The New Chapter Begins

*I finally got the pictures to load! So this was written awhile back, but it's still news to you, right?*



Here I am in Quito. My home for the next three years (or so). It's been a good week since I wrote last. I had a frustrating trip, with about three hours of delays, but I arrived safely and with all my luggage on Tuesday night.

After a long, stressful trip, things started looking up as I immerged from the "customs check" at the Quito airport and recognised a couple of the other new teachers and staff of Alliance Academy Internation (AAI) in the crowded waiting room. Then I saw a big sign that said "Welcome Home, Christy and Leslie". And then a kid I'd never met gave me a bouquet of roses and a big mob of excited AAI people came and welcomed me and hugged me and took care of my luggage and asked how I was and how my trip was and told me how happy they were to see me. It was such a relief to see people there; people that I knew- that I had to fight off tears for a few minutes. My flight was delayed and I didn't think to get a contact number before I left so I was a little concerned that I was going to have to spend the night in the airport. Plus I was weary from the journey. Traveling always makes me tired.

So much has happened since I left that I feel a little overwhelmed with sharing it all with you. Instead, I’ve decided to post pictures, and just tell you about each of them. That will give you a bit of an idea of how my last couple weeks have gone.

If you are thinking to yourselve, "Those children do not look Ecuadorian..." you are correct, indeed. This is right before saying goodbye to my brother and his family.

But on the positive side, I got to spend some really good time with family and friends before I left. I am thankful for that.

I’m sharing an apartment with two other women. All of us are new to Quito and to AAI. The apartment is a three bedroom, 4.5 bathroom. Yes, that’s right- 4.5 bathrooms. What the heck could we possibly need with 4.5 bathrooms? In continuation of the excessiveness, I have the biggest closet in recorded history. In a pinch, it could serve as a bedroom by itself. My clothes take up about 1/32nd of the space.

Also of note regarding my new bedroom is the rooster which resides outside the window. No hens, mind you. Just one very loud rooster. Who keeps just a rooster? He's obviously not laying eggs or providing meat. All he does is eat and crow each morning between 5 and 6am, and sometimes again around 7.

If I’m lucky.

I’ve been making good use of my earplugs. I can still hear him, stupid bird, but it’s not as loud.

PS- Notice that my teddybear, Alfred is waving. He says to say hi. He likes his new room. No mosquitos and it’s not too hot.

One day Christy (who lives across the hall), my roommates (Courtney, Linsey) and I decided to go to the historical district of Quito and see the Basilica. It’s a big, famous church. It was beautiful. For a mere $2, we were permitted to climb to the top of the towers. Actually, we had the option of taking the elevator, but where's the fun in that? This climb involved over 200 stairs (in the 9000+ feet of elevation), including three scary ladders (scary because they were out in the middle of nowhere) and a creaky wooden walkway that extended across the top of the sanctuary roof). It was very non-north-american. In other words, a little dangerous, WITHOUT making you sign a paper that says you won’t sue them. And the view from the top is great. By the way, the colors in this picture aren't enhanced. The sky is really super blue here.

During my first weekend I went to some market towns with a group of AAI people. I guess there aren’t any laws that require kids to go to school, so we see little guys everywhere we go. They’re impressively well-behaved. Usually they just play around with a toy (or not) as their parents go about their business. These two were so cute that I couldn’t resist being a tourist; whipping out my camera and taking a few shots. In a few years they’ll probably be arguing with tourists like me over the price of an el paca blanket, a local painting, or a traditional doll. But today, they’re just busy with the culture-crossing work of being kids.

Pizza Hut, Papa John’s, and Domino’s all have a thriving business here in Quito. This Domino’s is literally next door. One of my first nights here, Courtney and I decided to get pizza. Though we both like Papa John’s better, it’s hard to pass up next-door. So Christy, whose Spanish is the best of the three of us, offered to help us order. When the time came to pick up our gourmet, traditional Ecuadorian feast, the three of us trotted downstairs and out of our building. About this time the girls noticed that I was wearing slippers.

Now, I know that people here are less casual about their dressing than Americans. And for that matter, I wouldn’t normally wear slippers in public. But let’s be honest- it’s 10 feet from my front door and I’m just that lazy. So they’re laughing at me and I’m saying, “Stop drawing attention to them! They won’t notice!!”

In I walk, purposefully not looking at my feet so as not to draw attention to my slippers. Unfortunately I didn’t know that there was a big step down right inside the door. The force of the missed step allowed me to FLY across the room, catching myself against the counter, right in front of one of the 7 or 8 Domino’s guys that were working. Nice. Nothing like making a grand entrance. Particularly at the pizza place next door, where I will no doubt need to show my face again. Ai-yah.

This is me, happy. In Ecuador. My new home.