adventures and more food!

whew! what a packed weekend...a fun one nonetheless. before i forget...i'll reply to some comments :) vaness....i know, im not holding the kid like a football!! i don't know what's happening, but i told james "take a picture of me NOW cos my friends and family won't believe that im doing this right!" yeah, the ham actually didn't work out cos the deli sold out of ham (go figure!) so they made beef instead. i did, however make some scalloped potatoes, but the cheese here is funky...it's not quite as creamy as ours. their chedder is like our "fresh" parmesan...kinda dry, and requires more cream. so it was a mediocre dish...then Faby said, "just admit it, you can't cook!" then they asked me if i knew how to make sushi, and i said "YES!" and then they replied, "what are you waiting for?!?!" so i guess that's on the menu for next sunday's lunch, lol! oh yes, and with regards to how much english i can speak here...i get away with quite a bit actually...cept that it's much slower and basic english. in my family, Faby and Gaby both understand english quite well, where as Christian only knows english from music that he listens to. Patty and Fabian are both learning english as they talk to me and their children. actually, Faby's english is getting better than my spanish...but im on my way :) i really do hope to speak more fluently in the coming weeks so that when i go to the dump, i can ask the kids more questions and talk to them more as a friend.

ok...so this weekend. after getting about 6 hours of sleep the nite before, Patty woke me up at around 7:45am and said "Debbie, do you want to go to Ambato?" i wasn't gonna pass the opportunity because i was sleepy (which is quite different for me cos you all know i love my sleep :) but anyways, Ambato is about 2 hours away but pretty much looks like Quito cept with less people. i guess it's like taking a trip to Kelowna...a city, but not quite like Vancouver. Ambato is famous for leather and fruit. i didn't buy anything though, because it's not like im dying to wear leather. but to give you an idea...leather jackets cost abouty $30 US, and a really cute green leather hat cost about $5. yeah...pretty ridiculous, and it's all real! on the way to Ambato we stopped in a town called San Miguel de Salcedo...and Salcedo is famous for one thing - ice cream! it's called "helado de salcedo" and it was amazing! i took pictures to show you guys! helado de salcedo is famous here because it comes in four layers as you'll see in the pictures. in english, the flavours are milk, blackberry, naranjilla (there's no english equivalent) and taxo (same thing.)

here's what it looks like piled up in a freezer in Salcedo:



then there's signs all over the place advertising for it like this:



and here's mine, and Faby's peach helado:



the family decided to go to Ambato that day because their nephew/cousin was playing soccer there. Emile is only 16 years old but plays for a university soccer team. um, good? yeah. this was my first time in an outside stadium, and it was cool. im getting a good dose of soccer here, at least twice a week. and with the country championships coming up, people all over the place are asking me if im for Liga or Barcelona. if i say "Liga con Gaby" cos Liga is Gaby's favourite team, i get people going "awwww." and same thing if i say "si, me gustar Barcelona..." i get comments too :( meh...i guess if i were in their shoes, it's like someone asking them, "are you for the Canucks or the Flames?" i miss hockey...

later on saturday nite and the rest of sunday i got to meet the entire family of Patty's family. HUGE family...and it was fun! there were so many kids there...well, not really, more like 4-6 but they were all so cute :) this one little girl, Abigail kept on playing with me. i invented this game with here where i played peek-a-boo behind the fridge, and she absolutely loved it! then she wanted me to cover her eyes, then count...then guess when i'd open and go "ahhh!" she had the biggest cutest eyes, and liked me :) i told Faby, "this is really wierd! i never ever ever play with kids when im in Canada" and he was pretty shocked cos i guess i do it quite often here. either im drawn to kids, or they are to me. who knows! we celebrated Fabian's birthday (July 21) this sunday, hence the huge family gathering, and MORE food. mmm, these people know how to eat.

oh yes, speaking of eating again. i have to tell you something. girls, you might not believe i did this, but i ate a guinea pig, and a rabbit! eeek!! actually, i had a bite, because there was no way i was going to eat the whole thing, so i took a bite of Faby's. here's a pic to show you, the right is guinea pig, and the left is rabbit. it looks pretty normal, but still kinda sad :(



hmm what else... oh yeah, i don't think i ever mentioned this to you, but the airplanes that land in Quito are really scary, because they are sooo close to traffic, and urban life. the airport here only has one runway, so i think planes fly in circles until they get the ok to land. but because Quito is a CITY...the runway runs parallel to the main street here...it's probably about a city block distance apart. and this morning when i was on the bus, a KLM airplane flew right over my head and my ears were gonna pop. seriously, they are so close. you know how in most airports, it's in an area with a lot of land - not in Quito. but apparently they are moving in airport in 2009 to a place 20 minutes out of Quito to an area with more land. good idea!

i think that's all for now. im gonna teach/practice some english with Christian (my co-worker, not my brother). i think James said that's part of my "job" on mondays :) which is kinda fun, cos in turn i'll learn spanish. we're gonna practice our testimonie's for this week's bible study.

oh yes, and on friday nite, the family took me to see colonial Quito. i felt like i was in Europe as i saw a TON of churches and cathedrals. there were lots of churches lit up beautifully...and i got to see the Basilica (which i saw last week in the day time) lit up at nite.

i'll leave you with a familiar site that's every where i go



much love,
dL