Monday, November 17, 2008

Senorita de Deportes y Desfile! and Sunday



Ok so the weekend before last was pretty crazy... During the week there was a competition for the Senorita de deportes, it was interesting becuase every class picked a girl to represent and then there was a competition. The day of the competition every class had a list of ten people who were going to enter the theater and support their Senorita de Deportes. I was on the list but Adam wasn't and we were only allowed ten. So when a kid from another class came and asked for our ten people to leave the room, I quickly told him to count off eleven and to let Adam through too. Once we had left the class the general inspector was waitting at the door counting how many were entering from each class, somehow Adam with his blonde hair passed without a problem... once in we were herded up to the balcony with all of the other seniors and juniors... the actual show was pretty boring. Seriously... like 80% of the girls said for their interests: I like to dance and listen to music... every single one... anyways our class was out at the first cut and I don't know which class actually won. But on saturday I was the gentleman for the parade. There was some confusion and Claudio, the exchange student from switzerland was the gentleman too. Adam and Nick were the mascots! Our class is really boring if I hadn't explained that before, we got these shirts for this and the internal sports championship but they are the worst of all that I saw. I ripped the neck as I put it on my head, probably about half the class did the same. Things here are faked all the time our shirts have a Nike symbol but they aren't Nike obviously. Other classes had real Addidas and Kappa shirts, we just got shafted by the bad planning of our class, there were also numerous errors in our shirts. I recieved 111 not 11. Anyways I didn't have to wear mine becuase I was in my monday uniform. We walked around the track with Adam and Nick dancing in a Pooh and Tigger costume. But all of the other classes had skits or dances planned and did these in fron of the judges, but we just walked on by, without a song or an idea... my class is lame. But anyways it was cool to see what the other classes had done! After the parade, everyone went back to the school yard where some classes were selling food... and beer! 1 liter of pilsner, the national drink for one dollar! I saw a kid who rides my bus, he's 12, drinking a beer! This place is crazy! I asked nick If I could return the costume for him becuase I wanted to wear it! Adam and I put the costumes on... which I quickly learned are horribly uncomfortable and hot! We went down to the center of the school yard and danced to the music trying to get people to dance... but we failed horribly! So we left and went to Los Shyris, one of the main streets in Quito and decided that we were going to go native and dance in the steets for money. It was an expiriment and an expirience that we both wanted to do! So we asked another kid from our school if he could guard our backpacks and take photos! He agreed and we hit the streets, we did it for only 10 minutes, about 7 stoplights, we ran out into the street durin the red lights, danced for about 20 seconds, did handstands and cartwheels and the ran to the cars and asked for money in the 10 seconds that we had left. I think we made like $2.50! It was really a fun expirience, after we were done we gave the money to the kid who was taking the photos and walked to the store where Adam and Nick had rented the costume and returned them! Definatly a good day. Sunday was interesting, I went to Parque de La Carolina, which is alongside Los Shyris. My sister and I left our house and headed there, there wasn't anyone practicing Capoiera so we decided to put up my slackline. Finally two other people showed up, a little kid and his family and another adult. We were all beginners and so we just kinda messed around. I practiced some flips and can now do a sideflip! Adam showed up and at about the same time my sister left because she felt a little sick. Adam and I worked on backflips, helping eachother out and handstands. He went to go and skate and we met up later. I met two new people in the park, one was an ex-practicioner of Capoiera. He is really cool and I got his number, right now he focuses more on the music and he dances Samba. The other person I met was a girl who was interested in Slacklining and Capoiera. She watched for a little bit and then practiced a little with us. My slackline became an attraction I didn't expect. A bunch of kids and adults who juggle, ride unicycles and do other things in the streets for money. They all wanted to try the slackline, Adam and I were amazed, the kids seemed very adult like, I guess when your working in the streets for money you grow up fast. They moved in a gang but were completely disorganized, it was crazy trying to get them to take turns on the slackline! These people are very interesting, there is a whole subculture, they dress in brightly colored patched cloths, have oddly cut and dyed hair, I assume this is to attract attention in the streets. I have seen some of the same poeple a couple of other times. I guess that around the park is there turf. They are all really nice and they remind me of hippies, they would fit right in at Country Fair for sure! It was a fun day! When I left there were about 30 people practicing and showing off on and along side my slackline! How cool, I'm definatly going to try and pick up some of their juggling skills!

1 comment:

Anna B said...

ahhh so that was what you needed pooh bear for. kick ass. :) - anna