I arrived! :)

The adventure started out in the Portland Airport when we found out that there was a trade embargo on Ecuador, so you couldn’t check bags that weighed more than 50 lbs and most of us had bags that were over 50lbs. So those who didn’t have bags over 50lbs were honored with the possessions of others on the trip J Thanks Jen, Elizabeth, and Rachel for actually packing light for the trip! It was a little a hard saying goodbye to my parents at the airport because I was starting to realize that it was going to be a while.

The flight from PDX to Houston was good and I sat next to Jen and Katelyn. On the flight from Houston to Quito I was sitting next to a guy who was going on the Galapagos program, so we talked for a while. I think that I am going to fit in well in Ecuador because when one of the flight attendants was coming around asking if we wanted anything more to drink, he asked me in Spanish and then asked the guy next to me in English. While we were in the Quito airport, I went to get a bag trolly for Katelyn and I to use and the guy who you rented them from automatically started to talk to me in Spanish and as I was walking away a guy who looked gringo walked up and the renter guy started to talk to him in English. This happened a couple other times as I was going through customs.

When I got out of customs, my host parents were waiting for me with a sign with my name on it. They gave me hugs and kisses and we took my bags to the car. My host mom talked a lot and asked me lots of questions. She said that my Spanish was really good which made me feel good, but not so sure if it’s actually true. My host mom, Martha, is a painter, so her artwork is all over the house. She also has bright red hair, which was the first thing I noticed when I saw her in the airport. My host dad, Telmo, is a retired general from the Ecuadorian army and speaks at least 4 languages that I know of (Spanish, English, Japanese, and Chinese). Martha and Telmo have lived all over the world, some of the places that I can remember are Israel, Turkey, Egypt, Greece, Colombia, Venezuela, Brazil, New York, and Washington D.C. They both speak English, but don’t use it with me which is good. Once in a while if Martha wants to make sure I understand something really important she will repeat it in English. They have had 25+ exchange students stay with them and have an album with pictures of all of them, I showed them pictures of friends and family (a lot of you were probably in them!) and they showed me all of their daughters and sons from the U.S.A. Martha remembers everything about them and was just about in tears thinking of all of them. She hasn’t mentioned having a single bad experience hosting students and it seems like she stays in touch with almost all of them, so she must be a pretty good host mom. They both seem really nice and have definitely totally opened up their home to me. I have a nice sized bedroom with my own bathroom. After walking off the plane, I could definitely feel the altitude change and it was a little harder to breathe. I think I am adjusting to it now and haven’t gotten sick yet which is good. Martha and Telmo have had lots of experience with host students so they know what I should and shouldn’t eat.

There was a short orientation today for the Oregon group and the larger one will be on Tuesday. I am looking forward to learning more and being around more people (being in a house with two older adults can be very quiet and is a huge change from living in dorms the past two years with roommates). Anyway, it is getting late and I will post this tomorrow when I can go to an internet café to get internet. (Oh, so another big change for those of you who know me. I am a compulsive email checker and am basically always checking my email, so now that I don’t have internet access in the house, it will take me longer to reply to emails).
Ok, hasta luego.
Paz,
Nadia