Certifiable

Today I went to the Civil Registry in Cuenca.  As I mentioned before, the Civil Registry in Quito would not proceed with my naturalization process until I procured two copies of my marriage certificate, which could only be gotten in Cuenca.

Actually, I need to back up to yesterday.  Yesterday I tried to go to the Civil Registry in Cuenca.  I mean, I went to the office, but they weren't there anymore.  Apparently they are renovating their offices and the temporary location is on the other side of town.  Well, the other side of downtown.  If downtown Cuenca is about 10 by 15 blocks, the temporary offices were about 20 blocks away from the permanent ones.  And I'm not exaggerating, I counted.

Trust but Verify

Or measure twice and cut once.  Actually, in Ecuador you probably should measure three or for times before cutting.

I know I haven't written much lately, but I've been busy.  Besides working, I'm in the process of becoming an Ecuadorian citizen.  I actually think I am a citizen already, and the process involved lots of papers and notaries and copies, but still need to go through the process of getting my ID and passport. 

House Arrest

Tomorrow is the census.  Just like in the US they do it every ten years.  Unlike the US, there is one day that they attempt to count everyone and you must stay in your house all day.  It is against the law for me to leave my house tomorrow from 7AM to 5PM. 

Sigh.  I guess I'll be on skype if anyone wants to call :)

Security

I'm currently in Latacunga now, I was in Cuenca for the last week, after returning back from Chicago.  I brought back with me about 140lbs of luggage, 50lbs in each checked bag and about 40lbs in my carry on (which broke during the flight, but that's another story).  So what usually happens when I return to Ecuador is that Dad drops me off at the terminal with my two checked bags, then he parks while I check in and he meets me in the terminal and brings me my carry on.  We then say goodbye as I go through security.

First Class

This week is full of travel.  But fortunately most of it will be an upgrade from what I'm used to.

First, a summary of this week's travel:

My First Potential Coup

A state of emergency has been declared in Ecuador.  The military is now in charge and are backing the president.  The airports and major roads are closed.  This is all due to the fact that the police are on strike apparently due to the reduction of their retirement benefits.

However, in Latacunga nothing is happening.  I'm so safe that I'm practically cloistered.

I've been working 16 hour days this past week since we are issuing drawings tomorrow.  So I basically leave the office for lunch and dinner is ordered in.  And our apartment here is half a block away. 

The internet was shut down nationwide earlier today for a few hours.  Which was good for me because I was able to get more work done :)

If anything interesting happens, I'll try to write about it.  But for now, back to work.

Still on Hiatus

I've been meaning to post more stories, but have been working almost non-stop since I started my job at the end of June.  When you are living in a small town eight hours from your home where you don't really know anyone, it's easy to just eat, sleep, drink, and work.  And wait for the shower (which happens when you have seven people living the in same apartment building who all need to be at work at 8AM).  In Latacunga, 10, 12, even 14 hour days were typical just because there wasn't anything else to do there.  But this week I will be working from Cuenca in a office that is open from 8:30AM to 1PM and 2:30PM to 6PM so I intend to start posting again.

Latacunga

I know that my regular readers may have been wondering why I haven't written.  Ha ha ha.  I know that's not true, I'm just writing again because my mom suggested that I do.

Believe it or not, I've actually been working this past month.  I have a few weeks left in my two month contract as a sanitary engineer, designing the master plan for the sewer network in Latacunga, Ecuador.  I have a weekly eight hour commute each way between Cuenca and Latacunga, and work 10 to 12 hour days, which is why I haven't had much time to blog.

But I have a moment now and will show you Latacunga.  This is the view from my office window.

Well, it's a well zoomed view, the real view looks more like this...

Anyway, the big snow covered mountain is Cotopaxi, the highest point in Ecuador.  And it's also an inactive volcano.  Throughout town there are signs that tell you where to go in the event of an eruption.  Practical, but not very comforting.

Inti Raymi

Here in Ecuador (as well as other parts of the former Incan Empire), the celebration of the summer solstice is a big deal.  Last year we went to a festival in Ingapirca, some Cañari/Incan ruins a few hours north of Cuenca.  This year we went to Chobshi, another town about an hour away from Cuenca that is known for a cave where a prehistoric culture lived and a ruined pre-Incan castle.

