Adios Amigos

It´s hard to believe that my 10th and final week in Spain has arrived. The time has gone by really fast with all of the excursions, classes, and fun activities that I´ve had. It´s definitely been a memorable experience that I´m really grateful for. For me the 10-week duration was just about perfect in order to feel like I´ve become fully integrated in the culture and become fluent in the Spanish language. At this point I can understand most conversations that I overhear between natives (as well as the priests during Mass!), I understand tv shows and newspaper articles, and listening to my professors during class is no longer taxing on my brain. I have improved by leaps and bounds and am excited to put my Spanish into action this fall when I volunteer in Decorah´s Free Clinic.

As much as I am looking forward to going home, I know that when I get there I will miss aspects of my life here in Spain. This is what I´ll miss most:
1. The great weather! It´s not humid, doesn´t rain, and is sunny 95% of the time!
2. The laid-back schedule. It´s still remarkable to me that my host mom doesn´t get up until after 8 AM each day after staying up until 2 AM watching telenovelas! The work day here starts later and then takes a 3 hour break for lunch and siesta- much different from our "Go, go, go" schedule in the U.S.
3. The ability to walk everywhere and always encounter friends in the parks or on the streets. I will definitely miss my daily strolls through the shaded parks and the plaza where I always manage to run into a friend from my classes or apartment.
4. Speaking Spanish!

It´s been a great time and I would definitely recommend this type of study-abroad to anyone who´s thinking of studying in Spain. Now it´s time to say, "Adios", and take the many lessons from this trip with me as I head into my junior year at Luther!

Hiking La Peña de Francia

Sunday promised to be a great day. The weather was warm and not a cloud was in the sky. I was headed to a little pueblo called La Alberca south of Salamanca to hit up some trails and hike around. I had maps and information about the trails that passed right through Alberca headed in various directions to other Spanish cities and pueblos. This was a solo trip so I was very excited to explore the trails that I wanted to and at my own pace.

My bus got to La Alberca (1050 meters high) about 10:45 but I had to wait until 11 for the information office to open and get some parting advice for my hike. My main goal for the day was to hike up to a monastery that is at the top of a 1723m mountain called "La Peña de Francia" (The rock of France, which you can barely see at the top of the first picture) that´s 8 km (4.96 mi) away from La Alberca. It´s one of the tallest peaks in the Sierra de Francia mountain range. My friend had hiked up it on Saturday and said that it took her 3.5 hours to get up and 2.5 hours to come down. I knew that I had a little over 8 hours to hike before the bus would be back, so I was anxious to get started.

By 11:15 I was on my way up a rocky dry trail, thinking I was heading to "La Peña de Francia". I noticed that some of the trees were marked with painted lines, marking the path for hikers. Soon, though, I came to a fork. I looked around for markings and saw an "X" marked on a tree to the left. "That must be it!" I thought. WRONG! Soon the path turned into a bunch of weeds and rocks that made it clear I was not on the more groomed path that I should´ve been on. I took out my map, and after a more thorough look, I saw the key for the tree markings: X means "Wrong Way", while 2 parallel lines means "Path Continues Here". Well, that explained a lot. Way to go, Sharon, getting lost in the first half hour!

So I returned to where I had taken the wrong turn, and continued on my way. I was really enjoying just being out in nature, listening to the breeze and the critters. I really did not see many other hikers until I had been hiking for about 40 minutes and made it to a look-out called "El Portillo" at 1250m about 3 km away (1.8 mi) from La Alberca. The view was "maravillosa" but after looking at the "You are Here" sign, I realized that I was not on the path leading to La Peña de Francia. I was definitely going in the opposite direction...oh man!

I booked it back to La Alberca where I would need to pick up the right path to get to La Peña. I found the right path after asking for verification at the information office. For a second time that day I left La Alberca. It was 1:15 so my time was now cut down to 6 hours to summit and return to catch the bus. I was off!

This path was a lot better marked than the previous path had been. It was a nice wide gravel/dirt path, going in and out of forest and the country side. After about 45 minutes the nice gentle path took a major up-turn. It was very tough from this point on because most of it was in the direct sunlight, I could see the monastery way, way up that looked unattainable, and I didn´t feel like I was making any progress. The terrain got very rocky, and multiple times I caught my toes on some rocks and stumbled forward- never falling- but had too many close calls for my liking.

After 2 hours and 5 minutes, I made it to the top of La Peña! I was so happy and relieved to have made it and to find a bit of shade where I could rest for a couple of minutes. The view was absolutely amazing! Mountains and countryside were all that I could see. I couldn´t even see the tops of the houses in La Alberca!

The way down was a lot easier mentally but by that time (4:15) my legs were pretty dead. I just kept telling myself that I could do it, and as soon as I got back to La Alberca I was going to find some nice shade to sit in until my bus came at 7:20. I got back to town at 6:10 and was moving on adrenaline. I did it!

Life With My Host Family

As far as host families go, I have come to the conclusion that they are much like school lunches. Sometimes you get what you really like (chicken noodle soup!!); sometimes you get what you really don´t like; and most of the time you get a combination of things you like and things that you could do without.

I have now had the experience of living with 3 different host families- one in Ecuador and two different families here in Spain. All of my host families have been great fits for me and I´m very glad that I opted to stay with a host family here in Spain instead of in a ´residencia´ (dorm). Host families provide the opportunity to experience home life by being a part of it, to speak Spanish constantly, and to eat some authentic home-cooked meals.

So about my current host family and home...

My host family includes my Spanish mom, Regina, my dad, Julio, and their dog, Lisa. Besides that, we have anywhere from 1-5 other international students staying with us at any given time. Host families here continually have students, some who stay for as little as a week and some who stay for as long as 6 months or a year. This experience in Spain has been a lot different than in Ecuador where I was the only student living with my host family. I like having other people my age to converse with and hang out with, but I also realize how having other students in the house can cause the host family to see the students less as "family members" and more as "clients". Thankfully in my house I feel very much like part of the family.

I live in a small apartment that has 4 bedrooms, 1 kitchen, 1 bathroom, and 1 living/dining room. I have the good fortune of having the only single room in the house, a place that I can call my own even if it is smaller than some walk-in closets in the U.S.! The other rooms have 2 if not 3 beds for other international students and my host parents. My room:

The kitchen:

My host mom used to be a chef at a restaurant but now just stays home taking care of students. She loves her "telenovelas" (soap operas) and often stays up until 1:30 AM watching them! She is shorter than me and very outgoing, keeping me updated on the latest goings-on and lets me tag along when she goes shopping or out for a nightly stroll.

My host dad works for the city as a street cleaner/maintenance man. He used to be a professor and is very smart (proven by his large library in the living room). He reminds me a lot of my own dad because he´s quiet in comparison to my host mom, informed of the latest news, and hard-working.

As for other students in the house, currently there are 2 Californian college guys (picture above), 1 girl from Belgium, and 1 girl from France. We are all here until the end of August and are getting along very well. We have a good time joking around with my host mom and talking about life in our different home countries.

