Riobamba at Last

I arrived in Riobamba last night and was greeted my one of my host sisters, Elisa, and her boyfriend Tyler. After getting to the house, I met my host mother, Paquita, and my other host sister, Anahi. They were very warm and welcoming! Paquita does not speak any English at all, but Elisa, Anahi, and Tyler all do (Tyler is actually from Iowa and just visiting for the summer). My house has a wonderful view of the city, including Chimborazo, the volcano that is located very near to the town. I have my own space, which is wonderful. They family even has a golden retriever named Timo-Teo, which is wonderful because I definitely miss my dogs back home. So far the food is fabulous! This morning the maid had bread, eggs, and jugo (juice) ready when we came up for breakfast. And Paquita made some incredible Ecuadorian lasagna for lunch today. I am definitely getting my fair share of jugo while I´m here. I think I´ve had over 10 kinds since I got to Ecuador, and my favorite thus far is jugo mora (blackberry juice). It´s absolutely amazing.

This morning I had a meeting with my director from my school and it went really well. There was someone there who spoke English, so I was able to ask all of the questions I needed. I start teaching on Monday and it should work out really well. Everyone at the school is really nice and incredibly willing to help us with whatever we need along the way. It should certainly be a completely different experience from anything that I am used to, and I´m very nervous, but excited to start teaching.

After the meeting I went to this very indigenous open-air market with Paquita, Elisa, and Tyler. There were tons of fruits, vegetables, and meat. Everyone was flying around and negotiating prices. It was extremely interesting and I asked Elisa and Paquita every 5 seconds to tell me what the name of the fruits were in Spanish. There were plenty that I have seen, but many that are indigenous to Ecuador. We took a "taxi" home which was a pick-up truck, and I got to ride in the back of it with Elisa and Tyler. Getting to see the city like that was something that I don´t think I will forget anytime soon.

I will definitely let you all know how my first day of teaching goes!

Chao! (the correct spelling this time)