¿Que más?

Life here in Ecuador is becoming more and more normal for me. Every now and then I still have a moment where it hits me that I'm living very far from home, in just about every sense of the word. But my cell phone has numbers in it these days (although they're mostly for work), there are pictures up in my apartment, and I have my palm pilot out trying to figure out how to fit everything into my schedule. I think that last thing is the one that makes it really seem like it's real life. I know I've settled in when I'm struggling to pencil things in (and you don't need to tell me how unhealthy that probably is.)

So now I'm going to try to give you a glimpse into my everyday life. ¿Que más? is a phrase that is pretty much the equivalent of "what's up?" here. It literally means "what more?" which I find a little odd, but certainly not more strange than what's up or what's the word. I still eat breakfast every day around 7 am at my host family's apartment, but since I have to work at the school at 8 am most mornings, I'm getting used to getting up at 6:30 or 7. For breakfast every morning I have a little sandwich, a hard boiled egg, juice and coffee. The coffee is instant and as much as it pains me, I do choke it down.

Lunch is on my own and I usually do the Amelia classic of a sandwich and Diet Coke. Good stuff man, good stuff. For dinner I also eat with my host family and the usual fare is rice, some form of meat, and soup or avocados or something. You may have heard that people eat guinea pig here, which is true. I haven't encountered any yet (as far as I know).

I've had some rough times settling in, but I think that I'm finally really starting to find my footing. There are certain things that I really love about being here. Everyone that I work with or meet at church always seems genuniely happy to see me or meet me. And some people are even a bit protective of the little gringa from Kansas. When I think about the people here I invariably think of a great deal of energy and even more smiles.

This week I'm trying to finalize my work schedule now that I've had a chance to visit almost all of the refugee families. It looks like I'll be working relatively full days Monday through Thursday, have Friday off, have something at least 2 Saturdays a month, and then church (where I'll teach Sunday School) each Sunday of the month except for one. So, in short, I will be very busy! I'm excited about it though. I love the work that I'm doing and the kids here and I want do as much as I can in 7 months. I think the challenge will be keeping my Friday free because it will involve saying no, which is not always an easy thing for me.

Tomorrow is my day off for this week and I'm looking forward to it. With luck there won't be rain and I can go to a park to relax and hopefully take some pictures!