Differences in Routine

I've been thinking a lot about how different my life is here in Ecuador. There are differences on all levels: my routine is different, my thinking is different, my expectations are different, what I want is different... a lot of things are different. And I thought that these differences that I've observed might be of interest to you readers at home. I've also been thinking about how much more aware I am here: aware of myself, my surroundings, the changes and how I'm changing. And so an interesting thought for me is, 'even though I'm much more aware here, what are the difference and the changes that I'm not aware of. When will I notice them? What will they be? Will they all flood me when I'm back on God's green soil in December? Or will it take longer than that? Will they be good things? Will I wish I had noticed them earlier, so I could change them and not let them become habits? Anyways... like I said earlier, lots of time to think here.

Today I'm going to tell you a couple of differences in my routine...

1. I get up earlier here (and the opposite is also true, I go to bed much earlier). Every morning, without an alarm, I get up right around 6am! Now this is tied to another change, I have a dog (in case you weren't aware). Chuki sits on my side of the bed and lets out one bark right around 6am, usually at 6:07am. It's become my duty to get up and feed him in the morning. If I have class, I get ready and leave for class. But on the mornings I don't have class, I get up, feed him, put on a pot of coffee and head outside to watch the city wake up. This is absolutely. hands down. one of my favorite. things in my day. All that to say, I'm not sleep deprived. I get a solid 8 hours, sometimes more.

2. I walk to work. Each of my classes include at least a 20 minute walk, one way. Sometimes the walk is combined with a ride on the EcoVia. In Chicago, I was commuting about 1hr, on average, one way, by car. Now that I think about it... YUCK!

3. I work, at most, 94 hours a month. Now let me break that down for you... thats 24 hours a week and less than 5 hours a day. So for the most part, I go to class in the morning for 2 hours, come home, go to class at lunch time for an hour, come home, and go to class in either the evening or the afternoon, come home. I don't have evening or afternoon class on Wednesday or Friday and I have NO NO NO classes on the weekends. In the States, I was working, on average, 60 hour weeks. And the absolute best part... I go to work, I teach, I come home, and I don't think about it again until the next class. That's it. No worrying about not finishing projects, no thinking I could have done better, no forgetting to call someone back, no answering emails, no logistical plans, no raising money, no soulless Division to report to, nada... work, come home, work, come home, work, come home.

4. On my breaks between classes, I read, Ryan and I play cards, I cook, I bake, I run, I walk Chuki, I watch movies, I talk to friends, I lay out, I sit outside and do nothing, I take Chuki to the park, I take naps, I play with Chuki. In short, I do things that I like to do, that I want to do. Now clearly, also during my breaks from classes, I spend time cleaning the apartment, washing dishes, washing laundry, and doing things that I don't particularly enjoy doing. The great difference though is in Chicago, after working 8-12 hours of the day, and then doing the things that I had to do (dishes, cleaning, laundry, etc), the time I had left to do things that I enjoy doing was very small and usually saved for the weekends.

5. On the flip side, chores here are more laborious than chores were in Chicago. The greatest example is laundry. We do our laundry on a scrub board. This involves filling a bucket with hot water, adding the soap, letting it sit so the soap can dissolve, adding the laundry to the bucket, letting the laundry sit so the soap can work, than scrubbing item by item on a tiled station that has freezing cold water coming out of it. Now depending on the items, they might need to be soaked again in hot water, or you can put them straight onto the drying rack. If it's not raining out the drying rack can go outside and they'll dry pretty quick (like one day) if it is raining out than the drying rack stays inside and the process takes a little longer. Doing dishes is the same, although the soap is different (it's in solid form). Mopping here involves a broom and a wet towel that has a hole cut in the middle of it. Everything else is pretty much the same. Oh, with the added chores of cleaning up dog poop and cleaning the deck almost every day.

