Homecoming

When we got to school we passed out the candy bags to different people at school and we asked most of them to say "trick or treat."  Everyone that got one was very thankful.
-Before school, however, we had to go to Correos del Ecuador.  We had plenty of time since we didn't have to go to class until 10am because of homecoming.  We got stamps and Yonseili shipped off her box home.-
We hung out until it was time to get on the bus that was taking us to the hacienda.  We waited a long time.  Ecuadorians, it seems like, don't know about punctuality.  We had to even wait up to an hour for some students. We finally left and we still had to make a few stops.  There were no adults with us, no one from the faculty.  I was surprised because this event was put together by the school with the purpose of having freshmen and sophomores "bond."  Little did we know at this time that it would not be the case. At all.

We finally arrived.  The hacienda belongs to one of the students from the university, a sophomore.  He walked a group of us to the nearby soccer field.  Woah, I got burned.  The sun was tough.  Throughout the day we did that, some just hung out.  They played volleyball at times. I still don't know how they can play with soccer balls.  No thank you.  Some of us helped out with preparing the food.  That included rinsing/cleaning potatoes.  Other didn't do much other than drink.  As a matter of fact, since we were on the bus we saw some students holding beer bottles.  Yes, this was by 11am.  I know.

Lunch was good.  We had choripanes and chicken, salad, potatoes.  To drink there was obviously alcohol, plus juice like koolaid and coke.

Everyone there was from Ecuador except for 4 international students (Yonseili, Christian, Rachel and I).  It was definitely different from hanging out with international students.  Most of them are studying environmental science and a few business administration.  I thought all of them knew each other, but no.  There were a few introductions here and there between first-year and second-year students.

Later a lot of the students played a drinking game.  I played kick ups with the soccer ball with Esteban.

So, by then there was some issue with one of the students.  This student was drinking the entire day and apparently he had gotten into the owner's house and broke beer bottles.  Whether accidentally or not, no one picked it up.  It seems like he was mad that they were falsely accusing him.  Who knows... well I for sure didn't, but that was the least of my worries.  This same student and his bud who was also on something later caused a scene.

BASICALLY - I don't want to waste my time explaining this exhausting experience - the dudes wanted to go home drunk on the motorcycle.  It was absolutely horrible.  So many of us, if not all of us, did so much to stop them.  Eventually they did leave and on our way back to school they stopped in front of the bus so that one of the guys could get on the bus.  There was a lot of arguing, frustration and even some crying on behalf of at least one girl.  What a mess.

Highlight of the day: Passing out the candy bags at school.  People were caught by surprise.