Been a while

A lot happened between then and now.

-Host mom was in the hospital for four days (recovering now, she'll be fine I think).

-Went to the circus. I already have reservations about using animals for entertaining (or anything, really) so I was reluctant but caved in. The only animal was an acting dog dressed as a small tiger. We also saw a clown teach little children typical Michael Jackson dances (yikes), and someone dressed in a stereotypical Asian costume climbed around in suspended hoops.

-Went to La Mitad del Mundo for a cultural experience last Monday and have lots of video to process. Went to the 'real' equator where the guide had us do a bunch of 'experiments' demonstrating the remarkable physical differences you experience on opposing sides of the line representing the Equator. They were gimmicks.

-Just wrote up my first charla: a quick intro to the erosion of rocks and creation of soil, tied to the overuse and misuse of land by humans that causes extremely rapid erosion. All in Spanish. Writing in Spanish is way easy for me now that I've settled in, but my impromptu speaking skills have sort of plummeted. Reading aloud something already written: again, way easy. It's in my head, I just have to make use of it.

-I love these tiny potatoes (about an inch in diameter) with homemade cheese sauce (queso de campo pureed with onion and milk). Fun fact: "There are about five thousand potato varieties worldwide. Three thousand of them are found in the Andes alone, mainly in Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, Chile, and Colombia."

-The bag my host family gave me has ripped two times. But it's easy to get fixed - for $1, a repair shop will fix it for good.

-Today I bought a piece of cake from the bakery near our bus stop and managed to safely transport it by bus to the training center. Maybe someday I'll get a quick video of the bus to show you what an enormous feat that was.

-I've been fighting an awful mood all this week, and all last week. And the week before, I was sick. Just have an overall feeling of discouragement.

Anyway, here's a super quick video update with nothing of real substance: