Friday!

So, I've nearly survived my first week in Ecuador. I've explored a little bit more of the city and have discovered that they are definitely more modern than China was. You can find many things here that I never would have been able to find in China. I think the biggest thing is that there is a Nestle factory on the same street where I live. Anything Nestle is very common for the people here. It's also popular for them to wear name brands like Abercrombie or Aeropostale, but they are expensive here. They'd probably cost $20 or $30 more than what the same thing would cost in the States. On the other hand, everything else is very cheap. Taxi rides cost around $1 to go some place. You can buy a full 3 course meal (consisting of soup, a main course, juice to drink and a salad) for around $3 or $4 depending on the shop.

Hot water is hard to come by in Ecuador, or so I hear. I'm lucky that the house where I live gets hot water, you just have to let it run for maybe five or ten minutes and then it gets warm. They wash and dry their own clothes here, too. It's more common, but the other option is sending your clothes in to a dry cleaner of sorts to get them cleaned. After living in China, I'd say it's easier for me to just wash my own clothes with laundry detergent and hot water! It gets warm in the middle of the day, so as long as they are drying by around eleven or so, clothes will dry very quickly.

Everything is very laid back here, for the most part. Students are expected to arrive on time or reschedule their classes. However, I found out about ten o'clock yesterday morning that I was teaching my first lesson. It was only a conversational lesson, but it was very informational for me. I let the students grow accustomed to talking to me by letting them talk about Ecuador. They have quite a bit of knowledge about their country, though perhaps the most fascinating thing that reminded me a lot of China was when they introduced the topic of their president. Most of them said they liked him because they liked how he looked. One girl even said she liked his eyes and that's why she liked him. The older student who is probably middle-aged stated that she thought he was stupid, but when I asked why, she couldn't explain it. I'll have to try asking them in Spanish some time to see if they really couldn't just describe it in English, or if that was really what their opinions were.

Today I learn more about the administrative side of things, but it will be very laid back in general. And tomorrow is the weekend! Maybe I will try to find the "Middle of the Earth" here in Cayambe already.