Ok...so I thought I just do a small entry on my s*** week in Quito!!

So picture this...you wake up from a 15 hour bus journey after a wicked weekend in the sun to arrive into a busy bus terminal and to be surrounded by thick black smog...no doubts to where you are...home back in Quito.

Monday night, Katey, Chris and I got a takeaway pizza..we then went to upload pictures when I realised that my camera had been stolen along with Chris´. I couldnt believe it I was devastated. the worse thing is, is that it was 2 kids who sat behind us and they are probably the ones who stole them...its so wrong that a new generation is taught to do these things! It just seems an endless battle...when we´re trying our hardest to teach children to do right there´s so many parents out there teaching the opposite.

Tuesday on the trole the drier played a story on the speakers...everyone seemed just motionless as they listened to the it. It was a nice way to go to work as opposed to the usual shoving and cramming that occurs on the trole most mornings. At work whilst brushing teeth, some guys went into the little hut where we work and stole the bag with all the pencils, paper, lesson plans, glue etc etc for the activities with the kids. I couldnt believe that someone would do that seeing all the kids that it helps.

Wednesday Stef and I were walking home from work we were discussing how we kind of feel at home here now and how weird its going to be adapting to the english life style again and then Stef had her phone robbed in the street right next to my house in daylight!! By this time I´m just reminding myself how I hate the unstableness of this country...it soon snapped back into realising that this will never be home and we will never fit in here, we´l always be targetted... I cant wait to feel the safety of my real home.

Friday Stef, Sarah and I were on the trole on the way to work. Everyone was silently reading the papers and we were the only people talking really... then suddenlythe trole stopped, the doors opened and about 50 screaming kids swarmed the trole...they were climbing over laps desperate to grab seats. It was so funny. It was really niuce to watch as they pressed there squidgey faces against the glass windows point out the different things they saw. They were singing anfd joking with eachother and it reminded me just why I want to work with children, the smallest things please them and everything intheir little worlds is so magical. It also made me think how important my work here is. These kids were fairly well off with school uniforms and everything...the kids I work with would miss out on all of this if volunteers didnt go out and do what we do it gives them a chance of a childhood and prevent them from going straight into work like alot of kids are made to do inorder to support their families.

On facebook today there was a group called "you know you´ve lived in Quito when..." I´m going to copy it into here as it is all so true and it will give you some idea of what Quito is really like.