6. My eating routine is different as well, and all that encompasses eating (cooking and shopping). I RARELY eat out. It has one of a couple things in order for us to eat out. 1) A special occasion 2) Someone else is paying 3) We've run out of gas and so we can't cook. This is HUGELY different from my routine in Chicago. I ate out almost everyday at work for lunch (with Sara and Doug!!!!). If I worked late, I would order something in, pick something up or eat out with the roomies. If I was celebrating something, I'd eat out. If I'd had a bad day, I'd eat out. If I didn't have any groceries, I'd eat out. If the kitchen was too messy, I'd eat out. If I just felt like it, I'd eat out. So here, that's a BIG difference. Now shopping is also different. For the most part I buy all of my fruits and veggies at the market. (Think Farmer's Market on steroids and not nearly as quaint.) Then for meats and dairy I go to Megamaxi (think Walmart not on steroids). Then for bread I go to the corner store, daily, with Chuki. So I go to three stores and not one and I go probably 1 time a week to Megamaxi, 2-3 times a week to the market, and 7 days a week for bread. As far as what we eat... way different too. For lunch and dinner think rice, vegetables, chicken and ground beef (I know what you're thinking, but it's true). Now think of all the ways you can combine them. Also occasionally add in quinoa, beans and cheese. For breakfast, it's usually fresh bread, eggs, fruit or yogurt and granola. We also cook for Chuki. So about 2 times a week we make rice, beef, and veggies for him (or some variation). We dont really snack, unless its on fruit, bread or a chocolate bar. Plus we eat A LOT of casseroles and if you've read this blog before you know we eat a lot of soup!

7. I run 4 days a week here. Thats different.

8. We use a match to light the stove.

9. Most of the times we have hot water to shower with, but sometimes it's out. Also we shower far, far less. Which is saying something.

10. At night, we watch a movie, play cards, or read. Sometimes we take Chuki for a night walk. Sometimes, we sit out on the patio and have a cocktail. We don't really go out during the week.

11. On the weekends our big outing is usually to the park with Chuki. Or we go to Old Town and go to a museum or just walk around. We do projects around the house (much to Ryan's chagrin). We do our long run on Sundays. We see friends (sometimes). We chat with friends from home. We hang out together and we sleep in (well Ryan does).

I can't think of much else right now as far as routine. Stay tuned...

MULUB,

Taylor

Healthcare in Ecuador

So Ryan and I have been sick now for quite some time. I have been sick ever since we got back from the beach (July 5) and Ryan has been sick for about 2 weeks. We were putting of going to the doctor because it just seemed like such a hassle. I mean, if it takes hours to get a package from the post office, you can imagine how long it will take to get a doctors appointment, attend it and then get the prescription. Plus it would be a lot of spanish that we aren't necessarily familiar with and that just added to the dread.

We've been stocking up on Vitamin C and trying to rest. The resting part has been kind of hard because a) we're training for the 1/2 marathon and so we need to stay on schedule and b) we couldn't sleep because I would have these coughing attacks all throughout the night that would wake Ryan, and sometimes Chuki, up. So the resting part was hard and we finally decided it might be time to actually go to the doctor.

So on Wednesday we called to make two appointments, one for Ryan and one for me. We made sure that we called when Jhon, our spanish teacher, was here in case we got into some translation problems. Ryan made the phone call and set up his appointment and then when he was setting up mine they got disconnected. Jhon called back and set up my appointment. We were scheduled for Thursday, Ryan at 2 and me at 2:15.

Now the health insurance system here is one of reimbursement. So you have to take this form that is signed and sealed from your employer to the appointment with you. Ryan got the forms from inlingua and we left for the appointment.

When we arrived to the place it was PACKED! There were chairs set up for waiting and then counters with numbers. You went in, got a number, and waited. There was ONE girl at the counter processing all of the requests. This step was comparable to the 'check in' phase of an American doctors appointment, even though it took more like 25 minutes. So our number is called, we go up to the one girl, who has papers all over the place. They're not in any particular order, they're just laying all over her work station. There are other people rifling through them; it was a mess. We give her our insurance cards and our forms and she can't find us in the system. Apparently the guy over the phone had spelled our last names wrong (big surprise!) and so for a few minutes we were panicky that we had just waited, we weren't feeling well, and now we aren't going to get to see the doctor. She eventually found our names and asked for her $8. Then she told us to go into this little room off the waiting room.

