On Friendship: Part 1 of 3

The idea of friendship is one that I commonly think about. I also commonly think about all of my friends, both old and new, near and far. But the idea of friendship also creeps in quite frequently. What is it? How does it work? The evolution of friendships over time, distance and through changes. What does it mean to be a friend? How to be a good friend when you're not there to give a hug or to hang out.

Anyways, I have lots of different ideas on friendship rolling around up there and I wanted to get them on paper sooner, rather than later. So here goes an attempt at trying to successfully convey some of the ideas in my head.

Why I Blog

The point of this blog was originally to keep our friends and family back home updated on our daily life while we were away but its certainly turned into more than that. I find comfort in knowing that this blog is here and that it will be here for me to look through long after this experience here in Ecuador is over. It's become an outlet for me to express big idea ticket items and small everyday changes and occurrences.

Saving Money at the Grocery Store

So If you're anything like us, you're always looking for new ways to save money at the grocery store. While we're not experts, we've certainly gotten much better about shopping since being in Ecuador. There are a lot of differences with grocery shopping here, verses in the States, but these ideas can still help shave just a little bit off the bill.

TvCable

We finally have cable and internet! I can't believe we went so long! I'm actually glad we did. It forced us to get out there and explore, yada, yada, yada. But now I'm ready to watch some good old tv. Grey's Anatomy, Big Bang Theory, The Kardashians.... here I come! Plus Ryan got some ESPN stations and so he's happy. All we have to do is make sure Chuki doesn't eat the remote!

MULUB,
Taylor

PS Now this means we can plan skype/gchat dates with actual confidence!

Ranting, not Raving

Most of my posts have been positive about living in Ecuador, so I struggled with whether to post this one at all. Plus, let me preface this with I understand the W theory of living abroad and I know that all things ebb and flow. With that said, I am feeling so frustrated with Ecuador right now.

A Full Weekend

We've had a relatively eventful weekend, which is sometimes unusual for us. Friday, I only had class in the morning, which was amazing. I've been having so much class lately that I don't have a minute during the day. I'm not complaining, don't get me wrong, it's just very different from the summer months. It's actually really good that I've been having a lot of classes because 2 of Ryan's classes have finished. Like always, it's taking forever to reconfirm the classes. Therefore, he's been home more and I've been teaching more. Anyways, Friday was a nice change for me to be home during the day. I was able to get done some of the things that I wanted to accomplish. Actually, I was far less productive than I wanted to be and my Friday's To Do list has taken all weekend.

To Do List

Here's my to do list for today this weekend:

Christmas Vaca

Yesterday I caught myself thinking about Christmas vacation all day! The way I think about it is in two parts. First, the home part and then the vacation part. When we're home I can't wait to see all of my family at Bogdan Christmas, our Rockford friends, my Chicago friends! I can't wait for Starbucks coffee in a red cup. I can't wait for Aunt Ginny's sweet potatoes and Toby's Kanakuk Coffee Cake! I can't wait to watch all of the littles open Christmas presents! I can't wait for Christmas trees, and Christmas lights and Christmas smells! It's going to be a VERY busy week and a half but oh so worth it because after the home part, there's the vacation part.

While on vacation, I can't wait to relax! I can't wait to watch movies and chat with my mom and dad and brother on the drive down. I can't wait to lay in the sun ALL day. I can't wait to read a TON on the kindle and play with my family! I can't wait to get all fancy for dinner and then spend the night at the shows, dancing and in the casino!

Basically, I just can't wait! It's only 48 days away, I know. But I just can't wait. My words of wisdom for you today: absence really does make the heart grow fonder!

MULUB,
Taylor

Chile V Ecuador

As South America has been in the news so much lately, I've had some interesting classes with my students and friends about what it all means. Most every class, lately, has started with "Well, what do you think of the Ecuador situation?" or "Well, what do you think of the Chile situation?" And then based on what my students have told me before, concerning their own beliefs, I try to bring up some aspect of all that has happened every class. Whether it's the political ramifications, or the trials or the police, or the impact of socialism, etc.

Roasted Veggies

Nothing says fall more than roasted veggies. Usually, here at 708, we just sauté our veggies. But yesterday, as I was getting lunch ready I had everything prepped and the sauté pan on the stovetop when I thought... 'why don't I bake these?' And that's what I did. I cranked up the oven and let them roast until they were nice and, well, roasted! I suggest you do the same thing real soon!

Last Night's Dinner

So yesterday was Friday and usually we don't do much on Fridays because we're tired from the week. I had class until 2 and then Ryan and I went to Megamaxi to look for some more herbs for our little garden and pick up a few things. Then I had a FABULOUS skype date with my dear friend Jenna! (Jen, It was soo great to talk with you!) Anyways, when I got home Ryan and Chuki went downstairs to play (read - I needed time in the apartment to myself!) I got the whole place picked up, and was just starting to clean the kitchen when our friend Sebas called!

Gardening

So we've been working on the compost for months now in order to get our soil in our flower box nice and healthy. But today the beloved compost went down the garbage shoot. We decided to start over! Hopefully we'll have better luck this time around. We broke down and bought some organic soil in a bag, I'm not quite sure what the name for it is.

We need your help, LIKE NOW! Our flower box is weeded and watered. We've put the 'organic soil in a bag' in and mixed it all around. But then what? See, we've never done this before.

We bought 2 basil plants, 1 thyme plant, and an oregano plant. Plus we bought 6 little daisy-like plants. But what do we do with them? How far down do we have to plant them? How far apart do we have to put them? Will they multiply? Or should we have bought 100 basil plants?

This is just the start of our little garden but we wanted to make sure everything doesn't die before we add more. So with that said, we could use your advice! How do you make your garden grow? 

We'll take comments, emails, facebook messages but whatever you do to not kill your garden, we want to know!

