Buenos tardes amigos!
The past few days have been an improvement to say the least. I have started class and am currently enrolled in five classes: lengua y literatura, siglo de oro, gramatica avanzada, conversacion avanzada, and vulcanologia. I might end up only taking four but as of now i'm ok with this schedule. My first day of class went very well, no problems getting to school on the buses by myself and found all my classrooms pretty easily. My siglo de oro and lengua y literatura classes are going to be a lot of work and a lot of confusion because the professors speak very quickly and there's definitely no english involved. Fortunately, the textbooks are much cheaper here and I don't need as many either. On the way home I somehow missed my stop at Rio Coca and ended up having a taxi back home because I had no idea where I was.
As far as my hectic living situation: resolved. I say this because I do have a new family and new home in Quito who I like very much so far. Before I got here though, there was one last storm. Thursday afternoon I got home from school around five and no one was home and I wasn't hungry so I passed over the lunch on the table and went to my room to relax. Around seven that same night Rosa the housekeeper came in and asked me how my day was and then preceded to explain that I needed to pack a bag for the weekend because we were leaving in twenty minutes on a bus back to Tandayapa (the rainforest area where I went last weekend with Vicky). She told me that Vicky needed her to come and I had to come too because I couldn't stay at the house alone. My immediate reaction was...que? Are you serious? I had no desire to go back there, especially not for the whole weekend. I semi-panicked and checked my email to see if Maricarmen had sent me the list of new families I could live with and it was there, so I replied to her immediately saying that I would be happy at any of the families on the list. The phone rang and Vicky wanted to talk to me and I realized that I was going to have to avoid being passive in this situation and just tell her that I was not going to go back to the cabin, so I did. It wasn't only that I didn't want to go, I had a meeting the next day at school and I also wanted to do something in Quito with new friends this weekend.
The next morning I got up early to pack up all my stuff so I would be ready to leave when I got back from the meeting later that day. I got to USFQ around 10 and went straight to Maricarmen's office to see what my status was. She said that she couldn't get in contact with my favorite family but she would have something ready for me by the end of the afternoon and that I would in fact be moving that evening. Gracias a Dios! So I went exploring the campus a little bit...there's a husky and a really furry cat that just hang out on campus every day and I love them both because they just sleep in random places and are really friendly. At one I went to meet some new friends Hannah and Colleen from UNC and Ashley from UNC-W at the little cafeteria place on campus. It's so funny to talk with other Americans about family experiences and all the weird little things you see in Ecuador. We had our safety meeting at two and afterwards Maricarmen told me the Diaz family was ready for me to move in so I gave her my phone number (finally figured out how to get minutes on my phone...sorta) and told her I was ready to go when I got home. Then we went across the street from USFQ to a restaurant called Empanada Comany which has really good empandas and combos that are so cheap. I wasn't hungry so I got a beer called Club and we just sat around talking for a little bit.
I got home after nearly getting lost again...don't know how this keeps happening. I received a text of my new family's address so I called a private taxi and the guard helped my bring my bags downstairs.
The taxi came and put my stuff in the trunk and after a few seconds of driving I realized he was listening to a sermon on the radio. At this point I couldn't help but praise God for sending me a Christian taxi driver on my way to a new family and I just felt good. We pulled up and my host father Guillermo was waiting outside for me and helped me carry my bags up FIVE STORIES...ouch I could not breathe at the top of the stairs. My mother's name is Germania and they have a son, Juan Carlos, who is 24 but he is in Florida with his girlfriend until December. They gave me a tour of the apartment and while it is not as nice as my first home, the people, the views, and my new bed make up for all it lacks in appearance. My bedroom window overlooks the entire city and faces the volcano Pichinicha in the west and you can also go onto the roof and see nearly everything around Quito...tan linda! I unpacked and went to bed because I was exhausted.
The initial experience i've had here in Quito has been a strange one for sure, but I am grateful to God for providing for me once again. I have had my patience and commitment to being here tested in the first week alone but I know I'm being built up for the things God has planned that are yet to come.
Saturday, August 28, 2010
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
faith is embracing uncertainty
Hola!
