first week situations

If you decide to read nothing else of this blog post, please read the next paragraph, because I greatly enjoyed that "situation"! The rest of the post may be a bit long (as I´ll be updating about my work, living situation, etc.) but please read if you have time! And I promise.. my other blog posts wont be as long!

Movies in Ecuador (situation)

Two nights ago, Sharada and I decided to go to the movies & eat some McDonalds after work. (No judgements please. I know it is very "American" of us to go to the movies.. but we've kind of been at a lost of things to do during the week, after work). Anyway we decided to see Sex & The City 2. (Well.. I decided, and begged Sharada to come with me. And she did! In return, I´m going to see Toy Story 3 with her). Let me tell you, if I ever decide to move to Ecuador.. the movie theater will be in the top 5 reasons why I decided to movie.(A picture of the theater is to the right) First off, I paid $2.25! Two dollars and twenty-five cents. Can you believe that? I was amazed! I think I may have drooled on the counter a bit. THEN the guy said, which seat do you want?. You get to choose your seat in Ecuadorian movie theaters! And then, a guy escorted us to our seats! As we´re watching the movie, there is a scene where someone is running, and a man behind us says, in english "Run Forrest, RUN." Hilarious. After the movie, (which I loved) we caught a taxi. Now if you remember from my last blog post, we didnt have the best experience in a taxi last time. So we were a bit on edge. Well that mood lightened as SOON as our young taxi driver started going 70mph. In my head I was thinking, "Dear God, please. I dont want to die in an Ecuadorian taxi" but for some reason, only laughter came out of my mouth. THEN, he began singing along to this (American) song, specifically saying "dang, yous a sexy fish." Needless to say, I had a HARD time holding in my giggles. And when we got home, he charged us the RIGHT amount of money, unlike the I´m-going-to-rip-off-the-americans taxi driver, we had last time. It was a good night!

Overall situation
I would say that we´re still in our "adjustment phase." I´ve been a bit up and down mood wise. But I´m hoping/praying things get better in the next week, and weeks to come. Also I read this awesome quote today. "Rather than being your thoughts and emotions, be the awareness behind them." So here´s my awarness: it´s week one, I´m going to stop focusing on all the difficulties that come with the first week, and realize that things will probably get better.

Work (situation)

So today marks my official full week fo work! I found out on Monday that my primary assignment was going to be updating their website. It needs alot of work, so I believe I have a hefty assignment ahead of me, which I´m pretty excited about! Sharada´s primary assignment is updating CARE Ecuador´s library by coding and organizing all of the books. I helped her and another intern do that task, until I had a meeting yesterday morning about how I can get started with the website! I have alot of graphic experience, and I have designed a website before, but I have never actually put it on the web! (My boss knows this). But today I was able to skype with a friend who designs websites, and she gave me a mini tutorial on how to use the program to edit/code the website! I still have to read up on a few tutorials. But I think I´m going to have a good handle on it soon!

Other things about work:

- In the beginning of the week, I was terribly shy around the office. My spanish speaking skills haven´t fully come back to me, so I simply decided to just not speak. hah! But I´ve been praying about it alot.. and today I had good conversations with the IT guy AND with coworkers during lunch! Little by little it´s getting better.. and all with the help of God!

-  Surprise. Coffee runs right through me here in Ecuador (just as it does in America). I feel like my coworkers judge me when I get up every 15 minutes to go to the bathroom. And they probably judge me even more when I do a 5 minute pee dance in my chair before each time! haha.

Living (situation)

As I said in my last post.. my host mom is legit! She is SO incredibly warm, and treats us like her adopted hijas! (daughters). Sharada and I each have our own room, which is nice! 

Travel (situation)

Sharada and I plan to do ALOT of sightseeing, traveling, and hopefully some volunteering! So stay tuned for pictures/videos/funny stories. We´re also hoping to find some more things to do during the week! (We admit, the past few afternoons were spent mostly at home, watching episodes of Friends, Dawson´s Creek, Greys Anatomy, & Project Runway).

Thats all for now. Sorry I dont have many photos to show you guys as yet! 
 I decided to leave my SLR camera in the states (at the risk of it getting stolen). So, all photos from here on out will be from my simple point and shoot camera. But that´s okay! Photos are photos, right?

Hasta Luego!