So for the next two or three days I'm staying with an Ecuadorian-American girl, Christine, who's currently living here going to med school. I met her on the very wonderful Couchsurfing.com and she's offered me a place to stay for my first few days here in town.
Last night the two of us went to see Spiderman 3 at the movies :D It was the regular version with Spanish subtitles, and oh man is it ever a good movie! Anyway, we ended up talking until like 3 in the morning about her dramatic and very interesting love life, dating, dancing, and everything else. At some point I told her how I was all paranoid that everyone at the bars would be like "Oh my God, look at that little white girl trying to dance!" but she keeps insisting the Latin guys find it adorable. She said when she goes out with American/European girls, the guys always want to dance with them and not with her, which is puzzling but it's nice to know I won't make a complete fool of myself when I go out.
Then today we went out for a walk around the neighborhood, and she led me to the place she got her tattoo done last year, and we ended up talking with the guys for a couple of hours. They were really cool, and now I know how to say "cool" in Spanish ("del putas!" or "chevere!") ^.^ Hopefully I'll be starting my language classes in the next few days, which is VERY good since I can barely communicate. I did, however, encounter a canvasser raising money for disabled kids, who was really cute, and we had no problem talking because it was all stuff I knew, so that was terribly exciting. My minimal Spanish is starting to come back to me a little bit.
"Hola, como esta, de donde usted, hablo un poco espanol pero no tanto, es bien, me gusta Ecuador..."
"Hi, how are you, where are you from, I speak a little Spanish but not much, it's okay, do you like Ecuador.."
and some other stuff. It's fun practicing and being successful!
The one thing I do regret, actually, is not getting prescription sunglasses prior to the trip...it's so bright and sunny! Not that I'm complaining about nice weather, mind you, but the brightness can be a bit blinding at times. I took a couple of pictures today of signs I thought were awesome- there's "G-Spot Hambergueseas" and "Hotel Titisee." I'm pretty sure the first one was an intentional joke but the latter...not so much. Just our dirty North American minds :P
So once I get my spanish lessons figured out, I'll know what hostel I'm staying in, how long I'm in Quito for, and when I can head over to the hot springs/beaches/rainforest/wherever else I'm going in Ecuador :)
I am pretty homesick though, I hope this goes away. Every evening at some point between 4 and 10, I get sort of sad and lonely. Even though I'm not really alone, it's just...I don't know. Different. It'll take some getting used to. But mom and dad are right, I just need to use this week to focus on my language-learning and to relax a bit. I think I put too much pressure on it, saying "don't waste a single day!" and then not knowing how not to waste it because I don't know what to do here yet! What's the saying? "He who has no expectations is never disappointed"?
Something like that. Basically the thousand-year-old version of "Chill out!"