Well friends, I've made it to the city of Quito, Ecuador at last. My flight arrived at the airport on Saturday night around 8 p.m. It was a long day of traveling and I really had no idea what to expect from the moment I stepped off the plane. Thanks to the contributions of one Mr. Cody Buchan I started reading "In a Pit With a Lion On a Snowy Day" by Mark Batterson the day before I left the country. As it turns out, I don't think I could've chosen a better read for this stage of my life. It's mostly focused on how to embrace every opportunity and how sometimes God puts things in front of us that are very frightening, and often we don't think we can handle it and shrink before our obstacles, but in doing this He simply wants us to remember the strength He provides us through faith. It uses the metaphor of chasing a lion as conquering the fears of uncertainty and self-doubt. Honestly, I was very nervous about coming here for an entire school year, knowing that I wouldn't be able to afford to go home at any point within the next 9 months and I didn't know if I was quite ready to chase this lion. To think that the vast majority of everyone I love and have spent the last 4 years of my life with is no longer a phone call or bike ride away is so surreal. So, from reading this and having a lot of time to think during my first few days here I believe I'm realizing that growing up and transitions and all the really hard stuff that you try to avoid are just more opportunities to build faith upon the Lord and not myself. Each day I'm reminding myself, "less of me Lord, more of You."
Anyways, I wanted to let those of you reading know that my first few days here have been very trying and stressful for me. I don't think I've quite gotten the normal "welcome to Ecuador" story as everyone else, and that's okay but still a little overwhelming. The first day I was here my host mother Vicky drove her, myself, our housekeeper Rosa, Ryan (Rosa's son), and another international student named Mark who lives in the same building out into a place in the rainforest about an hour and a half away called Tandayapa. We stayed the night in a beautiful cabin owned by one of Vicky's friends and Mark and I went down to the river the next morning to explore the property. Later we went into a small town a few minutes away that I can't remember the name of and I bought my first bottle of water (the previous day at a restaurant called Crepes & Waffles I accidentally ordered a mineral water "con gas" or carbonation) and an orange Fanta in a bottle for like twenty-five cents...so good. We picked up some stuff at a small store for lunch and went back to the cabin to have locro (basically potato soup), chicharrones (fried pork), ensalada de fruta (fruit salad), and choclo (corn on the cob). Vicky's brother came to eat with us and he was drinking scotch heavily from a Pepsi bottle because his daughter had just left home to go study in Michigan. Mark and I talked with him for about an hour about women, alcohol, soccer, and politics. He has a very "unique" theory that involves a host of Swiss government officials coming to Ecuador to centralize the government and improve the technology for resource distribution...wasn't totally following his inebriated train of thought.
Basically, my host mother Vicky is having some relational issues with her son Camilo and she feels that even though he has just moved out of the house their conflict would be distracting for her and she wouldn't be able to provide me with the best family experience possible. She said I had the option of staying with her or choosing another family of my liking. I told her I understood she was in a difficult situation and that it would be better for the both of us if I were to find another family. So when we left the cabin last night Vicky stayed behind and sent Mark and I home with Rosa and Ryan which I was uneasy about because I know things to get sketchier as it gets darker in Quito. Unfortunately, I was not thinking very clearly on the bus ride back and that misstep cost me the ownership of my iPod which I believe I'm going to miss dearly. On top of this I had yet to figure out any kind of cell phone situation and hadn't made contact with my parents. Overall yesterday was a fairly rough day, but as I'm learning if every day was a good day there wouldn't actually be such a thing as a good day to compare with the bad ones. Today I had orientation at USFQ so I traveled to the campus in Cumbaya by bus with Rosa, Mark, and his host mother Allison. We learned a lot about health, safety (the manual specifically says do not put your bags on the floor by your feet because people will crawl underneath to snatch your valuables...would've been a lovely tip about 15 hours prior), campus, etc. from 8-2.
I think that's about all I've got for now. I'm awaiting to hear from Maricarmen at USFQ about a list of families I can choose to live with. I start classes on Thursday and actually only have class on Tuesday/Thursday each week (for traveling purposes, of course). Other than that i'm just being stuffed full of starches and trying to drink a lot of water. I hope you all enjoy this blog and I'll try to keep up with it in the months to follow!
