First day in the city.

My day began at 7am as I was awoken from my slumber by a rooster crowing right outside my window. As a matter of fact he crowed about 5 minutes ago, too- guess Ecuadorian roosters aren't limited to the mornings!

After eating eggs and bread and coffee (which is 90% milk with a spoonful of instant coffee, by the way) with Nancy, I went into the city with mi papá Guido. Did I mention he's a lawyer? So he dropped me off in the center near the Ordex office and I proceeded to walk around the block since the office wasn't open yet and I had stupidly brought no map or books with me to read. As I was sitting in the park, I was approached by a young man who tried to sell me a cell phone. And as soon as I spoke Spanish to him I regretted it- could not get rid of him. Finally I just said, "I'm leaving you now, ciao" and walked away. Lesson learned: tell unwelcome chicos that I don't speak Spanish! That keeps them at bay. So as soon as I saw Julio, a minute after leaving that guy, I couldn't have been more grateful.

Julio helped me buy a cheap cell phone, $25 total. Then I pretty much sat in the Ordex office, feeling more or less useless. I have to admit, I'm not really sure what I'll be doing here, STILL. It seems a little less organized than I expected... I didn't know what to do but sit there, because I don't have any kind of set plan yet. So I feel like a dependent tag-a-long. I really want to know the city and be able to take the bus, but I do realize this is only my 2nd day here! I have to be patient... but I'm anxious to have a schedule and be able to survive on my own

One thing that is going to take getting used to is that every day people go home from about 12-2 or 1-3 to eat lunch and take a break. They don't call it a siesta, but that's basically what it is. They literally close up their stores, and then re-open again for the afternoon shift. So the day is divided up in lots of small chunks- it's not day and night like it is in the U.S.

So far it has been a little difficult, with no kind of job to keep myself occupied and make myself useful. But I talked with Andrea, my sister, and she reassured me that I'll get the hang of things soon. She is very kind.

Now I'm going to venture outside and go running for the first time. We will see how this goes... for one I haven't ran in almost 2 weeks. Apparently there is a path that goes up that mountain!!!! Off to explore it. Pray that I will get used to the life here, be able to make my way around the area by myself, communicate clearly in Spanish, and be doing useful things!

Ciao.