There wasn't anyone in the little room when we got there, so we waited a couple of minutes. Finally a nurse came in and weighed us, measured us, took our blood pressure, and our pulse. She put all of that information into the computer and then took us to the doctor.

The doctor had us sit down (notice that we're in the same appointment, not two separate ones like we had requested). He asked what our symptoms were; he listened to us breathe; and he wrote out a prescription. Then he also had to fill out our insurance forms. Also notice, he didn't tell us what was wrong with us just that there was a problem and to take these pills.

He told us to go back to the waiting room and get a number. So we got another number, this time for medicines, and we waited. This time, we weren't quite sure what we were waiting for. We had our prescriptions, we'd already paid, our forms were signed... Anyways, finally they called our number. The girl, a different one this time, entered our prescriptions into the computer, made copies of our insurance forms, and did some other things (who knows what) and then told us we were free to leave.

The whole process took a little over an hour and was relatively painless. It just seemed to us like a lot of paperwork and a lot of who-ha for not really anything more than a walk in clinic in the states.

I went to go get our medicines that night. We each had two and they were all different. Apparently the doctor said that my 'problem' was worse than Ryan's, who knows why?! Anyways, the one pharmacy was out of one of my medicines so I had to go across the street to the other pharmacy (Funny how some things are the same everywhere. ie, a Walgreens and a CVS on two corners of one intersection.) Finally I have all of the medicines and I get back home and we take them.

Now I had already planned to go over to our friends house for a girls night and so I took my medicine and then I got dressed (kind of, I still went in my pjs) and I headed over there. All of a sudden as we were sitting there the medicine kicked in and I got SO tired and my head felt like it was floating somewhere detached to my body. Plus my stomach started to ache; Needless to say I came home shortly after I got there.

We're on an every 12 hour rotation for the medicine, so I took mine again this morning at 6 and have been sleeping on and off all morning. It's a good thing all my classes were cancelled today because I don't think I would be able to teach. The other good thing is that I feel like I'm coughing less and less. PLUS I WAS ABLE TO SLEEP THROUGH THE NIGHT! Which was so relieving!

So for now, we're just relaxing, staying inside, not doing much of anything. Hopefully in a couple of days we'll be back to normal. The only thing I hope is that there are no serious injuries/sicknesses while we're here. I can't even imagine the hassle it would be. Knock on wood, right?

Hope all is well with everyone at home!

MULUB,

Taylor

VISITORS!

I'm really REALLY excited because two of my dearest friends are coming to visit us in October! Roz and Doug will be here for 10 days in the middle of October and I couldn't be happier.

Just thought everyone should know!

--Taylor

Where's the love?

Just putting it out there, we love comments.

Instructions: Have a gmail account, click on the comments button at the bottom of a post, write your comment, select gmail account, enter your gmail email address and password, press post, enter the 'secret word', press post, enter the other 'secret word', press post!

If you don't have a gmail account, well you should, because then we can video chat and you can leave comments and both of those things make us feel good!

MULUB,

Taylor

How we got the new place...

So Taylor has shown you the pictures of the new place, but she hasn't said how it was exactly that we came to be there. It's quite a good story I must say.

Taylor found the number of a place in El Comercio and called it up. It was the number of real estate agents, a man and his two female cohorts, and they took her to see the place. It was Chelsea's last game of the season so I didn't go. The place that they took her to was too small, too expensive, and too far away, as I recall her saying. She said she didn't like it, so they said, Ok we've got another place for you to see. Then they took her to see the place we're living in right now.

Later in the day, when I met up with Taylor she told me about the place. She made arrangements to see it again in the late afternoon. We looked at a few other places in the meantime, including this huge, weird looking one that was super long and had an old-timey fireplace. So we look at the place we are in now again and I loved it too. It was perfect for us and for Chucki. We took a day to think about it and then called to say we wanted the place. So the real estate agents called the owner and arranged for us to meet and sign that Monday night.

