10 Little Lessons Learned in the First 2 Days from my Host Family

1) "Wake up at any time" does not in fact mean "wake up at whatever hour you so desire." (madre)
This is important to remember. And answering in English in the morning does not help anyone to understand what is going on. The day starts early because the sun rises early. However, I need to get used to actually staying awake all day, given that, so far, I've napped for at least three hours both days. Also, I'm still figuring out the temperatures and the weather, so I'm generally chilly in the mornings and evenings, but hot in the middle of the day. This should all smooth out over the next few days.

2) "Se cayó" ("it fell") is a great exclamation after hurling something to the ground, particularly food. (nephew)
Throwing scrambled eggs and jello and toy cars to the floor is a good way to practice the preterite of reflextive verbs, including "it fell." (Note: this probably won't work quite as well for me because I did not start speaking 2 weeks ago, nor am I as adorable.)

3) The white bus with green stripes from the university is actually the wrong bus to take to my internship and will require two extra transfers, before discovering that the red bus from the house goes directly to the station two blocks from the internship. (madre)
After originally announcing repeatedly that the neighborhood was extremely dangerous and that I should change if at all possible, my host mother completed shifted her view once we found the site. Not only is it near her work, it isn't as far from the city as she originally thought. That being said, I'll still have to be careful (as always) and keep an eye on my stuff and be aware of my surroundings. I'm a girl from the suburbs, and this is the most concentrated city I've been in for an extended period of time. I'll be taking more public transportation than I have combined in my life. It'll be another part of the adventure!

4) Driving a manual transmission auto up and down one-way cobblestone roads, at about a 55 degree angle, is a miraculous feat. (sister)
If you know me well, you know that I dislike driving, but I tend to be terrified when it comes to being in the car with anyone else. I'll just have to get over that. Going with my family to the centro historico de Quito, we had to go through the cobblestone streets, and I cannot commend Dani enough for her ability to shift the car before rolling back into oncoming traffic or crash into the cross traffic. I still have work to do with my own driving, but she has ten years on me, so I have time.

5) The bathroom door does not unlock when shut from the outside if the button is still pushed. (me)
This I kind of taught myself, after remembering to close the door so that the dog didn't use the human bathroom for her own purposes. Luckily, after sheepishly trying to explain that we were locked out, we discovered that the key to the front door also works to open the bathroom door. This is quite a relief, since it is the only shower in the apartment.

6) A toy poodle does work as a guard dog, as long as you are on the 5th or 6th floor of a walk-up apartment. (Chiquita, the dog)
Every time anyone nears the door, she starts to bark. I've come to the conclusion that, after climbing the stairs at 9,200 feet above sea level to a place that requires four keys to enter, anyone who wants to break into the apartment will be deterred by the toy poodle, who is smaller than my cat.

7) It is difficult to eat jello when you have little to no hand-eye coordination, and, subsequently, it is difficult to walk when said jello had fallen onto your lap and soaked through your pants. (nephew)
This kind of goes with the "it fell" lesson. When the spoon is too difficult to use to get jello, use your hands to put jello on the spoon. Or skip the spoon and just try to drink the jello once you've crushed it a bit. As the baby of my family, it's kind of fun to have a little kid around (and, even better, he lives in another apartment, so I don't have a little one around all the time). He knows my name and loves my 17" suitcase, which he insisted on pulling around the apartment the first night.

8) Older women will always point out attractive and eligible males for me to pursue. (madre)
Just like my grandmother at my brother's graduation, my host mother has taken it upon herself to point out the tall, handsome gringos with whom I will be attending university. She's pointed out a few ecuatorianos, but, since I'm at or above average Ecuadorian male height, she's focusing on the gringos for me. And don't worry, a former student of hers ended up marrying an ecuatoriano that she met during her stay. Clearly, she has plans for me.

9) To go shopping, bring an ecuatoriano/a along, so that you don't get ripped off. (madre y hermana)
When purchasing my ecuaphone in the market, they helped me to get a much better price than I would have on my own. I now have a wonderfully tiny phone that I can barely work (I refuse to change it out of Spanish), but it calls people and receives calls. I don't exactly know how to add minutes either, but I'll cross that bridge when I get to it.

10) When all else fails, just ask for help. (madre)
The one thing I've been told repeatedly in the last two days is to ask for help if I need it. If I'm lost, I should ask the police, and if I don't know where the bus is going, ask the driver. I am always welcome to call my sister or mother to ask for more help and "so that I never feel alone." I'm looking forward to the next few months here, learning the city and trying to learn a little bit more about myself.