Orientation

I made it to Quito all by myself!  It was a little bit scary becasue my layover in Panama City was tight - the plane landed at 8:30 and my next flight took off at 8:58.  I made it though!  And I am proud to say that I did it on my own.  I met a very nice lady who was an RN at a prison.  Those people in prison have it made, from what I hear.

I made it to my homestay after midnight but my room is very nice.  I have a big bed and my own bathroom, and it is located behind the house.  There are six of us staying with Rosita, two girls (Brooke and Ghazala) are second year PA students and their accomodations are outside with me.  Inside, there are two fourth year medical students (Erin and Alyson) and a girl from Seattle (Colleen).  They are all very nice.

Today was reserved for orientation. We woke up for breakfast at 9, then headed over to the language school.  We had to take a Spanish test... I wrote my name and the date (hombre y fecha) and then I drew a picture on the back.  Pretty sure I passed.

Rosita also went over homestay rules and safety precautions.  I'm not going to tell you everything she said because it is going to make you worry too much, but just rest assured that we are going to be just fine.

We grabbed some lunch.  I ate empanadas, which are kind of like perogies except that they have meat inside instead of potatoes.

When we went back to the language school, we met Dra. Alvera, who is in charge of our clinical rotations.  My plan for the month is to take 7 hours of language class tomorrow and Tuesday, then start work with a local nonprofit.  I'm not sure which one I will be at yet but Rosita said that I will be working with children.  Next week I will also be volunteering.  The third week I will be doing rotations at Clinica de Adolescente, in pediatrics and for the final week I will be at Hospital Militar, for surgery.  However, this is all subject to change.

The weekends are free for us to do as we please.  The group talked about visiting Baños, which is a town about 4 hours away.  Rosita suggested it to us, and it sounds as if there are many things to do. 

And last but not least, I got sunburnt today.  I guess that’s what happens when you are at an altitude of 9,000 ft.