MULUB,
Taylor

The Whole World Rejoices for the Chilean Miners

We've just been a hot bed for news down here in South America lately. First, with the coup attempt, if that's what were still calling it, here in Ecuador and now with the rescue of the miners trapped in Chile. At least, one of the events isn't making a mockery of the continent!

Here's a brief recap of what happened:

On August 5 a mine in in San Jose, Chile collapsed with 33 men still 700 meters underground. They've went without any communication with the outside world for nearly 2.5 weeks and they made their food rations last that whole time. Finally, they received extra food, water, a video camera and even cigarettes while the rest of the world tried to figure out how to get them out of the mine. The major risk was that more rocks would collapse the tunnel even further, crushing the men trapped inside. The men assigned tasks to each other and remained relatively positive. They were able to talk with their families and they made videos of their life underground.

Yesterday the Chilean government began extracting the men through a small man-sized hole in a contraption that looks like a rocket. Families, spectators, and mobs of media have all camped outside of the mine. Although, the government has taken extra precautions to protect the men's privacy.

Finally the media has something JOYFUL to report about this beautiful continent!

Check out these articles for more info: this one, this one, and this one!

MULUB,
Taylor

Chicago Marathon

I would just like to publicly say, to all of my friends and all of the participants, CONGRATULATIONS on running the 2010 Chicago Marathon! 26.2 baby, 26.2!

No, but seriously, the Chicago Marathon is such an inspiring event, for runners and non-runners a like. If you live in the greater Chicago-land area and you haven't been, mark your calendars because you need to get there!

Rose Cottage - 4 Stars

We haven't even started to review hotels and restaurants like we originally planned on, so I thought today would be a great day to begin.

Rose Cottage - Otavalo, Ecuador - 4 Stars
The Rose Cottage is an amazing hosteria outside of Otavalo, Ecuador. The best thing about this hosteria is the location.

A Special Day

Today we're celebrating a holiday here. It's called LFC Homecoming. Actually, we aren't celebrating, but I really wish we were.

Just a little shout out to all my friends at LFC that have probably already consumed too many beers and too many burgers. Remember - the pig roast may taste good now, but it won't settle quite right. Also, cough syrup and beer is not a good combination.

Who knows maybe you can take photos with the class of '79 again, make it some sort of tradition.

Most of all, miss you all and miss this glorious day of celebrating! Hopefully it's a little warmer this year!


MULUB,
Taylor

Problems with our Compost

A while ago (think: August) we started a compost and it's still not ready to use as fertilizer. I think we have a problem but we're composting newbies so I don't really know what to do, how to fix it, if I should even worry. 

Here's the situation:

We followed the directions online at this website to make a hot box compost. We don't have a yard, so we needed something that we could contain. The reason we decided to compost is because we have a pretty good sized flower bed outside of our windows that we would like to grow herbs and maybe tomatoes in. When we moved in, the flower box was disgusting but we fixed it up in August and we're just waiting to add our nutrient rich and organic fertilizer to the soil. 

Use your imagination a little with this one. Here the 'composts' are under the sink instead of on the patio. Also, in this photo only the white bin is compost material and the blue bin is garbage. Now they're both compost. (Don't worry we got another bin for garbage.)

What we have is two small garbage cans sitting on the end of our deck that have decreased in volume by about half but still haven't fully decomposed. We've tried a couple of things based on what I've read online. We mixed it all up a couple of times, although it's hard for us to get to the bottom with our hand shovel. We've also watered it a bit (it dries out very quickly in the sun). Other than that... I'm at a loss. I really, really don't want someone to say just start over, but if that's what we have to do, then that's what we have to do.  

Any of you out there that have composted before, have the slightest idea of what we would need to do or not do for that matter... we would greatly appreciate your help. Either leave a comment (anyone can now) or email me at taylor.bogdan@gmail.com.

MULUB, 

Taylor

What we feed that dog...

Chuki is HUGE, almost 50 lbs! If he were a small child, people would ask 'what are you feeding him?' But because he's a dog, people don't ask that. I'm not sure why.

There are a lot of ways you can go about Home Cooking. You can cook everyday, once a week, once a month, once a year (if you have a REALLY big freezer). Or you can cook when said dog happens to run out of food. We tend to fall in the later category. We cook, he eats, when food runs out, we cook again. You have to decide what works best for you.

We're Back to Normal!

By noon yesterday everything seemed, for all practical purposes, back to normal on the streets of Quito. My morning classes were cancelled because no one knew what the situation was going to be when the city got moving. But when we turned on the news around 10, telenovelas were back on. We took that as a clear sign that the country had recovered. No more 24 hour news coverage. At noon, when I called my 1pm student, he confirmed that yes, we were indeed having classes today.

On my way from home to class I couldn't help but be super observant. I only saw 5 police officers the whole way there. My class is at Naciones Unidas y Amazonas, two of the biggest streets in Quito. Plus, I have to pass Naciones Unidas y 6 de Deciembre, another one of the largest intersections in Quito. I usually see between 40-50 policia and yesterday, no more than 5.

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Day 2

If you've been tuning into the news, you may or may not have seen some coverage on the current situation in Ecuador. Regardless, we just wanted everyone to know that we're at home and we're safe. 

From what I understand is Correa, the far-leftist President, went through with a bunch of cut-backs that has a lot of opposition from most everyone else. The cut-backs were going to really affect the military and the police. Something about no pay increases, no promotions and no bonuses. So yesterday, Thursday, the police went on strike. I hear strike and I think of a teacher's strike. A bunch of middle-aged women (no offense) bundled up in their winter coats walking a picket line with various signs that are too the point but very far from malicious, they're teachers after all. Anyways, a police strike in Ecuador is very different than a teacher strike in Mid West America.