mandag den 28. december 2015

Novena

During the month of December, I was so lucky to be invited to experience Novena with my host family and their family.
A Novena is a religious, catholic ceremony. The Novena goes on for nine consecutive days and is a way of giving thanks and preparing our hearts for Jesus Christ to return.

We met up every evening at 7 o'clock, half an hour from where I live, and had an hour of religious ceremony followed by half an hour of food and games.

During the religious ceremony, we had a book that was used as a guide for what was going to happen during the Novena and a girl from the family was in charge of all the Novenas. We started 9 days before Christmas and had the last Novena on Christmas Eve.
Every day during the Novena there were prayers and readings from the bible, and otherwise sessions where everyone hugged, people said sorry, we burned all the bad things that has happened during the last year and we made a cross out of candle lights.

Afterwards, when the religious part had finished, we had a game, where everyone had the chance to win presents (during the days I managed to win candy, cheap make-up and nail polish and some small bowls) and then we had varying food, everything from sandwiches to pizza to paella.

It was interesting to experience and I was really happy that I was invited to participate in the Novenas. This has given me an experience so different from what I would have been able to experience in Denmark.
This is one of the reasons why I am here: To experience and embrace the cultural differences between Denmark and Ecuador.

Feliz navidad!

Novena
Christmas tree
Juletræ

I løbet af december måned var jeg så heldig at blive inviteret til at opleve en novena sammen med min værtsfamilie og deres familie.
En novena er en katolsk ceremoni der foregår i 9 på hinanden følgende dage. Det bruges til at give tak og til at forberede vores hjerter på at Jesus Kristus kommer tilbage.

Vi mødtes hver dag klokken 7 om aftenen et sted der ligger en halv time fra hvor jeg bor. Vi startede ud med en times religiøs ceremoni, efterfulgt af en halv times lege og spisning.

Under den religiøse ceremoni fulgte vi en bog, der guidede os igennem novenaen. Det var en pige lidt ældre end mig fra familien, der stod for afholdelsen af novenaen. Vi startede 9 dage før jul og havde den sidste novena juleaften.
Hver eneste novena bestod af bøn og oplæsning fra biblen og derudover skete der ting som at alle krammede, folk sagde undskyld, vi brændte alle de dårlige ting der er sket i løbet af 2015 og vi lavede et kors ud af stearinlys.

Efter den religiøse del havde vi en leg, hvor man kunne vinde præmier (i løbet af dagene vandt jeg slik, billig make-up, neglelak og to små skole). Når vi havde færdiggjort legene fik vi mad, hvilket varierede fra sandwich til pizza til paella.

Det var en spændene oplevelse og jeg var glad for at jeg var blevet inviteret med. Det var en oplevelse så anderledes fra hvad jeg havde været i stand til at opleve i Danmark.
Og det er netop også en af grundene til at jeg er i Ecuador: For at opleve forskellene i kultur.

Feliz navidad!

lørdag den 26. december 2015

Christmas in Fundacíon AM-EN

On Wednesday the 16th of December we had a Christnas "party" in Fundacíon AM-EN. Therapy was cancelled this morning and the party went on from 9-12 in the morning.

The British School in Quito had arranged it and I think 250 children came with their parents. The British School had food, cake and something to drink for the children.
It started out by The British School thanking Fundacíon AM-EN for providing therapy for the Children and Fundacíon AM-EN thanking The British School for hosting the Christmas party.

Afterwards Santa Claus came in on a horse and all the children were given gifts, consisting of both things for the children and more practical things.

Pecas, the Christmas Pony
Pecas, juleponyen
Pecas, the Christmas Pony
Pecas, Juleponyen
Everybody is ready!
Alle er klar!
A truck full of presents!
En lastbil fyldt med gaver!
Christmas!
Jul!
Santa Claus riding around on Musashi
Julemanden der rider rundt på Musashi
A happy and a bit creepy Santa Claus - I found it weird with the mask.
En glad og skræmmende julemand. Jeg fandt det lidt underligt med masken.

Santa Claus is handing out presents.
Julemanden deler gaver ud.

