Schedule for Galapagos

~6 AM flight from Quito to Baltra, boat tour aboard Estrella de Mar Friday-Sunday (including Saturday... my birthday!)

~ July 4
*Arrive in San Cristobal, checkin to Hotel Mar Azul
*12:30pm lunch at Kicker Rock
*1:30pm town tour, GAIAS (Galapagos Academic Institute for the Arts and Sciences; it's the program we go through at UFSQ) orientation, interpretation center
*Class with Diego
*7:00 dinner at: Rocas y Cactus

~July 5
*8:00am breakfast at GAIAS
*8:30am trip to highlands, lunch included
*4:00pm Class with Diego
*7:00 dinner at: Rocas y Cactus

~July 6
*8:00am breakfast at GAIAS
*9:00am Class at GAIAS
*12:30pm lunch at kicker Rock
*2:30pm depart for loberia
*7:00 dinner at: Rocas y Cactus

~July 7
*7:00am breakfast at GAIAS
*8:00pm depart for leon dormido
*5:00pm "Galapagos in 20 years" panel at GAIAS
*7:00 dinner at: Rocas y Cactus

~July 8
*8:00am breakfast at hotel
9:00am check in luggage
12:00ish flight departs

Yeah, no idea what we'll be doing on the boat tour. Lots of awimming?

LAST DAY

I didn't sleep well because I had a stomachache all night long, probably from the empanada. I'm sure it was safe because it was bought in a restaurant and all, but it was super greasy and Z is so healthy that I guess my system isn't used to the fat! It was a weird morning because I kind of realized that this was the LAST DAY, the last morning to slap the snooze button at 6:20. Z made me that weird cranberry oatmeal soup and hurried me out of the house again because my leg is still in the brace; I walk fine but it does make things like stairs, going to the bathroom, and putting on shoes awkward because I can't bend my knee. I just want to be able to dance by Colombia. I made it to the bus in time and kind of studied; I was tired. At school I alternated between studying, looking for AM, procrastinating, eating a croissant, emailing Mom, sunbathing, and talking with one of my buddies; she game me a CD of Ecuatorian songs... score! I took my Survey exam; it wasn't too big of a deal. I was the last one out, so I looked for AM again and settled down in the computer lab to work on my nature project. I tried to get the guys around me to come and eat like three different times, but we ended up waiting for Andrew to print a paper, then we went to the cafeteria. Last time, with big Ben and Andrew. Weird mystery soup with some kind of meat that Ben thought might be stomach, beet salad, fish, RICE, watermelon juice, and TRES LECHES. We're all sick of rice, but I could never get sick of tres leches. After lunch I hurried on over to the bakery to buy some chocolate for Mom after checking that it would keep for almost three weeks. I sat with some kids for a while and went on over to class to present my final project. It was interesting that one of the girls got pulled out for mysterious reasons; she told us later on the bus that she basically got yelled at for wearing too-short skirts; they told her that it was fine in the university but on the streets it would be like asking for rape. It was a little suspicious because other girls wear skirts just as short and sometimes shorter, plus it was our last day (wouldn't this advice have been more helpful a little earlier?) plus the person who told on her supposedly was a girl from the U who isn't a buddy. Entertaning, to say the least. The bus dropped us off and we went our separate ways; I would have been up for doing something but most kids were going back to their houses to take naps so they could go out later. Considering that we have to be at the airport at 6 AM and the amount of sleep I've been getting, no party for me tonight. I'll save it for Saturday (my birthday!! And Audrey's too.) So tonight I'm going to bed early, taking a 5:40 cab, and on to Galapagos. I'll publish my schedule, too. A couple of things I didn't know about Galapagos: it was about as many people as North Ridgeville (slightly under 30,000) and two airports. The animals aren't scared of anything, goats have kind of taken over the island, we won't be allowed to scuba dive, there are basically small towns, internet access is spotty but available. So maybe you'll hear from me. Oh, and I can take the brace off to swim, thank goodness.

