Una Aventura

Hey everyone,

So I realized a few days ago that it has almost been a month since I updated my blog, so I thought it was about time to do that! The main reason why I haven't written has been because I had not really gone anywhere or done anything interesting and so I felt like I had nothing to say except how homesick I was and that didn't really seem like something worth sharing. But I decided that it is something worth sharing with my family and friends and so I should write about it for a bit. No one EVER told me that studying abroad would be so hard, I knew that I would feel homesick, but I never thought it would be so painful and would last so long. Before coming here, I never even gave adjusting to living here a second thought, I just thought that yeah it might be hard for a couple of weeks, but it will be fine. What I was really worried about was how I was going to adjust to going back to Linfield after being gone for a year, I was really worried about that and thought "wow, what if I have no friends when i go back because i was gone so long and I dont fit in my clubs anymore." This worried me a lot, but now that I am here for the year with 4 other amazing girls (Ali, Eli, Jen, and Katelyn) and we are getting to know each other super well because we see each other at our worst and best while adjusting to living in a big city and going to a university where it is so hard to make friends (Katelyn actually came up to me today and we were talking about hanging out with some ecuadorians we have met this weekend and she basically tackled me with excitement and said "Nadia! We have friends!" and then Max came up to us and asks how we are doing and Katelyn says "Good! I feel warm and fuzzy inside" and he looked a bit confused and I turned to him and said "She has friends now" and that was enough explanation). The fact that I am here with friends who I get along with very well helps so much because we talk together a lot and travel together and the cool thing is we talk in Spanish the majority of the time. We do have days where we switch to english a lot, usually because one of us is having a really hard day and it can be really hard to express yourself in a foreign language sometimes. I have talked to Ali Simpson a lot (from Linfield) because I think we have both been going through the same adjustment process, a long and hard adjustment. We have had our share of crying time together and even though that sounds really depressing (and it is), it has really helped me to know that I am not the only one having a hard adjustment and Ali and I have told ourselves we will get through this together and that it will get better! (and I would say it is at the moment). Anyway, I am really looking forward to when I get to the point where I like being here, and I think it will come in time. Just this week I think stopped hating it here and now I am just content with where I am, I still dont like living in Quito and the University is not my favorite place, but traveling on the weekends with friends is always amazing and I have had some really good times. I just felt like sharing the fact that study abroad is not easy (well i think it is for some people) and I cant believe that no one ever said anything about how hard it is and I am hoping that it is because by the end you are having such a great time that you forget how hard it was at first or you think that it was worth the hard adjustment. Anyway, I will change the topic now from how homesick Nadia is :)

Ok, so something fun! This past weekend the Linfield group went on a trip together and even though I usually travel with the Linfield group, it does not include Max and Alia, but this trip did! We went to Mompiche which is a very small, non-touristy beach. I am pretty sure we were the only foreigners there that weekend. We had Friday off (I always have friday off so it didnt matter for me) because it was the independence day of Guayaquil (every city has their own independence day) and while most everyone was going to Guayaquil to party, the Linfielders headed off to a secluded beach. ;) We took a night bus to Atacames (about 6 or 7 hrs) and the bus ride was super disgusting because it was hot and humid and everyone had their windows shut...oh it was gross and my seat was kind of broken so it was more like a teeter-totter that I was balancing on and falling off of during the bus ride. I sat next to Ali on the bus and we talked for about the first hour and once the bus stopped really suddenly and I slid right off the chair and on to the ground and Ali and I started laughing SO hard (it was also WAY past our bedtime), I couldnt get off the ground for a good 10 minutes because we were laughing so hard. That was the most I had laughed since coming to Ecuador and my stomach hurt from all the laughing, but it was so nice! So at least my broken seat gave us some entertainment! Although after 6 hrs of balancing on a seat all night and therefore getting no sleep, I was not entertained anymore. When we got to Atacames we had to take another bus for about 2 hrs to get to Mompiche, but we opted to pay to take a taxi because we were all really gross and tired. The weather at the beach was not that great, cloudy and rainy, but the water was still warm so that was really nice! We basically slept, swam, sat, played cards, talked and ate (a lot!). We left early sunday morning to take a bus to Atacames to catch a bus to Quito. We spent a few hours in Atacames before our bus left and there were SO many people on the beach, it was insane! I am so glad that we were not at a beach like Atacames. The bus ride from Atacames to Quito was SOOOOO much better than the other bus ride. There was air conditioning which was really nice (well there was up until the last 2 hrs) and I had a working seat! There are so many other details I could give, but I feel like they might only be interesting and funny to the people who were there...and my blog is already going to be SUPER long....so I will leave the trip at that.

