Reading: Let It Rot by Stu Campbell
Things I miss from the States:
· Coffee – all of the coffee grown here is simply exported. However, they love to drink café or Nestle’s instant coffee for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Needless to say I’m coping, but carefully rationing the last of my stash of Coffea coffee...
· Cooking – My host mother usually has dinner prepared for me before I get home from class and is very adamant that it’s perfectly fine for Heather and I to sit and wait for dinner to be served to us like the rest of the family does. We were able to make guacamole one evening, but now that’s simply prepared for us as well…
· Browsing – Ecuadorians have no culture of simply walking into a store and looking around just for the heck of it. Consequently, every time you walk into one you are instantly bombarded with “What can we help you find? Do you want this? Would you like this?” It’s a little tiring, especially when all you want to do is just kill a half hour and look around.
· Ajo – This goes along with the whole cooking thing, but I really miss being able to put garlic in all of my dishes. It doesn’t seem to be very popular here and it seems like the bugs are much more prone to biting me now that I don’t have a diet rooted (note the pun) in garlic.
· Music – I’ve lost that car time and those mornings/evenings of listening to music. It’s being supplemented with bus music of the latino variety. Slowly, it’s growing on me. My family loves to have the TV on in the background (which does keep me up to date on news without internet). But I’ve also become quite familiar with the Simpsons because of this… I’d rather have David Byrne.
Things I thought I would miss but am doing okay without:
· Being able to drive – The bus system here is quite extensive and Tumbaco is very walkable, which is especially nice after sitting in class for most of the day.
· Internet – Honestly, life is fine without it. That being said, I do miss being able to download NPR podcasts on a regular basis.
· Cell phone – Technically, I have one but I have no idea how to use it. Literally, I could go days without checking it because it rarely needs to be charged and no one ever contacts me on it. I’m even starting to fall out of the habit of constantly checking for a new text, because I wouldn’t know how to respond to it anyway.
· Broccoli – living in the suburbs has it perks, which includes access to legit veggies.
· Living on my own – Aside from the cultural misunderstanding of alone time, adjusting to living with a family again hasn’t been nearly as difficult as I thought it would be.
Things I miss from the States:
· Coffee – all of the coffee grown here is simply exported. However, they love to drink café or Nestle’s instant coffee for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Needless to say I’m coping, but carefully rationing the last of my stash of Coffea coffee...
· Cooking – My host mother usually has dinner prepared for me before I get home from class and is very adamant that it’s perfectly fine for Heather and I to sit and wait for dinner to be served to us like the rest of the family does. We were able to make guacamole one evening, but now that’s simply prepared for us as well…
· Browsing – Ecuadorians have no culture of simply walking into a store and looking around just for the heck of it. Consequently, every time you walk into one you are instantly bombarded with “What can we help you find? Do you want this? Would you like this?” It’s a little tiring, especially when all you want to do is just kill a half hour and look around.
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| The dearly missed record player |
· Music – I’ve lost that car time and those mornings/evenings of listening to music. It’s being supplemented with bus music of the latino variety. Slowly, it’s growing on me. My family loves to have the TV on in the background (which does keep me up to date on news without internet). But I’ve also become quite familiar with the Simpsons because of this… I’d rather have David Byrne.
Things I thought I would miss but am doing okay without:
· Being able to drive – The bus system here is quite extensive and Tumbaco is very walkable, which is especially nice after sitting in class for most of the day.
· Internet – Honestly, life is fine without it. That being said, I do miss being able to download NPR podcasts on a regular basis.
· Cell phone – Technically, I have one but I have no idea how to use it. Literally, I could go days without checking it because it rarely needs to be charged and no one ever contacts me on it. I’m even starting to fall out of the habit of constantly checking for a new text, because I wouldn’t know how to respond to it anyway.
· Broccoli – living in the suburbs has it perks, which includes access to legit veggies.
· Living on my own – Aside from the cultural misunderstanding of alone time, adjusting to living with a family again hasn’t been nearly as difficult as I thought it would be.
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