Food day

Finally I’m bringing you up to speed. I woke up and strapped on the bionic leg. By the way, it’s impossible to bend my knee when I’m wearing it, making sitting in desks (and anywhere else) pretty awkward. Anyway, Z still felt bad but she still made me a raspberry batida and rushed me out of the house so I’d be on time, walking slowly with my leg. Lots of stairs, but I’m adapting… I like to think I have a knack for this sort of thing, kind of like after I got that stress fracture and went to the Halloween dance in a huge boot. I got to school and had my last class with AM, reading poetry and talking up my project. Good stuff. I checked email and printed my 10-page research proposal, done. I was hungry and had an extra meal card so I bought drinkable peach yogurt, a carrot muffin, and a chocolate chocolate cookie, working on a diary entry for AM. We had review in Survey, which was actually pretty fun because we get off topic so much. I blogged for an hour then met Kevin to meet a buddy Sebastian for lunch; he didn’t show so we went with Jael and Stefi instead. I ordered a burrito crepe and Sebastian did show up; we all sat together and it was really cool. Sebastian was an exchange student in Georgetown for a semester (he loved it) so it was really cool to talk to them. Somehow Sebastian got this crazy idea to go to this church that is supposedly the oldest in Quito. I didn’t really have any homework, and Stefi was going, so Kevin and I did, too. We walked to his car and he drove around for a little bit. We passed by the church, which was closed, then Sebastian insisted on buying me some sort of traditional empanada that was super fried but also really good. Kevin wanted to pass by the Pilsener factory, the biggest onle in the country, and Sebastian tried to get us in but it didn’t work out. He’s a little intense and super chivalrous, not wanting me to walk anywhere thanks to the bionic leg. He took us back to school, I looked for Germán to make up for the class I missed while I was at the doctor’s, then went to sit outside an empanada restaurant with Andrew and Kevin; Melanie joined us later. This random guy, a student, asked if he could join us because he thought we were chévere. We sat and talked with him for a while; he lived in the US when he was little and studies at USFQ now. It’s cool that people are so friendly here. The bus came so we had to leave, then it dropped us off in a weird spot. Maddy, Audrey, Proshanti, and Jacob wanted gelato, so I went with them (chocolate). I ate a lot today. Z was sleeping when I came back. I did some writing, reluctantly ate dinner (potato/oatmeal soup, oatmeal drink, rice, vegetables, chicken, fried plantain) and took my shower quickly because the water is still not always working. Then I blogged for a long time. For you, of course! Tomorrow is my last day, and all I really have is a final exam in survey. 9 credits in four weeks, done.

Drama mama

Monday I didn’t sleep well; I was a little tired. Z made me a batida (taxo, I think) and I had my OB&J and went to the bus. I had my class with AM and we did poetry, which I love. I felt really cool because she said you know you know a language if you can understand poetry and/or jokes. So cool. I imagine that I checked email or something in between… in Survey we talked about a little novel that is made up of letters written by this woman to Diego Rivera (famous Mexican painter, google images) and it’s kind of sad because this woman is absolutely obsessed, and he never writes her back. I got down to business in the library after lunch at Wok the Chinese place, then ran to the bakery to buy carrot bread that they didn’t have for Z. Oh well. Afterward all of us travellers got off at the stadium and we walked to the travel agency. While running across the street (something you have to do in Ecuador) I felt my knee twist out of the socket again, and it hurt so bad I actually felt kind of nauseous. I limped over to the agency, which was a minor disaster because our hotel wasn’t booked; after arguing for a while we decided to come back tomorrow and pay then. I limped back to my house and iced my knee, trying to start my huge final paper for Academic Writing. I don’t remember what I ate or anything, only that I was tired and my knee hurt. So I went to sleep. In the morning I ate my breakfast (raspberry batida this time) and still walked to the bus stop. I gave Brenden my credit card so he could pay for Colombia while I was in class, went to the clinic with Ana Maria, realized that I would need my credit card for any copay, walked to find Brenden, got my card, walked back to the clinic, tried to make an appointment, walked to Ana Maria’s office for advice, walked back to the clinic… I remember doing a lot of walking because the people wouldn’t let me make an appointment because I was “trauma”; I had to either wait for three hours or come back at 2. I gave up, gave Brenden back my credit card (more walking) sent a whiney email to Mom, and worked on my project. Before Survey Brenden gave me back the card because we’d be paying after school. More depressing novella in Survey, lunch in the cafeteria (minestrone soup, salad, lemon chicken, rice, nice dessert, strawberry juice) and got and excuse from German so I could miss class. I worked on the computer more and went to the doctor at 2; they took my blood pressure, temperature, height and weight (in meters and kilos) right away, then I waited for about an hour while watching the discovery channel in Spanish, then the doctor saw me. He asked what happened, pushed on and moved around me knee, I THINK he said I should get an MRI but I explained to him that I would only be in Quito for two more days, so he asked me what I wanted so I asked him for a brace and he gave me pain/anti-inflammatory pills, too. And this brace? It’s frickin huge. It looks like a robot leg. I used to think that people stared a lot before, but I was wrong. It’s impossible not to stare at this thing; something this bionic isn’t exactly normal here. But my knee doesn’t hurt anymore and I can take it off to swim in Galapagos, so that’s fine. My pessimistic side says I’ll have to have surgery, but what the heck? It’s not like I have anything better to do once I get home, and I’ve survived without running this long. Anyway, I got a lot of nice reactions when I walked into class late and before getting on the bus. I probably shouldn’t have waited so long to get it checked out, but it’s too late now. We went to the travel agency after school and we’re all set, although a bank fee made it a little more expensive than I’d thought. I thought I’d have to stay up all night writing my paper, but I didn’t. Z was feeling terrible because they took out 3 molars, so I ate my broccoli soup (which is SUPER good), lentils, and fish by myself, plus I had issues with my shower; the hot water has been finicky lately. I pretty much finished up and went to bed on time. It’s a miracle.

