First day of my life

This is the first day of my life… in Ecuador. And boy has it been a full day. I arrived to my host family’s house at about four yesterday. We took a bus from Quito to Guaranda (my town), the bus ride was about 5 hours, but we made a couple of stops. One of the stops was at the top of a 12,000 ft. pass because there had been an accident. We all got off the bus to take pictures with the mountains and the snow. Yes… I thought I had left the snow by heading down to the equator, but apparently now. Haha.

My house family met the bus with lots of hugs and kisses and of course a lot of very rapid Spanish. I was very relived to have the greetings over and be headed to my new home. But little did I know that that was just the beginning of my crazy first evening in Ecuador. We sat in the living room and made small talk (as much as is possible with my two years of Spanish that is…). Then it became clear that no matter how many times I said I wasn’t hungry it was time to eat. I was so happy that they were so caring and that they wanted me to be so happy. We headed out across the courtyard to the dinning room. There on the table was a cake welcoming me to Ecuador. I felt to special and was blown away by this act of kindness. It became clear that it was custom for me to take the first bite of cake… but not off of a plate or with a fork. I was to go face first into it, so face into it I went. It was delicious cake and much happiness and laughing and many jokes I am sure I didn’t catch followed that first bite. We then proceeded to have lunch/dinner (I am not quite sure which). I am unclear what it was, but I think it was intestine and noodle soup, chicken, potatoes, rice, and some spiced veggies. It was a good lunch and I ended full. I did notice that my servings seemed to be about 3 times as large as everybody else’s. Haha. All threw the meal I was asked questions that I tried my best to understand and to answer.

After dinner we headed into town. After about a 10-minuet walk we arrived at the grocery store where we proceeded to get a gallon of yogurt, some chocolate ice cream, and some milk. (I am almost positive that the ice cream was because I told them that it was my favorite food.) We then headed home; on the walk home my family offered me sweet pastries about 3 times. I was still digesting that food baby from lunch. We got back has some more small talk and then I headed to bed, I was exhausted. I enjoyed a half hour catch up with my family and then a brief journal entry. But I was having a hard time keeping my eyes open so that was ended quite quickly.

Today is my first full day of life in Ecuador. It has been wonderful, stressful, and overwhelming. I woke up and took a shower, which turned out to be an endeavor in its self. Then was offered breakfast of chocolate ice cream, chocolate corn flakes, a glass of yogurt and a cup of hot milk. I think this is the first time in my life that I have actually enjoyed milk. (Hi mom, I know you are jumping up and down in excitement right now… that’s right… I enjoyed the milk. J) After that we headed to my aunt and uncles house and I got a tour of that and got to go onto their roof and enjoy the amazing view. Dang. That’s all I can say. We then headed somewhere, I had no idea where. Turns out that my uncle was running for town mayor so they had to go vote and wait for results. I think he lost, because there are no preparations for the fiesta going on, but I am not 100% clear on this. Then to lunch at the aunt and uncles house and back home for some relaxing time. That is what is happening now… chilling and updating you all on my adventures. I can see my Spanish getting better already, and by that I mean that I can understand maybe 20% of what people say to me. But I am sure I will continue learning. I think a nap is in my very near future. I hope life at home is going well and that everybody is having a great end of the summer. I miss and love you all.

Living life on the loose.

Did I mention that almost everybody here has a pet dog?!? I love it. We have three dogs, two of them are super nice and the other one is (as the put it) muy loco. I also spend the majority of the day with a 4-month-old puppy named Boo who is possibly the cutest thing ever.