And that´s my family! All of us students with my host mom

Ciao Bella, Ciao Italia

"What have I gotten myself into?" I thought as I sat on a 3.5 hour train ride to Florence, Italy where my train car was unfortunate enough to have a broken window that let all of the hot air from outside in, negating any good the supposed air conditioner was doing. This was the last leg of 8 hours of travelling in one day, and I was just hoping that the rest of the trip would turn out to be more enjoyable than sweating profusely while wishing that I was anywhere but here. Thankfully things took a turn for the better immediately after stepping off that last train.

Two other girls from my International Studies Abroad group here in Salamanca (including one girl who is also a Luther student) and I spent 4 nights and 3 full days in Florence, Italy. We stayed in a nice, air-conditioned hotel in which an elderly Italian man would greet us each night at the desk where we´d pick up our room key, leaving us giggling back to our room at just how cute he was. Our hotel was in a great location. In only 5-15 minutes we could get to most of the touristy cathedrals and museums. Plus some great restaurants and the outdoor street market were just a few blocks away.

During our 3 days we visited multiple cathedrals that had beautiful frescos, climbed the 414 steps to the top of the belltower of the main cathedral, visited two art museums where we got to see Michelangelo´s famous "David" statue, and hiked up to "Piazzale Michelangelo" (my personal favorite, seen in 2nd picture above) where the view of the city and the mountains was spectacular. I´ll be honest, there were a couple of times that I wished we had a dad around to fill us in on the hours, costs, and locations of some of these sites (because dads are really good with that kind of stuff!), but we three girls did very well getting around and having a great time. I think I got my art fix for a good while, but more Italian food would not be turned down.



The weather was very warm and humid, a lot different from the weather in Salamanca, but we didn´t complain since the forecast had been calling for 70-80% rainshowers each day. We were all pretty relieved, though, when we reached our last day of travelling and knew that when we got home we could put on some fresh clothes that hadn´t picked up any sweat! Oh the prices you pay to travel lightly.

Now with that awesome trip behind me I´m preparing to start classes again tomorrow and get back to my Spanish routine. In less than 4 short weeks I won´t be saying Ciao Italia or Ciao España (hello/goodbye), but "Ciao Mom and Dad!"

5 Weeks, Many Lessons

It's hard to believe how fast the time has gone and that I've actually been in Spain for over a month! 5 weeks done and 5 more to go, but at this point I am not at all ready to come home (sorry Mom and Dad!) I have really grown accustomed to the relaxed summer schedule of going to school in the morning, coming home for lunch and a brief siesta, and then having all evening to spend outdoors walking the town with my friends. It's a wonderful break from the hectic college schedule.

In 5 weeks I've learned a lot about Spain and about Spanish culture so here are a few lessons that I've learned to help me fit in.

1. Spend Time Outdoors
Spaniards are outdoors a lot! Walking is the main mode of transportation in Salamanca, so for almost 24 hours of the day (seriously) people will be out walking the sidewalks to go to work, school, or play. It is so cute how after about 6 pm all of the older couples can be found making their rounds in the parks or streets. On weekends there are even dance nights for older couples at a park! Families and friends are often at the parks playing soccer, basketball, or tennis, while everyone else gets out to shop or just people-watch. Concerts and shows are also held outdoors, often times in the main Plaza Mayor. I absolutely love being outside and am taking advantage of this part of Spanish culture.

2. Be Catholic
Let me assure you that if you're Catholic, you'll have no trouble finding a cathedral to attend mass at. There are some beautiful, old cathedrals in Spain. It seems like whenever we've had weekend excursions we've always gone to one or more cathedrals to look at the historic architecture and paintings. Catholicism is most definitely the dominant religion, so good luck to anyone searching for a protestant church.

3. Love Sports
As you probably know, Spaniards love futbol. Their national team is ranked #1 in the FIFA standings and has some very talented players. When you go to a park there are people of all ages kicking a ball around, imitating what they've seen from their favorite stars. Just this past week the United States played Spain in a futbol match and in every bar, cafe, and house that had a tv you can be assured that the game was being watched (The U.S. surprised everyone and beat Spain 2-0!) What I was surprised by, though, is how much Spaniards also love basketball, tennis, and basically any sport. It was big news here when Spaniard Pau Gasol and the L.A. Lakers won the NBA championship, as well as when Rafael Nadal lost in the French Open and then pulled out of Wimbledon. Yes, Spaniards love their sports, making me feel right at home.

It's been a great 5 weeks of learning and experiencing, getting more confident and fluent in my speaking abilities. Surely many more lessons will be learned before it's time to return home. Next week I will venture from Spain and spend 5 days in Florence, Italy enjoying the renowned pasta, gelato, and art. All I can say is, What a way to spend the summer!

Flamenco Festival

Last Friday marked the beginning of a week-long Flamenco Festival in Salamanca and two other surrounding cities. Since it was happening right here in town, I figured I might as well go to a performance and see for myself how real Flamenco music and dance are performed. So Friday night I attended a show (with about 15 other people in my group) in which two singers and their accompanying guitarists, as well as one dancer and his musicians performed. And let me tell you, this was nothing like anything I´ve seen on Dancing with the Stars! This was much much better! (sorry ABC!)

Going into it, I really had no idea what to expect. The only thing that I knew about Flamenco music and dancing was that the performers sometimes click castanets in their hands. Other than that I was clueless. The show began at 10:30 at night and took place outdoors under the bright stars. The first singer was a female with a very, very strong voice that made me think she could be an opera singer. In fact, a lot of the singing sounded to me like it could be opera music. The words were sung very emotionally, strung out for a long time while the singer´s voice undulated between notes. This singer was very good, but what I really wanted to see was the dancer.

The second performer was a male dancer who was very talented vocally, but difficult to watch. He was so wrapped up in what he was singing that his face would become contorted into all sorts of painful-looking facial expressions! If I had only seen this guy on tv and didn´t know that he was performing, I´m sure I would´ve thought that he was suffering from a stab wound or something, goodness! It was clear that Flamenco singers really try to connect with their music and truly express the feelings of the music.

Almost better than the singers were their accompanying guitarists. They could´ve put on a show all by themselves with their fast-flying fingers! The guitarists didn´t play with any music in front of them, so they either have all of their songs memorized by now or they sort of improvise. In any case, the singing would definitely not have been as good without the guitarists.

And finally, around midnight the long-awaited Flamenco dancer came on stage. He was only 16 years old but performed as if he´s been dancing his whole life. I couldn´t believe my eyes when he started dancing! He was dancing, stomping, twirling, and moving with strict yet gracefully motions to the music of his 3 musicians. He had special shoes on that would click when he stepped a certain way, keeping beat with the musicians. It was amazing and I would definitely pay to see him again. As I left the show I could only think about how this 16-year old Flamenco dancer would totally beat out anyone on Dancing with the Stars...although I definitely wouln´t mind being his partner.

Playin´ in ´La Playa´

What a weekend! Last Friday was a holiday in Salamanca so we didn´t have classes and instead went to the northern coast of Spain to spend time at "la playa" (the beach). The weather last week had been quite chilly and overcast, leaving us wondering if it would even be warm enough to go to the beach. We turned out to have great timing as the weather cleared off on Thursday and stayed sunny through the day on Saturday.