Epic Adventure, for real this time

I woke up early and when I was brushing my teeth in the bathroom, I heard one of the guys throwing up. It’s kind of miserable; last week everyone was getting sick, especially the kids in the other program who went to Riobamba. The bird watching was a little awkward because it was just me, two guides, a GAIAS girl who always said “qué lindo!!!” and the head professor of my program and her husband. The walk wasn’t too bad, but I did discover within the first five minutes that I don’t have the patience to be a bird-watcher. Luckily our guide was super good and he has a telescope that he could set up in five seconds flat so that the bird appeared to be five feet away instead of fifty yards. He also could make some pretty legit bird noises. I got to see some birds with pretty colors and all, but the best thing was that our guide found a nest with two baby birds in it, close enough to touch, easily. I have a picture, but it’s blurry. Oh well. That was definitely the best part. I also talked a little bit with professor Verónica, which was a little awkward because the other kids always talk about her but I don’t have any classes with her so I don’t really know what she’s like. She asked about my major and since she’s in the Spanish department she does senior theses only by invitation, and she invited me. That felt pretty cool to have a connection and all, but I’m also a little scared because even AM said that she’s really intense. I also don’t want to think about a senior thesis yet. Well, maybe only a little. We made it back in time for breakfast (pancakes and weird syrup, granola, fruit, and the coffee that they make there which was divine :) I changed into my bathing suit, brought all of my stuff down, and we got our boots on again to go on a five-hour hike. No joke. It was so gorgeous. First we walked through some fields and saw a bunch of cows, then we trekked through the woods for a long time. It was pretty intense; there were lots of rocks, roots, mud, stumps, cliffs, and the like. Most of it was uphill. Part of the trail was this old Inca trail, and apparently a lot of them died on it because it was just that hard. Granted, they’d be traveling for days with wares and babies, but still. Our group got separated easily but I was almost always in the middle. I was super glad I was wearing a tank top and that I had brought water. We finally made it to the turn-around point at the river. They had said we could swim there, but I was a little disappointed because it was really only a stream, kind of like French Creek but cleaner. We ate our tuna sandwiches and some of us stripped down to our bathing suits and rubber boots and waded upstream. So awesome. It was cool to walk through the river and all, but I’m talking about the waterfall. It was like something out of a movie or a Disneyworld ride; it was that perfect. Truthfully, it was a little scary, too. The water was really loud and really deep at parts, but with some help we clambered up on the rock underneath the waterfall. Some of the kids have waterproof cameras, and therefore pictures. I stayed there for a while because it was just that cool. Getting down was a little scary, too; luckily I didn’t have any knee problems with the water, which was freezing, by the way. We trekked back to the other group and dried off the best we could and went back, which I had been dreading. I didn’t have too many problems getting there, but it was mostly uphill; my knee hurt worse on downhills. It was okay; the group got separated really quickly and I was in the middle with Alana and Milan, which was fun because none of us were in a hurry to get back to Quito. I love Z and the USFQ and all, but Quito’s kind of gross, kind of polluted. I understood why we had started early because it was HOT, I soaked my bandana in every stream we passed and it felt fantastic. It was really tiring and we got really thirsty, but we made it back in time for lunch (salad, rice, beef, brown lemonade, potato soup). The rest of the kids settled their accounts with the bar and I paid $10 for a pound of coffee they make for Dad; I was really excited about that. We went back way too fast; I could have stayed there for a while. It began to rain, hard, as we left, and I felt really bad for the bus drivers. On the bus I tried to do work… Z had dinner waiting for me at home although she was still out at some sort of castle for Enrique’s birthday. I was starving; she had some sort of coup and chicken pasta. I hunkered down to my composition, feeling like a true college student, and I finished it by 11:30ish. It was about how indigenous people in Ecuador have adapted textiles over the years in order to survive.

