WEEK 6 IN REVIEW

Monday 10/28

We went on a train ride from Alausi to some other city which I can't remember, but I didn't love it... the most fun for me are the markets that we've gone to!  Today was just more teaching, oh and 1 1/2 hours of laundry, by hand, in ice-cold water outside.  You can guess my feelings about that.  I also shaved my legs.  It's the small things, especially when it involves such cold water here!

It's SO NICE to have people around to talk to, especially in English! Or rather, I think it's actually having the same culture that I appreciate.  And to eat meals with them! We rotate who cooks every night, and we all eat lunch at the school (usually some type of vegetable soup or rice). I'm so happy.


Tuesday 10/29

Time is FLYING! So much fun though.  I did yoga with the 3-5 year olds and we had a blast!

I feel a little sicker today (and yesterday) which I'm not excited about.  I feel cold but my head feels hot, but I don't think I have an actual fever. I dunno.  Mostly my lungs are on fire, and my asthma is in full force.  I feel sick for sure. I'm sooo tired!


Thursday 10/31

HAPPY HALLOWEEN! There is no Halloween here in Ecuador, so... I missed one of my favorite holidays.

Yesterday I slept until 3:00pm, I could NOT breathe and I had zero energy.  Today I'm a little better but still, yes, still sick.

Today I worked at the school from 8-1pm and left early because I forgot water and I was SO thirsty... I went to the centro with Joe from England, got water and some avocados/bread.  Ate lunch at home, went back to town by myself to do Internet, talked to my dad on chat for an hour, uploaded 2 videos.  The Internet was so fast!!!  7 minutes instead of 600+.  Great.  We went to make bread for the Day of the Dead (el dia de los finados) on Saturday, with some people who work at the school.  Joe and I left early to come back and watch ''Gavin and Stacey'' (on his iPad) which is my new favorite British TV show! And we played cards and scrabble, haha.  ''Mormon fun,'' I told him.  It was actually super fun... it was a really good day!  Man I'm having so much fun here... I love the people I'm with, and I am loving my life right now...


Saturday 11/2

Yesterday I woke up at 7am and opened the library with Joe at 8:00.  We stayed for 2 hours and did P90X (like when I was in the MTC!) and died.  At 10:00 we went to Baños, worked out at the gym for $1.50 (lifting weights was sooo nice), had fruit juice freshly squeezed for $1 (I got strawberry with raspberry), and went to the thermal pools in Baños (sooo relaxing!).  We got ready, walked around a little, and ate lunch--a delicious $2 veggie sandwich for me! before I caught the 3:00 bus to Quito for $3.50, 3 1/2 hours.

I asked how to get to the airport and a guard told me to take the Trole (like a trolley but a bus) which tourists have warned me not to take due to pick-pocketers.  But I took the trole once before with Adriana, and plus I didn't know another choice, so I took the 1 1/2 hour trole ride to the airport for a grand total of $0.25 (but on the way back they told me I should have been charged $2?).  Usually it's $1 per 1 hour of travel on buses.  Gas costs $1.03 per gallon for diesel! And the prices don't fluctuate, it's always that much everywhere I've gone during the past month.  City buses (around town) are usually $0.25.

I got to the airport at 8:45pm for Oscar's supposed 9:00pm arrival... when he didn't show up by 10:30, I paid $1.25 for 15 minutes (!) of Internet to check if Oscar had written me.  He said they didn't let him on because I had supposedly written his middle name wrong, which I checked my email confirmation and NO I DID NOT!!!!!  What the heck!  He said he would arrive at 1:00am on the next flight.  I hadn't eaten since 2:00pm and I'm still sick and here I am lost, alone, freezing cold, and it's almost 11:00pm.  I looked for food but there were ZERO vegetarian options so I stayed hungry.  The one place with salad cost $19, which is one week's budget in Salasaka!

I camped out until... 2:30am.  No sign of Oscar.  Got back on the Internet, said they bumped his flight to 8:30am.  Let me mention that at this point I don't have any tears left--I used them all between 10:30pm and about 12:00am.  I cried and cried and cried, the silent tears that mean you're really REALLY sad, no need for sound.  Ugh.  The saddest kind.  I talked to Oscar on facebook for 1 hour ($4.80!!!) and here I am in the airport 12 hours after I arrived (8:30am).

I found a place upstairs near the departures, where I slept on the Freezing cold concrete next to a kiosk and some garbage cans.  Not before I went to the bathrooms and a lady tried to cut me in line and I about flipped out.  Not my most patient self when I'm fighting a cold and allergies and I'm hungry, cold, tired, lost, a little scared, and without a CLUE as to what I'm doing!  Whoops.

So I put my backpack and my duffle bag in the corner and tried to sleep... oh my word, such hard concrete! And so cold!  Haha.  I slept off and on, woke up at 6:00 and then at 8:00 for good.  The first time I woke up, I found that someone had put a blue travel blanket over me!  The nicest gesture I could IMAGINE during this whole ordeal!!!! It's not very warm, but it's better than plain concrete.  I was so touched by that.  I don't know who covered me up, or when (which, haha, is kind of a scary thought... yet nice).

So I've got almost 2 hours until Oscar is supposed to arrive... for the third time.  Sooo... I need to find some food because I am so hungry!  Still a little cold (but this blue blanket is actually helping, since I've started writing this 20 minutes ago), so so so a million so's tired, and my eyes are itchy and bloodshot.  I look like quite the sight!

So, in short, the past 18 hours have been a nightmare (one of the worst days I think I've ever had, just from the discomfort on every physical level) but I'm alive.  But this blue blanket... one of the kindest gestures I think I've ever seen from a stranger.  (And ''gifts'' is my main love language, so it just melted my frozen, angry little heart!)  Whenever I glance at this blue blanket, it really does soften my heart a little.  Reminds me that there are good people out there.  And that I probably should have been more polite to the lady who tried to cut in line in the bathroom.  Still whoops.

10:00am:  Turns out the lady in the kiosk next to me was the one who gave me the blanket.  :)  So nice, and so less-creepy now that I know who it was.

I got some fruit, 2 pancakes, OJ and hot chocolate for breakfast for $6 after an ordeal convincing the 2 waiters that I'm vegetarian so I wanted to switch the eggs and meat to fruit.  ''Well, why don't you have a salad instead?''  Haha, no thank you.  I barely even like salad for lunch or dinner, not at 9:00am.  Vegetarians must be so confusing here.  Looks like Oscar gets here at 10:30...

10:00pm:  Found him.  As well as some missionaries at the airport!  Had a good chat with them, and met their mission president and his wife.

We found a $15 hostal and then explored Quito a little bit, and I ate the BEST personal pizza with tomato, onion, green pepper, and pineapple (which I asked for specially) and I was in love.  Love, I tell you.


Sunday 11/3

Long day.  Went to Catholic mass because I couldn't find the LDS church after walking/looking for over an hour.  One lady led me astray.  We found a new and fancier hostal for $10! Yes!