We drove about 3.5 hours Friday morning to Santander, Spain, where we had a hotel literally right next to the beach. Friday afternoon was then spent soaking up the sun, building amazing sandcastles, and taking quick dips in the water to cool off. The water felt cold if you weren´t moving around in it, but when you actually got in to swim around it was perfect. Friday evening we had a low-key tour of the area around our hotel where there was a palace and a small zoo with penguins, sea lions, and seals. To me it finally felt like summer- sun burn and all!

Saturday was the day I had been looking forward to since the beginning of the trip because this was the day for surfing lessons! It turns out we didn´t have lessons until 5 pm, so I spent the morning running on the beach (my first time ever, reminding me somewhat of running in the snow in Decorah!), playing paddle ball in the sand, and swimming out to some big rocks not far from the beach. It was a ton of fun and it would´ve been a perfect day even without the surfing lessons.

At 4 pm we drove to a different place along the coast where our surfing instructors were waiting. It was hilarious watching everyone try to get their wetsuits on; some legs were going in arm holes and one persone even put their suit on inside out! Then we were each given a surf board and we excitedly marched out to the beach. After about 30 minutes of instruction and practicing on the sand, we were going in. The waves were not super big but the current was strong, making it difficult to even get out to the waves. The first couple of times I just rode out the waves with my stomach on the board, laughing as I ´whooshed´toward the beach. I´m proud to say that I did get up and surf 2 or 3 times, one time even riding out the whole wave. It was a really fun experience, but I definitely need more practice. Since I don´t think I´ll be moving to the coast anytime soon, that practice may be a long time in coming. After an hour and a half of surfing (read: being in the ocean holding onto my surfboard) I was exhausted. It´s amazing how strong those ´little´ waves are! No doubt I will sleep well for the next few nights.

Beauty in a Bullfight?

Bullfighting has been part of Spanish culture for a long time. It involves skill, risk, and courage on the part of the toreros (bullfighters) and bravery on the part of the bulls. Spaniards do not see it as a sport, though, because the outcome is never in doubt. The 6 bulls that are part of a bullfight will die, either in the ring by the 3 matadors or by a bullring assistant if all of the matadors are disabled. The matadors aim to kill the bulls quickly by hitting a major artery with their swords after the bull has been worn down. The matadors are judged based on how artfully they can get the bull to run toward their cape, how much danger they appear to put themselves in, and how swiftly they kill the bulls.

Before going to the bullfight on Saturday I had been reading the book Death and the Sun by Edward Lewine. This book tells the history of one specific matador, Francisco "Fran" Rivera Ordóñez, and explains a lot about bullfighting in general. I was very glad that I had read the book because I knew what was going on in the ring, knew what to look for in the actions of the matador, and also because I got to see the exact same matador that I had read about!

Watching the bulls go after the cape was the best part of the bullfight in my opinion. Sometimes the matadors would be on their knees as the bull charged them, or they would guide the bulls behind their backs. After a few "passes" by the bull, blood for the bull´s earlier wounds was visible on the matadors clothing! That really proved to me how close the bulls were getting to the matadors and how much danger the matadors could be in if something didn´t go according to plan. I began to understand the "beauty" in bullfighting. The matadors had to get themselves in just the right positions to keep themselves out of reach of the bulls horns and make artistic moves to keep the bull coming back for more. It was an awesome experience.

I don´t think that I will need to see another bullfight for quite a while, but I´m sure glad that I went to this one. It´s not a very pretty sight if you don´t know what to look for, but when you really focus on the matadors´ body positions and actions, the art of bullfighting is clear.

Lost and Found

´Oh man, not again´, I thought to myself as I was walking around Salamanca and realized that I had no idea where in the world I was. I don´t understand how that happens! I start off on the right path that I know takes me to where I want to go, but then somehow I take a wrong turn or don´t take a little zig that I need to. I am left lost, frustrated, sweaty, and staring at my map! That´s what I get for being overconfident and not using my map in the first place.

We arrived to Salamanca last Wednesday, so I´ve been here for 5 days and have managed to get lost almost every day, sometimes twice per day! This is not normal for me. Usually I have a very good sense of direction, and that combined with scoping the area out on my runs usually leaves me in good shape. The difference here, though, is that the streets are very confusing for a couple of reasons. The first reason being that the streets are not set up in a nice parallel and perpendicular orientation. Nope. These streets are set up with no rhyme or reason making it very difficult to know if that street currently parallel to me is going to stay that way, or make a sharp turn, or even simply end. That´s where I´ve tended to get into trouble by assuming that a parallel street will take me to the same place.

The second reason that the streets are confusing is because sometimes their names are not the same as the names on the map, and believe me, I´m not just looking at the wrong part of the map! Often the street names are not clearly marked, and if they are marked, it is intermittent instead of at every intersection. The street names here are not found on little green intersection signs like at home. Instead they are on plaques that are attached to the sides of buildings about 1 floor up from the street itself. Therefore, if there are windows or something blocking where the street sign might go, then they just don´t put one there!

But thank goodness for my map that is now ripping apart from so much use. I don´t feel dumb at all having to use a map sometimes thanks to the numerous other tourists that are blindly walking around the city. I have been very surprised by how many tourist groups I´ve seen so far. People are here from China, France, the U.S. and more. I guess since Salamanca has the oldest University in Spain the architecture is quite a draw. The streets get pretty crowded, but it makes it a bit easier for me and my blond hair to blend in.

Since I´ve already met my ´lost´ quota for the day (yup, got momentarily lost on the way back from the gym to my house, and then again took the round-about way to get to a computer lab!) I´m going to stick to the tried and true route back home. Hopefully soon I won´t be writing about getting so lost, but rather about all of my good ´finds´!

Jet Lag Drag

Hola! I am finally here in my Spanish host city of Salamanca, where I will be staying for the next 9 weeks or so. The past five days have passed in a blur of airports, hotels, tours, and siestas! I left the United States on Friday at 5:30 pm out of Chicago. From there I flew to London, and then on to Madrid, Spain. I was definitely not prepared for the 7 hours time difference between Spain and Iowa! I was on my flight to London getting sleepy around midnight central time, but when I looked out my window as we were preparing to land I was shocked to see the sun coming up! It was around 6:30 am when I landed in London (12:30 am central time), and I was having a hard time comprehending how I just lost so many hours of my life while sitting on that plane!

Needless to say, by the time I arrived in Madrid at 2:00 pm, my body didn't know what it was supposed to do. That first night in the hotel, I'm fairly certain all of the students in my group who had traveled from the U.S. were all asleep by 9 pm (2pm Iowa time). It has taken me a good 3 or 4 days to adjust to the time change and not need a 'siesta', but I'm happy to say that I no longer feel so confused about whether I should be awake or asleep.

So far Spain has seemed similar to the U.S. in many ways. There are Starbucks and McDonalds in the cities, the roads are paved, and cars yield to pedestrians. There are also quite a few differences that will take some time getting used to. Two major ones that I can think of right now are meal times and the prevalence of smoking.

Meal times are a lot later than is common in the U.S., but quite similar to what I experienced in Ecuador. Breakfast will be before my 9 am class; lunch is at 2:30 and is the biggest meal of the day, and dinner is a light meal at 9 pm. So far it really hasn't been difficult to eat around these times. With the sun out for so long it is easy to lose track of time and not realize how late it is until my tummy starts rumblin'!