getting there

So I went to bed and woke up early to shower and walk to Tribuna Shirys, the bus stop, even though me knee was pretty sore. On the bus I elevated it, pulled out some homework, and half-listened to the guide because we had come this same way going toward the beach. And I took a nap. We were in two busses instead of one, and no one understood why until we got off the main road and took off on this dirt road that was really narrow and definitely potentially dangerous; there were cliffs and dips and turns. It was really cool though, because I got to see some pueblos and the Maquipucuna reserve is really cool; it´s basically a protected forest. There are a lot of squatters living on the reserve, and the people in the area are really mad about it because it´s hard for them to expand (most of them are poor and are desperate for a way to make a living) but the resort has a couple of initiatives in coffee and chocolate, and some of the villagers work as guides or cooks. Maquipucuna is basically and eco-tourist resort (although there are a couple of researchers there) so it was a lot more comfortable than Tiputini… there was even hot water!!! They gave us an orientation in this open living room thing that was really comfortable (chairs, hammocks, couch) but I had a hard time listening because hummingbirds are EVERYWHERE!!! There were a couple of feeders by the cafeteria, and they were always hanging around, zooming around us because there were no windows. One thing I do remember is that they had a project with spectacled bears, which look really weird if you want to google-image them. I didn´t see any, but I guess they´ve had interesting success bringing them to the reserve (two of the three brought there had to be removed because they bothered the villages… one even stole a motorcycle, and the one left reproduced with her son so now there´s about 20 bears on the reserve.) We divided up into rooms and relaxed; Dad brought his guitar and Brenden and Jacob looked at a toad book. They had a small library there, a bar, and a gift shop that I´m pretty sure doesn´t exist. We went down for lunch at 12 (chicken, cabbage salad, and yucca, which is pretty tasteless. Also, there was this brown drink that we thought was tea, but it was actually lemonade sweetened with a brown sugar.) After lunch they handed out rubber boots to us (most of them didn´t fit; mine were to big and nearly everyone got blisters) and separated in groups to walk on a trail. We went on the main trail and the humidity trail, which was cool and all but I was a little spoiled after Tiputini. I did enjoy it despite the large group size, lack of animalitos, and the blisters. We did get to see quicksand, which was pretty cool. We had a lot of free time once we got back, so I took of my boots, attempted some homework, played chess with Milan and Egyptian Ratscrew with Brenden, Abby, Audrey and Proshanti, and tried to do some more homework. Dinner was at 7 (pasta, thank goodness, and some sort of chocolate cake, maybe) and then I got ready for a night hike: time again to bring out the headlamp. We walked along looking for bugs and stuff, but it didn´t get interesting until we went into this tilapia farm (weird, I know) to look for frogs and bugs and stuff. The guide caught a frog, plus we saw a spider and a caterpillar that thrashed around when the guide tried to touch it. I learned that the ugliest caterpillars turn into butterflies, while the prettiest ones turn into moths. The guide showed us yucca trees, which are actually pretty bug. Next we went to the coffee farm, and we got to eat some of the fruit which tastes nothing like roasted coffee. We also saw a wolf spider and some pretty darn amazing stars, plus a tiny little toad. There were also a lot of lightening bugs, which were a little more flashy than the ones from Ohio. Their light was bright and strong instead of a warm glow like the ones at home, plus they looked metallic up close. Back at the lodge, I showered (which was an adventure. The bathrooms are kind of but not really outside, and I had a couple of friends [moths, that is] in my shower. On my way to the bathroom I saw this GIGANTIC moth that at first I thought was a bat; it was that big.) Afterwards I relaxed with everyone; supposedly while we were gone Dan had put on a show with is guitar (he´s actually really good). We played “who is most likely to” for a while, then I went to bed so I could wake up early and go bird watching.

