Mantengan encendida una luz que siempre voy a volver..

My first day went really well.  My new mom took me to school which was at La Universidad de San Francisco de Quito.  This campus was absolutely gorgeous.  The building where we actually took the class looked like the capitol.  There were stained glass windows inside.  Honestly, it wasn't really a place where I wanted to study.  I just wanted to lay in the grass.  There were beach volleyball courts and gardens.  There was also a pirate ship in the middle of a pond.  I don't know the story behind that yet but I will find out!  Anyway, class was class.  There were some engaging conversations about MDGs (Millenium Developmental Goals).  What's shocking is that out of the 8 goals that we set out to accomplish by 2015 (set up in 1990), we have only accomplished one.  We talked about simple interventions we could make to improve the health of those people living on only $1/day (clean water, education, cheap drugs, etc.)  The professor is very engaging and she knows her stuff.  She was coughing the whole time and one of my classmates joked that she has TB.  I hope that's not the case!

After class was done, my new mom took me to the supermarket with my friend Debi.  We bought a few things. I needed a notebook so I went to the papeleria.  Then we went home and played with Polla, the dog and had lunch: chicken, rice, plantains, carrots with tomato, and red cabbage salad.  I'm not sure if I liked the red cabbage salad.  It was very sweet because she put raspberry jelly in it, yuck, but at least I tried it! 

After lunch we watched America's Next Top Model and Smallville in Spanish.  There were also these really ridiculous deodorant commercials.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tttmt9vOzgk  --You'll see why it's weird

At 2:45, we left for El Museo de Guayasamin.  Oswaldo Guayasimin (1919-1999) is the most famous painter in Ecuador's history.  His paintings were very compelling.  His work consisted of three collections.  The first one was called "Trail of Tears."  The Second focused on anger and the final one was called "Tenderness."  All of his paintings depicted the pain, sorrow, hope, love, and faith of the oppressed people (blacks, indigenous, mestizos).  The tour guide was OK.  It was pretty funny because our onsite coordinator for our trip kept correcting his information.  Overall, it was a beautiful museum.  We left the museum and saw Guayasamin's house.  Which was pretty cool.  He had a pool and two cars, one of them being a rolls royce...  There was also a gigantic canadian pine tree that Guayasamin called "The Tree of Life."

I topped the day off with an empanada de pollo.  It was delicious.  I hope I don't get sick from it... hehe

Also, I bought a poster for my parents and lost it within at hour... oops. At least it was only $8.

...and I made it

I'm in Ecuador!  I'm hanging out in my new room with my new family.  I am currently staring at a fly that has just entered the room to my dismay.  Anyway, the family is really nice.  It consists of a mother and his son.  The son is my age and he's very nice so far.  Hopefully, he'll show me around Quito and take me to the places where he normally hangs out. 

Backtracking.. when the plane landed in Quito, everyone started clapping (Mami and Papi, I guess Puerto Ricans aren't the only ones that do that...).  When I got off the plane I couldn't even breathe.  I think I'm 9,000 feet above sea level? But literally, I was having a lot of trouble...

So there was a whole process with customs and took a while but I found my new mom holding a sign with my name on it. The son drove us to the house.  He blatantly ran a red light.  I was about to ask if red meant go but then he told me he didn't have time to stop so he just kept going. They have a labrador and their house is nice too. Oh! I don't have to do my own laundry! Yay...

My new mom suggests that a use boiled water to brush my teeth so I don't get sick.  Very thoughtful.

I know this post sucks.  I'm too tired to think of anything clever to say.

I'll have more energy to write something better tomorrow.
Goodnight from Quito!

May 29 (Angry Bird)

I was supposed to leave today at 2:50pm from Gainesville's Regional Airport.  I wasn't surprised when we did not board 30 minutes, 20 minutes, or 10 minutes prior to departure for that matter.  In fact, I didn't board the plan at all.  It just so happened that a bird decided to fly head on into a plane 203948309483 times its size.  The bird sacrificed itself in the name of damaging the plane... Thanks to this stupid bird, I'm still in Gainesville, FL writing on this blog about nothing exciting about Ecuador.  Oh well... take 2 tomorrow... Let's see if I can get out of here...

I can't believe I'm missing the first day of school! Mad...

Welcome!

Hi guys! So for those of you who don't know, I will be in Ecuador from May 29- June 18 taking a class called Global Health Perspectives.  I'm trying to figure out whether I want to take this whole nursing thing in the direction of a public health concentration.  But on a more exciting note, I just want to experience everything that Ecuador has to offer: culture, food, people, places, etc... I'm starting this blog so I can document all the things that happen while I'm there.  Hopefully, it will be interesting enough to post on this blog!  So the next post will be on May 29-30.  I get in late on the 29th, so we'll see if I have enough energy to post something.  Love you all!