Worse than dealing with later meal times and tummy rumbles is adjusting to all of the smokers! Smoking is very popular and accepted in Spain. Many people smoke while they are walking down the streets, conversing, or after eating a meal. It seems as though dead cigarettes are all over the ground and just walking by the entrance of a bar or restaurant can overwhelm you with smoke. I realize now how much I take for granted the fact that smoking is outlawed in public places in Iowa. I will have to breathe in deeply when I return!

Half Way There...Livin' On A Prayer

Wow! After one more days of finals I will officially be half way done with my college career. SCARY! In some respects it seems like just the other day that I was moving onto campus for the first time and anxious about being on my own. Yet on the other hand, I feel like I've been at Luther for so long that it feels like home, the place where I belong.

Contrary to what all freshmen want to hear, sophomore year proved to be tougher and busier than freshman year. As my classes got more specialized I definitely had to put in more time studying and completing assignments. I can recall nights of reading and re-reading my physiology textbook wishing that instead I could be spending time with friends. Not only were classes tough enough in themselves, but I was also working multiple days a week and running more miles in practice, all of which left me "Living' on a Prayer" often enough.

But now that I've managed to sound like sophomore year was a bust, let me note a few of the good things that came with it:

1. Maturity. Being involved in activities and having multiple responsibilities to fulfill helped me mature. I became fully aware that I was the one who decided how busy to be and also how stressed I would let myself get. I became mature enough to realize when enough was enough, and how I needn't let trivial things stress me out so much. Despite what often gets portrayed, there is much more to life than grades and athletics.

2. World Traveling! As a sophomore, junior, or senior, Luther students are allowed to travel abroad for a J-term or semester. I took the opportunity to go to Ecuador over J-term and had a wonderful time. It was great to try out my Spanish-speaking skills and to experience a different culture. That was definitely one of the highlights of the year and I would highly recommend traveling abroad to anyone who hasn't yet.

3. Stronger relationships. Freshman year is a beginning for many great relationships, but unfortunately it takes the majority of the year to identify who you might want to be friends with and start getting to know them. When you come back as sophomores, though, you get to build on those relationships you had started. You get to live with who you want to, have more meaningful conversations, and actually make friends instead of just acquaintances.

Sophomore year can be a tough, but very valuable, part of the college experience. I am happy to say that I survived (well, I guess we'll see after tomorrow's exams) and that I have many lessons to take with me. Starting this coming Friday I will be in Spain for 10 weeks, taking classes and finishing my time abroad that's required for a Spanish major. Keep tuning in to my blog because I plan on keeping you all updated on my adventures in that part of the world!

Conference Camp Out

Oh man, what have I gotten myself into? That was the thought that kept replaying in my mind Friday afternoon as we were driving 3.5 hours away to Pella, IA for the Conference Track and Field Meet. This year I wasn't actually racing, so I was able to relax a bit and cheer my heart out. Most of us who weren't competing drove down on Friday afternoon to catch the evening events. The plan was to camp out on the Central College cross country course since Pella was having their annual Tulip Festival and no hotel rooms were available within a reasonable distance. Plus we're adventurous people without much money, so who needs a hotel, right?

Well, our plan was in jeopardy as the rain started pouring about 5:00. The sky was dark and ominous and lightning kept flashing off in the distance. Great. It would be a soggy cold night sleeping on the XC course at the rate we were going. Ideas kept popping into my head about people I knew who lived in Pella and wouldn't mind me showing up at their doorstep without any notice. But that was me; what would the other 12 non-competitors do?

The track meet was delayed for an hour due to the storms passing through, but conditions did improve. The rain left the area and but the strong winds stayed. At about 11:00 Friday night a group of us pitched 2 tents on the XC course, making sure we were in the most protected and driest spot we could find. The boys in the group didn't even bother sleeping in the tents. They wanted the luxury of sleeping under the stars and the almost-full moon. Go for it, I encouraged! I'd take all the room I could get!

Around 3 AM the clouds rolled in again and the rain came. But we survived. I slept through it and I guess the guys just pulled a tarp over themselves while the rain shower lasted. The next morning most of us were awake shortly after 7:00. We were packed up by 9 AM and got an early start at the Tulip Festival. The rest of the day we spent outdoors cheering our women on to a 3rd place team finish and our men 5th. It was an awesome weekend even though I didn't get to race. Being with my teammates and making new memories was special in itself.

Cleaning for a Cause

Rubber gloves + Buckets + Rags + Vacuums= Thank you. This past Tuesday the Luther student-athletes had the opportunity to thank our custodians that maintain our locker rooms and workout facilities by giving them the day off. That meant that we got to don the rubber gloves and get down to business.

I must not clean very often because I had a great time vacuuming, scrubbing down handrails, and wiping the fingerprints off of the glass doors in Regents! I worked for an hour and a half, but the time flew by much faster than I ever expected it would. Plus I felt like I had accomplished a lot more than I often do when I do homework for that long! I won't lie,though, I was really glad that I didn't get toilet duty.

Most of the custodians actually didn't take the day off, but came to work to do other tasks that don't get done frequently. Even though they were still working, they were very appreciative of our efforts to give them a hand. I have come to realize how great of a job the custodians do at keeping our facilities in tip-top shape. It's amazing the transformation that takes place in our locker room after a weekend of track meets, softball games, and golf practice. On Sunday night there might be a trail of mud leading into the showers and paper towels overflowing from the trash can. But come Monday morning everything is clean and refilled. Our custodians not only do great work, but they do it in a very friendly and caring way. They'll vacuum around you and stop their work of cleaning the showers if you need to get in. I really appreciate their flexible and friendliness whenever I run into them in Regents.

With only 9 days of classes left and stress levels rising before finals, maybe we should all take some time to clean. Maybe the feeling of accomplishment will run over into finishing the lingering projects...or maybe not. At least the lemony-fresh smell might keep us awake enough to actually turn in the project that finally got done!

Spanish in Action

After traveling to Ecuador over J-term and learning some Spanish medical terminology, I have been looking for opportunities to use what I learned. Since I'm not taking a Spanish class this term I really haven't had opportunities to speak much Spanish, much less use words and phrases that are common in doctor/patient conversations. A while back I had received an email about the Decorah free clinic looking for Luther students to interpret when Spanish-speaking patients came in. So, after telling myself for weeks that I should go to the free clinic and see what interpreting was like, it finally worked out for me to go this past Thursday.

The free clinic is held at a church very close to campus. From 5:30-8pm on Thursday nights there are a few doctors and nurses who volunteer their time to see patients. When I first arrived at the free clinic I saw quite a few people sitting around the waiting room. There were also 3 other interpreters (all current or former Luther students) volunteering their services.

At first I was a little nervous about remembering the right vocab and just getting my mind thinking in Spanish again, but it sure didn't take long and things were coming back to me. I was just there to observe what the interpreters do to see if it's something I want to do in the future, so I didn't actually have to speak much. But it sure was encouraging to be able to understand what the patients were saying and feel comfortable to know that I could interpret if I was asked to.

