Arrival In Ecuador!!!

2/24 Arrival in Ecuador!!

We left bright and early from the hotel this morning simply so we could stand in line at the airport for 1.5 hours and then upon finally getting checked in, so that we could spend another 2 hours waiting to board our flight. What a great use of time.
Flight from DC to Miami was nice and short. We had a quick change of plans in Miami, just enough time to grab a Cuban sandwich and then to board our plane to QUITO! It was light out for most of the trip so I was able to see the Caribbean, Jamaica and other islands and we got to fly over the Amazon and Colombia which was a lot of fun to see.
Upon arrival in the airport, they rushed us through customs and shoved us on buses to take us to our hostel. We were happily surprised by all of the current volunteers cheering for us once we got to the hostel and they handed us each a rose with a note on it. My note said “Cuy…its whats for dinner!” (Cuy is guinea pig). They gave us chicken and rice, a ‘bland’ meal to help make the transition a bit smoother.
Breakfast tomorrow is at 7 and then we board a bus at 8 to take us to the Peace Corps office for what they call ‘a day packed full of awesomeness’ so I better get my sleep in order to be rested enough for the day.
PS our hostel brings back memories of summer camp as I write this from the top of my bunk bed on wool blanket. I love Ecuador.

2/27 Last night in Quito

So the past two days have been filled with introductions, interviews, meetings and a whole lot of other fun stuff to prepare us for our upcoming adventure. Thursday morning we all had to get shots, be interviewed in Spanish and fill out about 32 papers. I think the four shots that I received simultaneously were the best part. My interview might have gone a little bit better if only my facilitator spoke German…

For dinner on Wednesday night, we ate chicken and rice. Thursday breakfast was a spot of scrambled eggs and two pieces of white toast. Lunch: chicken and rice. Dinner: chicken and rice!!! However, we do get delicious fresh squeezed juice with each meal.
Today (Friday) we started the day with the usual eggs and toast and then went to the peace corps headquarters (about 15 min from our hostal and is where all of our meetings have been held) for some more morning meetings. For lunch we got to take a field trip to el mittad del mundo! Which is the middle of the earth aka equator if you will. It was really interesting and they had a lot of different scientific experiments to show the different gravitational pulls when you cross the line. And we actually got to eat an “ethnic” lunch out at some huge, tourist attraction restaurant. But I have no complaints because they didn’t serve us chicken and rice. Our meal started out with a giant fruit bar where you could sample all of their native fruits (wish I could remember what they were called) but one really popular fruit that we’ve eaten a lot is tomate de arbol (tree tomatoes) and they are smaller and a bit sweeter. We had juice out of them the other day. Anyways, fruit bar was followed my empanadas, potato soup, a main dish of pork, an odd type of pasta, fried sweet plantain and a potato pancake. It was a really good meal.
Tomorrow is going to be an interesting day. We are all being placed into the home stays that we will have for the rest of training. They drop us off after lunch and I am then supposed to spend the next 36 hours with them, speaking the Spanish that I don’t know, until our first day of class on Monday morning. Ohh boy I sure am excited to see what conversation I can strike up…uhh mi nombre es Amanda..?
I’ll be sure to keep you updated, that is if I survive :/

2/28/09
Well, what a day! Today has actually been a really good day, much to my surprise or expectations. This morning we got up and had a two hour bus ride from Quito to Cayambe, which was an incredibly gorgeous drive. After arriving, we broke into our small groups; we’re all placed in groups in different communities based on our speaking abilities. I am lucky and am actually staying in the city province of Cayambe, where as everyone else’s groups are placed in small villages. So anyways, our language facilitator walked us to our individual home stays and dropped us off. I was first on the list and verrrry nervous. HOWEVER my mom and family is awesome. My “mom” is actually the grandma and I live with her, her daughter and her granddaughter and husband. Today I had lunch with my mom and the granddaughter (Maria) and then Maria went to work (they own a café/bar) and I just hung out with my mom all day. I am glad that she is patient because she just talks up a wall and I just nod my head and say “si”. But in my defense, I swear that she is not speaking Spanish because I can understand majority of what Maria says to me.

Anyways, my mom and I sat and looked at photos, walked to the café, did a little shopping, showed me her garden, met one of her best friends, and had dinner together. She is very kind and I already know that I am soo blessed to have been placed in her care.

I have my own room, bathroom and TV. However, it is in the front of the house and right across the street is a billiards room and about 8 karaoke bars. Dance party all night long for this kid. WOW, I’m watching TV and Obama’s speech about bringing America back just came on. A few days late but I guess better than never.

Oh yes, and one of the best parts of the house is they have a little wiener dog named Chocolate who loves me. He’s been crying the past 30 minutes that I’ve gone to my room. Poor baby.