Estoy Aqui (not the Shakira song!)

Well- it has been an exhausting few days. On Friday I literally felt every emotion possible- from panic and sadness to exhiliration and excitment, confusion and security. But everything worked out fine. My host family is wonderful. Fanny, the mom, is an artist and a single mom. She has taken in tons of foreign students in the past- and she's very helpful. She keeps introducing me to new fruit I've never heard of before. Yesterday she made me "jugo de tomate" which translates to "tomato juice." Interestingly enough, though, it wasn't tomato juice. It was a totally different juice.. which was good for me because I hate tomato juice, and I didn't want to begin my homestay by being picky. Andres, the son, just turned 16. He speaks really good English, which is helpful, and last night he snuck out with his friends and so he's grounded.. but he's a good kid with a good sense of humor and he's very kind.

Quito is just like any other city- except everything's in Spanish. It's fun to see a red octagonal Stop sign that says PARE, or a black and white One Way sign that says "Una via". They also have more KFCs than I've seen anywhere else! In addition to that, there's Pizza Hut, Burger King, Papa John's, Tony Roma's, and TGI FRIDAYS! Maybe I should be upset by the Americanization of the world, but to be honest, a little familiarity is very welcome- not that I plan on going to KFC any time soon!

Two funny things and then I'm done for the day- one, is that I've realized that regardless of the language, you can ALWAYS identify the product of a commercial by sound alone. I was listening to the TV yesterday and could tell if they were hawking children's cereal or, more surprisingly, insurance!

Also- this one made me laugh all day long... my host mother made me breakfast yesterday (remember the jugo de tomate mystery?), and I was seated with my back to a large window overlooking a street. All of a sudden I heard a loud megaphone voice yelling "FRUTA! MANZANABANANAPINATOMATE... etc" I was startled, and asked Fanny what it was. She ran to the window and said "Margaret!"
I started to get up to come over, but she waved toward the wall, with her palm down- moving her hand at the wrist rapidly upwards and away from her body- which I took as "don't look." So I turned away.
"Margaret!" she called. I turned again, but once again, she waved me away- this time with more vehemence.
Finally she said "Margaret, VEN aqui!" - Margaret, come here.- and I realized that here, they wave "come here" the way we wave "go away". I didn't explain it to her at the time, but later on, when I was having desert with Fanny, Andres, Fanny's brother, her sister, and her neice, I started laughing when I thought about it. WIth the help of Andres and Maria Andrea (the neice) I was able to tell them the story, and they all thought it was pretty funny.

So- my family has wireless internet, but it's a little touchy. Hopefully I'll be able to access it regularly. Also- I'm going to get a phone tonight, so I will have my number available for anyone who is DYING to call me :)