Sobreviviendo (English version!)

Hola todos!

I got some complaining about the last post because it was only in finnish, so I translated it (tried to) in English :)

Everybody: "You should start some hobbies, maybe you'd get more friends that way?"
Oona: "I don't know any hobbies that I could do with other people, I'm not a sports person or anything..."

This week has been more positive than negative. (And btw I've been here 60 days now, which means two months!) School started, two weeks of holiday ended and it feels good to be in the school because we're actually DOING something there. There are still lessons where we don't have a teacher, or lessons when there is a teacher but we're still doing nothing, but not that much anymore. I'm a part of the school a bit more now, and the others are interacting more with me and I'm happier. Still, I have to TRY all the time, to just go and join them eventhough I don't want to, open my mouth even if I'm tired and my brain's not working and smile even if I'm feeling very sad.

I'm superproud of my spanish at the moment. Other exchange students are boasting how they already think and dream in the language of their exchange country - well, I don't, but it doesn't matter, because I can already communicate in almost every situation, and "No entiendo" is not the phrase that I use the most anymore. Ecuadorians are very eager to tell me how fluent my spanish already is and how huge is the improvement of my spanish.

♥♥♥

It was a whole lot easier to return to my everyday life, when I finally had something to DO. I started my piano lessons in the local conservatory, and oh, the moment of happiness when I touched the piano again... <3 (Even though it's an electronic piano because they don't have an acoustic one... #justecuadorthings)

I'll visit the conservatory three times a week in the future, and I was also offered a job as a piano teacher (because I was so damn good lol). I'll have to talk with YFU about that, because the rules say "no working", but maybe it would be ok if I teach people for free and get free lessons in return.

♥♥♥

Soooo. Music brings people together, as I've come to notice like a hundred times in my life. The first visit to the conservatory was kinda boring, because the locals are quite lazy when it comes to returning from the holidays (this phenomenom was seen in the school, too) and the building was pretty empty. But my third time there was way better: five girls came to say bienvenidos and introduced theirselves and we had a nice little conversation! Everybody actually WANTED to talk with me and they were interested in me! This is what I've been waiting for!

♥♥♥

There has been some other stuff going on, too. I went cycling with Daniel and his mother, and that wasn't just some little nice trip around the town: on the first time there was 200 of us and police cars to guarantee our safety in the traffic. What a nice way to get to know the city and also get some exercise!

The second time was even better. A little less people there, like only 40, but it was just awesome: 35 km through rain and muddy little bumpy roads - in the dark and sometimes even without streetlights... It was a hard ride for my muscles, especially when we climbed to a high hill with the bikes... I was just repeating the phrase "yo puedo, yo puedo" for myself and the fellow cyclists, and finally I reached the top. Going downhill was just amazing: freaking fast and dangerous because of the wet streets, but with an amazing view of the city lights that continued eternally and dissapeared into the fog. AND MY MUSCLES (wait, what muscles) WEREN'T EVEN HURTING THE NEXT DAY!

I also made a few friends in that tour, beause everybody wanted to know the story of a random gringa amongst them.

♥♥♥

 I think that that's it for this time. There are always these little moments of joy: when I find my piano sheets AND my headphones after one week of searching, when my mom hugs me, when I have a nice chat with the taxi driver... The culture shows me new faces every day. When in Finland we have some rehearsals in case of a fire, here it's the same with earthquakes (what you shoul do is hide under your table and then walk in a dumb-looking line to the meeting point and sit there in s weird spiral). In the school olympics all the classes represent a different country and even buy a new uniform for those competitions (we're Italia, but the unifrom is in the colours of Finland, blue and white!). The ministry of health organizes a day when we have to listen to a speech about healthy lifestyle and then eat some fruit salad (everybody had to bring something to it, and I was cutting these two huge watermelons for two hours...).

I want to add the favourite quote of Hannah in the end:

"Every day might not be good, but there's something good in every day."

Besos!
Oona