I thought it was also really cool that some of the phrases I had learned in Ecuador, word for word, were being used by the doctors! Phrases such as, "How can I help you today?" and "Does your pain come and go?" were exactly what we had learned, practiced, and been tested on in Ecuador! It was very rewarding to see that some things in school do have direct application to everyday life.

After being in the free clinic I really think that I would like to continue in a career where I could use Spanish, whether that be a job teaching Spanish or some other job where I can use Spanish if necessary. I'm sure that after I go to Spain this summer for 9 weeks I will have a better grasp on the language and a better feel for how much I want to incorporate the Spanish language into my life. I can't wait to really put my Spanish into action.

Rough Rugged Rugby

Yesterday I had the pleasure of a free Saturday here at Luther. The women had our track meet on Friday night at Augustana College and the men followed up with their meet on Saturday. It felt very nice to be able to relax on campus and spend time with friends who aren't in track. It was a good day to not be at a track meet because there were plenty of outdoor activities going on right here.

After practice and lunch, I headed down to the rugby pitch where games were going on. Rugby is pretty popular here at Luther as an awesome alternative for anyone to get physical and have fun. I particularly was going to watch some girls that I knew, but when I got down to the pitch I was amazed at how many men of all ages, shapes, and sizes were down there running around. Apparently there were Luther Alumni Rugby teams playing along with multiple college teams. It was neat to see how many families were around with tents and coolers, just enjoying a fun day outdoors. It reminded me of soccer tournaments I used to play in where teams and families would just plan to spend the day at the soccer complex, bringing tents, chairs, food, and games.

Now this was my first time at a rugby game so I was really lost as to what was going on. Each team had about 15 players out on the pitch and they tried to advance the ball to the other team's goal line and place the ball on the ground. To me it looked like a lot of running around, pushing people down, and craziness. I couldn't pick up on any 'plays' being run, but I'm sure some strategy was involved. At certain times throughout the game, the players from both teams had to huddle around the ball in a circular 'scrum' and somehow the ball would come out of the scrum back into play. That was interesting. Another cool thing to watch was when certain players would be lifted up by 2 teammates to try and block a pass from the other team (Well, I think that was the objective).

I'm sure all of the players returned home with lots of bruises. I saw one girl just get plowed over trying to stop the opposing team. I would not want to get in the way of those big guys. They were huge! Even though it's rough, I would love to give rugby a try sometime. Just not against the boys. And not during XC or track seasons. I need to keep my body in one piece if I can help it!

Room Draw Dilemma

Yes, it's that time of year where you get to figure out who you want to live with next year and where you want to live. As a sophomore my options for next year's housing are a lot more plentiful than last year as a freshman. As an upperclassman next year I can live in either Towers (where I am now), Larsen, Olson, or Farwell halls. Both Farwell and Olson have the option of "clusters", where there is a shared common room with double rooms coming off of it.

I really love the idea of the clusters because the common room allows you and all of your friends to hang out, watch tv, and just have a good time. And whenever you want to have some privacy or just watch a different show on tv, you can always go to your room which is only 1 step away! Sounds great to me. The only problem I have with the clusters is the number of people you have to round up in order to apply for a cluster. For Farwell you need 13 people of one gender or 10 people for a co-ed cluster (6 of one gender, 4 of the other). For Olson, though, only 4 people of the same gender share the common room. C'mon, Luther, work with me here. Why can't there be a cluster that calls for all of one gender with something like 6-8 people? That would be great. Unfortunately I have more friends than could fit in an Olson 4 person, but less than the 13 necessary for the Farwell cluster. My friends and I could try for a co-ed cluster, but none of us are too crazy about having boys see us at the crack of dawn when we look oh-so-lovely. And who knows what kind of characters they might attract to the cluster.

That leaves me and my roommate,well, back in Towers. It's not that I mind living here. In fact, I've really enjoyed it. I like its proximity to Regents where I go every day for practice as well as to work and to Sampson Hoffland Labs where my bio classes are. I would just like to try something new! I would like to explore other things that Luther has to offer! But if we come back to Towers the good news is that we can stretch our legs a bit (in case I have a miraculous growth spurt) and get the few extra feet that a corner room has to offer! At least I know that wherever we end up I will have an awesome roommate to live with, which is probably more important than what room we end up in.

Spring Fever

It's that time of year again. The weather is starting to get a little warmer (well it's supposed to be; today we had snow flurries!), classes are beginning to wind down a bit, and my brain is starting to revolt against anything academic-related. The past few days have been a struggle for me to sit down and do homework. Despite having spring break a week ago which should have recharged my tired brain cells, I find myself with little motivation to do school work. It's that time of year when the bigger projects get assigned and tests are popping up all over the place. If I just had a couple little assignments to do I wouldn't have a problem getting them done. But since it's tests and group projects that I'm dealing with, I really dread the idea of sitting down for a few hours and studying. I long to be free to run around, hang out with friends, and have fun without knowing in the back of my head that I should be studying!

Speaking of running around, yesterday we had our first outdoor track meet of the season. We ventured 3.5 hours away to Central College where 18 men's teams and 15 women's teams participated in the meet. It was my first time actually racing the steeplechase at a meet and it was awesome! Thankfully we raced before noon when the sun was shining, it was a perfect 53 degrees, and the wind wasn't too strong. Splashing around in the water pit each lap didn't even feel cold; in fact I would say that I actually looked forward to the water pit! After the Luther women finished 1st, 5th, 6th, and 7th in that race, we had the rest of the day to cheer on our teammates and enjoy the sunshine. Many of us returned with very rosy, slightly sun burnt faces. What a great day to be outside and enjoy spring.

Check out this link to see a picture of me going over a barrier and other pictures from the track meet.
http://joshgerber.com/photos/main.php?g2_itemId=96

Now just how many more weeks until finals?

60 Minutes of Heaven

Spring Break: a time to ignore whatever assignments might be lingering and take a break from school, destress, and recharge your batteries. I would say that I was pretty successful in doing those things over the last week, although I did let a little bit of homework sneak into my week of relaxation. Part of my pampering included getting a full body massage that ended up being just what my muscles and mind called for. You'd be surprised how much tension can build up in your body from the hours of sitting at a computer or furiously scribbling down notes in class. Danger signs should be posted: Caution! Finger and back cramps closer than they appear!

So on Friday afternoon I went to get my massage. After checking in at the front counter I was guided into the spa area where I was given a nice robe to wear, just like what's shown in all of the tv shows and movies. (I've had massages before but this was the first time to ever get a robe, so I was quite excited.) From there I was led into a room where the lights were dimmed and relaxing music was playing in the background. I knew this was going to be great. Already my mind was letting go of stress as I just stood there wearing my nice robe listening to the calming music. As I positioned myself on the massage table the massage therapist asked if I preferred a certain scented oil that would either energize me or relax me. Hmmm...hard choice, I know, but I went with the tangerine scented oil to energize me.

