Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Likes and Dislikes of Living in Ecuador


Likes:
1. Big bottles of yogurt for $1.35 --I love yogurt
2. Living in big city
3. My classes (because they are easy, and not my job)
4. Getting 8-10 hours of sleep a night
5. Real fruit juice at every meal
6. Stray dogs everywhere (reminds me of Max the ugly campus dog at Taylor)
7. Hanging out with the other Taylor students
8. The family I’m staying with here
9. Mountains
10. The fact that you can buy a cat for $3 (not that I’m gonna get one, but the fact that I can intrigues me)
11. Independence
12. 12 cents a minute international calling
13. Feeling adjusted and comfortable
14. Having Tuesday and Thursday mornings free (starting October)
15. Learning a lot about culture and life down here
16. Being called a gringo every so often (or even gringito, which means little white guy but ‘ito’ is added a lot when talking about people you know and like)
17. Hopefully a trip to the Galapagos islands (Heather if you are reading this we all want to go bad!)
18. Having a maid make your bed, do your laundry, and prepare your food
19. Walking to work because it gives me time to think, pray, listen to music, exercise
20. The verse John 15:5,--- "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.---which is quite a comforting promise. We don’t need to worry about making a difference, just stay connected to Jesus and we will!
21-25. LLAMAS BABY!


Dislikes (not for the sake of complaining, just giving a real sense of life here and for laughs):
1. Sparse and SLOW internet (I’ve been trying to upload a bunch of pics to facebook for about 10 days now but it never works, rats)
2. Not always being able to say what I want
3. Sick bus smells
4. Traveling to work/school a lot everyday
5. Poop on the sidewalks from all of the stray dogs (see 6 in likes)
6. Stepping in poop mentioned above
7. Giving the guy on the bus a dollar bill and getting all dimes back
8. The 15 bus stopping at 6:30 so to get to church or Josiah’s house we have to walk or take a cab
9. Different keyboard configuration at work (I try and save something and it underlines stuff)
10. Not being able to watch the Cubs miss the playoffs (lets be honest with ourselves and if I accept defeat already then it won’t hurt as bad when it happens. I reserve this way of thinking only for the Cubs, because anything else and you have some problems)
11. Missing friends and family from home
12. My practicum. I hope and pray that it will move to the likes but so far it’s really boring. I feel like pulling my hair out sitting in front of a computer all day and typing with cold fingers, which leads to 13.
13. I feel like my fingers are always cold. It’s either
a. don’t wash my hands after the bathroom and have dirty hands, the number 1 way to get sick, which I don’t want
Or
b. Wash my hands with freezing water (because not every faucet has warm water) and have cold hands for hours on end.
If only I had some gloves made out of authentic llama fur to keep me warm, or maybe if someone could snag me one of those hand dryers from a gas station bathroom and FedEx it to me, I would be eternally grateful
14. Carrying my wallet in my front pocket (lots of pickpocketers want to steal from a nice-dressed gringo, heck I would….jk)
15. That dang guy selling sunglasses by the bank. I make one comment on how I like his old school-early 90’s Chicago Bulls jacket and he chases me down the street trying to sell me sunglasses. I guess nice guys do finish last, or at least running from sunglass vendors.



A couple sweet truths to leave you all with:

God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.
2 Timothy 1:7

"Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

2 comments:

josiahdhatfield said...

Wow, a picture AND a blog.

Impressed.

Kristen said...

Let's see, my comments:
5 on likes- LUCKY!

10 on dislikes- ok, as a Cubs fan, I can understand the defeatist attitude right now, but i prefer to look at it this way: they'll make the playoffs, they just won't make it any further than the first series. And not to rub it in, but I going to Cincy for the games next Sat :)