Real Friday; ignore the last post

I can´t really remember exactly where I left off. I think it was last Friday. I think Z made me that oatmeal and cranberry soup. I had class, I´m sure, probably poetry in Academic Writing and review in Survey. I remember having a really hurried lunch because we had salsa class at 1. NOW I remember that I got an email in the morning from Mom; remember how I had been stressing over staying in Quito the week after the program ends? Well, Grandma offered to pay for the plane ticket to Colombia. Yeah, wow, I know. I didn´t know what to think or do and spent the day wondering about it. I didn´t really want to take any more of Grandma´s money because I feel like I do that all the time, but then I remembered Mrs. Richardson. As weird as a memory as this is, I remember that she was our 3rd grade substitute teacher. She told us that if we didn´t remember anything else that she taught us, we should remember to “read, travel, and never let a horse die in its stall.” I figured I have the resources and the opportunity, I can speak Spanish, I´ll be with people I know and like, and I´ll probably never get to do it again, so why not? We´re going through a travel agency recommended by someone´s hostmom and Cartagena is a super touristy city, recommended my Daniel, the safety-freak director of my program at the university here. So I sent I frantic acceptance email to Mom, and ran to salsa class. It was so much better because I had been practicing, and I actually knew the people I was dancing with and could joke around a little. Some of the guys are still a little awkward, but I´m pretty sure they were born that way. I felt way better and even got some compliments on my ability to move my hips (from the Ferenec side, I´m sure.) Afterward we went to the museum-house of this guy named Guayasamín (look him up, he´s pretty cool) who is pretty much one of the most famous Ecuadorian artists, plus he collected precolombian and colonial art. I wanted to show Beth or at least buy a postcard, but they didn´t have any. We went back to our houses and I started packing for Macipucuna right away, fighting with the internet so I could try to skype with Mom, about Colombia. I had to hurry up and eat early because I had to meet people at about 6:15; I ate Z´s food and dressed up a little bit, because Patrick had arranged for a Chiva, which is supposedly super traditional. It´s basically this big trucklike thing with open windows, loud music and space enough to dance, and it drives alowly around the city blasting music. Supposedly you stop at some churches and at the end you crown a king and queen of the Chiva. I met Jacob to walk over to Patrick´s apartment; we found Maddy, Audrey and Proshanti on the way. It was really cool, because nearly everyone on the trip was going AND we had a couple of Ecuadorian buddies who came, too. We all clambered on and danced, although right away I felt my knee slip out of my socket and it hurt like the devil. I sat for a while, but then I figured that I´d never do this again so I figured out how to dance without moving my knee too much, which was made even more difficult because we were driving. There were ropes and poles and stuff to hold on to, and it went so slow that we only ever had problems keeping balance at stoplights. It was really fun to be with everyone and to wave at the people on the street. It was supposed to drop us off at the Mariscal but it didn´t, but after arguing a little it drove us there pretty quickly. We ate French fries, nachos, and wings at an Irish pub (how´s that for a mix of cultures for you?) and went to a discoteca to dance where someone had connections. I danced with this guy who turned out to be the owner of the club, which\who was weird, and none of the guys were smart enough to read my faces to come and save me, so I pulled the tired card and went to sandwich myself between James and Brenden on one of the couches. Since Brenden and I live fairly close we were going to go home (we needed to be at the bus stop at 7:30 the next morning) but we ran into a couple of friends and stayed a little later. On the way home, Brenden gave me the info on Colombia: recommended by his hostmom who travels a lot, flight, hotel, food and drink included, nine kids going with the ratio of boys to girls 2:1. I don´t know if I´ve stressed this, but Z´s favorite thing to tell me before I go out is to make sure there are more “chicos than chicas.” I´ve actually been really good about that, especially since I try to hang out with Jacob or Brenden so I have someone to take a taxi with; Z also is against taking taxis alone. Anyway, he completely sold me on Colombia. The kids coming, in case you have any measure of personality from my posts, are Abby, Margo Z, Brenden, Andrew, Ben, Ben (yes, two), Kevin, and James.

Excuses

I know I have to catch up from Saturday, but here is my excuse: Academic Writing, bum knee, lack of sleep, planning for Colombia. Did I mention I'm going to Colombia?

