QUITO! (KEET-oh)

hola! i made it to quito alive and well. it was quite the journey. i made it on the plane in panamá... but i thought i might have missed it because i didn´t realize that the eastern to central time change occurred... so i was basically operating an hour ahead of the rest of the panamá world. oops. my bad. anyways. i got on the plane... and i sat next to this ecuadorian couple that was probably in their late 20s... ok. now let´s talk about PDA in the latin world... THEY HAVE NO RULES. i´m talking kissing, stroking, blahblahblah THE whole way. i thought i would vomit. ah, but alas, don´t worry because the woman sitting in the row behind me and across the aisle decided to vomit for me. not only did she vomit, but she also passed out. they brought out the AED (automatic heart defibrilator thing... basically to restart a heart) and i was like, ¨really?!?!?! PDA and a death on the same plane?! are you freaking kidding me?!¨ well. i was the idiot who had brought out the MSAR (medical school admissions requirements book with info about all the med schools) to do some work on where i want to apply... so they are shouting for UN MEDICO! UN MEDICO! and the PDA couple next to me looks at me... and i´m like, ¨no no no no no... soy una estudiante... NO SOY UN MEDICO!¨ i mean. i was a certified life guard two years ago... but good god i am NOT going to be responsible for restarting this woman´s heart. thank goodness they found a real medico. and i just put my headphones back in and wondered ¨what is my life?¨

ok. so then we landed. which was a miracle in itself. made it through customs and met this really great guy named luke who is doing mission work in the moutain region in ecuador about 4 hours south of quito. he was great to talk to... and really calmed me down (not that i was freaking out... just slightly high-strung. typical...). i think i might take a weekend jaunt to the mountains and visit where he is working because it would be nice to have someone who knows what he is talking about around. but that is not for a few weeks. ANYWAYS. my luggage made it to. quite the relief. and i got picked up by a driver who spoke some english and i sounded like a three year old trying to speak. it was fun. he kept telling me, ¨muy bien chica.¨ haha. that´s the most compliments i´ve gotten since i got my papers back in my HOD class! it was great.

made it to my host mom´s apartment in quito. her name is ana maria monge. she is about 60 and is very sweet. i think she has a kid (or two...?). they are out of the house and her husband died... but i´m not sure when. she doesn´t speak a lick of english, so our conversations have been quite exciting. but i actually understand a lot. a lot more than i thought i would. i just can´t respond very well... but i´m trying and i think she appreciates that. so that´s good. i haven´t gotten to take a shower yet... because i don´t know how often they shower here. and i´m trying to act like i can fit in (FAT chance). so yeah. i´m not sure what i had for dinner... it wasn´t super stellar... but i choked it down and smiled. i have a feeling i will be losing some weight on this excursion. haha. and i have to be back at 12:30 for lunch and then escuela starts at 2. and lasts until 6. wow. so much for getting settled?

that´s about it for now. off to explore gringo land for a bit... i´m going to try to post some pictures of my room for you... and yeah. and i´ll post my address when i know it. slash understand it... ha.

besos,
sarah

ps. scroll to the very bottom to see pictures... i don´t know how to change that yet... as all of the buttons are in spanish... hmm...