7-19

So far I have been in Ecuador for three days and from what I can tell I am going to have a great time. Before I arrived I was really worried about my host family and whether or not I was going to be able to communicate with them, when I arrived at the airport in Quito, I was quickly handed over to my family and we proceeded to my new house. I was quite relieved to realize that my family was really understanding and that they were really patient with my Spanish. My family consists of a mother and father, and two daughters. Both the daughters are in their early twenties and are really nice. Also both girls speak English so when I am looking really confused they help me out which will be great for the beginning, I just hope I do not become to dependant on their translating skills because I really do want to learn Spanish.

Things I have realized so far:

1. My Spanish is not as bad as I thought.
2. My Spanish is better in the morning than at night. (I think it has something to do with being tired, but I am not sure)
3. Quito is a really modern city, I was expecting something similar to when I visited Nicaragua but I was in one of the malls today and there was a Victoria’s Secret which really surprised me.
4. I thought Quito was really conservative, but I have realized that is not the case, sure it might be more conservative than the US, but it is not nearly as conservative as I thought it would be. One of my host sisters Andrea actually has her nose pierced, and my other host sister is planning on moving in with her American boyfriend in a year or so which blew me away, I thought that was a really big no no in Latin American countries, but it seems to be more or less fine.
5. And the last thing that I have realized is not to wear new shoes when you go out and don’t know exactly what is going on because it might involve a lot of walking and then you might end up with massive blisters but you live and learn I guess.