La Familia

So I think that I have finally learned the names and the structure of this family, and will thereby describe it here as evidence.

The Mother: Violet (she is very very nice, but speaks the least English)

The Oldest Daughter: Gisella (she really wants to learn english but has a hard time hearing the differnces between similar words)

The Oldest Daughters Boyfriend: Gabrielle (knows the most English, I am always excited when he comes over)

The Middle Son: Paublo (is very friendly and has ascorted me to the volunteer agency today and is out showing Yoni different churches right now, Yoni says he thinks he is 27)

The Youngest Daughter: Brezna (she is 18 and likes to sleep late, which makes me look not as bad when I sleep to 11AM beacuase of my jet leg)

The Youngest Daughters Boyfriend: Miguel (also very friendly and knows some English, he is also unusually brave about trying to speak it)

There have also been a couple other neighbors and friends that have come by with their children periodically but I don´t remember their names.

I am starting to become like Yoni, not in that I don´t talk, but when I speak English it becomes a simplar English since that´s how I´ve been thinking when I try to speak Spanish. I end up saying "very difficult" a lot.

I am also very very tired, which is a bit weird considering how late I slept. Yoni said he was tired the first day and he thinks it has to do with the altitude. I think very very mild altitude sickness shows up and tiredness and lack of breath, which I have experianced every time I try to tackle stairs (and there are lots of stairs).


I took some pictures of the house to show everyone what it is like here:

This is the living room:

This is the dining room:

This is the kitchen:

This is my bedroom:

(I don´t have a picture of Yoni´s room because his door is locked since he is out with Paublo)

This is the view from the stiarway window:

Hanne is here TOO!

Yay, I finally made it.

After an initial two hour delay at SEA-TAC (my flight was suppose to leave at 11:45PM and ended up leaving just after 1:00AM), I was on my way to Dalles without any problems, I landed and had a shorter wait time between my next flight, which was preferable, and I headed towards Miami in a very lightly populated plane meaning I got a whole row to myself and was able to stretch out my legs. When we landed in Miami the plane to Quito was scheduled to be on time, but due to some mechanical problems the flight people said that the plane was mpt suitable for the journey and that we would have to find a better one. The original flight was to leave at 3:25PM and it was already 4. So we waited around for a while and finally the flight people decided that there were no more good flights in Miami and we would have to wait for one to land that we could recycle. Around 6PM we finally boarded.

Now I am here. I was picked up and it was all handled very smoothly.

I start my orientation tomorrow I think. The family is really nice and we showed them pictres of our families which they seemed to enjoy.

Status update: Yoni can no longer think in English or speak in Spanish, rendering him mute.

All is well.

Yoni is here!

Hello world- I made it. After a long flight and a delay that almost made me miss my plane (if I hadn´t been running I wouldn´t have made it), I was picked up at the airport with no problems, and am now staying with my host family in the south part of quito (I think), who have internet, but no means of making an international phone call. I am, however typing very slowly, because they have an english keyboard set to spanish mode and I can´t figure out what some of the buttons do. Hopefully my spanish gets better soon, or I will be spending this trip speaking in fragmented sentences.

Au revoir... errrmmm.... ¡Adios!

We count down to our final hours. We are saying our good byes; to iPhones and laptops, to fancy watches and daily showers. Bags are being repacked, shampoo bottles pressed into the small spaces remaining in the only checked luggage. All seems to be going as planned.

Yoni will be leaving tomorrow morning at approximatly 6:00am and I will be heading out on Tuesday night around midnight, joining Yoni in Ecuador approximatly 40 hours later. We still plan to volunteer for about the same amount of time, and continue to keep our itintary involving our mini beach excursion.

Our next post will most likely come from ECUADOR!!! We hope you stay tuned to our series and enjoy reading about our adventures.