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Miriam's Blog

Today we visited Colegio menor, the high school in Cumbaya,Ecuador. We left Hotel Quito at 7:15 and arrived at Colegio Menor at 7:45. When we arrived at Colegio Menor we went into a meeting with a group of juniors, administrators, and the dean of students. During the meeting we discussed future exchange opportunities for CSIHSIS students and the Colegio Menor students. Afterwards, me and Khaijat attended classes with the high school students.We went to Chemistry,AP history, Latin american studies and Salsa gym. Most of the classes are in english because Colegio Menor is a bilingual school. All the high school students speak really good english. Me and Khadijat liked Salsa Gym and Latin American studies. In Salsa gym we learned a few combinations in merengue and Salsa. We even got to dance with some of the students.The boys were really good dancers. In ecuador it is typical for the guys to be the first ones out on the dance floor. In Latin American Studies we discussed the changes that are being made in the ecuador constitution. Because the constitution is very old the people of ecuador think it needs to be updated. the argument is whether same sex couples and abortion should be legal. Also, many religious groups want to the church and the state to be collaborated while others feel the state should be secular. It was interesting to hear the different perspectives of the students. Eventhough they were speaking spanish we could hear the passion in their voices. SOME TEACHERS AT COLEGIO MENOR ALLOW THEIR STUDENTS TO LISTEN TO THEIR IPODS DURING READING ACTIVITIES(WINK,WINK).
After Colegio Menor we went to Tracey's house,shes the dean of students and the AP Biology teacher. While we were relaxing, Ms.Sullivan went for a walk and thought she knew her way around town she ended up getting lost.she had no cell phone. Don't worry Tracey found her in a matter of minutes. For dinner we went to a restaurant outside of Cumbaya called El Sitio. They served authentic ecuadorian foods and even typical american foods. after dinner we went back to the hotel.
Buenas Noches,
miriam

We Have Arrived.( Buenos Noche)

Its almost 2 oclock in the morning and I am posting this blog .lol.
Anyways, Miriam( her family), Me ( my family), Ms.Sulivan(Works at the college and gives our school the college courses) and Ms. Garcia ( and her husband) meet at the Newark Airport this morning at about 7:00 am.
We got our bags checked and waited till 10:20, were we boarded to Miami.
After the comfortable three and a half hours on the plain. We boarded another plane ride , also three hours to Quito. The plane rides were filled with eating and reading magazines such as Seventeen and Essence. Want to know something funny? Our plane ride to Quito was an hour delayed because a women bought her cat on the plan. Hello!!!!!!!!!!!! Cats go with the cargo. ADUH!! Anyways, during the transition from the plane to Miami to the plane to Quito( Ecuador) , we ate at a chinese food resturant in the airport. While Miriam's fortune cookie read something about her making new friends, mine said something about finding "romance" tonight. As you can see I put emphasize on the romance.We all just laughed ,thinking about what would happen later that night regarding the cookie. So, once we landed in Quito , we had to pass through the airports so that our bags could get checked and so that we could meet our hosts. While in the airport, just by luck I had found the man my fortune cookie was talking about .lol.. This tall dark skinned Ecaudorian. He started to talk to me in Spanish in a very fast pace . The only word I understood was "bonita". Ms. Garcia translated the rest and we all just started to laugh( Them pick-up lines)...hard!Though he was not cute, the way he spoke spanish was very romantic and made me and Mariam become more eager to speak the language fluently. After that, we meet the principle of the school we will be visiting , her son and a native ecoudorian , which is our tour guide. While our new friend ( tour guide) took us to Hotel Quito, we saw the buildings and stores of Quito. Its a very busy city, somewhat like NYC. Kids stand on the street performing some kind of acts like throwing fire and jungling for some money. The Hotel has big shinney lights and is massive. None of the channles are in english except CNN!! So me and Miriam are forced to learn.lol. We are also frighten by the hotel due to it's design and size. It reminds us of the movie Hostile. Well. I have to get some sleep. Miriam is already sleeping and I bet the same for MS. G and Ms.Sulivan. And OO dont worry Miriam's mom. Miriam is safe amd smiling in every flash. Buenos noche.

Un Dia Mas!!!!

This is Khadijat , Reporting in Spanish Class.
Today is April second and we leave tomorow for Ecuador.
We are going to meet each other about 7:oo am tomorrow in
Newark Airport( New Jersy).
Im so excited !!!
I have to go shopping for junk food today.lol.
Hasta Luego.

We Can't Wait to see the View!!!!!!!

I, Miriam and Ms. G are here, on the computer in Spanish Class discussing the Beautiful mountains we have only heard about in Ecuador. The mountaious view is said to be seen from the top floor of Hotel Quito.

Quito en seis dias

Today, we ( Ms. Garcia and I, Khadijat) began making our blog. Mariam is absent today but she will be on the trip. We are now talking about the traveling arangements and what to pack, etc. People say that quito has four seasons. They say that in the morning its like spring, the afternoon is like summer, the evening is like fall, while the night is like winter. Take that for a simile. I am realy grateful for the grants given to us by the College of Staten Island. With that I am going to Ecuador for free. Food expenses are also covered, the only thing we need money for is souveniors. While in Quito, we will be visiting a school while taking nature trips like visiting the equator. The purpose of the trip is to plan for our school's student exchange trip during the summer. The blog will soon be updated. That's all for now! Adios y hablamos pronto!

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