The First Week

Since the last time I wrote, I have had a pretty full week. I’ll try to give the drive-by version.

On Tuesday, we met our physiology professor from the medical school, Dr. Toral. He is a really neat guy, and I think we are going to learn a lot. We gave the public bus a try for the first time and were successful. In the evening we had iglesia hogar (home church), and I went to one for youth and young adults. It was fantastic, and I understood more than I thought I was going to even though I was really tired.

Wednesday we got a tour of the city by Cristina, whom I met and became close with last year. That evening was the first time I played Nintendo Wii with my host brother, Pedro. It was hilarious! For those of you who don’t know, it’s a video game that works by the physical movement of the controller in space. We “boxed” and “bowled”… I wasn’t very good, but it was a blast. (I think I even broke a sweat.) We even went to a real bowling alley after that. My Wii practice didn’t help much though because I finished last both games.

Thursday was a much more chill day. We took some time as a group to hang out at the church office (where there is wireless) to check e-mails and Skype, etc. We took the afternoon as time with family, so I went back to Cristina’s house. (I stayed with her because my dad and brother Pedro left town to join the brigade where my host mom was.) It was a nice time talking and watching “Ice Age” (“La Era del Hielo”).

Friday was the first day that we (sort of) had class. We were picked up by our buseta that comes to each of our houses to get us for school, then had a brief meeting with our phyiology professor. He gave us a little quiz to see where we are in our knowledge. I think the group was kind of surprised by the difficulty of the questions, but I told them that it was very similar to the way questions are asked on the MCAT. After class and some more e-mail time (you gotta take advantage of the chances you get!) and a little time in the city, I went back to Cristina’s for lunch and a nap. We met the group for a movie at the movie theater in the mall—“A Night at the Museum” (“Una Noche en el Museo”)…very funny, by the way—then we went out to lunch with some of the youth leaders (who are close to our age) from the church. We had a great time.

Yesterday (Saturday), I joined Diego, Cristina’s older brother who is about my age, for a meeting with the nearly all of the youth leaders from the church. It was a fantastic time, and very indicative of Cuencan culture. Whenever someone new would come, he or she would go around greeting everyone (that means shaking every guy’s hand and giving each girl a kiss on the cheek). For the first hour or so, everyone was just hanging out, the guys were playing soccer (futbol), and people were slowly trickling in. We went down by one of the rivers to have some worship time and discussion about leadership at Verbo. They are an amazing and committed group of young adults who have a passion for the youth of the city. We came back to our original meeting place for lunch outside and just more spending time together.

Later that afternoon, I went with Diego to his grandmother’s quinta – she has a lot of property where all of her kids and grandchildren can come. (I love the importance family has here because it reminds me of home.) I played soccer (futbol) with everyone, which was pretty hilarious. We had the cutest little boy, probably about 4 years old, who was keeping score for us. After we played futbol, I went back to Diego’s house with him and Juan Marcelo, another of the youth leaders, and I got the chance to learn some more about the youth culture in Cuenca and the “popular language” they use. I waited there until my host family arrived back from the brigade to pick me up, and we went out to lunch at a pizza place called the New York Pizza Restaurant. This is apparently where my family took Jason when he spent time with them in January.

So, now it’s Sunday, and I am enjoying a nice morning before we head to church at 11. Thanks for reading this far… I know it’s a lot. I have my ups and downs with regard to homesickness and frustration with regard to the language difference, but overall things are still going very well. I am very glad that my host mom is back in town because I hadn’t seen her yet. I am also really looking forward to church.

Until next time.