Moving Day, and Socialist Governments

My best friend here, Emily, moved yesterday. Her host family moved apartments, and so Emily was really stressed. And being the great little sister/best friend I am :-) I went over there to be with her and to help her move. Moving in Ecuador is quite a different experience than moving in the states. I have never actually moved in the states before, ok, well, when I was 1, but that doesn't really count. So maybe it is exactly the same. But I strongly doubt it. 

There were no boxes involved. Everything just went over in piles and

I was really surprised nothing got broken. This is the smaller of the two moving trucks. I don't know if you can tell, but I was really worried that things were going to fall out of it. It looks like one little bump in the road and all the clothing would be sprawled out on the street. And trust me, bumps in the road are very common here. But despite my worries, everything made it to the new apartment safely. Gabi, Emily and I ran around and helped get a few things organized, (i organized the pantry) ad then we all retreated to Emily's room where we helped her unpack a lot of her stuff. Later we walked around her new neighborhood. We almost got lost, (this time however it was not my fault, I don't know if I have mentioned the fact that I have been dubbed officially lost, like forever, because I never know where I am, even when I have been there the whole day), but we found Emily's church like only 5 blocks away from her house, so that made her really happy. When we got back to the apartment we ate chicken and realized that Emily still didn't have a bed to sleep on that night, so I called my host mom and asked if Emily could sleep over. And my host mom said yes. So last night Emily and I ate junk food and watched hours of Joan of Arcadia, talking and laughing the whole time. It was so much fun. I am so glad I found a friend here that i can have a sleepover with. 

I spent all the rest of today with Emily. Today was voting day on the Constitution of Ecuador. If you haven't heard by now, (I don't know how many of you actually follow Ecuadorian politics), the people of Ecuador voted "Sí" to the new constitution and that means that Ecuador has a socialist economy. It gives a lot of rights to minorities and other people too. Which is good. Voting in Ecuador is obligatory. Which was interesting for me. My host mom, Emily and I walked about half an hour to the place where my host mom had to vote. It was really interesting to see. The voting process looked like an elementary school election. You put a check mark next to "Sí" or "No" and folded the piece of paper up, then stuck it in a slit in a cardboard box. Thats it. We walked 30 min for a 5 min process. Then we walked all 30 min back. Everything is closed on voting day, so there wasn't really anything to do. Gabi, Emily and I went to the Panadería down the street from me, and we were contemplating going to the park but we decided it was too cold. I tried to practice flute today but got distracted by facebook, and I have listened to the Wicked cd like four times today. 

I don't have school tomorrow, (we get a day to recover from elections) so Emily, Gabi, Saaramaria, and I are going to Creepes and Waffles to celebrate being here a month. (Its the first restaurant we ate in Ecuador.) Then I have Spanish class. Other than that I have homework and no other plans. I hope this week will be a little less eventful than the last one. I am exhausted.

Hasta Luego, 

Zoe