La cuidad, la escuela y la comida

Hi friends,

All is still well in Quito. The group has finished the orientation with PUCE (Catolica) and will be going into our main orientation on Monday. I think I'm going to end up taking 18 credit hours this semester (15 at PUCE and 3 with the program that I came with). 18 is a lot for a normal semester at SBC -- doing all of this in Spanish is going to be interesting. But... I really am looking forward to at least getting started with all of it. Classes don't begin until the 3 of Sept. and I can't wait. Right now things kind of feel like they're in limbo. Plus, once classes start I'm really going to start improving my Spanish skills. That will be a good thing.

Lately we've been getting to know more of the culture. We learned some salsa and have been going around the city. Today we went to La Plaza Grande - aka La Plaza de la Independencia - in colonial Quito. The plaza has a lot of the presidential and government buildings for Quito and all of Ecuador. From there we went to the Church of Santo Domingo and La Compania de Jesus (another church). There was so much to see; the architecture alone was amazing, but then there were also paintings, statues and old church showpieces. All of this was around the Plaza in old town Quito. The area was very alive and full of people. There were many children who were poor and working - just trying to make some money to bring home to their families. I talked to two of the kids - they were brother and sister, the girl was 9 and the boy 5 (Clara and Oscar). They didn't seem to have a home that they go to on a regular basis, but they stick together. I knew when I came to Ecuador that this was a way of life and a reality. It's still sad to actually see it taking place.

From the Plaza Grande we went to the statue of La Virgen de Quito. The statue looks over the entire city of Quito and is really pretty to look at. It's even cooler when you go up to visit it. After the statue we went to La Mitad del Mundo (the equator!!), about 20 miles outside of Quito. That was another neat adventure. I have some photos that I'll try to post at some point if I can. The only not-so-great part of today was being on the bus on a twisty mountain road. It was raining and all I could think about was the movie "Dragonfly". If you've seen the movie I'm sure you know what I mean.

The last place we went today was to eat lunch. We went about 30 minutes outside of the city to a territory that is owned by PUCE. The home we went to for lunch was another amazing building.

Food in Ecuador rocks. If you know me well, you know that two of my favorite things are fruit and soup. My host mom has made soup twice since I've been here and both times it has been really good. The fruit is so different from the US. The fruit that we have in the US is much better down here... apples, oranges, bananas, kiwi, mangos. But, there are also many fruits that we don't have that are also really great. One is 'el tomate del arbol'. It is used mostly for making juice. Another (I don't remember the name) is really sweet and simple, and it looks kind of like fish eggs. Ecuadorians also make homemade juice on a regular basis. And! the avocados are sooooo good. I think I'm going to miss the food (especially fruit) when I go back home.

I hope all is well at home for everyone - especially all my SBC friends who have already started class. :) I'm thinking about you guys. Take care everyone and I miss you all!!!