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!
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