Los Galapagos Islands/ The Galapagos Islands

So, my family just got back from a 6-day Galapagos Islands trip. We started on May 14th and ended on May 19th. I took a lot of pictures and videos. I will post them on here so you can see. I will also include captions for each one, if I can. Hope you enjoy!

                                                                     A cactus

                                                                    A turtle

                                                             A land iguana

                                                              A big turtle

                                                               A flamingo

                                                                          A tree

                                                    A blue footed bobby

                                Foreground: Cactus   Background: Sky and Sun

                                                                A sea lion

A pool at our hotel

The hotel we were staying at

So, that's all for now! If you want me to post more, feel free to leave comment!

Empanadas Galore!

So, tonight, April 11, 2013, my mom, my sister, and I made delicious (and spicy and hot) empanadas. Empanadas are meat and vegetables in a doughy shell, baked in the oven. They are delicious! Oh, and one more thing: on the last post, I said that "morning" in Spanish was "manaña", but it's actually "mañana" (man-YAN-a).

Question Just for Fun: What is this math problem: 
[7-(7-5(6+4)+7)]+2.

Answer to Last Post's Question: George.

Spanish Vocab: Huevos (Spanish)= Eggs (English) 

Galapagos Islands Trip

So, my family finally decided that we could go to the Galapagos Islands in the middle of May. It will be a blast.

We will fly out at about 8 o'clock in the morning, and get there about 12 o'clock in the afternoon. There will be snorkeling, tours, boat rides, and tons of other stuff! It will be so cool.

I will bring my camera and take pictures, so I'll blog about it when I get back. Wish me good luck!

Question Just for Fun: What is the name of the famous turtle who died recently on the Galapagos Islands?

Answer to Last Post's Question: A Hole.

Spanish Vocab: manaña(Spanish)= morning (English)

School

So, school here is going OK so far. One of my favorite classes is math. The kids in the class started a unit on fractions...which I've already done. So, the teacher gave me one of those diagnostic tests and she put me separate from everybody else, in ALGEBRA! :)

Apart from that, school's going OK. It is a huge school, for it has to have room for Primary: International, Primary: National, Secondary: International, and Secondary: National. 

Some classes I have are Music, Sports, Math, Computers, Social Studies, Writing, Language Arts, Spanish, and Science. 

Spanish is the hardest, because the teacher only knows a little English, and I only speak a little Spanish. Sigghh.

Question Just For Fun:  What gets bigger the more you take away?

Answer To Last Post's Question: The Andes Mountain Range.

Spanish Vocab: Inglés (Spanish)= English (English)

Zoo Fun

So, today, my family took me to the zoo, about a 1/2 hour drive from where we live. I took some pictures, so I'll show you!

There was a petting zoo...

...and they put on shows with the animals!

Well, hope you enjoyed this post!

(Hope you don't mind my creativity with the models of animals I got from the gift shop. I took no pictures of any animals at all!)

Question Just for Fun: Without an atlas, guess what mountain range I can see through our living room window (Hint: It runs from just about the top to the bottom of South America).

Answer to Last Weeks Question: Guitar

Spanish Vocab: el nino (Spanish)= the boy (English)

Voluntary Research Project

"Wait- Voluntary WHAT!?!?!" You say. But, yep, I'm starting a voluntary research project! I was walking with my family to a restaurant the other day (actually, it was more like a week and a half ago), and my mom asked if I wanted to start some sort of voluntary research project. Of course, I said yes. 

The hardest part so far was coming up with a topic. I was just sitting, planning up possible topics. All of a sudden, I looked up and told my mom my list. She and I narrowed it down to 2 things: Ecuadorian Art, or the Galapagos Islands. I chose art as a fun thing to do, and the GALAPAGOS ISLANDS as my voluntary research project. 

So, I hope this goes over well. It's really exciting. I just thought of posting it and letting all you readers know.

Question Just For Fun: In my new school, we have to choose an instrument to play. Guess which I picked: Drums, flute, guitar, or trumpet.

Answer to Last Week's Question: None! That's what students are for!

Spanish Vocab: Uno mas, por favor (Spanish)= One more, please (English)

Dreamish Vacation

So, the school I go to has changed their schedule this year. So, that means all the vacations have switched. So, there is now a vacation starting on the 31st of January and having the last day be on February 17th. 

So far, vacation has been OK. At first, my family was planning to go to the Galapagos Islands. But, the weather would have been bad, and it would have been a hassle. So, my family moved our trip to May. But, my mom and dad came up with something else. I really wanted to go to the Galapagos, and that's what adds the "ish" part to "Dreamish".

However, one of the best things my parents said we'd do was take one of those lifts up to one of the mountains. We'd be going up another 3,000 feet! One of the other things my parents said we'd do is go to some museums (e.g. art). One of the last things my parents said we'd do is go to some restaurants and go out for ice cream. That will also be very good.

So, hopefully everything will turn out all right. We still have two weeks of vacation, so lets hope it does!

Question Just for Fun: How many teachers does it take to screw in a light bulb?

Answer to Last Week's Question:  Twenty-nine thousand, nine hundred ninety-five dollars.

