Well the tsunami didnt end up doing much of anything. It caused some high waves on the Galapagos and some damage to ships and minor coastal businesses, but it was a lot smaller than expected, which was good. I don’t have any new pictures to add really so I have decided to throw in a few more good ones that I got from Baños during Spring break just to spice things up a bit.

Classes for the second bimester started on Monday and its rapidly becoming apparent that I only have a month and a half left in Ecuador! L This bimester is shorter, only about 5 weeks and then after that Im only left with one more week to travel around before coming home! Four months seemed like a much longer time when I said it in the United States…

Even worse I actually have to take real classes this semester. I didn’t realize how easy I had it last semester… now I have 70 pages of reading to catch up on already for one class. And my classes go from 5 to 1020 at night…. Definitely not my style but oh well. I cant wait for tomorrow and my day off!

Talking about classes here this school is really starting to crack me up. Sometimes when Im on campus I feel a little like Im in a dream world (and not just because every once in a while a giant Iguana falls out of a palm tree). There are all these students that walk around in lab coats at all hours of the day acting like theyre doctors already and not just going to class… The med students even wear them when theyre studying in the library. I know this because Im looking at one right now. The law students all walk around everyday in practically full suits and high heels. At first I assumed this was due to the tradition to dress up a little more for school unlike the US where you can show up in pajamas. But I have since changed my opinion. I think it has to do with the school attempting to appear a lot more advanced than it actually is. This school is a very expensive University. I would say at least half of the people in my business classes are only going to school to appease their parents so that they will let them inherit their businesses when they graduate. Im starting to doubt some of the actual credentials of the University, it seems much more like the parents are just paying oodles of money for their kids to receive fancy clothes and look official with lab coats and a pretty diploma. My host sister is one of them. She is a law student and only goes to her classes about once a week because she accidentally sleeps too late the rest of the time… I cant imagine that ever flying back home! Accordingly there has been a huge movement by the government recently to instate examinations in all public high schools because there were too many teachers that had bribed the schools to hire them. They literally paid the school so that they would get the job when they actually know nothing about what they are teaching. Its one thing to always hear about bribery and corruption, but an entirely different thing to live in it. And that is my random musing for the day J

Anyway, yesterday I was sitting at lunch eating with Leonor when my crazy host sister came running down the stairs and launched herself outside. Leonor and I just looked at each other and figured she was being weird… or she was just really really excited to eat… until she started jumping up and down and pointing at the sky. Turns out there was this weird halo thing around the sun yesterday. I know it could be seen from Ecuador and Peru but Im not sure about the rest of the world. We looked it up and it had something to do with ice particles that were hanging around the sun in the atmosphere. Ofcourse no one knew what it was at first so everyone was freaking out (which at my University in Ecuador means that every student was rapidly sending pictures of the halo to every single one of their friends on Blackberry messenger). Anyway, the automatic reaction of a lot of people was to become alarmingly afraid and claim it was another sign of the ever looming end of the world in 2012. The whole thing was rather interesting and definitely spruced up lunch a little more than normal.

But the best part of lunch was Leonor waiting until my host sister went back upstairs and then sneaking me a buy one get one free movie ticket that she had saved for me. I always knew I was her favorite J

But now its time to start my 5 hours of night classes. Thankfully Leonor packed me a banana and some veggies  to hold me over until dinner.

 I have a full day of cultural seminars and educational movies planned for tomorrow and then off to a weekend trip with the study abroad department to a little town called Dos Mangas on the coast. Until next time amigos…