A Trip to Church and The Mall

Weather: 50's chilly, and rainy for a little bit in the afternoon

Today was an interesting day...I got an invite to go to the Middle of the World with a couple friends, but I denied the offer since I already agreed to go to church and the mall with my host family. I think this put me in an odd mood because of FOMO once again.

Ines made french toast for breakfast and it was very delicious and different from what I've had in the states. This version was covered with cinnamon and sugar so no syrup was necessary. We left for mass around 12:15pm. Sitting through the mass was a cultural experience I wanted to have coming here, so I'm happy I got to experience it. The mass was actually the same as a mass in the states except unlike Hull, the church was standing room only by the start of mass. Also, I noticed that people give a lot of money to the church here which I'm not sure I agree with. Penelope runs the kids program during mass and the other night she brought home colored pencils the kids use to sharpen for today's mass. They were so small I'm surprised the kids could get their hands around them to use they were sharpened so many times. She said that she has asked the priest several times for new colored pencils but they are not doing anything. This was part of my reasoning as to why I don't really think giving money to a church is a good cause as far as donations. Before mass today I helped Penelope set up for the kids and there was actually a new box of colored pencils so that made me really happy. However, it shouldn't have taken this long to get a simple box of pencils...rant over.

I will say it felt weird being in mass in a different language, and this could contribute to the fact that I haven't gone to mass in years. They did the communion the same way and had live music. What surprised me is that I didn't get 5 million looks like I didn't belong there which is what I was expecting. Everyone just minded their own business which is very rare for Ecuadorians. After the mass we headed back home to the house for lunch. I had my first real salad here and it wasn't bad. Ines proceeded to ask me if I attend mass at home. I said I did not and then she asked me if my Mom did. I explained when I was younger we went a lot and I made my communion and confirmation. As I was trying to explain this, Ines spoke over me to Penelope so that created an awkward situation. I looked at this as a cultural difference and where Ines is 70 she probably doesn't understand that church in America is not as valued as it is here. What confused me was that her granddaughter Angie did not attend mass with us so I didn't understand why Ines would be surprised I don't normally attend mass. Granted I may have interpreted this wrong, but it was the message I perceived as a result of Ines's body language.

After lunch, Ines, Penelope, and I went to a mall in Quito. Angie was supposed to come but at the last minute she decided not to come. I wish she did come because I haven't been able to get to know her too well. She spends a lot of time in her room either doing homework or watching television. I was under the impression we would be at the mall for only a couple hours however we were there from 3:30-7:30pm. Penelope cooks at this huge store that is in most of the malls here called Sukasa. All she was making was sweet popcorn so I figured it couldn't take that long. I was way wrong and ended up doing what felt like 100 laps around this one mall. I was losing my mind towards the end because I don't even like shopping malls in the states and nothing changes that here. We passed the same stores time and time again. Eventually, Ines suggested we go to Parque Carolina across the street.

We walked around the park for a bit which was so pretty! It had everything from a botanical garden to food vendors to horse rides to a lagoon that had little boats you could rent. This made the trip to the

mall worth it. After walking around the park for awhile Ines and I headed back to the mall and went to the Supermaxi which is equivalent to Walmart or a huge food store in the states. Ines had to get milk and a few other things so this marked my first trip into a grocery store here in Quito and let me tell you it was a crazy ride....

First of all, no one here says excuse me they all just go for it. It was literally bumper cars in the aisles. When we began shopping a cart was in Ines's way in an aisle so she proceeded to push that cart with hers. Eventually the lady moved the cart and we were on our way, but not a single word was exchanged between the lady with the cart and Ines. Further on in the shopping trip, Ines hit a man with her cart and just stared at him as he said "ughh" and gave her a mean look. After the fact she said "lo siento." The entire time I just wanted to get out of there in one piece. During all my culture talks we have received at orientation they always make fun of Americans and how we can't say a simple hello or be bothered by losing 5 seconds of our time... this experience showed me that Ecuadorians have no patience or manners when it comes to grocery shopping. The case is similar to driving here in Quito. People are crazy...

As far as the food goes in the supermarket; neither the milk nor eggs is refrigerated. I know I mentioned the eggs before but it's still crazy to me. Also, everything that would be in plastic cartons or boxes is bagged here. The milk and yogurt are bagged, as well as a ton of other items that would be more convenient to be in cartons. Literally everything is bagged. As far as the environment goes this may be better since there is less packaging but it's still utilizing a ton of plastic that is not recyclable. At least with more packaging it could be recycled. Another thing I noticed is that they LOVE Coca-Cola here, the soda aisle consisted of 3 types of sodas Coke, Sprite, and Fanta Orange. They sell them in 3L bottles too, I've never seen them in the states before. Ines, Penelope, and Angie all drink a lot of Coke. Usually they have a couple glasses with dinner and sometimes lunch too. After we checked out, Ines put all 8 bags of milk in one bag and gave it to me to carry. So, I ended the day at the mall carrying a bag filled with bags of milk which was equivalent to the weight of 2 gallons of milk. Ines had me going up and down escalators too as we traveled back to Sukasa to get Penelope so we could head home.

Needless to say, I was happy that I went to church and the mall because I got to experience their culture a bit more and see Parque de Carolina. I'm not gonna lie though, in the moment I was questioning why I went to the mall at times. When Ines was looking at every little thing in the windows at the mall I was getting antsy out of boredom, my back was also in a lot of pain for some reason. I think all the traveling and running around I have been doing was catching up with me. Anyways, she would see a ring she thought was cute so we had to go in and ask for the price. Not because she was going to buy it, but because she was just nosy....again it's the Ecuadorian culture. One of the first questions Ines asked if I had a boyfriend, and Penelope asked me how much my parents make (this question I avoided by saying what their occupation was). The personal space bubble here is shrunk ten-fold compared to the states. I was happy to be back home at the end of the day and I was exhausted especially from the Otavalo market the day before.

Pictured: Bagged Milk. The funny thing is it's not refrigerated in stores but Ines refrigerates her eggs, milk, and yogurt.