Spanish Vocab: El Helado (Spanish)= Ice Cream (English) 

10 Pros and Cons About Quito

Hey, all! In this post, I will list 10 pros and cons about Quito (so far)! 

1. We were doing some cooking one day in school, and I cut myself pretty badly. It was a lot of blood. But, I'll live :-). 

2. I take the bus home from my school, and it's one of those fancy buses with a TV (never used), comfortable chairs, seat belts... yep, it's a blast.

3. There are awesome views, good to stare at at night.

4. The water pressure is really bad here, so I could have a hot shower with only 1/3 of what it'd be at sea level in the states.

5. My family tries to get out to this restaurant called the "Magic Bean" once a week. They have the best pizza, salads, burgers, and desserts you could ever eat...

6. The apartment my family rents is HUGE. It is  more than 2000 ft squared.

7. I don't have as many things to keep myself entertained with here, and we can't touch anything expensive, because we just rent the place...

8. I have been beating more things in my video games in Quito, so I wonder if it's a sign or not!

9. Unknown

10. Unknown (hey, I can't think of EVERYTHING!).

So, hope that was sort of interesting. 

Question Just for Fun: In words (English words), how much is $29.995 (A price in Ecuador)?

Answer to Last Week's Question: Monday & Thursday.

Spanish Vocab: Blanca (Spanish)= White (English)

The New School Rocks

So, my sister and me started school on Monday,  the 21st of January. It is a VERY nice school. The first day we were supposed to go there, I got scared and nervous in the morning. It's always hard with new things.

The kids there are very nice. I haven't made any real friends... but I'm working on it. The school is awesome. Most of it is outside, for it doesn't snow or rain heavily. They supply you with most of the stuff you need, and, as a bonus... there are three recesses a day. Yup, three! The first one is ten minutes. The second one is thirty minutes, and the last one is ten minutes. There is a fifteen minute lunch before the half an hour recess, so if you don't finish your lunch during lunch time, you can finish it at a picnic table during recess!

Another cool thing is the uniforms. There not all first-classy, with a tie or anything, but it's actually pretty cool! Let me show you...

Regular School Day Uniform

Sports Day Uniform (The day I have Sports)







So, that's it for now. Hope you all enjoyed the info I gave you. Make sure to be up-to-date on this blog!

Question Just For Fun: Guess what days you think I have Sports.

Answer to last weeks question: Who knows!

Spanish Vocab: Beinvenido a América (Spanish)= Welcome to America (English)

Say, is that a hint of Paradise?

So, now we are really settled in Ecuador. I'v gotten more used to it, but it is still hard. One of the hardest things is walking up hills. The hills are really steep here, and it can get hard at 9,000 feet at altitude. 

Some good news is that we've been accepted into a school!It's called "Fundacion Colegio Americano". My sister and I had an interview Thursday. I had to take a bunch of tests to find out what level I was at for the school. Below is a picture of the school logo.




So, now that we are settled, I can show you a video of a tour of our apartment.

 So, yeah, we're all settled. I hope the video is OK. If it looks bad, I really am sorry. 

Question Just for Fun: What came first: The chicken, or the egg? Answer will be posted on next post.

Answer to last post's question: 1:05 am Wednesday (Sorry, I forgot to put the day we left in the question. As long as you got 1:05 am, you're right!)

Spanish Vocab: I don't speak Spanish (English)= No hablo espanol (Spanish).

Not exactly Paradise

So, I got to Ecuador late into the night on the 15th of January. For the first day, it wasn't really the best. I was totally sleep-deprived from only getting 5 hours of sleep. After that, it got worse.

Quito, Ecuador (where my family and me are staying) is at 9,000 ft of altitude. So, it can create headaches, nausea, and dizziness. But, one of the worst thing for me was the smell. Quito has TONS of cars, creating TONS of pollution. The smell has been bothering me a lot. So, really, there are tons of buildings for tons of people who need tons of cars.

But, Quito also has its upsides. Look at the picture. Do you see those awesome mountains in the background? Those are one of the upsides. The apartment my family rents is also awesome. There is a lot of fancy furniture, especially in the living room. The picture below is a fancy horse statue.

So, yeah, life is OK here so far. It's definitely not Paradise, but it's not a total dump, either

 Question Just for Fun: My family has a flight to Quito, Ecuador. We have to get to an 11:10 am plane flight early , so we leave at 8:15 am from our home in Quincy, MA. It takes 45 minutes to get to the air port, then it takes 75% of an hour to go through security. We then wait until our first flight at 11:10 am. The flight takes 3 hours 10 minutes. Once the flight is done, my family travels across the air port to our next gate, for a 6:10 pm flight. The time to travel across the air port is 20 minutes. Then, we wait for the 6:10 pm flight. The flight takes 4 hours 45 minutes. We get to the airport in Ecuador and go through customs, baggage claim, etc. for 1 hour. Then, we find our taxi guy and put our luggage into the taxi, which takes 50% of an hour. Then, the drive to the hotel takes about 40 minutes. What time and day do we get to our apartment if we left for the air port in MA at 8:15? Answer will be posted on next post.

Spanish Vocab: Thank you for the service (English)=Gracias por el servicio (Spanish).