School, cell phones and dominos: Day 3 of Ecuador

Aye aye aye I CANNOT believe that I've only been here for three days. Tonight at dinner, I was talking with my family and my brother, Diego, who just got into town yesterday, was asking me what I liked about Ecuador. I was already going through the long list in my head, trying to translate what I love so far about this trip when my dad jumped in "She's only been here for a very short time! Very short! (in Spanish, of course)". Oh yeah! It really feels like I've been here for much longer. Everything just feels so natural.

So today was my first day of school. I emerged from my room to find the house bustling with activity. My host dad started asking me all sorts of questions about cell phones (it's never too early to be asked about 7 million questions in another language) ((yes it is)) and in the end, I ended up getting one of their old ones, which saved me about $50-70 on buying a new one that works here like I was expecting. I only had to buy a card because it's a pay as you go type of deal. So I started off the day, phone in hand. My dad walked me to school because it was the first day (adorable) and we picked up Laurita and her dad on the way. We live about 3 blocks and 5 minutes away from CIMAS, so the walk was short but it was so nice to meet up with all of my amigos when I got there. There are six other students in my Spanish class and all the rest (20 or so) are in the public health class. We separated for the first part and then met up to take a placement test, eat some delicious fruit salad and spaghetti with veggies and listen to a lecture on the megadiversity of Ecuador (in English, thankfully). A solid start to school, I think. And the great thing is that on a lot of days we only have class until 12 or 12:30 and never have school on Fridays!

After school, Laura and I wanted to go meet up with some people and explore the city, but it was the first time we were attempting to go out by ourselves. Trying to convince my dad of this idea was reallllllllly difficult. Just think about how hard it is to try and convince your parents to do something that they are unsure of. That is muy dificil in and of itself, but in Espanol!??! Talk about exhausting. So we gave up for a little bit and went into my room to concoct a plan which involved calling a friend and getting bus directions to his part of town. Now more collected and prepared, we went to my dad again with Kraig's phone number, the name of the place we wanted to go and the bus we knew we needed to take. This went over much better. My dad drew us a map, we promised to be home in time for dinner and then we finally head off for our first adventure without the parents! It was soooo nice! We met up with some others at a big mall but none of us are big mall people so we went to this Lebanese restaurant and got cervezas. I can't even tell you how nice it was to sit around with some friends, speaking English and drinking beer. I think it was exactly what we all needed. We all had to get home for dinner, so three of us shared a cab home, which actually ended up not really taking us home and with me yelling at the driver in Spanish because I thought he was trying to rip us off, but as it turns out I think he really just had no idea where he was going.

So, when we finally got home, it looked like we were having this delicious bean sopa for dinner. It probably looked like that because we were all eating said delicious bean sopa, but then when I went into the kitchen to wash dishes, I was shooed out and told to go sit at the table. Next thing I know the bell rings and Diego comes back with a pizza box from Dominos. I think I freaked out a little hahahah it was like some weird form of culture shock that I just thought was hilarious. They didn't as much. So we ate pizza and then I suggested we sing to Diego, but because I was the one who made the suggestion, I had to sing him the English version all alone after we were done. Not a great birthday present for anyone.
Here's the birthday boy with his birthday pizza!
And here's my spot at the dinner table. A well rounded meal :)
After dinner we probably talked for about 2 hours. It's really exciting being able to converse in Spanish that much and I greedily tried to keep the conversation going so that I could show off more of my Spanish :) I felt really rejuvenated after a day away from my family and a chance to speak English with my friends. I think it's a really good balance.

Tomorrow, Laura and I are going to walk around a little before school ("trotar" as opposed to "caminar" my family informed me) so I'm going to hit the hay.

Today was just such a good day and I can't even believe that this is my life right now hehahehhahhahehhaee wow.