...and i think to myself, what a wonderful world

amigos y familia,

these past couple of days have been so incredible and i'm learning more and more with each passing day. yesterday was probably my favorite day in ecuador so far. although we had to sit through 3 lecturers, each talking for an hour and a half, hanging out with my friends afterwards totally made up for boring classes. after school, i hopped on a bus with three of my girlfriends, and we headed to a little restaurante called the cactus, with a cute little patio, and split two enormous servings of nachos (soooo good and made with totally fresh ingredients) and each had a beer. we all kind of sat there in disbelief that we were actually LIVING in this incredibly beautiful city. we sat there laughing for hours about all the stupid things we've said wrong or weird things that we're still adjusting to within the ecuadorian culture for example, unlike in the united states, people leave their shoes on in their houses and they think bare feet are really weird (which i hate because i'm all about being barefoot) ALSO lunch is the biggest meal here and normally for dinner we have a cup of coffee with some bread. it was so nice to just talk with these girls and to share all of our feelings and to know that we are all together in our fight to understand the ecuadorian culture. after finishing our little meal, we walked down to a little flower shop and bought 25 roses for, get this, ONE DOLLAR... so we split up the flowers to give to our parents... what a lovely afternoon.

then today after class a bunch of girls wanted to go for a run because we've been pretty sedentary since our arrival. i called my mom and asked her if she would mind if all of us came back to our house to change into running clothes, and like always she was more than accommodating. in ecuador, people don't really run on the streets, they stick to running in the parks, so 4 american, light skinned girls running on the streets throughout the city surely turned a lot of heads. one of the girls i was with lost track at 30 of whistles and honks we got from the men there... it was really funny and almost flattering. when we got back, my mom had made us freshly squeezed lemonade for me and all of my friends. after this, my dad offered to drive all my friends home then so they wouldn't have to pay for a taxi... i just can't get over how generous and affectionate the people of ecuador are... ¡que chévere!

all in all, i wouldn't change my current situation for the world. i am so grateful that my "real" parents provided me with this incredible opportunity and that my ecuadorian parents have accepted me with such grace and love. the girls i'm in school with are really making this experience what it is and i can already tell i'm making friends that will be friends for a lifetime.

only bad thing, i'm still without a camera, but as soon as i get another one i will get pictures up as soon as possible. i love you all and think about you constantly. espero que tengan una noche buena :) mucho amor para todos!