Birthdays and bus tours...

Saturday evening my host parents took me the 50th birthday celebration of Gina's brother-in-law at their house in Quito about 20 minutes away from ours. It was Gina’s sister, Hermia, her husband, Andrés, and their two children, Andrés and Gabby, who hosted about 35 guests. It was quite the party. First, I wore jeans and felt pretty under-dressed. Everyone else was in nicer pants, button-up shirts, and dress shoes. Some of the younger adults had jeans on, so I didn’t stand out too much, besides being the only Americano there. We arrived at about 8:00pm and entered into a beautiful home. For those of you who saw a picture of my host family before I left, that photo was taken in this house. We were received by Hermia and Andres, and then entered into a sitting room where we made our rounds and kissed everyone on the cheek and said good evening. Andrés Jr. took our coats and we sat in another area of the living room. Gina and I had piña coladas - a small stemware crystal glass with an ice cube or two containing a creamy alcoholic beverage. Not at all like what’s served at Americana restaurants in the states. Delicious! All of the men drink whiskey here. Anyways, I was introduced to Gina’s sisters, their husbands, and their kids. Andrés Jr. asked me my name a second time, and started conversation with me which was nice. Gina and her sister giggled as this took place. Oooh, great, I thought. Then we all gathered into one room and listened to a friend of the family play the guitar and sing to us. We all sang a beautiful song to Andrés Sr. (which they handed out the lyrics to on small papers) that was about friendship and family. Here are the first few lines…

Tu eres mi amigo del alma, realmente el amigo que en todo camino y jornada esta siempre conmigo…

You are my best friend (or my friend of my soul), really my friend in every day and every way, you are always with me…

How beautiful is that? Then they put on music, and we all danced! At first, I sat there just watching my host mom and host dad salsa-ing like they’ve probably done for the last 30 years. Ah, don’t worry, yes... I got to dance. Andrés Jr. asked me, I said I don’t know how, Andrés said I will learn. Of course, I have taken innumerable dance classes since age 3, so I wasn’t clueless. And I did move pretty well! After I sat down, Gina and one of her sisters said, “Tienes ritmo! Tu bailas bien.” I think they were pleasantly surprised by my moves. 

We then had a beautiful dinner with really good wine. Andrés Sr. kept asking me what I wanted to drink, so I would always ask him what he suggested out of my options. He suggested a great vino tinto (red wine) and a great blush wine. Both were delicious.

Soon after dinner was over, we sang about three different Happy Birthday songs to Andrés, one of which was the familiar English version which was adorable with all of their thick Hispanic accents. We ate a great cake that Doris, another family member, made in her home. It was paired with an edible cone-bowl with vanilla ice cream and salsa del mora (blackberry sauce). YUM!

We danced again after dessert, this time Andrés Sr. spun me around for a little while to “In the Navy” by the Village People. This was quite comical. It was getting late (about 1:00am!) so Hugo, Gina, and I excused ourselves and thanked our hosts. Great night? I think, YES.

I wasn’t even really keen on going in the first place, but I’m sure glad I did. It was definitely a cultural experience to remember; it was such a unique way to celebrate a birthday. I would like to take a lot of these customs back to my own life and future with family. It was so great to see parents and children dancing together and singing songs to one another. Yes, it’s clear these people are well-off, but it doesn’t seem as though the celebration would have been any less filled with true enjoyment by everyone if they were at a different economic status. Just an idea to ponder, I suppose.

Saturday we went on a small city tour of north Quito. Nena, a communications representative of CM, took us new teachers in a bus to some spots we should explore more on our own time. Old Town, La Virgen del Panecillo, and the Mariscal area of Quito were among our stops. There’s definitely areas of the city I’ll be looking into more during the coming weekends.







The veteran teachers of Colegio Menor returned today for the week of preparation before students return on the 30th of August. Unfortunately, I was 20 minutes late to school because I missed my bus, or it missed me. I’m still undecided about that. Anyways, we had a welcome meeting for all returning teachers, and then went into school-specific meetings. Each school (elementary, middle, and high school) has their own principal. High school, however, is without a principal, so the general director of the whole school, Andrew Sherman, is standing in until they find one for next semester. Some topics of the meeting were review from our New Teacher Orientation last week, but it was good to see the returning teachers ask questions and comment on issues they’ve waited to see be resolved since the previous year. For the rest of the day, Angela and I talked about previous year’s student teachers and how we’re going to run my semester at Colegio Menor. I’ll be taking over full time in about mid-October, so it looks like I should get most of my traveling completed before then! She’s super flexible, so if accommodations need to be made, I’ll be covered. She also told me she isn’t returning to CMSFQ next year; Angela, her Ecuadorian husband, and two sons are moving to the states next summer after living here for ten years. I'm very excited to learn from Angela in her last year at Colegio Menor.