4 Months and Counting

Okay so I have been here over 4 months now and to me that is just ridiculous. I can't even believe how fast the time has gone by. It feels like yesterday I was calling my Mom in the airport to say goodbye. Everyone says the first few months are the hardest, so I can only imagine how fast the next months will go by. As each day goes past I learn more and enjoy living in this beautiful place more.

So in the past few weeks we have had vacation because of Christmas. In these few weeks of vacation so far I have gotten the oppurtunity to do so much. Last week I went to the hospital with my host parents and watched my host father do 3 surgeries. One surgery was a torn meniscus and that was lacroscopicly. The second was removing cancer from a young womens throat. The third was a car accident and the boy needed sugery in his legs and arms. I thought the blood might gross me out, but it didn't. It was so interesting to see how intricate the work is and how they know exactly where to cut. I also had the anestheologist teach me about the drugs they use and about how they put people to sleep and furthermore how the drugs control the comfort of the body. It was all so interesting. Getting the oppurtunity to watch a surgery made me realize that is what I want to do with my life. It takes truely special people to do it and the rewarding gift of being able to better someones life is truely wonderful. I look forward to watching more surgeries and bigger ones. It is such a wonderful oppurtunity to be able to watch and learn about surgeries here and also learn about names of things here in spanish. This will surely open doors for me.

Last week I also went to a poor school here in Loja. These children don't pay for a uniform or for the school. The kids at the school also get fed there. For most kids it's the only meal they get all day. Most kids at the school have around 10 siblings and many of their parents are only around 30 years old. It was truely sad to see these kids living in such poor conditions. The kids are so sweet and truely want to learn. They may not have a lot, but they give their all to learn what they can. The school however, does not have many supplies and all supplies are great appreciated. Anything they can get truely helps. It broke my heart to see these children who are so full of love, to just not have the same oppurtunites as other children. This just makes me realize how truely lucky we are in the USA to have so many wonderful oppurtunites. If there is any way you could help please contact me. Anything is truely apreciated.

So yesterday was Christmas. It was deffinitally the worst day here in Ecuador. It didn't even feel like Christmas whatsoever. Not to mention in Ecuador they celbrate at Midnight of the 25th so during the day on the 25th we did not do anything. It really bummed me out because I love Christmas and it just wasn't the same. However , it wasn't all that bad. The food was great and my host family gave me beautiful white gold diamond earrings. So beautiful and so generous of them. I am truely blessed to live with Lily and Diego they are great people. I got to skype with both my Mom and her family and also my Dad and siblings. I recieved my package from home about 3 days before that and cried when I read my card. I have such an amazing family and being away from them makes me realize how lucky I really am. I could not ask for a better family. I am glad they all had such a good day yesterday. I am looking forward to next year with them.

So last night I read that my Amazon trip is the 13-18 of February. That takes place during Carnival. For me I think Carnival is one of the most important holidays here in Ecuador and I told my host dad I really did not want to miss it. I mean I can always come back to Ecuador to see the Amazon, but I can never experience Carnival in the same situation with my friends again. When I told my host Dad that he totally agreed and said that Carnival is very important. He told me that if I did not go with Rotary then we would go to the Amazon as a family. That is so amazing and great. Once again, how blessed am I to have such wonderful hosts parents.

Well thats all for now. I am off to Vilcabamba for the day. We are going to have a big family barbeque. I will be back tonight to spend more time with my family. I can not wait. This will be such a fun day. I'll write soon. Most likely after New Years.