Hello, this week has been a bit more relaxed than the last but has still been great. This week ive been living with a host family on The southside of Quito which is much poorer than the north side. They have been incredibly patient with me asking questions in rough Spanish. They have introduced me to a lot of traditional Ecuadorian foods like cuye (guinea pig), green plantain soup, and morocho (corn milk). They have also informed me of some of the problems hurting Ecuador especially in the south of Quito. There are a lot of tern pregnancies starting as young as 14. The girls drop out of school causing a lack of education for much of the work force as the men often don't continue to college as well. At the covenant church Santiago that my host family goes to, a woman in the congregation went in front of the church to confess and ask for forgiveness about a pregnancy out of wed lock. They have an incredibly real and authentic faith that doesn't stop at Bible studies or devotions. Here evangelicals are called radicals (or at least that's what I'm told) but I believe it. They are truly counter cultural here as they don't participate in some of the most popular things like dancing or a beer after work. My host family talks a lot about how Christians dance in the US in a "clean" manner. Its been fun getting to see how the church works in Ecuador. My host family has also brought me along for some cool adventures. We went to the panecillo which is a small hill in the middle of Quito where you can see the whole city clearly at night. We also went to a village just on the other side of the mountains to look at the artisan goods there. Last night, I went to play futbol with some of the guys from church. It was super fun playing in a barrios court with some really Good players. We played for awhile then challenged some college kids in the barrios to a game. We played valiently in the rain under the lights but lost 5-4. It was good then we went and got cokes after the game. I felt like I was actually part of the culture for once not the abnormally tall gringo trying to figure things out. This week I took Spanish lessons at a local school which will probably prove to be very useful. I took the bus everyday which was an adventure in itself. The bus costs 25¢ so pretty much everyone takes it. This means that the bus is almost always at full capacity at rush hour. Full capacity means that there is no more room to stand and its very difficult to move around. Many people get a running start to push their way into the bus. More than once I was elbowed in a bad place by short plump woman trying to get out. They are by far the most assertive and pushy. Anyway it made me certainly appreciate not having to compete every morning just for a spot on the bus so I'm not late to class or work. This also brings up an observation of mine. People here are typically very selfish looking to get ahead in traffic make a quick buck anyway possible but most obviously that cutiing in line is common and stopping in the middle of the road so their friend can buy an empanada. It wasn't something I was expecting. Buying general the people here have been wonderful and friendly although all of them stare at me. I'm just a little too tall for Ecuador. I often hit me head on things like store signs which I normally don't have to look out for. Anyway thanks for tuning in, loves and hugs Colin