Acouple of weeksago I wrote about the significant differences between the poor and the wealthy in this country. Ecuador is full of fascinating contradictions. Just like every country is weird in the positive sense of the word that every country is unique. Rudely spoken, it's just weird. I'll unveil some of the unique aspects of Ecuador I found out during my stay here. On Friday morning I had a small talk with the guy who maintains the carpet in our house. I told him that there are no mountains in the place where I live. This is something quite difficult to grasp for people who have lived in the Andes their whole lives. Then he asked me about our currency and I had a hard time explaining him the fact that a euro is not just the same as a dollar. Intercultural differences, a difficult concept.

Many Ecuadoreans, although very friendly, seem very focused. Not just on their own, but on their own lives. As almost fifty percent of the people in this country still live below the poverty line. Obviously they try to do everything to make a living. This is clearly visible in the streets where vendors are all over the place basically selling anything you'd never need. This week it's Valentine's day stuff all over the place. The carpet cleaner got intrigued by the price levels in Europe so he asked me about the cost of a machine the he uses to polish the carpet. Obviously I couldn't give an answer to this question being in the center of his personal scope.

Another daily challenge that requires daily attention is change. Or, how to get change? Ecuador adopted the US dollar a few years ago and they have to buy their change from the United States. That may sound easy but it's far from that. The central bank of Ecuador has issued their own centavo coins. They are identical in size and value to the US cent counterparts and look quite boring. Banks and ATMs only give you $20 bills, good luck getting change for those. Yesterday, when I had to pay 50 cents with a $20 bill the lady first split the $20 into four fives at the shop across the street. Then she started begging for ones at her neighbor's place. It's a continuous struggle and sometime they just give me change by selling me more stuff.

The weather here is just fascinating. A common say here is that you can experience all seasons on one day. Although I haven't seen snow here yet, for most days the mornings are totally different from the afternoons. Everyday it's a challenge to think of what clothes to pick in the morning. I always bring my rainjacket to class even if it's sunny: I just might get a shower two hours later. Today I walked up to a panorama site called Turi, together with my colleagues Megan and Craig. Halfway our climb, we felt the first drops and the air started to look as if it could start hammering down any moment. We enjoyed the amazing view on Cuenca, where we could actually see two airplanes taking off from the airport, seen from above. Airplane spotting from the sky... woohoo! Just back home it started pouring down and I realized I'd been lucky this time.

Today on Valentine's day is my Birthday in this amazing country. Whereas this is a day for most people to think of their loved ones, I'm enjoying my loved time here. Being distant from most of my loved ones I'll be working all day taking placements tests, exams and teaching. Just having wrapped up midterm exams I was busy with all the grading for the first half of the cycle. Now this week we can relax a bit more and do fun things like discussing a movie or for example the cultural differences between Ecuador and Holland. And on Saturday I'll celebrate my birthday together with one colleague! Especially now I feel excited to be here but at the same time I feel a bit sad not being there. Isn't that a contradiction?