When I got back to my house on Sunday night, I walked in and said hi to my host mom, who was crying on the phone. This wasn't something unusual for me to see because I will see her crying randomly throughout a day and she never tells me whats wrong and says that she will tell me later when we have more one on one time. So, I after she got off the phone she came to my room and asked me how my weekend was, I said it was good, but how are you doing? and she said "not very good" and started to cry again, so I asked her what happened and we went to sit down on the couch. She told me that my host dad, Telmo, is really sick. Apparently he has a tumor in his lungs and they don't know if it is malignant or not, but the procedure to find out is really dangerous and complicated for him because of a heart attack he had 7 years ago. When I first got here he developed what we thought was a cold, but apparently they went to the doctor and found out it was a tumor in his lungs, but she wanted to wait to tell me i guess. Anyway, that sunday morning my host brother, Patricio, and Telmo left for Boston because that is where there are some really good doctors who can perform the procedure for Telmo. I really hope that everything is going to be okay. Right now Martha is doing well, but I know she wishes she was in Boston with Telmo right now and I just hope it all turns out okay.

Ok, so a funny story that just happened two days ago. On Tuesday I had a midterm in my sociology class and I finished 30 minutes before the end of class so I was really excited at the fact that I was going to get home earlier than usual. I happily left the university and hopped on a green bus to go to Quito. Usually I am with other people when I take the bus, so I think this was my first or second time leaving Cumbaya by myself and usually I read the sign to make sure it says "A Quito" o "A la Rio Coca", but this time I didn't and once I sat on the bus, I thought to myself "I didn't hear the guy say "A Quito" and I didn't read the sign, maybe i should ask to make sure...." but then I thought "No, pretty much every green bus goes to Quito, how likely is is that I would get on the one bus that doesn't go to Quito." Yeah I think you can guess where I am going with this story. So I was sitting on the bus debating whether or not i should ask the girl sitting next to me if this bus goes to the Rio Coca station and then I kept convincing myself that we were headed in the right direction so it should be fine. After 10 minutes or so, we stopped and there were a couple old ladies getting of the bus and then i noticed a sign that said "Al sur de Quito" or "to the south of Quito" and I was thinking "Crap, I don't think I want to go to el sur" so I asked the girl sitting next to me "Does this bus go to la Rio Coca?" and she looked at me with a really confused expression on her face and said "No..." and then I asked her "Well, do you know where I can catch a bus that will take me there?" and she said "No...." and I was thinking "Oh great, I have no idea where I am" so I hopped out of my seat and went to talk to the bus driver and since we were still stopped he told me that I could get off the bus and catch a bus across the street. So I got off the bus with the two old ladies and I asked one of them if she was also going to la Rio Coca and she said yes and apparently so was the other old lady. So, I thought well I'll just follow them. We crossed the busy highway (oh my gosh way dangerous!) and then the two old ladies started to run....so I followed them, me running behind these two old ladies in heels...I wish I could have had a picture because it must have looked hilarious. We stopped running and waited for a while for a bus and then one of the old ladies says "I don't think this is the right spot" so she begins to run more and then we run to another busy highway and cross it and then are running along a fence trying to find a hole in it to get to the other side. The old lady I was running behind stopped running and so i did also, but the old lady who was in front just kept booking it down the highway. She finally found a hole in the fence and crossed to the other side, then the old lady I was with started running again, so we ran and went to the other side of the fence and crossed another highway. This is where we finally caught a bus that was going to Quito and when we got on the bus one of the old ladies turns to me and says "ayy, una aventura!!!!" Yes it was an adventure! I sat on the bus and thought "wow, so much for thinking i was getting home early", I got home later than I usually do leaving at my normal time, but it was really entertaining to think about. I am so glad I was with those two old ladies because there is no way I would have ever found that highway on my own. Life here certainly is una aventura.

So in my last post I said that I received an email saying I had two conversation partners, and I emailed them but they never emailed me back. But, one day I was sitting with Katelyn and her conversation partner and about 6 of his friends and I was talking with two of them for a while and they actually speak quite a bit of english and one of the guys lives not too far from me so sometimes he is on the bus with me in the mornings and we talk in english and spanish. One day I was waiting outside of a psychology class and a guy walked my, named Marco, who I had also met that day and basically said he needed a conversation partner to practice his english and I said I would help him out, so I have actually been meeting with him (he is in his first semester of english, so he knows very little and we talk in spanish almost all the time and he will ask me questions about how to say something in english). It is nice meeting with him, but I am finding that sometimes it is hard to find time to meet. I am meeting with him tomorrow though.

I don't really think I have anything else to say at the moment (sorry this is going to be so long!). Things are definitely a lot better now and I have been having a good time. I love hearing from you guys so please send me emails whenever to update me on your lives. Here are some links to pictures:
Mindo: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2024347&l=90284&id=65202295
Otavalo: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2024573&l=d09d5&id=65202295
Miscellaneous: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2024346&l=23731&id=65202295

Peace,
Nadia