We go there on Monday and find the real estate agents there, but the owner is not present. We wait and wait, and as I remember I was feeling really sick that night. We ask if they can call the owner and see what's going on. They call her and apparently she had sold the place, neglecting to tell the real estate agents

Needless to say we were quite upset about not getting the place. Taylor walked by the apartment later in the week and found the sign in the window still up. So Taylor called the real estate agents and asked what the deal was. Apparently the potential buyer was not quite ready to commit so he asked for more time and would know for sure by the next Monday. So we ended up having to look apartments that weekend as well. We found another place for the same price and it would've been a sufficient substitute. But we still wanted the other place.

So we called again on Monday, he did not call us, mind you. And he says he'll know on Tuesday. We get the impression that this guy is not a real estate agent, but instead plays in a professional foot-dragging league. It becomes apparent to us that, for whatever reason, this guy doesn't know what he's talking about. As I mentioned before, the sign in the apartment window was still up, and Taylor had taken down the number of the owner and called her. She said that the buyer had decided not to take the apartment, and she would rent it to us if we were still interested. We went to the apartment and sign the papers with her boyfriend, who is a lawyer.

That's all there is to it. Except. A week or two after we moved into the apartment, our apartment phone (it's a direct line to the guard) rings while we are watching a movie or something. Taylor answers but can't understand the guard so goes down to the front door. The phone rings again and it's Taylor and she tells me to come down right away. So I go down. The real estate agent is there and he brought his cadre, and they're yelling at Taylor. So I'm like "what's going on?" They tell me that the owner has failed to pay them their commission, and so they want us to pay it. I ask how much the commission is and Taylor tells me it's 400 dollars. I say no immediately, though I would have said no had they asked for 50 cents and a bucket of powdered Gatorade. Before I got there, apparently the guy had threatened that he was going to go all over town smearing us and say that we're bad people, and that when he doesn't get paid, bad thing happen. We'll he didn't even know my first name or either of our last names, so, good luck jackass. I say, look, I'm sorry you didn't get "your" money but that's not my problem, that's between you and the owner, so stop bothering us. More later.

-Ryan

The "New" Place

So I realize we haven't said much about the new place because when we moved we 'lost' the internet. So here are some photos... for those of you who've stayed here it looks a little different! Our top priorities now, before Ryan's parents arrive, is curtains for the big windows, a couple of lamps and getting the artwork we bought in Otavalo hung! Enjoy!

Here I am standing with my back to the front door

Look to the right and you have floor to ceiling closets and a 1/2 bath.

Maria Jose this one is for you. We finally hung your masks in the guest bathroom!

Look to your left and there's the kitchen.

Close up view out the kitchen window =)

Now, at the end of the kitchen, on the left hand side is a door that leads back to what would have been the maids quarters. (Yes, it is absurd that a one bedroom apartment would have a maids quarters.) That tiled block straight in front of the picture is where we wash our clothes. The cream colored thing hanging on the wall is the caliphone that heats our water, sometimes.

If you turn to the right from the washer, we have a little baby door that leads to the terrace.

Here's the maid's bedroom. We use it to store things.

At the end of the bedroom, on the left hand side, is another full bath. This is the bath our guests use!

Suicide shower and all!

Now, if you go back to the little room with the washer and you go out that little door, you are on the terrace. This is looking towards the left.

Here's a better view of Pichincha!

The rest of the deck. We spend a lot of time out here!

Here's a better picture of our view!

Now we're back inside and here's if I'm standing at the front door again.

Past the door to the kitchen, if you look to the left we have our little living room!

Slash dining room combo!

To the right of where the kitchen table is, there's a full wall that comes out about 9 feet (I really have no idea how many feet, I'm just guessing) and it creates a nook in which we've created our makeshift guest room! We're hoping that the bed will be fixed soon!

Then to the right of the guest room is our bed room. This picture is taken from the front door. Chuki clearly wasn't ready to get up yet!

In our bedroom on the right hand side, if you're standing at the door to the bedroom.

On the western wall of our bedroom is our big walk in closet. (My side)

Ryan's side.

And then just south of the closet is our bathroom. Nice toilet seat huh?

