Holas!
Where to begin? School started this week, so even though it was a "slower" week per say, it was so busy. On Monday Lily and I ran some errands all over Quito, including mailing postcards finally. Apparently the internet has really cramped snail-mail's style here, so it costs $2 to mail an effing postcard. So, if you are lucky enough to receive one from me (in months I'm sure), Congratulations! And you owe me $2! Not you Gammy, you're exempt. Tuesday was orientation for all of the international students who just arrived, so even though we already heard most of it we went to meet the newbies. I'd say there are about 150 of us in total.

After the morning session Daniel brought me to see my internship site finally. The official title is "Instituto Educativo Psicotera Peutico del Nino." It's a government funded school for children with learning disabilities, so most of the students are from lower-income households. Their learning disabilities range from Down Syndrome to ADHD, and there are 50 students in total. The center seems really nice! On staff there is a full-time social worker, psychologist, and language therapist. But my favorite part is the panaderia. As a community project they have a full panaderia, kitchen and all, to teach the students practical skills such as baking, serving, applying math knowledge, etc. into work. It's completely run by the students. Tuesday night we went to Diego's and watched How to Train your Dragon, which I loved! Also, his brother brought out a bag of candy from the U.S. and there were SWEETTARTS in it! Ahhhh how I have missed thee. I have seriously seen Nerds, Skittles, Twizzlers, and so on, but the best candy in the world? No.

Wednesday I went back to meet the social worker at my internship, who was out on Tuesday. She seems really nice and was really helpful with my honors project, helping me find a suitable topic. After meeting her I went to the University to pick up a package from my AMAZING mom, which included Tastykakes, CRAISINS, gum, and..... my retainer! Fantastic. The rationing has been quite difficult, but I still have some left. That night Liga had a very important game (so my family told me) against a team from Argentina, so I watched part of that with my family.

Thursday was finally my first day of school! I am far too lazy to explain all the confusion with my credits but basically here is my schedule:
8:30- Jewelry-making
10:00- Aerobics
11:30- Theories of Leadership
1:00- Advanced Spanish
2:30- Ser y Cosmos (I don't really have translation for this)
My professor for jewelry-making is requiring 2 written exams, 1 six page paper, and a presentation which is kind of lame, but oh well. In aerobics my professor said "Hi, we start next Tuesday" and walked out. My leadership professor seems pretty tough and of course it is the only class I actually need for home, so great. Spanish is just for international students so nothing too exciting there. Ser y Cosmos seems so interesting! It's all about our role in the universe, as humans, and covers everything from pollution to extraterrestrials. Also, my professor is Ukrainian, so I totally got brownie points. All my classes are taught in Spanish and I go from 8:30-4:00 without a break so the days are long, but I'm really excited! In Ser y Cosmos and aerobics I'm the only gringa and in jewelry-making and leadership there are only 2 of us, so I'm looking forward to making Ecuadorian friends :) It's frustrating though because everyone speaks better English than I speak Spanish, so twice now when I was talking to Ecuadorians I sit next to they have switched to English. And even though it's easier I need to practice!

Friday Liz, Lily, and I had a picnic in La Carolina Park. It was really nice! Then that night my family and Julie's family (Julie is my "cousin" from my program because our moms are sisters) went to a motocross event at Plaza de Los Toros. It was insane! I had no clue I was going to like it as much as I did. It wasn't a race, just 6 guys doing crazy tricks off of this ramp. Some guy from the U.S. ended up winning... I forget his name. But there was a 17 year old participant from the U.S. and he crashed so bad, just completely missed his bike. It was terrifying, but I guess he's okay.. he hobbled back in at the end anyway. We had KFC for dinner at like midnight afterwards, but it was so different. It was with regular french fries. There are no mashed freaking potatoes or mac 'n cheese at these KFCs. BUT you can get chicken with rice, beans, and platanos, of course. Ugh, some things are better left unchanged.

Saturday Liz and I walked to this little sandwich place with really cheap, AMAZING sandwiches. It's my goal to become a regular there, like when you walk in and they know exactly what you want to eat. I have always wanted to be a regular somewhere, ever since Ali and I used to ride to that bagel place near Jacksonwald. Saturday night was the 6th annual Ruta de Las Iglesias, a 10k run. My dad ran in it so I went with my family to watch that. Liz and Lily met us there and then after we went out to La Mariscal. I only had 1/2 a drink because I forgot how much I hate vodka, but I salsa-d with some guys we met there anyway, which was both fun and embarrassing. Then we met this group of internationals whose program includes 1 month studying in Quito and 3 months studying in the Galapagos, so we talked to them for a couple hours.

Today I spent the day with mine and Julie's families. We went to Julie's house for lunch and hung out there for a while. Then all the girls went shopping. I bought a skirt for my internship and a bag of candy haha. After that we all had ice cream together. I'm so glad I spent so much time with my family this weekend. I just really feel like I'm part of the family :) It's awesome.

Tomorrow I'm officially starting at my internship, but school doesn't start until September 6th, so I'm just reviewing files tomorrow. Blah.

Oh and here is my mailing address for people who love me:
Montana Tamny
c/o BCA Quito
Universidad San Francisco de Quito
Campus Cumbaya (accent over the last a)
P.O. Box 17-12-841
Quito, ECUADOR