Möödunud on 5 päeva ja olen siinse eluga võrdlemisi ära harjunud. Keeleks on esialgu 'espanglish', nagu mu siinne perepoeg, Omar, ütleb :). Olen juba paar korda ka hispaania keele tundides käinud, ent selgus, et algajate tunnid tähendavad lihtsa kõnekeele õppimise asemel erinevatele ajavormidele keskendumist. Esialgu on raske, kuid loodan, et saavutan kuue kuu möödudes sama taseme, mis siin juba pool aastat veetnud vabatahtlikud.
Vabatahtlikke on siin hulgi. Ligikaudu 30 neist saabusid augustis ning on siin terve aasta. Neist üks on soomlane, ülejäänud kõik on sakslased. Jaanuaris saabunuid on umbes 13: viis USA'st, üks Islandilt, kaks Rootsist, neli Saksamaalt ning mina Eestist.
Mu esimene nädalavahetus Ecuadoris möödus kiiresti. Reede õhtu veetsin teiste vabatahtlikega mööda vanalinna tatsates. Pilte kahjuks ei ole, aga plaanin sinna peagi tagasi minna. Quito vanalinn on väga ilus, palju pisikesi tänavaid ja imeilusaid kirikuid ning künklik nagu San Francisco.
Laupäeva varahommikul sõitsin Tove (Rootsi vabatahtlik, kes elab samas majas), Omar'i ning tema sõbraga linna nimega Quinche, kus toimus karneval 'Virgen del Quinche' auks. (Nimelt teeb Omar filme ja tal oli vaja oma filmi tarbeks sinna sõita). Kogu külarahvas ning ilmselt ka naaberkülade rahvas oli kokku tulnud suurteks pidustusteks. Muidugi olime mina Tovega kohalikele kui vaatamisväärsused, sest ühtegi teist turisti seal peale meie polnud. Me ei lasknud end sellest aga häirida ning võtsime kohalikest tavadest meelsasti osa. Ametlikule osale kirikus järgnes tantsimine klounide ja teiste tegelastega, kelleks inimesed end karnevali jaoks olid riietanud. Loomulikult kaasati ka meid ning hiljem selgus, et ka filmiti uudiste tarbeks.
Pühapäeva veetsime kõigi vabatahtlikega ühes suures pargis Quito idaosas (Parque Metropolitano). Siinne organisatsioon korraldas ühe töötaja lahkumise auks BBQ, kuhu kõik vabatahtlikud olid oodatud. Park asus mäe tipus, seega avanes sealt väga hea vaade Quito ümbrusele. Kuna Quitos elab umbes 1,4 miljonit inimest, mis on umbes sama palju nagu terves Eestis kokku, on Quito koos oma äärelinnadega võrreldes Tallinnaga väga suur.
 |
| Quinche |
 |
| Pidustused 'Virgen del Quinche' auks/Festival for the 'Virgen del Quinche' |
 |
| Kiriku lagi/the ceiling of the church |
 |
| Klounid/the clowns |
 |
| vaade pargist/view from the park |
I've been here for 5 days already and I feel like I've got used to living here. Instead of Spanish or English I use 'Espanglish' as my host brother likes to say :). I've also taken some Spanish classes, but being in the beginners class is a lot more difficult than I anticipated. We focus more on the tenses, commands and irregular verbs rather than trying to master the everyday language. But even though it's difficult, I hope I'll get to the same level by the end of my stay as the volunteers who have been here for 6 months.
There are lots of volunteers here. About 30 of them arrived in August and are staying for a year, one of them is Finnish and the rest are all German. Plus there is about 13 of us who got here in January and are staying either for 2 or 6 months, 5 of them are from the US, 1 from Iceland, 2 from Sweden, 4 from Germany and me from Estonia.
My first weekend here in Ecuador passed very fast. I spent the Friday evening in the old town with the other volunteers (unfortunately I didn’t take any photos, but I’m planning to go back there soon). The old town is picturesque with its small streets, beautiful churches and lots of hills (like in San Francisco).
Me, Tove (Swedish volunteer who lives with the same family), Omar and his friend left Quito early on Saturday morning to go to Quinche, where there was a festival for 'Virgen del Quinche'. There were lots of people from the village and other villages nearby, but surprise surprise, me and Tove were the only foreigners. The official part at the church was followed by lots of music and dancing. Some of the people had dressed as clowns and other characters and tried to get the people to dance. Of course they also made us join and we found out later that they also filmed us for the news.
On Sunday we went to a park on the East side of Quito (Parque Metropolitano) with all the other volunteers to have a BBQ for one of the girls who has been here for 4 months and is leaving soon. The park was located on top of a mountain, so we had a nice view overlooking the surroundings of Quito.
No comments:
Post a Comment