"¡Mi Querida Hija!"

OK, so at 3:00 on Saturday everyone gathered in the lobby of the Hotel Alston Inn with all their heaps of luggage to meet our new families. I sat on a couch, surrounded by my things, watching as the sky opened up and began pouring rain down upon our families as they ran inside from their cars waiting at the curb. Of course it had to start raining just in time for our families to pick us up!

People gradually disappeared into tiny cars with host mothers showering them with hugs and kisses and host brothers designated as the carriers of all the luggage. Eventually, a man in a baseball cap and a petite girl walked in--these were my host brother, Marco, 34, and my host sister, Denisse, 24. We hugged, exchanged pleasantries, then picked up my things and ventured out into the rain.

Once in the back of their little red Fiat and speeding through the rain-soaked city, my brother and sister asked me questions--about how my trip to the rainforest was, did I like Ecuador, etc. And as I answered, I could not help but constantly be thinking about how different this car ride was compared to my first ride home with my host family in Los Chillos four weeks ago (feels like forever!). During my first car ride home with my host family there, I was absolutely terrified, smiling tightly and painfully, struggling to understand the people chattering at me rapidly in Spanish. This time, I could not have felt more relaxed. My only "worry," if you could even call it that, was simply in wondering what my new home would be like and my new host mother (Hilda, a teacher, who had not come to meet me because she was in Otavalo visiting her mother) and hoping they would like me and I would like them.

Eventually, we arrived in a neighborhood in the far North of the city and pulled into a small, square cement driveway, the cream-colored iron gate clanging shut behind us. We dashed inside. I stood near the front door in the hallway, waiting for Marco to bring my bags in (he insisted--that whole machismo thing). And suddenly, my jaw literally DROPPED as my eyes came to rest on a painting hanging on the wall. It was an original Guayasamin painting of Quito and has his signature in the bottom corner and is made out specifically to my host family! I have not gotten a chance to ask them about it yet, but I totally want to get my picture taken with it. An actual Guayasamin! Ahhhh! ¡Que chévere!

ANYWAY, they showed me up a small flight of steps to my room. Even though my room in Los Chillos was not bad at all, this one is much smaller but much more comfortable and homey (and actually part of the house, as opposed to completely separated!). I have a little bed with a daisy bedspread, a dresser, a TV (it only has the national channels, but I have gotten to fall asleep while watching "Charlie´s Angels" and "Harry Potter" in Spanish the past few nights, which has been fun, and it is certainly more than I was expecting!), and a closet.

I hung out in Marco´s room for a while, once I got settled, talking to him about everything for politics to the situation with the stray dogs here to movies (he and I are apparently both highly anticipating the new "The Dark Knight" movie this summer!). I also hung out with Denisse in her room a while and we talked, mainly about her problems with her boyfriend and her conflict between wanting to study abroad in Ireland and her boyfriend wanting to marry her and start a family. It seems that those kind of choices exist in whatever country you are in, since my friend Mary had a similar decision before coming to study abroad here.

We eventually went down into the kitchen and had some tea and bread. While we were there, my mother finally got home. I will never forget meeting her. She walked down the steps, saw me, cried, "¡Mi querida hija! ¡Mi amor!" and swept me up into a hug that lasted a solid 30 seconds at least. Immediately, I liked her and knew I would be happy living with them. She presented me with three bracelets she had bought me in Otavalo, which I immediately put on and do not plan to take off anytime soon, and told me all about how excited she is to have another daughter.

I am the youngest in their house, which is a new experience for me, and I am reminded of it often, every time my mother hugs me or kisses me or cries, "¡Mi bebe!" when she sees me. However, though that might sound annoying, it actually is not at all--the way she does it is just really endearing. Plus, I think I might just be enjoying it because my other host mother, while very nice, was not super affectionate, which was fine. But now, I think I was feeling rather starved for affection (which I did not even realize) and I really appreciate it. Granted, we will see how long I continue to feel that way, but sometimes, you just need a hug. Also, Hilda kind of reminds me, somehow, of Granny Joy, which occasionally gives me pangs of homesickness but is also a great comfort, as well. One thing that does crack me up is that she also calls me, essentially, "my biggest littlest daughter" because, while the youngest, I tower over all of them. I told her that in the US, I am just average height, but here, I am a giant and tower over all my host siblings, my host mother, and apparently nearly everyone in Ecuador.

ANYWAY, Sunday was wonderful and relaxing. I woke up and had breakfast with my host family (pan, tea, juice), and then we took off to the Centrohistorico, the oldest part of Quito in the center of the city, where the streets are narrow and cobblestone and the buildings are obviously remnants of Spain´s presence here. We drove up this huge hill in the Centrohistorico to this huge iron statue of an angel that presides over the whole city. From here, we could see everything, North and South to the very edges of the city, and I took pictures with my host mother and sister (which I hope to post sometime soon) overlooking the city.

After walking around a bit, we got back in the car and headed off to meet Soledad (the other daughter, 29, who is pregnant and expecting Hilda´s first grandson in April) and her husband at El Jardin. What I expected to be a restaurant or, um, I don´t know, a garden (el jardin=garden in English) turned out to be a GIANT mall even bigger than San Luis in Los Chillos, just about as amazing as Southpoint or any other mall in the US. We had lunch in the foodcourt (I did NOT get McDonald´s, like my host sister...I resisted and got lentils, fish, and rice from a more traditional Ecuadorean restaurant instead!), then walked around a baby store there so Soledad and Hilda could shop for some things for the baby. Marco and I talked for awhile and he and I ended up going and getting icecream and then going back to the house on our own.

We all hung out together the rest of the afternoon/evening, watching soccer on TV and talking, and I actually went to bed fairly early, since I was exhausted and had my first day of classes the next day.

As far as classes go, they have been fine so far. Much less intense than our Spanish classes in Los Chillos, which is a relief, and much shorter. Instead of five hours of intensive Spanish, we only have 3 and a half or 4 hours of lectures on various topics (thus far this week, development, human rights and immigration, and pre-colonial history of Ecuador). And after class, now that we are in Quito, it is very easy to just go off and explore the city, which me and some girls did today after class, which was fun.

I do not know why, but for some reason today (I think it was the fact that it was a beautiful, sunny day) I kept thinking about this time last year when I was in Washington, D.C. I kept thinking about how beautiful it must be in D.C. right now and kind of missing it. My friend, Robin, who is from Chicago, said that she has been having the same pangs of homesickness for Chicago since being in Quito because, while they are two very different cities, they are both big cities and I can definitely understand her feelings. But walking around today after classes kind of made those feelings dissipate as I kind of got immersed in THIS city; it made it a bit easier to stop thinking about D.C. so much, which is good because I need to enjoy Quito while I am here, since my Independent Study month will be here before I know it and I will be far from any city.

Lastly, just thought I would mention: I chopped off my hair. :) Not the shortest I have ever had it, but it was in desparate need of a trim and apparently, I am incapable of ever "just trimming" my hair. So, Lenore recommended her friend, Debbie, who is from Chicago and is a great hairdresser but has lived here with her Ecuadorean husband and kids for twenty years. So, yesterday, I walked into her salon. She asked me what I wanted, I said I did not know, she showed me a picture of something she thought was going to be easy and fun, and I just kind of shrugged and said, "Well, what the hell! OK!" I definitely like it and you will no doubt see it in pictures as I post them in the coming weeks.

Until later, ciao!

-Alex