Getting up today was a little hard knowing that today was D-day, and we were getting our host families. I had feelings of anxiousness and nervousness because I wasn’t really ready to leave all of my new friends just yet. We all had gotten kinda close that it’s weird not having anyone to constantly to be talking to. Anyways we got up as usually at 7am to have breakfast and board our 6 hour long bus ride to Cuenca to meet our our new families for the next 12 days. About an hour into our drive we stopped in to see the oldest church in Ecuador, which was built in, I believe, 1534. It was called Iglesia de Balbanera and it was one of the most beautiful churches that I have seen that are also 480 years old! It was so small, yet very cute at the same time. As we were walking up to the church, there was a middle aged man and probably his wife or sister who must have been helping his mother walk up to the church to walk in. After I had scurried into the church to admire it, only way out the older woman, who must have been in her 80’s was just making it to the first row of pews. She was a little out of breath, breathing quite heavy. You could tell that they made this special trip up to see this wonderful church because it had significant meaning to it. When she finally sat down she started to make the sign of the cross and pray in the row to show respect. I wish I could have taken a picture but that would have just been down right disrespectful.
After we made our way back to the bus and onward to Cuenca to continue to have butterflies in my stomach for 4 more hours. Once we arrived at CEDEI, and I hopped off the bus I had heart in the bottom of my stomach. I was so nervous, but I don’t understand why because I felt more comfortable with my spanish than most of the students in my group. I thought to myself, I know just as much spanish or more than Jenny, Christine & Kelsey, and they’re our translators! This was it, I was meeting my mom and separating form my friends for the next 2 days, here goes nothing!
After meeting my mom, I felt so much better knowing that we clicked so quickly on the drive home. We instantly talked about where I was from - Chicago, and then where I was really from. I found it funny cause she already knew my last name so, Torres, kinda gives off a Hispani background. So I told her my mom was from Guayaguil and she quickly became happy, I knew she was gonna be a cool mom!
