Wednesday, February 4, 2009

lots of time in a room

Milly and Gina

El Rancho Alegre


El Rancho Alegre, the awesome hammock chair


El Rancho Alegre - where our rooms were



Gina at the Hotel Alston, where we stayed in Quito


I am in another internet cafe and the computer I´m on is in front of a window that faces the Andes! Pretty much everywhere here faces the Andes since we are in the Andes, but I always think its pretty exciting. We´re so high that the clouds are just above us and I can see them going in front of the mountain. There aren´t many trees on them but sometimes there is a row just along the top of the range.

Today we had our Spanish placement test and it was pretty tough. Overall I´ve been confident in my Spanish since I got here since I think I´m basically average for the group - there are a few really fluent people and then some who aren´t very confident yet. Later this afternoon in about an hour I have a one-on-one interview in Spanish for my oral proficiency placement. I think that will be easier for me.

We eat all the time here. We have breakfast at 8:00 (eggs, fruit, cereal, croissant, fresh juice, herbal tea) then snack around 10:30 (fruit, little no-crust white bread sandwhichs, tea) and then lunch around 1:00 (rice and meat and different things plus fruit dessert) and then usually some kind of little snack around 4:00 and then dinner at 7:30 (soup, vegetables, meat, rice, beans... and dessert, usually ice cream, which is SOOO good). It´s all been very tasty.

Our group is all kind of in love with each other and we eat with different people every meal. My roommates are Gina and Milly, I like them both a lot. Five or six of the group has been to Costa Rica before on volunteer trips so I´ve been talking about that a lot.

We got our Los Chillos homestay placement!!! My family has both parents and three daughters. One is 17 and the other two are 13. The parents like to walk and they like nature. The daughters like music and swimming and I can´t remember what else. I´m in the town that has the most student placements - we´re spread out over a few little towns in the valley. I´m a little nervous but I´m sure it will be fine.

I´ll try and post pictures later, I haven´t taken very many yet since mostly we´re just been at the place we´re staying, which is very very nice. Its called El Rancho Alegre, the happy ranch.

4 comments:

  1. Beautiful Laura sounds like a fantastic start. It seems as though Ecuador was the right choice for your adventure. Looking forward to pictures.

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  2. That sounds awesome Laura!
    Youre lucky you get to eat a lot.....I don't and you know how much I love food!

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  3. Laura, I love being with the clouds!!! It's so empowering!!!

    I am jealous of your wonderful meals. I've been eating rice and canned curry.

    Glad to hear that your group is so nice and in love!!! I'm sure that makes it so much better.

    Good luck with your homestay. Love you!!!

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  4. LAURRAA!!!!!!!!!!!!! ARE YOU STILL IN QUITO!!! WHY AM I NOT SEEING YOUR FACE RIGHT NOW!

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