Days 3 & 4

The last two days have been pretty normal. 

I went to the mall for the first time yesterday. It is huge and so clean. It puts anything on the south shore to shame. Then I went and had lunch with Mama, Grandma and Aunt Susy. We went to a small restaurant on a side street. The food was really good. Soup, a main dish with rice beans and some kind of meat and then a dessert which wasn't quite to my liking but I ate it anyway haha.  

After that we drove around alot then went to Aunt Susy's apartment and had coffee and bread and cheese with the lunch crew plus Susy's daughter and granddaughter. This late afternoon coffee and whatever is dinner in Ecuador. We eat big lunches and small dinners. I was always starving at first but I am getting used to it. 

After coffee then taught me a card game called "31". It was really easy and fun. I won a dollar in the end so that was good too. The granddaughter, who is 2 i think, couldn't stop looking at my hair. In a place where everyone has black hair without exceptions, blonde hair is fascinating. 

Then today I did some errands with Roberto, mostly standing in line for him at various banks so he could do other things and not have to wait, but thats fine with me. I love looking at all that is going on in the streets. There are always people on the streets selling things and doing tricks. 

At 2 I had to go to XPLORER, the program that has set up my host family and school, for an orientation. I met two more kids going to school in Quito. One was a boy from Switzerland and the other a girl from Finland, both my age.

We had lunch down the street in el centro commercial (mall). It was a strange restaurant that served things on crepes, I had the equivalent of a huge taco, on a crepe. Strange but very good. I love writing about the food here because it is all so different. One of the uncles was telling me today that you could eat a different Ecuadorian soup everyday of the year there are so many. 

Then we sat through a loooong presentation about the program and all the rules and things. We were all glad when the clock struck 6:30 so we could leave.

 Mama, Grandma, an aunt and an uncle picked me up and we went for coffee and empanadas at a restaurant called La Tortilla. When we walked into the restaurant a kid, maybe 9 or 10 years old, blatantly pointed at me and told his Dad that I was a gringo because only gringos have blonde hair.  I had to laugh at him, but it is disheartening just as you are getting used to being in Ecuador, for someone to remind you that you are still a gringo. 

Anyway, the empanadas were delicious and the coffee too. All we have on the house is Nescafe which is basically fake coffee so it was great to have the real stuff again. 

We came back to the house and watched Blue Crush (a quality surf movie/chick flick) in Spanish haha. I can't wait to go to the beach, whenever that will be. 

Thats all for now.