La inspiracíon existe, pero tiene que encontrarte trabanjando.

The day was non-stop. Breakfast was fruit, tea/coffee, and a cheese toast sandwich (I thought of you and your cheese sandwiches Dad). Kristen and I walked over to La Y, which is where the Spanish school is, more or less home base for most things occurring with the program. We went over the usual introductions, matters of rules and business. Then we took a lunch break and went to a restaurant, where food in general is cheaper than in the US, only you were lucky if they had what was on the menu. There was definitely some serious confusion with our orders, a couple of us had to change our orders and almost everyone was finished eating by the time my food came. And then later I found out, that it wasn’t even all my food-the lunch special was like a full course meal. Sakagawea (sp?) coins are very popular here and I also discovered that even though Ecuador uses the U.S. dollar they also have Ecuadorian quarters and nickels which I have received for change thus far—but its intermixed with U.S. nickels. Apparently you don’t have to tip your waiter in Ecuador—which needless to say I’m fond of. In the afternoon, they took us for a tour and we took the public transpo-the trole bus- to the south of the city and visited the various clinical sites we will be going to throughout the month. On the way it hailed and rained.

So being blonde and white and female in Ecuador feels like I am a moving target for ladrones and I don’t think I’ve ever felt like I was being stared at as much as I did today. Haha, I almost felt like I wanted to cover my hair—like it was a light I should turn off because it was attracting attention. I suppose that’s a bit extreme, either way, I feel as though I can’t quite ever blend into a crowd here.

After all the tours, I went to check the Mass times, at the Catholic Church close to my house. When I arrived there was a Mass happening—so I got there for about half of the Mass. It was definitely a different experience hearing it all in Spanish. And at communion, there are many people who don’t receive every Sunday. So it is much more if you want to receive you get in the line—but many people also do not.

In the evening, after dinner, about 6-8 of us went to a Mall area to a sports bar. People wanted to watch some basketball game and drink. Much to the surprise of many, they don’t serve alcohol on Sunday in Ecuador—but the bananarama and limonada was delicious.