Cotidiana

There are small daily things here that I usually forget to blog about because in my mind they don't quite fit into a post (I like write in themes or at least events).

So here they are:
Ecuadoreans kiss each other on the cheek as a form of greeting and saying goodbye.  This is something that has sort of become habitual for me, I almost want to kiss my friends' cheeks who are also international students.  However, there have been awkward encounters.  The first time a girl went in for the kiss on the cheek I realized I had no idea which side I was supposed to lean towards... right or left... a potentially terrible mouth to mouth situation flashed in my mind.  But I chose correctly: always go towards the left.

Situation number 2: My host family had two friends visiting.  I went out to say hello and kissed them on the cheek. But then when they were leaving they only shook hands with my host parents, no kissing occurred.  So the same man came to the house a few days ago and I thought I would just get away with shaking hands.  Not quite, he was going for the kiss on the cheek but I was already pulling away so he ended up kissing my head, above my right ear.  Woah, I hope my hair didn't smell. 

I sleep a lot here.  I go to bed at 10pm, sometimes earlier, and I sleep til 7am.  I don't know what's up, but I literally cannot stay awake if I'm trying to do homework and it's later than 10pm.  One Friday when I stayed out late, I woke up at 8pm (which is considered sleeping in here) and then took a nap after breakfast and another nap after lunch.  Rosa joked that I'm going to be una gordita by the time I go home.

I have already twice misjudged the length of my bed and crashed my head into my headboard.  It hurt a lot. 

I also hit my head on a mystery part of the bus while trying to exit.  Riding the buses is probably the most dangerous thing I do on a daily bases.  For men, buses don't come to a full stop, and they have to hop on or hop off.  Also, to get a bus to stop where you want it to, you stand near the front and repeatedly say gracias.  The bus drivers like to go really fast around tight curves. For a good scare I'll look out of my window to stare down sheer cliff as we speed around it.  I am so glad there's no black ice in Ecuador.


And finally, not a daily occurrence, but there was a slight earthquake yesterday during dinner. By the way, I will be traveling to the coast this weekend so I won't be posting until next week.  Hasta luego!