1. At any given point, you may find dogs of all shapes and sizes (the weiner-dog that lives around the corner from AJS is my fave, other than the three RdC dogs obvi), mice, geckos, toads or pigeons. In your neighborhood, you may see a cow, a bull, baby chicks, roosters, hens, monkey, a little duck, bunnies or a pig. And at work, you may find a sheep, goat, rat, iguana or horse.
2. Sounds that lull you to sleep at night or wake you up in the morning may include whistles (part of the community watch projects), dogs barking, neighbors partying ... or the same song on repeat up to eight times.
3. Pan mixto is the best, then pan sal. Pan chocolate REALLY is the best.
4. Treat yourself to pan chocolate, Yugoso or Big Cola if you´re having a bad day.
5. Neighbors LOVE having you over to chat, usually accompanied by soda, cheese and crackers, fruit or even a full meal. They enjoy chatting about home life, your work here, their family, anything!
6. You may end up teaching a class with Barack Obama´s cousin, Michael Jackson, Steven Segall and Chuck Norris.... if you believe the nicknames.
7. The birth of Don Bosco may be celebrated as much as, if not more than, Christmas (the birth of Jesus) ... especially if you work at any Salesian organization.
8. You must like either Barcelona or Emelec soccer teams. Pick one and stick with it. It may often cause some tension, though usually not enough to actually hinder any friendships. Hopefully.
9. It´s a goal to beat Freddy in checkers or Walter in 40 (a card game). Cuarenta may become your obsession if you become determined enough. Just don´t forget to put the cards on the table with force!
10. Your new favorite vocab word when working with children is ``ya mismo.´´ This kind of translates to `soon´, though it could mean in 5 minutes, 5 hours, 5 days or 5 months ... you know, it´s all relative. Another useful tactic is the Ecua-whine. Speaking sternly does not seem to be effective; instead, just a little whine will get the child to do anything you want!
Hope you all enjoyed this list! Spending some time with Santa Clara this weekend as they finish their weeklong retreat here. Thanks again for all the emails, mail, etc.! Keep em coming :)
Love always, peace,
Beth
P.S. SO EXCITED to see the Villanova group in October!!!
April 8, 2009: i beat Walter in cuarenta for the first time. it CAN be done. i beat him again in january 2010 when visiting, and even left him zapatero (if you've played 40 enough yet, you know what that means haha)
ReplyDeletebeat freddy once too! haha love ecuacheckers