Some may think the Whitehouse is a building in Washington DC. To Jim and I, it is the name of the computer network at the building we live in (go figure on the name). It just cannot be seen, no matter how hard we try, how much explaining we do (in Spanish,) or how many different computer devices we try. It seems that in the end, their router only accepts 4 devices – the number of devices that Philipe and Alejandro – Patricia’s sons have. The only way we have internet access is by sitting on our balcony and stealing a non-secure (very weak) signal, or by sitting on the couch at school. Not very conducive to managing our finances to say the least. Thus, we are moving.

For the past, week after school we have been looking at different apartments and have settled on one that is slightly closer to school (only 12 vs 15 minutes walk). We have decided to move into “luxury” – hot and cold water, with pressure, in both the kitchen and bath, purified water in the kitchen – the kitchen is in our apartment – a small fireplace and a shared courtyard with flowers. And, of course Internet. These luxuries will cost us quite a bit more money, but given the recent death of my father, Jim and I are both a bit off our game and think that an easier environment might help our souls. Saturday is the moving day so stay tuned for photos of the new casa.  Here is a pic I captured during our apartment search.  No, it is not one of the places we looked at.  Still under construction.

 

I’ve not talked about our Spanish classes. Although we left for Ecuador November 16, due to our return to the US we have only had 8 days of classes. They are going well and very poorly. This is Spanish by fire hose. We spend 4 hours each day, talking, writing, reading and listening in Spanish with our private teachers. Sooooo many new words – and old words to re-remember – and homework each evening. Some days we feel good about our progress and others we wonder what we are learning. The teaching is somewhat unstructured. We discuss everything from local and world politics, to culture (in the US and Ecuador), history, eating, traveling and just about any topic you can think of. (We are learning so much about life in Ecuador.)  We are both confident we understand Spanish better than we ever have and can likely communicate somewhat better, but we no longer have sponges for brains. The words just hit them and bounce off. So very hard to nail vocabulary. And, I must say my writing in English is now non-existent. I was never a good speller, but now I can’t spell in English or Spanish…! Here is a picture of my current professor Carina. Still need to get a pic of Vinicio, Jim’s professor.

 

 

 

 

 

Ok, I realize this might be getting a bit long. However, two other things strike me which I want to talk about. Since our return, Quito has become more lively. Quito Days (the founding of Quito) was on December 6^th. We just missed it but my sense is that it is the opening to the holiday festivities. Since our return, there have been fireworks every night. Some are pretty spectacular displays (we have a great view of much of Quito from our balcony), others just the neighborhood fun. The laws here don’t seem to preclude some pretty big and noisy displays in the barrios. For the past hour it has sounded like gunshots outside, but they are just fireworks – you can see the flashes from them reflections in the clouds. I can only imagine it will get more fun and spectacular as the month progresses.  Speaking of reflections in the clouds…

 

The other interesting change is the weather. In my last post, I talked about how glorious the weather was when we returned and how comforting it was. Since Monday morning, the weather has gotten progressively cloudier, rainier and foggier. As the week has progressed it has been foggy in the valley in the morning (Quito is in a big valley but we are up a bit on the hill). This evening the fog has already settled on us. Visibility is definitely less than a half mile, it is quite damp as it rained all afternoon and it is getting pretty darn cool in our apartment.  Jim was heating the kitchen via the stove while we cooked dinner this evening  (but of course the kitchen is outdoors so it was for not!)  We are really looking forward to our little fireplace in the new apartment. Luckily we are always warm when we go to bed as the bed has three, yes three, dense, thick wool blankets along with a comforter.

 

We did manage last Sunday to visit the botanical garden near our home. They have a nice exhibit of live butterflies and insects so I’ve included a few pics of them. I took these with my new tiny point and shoot camera. I should have taken the “real” camera to the park but have been carrying the little camera for ease and safety. Now, if I would just use it more….

 

Note that I wrote this last Thursday – December 15 but only now have the time and the internet to post. So, now that we have reliable internet at home, I’ll post again tomorrow with some thoughts on the new casa.