Quito Ecuador

This is a very small part of a very large city.

If you go over to the right of the mountain and down into the houses, that is approximately where I live! Until December 20, that is. I have been trying to get used to the pollution, noise, and traffic, and so far I have not come too close to getting run over... well, lets just say that I'm glad my mom is not here to see me cross streets! I am studying at PUCE also known as La Catolica, and the first couple weeks of classes have been crazy!! I think that my final schedule is Quichua, Spanish, the Ecuadorian Amazon, and Ceramics. I woke up this morning thinking about what a pain it is to have to juggle things around and not know my schedule, and how hard it is to be so different from the Ecuadorian girls, and how I really don´t know what on earth I am even doing here! My Spanish seems worse than ever, but I think that is only because more is being required of it, and I have un poquito del gripe. A runny nose and sore throat. But that is all a part of culture shock, I think, which comes in waves. It's possible for me to be on top of the world, confident with Spanish, talkative and happy, in the morning, and then lonely and confused at lunchtime, and this can happen a few more times in the course of one day! It's interesting, to be sure. I have a student ID card now, which made me very happy for a while, and I'm in the process of registering my visa and getting my Cedula, or Ecuadorian ID card. After that, the paperwork will be at an all time low! Yay for no màs papers to fill out! Today we went to a museum with my Spanish class, and it was great. A very powerful depiction of the revolucion of Quito, and the fight against the Spanish colonization. However, I was reeeeaaallly tired afterward, and felt like I could just not absorb any more information, and no more Spanish please! I talked with the director of the choir today, and he said I could sing with them! Yay. I really feel like i need an outlet. It doesn't seem like there is anywhere in this city to be alone that is not dangerous, and sometimes I just want to yell really loud, or sing at the top of my lungs, or run in circles, or something, but I don´t want the attention that such behaviour would draw.... hehe. If you have a chance to look up Mindo on the web, do!! It is an amazing town in the middle of a cloud forest, and i went there last weekend with some other oregon students. Here is the cloud forest, and i think that the little white stuff is the town. I didn´take the photo, so Im not sure. Peace out for now, and i will update more later!