Last year we walked around the ruins and watched local groups perform traditional dances.  The weather was beautiful.  This year was a bit different.  We ended up getting our auras cleansed by some hippies in a castle in the rain.

World Cup Commentary

I've spent almost the entire past week watching football.  I mean soccer.  I think I saw (at least most of) 15 of the 23 games so far.  Here are a few things I learned:

The Hora

No, that's not bad Spanglish. It's a Jewish dance.

And I think that we effectively tripled or quadrupled the population of Jews in Cuenca for our wedding.

The dance is easy. You join hands and go around in a circle, doing a grapevine. Sometimes you change directions. Occasionally you expand or contract the circle. That's about it.

I do have a nice video of the dancing, but it just won't seem to upload :(  I hope photos will do.

Cocktail Hour

In Judaism there is a specific part of the wedding that is called the Yichud, i.e., seclusion, after the ceremony in which the bride and groom have some time alone together.  I believe that back in the day it was the time to, um, consummate the marriage.  But now it seems to be used as snack time.

So, after the ceremony Carlos and I had a few minutes to ourselves.  I really mean a few minutes because we were sitting in his parents suite sipping champagne and nibbling on some meats and cheeses when some young nephews barged in through the back door.  I yelled at them to get out.  It wasn't actually a yell, but more like a very strong suggestion to go away and leave us alone.

Unrecognizable

Our apartment has wood floors in the bedrooms.  They are unsealed.  That means you can't just run a mop over them - you need to wax them.  And I don't do floors.

One of my most vivid memories of my vacations to visit family in South Africa when I was growing up, was to see my grandparents' maids on their hands and knees waxing the wood floors in the morning.  Every morning.  And I would wonder why they just didn't vacuum.  Now I know why.

How to Register Your Car - Act III

We spent some time pondering how to register the car until Mami came up with a solution so simple and devious that I was afraid it actually might work.

Since Friday was the last day to register the car, why not go then, when it would be busy, and try again.  But this time, if asked, just say that grandpa was old, not dead. 

How to Register Your Car - Act II

The mechanic was finished with the car at around noon on Friday.  It cost $20.  However the muffler had not been fixed.  Apparently mechanics in Ecuador specialize. 

So on Saturday we took it to a mechanic that just did mufflers.  Ours was beyond repair so we had it replaced.  For $45.

How to Register Your Car - Act I

I've been back in Cuenca for about 10 days now.  I've adjusted to the altitude all right, but not so much the life. 

The past few days we have being trying to figure out how to re-register/inspect Carlos's car.  Because of his plate number or ID number or something like that, he was the entire month of May to complete the process.  And you definitely need the whole month.

On Vacation

Will return in May.

Domsetic or International?

I was on the phone with American Airlines and while listening to the endless loop if computerized information, I heard a phrase that sort of confused me.

"...in the domestic United States."

Isn't that redundant?  Or are there actually international parts of the US? 

That makes me think of when I was at SOM and the receptionists would sometimes announce that someone had an "overseas" call instead of saying "international" or "long distance."

Ceremony - Act II

The second half of the ceremony was the Jewish part.  As you may probably guess, Ecuador doesn't have many Jews.  Apparently there is a small community with a rabbi in Quito, but all the Jews that once lived in Cuenca are dead.  I know that may sound terrible, but I say that with respect.  I mean, I've done my research.  

Carlos and I live across the street from the cemetery and there is a small Jewish section there with about 30 graves.  Most of the deceased were born in Eastern Europe in the late 19th and early 20th century and the last burial here seemed to be in the 1990's.  There is a Panama hat shop here that was owned by a German Jew (K. Dorfzaun), but apparently he died about two years ago and was buried in Quito.

But I digress.

Ceremony - Act I

As you probably know, Carlos is Catholic and I am Jewish.  So when deciding what type of wedding ceremony we wanted, we knew had to incorporate both religions.

