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.

El Primero Día

All I can say is wow. I am finally in Ecuador and it’s fantastico. Everything went without a problem. No flight cancellations, no delays, and best of all no lost baggage. I can’t say how happy I was to see my suitcase whole and intact. I even met a couple other CFHI participants on the same flight from Miami to Quito. The flight to Quito was like first class without the extra space. They gave everyone a pillow, a blanket, and headphones to use for the flight. Not to mention a dinner complete with alcoholic options-- for free. I think LAN has probably done by far the best job in air service. Kudos to them. I look forward to my return flight. Also, the flight attendants were very attentive to people who spoke English and those who spoke Spanish. They would just switch back and forth. Needless to say, I looked like I didn’t know Spanish so they spoke to me in English, but I was happy to find that I understood the majority of what they said when they spoke in Spanish. I have also been able to hold my own with conversing for the most part. I realized that I think I will totally be able to manage the language barrier!!!!! YAY! In fact, I’m tempted to blog in Spanish—because once I speaking in Spanish I keep thinking about how to say things. So, there may be a few posts con Espanol o una mezcla de espanol y ingles. 

I am very tired by now having woken up at 2am, traveled to O’Hare via car, to Miami to Quito, arriving at 1715, gone through customs and finally making it to my host mom’s house. My host mom is adorable, kind and understanding. She lives alone, except for when she has students stay with her for CFHI programs. For dinner she cooked us –what she called pizza. And it was more or less the idea of pizza—but not what you think of when Americans say—I ate pizza. The crust was different, more soft and without the edge. It was in a casserole pie dish. In fact, I think casserole pizza is a good name for it. It was good. We talked about lots of different things mostly all in Spanish, although she does know some English which helps fill the gaps when I don’t understand.

I asked my host mom (Francia is her name) if there was a Catholic Church close by and she was telling me about it. She also asked the other student who is staying here, Kristen, if she goes to a church. She said that she does, but not a Catholic one. Anyway, I thought it was interesting and funny that Francia called the protestant church the one for gringos and Americans—non-Ecuadorians essentially. (I thought you would get a kick out of that dad).

Kristen and I talked for awhile about things and I’m very excited to have her as mi compañero to explore Ecuador with. She is a first-year med student and we’ve been getting along well thus far.

My room is nice, spacious, and I have it all to myself. OH and I have GOOD NEWS—I found my camera cord. So God willing my camera will continue to function and I will be able to post photos. The mountains here are so beautiful. I dunno what it is about mountains, but they just make me want to travel to them when I see them in the distance.

So I want to say thank you to everyone who has supported me and made it possible for me to be in Ecuador! I hope to keep you all posted on my adventures. All I can say is I feel like everyday is going to be awesome. Pray that I don’t get sick! (So far, so good.)

Before I Go-6 Days Away

Well, I'm about ready to make my way to Ecuador. Preparations are coming to a close. Hopefully nothing disastrous occurs between now and then or then. I will be leaving in the wee hours of Saturday morning, June 4th and arriving in Ecuador around 5:10 pm--which I believe is 5:10 pm Ecuador time. I go from Chicago to Miami to Quito. It's an all day affair. I know as of now that my host family is just one woman and I will have at least another student with me. I just wanted to create a preliminary blog post-to let you all know this blog exists and thank you again for all your support. 

One note: my camera has been acting up and unfortunately I lost the cord to transfer photos....so don't expect many photos within this blog...It sucks but those are the breaks.