One month in!

it's gone pretty quick really! can't believe it!!

this week in Remar has been good, full steam ahead with the card-making business! it's good working with the girls, though it's hard coz i can' really trust them: if i'm not in the room they'll just help themselves to the stuff - i want to be generous but they've got to learn they can't just take what they want when they want it!! had a sad moment when i had to tell them off for taking stuff ( i was quite suprized that i could sound so serious in spanish!)!! i'm really looking forward to really getting to know the girls better and investing in them... ooo sweet moment this week, one of the girls called me 'sister' and gave me a hug... i think they're starting to feel comfortable with me which is good but still can't understand most of what they say... oo comedy moment, one of the girls refered to me as the 'gringita' and i said loudly, 'hey i'm not gringita, i have a name!' which made them laugh lots!!! So it's mostly positive working with the girls, but it's not without it's hairy moments! Monday i helped in the kitchen again, and this time was better, understood more what was going on, felt more useful, and spent time with some different girls. though i spent 2+hours peeling potatoes (i was slow, and they were tiny which makes it very fiddly) and ended up with stained fingers, which still aren't completely clean now!!! Friday morning i was just hanging out with the kids. As its the Fiesta de Quito (celebration of the city's independence) this weekend they didn't have many classes and we had mini party with music, dancing (comedy!!), and games...though every time i sat down, i got bundled by millions of kids (slight exaggeration!!! about 5) It's good fun hanging out with the little kids, though i spend alot of time telling them not to hit each other!!!

coz it's fiesta de quito, i've got my concerts with the choir this weekend... 2 today and 2 tomorrow... i'm hoping my voice is gonna hold out - we had a rehearsal (ensayo) on thurs, and i couldn't sing, i'd nearly lost my voice... and no, it's not from shouting at the kids for being naughty, it's because i've had (and still have) a stinking cold this week! with a lovely chesty cough!!! Paquita thinks it's because the climate is so changeable, that my body's not used to it! (can be really sunny hot in the morning, really cold + wet in the afternoon!) ... this also probably means (along with the traffic fumes) that it'll take me longer to recover than it would in england!! hmmm...i've got a red nose! grrr.... but choir's really good fun, and this week i met a girl whose my age, hopefully we'll become friends! i'm off soon to the teatro (theatre).

in keeping with my normal randomn writing fashion, i shall now jump to something completely different!! or a few different little things.... firstly, a little about the trole, the transport i take everyday. It's kind of similar to the trams we have in sheffield, crossed with the underground in london... and they have a tendency to be extremely squished!! this week had a rather unpleasant bum-bum experience with someone, arghhh! but what i really wanted to say is that some of them play music...and the other i was coming back from a promo sing in one of the centro comerciales (malls), and i experienced a real blast from the past...songs from the 60s that i used to listen to when i was a little (a tape of my dad's)... can't remember they names now but it was weird to hear them!!

now, a little about jobs here, obviously there are the same jobs we have in england... but also a lot of people are employed as security guards, at houses, at businesses, at shops... anywhere and everywhere! the big difference to england is the number of people that work on the streets, of all ages... people with little sweet stalls, newspaper stalls, women with a little BBQ type contraption for cooking platanos (big bananas), people selling DVDs, gloves, fruits, veg... anything... Then at traffic lights you get people selling the mobile phone company top'up cards (dressed in blue or yellow jumpsuits, attractive!!), and you also get entertainers - some are pretty poor, some are good - flamethrowers, clowns, dancers, who take the road when the light is red, then before it changes go by the car windows to get a few centavos for their performance... Oo an 'english' highlight for the week... got my first post!!! janee (my big 'sis') sent me a fab card which is a mini advent calendar... soo cool!!! i'd totally forgotten about advent calendars!!

oo still getting comments and being stared at, this week i had "Hello precious, do you have the time?" (but instead of 'hora' = hour, he said 'horita', -ita is added to things alot, it kind of makes words more cute, well, thats the only way i can explain it..) I was talking to Janeth, an ecuadorian latin linker about it, and she said i should like it that people make comments! i don't like people making comments in england let alone here!! though i have noticed, it's not just people like me, i've noticed men really obviously checking out ecuadorian women ... so now i reckon it's not soo much that i'm gringa, but it's the machismo culture!!! but grrr anyway!!

not sure when i'll next write, coz i'm away next weekend - i'm taking a trip to Santo Domingo for our Latin Link 'christmas day' - it's gonna be alot hotter there, so i might actually get to wear my shorts, and not wear a jumper!!! looking forward to it, my first time outside of quito!!!
it's time i was going, but i hope that you're all well! don't forget to keep in touch with life were you are!! oodles of love xx

p.s. if you're squimish don't read this next bit...
just a wee update on my BCG!! just had to let you know (especially stacey!! hee hee!!) that it stopped pusing awhile ago, and now there's even no scab... so it's healing nicely! yeay! though people keep noticing it, and asking what it is with really worried faces!!! xxx