"She thinks your birthmark is lip gloss."

Last Saturday when I had to go into school, I found out when I got there that surprise! I had to do parent/teacher conferences!!! I immediately started sweating profusely, and I'm pretty sure my face got pale. Especially since the guy who told me said "Uh... You won't be in the room by yourself. You'll be with all the English teachers! You'll do great!!!!" super enthusiastically. Guess who was the only English teacher that showed up (imagine me raising my hand). Perfect.

I sit in my assigned room, still sweating despite the 50 degree weather, when in comes my first parent. I was mostly nervous about getting yelled at for being mean or something, but I was almost equally nervous about having to speak only Spanish. The morning went MUCH better than I thought: 3 parents out of 60 students came, the good Lord gave my tongue the ability to roll my r's and my mouth the ability to move like I wasn't nervous at all, and I got internet access in the room I was in, so I was able to gchat while waiting for an hour between parents. The parents that came told me that their kids REALLY liked me (WOW REALLY!?! I was thrilled.), and that they would like me to give their kids private English lessons. I start next week Saturday. Two students are coming to my house, and I have to take a bus (I'm already trying to brainstorm when I'll be able to do a test run of THAT trip) to the other house. I'm sure that it will be quite the adventure, but I'm looking forward to it. The tutoring part, I mean. NOT the bus ride. Shoot, I get nervous just thinking about it!

Last Sunday, I spent the day with my host family. Not just my host mom and sister, but the WHOLE fam. Grandma! ("Sarita, you've gotten taller since you've been in the United States!" My response? "I think it's the water there.") I went to church with Lupe and Pamela, and then we met with Grandma, dear Aunt Rosy, another aunt and uncle set, and cute little Sophie's (the 3 year old who wants beautiful blonde hair just like mine) family. Sophie saw me, ran up to me, put her hands on my face, and exclaimed, "OOH my American friend! How I have missed you!" Thanks, Soph, I've missed your cute little face too. She grabbed my hand and made me sit by her for lunch.

As we're sitting waiting for our food, Sophie feels the need to introduce me to everyone at the table, despite the fact that I've met all of them and spent several Sunday Funday Family Days with them.

Sophie: Everyone! I would like to introduce you to my American friend.... *whispering in my ear* What is your name, my American friend?
Sara: *whispering* Sara.
Sophie: Oh yes! I would like to introduce you to my American friend Saraaaaaaaa!!!!!

Alright, so now that I'm acquainted with everyone and my face is red (Really Sara? A 3 year old is going to make you blush? Thanks for the genes, Mom and Dad.), Sophie is telling me the English that she knows: "Hello! Hola! Please! Por favor!! Goodbye! Gracias!" Ummmm, Sophie? Gracias means thank you. I tell her this politely, kind of in a jokey way. Her response? "No, my American friend, I know English, and goodbye means gracias." Okay Sophie, you win that one.

A little while later, STILL waiting for our food, Sophie takes my left hand. If you are unaware, I have a birthmark on the top of my left hand between my thumb and pointer finger. It is shaped in an almost perfect circle, and it is red. So, Sophie takes my hand, and starts rubbing my birthmark on her lips. I had NO CLUE what was going on. I THOUGHT I understood what she was saying, but it didn't make ANY sense, so I just sat there looking like an idiot as this three year old is rubbing my hand on her lips. Uncle Juanito (who so kindly paid for my lunch) looked at me. "Sarita, she thinks that your birthmark is lip gloss." Well, at least I know that I was understanding her correctly! What a stupid girl - why would I have lip gloss on the top of my hand? So, I immediately snatch my hand away and ignore Sophie - my Ecuadorian friend - for the rest of the day. Just kidding, but my face DID get red again.

Later we went to my host mom's son's house because it was his 43rd birthday. The WHOLE family was there, but I had a rather enjoyable time because A. I hadn't seen these people (who for the first 6 weeks I spent EVERY weekend with) for a month and a half, and B. because I have a job now and I actually have things to talk about. Everyone was really proud of how successful I have been here. Successful? How about lucky - everything seriously fell right into my lap. I made it sound like I'm successful because I'm such a hard worker. HA. They'll never know...

The school week went very quickly because surprise! I found out on Monday that I didn't have school on Tuesday because it was National Teacher's Day! Woooo! The school gave all of the teachers a gift. Bedsheets. Not kidding. On Monday afternoon, the novenos had a surprise party for all of the noveno teachers (I've never been so happy to have to teach those little pistols!), and so I got to eat chips and drink Coke and socialize with Franklin for the last two hours of school while I should have been teaching. Yes, despite his name, he is Ecuadorian. Seriously, the American names just KILL me down here (George, Franklin, Norman, Abraham, BERTHA, Gilbert... It just goes on and on).

Tomorrow I'm going with one of the teachers from the school named Diego (the one who loves Lake Geneva!) to see some of the farms in Ecuador. I'm really excited about it. Mom and Dad? After so much uncertainty about what major to declare in college I seem to have chosen the right one(s). Living in the middle of a large city (estimated population 1.48 million as of 2003 - thanks Wikipedia), I've found that I really miss the dairy industry, and I am excited to return to it when I move back to the US. I'm sorry that I had to move 3000 miles away to realize it :)

Until next time,
Sara the American friend