The family priest is a bit old.  Carlos wanted a younger, more open priest.  A few recommendations led us to a young Colombian priest.  He was great.  He explained the rules to us, which I found to be very complicated.  He was able to marry a Catholic and a non-Catholic only because the non-Catholic was a foreigner.  If the non-Catholic was Ecuadorian, the church (not the state) would not sanctify the marriage between the non-Catholic and the Catholic.  But that wasn't a problem for us.

My New Favorite Food...

...is homemade chocolate mint ice cream. 

It doesn't take much hands on time or effort or skill to make.  You don't even need an ice cream maker.  You just need lots of patience and about 24 hours.

Here Comes the Groom (and the Bride)

After about half an hour of waiting for the guests to arrive and get situated, the ceremony was about to start.  I was a bit impatient because being sequestered is a bit boring.  I know that people (including Carlos) think it's bad luck to see the bride before the wedding, but I wanted to socialize.  I mean, I did, a bit, with the people who were waiting in line for the toilet.  But I was ready.

The music started and Carlos began the long circuitous route to the huppah.  It wasn't even actually a huppah, because even with all my explanations the wedding planner/florist still got it wrong.  It was to parallel arches covered with flowers, but they were separate from each other, not attached to form an area.  Anyway, Carlos made his way over there with his parents to one of Vivaldi's Four Seasons, Spring.

Things That Go Bump in the Night

We both woke up when we heard the crash.  Was that glass?  Was it a window?  Was it the neighbor?

Actually, neither of us spoke, or even knew the other one was awake.  It was about 1AM, maybe 2AM.  Neither of us even moved.  We were both listening.  I thought that maybe someone had broken in, but there were no other sounds.  Then, moments later there were footsteps upstairs.  Whew.  It was probably just the neighbor.  The baby is about a year old so it's not unusual to hear some noises at night.

But we were wrong.

When we got up this morning, this is what we saw...

Set Up (aka, "What I Didn't See")

When we arrived in Challuabamba, a scout was sent out to make sure that Carlos was no where in sight, then I dashed across the lawn to my hiding place.  I wish I had a moment to take a look at the decor before the wedding, because it looked amazing.  However, I only know that because of the photos...

Ceremony tent/Future dance floor

Showing Off

So I was dressed and ready to go.  It was almost 10:30AM, so our guests had gathered in the lobby to wait for the transport.  And I got to pretend I was Evita on the balcony.

Getting Ready

So, the morning of the wedding I showed up at my parents hotel at around 8AM.  I had breakfast with whoever was eating at that time (I wish that I remembered who, but there was lots to remember that day), and before I knew it I was being pushed towards the shower.

At 9AM the girls for hair and makeup showed up.  I got my makeup done while Mom had her hair done, then we switched.

(Please note the super comfy "Duke Fencing" sweatpants)

How Much Time Do You Need to Train for a 10 Mile Run?

Well, after my week off for working, there was Carnival.  And after Carnival (which I will post about once I get photos from Carlos) I was a bit sick for a few days.  I am now ready to write more about the wedding - but in the next post.  Currently I have a more pressing issue.

No Posts This Week

Why?  Because I need to work.

I'm serious!

I got a small contract (through Carlos) to translate a 25 page document.  In six days.

Friday Night Dinner

I can start writing again since I finally have photos!

As you recall, the gringos started walking to the restaurant from the hotel around 6:45PM.  We arrived at the restaurant at about 7:15PM.  Almost everything was set up.  We chose this restaurant, El Maiz, for the rehearsal dinner because my parents really liked the food and the place was nice.  However, as with everything here, it wasn't perfect.  We had reserved the whole restaurant, but there was a table in the back with two people sitting there eating dinner.  The owner told us that these were friends of her daughter and she couldn't turn them away.  I was so annoyed.  We reminded her that we had reserved the entire place and that there was barely enough room for our group, let alone some strangers.  I mean come on, she could have told them to return the next night.

Rants About Ecuador

Caution:  Really long rants ahead!

Yesterday really sucked.  I mean, it was one of those days that made me wonder why I live here and how terrible working here could be.  Two events occurred while dealing with vendors that made me wonder if they had ever heard the phrase "customer service" or understood the concept of "don't lie to your customers".  I'll start with the photographer.