Happy kids.
Glade børn

Onsdag den 16. december havde vi en "julefest" i Fundacíon AM-EN. Terapien var aflyst i dagens anledning og julefesten var fra 9-12 om morgenen.

Den britiske skole i Quito havde arrangeret julefesten, hvor omkring 250 børn kom sammen med deres forældre. Den britiske skole havde medbragt mad, kage og drikkevarer til børnene og derudover kom der også en hel lastbil fyldt med gaver til børnene!

Eventet startede ud med at den britiske skole takkede Fundacíon AM-EN for at tilbyde terapi og Fundacíon AM-EN takkede den britiske skole for at afholde julearrangementet.
Efterfølgende gav julemanden (der selvfølgelig kom ridende ind på en hest) alle børnene deres gaver, der bestod af både praktiske ting til familierne og ting til børnene.

fredag den 25. december 2015

Christmas in Ecuador

At first I want to apologize for being so behind on my blog! I will first make a number of posts on Christmas in Ecuador and later tell about my trip to Cayambe (that was crazy!) and my trip to Otavalo that I had during December as well.

Christmas has been a weird season. First of all it does not feel like December at all here in Ecuador. It is warm and sunny and it doesn't feel like over 4 months have passed by since I arrived in Ecuador (I have been here for over 4 months, how crazy is that?!?). But since the weather is the same every day it does not feel like time passes by. I have also started to notice a type of clockwork in my day:
Waiting on the bus with the same people, having the same bus driver, seeing the same people do the same thing on the way to my project.

Even though I have spent the last two Christmases abroad, this Christmas has been the first Christmas without my (Danish) family.
But luckily I have a great Ecuadorian family.

The day I had the most Christmas (at least the Christmas that looked the most like my normal Christmas), was on the first of December. I had just been to the VASE office to pick up a package (with Christmas presents), whereafter I came home and we decorated the plastic Christmas tree while listening to Christmas music.

But I have now gotten through Christmas with packages from home providing me with just a little bit of Danish Christmas and love my life in Ecuador more than ever, even though I really wanted to go home, just for spending a normal Christmas eve in Denmark. But I had an absolutely awesome Christmas eve that made me feel so blessed to be in Ecuador and be able to spend Christmas with my Ecuadorian family.

Feliz navidad!

Decorating the tree
Vi pynter træet


Til at starte med vil jeg gerne undskylde for hvor håbløst langt bagude jeg er med min blog. De næste par indlæg vil omhandle julen i Ecuador, hvorefter jeg senere vil lave indlæg om min tur til Cayambe (det var viiildt!) og min tur til Otavalo.

Julen har været en lille smule underlig. For det første er det varmt, solrigt og føles ikke som december. Derudover føles det bestemt ikke som om at jeg har tilbragt over 4 måneder i Ecuador (det kan jeg slet ikke forholde mig til). Vejret er ikke rigtig skiftet siden jeg ankom og min dagligdag er begyndt at være som et ur: Jeg venter på bussen med de samme personer, jeg har den samme buschauffør og møder de samme mennesker på vej til mit projekt.

Selvom jeg ikke har været i Danmark for at fejre jul de sidste to år, så var denne juleaften den første uden min (danske) familie. Men i det mindste havde jeg min dejlige ecuadorianske værtsfamilie.

Den mest julede dag var den første december, hvor jeg først havde hentet en pakke hos VASE (der indeholdt julegaver) og da jeg kom hjem igen pyntede jeg et plastikjuletræ sammen med min værtsfamilie. Det var rigtig hyggeligt.

Men jeg kom fint igennem julen, med pakker hjemmefra der kunne give bare en lille smule dansk jul til mig her i Ecuador og selvom jeg virkelig gerne ville have haft muligheden for at tilbringe juleaften derhjemme, så havde jeg en fantastisk oplevelse juleaften og jeg føler mig så heldig for at være i Ecuador og elsker livet hernede mere end nogensinde før.

Feliz navidad!

onsdag den 23. december 2015

Fiestas de Quito! 6 de dieciembre

On the 6th of December Quito celebrated its foundation which meant lots of things going on! We went to a couple of concerts during this time. Unfortunately the first concert was the best and the rest of the concerts were disappointing.

