FTJ: 25-8-08

Today, I got up at eight and decided to shower. I hadn't showered since Frinday in Miami, and so I felt dirty. (NOTE: I told you this was going to seem juvenille.) I entered the bathroom and realized that there are diferent letters on the taps in a Hispanic country. It isn't "C" for "Cold" and "H" for "Hot," but rather "C" for "Caliente" and "F" for "Frio." I turned the "C" to get hot water, but only received cold. I asked my host mom and she told me that you have to turn on a switch. It seems to me that there isn't a general water heater for the house, but rather they use electricity to heat the water before using it. I spent fifteen minutes under the water. I couldn't turn the tap on much, because the electricity can't heat more than a little bit at a time.

After showering, I brushed my teeth and shaved. I also combed and put oil in my hair. When I have oil in my hair, it isn't in front of my face. I felt very good. (NOTE: GAH this is embarassing. It totally sounds better in Spanish. I swear.)

Anita and I went downtown because she had to go to the bank. We went to four or five banks before she finished. The machine in the first bank didn't work, and so we went to another bank. I don't know why she needed to go to so many banks, but she found what she wanted.

After leaving the last bank, we went to the Esquina de Coco, a corner where there is a coconut tree, in order to meet a woman that was looking for work as a doctor. Anita went to help her. We, with the woman and her husband, drove to another town to turn in the application,l but the doctor wasn't in the building. The woman and the man left by bus to Quito. Anita and I went to Contachi to open the Pizzeria.

When we were in the Pizzeria, Anita's niece, Alisson, began talking to me. I think she's thirteen. She asked me about the type of music that I like, and the TV programs. It wasn't difficult to answer the questions, and after she and I went around Contachi and she showed me the shops.

It's very difficult to write my thoughts in Spanish, because there are a lot of words that I don't know. My vocabulary isn't large enough. But it's good for me, because if I can write, I can talk, and I can practice writing without talking.

300 more days.

Man, it is very embarassing translating to English, because it sounds so horribly contrived. I used "bank" like, thirty times. Whatever. To those of you who posted a comment on my last post, thanks, Ben, M, and Tom. I very much appreciate it, especially those of you on my blog in the wee hours of the morning. And there will be pictures soon, I SWEAR. I'll put them on my flash drive tonight, and then upload them tomorrow. I don't know how many I'll be able to upload, because internet here is very slow, but I'll try.

ÑñÇç¿¡ÁäÊ躪 are all the keys I can find on this keyboard that I can't on an English keyboard. Except the Euro key, which I don't know how to get to yet.