The massage therapist worked her magic on my legs, my arms, my back, my neck, and even my scalp. As she moved from muscle to muscle I felt myself becoming more and more relaxed. When she reached my head though, I knew I was getting close to the end of this wonderland. I was hoping she would forget to look at the clock and just keep going, because I didn't ever want it to end! And sure enough, almost as soon as I thought we were getting close to the end she stopped rubbing my scalp and started cleaning up. Darn! I was informed that I could take my time to get up and that she would meet me outside with a nice refreshing glass of water. I wondered to myself how much time I could really spend getting out of this nice cozy room before someone would come and make me leave. So I dawdled a bit to take in my full 60 minutes of this bit of heaven. It sure doesn't take long to get used to this kind of pampering!

First Annual Spelling Bee

This has been my second free weekend of the semester. No track meets to go to since we didn't qualify anyone for the national indoor meet. So that left me with more time on my hands than I'm used to, looking for something to do. So what did I do? I participated in the first annual Luther College Spelling Bee!

There have been notices around campus for the past two weeks that this spelling bee would be taking place and that the top three competitors would win money: $50, $100, and $150. From the very first time I saw that there was going to be a spelling bee I wanted to do it. The number of participants was limited to the first 50 people to sign up. So I knew I better get on top of it before 50 people signed up before I did. I mentioned it to some of my friends and all of them made the same claim that they were the worst spellers ever, leaving me to go it alone if I really wanted to do it.

It turned out that only 36 people showed up to participate, and most of them had been peer-pressured by their friends. It was a lot of fun. I had been in a couple of spelling bees in elementary school, and that along with the fact that I read a lot and do cross word puzzles left me pretty confident with my ability to spell. But in the back of my mind I had pictures of the Scripps National Spelling Bee that is on ESPN every year, with those ridiculously smart kids who study the dictionary and proceed to make everyone watching feel dumb. I was hoping that the words we were given would start off easy enough to leave a little bit of my confidence in tact.

I was number 23 (yes we had official numbers pinned to our shirts) and witnessed quite a few people get out in the first round before it was my turn. "Your word is 'acupuncture'" I was told as I went up to the microphone, which of course is always too tall for me to reach. Whew, only 'acupuncture'! I was thrilled that I didn't get something like "helioseismography" which came up a few rounds later. But as I was spelling, somehow my brain forgot to tell my mouth to say that second 'c' in there, so after all that confidence I was buzzed out. In the first round. Ouch.

Being the competitive person that I am, I was not happy, especially since I know how to spell that word! Oh well, there's no way I would've won as the words got much more difficult as the number of contestants dwindled. There's always next year. And next time, I'll be R-E-A-D-Y!

Don't Catch the Bug

Sniffles...coughs...germs. The past few weeks many students have presented with symptoms of colds, flu, and even the dreaded mono. Thankfully I have yet to become a victim of these nasty bugs, but plenty of my friends have not been so lucky. Attendance in classes has been spotty and those sick students who do come to class spend a good deal of time coughing, distracting the prof and the rest of the students. No good.

Just this past weekend we've had some pretty scary incidents due to illness:

Saturday morning we had track practice at 10 AM. So we met and then headed out in packs for our run. When I returned to the lockerroom about an hour later, I saw some juniors hustling to get their clothes on and head off to the parking lot. After some quick questioning I found out that one of the freshman runners who had been sick for the past week had passed out on the sidewalk 10 minutes into the run! Thankfully the other teammates in that group were able to borrow a cell phone and call an ambulance. Everything turned out just fine, but that was really scary! I'm not sure how I would've reacted if I had been with that group and it happened. It just goes to show that sick bodies need time to recover before they can handle more stress.

Then today I found out that a student I know who has already been diagnosed with mono had to go to the hospital yesterday because her glands were so swollen that she couldn't talk. I had been hearing from friends that she was really not feeling well earlier in the week due to the mono, but apparently it got even worse. Not good at all.

So I'm doing my best to wash my hands regularly, get enough sleep, and stay away from sick people - hard to do when my roommate has the sniffles, but I'm determined not to catch the bug.

Sleet, Slush-- Slip Slidin'

Last Thursday my only class of the day was Botany for three hours in the afternoon. We had been warned to dress for the weather because we were going to be outside looking at trees. The forecast had not been promising: 100% chance for rain/snow. So Thursday morning when I woke up and saw the sun shining I was very optimistic. Hey, maybe it would turn out to be a great day for being outside, I thought. Wrong!

Around 12:15 it started to rain. It would come down hard, let up, and then come down hard again. So we started botany class at 1 and spent a little time in the classroom. About 2:00 we headed outside, all of us in hats, gloves, raincoats, boots- basically wearing whatever we could to keep warm and dry. We were prepared for an adventure.

Not five minutes after we left the classroom the rain conveniently turned to sleet/hail. Little pellets were hitting us as we walked around campus attempting to look at the trees. We had impeccable timing. Our professor would tell us to look up at the branches high on the tree and we would, but seconds later we would be saying "Oww, sleet in the eyes!" We all just had to laugh. What a perfect day to schedule our outdoor adventure. I had a good time for the 20 minutes we were outside. Sure beats being in the classroom all afternoon!

By the time practice rolled around, all of that sleety rain precip had left a nice think coating of slush on all of the sidewalks and roads around town. Running turned into slogging through the wet stuff. At first we tried to navigate around the slush, but it was inevitable that our shoes and socks would be completely saturated. It turned out to be kind of fun after we got used to our shoes feeling like 5 lb. weights.

Then came the cooler temps at night. After dinner I went with some friends to the dress-rehearsal of "Vagina Monologues" (excellent and highly recommended!) and the slush on the sidewalks were just starting to freeze. But oh man, after the show was over around 9:15, ice was just covering campus! As we journeyed from the Center for the Arts across campus to Towers, we were sliding all over the place! It was so much fun letting gravity pull you down the little slopes and then trying to keep your balance. All over campus giggles and eeks were heard as people successfully got down a slope and became overconfident right before wiping out. Who knew the weather could lead to so much slip slidin' and smiles?!

Harlem Gospel Choir

This past weekend Luther was treated to a concert and church service performed by the Harlem Gospel Choir. This choir is made up of some very talented singers and musicians from multiple Black Churches in Harlem. I wasn't able to attend the concert on Saturday night due to our out-of-town track meet, but I luckily was able to hear them perform in church this morning.

I really wasn't planning on going to church this morning and I had no idea that the Harlem Choir was performing, but then a friend stopped by on her way and so I tagged along. When we entered the CFL I couldn't believe how many people were there! On a normal Sunday there would easily be about 1/6 of the people that filled the seats today. The Harlem Gospel Choir got people of all ages from the community out of their seats, dancing and clapping to their up-beat music. I loved seeing these elderly men in their suits clapping over their heads and having a grand time. This was such a big deal that even a news station had their camera-man taping the service, although I don't think the tape can do justice to the actual experience.

It was very neat to see the CFL rocking with joy for the Lord. I loved hearing the Choir's own versions of Amazing Grace, O Holy Day When Jesus Walked, and When the Saints Go Marching In. The drummer and the soloists were phenomenal and they looked like they were loving every minute of praising the Lord. It was such an interactive worship service compared to the normal service, and I know that many of us would welcome back the Harlem Gospel Choir any Sunday.

Singles' Awareness Day

"Singles' Awareness Day"- I heard this phrase for the first time Friday night in the lockerroom before practice as some of the girls were commiserating that Saturday would be Valentine's Day (apparently also known as S.A.D.). I laughed out loud when I heard this. Who needs a significant other to have a good Valentine's Day? Especially when you've got a whole team supporting and caring for you?!