The first concert was a concert to celebrate Quito, with Latin American music.

The second was supposed to be a concert with Carlos Vives, the Justin Bieber of Salsa Music. But the concert was late and it was raining during the entire evening, so we ended up going home after having heard only a couple of other bands that was supposed to get people in the mood (but one of the bands played Sweet Child O' Mine and Highway to Hell, so I was happy).

Next concert was a classical concert - but knowing Ecuador we should have figured out that this concert was gonna be late as well. And we was about to leave being scared of protests since some of the people started yelling "out with Correa". Luckily nothing more happened.

The last concert was so loud that we could not be on the place where it was held.

During this time we also went to a festival with traditional sweets of Ecuador and otherwise just enjoyed the life in Quito.

Viva Quito (and the rest of the people go "VIVA!")

First concert
Første koncert

Decoration of the presidental palace
Dekoration af præsidentpaladset

Viva Quito!

People drove around in party trucks
Folk kørte rundt i festlastbiler.

Second concert
Anden koncert

And it was raining!
Og det regnede

Classical concert
Klassisk koncert

Last koncert - I would wish we had not gone to this concert!
Sidste koncert! Jeg ville ønske, at vi ikke var taget til denne.

Den 6. december blev grundlæggelsen af Quito fejret. Vi tog til en masse koncerter. Desværre var den første den bedste, og vi blev slemt skuffede af resten.

Den første koncert fejrede grundlæggelsen af Quito og var virkelig god med Latin Amerikansk musik.

Den anden var en koncert med Carlos Vives (salsaens Justin Bieber). Vi kom dog aldrig til Carlos Vives, da koncerten var virkelig forsinket og det regnede hele aftenen. Vi hørte dog nogle opvarmningsbands og det sidste inden vi gik spillede både Sweet Child O' Mine og Highway to Hell, så jeg var glad.

Den tredje koncert var en klassisk koncert, der selvfølgelig var forsinket. Og vi blev en smule bekymrede da folkemængden begyndte at råbe "Ud med Correa". Men heldigvis stoppede det hurtigt og intet andet skete.

Den sidste koncert var så højlydt, at vi ikke kunne holde ud at være på pladsen i mere end 5 minutter.

Derudover besøgte vi også en festival for traditionelt slik og søde sager.

Viva Quito! (Og folkemængden råber "VIVA!")

onsdag den 16. december 2015

San Gabriel

On the 27th-29th of November, I went to San Gabriel, 20 km from the border of Colombia with Rebecca and Constanza and their host mom, Sara.

San Gabriel is Sara's home city and she has relatives there, which meant that we could stay in the home of her relatives.
The trip there took a long time! From my home to the city, it took more than 6 hours!
When we arrived, we had dinner and went straight to bed.
On the Saturday, we was driven around in a car to all the nearby sights - a special forest that contains trees with leaves that are good for your teeth, if you chew them.

Afterwards we went to a lagoon that I walked around together with Rebecca.

Next stop was a waterfall, where we also ate bread and cheese with dulce de leche.

Afterwards we went back to the house we stayed in and had lunch.

We still had more experiences to come though, as we went to a cave and a river, where we did a little bit of hiking. And we visited a mammoth as well.

Sunday we went home very early.

Staying at the home of Ecuadorians also came with another funny experience: Having the relatives taking pictures of us (and putting them on Facebook of course).

The bathroom was the weirdest experience during the weekend! Because the wall only went halfway up, and behind it was stairs! Yes, you could look into the bathroom! Furthermore, you could hear any noises coming from the bathroom in the dinning room. Oh well, Ecuador!

Forrest
Skov

Leaves that are good for your teeth
Blade der er gode for dine tænder

Forrest
Skov

In the top of the trees - I have no clue what this is!
I toppen af træerne groede disse. Jeg aner ikke hvad det er!

