Celebrating Fall in Quito

Let me start by saying that Javier and I are having an amazing time in Quito.  Hopefully you've read about some of the awesome things we've been able to see and do already.  In addition to a beautiful country, the people and our school have been wonderful.  We are really happy here!

All that said....there are some things I am missing about the good ole US of A and particularly our DC home.  Mostly, I miss the people.  We're missing family and friends (let me say that before I tell you the next thing that I miss so that you don't get the wrong impression).  But I also really miss the fall.  Fall is, by far, my favorite season.  I love the color of the leaves, the briskness in the mornings and late afternoons.  I love watching football on Sundays and drinking pumpkin beer.  I love picking out a pumpkin (or two) and decorating with gourds.  I love butternut squash soup, the apples and pomegranates.  I love busting out the sweaters I haven't worn in a while and wrapping up in scarves.  Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday and we were married in October (because we both enjoy the fall so much).  I love eating chili and playing cornhole or kubb in Logan Circle.  I love the fall. 

Fall is just not the same in Quito.  There are some elements we've been able to maintain with our move.  For example: we decided to purchase NFL's GamePass which allows us to watch all the NFL games every Sunday.  Between Packers games and our fantasy leagues, we decided it was worth it to have a consistent way to watch football.  This may seem silly to some of you, but it's been a surprisingly comforting consistency from our life in DC.  It is also quite brisk in the morning and crisp in the evenings in Quito (during the day, the sun makes it hot and down in the valley of Cumbaya it is much warmer as well), so I've been able to wear some sweaters and wrap up in the scarves I brought (at least in the mornings and evenings).  I mentioned in my Organic Market post that we've gotten pumpkin a few times.  I made some pumpkin brownies for the beach that turned out really well and a soup that was delicious too!  But there are elements we just haven't been able to duplicate: no changing leaves, no pumpkin beer (no craft beer really), no gourds and no cornhole.  And I miss those things.  But instead of dwelling on the stuff I'm missing,  I thought I'd share with you guys a couple of snapshots from our fall celebration attempts in Quito.

We had some friends throw an Octoberfest party.  We grilled out some AMAZINGLY delicious brats.

And had a pretty unbelievable view while we grilled.  (It never gets old.)

These friends also home brew, so we got to drink some beers (that were not Pilsener or Club).  They were deliciously dark and went perfectly with our brats.  It was a super successful Octoberfest in Ecuador in my opinion.

I also mentioned our pumpkin-chocolate spread from the market.  It is very good and certainly reminds me of a pumpkin butter you might find in the US.

We've also been getting a lot of apples!  They're not fresh from Homestead Farm, but they're very good!

We also have already had the opportunity to celebrate Thanksgiving!  I know what you're thinking...'Audrey, it's only October...how have you already had Thanksgiving?'  But it was Canada's T-day that we celebrated.  One of our fellow new teachers is Canadian and asked us to join her to celebrate their day of thanks for the year's harvest.  It actually fell on our wedding anniversary this year, but we decided to postpone our nuptial celebration to join in the Thanksgiving dinner.

Our spread! (That's chicken, not turkey...impossible to find turkey in Ecuador, but we're told that they sell them around Christmas....fingers crossed)

This is Ashley (the Canuck!), our host!

Lots of friends came out on the Monday night to make the evening feel merry.

Ashley said that she was a little nervous about the day.  Much like our Thanksgiving, she said that her family always celebrated the day together, eating and enjoying the company.  Holidays seem like the hardest time for expats, but she gave me great hope for my looming Thanksgiving day (I'm a bit nervous about missing family that day as well!).  While we certainly aren't family, she said it warmed her heart even more than we didn't have to come and celebrate with her, but chose to.  And the full house and good food helped make it feel like a real holiday.

I'm missing my changing leaves and I'm super jealous when I see comfy sweaters, wine tastings and orange leaves in friends' instagram pictures, but we're working to have our own little fall here in Quito.  And I think we'll host a friend-Thanksgiving to try to capture some of the holiday I love next month.  In the meantime, enjoy a pumpkin spiced latte or pumpkin beer or kubb game for the Cabezas.  We're missing you and them here in Ecuador!