by the giant firehose which apparently was not done putting things out.

Okay I have to go at this moment because I'm heading to Quito to see the Centro Historico with my pal who I met on the airplane and my host brohan. I have more to update but I'll post this for now.

Too much glory...