Sunday, July 5th

After landing in Quito, I made it through immigration, baggage claim and customs in one piece. Surprisingly, it was relatively easy and I didn't need to speak that much Spanish at all (THANK GOD!). When I came from customs, my homestay mom was waiting for me with a huge sign with my name on it. I smiled, waved and hugged her. She asked me (in Spanish, of course) how was I. I said, "estoy muy consada!" (I am very tired!) We left the airport to go catch a taxi outside. As we were walking and talking, I tried to tell her that I speak very little Spanish. A little boy came up to us and was begging for something. He was the most gorgeous little boy I have ever seen, but he was also extremely dirty and looked homeless. Eventually, my housemom told him "no no no" and he left to find someone else to try to get whatever he was asking for.

I later found out from an Ecuadorian girl in my program (Cinty) that there are tons of poor children that wander the streets of Quito. They are so poor that often times their parents cannot afford to feed, clothe or educate them. They beg people on the street for money and/or food. Cinty said that they are really just hungry, but sometimes if you give them money, they will buy glue to sniff in order to suppress their hunger. I just couldn't imagine a 6 year old child knowing how to sniff glue. That blew my mind.

Back to the cab ride. The taxi driver and my housemom were chatting it up (about what, only they know). Eventually, the driver asked about me and where I was from. She told him that I was a health student that was coming to work in the clinics and hospitals of Ecuador. I was glad that I picked up on that much of the conversation. They could have been plotting my demise for all I knew! lol

The condo that I am staying in is nice! Its a gated area and it has a courtyard that people's front doors face. My housemom has three daughters, two of which live with her. I stay in a bonus room in the back. As soon as I got to the room, I had to drop my things and go straight to la escuela (the school; Amazing Andes Spanish School) to meet up with the other students. My housemom and I walked about 7 minutes and got there as everyone was getting their cell phones. I had missed the ENTIRE morning of orientation, which was fine with me. I hate icebreaker games and nametags and all of that other garbage.

As a group, we walked down the street to a little cafe (Bom Kafe). I met a couple of people that were in medical school and public health school. Everyone seems really nice! I had an interesting time trying to order my food (en Espanol, of course). I ended up getting something very American; a chicken Philly Cheese Steak (bom Philly Cheese con pollo), french fries (papas fritas) and (y) a bottled water (agua sin gas). It ended up being less than $5! You can't beat that!!!

After lunch, we had an orientation to our medical rotations with Dra. Alvear, our medical director and was assigned our rotations. On Wednesday, I will go to a community clinic up in the mountains. I'm glad that this will be my first experience! :) We also took a tour of the clinics/hospitals that were in the city of Quito. We took the Trole (trolley?). It costs a quarter to ride, but its....unpleasant, to be politically correct. Apparently there are no fire/accident safety laws here because people just pack in like sardines. Its a PRIME spot to get pickpocketed, so you have to be careful. We ended up going up and down and all around the south side of Quito to try to "learn" where all the clinics were. Needless to say, everyone was VERY confused and no one knew were to go. I think everyone is just going to take taxis. I know I will. I think the tour was also overwhelming because I had just been traveling for over 24 hours, was trying to adjust to the altitude and walking and hadnt even gotten to change clothes. I was trying to be attentive, but I was really just exausted and ready to go back and lay down.

Anyway, after the tour, I walked back to my house with some girls that lived not to far from me. My housemom told me that there was another estudiante (student) staying with her, Gina. Gina is from Kennesaw State in Georgia and has been here for two weeks already. She says she knew as much Spanish as I did when she got here (NADA!) but in two weeks, she was able to translate between my housemom and me. I told her she was my lifesaver and she just laughed. I was serious though! :)

Post-dinner details are a little fuzzy. I think I went up to Gina's room and looked at her pictures from the weekend she spent in the Cloud Forest (more on that later) and we talked for awhile. I was really tired, so I just showered and went to sleep. Monday, was another adventure in and of itself....