-many children have run up to you at one time to shine your shoes
-Porta! Movistar! Porta! (these are mobile networks)
-there is a reina for everything!
-you have been called: reina, querida, preciosa, mi hijita, mi amor, guapa, gringa, mamacita... (yuk! the greasy Ecuatorian men)
-Futbol is more important than anything!
-precious stones more than $10 are the gringo price
-two words: BEER TOWERS
-Papaya.net is as well-known as State St. in Madison
-if you don´t get sick to your stomach at least once a week you must not be eating
-malaria pills are as common as aspirin
-if the doors on the bus still shut then it´s not full enough
-milk, butter and eggs are not refrigerated??
-Ecuacheese just doesn´t cut it
-sauce on pizza is a foreign concept
-you know someone who has had a bot fly
-answering your phone catches you off guard. Why didn't they just text me?
-you can´t breathe at an intersection
-you have memorized the names of the Ecovia stops (a bus/tramline thing)
-$3 for lunch is really expensive
-buses, taxis, motorcycles, police vehicles, and even the bikes honk at the gringas
-you can buy 100 limes at the corner for a $1
-you have almost been killed crossing a round-about
-you can distinguish between the honks of a car at another car or at you
-the tenth car in line at the stoplight is the one to honk the most
-the street dogs are smarter at crossing the roads than we are
-you´ve stopped laughing at the names SuperMaxi and MegaMaxi...but you secretly still find them entertaining (the supermarkets)
-the only good thing you can say about USFQ is that it´s pretty
-you carry your umbrella or waterproof with you every day
-you can go from overheated to freezing in 30 minutes
-you feel like you can actually take a deep breath anywhere outside of Quito
-the Mariscal and Gringolandia are synonymous
-no matter the age, any Ecuadorian man will be excited to see a gringa's ankles on the Ecovia
-you have your favorite bus vender and can imitate them
-you wonder how in the world they get 121 songs on a cd and still sell them for a dollar
-blockbuster movies are sold for $2 sometimes before they are even in the theaters
-the mountain view never gets old
-rice is served at every meal, every day
-Coca-Cola is the new water and it even tastes better
-Shawarma and a Pilsener is always the safe choice
-you know what a Chiva is and have learned to love all that it offers
-old town Quito feels like a different city
-Pinguino ice cream is always a must
-you have become accustomed to breaking up the conversation for the 757 to fly over
-children will pinch you to buy the $1 rose at 2am
-roses are 25 for $1 and still thought of as special
-the children are the worst pick-pocketers and the sneakiest!
-all the buses have curtains with fringe on the windows
-a bus isn´t official if it doesn´t have a Jesus sign of some sort
-Slug bug mini-van!
-there are more KFC´s in all of Quito than in the state of Wisconsin
-you´ve adopted your own panaderia, pirated movie store, mini mart tienda, movistar man and internet cafe/phone cabina
-halls cough drops are considered candy
-there is a certain button on the taxi meters for gringos - it charges more
-there are three races outside of Latin: chinos, gringos, negros
-reggeaton is played at all hours of the day, even on over night buses
-you have seen every Chuck Norris and Sylvester Stallone movie on the buses
-only the pride of the 1980s and 90s American pop makes it to the radio(and Robbie wIlliams and Bryan Admas)
-you have never seen so many different types and sizes of bananas
-aji makes any meal that much better(really hot chili sauce!!)
-even the poorest of the poor have cell phones
-you´ve been hit on by a security guard and/or police officer
-you have no respect or care in the world for the police officers
-you never thought white bread could be so tasty
-seeing four snow-covered mountains/volcanoes on your way to USFQ is usually a highlight of your day
-you can guarantee darkness by 6:30pm
-you can never expect them to have change for your $20 bill, or even the $10 bill!
-if the total is $5.15 expect to have the 15 cents ready too
-the electricity goes out for apparently no reason
-no hot water? oh well
-all taxi directions must have a cross street
-at times taxis are mistaken for go-karts
-high class fashion comes at high class prices
-Sukasa is a glorified Pier One Imports
-no screens on the windows? oh right, no bugs
-sometimes you need five different keys just to enter your house
-family dogs hang out on the roof
-you realize that cuy doesn't really taste like chicken
-Ecua-tests require no studying
-you know it's 3:30pm because of the thunderstorm
-throwing toilet paper in the waste basket instead of the toilet has become a habit
-you still get upset when Terminal Terrestre charges you 20cents to leave the crappy place
-a credit card means nothing, just some plastic
-Visa is NOT everywhere you want to be
-you get your 10cents ready to use the public toilet
-pizza delivery comes faster than the ambulance
-anything chevere is chevere(cool)
-the public are more scared of the president than the active volcanos that surround the city
-you have witnessed a political protest or overthrow
-the city buses race eachother through the streets
-you can actually go up hill both ways
-casual drinking on the streets doesn't get a second thought
- a ceviche cures a chuchaqui (raw seafood)
- you hand a cashier a 50 cent piece for something that costs 30 cents and they ask you if you have any smaller coins
- you haggle with taxis for a mere 50 cents
- you get turned down by taxis because they're not headed where you want to go
-"chullas" means you are a hot guy for a man, and you are a b**** for a girl
-a bottle of water is sold for 25 cents and three bottles for a dollar
- you have had to replace your $4 street sunglasses about 4 times
- "Payless" is really PayMORE(a shoe shop here)
- you have to wait about 3 days for your clothes to dry because they got caught in probably four rain storms being on the roof
- you think of Zhumir as badly flavored water(a spirit)

So yeh that really does some this place up!! lol.

But for some reason I do like being here. Its great for travel because it means I can get anywhere easily and for all its negative things...for some reason the place does still have some charm....maybe.

x x x

P.S. the picture has no relevants whatsoever, just cheers me up when I look at it:)