Well friends, I've made it to the city of Quito, Ecuador at last. My flight arrived at the airport on Saturday night around 8 p.m. It was a long day of traveling and I really had no idea what to expect from the moment I stepped off the plane. Thanks to the contributions of one Mr. Cody Buchan I started reading "In a Pit With a Lion On a Snowy Day" by Mark Batterson the day before I left the country. As it turns out, I don't think I could've chosen a better read for this stage of my life. It's mostly focused on how to embrace every opportunity and how sometimes God puts things in front of us that are very frightening, and often we don't think we can handle it and shrink before our obstacles, but in doing this He simply wants us to remember the strength He provides us through faith. It uses the metaphor of chasing a lion as conquering the fears of uncertainty and self-doubt. Honestly, I was very nervous about coming here for an entire school year, knowing that I wouldn't be able to afford to go home at any point within the next 9 months and I didn't know if I was quite ready to chase this lion. To think that the vast majority of everyone I love and have spent the last 4 years of my life with is no longer a phone call or bike ride away is so surreal. So, from reading this and having a lot of time to think during my first few days here I believe I'm realizing that growing up and transitions and all the really hard stuff that you try to avoid are just more opportunities to build faith upon the Lord and not myself. Each day I'm reminding myself, "less of me Lord, more of You."
Anyways, I wanted to let those of you reading know that my first few days here have been very trying and stressful for me. I don't think I've quite gotten the normal "welcome to Ecuador" story as everyone else, and that's okay but still a little overwhelming. The first day I was here my host mother Vicky drove her, myself, our housekeeper Rosa, Ryan (Rosa's son), and another international student named Mark who lives in the same building out into a place in the rainforest about an hour and a half away called Tandayapa. We stayed the night in a beautiful cabin owned by one of Vicky's friends and Mark and I went down to the river the next morning to explore the property. Later we went into a small town a few minutes away that I can't remember the name of and I bought my first bottle of water (the previous day at a restaurant called Crepes & Waffles I accidentally ordered a mineral water "con gas" or carbonation) and an orange Fanta in a bottle for like twenty-five cents...so good. We picked up some stuff at a small store for lunch and went back to the cabin to have locro (basically potato soup), chicharrones (fried pork), ensalada de fruta (fruit salad), and choclo (corn on the cob). Vicky's brother came to eat with us and he was drinking scotch heavily from a Pepsi bottle because his daughter had just left home to go study in Michigan. Mark and I talked with him for about an hour about women, alcohol, soccer, and politics. He has a very "unique" theory that involves a host of Swiss government officials coming to Ecuador to centralize the government and improve the technology for resource distribution...wasn't totally following his inebriated train of thought.
Basically, my host mother Vicky is having some relational issues with her son Camilo and she feels that even though he has just moved out of the house their conflict would be distracting for her and she wouldn't be able to provide me with the best family experience possible. She said I had the option of staying with her or choosing another family of my liking. I told her I understood she was in a difficult situation and that it would be better for the both of us if I were to find another family. So when we left the cabin last night Vicky stayed behind and sent Mark and I home with Rosa and Ryan which I was uneasy about because I know things to get sketchier as it gets darker in Quito. Unfortunately, I was not thinking very clearly on the bus ride back and that misstep cost me the ownership of my iPod which I believe I'm going to miss dearly. On top of this I had yet to figure out any kind of cell phone situation and hadn't made contact with my parents. Overall yesterday was a fairly rough day, but as I'm learning if every day was a good day there wouldn't actually be such a thing as a good day to compare with the bad ones. Today I had orientation at USFQ so I traveled to the campus in Cumbaya by bus with Rosa, Mark, and his host mother Allison. We learned a lot about health, safety (the manual specifically says do not put your bags on the floor by your feet because people will crawl underneath to snatch your valuables...would've been a lovely tip about 15 hours prior), campus, etc. from 8-2.
I think that's about all I've got for now. I'm awaiting to hear from Maricarmen at USFQ about a list of families I can choose to live with. I start classes on Thursday and actually only have class on Tuesday/Thursday each week (for traveling purposes, of course). Other than that i'm just being stuffed full of starches and trying to drink a lot of water. I hope you all enjoy this blog and I'll try to keep up with it in the months to follow!
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