An ecuadorian whirlwind

There are so many thoughts bouncing around in my brain right now and I want to paint a picture of everything! However, instead I'm going to summarize the whirlwind that has been my Ecuador trip so far so that I can start fresh with more details about the here and now..

I want to explain about trying to adjust to Ecuador, about my beautiful new casa in the mountains, about the crazy driving, my awesome garden patio, about not ever having to look at a clock, about the laid back atmosphere, about already crying in front of my new mom twice, about not understanding anything, about the indigenous people, the nature, the family lifestyle, and the modern culture of ecuador, about being incredibly and happily exhausted at the end of every day and being so excited to wake up to the next. There is so much to say about my amazing host family and the hot tea and spanish conversations I have with my host mom almost every night and how my sister and I tutor each other in spanish and english.

I could try to explain how my 20 minutes walk to school makes me feel apart of the hustle and bustle of the start and end of every day, or the first time I didn't feel like a Gringo when I took the bus alone and explored around Quito and successfully got home safely all by myself. I can't explain how amazing it is to wake up and look out at the mountains every morning, or how I'm lucky I am to be lulled asleep every night to the live band that plays at the sushi restaurant across the street, or my new ecuadorian friends, or how exciting our plans are to the beach and the galapagos and the markets and the hacienda and old quito and mountain climbing trips.

Being here is about the stress of translating and my brain physically hurting every night, or the excitement of understanding more and more each day, or helping my sister with english and then walking to get ice cream while she teaches me spanish, about the pizza place where you can get three beers and a slice of pizza for $2.50, about missing my family and friends at home, about the huge family get togethers every sunday with all my new aunts, uncles, cousins, etc., about all the embarrassing ways I have misused my spanish ( saying I am pregnant instead of I am excited during a HUGE christmas dinner with my entire new family during a moment of silence), about my tennis class, about witnessing the worst pick pocketer ever, about the buses, about getting deathly ill my first week, about the $1 movies I've been buying and watching in spanish (season of friends for $2!! ) about the amazing helado here ( Its my goal to try all 25ish flavors before I leave), how happy, content, sometimes lonely, sometimes busy, sometimes overwhelmed, or incredibly inspired I am by being here and much much much more....