No Longer An Orphan...

Its official! My host Mom has arrived back from New York! I went to the beach this weekend with some friends and when I got back I had a Mom! She is very nice but definitely has a very strong character to her... The first thing she did when I got home was order the maid to make me dinner and then sat down and went over all the house rules with me.. But she seems pretty interested in my life and pretty laid back and open minded, especially for conservative Ecuador. Even though she did glare at me slightly when she found out that I spend most of the year living in my own apartment in South Carolina and not with my parent. I dont think she found that very appropriate at all. Haha. But that wasnt nearly as bad as the glaring look I got when she found out I wasnt a strict Roman Catholic. Ah well... we seem to get along alright besides those minor details.
Right now Im taking two classes. We go to each class every day so when March rolls around Ill switch and take three different classes until the end of the semester. Im taking a Spanish Language class which is full of other international students and then Im also taking an International Marketing class, which is all Ecuadorian students. My teacher for that class is an extremely hippy American with a long pony tail who likes to pick on me a lot. Hes pretty cool though and I think his class will be easy. Guayaquil just had its first Hooters open up down town and the teacher is infuriated that 'Ecuador would let such American trash in to the city' So naturally, were taking a field trip in a few weeks to go to Hooters and see if we think it can survive the Ecuador market... haha
I will report that Ecuador has the craziest population of insects ever. There are these monstrosities of bugs around that look like a mutated mix between a grass hopper and a cricket. I keep finding dead ones everywhere... its quite disturbing.
I took a weekend trip to a beach town this weekend with some friends. Its called Montañita and its absolutely gorgeous! Its the main place for college kids to go when they want to get away for the weekend. We stayed in a very cheap hotel where the beds were full of sand and the bathrooms lacked doors.. but it was a blast. Not to mention they had the best cocktails ever. They take fresh fruit and blend home made daquiries,coladas, mojitos, etc, all right in front of you! It was delicious!
But now its back to another normal week of classes...We have a few more field trips this weekend to some nearby rural villages which should be pretty cool And I have a salsa class on Thursday!!

Montañita at sunset! And you people have to deal with it being January and cold...

My crazy friend from Peru that we met at the beach. He was telling us all about South America and where to visit. I had to take the picture because his hair was so crazy.

The fresh fruit cocktail stands

My new friend Josh and I at the beach!

This is Rafaela, shes the five year old girl that lives in the house. Her new favorite thing to do is get her picture taken with my camera and watch cartoons in my room.

Off to class for now..