Day 15

Around the 25^th or so caw, rooster was beginning to sound very good for breakfast. I lay in bed starting up at the ceiling around 5:30am until I was able to fall back asleep. Not much later I was woken a second time to a thud…thud thud…thud…thud thud thud. I walked to the roof of the house and saw Alfonso watching a group of military figures marching down the street with a set of guns and drums. I asked, “Is everything alright,” without a clue what was going on.

Alfonso laughed and said, “Yes it’s August 10^th” like I should’ve known what was going on.

August 10^th is Ecuador’s Independence Day. In San Cristobal they celebrate by shutting down all the streets on the pier, have a big parade, and fix lots of good food. One thing I tried today was Moroco. It consists of warm milk, cinnamon, raisons, and beans. It was really really good until you got to the bottom where all it consisted of were chunks of those beans and raisons mixed together.

After lunch Alfonso challenged me in a video game at a store that lets you play Playstation by the hour. He said a football game so without thinking I said yeah dude expecting to kick some butt in Madden 08. It was until I got there that I remembered football here is football, or back in the states we call it the gay mans sport, Soccer. I asked Alfonso if he would play Madden instead but he had no clue what or who John Madden was. I even asked the lady behind the desk if they had Americana football but all they had were soccer games. So I settled for Fifa 08. I can honestly say I learned more about soccer in that hour then I’ve learned my entire life.

Alfonso could name all the Ecuador teams and all their players but had never even heard of Chad Johnson. To him Ocho Cinco is just the number of some guy named Juan Rodriguez or something like that.

To end the night we went to church where I was the only white guy.

(me and the pastor)

This is the one time I really wish I could’ve spoke fluent Spanish and held a full conversation with someone. I was getting tired of meeting people and asking the same questions over and over in Spanish. Afterward I told Alfonso thanks for being there for me and told him next time I come here I will speak better Spanish then him. Tonight made me realize how much I miss my family and friends. I miss my culture and the people from it. I get excited here when I see two people speaking in English. I miss the smooth roads without potholes. I miss eating burgers and fries. I miss good rock n roll music. I miss sarcastic humor with TV shows like The Office and Always Sunny in Philadelphia. But most of all I miss real American football.

PS Who Dey!