Me, Myself, and I

I am not going to sugar coat it. The first 3 days were tough. I struggle with change in general, so I knew if I could make it through the first few days, it would hopefully only get better.

I arrived at my host family´s apartment on Sunday afternoon. I met Mercedes and Julio who I believe to be the grandparents of two little ones - Joshue (boy, 6) and Eduarda (girl, 3). The daughter of Mercedes and Julio works by day and fairly late into the evening becasue I don´t see her much other than in the mornings on her way to work. There also seems to be a young man (maybe the son-in-law?) also coming and going. I can´t quite figure it out. No one speaks a lick of English and I barely know how to answer ¨What is your name?¨ in Spanish, so the combination couldn´t be worse. All I know is there are 6 toothbrushes in the bathroom, so by default, they all must live here.

After meeting the family, I was showed to my room. It is a small room containing a single bed with a thin mattress, which rests upon a bunch of boards (Erica and Gretchen, think back to the Chelan futon). Needless to say, I wake up each morning feeling a little beaten up. There is a thin wool blanket which rests on top, a pillow that has seen better days, and the walls appear to have seen a 100 years of tiny little handprints and stains. I learned quickly, if you are not occupying a room, all the lights are turned off, which would be fine if it were your own home, but new to my surroundings, coming home and living in a dark space was a little sad to me...or it made me a little homesick let´s say. They do not have heat either and by the sounds of the dogs barking and cool air at night, I would say the windows are thin and not always sealed. There is no hot water, so I wash my hands and face at night in cold water, which has taken some getting used to. I had my first shower yesterday, which I am told (through hand gestures and motions) is supposed to be warm. There is this electric contraption attached to the shower head (which I can only imagine would electrocute you if you weren´t careful) and is supposed to warm the water. As I was at least the 4th person in the shower, I believe it konked out because I could have just as well been showering with a hose from outside. If I ever tell you I can´t shower in 5 minutes, you have the right to call me a liar.

I know this sounds pretty terrible, and it was at first and still kind of is unpleasant. However, I can tell you this, they are some of the most gracious people I have ever met and feel totally safe and comfortable at my home stay. It isn´t that they don´t take pride in their home, they just don´t have the means to furnish it with overstuffed couches and fuzzy blankets, nor can they replace things when it begins to fray and wear.

My family prepared my first Ecuadorian meal on Sunday night. First, was a broth soup. I felt like I was at camp again, struggling to eat the new food that someone I didn´t know had prepared. I was always thankful for the candy stashed under my bed and was longing for it now. Just as I licked my bowl clean (because I didn´t want to offend them), the second course came - rice with an egg on top and a side of guacamole. All of this doesn´t sound that bad if you were in the states, but everything just has an odd taste here and all I could think about was whether or not they brought the soup to a boil to avoid contracting God knows what from their water. Not to mention I, at the moment my plate is situated in front of me, I notice they do not refrigerate the eggs...oh boy. I ate nearly all of my dinner, washing it down with my water bottle, and saying ¨muy bueno¨ as many times as I could. Again, the two most gracious people - Julio and Mercedes sat with me the whole time, not speaking to each other because they knew I couldn´t understand them. I apologized for not speaking Spanish and they replied it wasn´t important. Since that night, I have had soup and rice at every meal, except breakfast. At breakfast, I grab a sweet roll and drink a cup of tea. I told them I was a small eater, so they don´t pile my plate full anymore. Don´t worry, I am supplementing my meals with Ritz crackers and Chips-Ahoy cookies which are in a bag in my room. By day, I have also located the most amazing bakery and have taken my carb diet to a whole new level. I plan to become more adventurous and try the local restaurants and ¨street food¨ as they call it, but I have always felt most comfortable taking baby steps.

I remind myself often why I came here (probably to push back the tears, which I am proud to say have not surfaced yet!) - to challenge myself, grow, become aware, and help others. However, as an FYI, `Alison Time´ is over-rated and I found out that not talking to anyone for a few days isn´t something I really dig. Ecuador definitely isn´t all sugar plums and gum drops, but more like a Sour Patch Kid - sour in the beginning, but sweet in the middle and the end. I think I may even be getting to the sweet part. Things have definitely gotten better over the last day, the weather has cleared a bit, I have met some nice volunteers from all over, I am starting to recognize my surroundings and the kids are a kick in the pants...a handful, but pretty funny.

Ok, I have talked your ear off enough for one day. More about my new friends and the orphanage tomorrow. I´ll post pictures soon as well. Thinking about you all at home and keeping each of you in my back pocket.

Love, Alison