In our contract with the wedding photographer it stated that we would receive 200 prints a CD with digital copies of those two weeks after the wedding.  Well, two weeks after the wedding, nothing.  Three weeks, nothing. Finally, a month after the wedding he finally asks us to come to his studio to show us the photos.

Perfect Sunday

Lounging in the hammock while Carlos does the dishes (Sunday is my day off).

Our Garden

After living in our apartment for almost eight months, we finally planted a little garden.  Not that it was barren before, we have some sizable trees and plants, including an enormous rosemary bush.  But we finally got around to planting a herb garden.

Freaking Friday

After the civil ceremony the day once again got crazy.  I spent most of the day being pissed off at people, especially our wedding coordinator.  I know there are lots of last minute things to be taken care of (which is why one hires a wedding coordinator in the first place), but four days earlier he told us that the baker will drop of the cake at the ceremony site the morning of the wedding, but now he says we need to pick up the cake ourselves the day before.

Making it Legal

The plan for Friday morning was to get married early.  A civil ceremony is compulsory in Ecuador.  My parents, sister, nephew, Jones and Jon, met Carlos and I around 8AM to walk to the ministry where that occurs.  The building looks like an elementary school that was built in the US in the 1960's.

How to Ring a Doorbell

On my list of pet peeves here in Cuenca is the fact that people do not seem to know how to ring a doorbell.  Some people ring twice, or ring once then wait maybe 5 seconds and ring again, and some people don't even use the doorbell, but just bang on the gate.  Sometimes I arrive at the door and the person who was laying on the buzzer or pounding on the gate is gone.

So please, ring once and wait around for a moment or two.  Gracias.

Waiting for Pho-to (Pronounced like Godot)

I crack myself up sometimes with the post titles :)

The next installment of the wedding saga has been delayed, due to the fact that I still do not have many photos.  I have some thumbnails taken off of facebook, but they are really tiny.  I am hoping that I can get the full size versions soon.

One of my father's friends, Tony, did give us the files already.  They are slowly being uploaded to flickr (I say slowly because we are still having two hours of power cuts a day).

So while you are waiting to read the next installment (the civil ceremony), you can view some photos at http://www.flickr.com/photos/carlosjudithwedding/ (if you want to see them in order, click on the album marked "Judith").

Influx

Thursday was Carlos's first day of vacation. But he didn't get to do anything relaxing, like sleep in. At 9AM we had an appointment with the musicians to practice the pace of our tango (which wasn't looking too bad by then) and review the Jewish songs. The band had heard of the Hava Nagila, but hadn't ever played it and had no idea of how long to go on. I had to explain, just keep on repeating the same thing until someone tells you to stop.

After only two dance lessons, we decided that this would be a perfect time to practice a bit more.

Breaking news! We have uncovered rare footage of this rehearsal!

First Guests

I arrived back in Cuenca around 2PM on Wednesday.  I met Carlos in town.  We were going to get some lunch, but ended up at the hotel that we had reserved for most of our guests, Casa Ordoñez, coordinating rooms.  We were there for longer than we had thought and Carlos had to return to work (it was his last day before vacation), so I headed to the other hotel, Hostal Macondo, to find Amanda Jones.  She had arrived, along with her husband Jon, the night before (while I was in Guayaquil).  I was so excited to see them, because the last time we had seen each other was at their wedding, about three and a half years before.

Officially Single

About two weeks before the wedding, I found out that the certificate that I had gotten last year that stated that I was single was invalid.  I mean, every time we went to check the requirements for getting married in Cuenca, a different women would tell us a different thing.  One said, well the one you have is fine, another said that the document needs to be less than 45 days old, no, actually less than 30 days old, oh, well 90 days is fine.

Carlos and I decided that it would be safer just to get a new copy of the document, easy right? 

The Music is Finished the Party is Over

The past three weeks have been hectic, but things have finally calmed down.  We had a lovely wedding and were really happy to spend time with all of our friends and family who were here.  Then there was Christmas.  Then Carlos's birthday.  And finally a brief honeymoon.

So, over the next few weeks I'll be writing about the wedding and other celebrations and posting photos as well.

Don't expect too much too soon, but it will all be posted eventually.