Mushrooms
Svampe

The lagoon
Søen

The lagoon
Søen
The lagoon
Søen

Waterfall
Vandfald

Waterfall - this time closer on
Vandfald - denne gang tættere på

I felt like an explorer - I wish it had been possible to walk further down.
Jeg følte mig som en opdagelsesrejsende - jeg ville ønske, at jeg kunne have fortsat!

At the cave
Ved grotten

The cave
Grotten

Looking out of the cave
Når man kiggede ud fra grotten

There was an altar inside the cave that ruined the unspoiled experience
Der var et alter inde i grotten, der ødelagde den uspolerede oplevelse

Mammoth and my new friend!
En mammut og min nye ven!

Bathroom - And yes, you can see the stairs behind the half wall.
Badeværelset - Og ja, du kan se trapperne bag den halve væg.
Our goodbye-picture
Vores farvelbillede

During dinner as well!
Der blev også taget billeder under maden.
Den 27. til 29. november tog jeg til San Gabriel, 20 km fra Colombia, sammen med Constanza, Rebecca og deres værtsmor. Vi boede hos hendes familie, eftersom hun har slægtninge der og kommer fra den by.

Efter vi ankom spiste vi aftensmad og gik direkte i seng, siden vi var meget trætte efter den lange bustur!

Lørdag blev vi kørt rundt i en bil og første stop på turen var en skov, med træer der har blade, som er rigtig gode for tænderne, hvis du tygger dem.

Næste stop: En sø, som jeg gik rundt om sammen med Rebecca.

Tredje stop: Et vandfald, hvor vi også stoppede for at spise brød med ost og dulce de leche. Og selvfølgelig tog vi tilbage til huset for at spise frokost efterfølgende.

Sidste stop på dagen var en grotte i La Paz og flod, hvor vi vandrede lidt omkring, og på turen hjem kørte vi forbi en mammut.

Søndag tog vi forholdsvis tidligt hjem.

At bo hos en ecuadoriansk familie bød også på andre oplevelser: Familien blev ved med at tage billeder af os, som selvfølgelig også blev lagt på Facebook.

Den mærkeligste oplevelse var dog badeværelset. For væggen gik kun halvvejs op, og bagved var en trappe. Derudover kunne alle potentielle lyde fra badeværelset høres i stuen. Men ja, Ecuador.

torsdag den 3. december 2015

Zoológico de Quito

On the 22nd of November I went to the zoo with Rebecca since my travelling plans for the weekend had been destroyed.

Normally it is weird going to a zoo in a foreign country, but going to the zoo in Quito was pretty cool, since almost all the animals, were animals that can be found in Ecuador!

Monkey
Abe
Turtle from Galapagos
Skildpadde fra Galapagos

Turtles from Galapagos
Skildpadder fra Galapagos

Parrot
Papegøje

This is a really big tortoise shell!
Kæmpe skildpaddeskjold!

Other animals, also as visitors to the zoo.
Andre dyr er også på besøg i zoo.

Andean bear
Brillebjørn

A wild cat at the size of a pet - I cannot remember the name.
En vild kat som findes i Ecuador, men som er på størrelse med en huskat. Jeg kan dog ikke huske navnet.

Same cat
Den samme kat

And it has normal cat behavior
Og den opfører sig som enhver anden kat

All types of birds in the zoo as well
Og der var også mange forskellige fulge

Alpacas!
Alpakaer!

Getting up close and personal with the alpacas
Nærkontakt med alpakaerne

Carrots definitely help on learning to know the alpacas better.
Gulerødder hjalp bestemt på at blive venner med alpakkerne.

I was interested in the hug. The alpaca was interested in the carrots in my hand.
Jeg ville gerne have et kram med alpakkaen. Den ville gerne have gulerødderne i min hånd.

Caiman!
Kaiman!

Iguana

More birds
Flere fugle

So many different species!
Der er så mange forskellige slags fugle i Ecuador!

And even more birds!
Og endnu flere fugle!

Den 22. november tog jeg i zoologisk have med Rebecca, da mine planer om at rejse væk i weekenden var blevet ødelagt.

Normalt er det lidt underligt at besøge en zoologisk have, men den zoologiske have i Quito var anderledes, fordi størstedelen af dyrene findes i Ecuador.