Coming into college I thought that, of course, I would immediately meet some guy that I would fall deeply in love with and we would get along just wonderfully. Isn't getting into a serious relationship one of the goals of going to college? Well, things haven't turned out quite like that. Being part of the cross country team I did immediately meet lots of guys, and guys with some of my same interests nonetheless, but I haven't had a boyfriend yet. Those things take time.

I would say that about half of my friends are currently in a relationship and the other half are single just like me. I would imagine that this is probably true for a lot of campus. Just from walking around campus you'll notice how many groups of friends are walking, talking, and laughing. I think that Luther is a very friendly place, with respectful, fun students. If you're looking for a relationship, opportunities definitely exist to get in one. But if you're content just having good friends and remaining single, you won't feel pressured into finding a boyfriend or girlfriend.

Like I said, being on the cross country and track teams bring me lots of love. We had a Valentine's Day meet yesterday and not only were there loads of teammates cheering me on, I received many hugs and even chocolates that made me feel just as loved as anybody. No reason to be sad about being single on Valentine's when you've got this team!

Bridging Two Worlds

Amazing how my daily life can seem so different after spending a month in another country. Perhaps I have just gained a new perspective on things, but I truly feel like my life in the United States is quite different from my daily life in Ecuador. I'll try to explain:

In Ecuador time is not valued in the same way that it is here. Lives are not run on a strict schedule. Yes, there were starting and ending times for schools, but in what I encountered, that was about it. My family ate meals just whenever everyone would arrive home. If someone was expected and hadn't yet arrived, then we waited for them. No one had places to rush off to, except for me when I had to be back at school at 3 and we weren't sitting down to lunch until 2! I felt almost rude and definitely out of place scarfing down my food so that I could dash off while everyone else was still sitting at the table enjoying their meal.

On our last evening in our host city 'Ecuadorian time' was very apparent. All host parents and Luther students were invited to a "going away" dinner that was at 7:45 based on the invitation. I know that my parents and I didn't even leave home until 7:50! I was getting a little worried, but then when we arrived at the dinner people were just chatting and at least 3 other families came in after us. The dinner didn't actually get started until at least 8:15, but no one seemed too bothered by this at all (except for us students who came in late with embarrassed looks on our faces).


Now returning to such a rigid and hectic class/practice/work schedule, I am definitely missing the calmness and flexibility of Ecuador!

One other aspect that I miss is the closeness and kindness of Ecuadorians! I felt so much care and respect from my host family (below picture) despite only being there for 3 weeks! It came from the custom of kissing everyone on the cheek whenever coming or leaving the house, even if you didn't know them. And it also came from spending so many evenings together just hanging out in front of the tv and talking! I saw my 27-yr old host brother sitting on his mom's bed one afternoon just talking about life, and I thought that was really neat and that it would be a rare sight in the U.S.


As soon as I returned to my home in Cedar Rapids, IA, I immeditately noticed that difference in how families interact and show affection here in the U.S. versus in Ecuador. At home I usually don't kiss or even hug my parents upon entering/leaving my house, but rather a quick 'hi' or 'bye' will suffice. I did spend quite a bit of time talking with my parents when I returned, filling them in on my great experiences, but I also spent so much more time alone doing my own thing while my parents did whatever they needed to do. In the U.S. I've realized how independent we are, worrying about our own schedules and obligations so much that sometimes we sacrifice time with the people we really care about.


Thus far it's been very eye-opening to see the direct contrasts of our culture and Ecuador's culture. But some of the Ecuadorian customs aren't all that I'm missing, what about the 70 degree weather?!

Welcome Back- Now Jump Right In

I have now been back in the United States for almost 2 weeks, readjusting to the very cool Iowa weather and the pace of daily life. The first couple of days were not super easy, as I was trying to get my mind thinking in English again and my body set back to Central time (Ecuador was on Eastern time so when I would get up at 6:15 in Ecuador, that would equate to 5:15 in Iowa- not something I was excited to do). When our flight first arrived in Miami and we went through Customs, it was so weird how the official at the desk said 'Welcome Back' in English and I automatically wanted to respond with 'Gracias'. At that point my brain was literally mixing English and Spanish, but now that I've been hearing only English for awhile, my brain has decided to push Spanish to the back burner.

I arrived back to Luther this past Tuesday afternoon, and it was like coming back from summer break! It was so wonderful seeing all of my friends that I hadn't seen for almost 2 months, plus moving back to my dorm-sweet-dorm. It was super nice to see everyone's welcoming smiles and get many hugs. But that joy was dampened a little by the fact that three of my profs emailed out homework that we were supposed to have complete for the first day of class! I was not thrilled about that, seeing as I didn't even have my books yet.

Yesterday, then, was the first day of classes for the spring semester and let me tell you that my professors did not hold back at all. In all of my classes we pretty much just jumped right in to the material that we'll be plowing through together. I think that I will like most of my classes this term (Educational Psychology, Educational Methods, Botany, and O. Chem), but my schedule will take a while to get used to. Last fall I had 8 AM classes every day, but this term I don't start class until 11 on MWF and 12:45 on T/TH! We'll see how that goes, but I have no doubt that I'll be able to find some way to fill up my mornings.

It's great to be back at Luther and with all of my friends, now I just have to get my mind out of Ecuador time and expectations. Time to jump back into the crazy, fun, busy life of a college student!

The Good, the Bad, and the Buggly

Our last full day in Ecuador is here! One J-term abroad almost finished. The past week has been good, bad, and yes, buggly. Let me explain:

After we finished our final exam last Thursday morning we began our community service project. We were originally told that we would be painting a school. When we arrived at the school, though, we were presented with a much more challenging task- building a fence. The school wanted a fence to enclose their garden area. It was our job to first take down the original barbed wire fence, measure and mark the provided wooden planks so that they were the correct height for the fence, dig a trench for the fence to go in, and then drill the wooden planks and connect them to resemble a fence.

Doesn't sound too bad, does it? In fact, it sounds like tons of fun, and it was, except for one minor detail: The soil was full of rocks (some the size of a human head) that had come down from the nearby mountains and were strongly embedded in the land that we were supposed to be excavating. So for parts of 3 days we were removing these big stinkers out of the land. Our group of 12 students and 2 adult males had 1 pick, 1 shovel, 2 hoes, and 2 hammers to complete our job. It tested our teamwork and patience getting the numerous rocks out of the way for our fence. But we did it. And it was awesome! What a sense of a accomplishment we all felt when we saw our beautiful, unpainted fence up on Monday afternoon.

I am convinced that I will return to the U.S. with bulging back and shoulder muscles from heaving that pick around, trying to break up the land around the rocks, and then trying to get to get the rocks out of the trench that was continually getting deeper. Anyways, after working each day I would return to my host family very dirty, very sweaty, and covered with nasty big bug bites. They are all over my legs (due to the fact that we were wearing shorts since it was pretty warm out) and somehow even on my torso. Some are the size of quarters and very, very pink. It´s been a week now that I've had some of them and they still aren't healing! I´m hoping when I return to the cold Iowa weather the itchiness will just get frozen away- probably not gonna happen, but a girl can hope.