Trickle of a Shower...

And just for good measure, Chuki scratching himself!

Recent Rumblings

We haven't had magazines in a really long time. But when my parents came down they brought a ton. All different kinds too, People, golf magazines, Newsweek, Chicago, etc... Anyways, I started reading them and had two observations:

1. All I wanted to do was buy things. There were articles about how to have great summer hair, of course you had to buy one of the ten products featured. There were articles about the perfect outfit to wear while traveling in which most of the articles of clothing you had to buy. Buy, buy, buy that's one of the many mantras of the USA that I've become quite disgusted with while being abroad.

2. The second observation was somehow, backwardly, all of these magazines are saying you need to want more. You need to want to be prettier or live in a better neighborhood or take better/more trips. You need flatter abs and you need them in 5 weeks. You need better romance and you need it in 20 steps. You need a bigger house and here's where you should look.

Seriously? Is that all I've been missing? It's interesting to me how I loved magazines at home! I would read through them cover to cover and I would always have a couple of things in mind to 'pick up' next time I was at Target. But now, I look at them and all I can think about is I'm satisfied with my life here and I didn't know I needed all of these things or needed to be a certain way until I picked up this magazine.

This certainly wasn't one of the things I had expected to learn while being here. But its an interesting rabbit hole and I think I'm going to explore it further.

I first had these thoughts a couple of weeks ago and since then I keep coming back to them. Another thing that I've noticed is that everything needs a gimmick. For example, I have in my hand 3 issues of Prevention. On the cover of one "Drop Two Sizes Flatten Belly Bulge, Tone Your Butt, Shrink Your Thighs." On the cover of another "SLIM BY SUMMER!" And on the cover of the third "25 Healthiest Foods for Women." I don't know why this is bothering me but don't these all sound like gimmicks? I can tell you how to drop two sizes, every woman in the world can tell you how to drop two sizes. Burn more calories than you consume. It's not rocket science. The "SLIM BY SUMMER" issue came out in May. Isn't summer one month away? What if I'm 30 lbs overweight, I'm not going to be slim by summer. It's not going to happen. And the "25 Healthiest Foods," I bet you could ask a 1st grade class to name you the 25 healthiest foods. Can I just tell you that I just now opened the magazine to list for you some of the healthiest foods and THEY ARE ALL PACKAGED FOODS! WHAT IN THE WORLD AMERICA? YOU CAN'T BE SERIOUS! Prevention, please tell me you are joking! If you were to ask the 1st graders they would tell you things like spinach, carrots, tomatoes, bananas, strawberries, chicken, beans, potatoes, milk, etc. Not Healthy Choice All Natural Roasted Red Pepper Marinara, Triscuit Thin Crisps, or Annie Chun's Mini Wontons.

We wonder why America is so fat it's because we read this garbage and we believe it.

Now Prevention is a reputable magazine, focused on women's health but let me ask you... Why is there a Prevention magazine? Everyone knows what they need to do to live a healthy life, right? Eat well, avoid foods that aren't natural, move your body on a daily basis, don't drink too much, don't smoke too much, do things that give you joy inside, exercise your mind, engage in positive relationships. I didn't have to read those things from a magazine, you just know them.

Another one of America's mantras that I have come to detest is "how can we make money off of this?" The health industry has become just that an industry and the people that control it don't care about your health, they care about making money. From health food, to healthy lifestyle magazines, from beauty products to workout clothing and videos, they care about one bottom line: making a profit at the end of the day. I know some of you will disagree with me, but let me just ask you this one question:

When women in America want to lose weight they try to cut calories by eating diet products. Diet soda, diet salad dressing, diet crackers, diet popcorn, diet, diet, diet. Call it what you will: diet, low fat, zero calorie, whole grain, whatever... it's all diet. Plus they join a gym, create a home workout plan, buy some new videos. Now, how many of those women actually loose a substantial amount of weight? How many of us women are still trying to loose that weight? How long have some of us been trying? Years upon years... let me just tell you: it's an industry ladies.

More to come...

MULUB,

Taylor