First weekly update

Am about to start my second week at the clinic tomorrow. Last week went pretty well despite the language barrier except when the lady dentist rushes into the filing room, where I spend most of my time, it´s this whirlwind of frenetic spanish I think directed at me and then just as quickly she´s gone and I´m left standing there trying to make some sense of what just happened. It´s actually quite amusing and I just stand there and laugh to myself at how crazy that whole thing was. My aim is by the end of my 8 weeks, to be able to understand at least the gist of what she´s saying to me when she rushes in and out like that.


I actually find myself in a lot of amusing situations because of the fact that I can´t understand what´s going on. On Wed night, I got a lift home with Gabo and his friend, Dani and we were in this tiny little Corolla with three big guys and me squished into the back seat and Dani driving and we were rushing through the streets as quickly as possible because Ecuador was playing their first game in the CopaAmerica Cup (is like the World Cup but only includes Latin American countries and America) and we had missed the first half, so we were rushing to get to a friend´s house to catch the second half. Anyway, so Dani is driving like a mad woman (to me anyway) speeding this way and that around trucks and buses, all the while smoking and messaging and talking on her phone, and we´re listening to the radio commentary to the game full blast and everyone is talking frantic spanish around me (or at least it sounds like that) and then Ecuador scores a goal and we´re tooting and screaming out of the car and everything just goes crazy, and I have no idea what´s going on, but it´s totally hilarious. (conclusion of story - we made it back safely and in one piece to watch the second half, but ecuador lost 2-3 to chile - boo).


The clinic work that I´m doing is going pretty well and everyone is starting to get used to having me around. It was interesting on Wed when I left because there was an unusually large number of kids and parents around and I was wondering what was going on, and then on walking out, I saw that all the kids were lining up to have their photo taken so that they could be sponsored and have those photos sent out so that people could pick them. Seems harsh that it´s picked like that, based on how a kid looks - i reckon it should be an arbitrary system where if do want to sponsor and help a child living in poverty, then you enlist your interest and the organisation gives you a child. I don´t know - maybe that´s more difficult, but anyway was interesting to see the other side to this whole sponsorship thing and to actually see the kids right there in front of me and not just in photo form.


Doing all the filing for the clinic, I obviously see all the names of the children and there are some really interesting trends. For instance, there are a lot of Darwins, which I guess makes sense becuase of the Galapagos islands being ecuadorian and all. But there´s also a lot of Stalins and Lenins, which I think is kind of strange. Imagine being called Stalin. There are also a lot of Jonhatons (yes it´s really spelt like that and that´s only one variation - there are quite a few more) and other variations on english names. I´ve been told that English names are really popular here, especially in the poorer areas. Still not sure about the russian connection thing though.

Gabriel left for LA today - he´ll now be gone for 2.5mths and so I won´t see him again in Ecuador, but hopefully will meet up with him in LA when I´m there. Should be interesting to see if I can talk to him in Spanish at that point or not.

Anyway, have decided to stay in the homestay and not go to the private room becuase I reckon it´s better here because even though it´s a bit more expensive, I´m totally taken care of - all meals cooked, all lunches prepared, all washing done and I don´t have to worry about a thing. Plus I can practice and will definitely learn alot of spanish here, no doubt about it.

That´s about it for now. Will write more as more stuff happens.