Payday

I'm happy to write that I finally got paid today. I asked Lauren to come with me to Banco Pichincha as back up because, after all, she's a Spanish teacher back in the States, and is better than I am. We had to wait in a pretty long line while watching scenes from the pre-party for the American Music Awards, but finally got to a teller.

The teller at this bank was much more helpful than at my own bank, and though she was a little confused at first, it was all eventually worked out. Dishing out the money in cash, I was a bit uneasy about walking around with so much, but had no choice. Later on as I told my students about the problem that happened on Saturday, they just kind of laughed in a "what do you expect?" sort of way. Now if I could just get the rest of my paychecks on time and without so much of a hassle, I'd be a happy camper all year.

The Christmas decorations have been put up all over town, and I find it a bit funny to see that they use the exact same decorations that we have in the United States. The trees with ornaments and lights are in many windows and decorative lights are all along the street. Every weekend the lights by the river are changed to purple and green, but they are now on every night until new years. It always reminds me of the Lakers for some reason or the Joker.

It's funny that their image of Christmas should be the same as it is in the United States, right down to the fat old white guy as Santa Claus. Some decorations have the felt snow, and since this is a climate without snow, save for the highest peaks in the country, I wonder why they haven't adapted the decorations to their own culture. But that's something for another day, I suppose.