Still no phone...but starting to get friends!

So I have yet to acquire a cellphone…which is highly unfortunate and is putting me days behind most everybody else (apparently it takes a while for the minutes to activate? Maybe that’s just for the people who needed SIM cards and not completely new phones all together…).  We were supposed to go yesterday, but here’s what happened:  So there we are, at 2:30 like the schedule says, waiting to get our new phones, there’s maybe a group of like, 30 students or so.  The staff that are supposed to go with us are overwhelmed at the number of students that want to go at one time, and we all pretty much want to go to the same provider (of the three options).  Well at 3:30 I have a campus visit to the school that I’m going to be taking a class at (you have to be an art minor to take the painting class, so I’m talking a Comm. class instead: Creative Processes, it should be exciting). 

So the store place (Movistar) is several blocks away and it takes us about 25 minutes to walk there.  There are two groups of about 10-15 students each that are going, and so it’s super, super crowded once we get to the store.  Of course, by the time we get there, it’s pretty much 3:00.  So I ask the people standing next to me if any of them are going to UCES (the school with the tour that day) and one kid said he was, and so right after we got into the Movistar, we figured we needed to head back.  So we walked back together, and since it’s a decent walk, we had more time than the 2 minute intro and so we actually had to think of more things to say than just “Where are you from?” (A two=part question: hometown and school) “What program are you in?” (Advanced or Standard).  So his name is Chris, and as it turns out, we actually live on the same street, just on opposite ends, so we’re about 5 blocks away from each other.  We got maps today of students that live near us (there are 4 pairs of students in my area, but aside from Yelena and me, they’re all guys…just a random side note fact) and so that’s pretty spiffy. 

But anyways, we got back to the Center and a few minutes later a group of maybe 25 students went to UCES which is a 5-10 minute walk from the Center (which is super nice).  When we got there, we had a 45 minute-ish brief orientation about how to register for classes and such.  We have to bring 3 passport-sized photos on a white background with us, email 2 people saying which class we want, and then make our way back to the building we were in to actually sign the paperwork…all before Monday, because that’s when classes start.  It’s a little overwhelming, especially because I don’t quite remember where UCES is…I guess I’ll just have to figure out a map.

So after the mini orientation we’re pretty much left to do whatever we want, so a group of 7 of us went to go get photos and cell phones.  Well, no one knew where a photo-taking place was, so we scratched that idea and went with the “get phones” idea.  So we find a Movistar and we ask the guy for the cheapest phones (it was pretty rough because the people that were doing the talking weren’t doing it very well…) and so he goes to check how many he has left in stock…to do this apparently he needed to leave the store and go elsewhere for about 10 minutes before he came back telling us that he only had 5 phones left…and there are of us.

So because there was pretty much a group of 5 people who knew each other, this other girl, Liz, and I just left so that we could go elsewhere to buy a phone.  Well, by now it’s getting late, and we really don’t want to walk all the way back to the big Movistar that was 25 minutes away.  So we head back to the Center (it didn’t seem too complicated, so it should be ok getting there again…) and ask one of the Staff members where there are other Movistars…well she couldn’t really find any locations because all they had online were their online stores, but it’s 100 more pesos to buy one online and have it shipped to you…so we passed.  It was also like 6:00 and Maria, the woman helping us, said that they probably close at around 6…so we just left to head back home.  I mean, we live on opposite ends of the city so we didn’t go together, but we gave up on getting a phone that day.

Today I couldn’t get a phone because we went to…a ranch pretty much, from 9-7…so by the time we got back everything was closed (everything = Movistar)…so no phone today either.  Tomorrow, hopefully I’ll get a phone.  I’m going with Yelena to the Center at 9:00 because she has to be there early, but I don’t have to be there until 11:30, so I’m just going to go to the Movistar several blocks away and get a phone…that’s the plan at least.

But back to the ranch!  It was so much fun!  We were basically on a farm…but nicer.  There was a pool, two actually, and there were like, 50 bikes that you could just take and start riding around, and there were plenty of big open fields where people played Ultimate Frisbee, and Fútbol, and just sat around and chatted.  It was so great, and I’m so glad that Annalise is so social!  I totally mooched off her group of people, but now they’re becoming my friends too, and it’s really great to have people that, when I get my phone, I can add numbers for and chat and hang out with them.  There were so many fun stories that were shared, and nicknames were given to everyone.  I am one of the two people that has 3 (and potentially more) nicknames which include: Vitamin K, Special K, and VK…or KV? I don’t remember…I’m not too crazy about any of them, lol, but only like, 2 of 8 people actually got good ones, so it’s ok. 

It was so much fun to just have a day out of the city, not needing to worry about someone stealing our stuff, or pick-pocketing, or being late to something, or needing to navigate a bus or subway system, we were all able to just chill and hang out and get to know each other better.  We were about an hour and a half out of the city, so it was pretty much just us and the staff of the Ranch place.  And they always had food out for us—so much food! But it was just a good time J Also, we saw a llama and sheep and geese.  We wondered about the other animals (I mean, it was still a farm, and they said there was a barn somewhere) but I’m pretty sure we ate them all at lunch—no joke!  These guys came around with chicken, beef, pork, a different kind of beef, more pork, seriously, we ate the farm…but not the llama….as far as we know.

Anyways, when we finally got back, a bunch of people were wanting to go out tonight because one of the clubs give free drinks to women from 10p-12a, and I would have gone except I really didn’t feel comfortable going out to a new place in a new city (in a new country!) without a cellphone.  So being a lame-butt and passing for tonight, I came back here to paint a little bit, write this blog entry, and go to bed. And now that I’m done with two of those, it’s time for the third.  So good night!

Ciao,

Kiki