Homestay update

Hi Everyone,

Today is my second day with my host family, and so far things are going pretty well. Everybody in my family is really nice and helpful, so the hardest things so far have been getting used to a new routine and family dynamic. Ecuador has a very "machismo" culture, so women typically do all of the cooking, cleaning, and taking care of the house while men work and are taken care of by the women. My family is unique because we have a "comadre" who does all of the cooking instead of my mama (she works at the airport). The living situation is also unique, because instead of one big house where everybody lives there are 3 smaller houses within the same area. My mama (Carmita), papa (Rodrigo), 12-year-old sister (Emilia) and I all live in the main house (I'm living in Camilo, the 18-year-old boy's room). Bertha, the comadre, and her two daughters live in a separate little house where we eat lunch and dinner (we eat breakfast in the main house), and my abuela lives in another separate little house.

Carmita and Rodrigo came to pick me up from the hostel yesterday, and as only the fourth student to get picked up I was definitely more than a little nervous about meeting them for the first time. They were really nice right off the bat, and I definitely felt immediately welcomed into the family. They have their own car, so we drove through the city until we got to their house. On the way Carmita explained to me that they had a German student staying with them, and that they promised they would take him to the Equator (called el mitad del mundo here) that day. That threw me for a loop, and was definitely not what I had been expecting for my first day with the family. When we got to the house I was introduced to everyone, and then unpacked for an hour before Carmita, Rodrigo, Emilia, Malte (the german student) and I set off for some sightseeing. We went to a volcanic crater, some pre-Incan ruins, and then el mitad del mundo. It was really fun, and very cool to see everything.

When we got back to the house we had lunch, and then I unpacked a little bit more before hanging out with Malte and Emilia for a bit. After that we had cake to celebrate Malte's birthday (his birthday is actually today, but he left yesterday so we celebrated then), which was really good. After that we drove Malte to the bus station, and then went back to school shopping for Emilia. All the schools in Quito started classes today, and it was really fun to go shopping for school supplies, even though they weren't for me. When we got home we ate dinner, although Rodrigo, the two little girls, and I were the only ones who ate anything because dinner is a very very small meal here.

This morning I got up at 6:30, showered, and ate breakfast, which was basically a grilled cheese sandwich. The cheese was pretty mild though, so I actually really liked it. After that Carmita and I set off to catch a bus to take me to the Experimento. The bus system here is really crazy, and when we finally found a bus that was going the right way it was so full that we had to stand on the steps with the doors open for 2 or 3 stops until enough people got off so that we could actually get into the bus. Once we made our way in I saw Teddy, one of the kids from my group, and found out that he lives pretty close to me, so we decided that we'll try and meet up in the mornings and take the bus to school together. We had spanish classes all morning, then a half hour break, and then a lecture about the history of Ecuador. We have 2 more history lectures this week, and I'm excited to learn more about the country that I'm spending 3 more months in!

We got out of class at 1, and Bertha's oldest daughter (she's somewhere in her early 30s and has her own family) came to pick me up and bring me back to the house. When we got home we had lunch, and then I did some spanish homework and hung out with Emilia. The school schedules are very different here, with classes beginning at 7 or 8 in the morning and ending around 1 or 2 so that students can go home to eat lunch. That schedule is just one more thing on the list of Ecuadorian-customs-that-Caroline-has-to-get-used to, which so far includes:

1. Throwing toilet paper into a trash can, not the toilet (the pipes here are too small to handle toilet paper)

2. Military time (I refuse to change my watch though, so whenever I see a clock that says 16:42 I have to do some nifty subtraction in my head to figure out what time it really is)

3. Eating very little for breakfast at 7 am, a lot for lunch at 2:30 pm, and very little for dinner at 8 pm, without a lot to eat in between meals.

And probably more things that I can't think of just yet.

I'm excited to finally be getting into a routine, and I'm ecstatic that I no longer have to live out of a suitcase, like I have been for the past two weeks. I'll keep everyone updated on how my week is going, and I'm going to do my best to get pictures on here this week.

Hasta luego,
Caroline