This week we've spent a lot of time in a bus going from city to city, visiting the middle of the world, seeing some new musical demonstrations, and seeing some things we've seen multiple times already- like tapestry demonstrations. It hasn't been the best week of the month just because I´m ready to get home at this point and be done with the touristy activities, but J-term in general has been very, very cool. Much better than staying in Decorah, although I do look forward to getting back to all of my friends. The only thing I regret is having to leave our host families when I was finally starting to feel very much at home, just like another kid of the family, and I could actually understand most of what they were saying! I guess that means I´ll just have to travel again so that I can really test my fluency. So long from Ecuador!

Crazy Taxi

When I was in middle school I can remember playing the video game called Crazy Taxi on my friend´s playstation 2. In the game you are a taxi driver and you have to go around town picking up pedestrians and getting them to their destinations within a time limit. I vividly remember attempting to drive my taxi and ending up all over the road, on the sidewalks, getting way too close to my customers who were waving me down. I didn´t understand how in the world it could be so hard to drive a taxi!

Here in Cuenca I´ve seen taxis around the city that cause me to wonder if they didn´t learn to drive by playing that same videogame that I used to play! Taxis here are very common because many families do not have multiple vehicles and also because at night it isn´t super safe to be walking around the city. We were told that after 7 pm we should get a taxi instead of walking like we do the rest of the day. Taxis are pretty inexpensive- $1-2, but I still prefer not to take them if I don´t have to. Here´s why:

The second day we were in Cuenca, 2 girls from our Luther group were riding in a taxi in the middle of the afternoon to come to class, and managed to get lost. The taxi driver didn´t know where the correct building was and ended up driving them around the city for about an hour looking for the right place. It didn´t help that the girls didn´t know the address off the top of their heads- but it was only the second day so who can blame them. Eventually, though, they did make it safe and sound, but a little leary about using taxis in the future.

I also prefer to avoid taxis because of a personal experience that I had. One afternoon when the Luther group was going to visit a hospital, we all piled into taxis to get there. I was with 3 other girls and we were all thinking the same thing about this taxi driver- he´s crazy! Every time we started to slow down just a little bit he would honk at the car in front of him to go faster. (Honking is very popular here. I think I´ve distinguished 3 reasons people tend to honk. Honk 1 means watch out, I´m coming through this intersection whether the light´s red or not. Honk 2 mean HURRY UP, I haven´t got all day! Honk 3 means Hey look, there are some beautiful girls over there!) Anyways, he was weaving in and out of traffic like he was missing his child´s birth or something! We were holding onto each other for dear life as we managed to make our way to the hospital in one piece. When we got out we were all hoping to never get that taxi driver again.

But then again, I´ve had a super nice taxi driver who had lots of patience with us as we tried to tell him our home addresses, and he made sure all of the passengers entered their homes before he drove away. Taxi drivers are just normal people- they come in all shapes and sizes. I just hope that I get one who has more skill than I displayed while playing Crazy Taxi!

Cat Calls with a Round of Applause

Buenas tardes! I´ve been here in Cuenca, Ecuador for over a week now and am finding myself very at home in this big city. There have been many new things that I´ve encountered that are very different than what goes on in Decorah. Let´s take meals for example. In Ecuador the times and the sizes of the meals are not what we would expect in the U.S. Breakfast can be any time in the earlier part of the morning and my family has been setting out wonderful bread (sweeter than regular sandwich bread) with jam and some fresh fruit like mango, melon, bananas, or strawberries. Then lunch is the biggest meal of the day and that´s around 1:45 or 2 at my house. Depending on what time I eat breakfast, I can get pretty hungry by lunch. For lunch we always eat white rice, some type of vegetable soup, some protein (like fish, chicken, or steak), and then freshly squeezed juice or lemonade. It all tastes very good since the food is fresh from the market. And finally, a lighter dinner is usually around 8pm and is not always eaten by my family. They always prepare something for me, like rice and an omelet, but I don´t always have company to eat with. So meals have been something to adjust to.

I've been taking advantage of the vast array of fresh fruits available. In the markets you can buy pretty much any fruit imaginable: strawberries, blackberries, cherries, bananas, watermelon, cantelope, etc. My mom also makes juice almost every day out of these fresh fruits and that´s a nice treat that I wouldn't get to enjoy in the U.S.

Another thing that I've been exposed to are the numerous cat calls and whistles that I get while walking or running around Cuenca. We were all warned before we arrive that cat calls are commonplace here, especially for those of us who clearly don´t look like we´re natives. We were advised not to react in any way to the people saying them and to just ignore them. Often when I´m out in the streets, vendors or people walking will say the word ´suca´, which means ´blonde´. I've also noticed that a lot of people honk when I´m around. I´m not sure if they´re honking at me or at the traffic, because it´s also very common for taxi drivers to honk at traffic to move faster, but either way it´s a bit startling when I´m not expecting it- just like it can be in the U.S.

This morning when I was running I received my first round of applause! I was just running along the same river that I've been going along since we arrived, and an older Ecuadorian gentleman was walking in the opposite direction. He stopped when he saw me, stood off to the side, and started clapping! I just kept running, but on the inside I was chuckling and smiling to myself- that´s surely something I don´t receive every day!

This week I am super excited for our first dance lessons and then our weekend trip to Cajas National Park. Should be lots of fun! Chao for now!

Smelly Socks and Foreign Talks

Hola! I´m here in Ecuador, the country of my choice for J-term. I´m with 11 other Luther students and Professor Thompson, a Spanish prof from Luther, and his wife and 2 children. We are here for the majority of January to experience the ways that doctors and patients interact and increase our knowledge of the Spanish language.

I´ve been in Ecuador for a week now. Our first flight left from Minneapolis at 6am on Dec. 26 (talk about early!) That night we stayed in Quito, Ecuador, the capital, and then over the weekend drove to Cuenca, one of the bigger cities, where we are staying for the next 2.5 weeks with host families, having class, and visiting the hospitals/clinics.

The weather is a refreshing change from the cold and snow currently in Iowa. Here it has been in the 60s or 70s each day, often with a bit of rain in the afternoon. The scenery is gorgeous with the Andes Mountains looming in the distance and tropical plants all over the place. When I can, I will post pictures for all to see.

This past Monday we met our host families. My family has 3 children: 2 girls ages 19 and 22, and one boy, 27, that all live at home. Near my house is a river that has a path around it that I´ve been making use of and running on it each morning before class. Unfortunately, I didn´t bring all that many outfits to run in, so I´ve been wearing the same outfit for the past 4 or 5 days now. And let me tell you that my socks can basically stand up on their own now. No joke. They are beginning to make my whole room smell awful. So I am very much looking forward to doing laundry on Monday, which is the day of the week that my host family does their laundry. Oh, the things I take for granted at home!

It has been fun speaking Spanish, although it´s not all that easy when the natives are speaking super fast and slurring things together. But I´m sure I´ll improve over the next couple of weeks. I find myself thinking in Spanish and sometimes accidently using words from both English and Spanish in the same sentence! Oops!

Hope all is well and I´ll keep you up to date as I have more adventures in Ecuador!