Ya listo

I think it's fair to say at this point that I'm having a bit of a rough start. My computer was stolen over the weekend, which was a pretty massive blow. I bought it for myself to start grad school, upgrading from my ancient Dell. I was pretty down about that for quite a while but I'm starting to get over it. I went to the mall of stolen goods, Montufar, to look for it, but had no luck. I just can't believe there's an entire mall of stolen goods... I guess that serves as a bit of an indicator of the state of law and order in Ecuador.

Work is not going quite as I would have expected. I am spending this week "planning" my next three weeks in Estero, but the fact of the matter is that very little planning is actually happening. My supervisor looked at the program plan that I spent an entire semester slaving over and basically told me that we wouldn't actually probably do any of that. The plan as of right now is to go, talk to the people, and build relationships. You might imagine that I do not need a week of 8 hour days in the office to get that down on paper. So... I'm doing a whole lot of nothing. And it's boring.

I don't know if I'll ever get used to the very different work style of South America. Everything is much more laid back and being goal-oriented is not a familiar concept. Sandwiching my first year of graduate school with two stints in Ecuador may have provided the most drastic contrast possible...

In the social arena, things are kinda mas o menos. I've met quite a few other foreigners at my hostel and Spanish school so I never lack for social activities. And despite the legendary flakiness of Ecuadorians, I've managed to see almost everyone in Quito that I wanted to in one week. Now that is impressive. There is more boy drama than I thought humanly possible. And it is some of the most ridiculous drama I have ever encountered, and coming from me that really means something...

So tomorrow I'm off to Baños for the weekend. I've been waiting for this ever since my arrival. The volcano is still erupting, but I'm just gonna trust in God like they always do in Baños. I'm leaving for the coast directly from Baños. Three weeks of no internet and climbing up a mini-mountain to get any cell phone service. Oh, and showering out back with a hose of course. Ya listo...