Classes

8.18.08....... Day 6

So, today I developed a real appreciation for my lovely Oregon University, and not to mention the USA. This morning I woke up, showered and left for school in the rain. I walked a little ways then caught a bus and met everyone on campus. We walked to the Linguistics building, where we were to have our first class of the day, Spanish. First, we had to figure out where we needed to go. Here, figuring out your schedule doesn't happen months before your classes begin, it happens sometime during the first week of class. We all knew that we were at least registered for our Spanish classes, which take place from 9 to 12 monday through friday, but that's all we know. We won't be officially registered for any other classes until friday, because we need to wait and see if those classes even get enough students signed up to make them official. It's pretty annoying, and I was stressed out for a while until I was reassured by my resident director how the process works, and that most likely I will be able to get the classes I want. 

I do know that I will for sure be able to be in the Ecuadorian Amazon class, which is awesome. I also know that the yoga class is going to happen, I just don't know the room  number, so I'm going to go back to her tomorrow to figure that out. Yoga will be SO good for me here. I need a way to relieve my stress, and yoga will be perfect for that. 

So, as of now, I'm feeling pretty good about my classes situation, and I think it's all going to be okay. It was just weird because today all I had was my spanish class and then I went home!

I wanted to walk home to get some exercise and to take a look in some stores that I had been passing. On my walk home, I went into a department store that I think was a little bit lower end. I was looking for some nice shoes and a nice jacket, just so I could look less like a scrub compared to the Ecuadorianas. I didn't find anything. I kept walking and looked in the next store I saw. I felt really awkward walking around but it was fun. I grabbed some jackets and tried them on but they totally didn't fit my torso. Ecuadorians are really short and have short bodies, and these clothes were clearly made for them. While I was looking around in the women's department, I noticed that the mannequins look a little different than the ones in the US. They have giant booties and are very curvy. I thought that was awesome. Oh, and later when I was watching TV, I saw an infomercial for jeans without back pockets that supposedly lift and shape your butt. Haha, so funny. All the women in america want to be skinny and the ones here want to accentuate their curves. Pretty awesome. I tried on some shoes too and noticed that the sizing is different here. In the US I'm a 7 1/2 and here I'm a 38. 

After my shopping adventure I decided to stop by the bank to ask if I can cash my traveler's checks (so far NO place has accepted them, and I have a lot, so I need to figure out what to do with them). I walked into the bank past security guards and couldn't figure out what line to stand in. There were three that were for different things that I didn't understand and none of them were moving at all. Everything's a lot slower in Ecuador. People stroll along the street at a leisurely pace and don't hurry to get things done. That was how it was in the bank too, but of course no one seemed to care. But I did! Because I'm American.  I didn't want to stand there all day just to ask a question, plus I didn't even know if I was in the right line! So I left to see if the ATMs were working. Of course they weren't, so I decided to try again another day. Tomorrow I think I also want to go explore the Marriott hotel, which is three blocks from my hotel. I think it's a good place for my parents to stay when they come visit. 

Anyway, I got home and had lunch with Mony, which was fun, and then we watched the OC, in English, with spanish subtitles. It was the highlight of my day. I love that show. It totally reminds me of home. Then she left for class and I hung out at home and did my Spanish homework. 

When Cory got home we all had coffee and bread with jam together, which seems to be a custom here. There's no dinner. Instead there's coffee and a little snack, which I like. I'm going to go to bed soon and class again tomorrow!

Chao! (that's how they say bye here)