I have put off writing this part of my blog for a long time, and am only writing it now, with one more week left in Ecuador, but i think now is the best time I could have written it, because now I know the most.
Here, living in Quito, I have been learning the Spanish language.
When I first came to Ecuador, I had a background in the Spanish language. For example, I knew how to say things like:
Animales/Animals
Colores/Colors
Números/Numbers
Comidas/Foods
Conjugar el verbo "Tener"-Tengo, tienes, tiene, tienen, tenemos"/ the verb for to have
Before I came, I had had enough Spanish classes, but they never clicked for me I really didn't understand how the language worked.
After having been here for 4 months, I can say I am "fluent" (enough). Sure, there still are words that I am not familiar with, and sometimes I need to ask for someone to repeat what they are saying a little louder or slower, but I basically understand most of what is said, and can say whatever I want. This is a very satisfactory feeling for me, because my main goal and reason for coming here, was to learn Spanish. I have definitely achieved my goal, Te quiero Ecuador, y me encanta la lingua de Español. Que linda que es.
Living In A South American Capital City-What It's Really Like
Woah, this is something I have wanted to share with you guys for a really long time. I think that this aspect of my exchange is one that is really interesting.
As many of you know, I am living in Quito, the capital of Ecuador. This city is soooooo big. I really am not exaggerating with all of those o's. It's huge. It is located in between many mountains, and there is a north part (where I live), the center, and the south. Now, I live in the North, where you can find Mitad del Mundo (the equator line), and also lots of shopping centers. In the center, there is the Centro Historico, the center of history, which is my favorite part of the city. You can find so many beautiful churches, like the Basillica, San Francisco, La calle Ronda, and the Panecillo. This is my favorite part of the city because everytime you go there, you learn something new. It is such a beautiful place filled with culture, and I love it so much. Then there is the South of the city. Honestly I can't tell you guys anything about it, because I have never been. We were told that we aren't allowed to go there because it is very dangerous.
¡COMIDA!-EL MEJOR EN TODO EL MUNDO
GREETINGS Here I will talk about some differences in greetings. I will also talk about what I have noticed about the differences. Aquí voy a hablar de algunas diferencias en saludos. También se hablar de lo que he notado sobre de las diferencias.
Hello-Hola (you knew that)
Goodbye-Adios in Spanish but here we say (Chao) I haven't said Adios once
Good Morning-Buenos Días
Good Afternoon-Buenos Tardes
Good Night-Buenos Noches
How are you?-¿Cómo estás?
Recently, I had a conversation with my host brother about the difference in greeting someone in English and Spanish. Whenever we see someone or enter a room, we do not just say Hola, but also Buenos días, Buenos tardes, or Buenos noches. This makes it a little more personal than just saying hello.
Recientemente, tenía una conversación con mi hermano del intercambio sobre la diferencia en el saludo de alguien en inglés y español. Siempre que veamos a alguien o entremos en un cuarto, no decimos sólo Hola, sino también Buenos días, Buenos tardes o Buenos noches. Esto lo hace un poco más personal que decir sólo hola.
CULTURE (WHAT I HAVE EXPERIENCED SO FAR) SEPTEMBER 15th
As of now, I have not been outside of the city of Quito, the capital, but I have already experienced so much culture! Here are some of my findings.
Family Life
Breakfast (Desayuno)-We eat pan (bread) at every breakfast. Usually it is just this, but sometimes we have a piece of ham with our bread. At every breakfast we drink juice from orange tomatoes. When I first arrived here, I couldn't bear to drink the juice, but as time went on, I started to like it, and now I really enjoy it!
Lunch (Almuerzo)-In my host family, we combine lunch and dinner in the sense of, there are two dishes for each person. Soup, and a bigger dish, usually with arroz (rice), carne (meat, usually chicken), vegetables, and a potato salad. When we eat lunch, we decide how hungry we are, and which dish we would like to eat, the one we don't eat for lunch, we eat at dinner.
Dinner (Cena)- Dinner is my favorite time of the day. We usually eat at 7:00 en la noche, and it is just a happy time. We all sit down with our food, and our juice, and talk about our days. There is usually a lot of jokes going around and laughing. It makes me remember that everything is okay, when I have a difficult day.
Después (After) dinner, we all go to bed and repeat the same schedule the next day, depending on what the day is.