I´m here!

Well, I have arrived in Quito, Ecuador! Only two days here and I've already experienced the entire weather spectrum (from cloudy, windy 40 degrees to bright, sunny 75) as well as eaten lots of "odd" things (mainly, tree tomato juice and carrot soup with popcorn! Instead of putting crackers in their soup, Ecuadorians put unbuttered popcorn! So good!)

This week is orientation with the organization I am part of. The umbrella organization is called ICYE (International Cultural Youth Exchange) but the Ecuadorian branch is called VASE. Basically, this week they will be teaching us everything we need to know about living in Ecuador. Today we talked about cultural differences (a kiss on the cheek is the correct way to greet someone), safety issues (hold onto your bag on the bus or someone will take it guaranteed!), and issues that might come up in our projects and host families and how to deal with them appropriately. We also got to walk around Quito for the first time today. Quito (which is the capital) has about 2 million people and the city is sprawled in a valley with mountains right in front of you to the west. Because it is so close to the equator, the sun is SO hot. Not really the air, just the sun. It also prevents the weather from changing much from day to day. Like I said though, in one day you can experience all of the seasons: morning is like spring, daytime-summer, nighttime-winter. But overall, they say Quito is like "eternal spring." Soooo nice.

There are about 12 volunteers, plus three "trainers," living here in a gorgeous building in Quito that used to house missionaries who were about to go work in the Amazon. It's been great sitting in the sun on the large, 3rd floor patio which has a great view of the city and the mountains, just drinking it all in. And the other volunteers are really great. They mainly come from Germany, Iceland, and New Zealand with great accents and already a talent in multiple languages. I didn't know this but in Germany it is required for all students to complete one year of either military service or social service and that's why we have all these great people from Germany working like me with VASE. It's been so cool getting to know them all and compare our cultures. (In Iceland, for example, kids go to high school through age 20. In New Zealand, they call high school "college" and after that they go to "university.") And you would think that with everyone speaking English we would be able to understand one another, but that is not the case. New Zealand slang and strong German accents sometimes make things a bit complicated =]

As for things coming up, I begin living with my host family on Thursday after orientation ends, have some travel plans with the other VASE volunteers for the next few days after that, then begin my project on Feb. 1. But you'll hear more about those things when they happen.

More later,
Leslie