FRIDAY

So after I stopped typing last night, I went into the shower and when I got out, I heard this screaming. I was pretty sure Enrique was pulling out Felipe’s tooth. I went about my business and sat down to my essay on political, sexual, and personal repression (so much fun. Why couldn’t I have picked feminism or something??) and the guys went in to use my bathroom for the mirror. The three-year-old Pedro (who is drop-dead cute) asked me what I was doing. I can’t tell you how exciting that was because one, foreign exchange students are scary and two, I actually understood him; little kids are a little hard to understand. Our conversation didn’t last too long; I think I scared him away. Later on I went to the bathroom to see how they were doing, and it turned out really funny because the boys were all over the place. I have left a bunch of stuff out because I hadn’t expected them coming, and Pedro grabbed my deodorant. It made Enrique really embarrassed, which was funny for me. They left, Z practically passed out after doing so much all day, and I finished my essay. More or less. The next morning the bus was late-ish, and I started reading about the Popol Vuh (Mayan Bible) because I was pretty sure I’d have to change the topic for my research paper. At school I corrected my essay then looked up JSTOR, this great collection of academic journals, to find some knitting. I found no knitting, but plenty of textiles, so I’m just changing one word in me thesis: “knitting” to “textiles.” Easy, and AM approved. I went to her next to help me go over my repression essay. Next it was off to the library to find some books with some success. I talked for a bit, checked my email to see if I was supposed to meet with my university buddy for lunch, went to class, realized I’d forgotten my book at the computer that I had been revising my essay, interrupted a class to retrieve it, and made it back to Survey class in time to talk about incest, militarism, and Puerto Rico. We read aloud a lot, which I liked because I’m really vain about the way my voice sounds in Spanish, especially when reading. My lunch buddy never made any contact, so I hung out with Margoh, Andrew, Lola, and Brenden for a while, then we met some Ecuadorians Rodrigo and José for lunch; Jacob the Clevelander and another Ecuadorian Stefi joined us. Another proof of Latin American’s weird health fetish: I rarely eat sweets at the apartment, so I do so pretty much every chance I get at school. I ordered a crepe with nutella, strawberry, banana, and cheesecake, and I enjoyed it. Germán came up to me and told me that I was punishing myself. I didn’t know what the heck he was talking about. I mean, I know that “castigar” means “to punish,” but I had no idea what he was referring to. He repeated himself about twenty times used motions, and translated to English, but he had to say that I was punishing myself because I was eating dessert for lunch. Really? I mean, really? It’s a crepe, it’s my lunch, and I’m not morbidly obese. It did bother me that I could not use my usual running excuse, but the entire ordeal was a little irritating. I don’t know how Latin Americans got to be such health nuts. Anyway, we had a good time talking about Chicago, kickboxing, cloistered nuns, lacrosse, and Amish people with the Ecuadorians, then we went to class. More talking about the Spanish conquest (it seems like that’s ALL I ever talk about here) and how colonialism is still present in Latin America today, getting sidetracked a lot. Next we talked about the novella “An old guy who read romance novels” loosely translated, of course, which actually has a lot to do with the rainforest. We had a nice average bus ride back, it started raining as I walked home, and I did homework. Kind of. A lot of solitaire. Problem is that my internet isn’t working tonight, so I can’t go online to find the journal articles I need for my humongous paper. So I worked, but not on what I wanted. Dinner was cold tea, quinoa soup, tomatoes, chicken pastelito (sandwich that has rice instead of bread that is so flipping good I’m going to try to make it as soon as I get home) and fried plantains. I showered (good, right?) and I guess I’m going to bed now, although I’m thinking of waking up early to try to get some internet.
For your entertainment: Because I am blatantly American, all of my catcalls in are English, but Ecuadorians are really bad with pickup lines. Example: walking back to the apartment today I passed by these three super ultra mature high school boys. After I had passed by, one of them said, “Beautiful woman.” Really? There’s another really creative one, too: “Pretty girl.” If Ecuadorian girls are in any way attracted to these guys (with translation, of course) they’ve got some serious problems. Anyway, I know this sounds super naïve, but I thought that hibiscus flowers were only in Hawaii. There’s some at the school. There have been police outside the Music Conservatory when I get out in the mornings. I think that there must be someone really important visiting because I can’t see my neighborhood as having a high crime rate (I also live next to a ballet school and a swimming school…) I have some exciting stuff planned for the weekend; get ready for some surprisingly not-mediocre posts!!