Estoy aquí!

I am here!

Traveling yesterday was kind of a drag. In the past I've really kind of dreaded flying in airplanes, and the same was true of yesterday, BUT after our first take-off in Chicago I was feeling totally comfortable with it. I don't know why the change in heart, but still traveling just makes you feel yucky. You're in such a small space on the airplane and you have to step over people to do anything and the temperature is never right and the food is never great, so I'm glad that part of the journey is over. But God gave me safe travels and that was a great blessing. I was much more of a mess of emotions than I thought I was going to be, another reason why I'm glad yesterday is over.

Our landing into Quito was pretty much what I expected it to be, and it was awesome. (When I say "our" and "we" I'm talking about the other MSU students who were on the flight with me: Carly, Matt, Vicki, and Rebecca) There were a lot of clouds and such as we were losing altitutde, but you could still start to see some lights and such. There was also some lightning (relámpagos) that lit up the clouds and the mountains to the East. It was SO cool. I don't think I could possibly describe how awesome it was. THEN we burst through the last bits of cloud and Quito in its glory was before us. Huge. So many lights and cars and it was so hilly. Glorious. I'm glad we landed at night so we could see that. Then we deboarded (probably half our flight was American international students going to USFQ, or so it seemed), waited in line at customs (which was kind of nerve-wracking but ended up totally fine), got our luggage, sent it through one more security scanner thing, then wow. There were these electronic doors that opened onto probably 200 people holding signs with names on them or just waiting for people to come through. It was a bit overwhelming but very cool. There was someone holding a USFQ sign and since I didn't see my name I just went over and stood by her, she asked me about my host family and then went and found Isabel out of the crowd. Crazy.

Mi familia antrifonia (my host family) es fantástica. Isabel (my host sister) picked me up from the airport so that Marcia (my host mom) could be at home with Joaquin (Isabel's 7-month old son who is adorable y siempre feliz). She was super nice right off the bat and the way she speaks Spanish to me is perfect because it's slower and clearer than I think she speaks to everyone else. She said that my Spanish was good and was impressed that I can understand most of what she says. She drove me home (everyone was right, the way people drive here/the way the streets are is much different than in the U.S.) and then I got a tour of our gorgeous apartment and my room and bathroom. It is all perfect; I will upload pictures of it soon. And we have wireless internet (inalámbrico) here! This makes communicating that much easier. I was quite tired so I went to bed and slept until around 11:00 this morning.

Today I took a shower (I must've done something wrong though because I could not figure out how to get the water very hot), had breakfast, unpacked a little, and then we went out and did some errand-running. I wasn't feeling too well at breakfast, I think I'm having a little bit of mal de altura (high altitude sickness). It is unavoidable when flying into a place that is much higher than the one you left so I am just trying to stay very hydrated. This is easy because they boil their water to drink! So I don't even have to buy water bottles or anything. Although I was at the store today and a bottle of water was like 37 cents so that wouldn't have been the worst thing in the world. I was feeling much better by the time we ran our errands. Quito is beautiful, and not only in the way that cities are beautiful, it is beautiful in the way that the combination of cities and nature are beautiful. The window in our living/dining room looks out over the road to Cumbayá (the city where USFQ is) as well as looking out at a park full of trees (arboles) and other buildings and such. It is GORGEOUS. Isabel, Marcia, Joaquin, and I went driving around today to make some copies and we parked underneath this giant palm tree (palmera, a word Isabel taught me). We chatted about so much stuff, especially the differences in stuff between the United States and Ecuador. I would ask about something and she would say, oh is it not the same in the United States (all in Spanish of course) and then that would get us jumping around from one topic to another. Very educational already. :) We also went to el supermercado Santa Maria (the grocery store). When we parked we were facing these giant green-covered montañas (mountains). You just don't get that in Michigan. Ha ha. The supermarket was great. I was definitely getting, "you don't belong here" looks, which was fine. I bought some of the toiletry stuff I needed, and instead of buying the imported American brands (which they had but are more expensive) I simply bought some of the more local brands. I don't know how local they are, but I don't recognize them. :) As I was looking at the shampoo I noticed that there was one shampoo they had that had placenta in it. Placenta is the same in Spanish and in English, and the label had a woman holding a baby on it. I was amused and intrigued.

The city is so colorful and so big and I love noticing all the differences.

Also, the degrees here are in Celcius. And I know the whole times by 9, divide by 5, add 32 thing, but I'm much too lazy to do that so I've decided to just figure out what it feels like when it's so and so degrees Celcius. Today it was nice and warm outside and cooler in our apartamento (apartment). AND NO SNOW. :)

When we got back from the grocery store we ate lunch. We had this delicious meal, un "plato tipico" (typical dish), of pasta with this chicken and sauce stuff over it. With lemonade that tasted very fresh and an apple. I was not sure what to do about the apple because I didn't really know how it was washed, so I just took a middle route and cut it apart and didn't eat the skins. Then we watched some TV (I could understand almost none of it, but I was also very tired so that might have been why) and then I took a nap. I slept until like 7:00 which was later than I had planned on, and was a little disoriented (as always) when I awoke. I may have turned down their offer of dinner, not sure, and I really hope I didn't because now I'm hungry. Ha ha. Oh well, you live and learn.

This place is full of rich surprises.

-EM

P.S. I LOVE YOU ALL. And sorry that was like SO long. No one is going to want to read it all, but it's okay, you can just skim if you so desire. :)

P.P.S. I was getting real terrified on the flight over about speaking Spanish and such, and I know it will be much harder when it's with the people of Ecuador who don't know I'm not very good at Spanish (yet ;)) than with my host family who is very understanding when I don't understand something or know how to say something, but speaking with them has made me less nervous about the whole Spanish part of everything.