Quito Countdown

Tomorrow is my last full day in Quito, and boy has time flown! The goodbyes are already beginning. I just went out to breakfast with my Spanish class- Isaac, John, Ashley, Sara, and our teacher Diego. We basically overthrew Diego and demanded that we go out to eat instead of sitting in class this morning. It was great though! Definitely a nice reward after making it through 2 weeks of Spanish classes from 7 to 9am. And having REAL coffee instead of Nescafé is a great way to start off the morning as well.

Tonight is also our last night of English class with our students. We have overheard them plotting over the last several days about throwing us a surprise party (being discrete isn't one of their strong points), so that should be really nice. Ashley, Josh, and I made certificates for them all yesterday, so we are going to have a little graduation ceremony for them tonight. I will actually be really sad to say goodbye to them all! They could not be more sweet and gracious with us, and I really hope they feel like they have learned something in these last few weeks. I certainly think they have come a long way! The first day they weren't even able to introduce themselves, and yesterday in class they presented 10 sentence-long skits! I hope my students in Ambato are as fabulous as my students in Quito have been!

A quick update on last weekend: Friday night I met up with all the volunteers at a pizzeria owned by the host dad of one of the volunteers. This wasn't just any pizza place though, of course it had an Ecua flare and there was salsa dancing everywhere! So needless to say, we all had a really fun time. Then we tried to meet up with some of our students to go dancing, but we didn't really find any of them, so we just danced a bit ourselves. I ended up spending the night at Eden and Hilary's house because I left my keys at home...but it was fun having a pillamada, or sleepover, with them!

Then the next morning I headed to Andrea's family's house outside of Quito again. We watched some cheesy chick flicks (she had never seen Love Actually) and then we headed out to her sister's friend's going away party. Talk about a cultural experience! First of all, Andrea dressed me from head to toe...jewelry, shoes, shirt, you name it. Ecuadorian women are very well-dressed, and my appearance obviously did not cut it;) Then we went to this backyard party where everyone was just salsa dancing everywhere! And I definitely learned that it is a LOT harder to understand Spanish when there is music, dancing, and fast conversations happening everywhere. But I tried to hold my own! I learned how to dance merengue a bit, which was really fun, and I just sat back in bewilderment of everyone else's amazing salsa moves. I definitely felt like an outsider!

On Sunday, all the volunteers met in Parque Carolina with their families. Unfortunately Juana, my host mom, couldn't come, but it was so nice to see everyone with their families! Little kids were running around with bubbles, people were playing fútbol, everyone was eating delicious Ecuadorian food...definitely a nice way to spend a Sunday afternoon! Then Shelby and I headed to the mall and indulged in some good old American food. She had Taco Bell and I had two heaping scoops of ice cream...yum!

Orientation ends tomorrow, and I am experiencing really mixed feelings. It's so weird to think that I won't see my fellow volunteers every day. I have really enjoyed getting to know them all, and I just wish I had some more time with them. At least I have many visits and travels with them to look forward to this year. And I can't wait to get to Ambato and make it my own. So I am definitely excited about all that lies ahead. One funny thing though, I still don't know when I start teaching! All the SECAP schools around the country are supposed to begin the semester on October 8th, by my director told me that I begin the 1st. So basically there is a tug of war going on and hopefully I should find out today if I begin teaching in 6 days or the following week.

Time to head to the second-to-last day in Hotel Embassy for our sessions...hasta Ambato! xo