Our first day...

Uma and I arrived, safe and sound, in Quito last night. We were several hours late and I was so worried our host family might not be there to pick us up, but they were waiting for us with smiles and sweetness. I had woken up at 3am for the day of travelling and had only about 4 hours of sleep until going to school for the first time.

I had no idea today would be the parent orientation day, and I'm sure those parents thought I looked real good (not). Luckily, it was almost all in Spanish, so I just had to wave and smile, and you all know I'm pretty good at that even when I'm totally sleep deprived and out of my head. My principal took a long time with me today as well , she was very interested in my experience and my ideas, and was also super comforting and sweet.

The most excellent news was- they had just decided to delay the opening of school for a whole week(no- not just for me, but it felt like such a blessing). This has totally saved me from utter madness- as I arrived after midnight Thursday and school was schedules to start Monday. Thank you goddess! Now I can actually set up my classroom and think about how I want the year to go.....

So today was a whirlwind of meeting dozens of new people, receiving tons of cheek kisses, and trying to wrap my head around their particular curriculums, philosophies, and values while also doing a zillion administrative things like setting up a bank, getting a phone, etc. The good news is that everyone I met today was super warm and friendly, and that Uma was having a fine time with all the staff kids. We got back to our host family's home today and Uma fell asleep immediately, before 4pm. This has been such a crazy couple of weeks. I think I'm almost ready for sleep too.

Our big task is now to find our dream home- I am imagining a gorgeous view, somewhere that is beautiful and safe, and quiet yet near lots of interesting things. I want really friendly neighbors who are fun,kids nearby for Uma to play with, and parks nearby to frolic within. A refuge with cultural perks. Shouldn't be too hard.....