Winter

So, while everyone is dying in Georgia from the unbelievably high temperatures and horrible humidity, the weather has actually gotten quite nice here in Guayaquil. This is technically "winter" in South America, but here in Guayaquil I'm still wearing shorts and flip flops. But, I don't sweat as much! Ha! That's really the only difference during the middle of the day. It still gets pretty hot, but it's bearable.

But, the real difference is in the mornings and evenings. There is a wonderful breeze that cools everything down and is so nice. I've even put on a sweatshirt a few nights (of course, I'm still in shorts though).

If the weather were like this all year, it'd be great! Around November it'll start getting steamy again, but I'll certainly enjoy it for now!

My First Earthquake (and hopefully last!)

So, I have now experienced my first earthquake. I believe that technically what I felt here was a tremor, but when the walls are all shaking, I call that an earthquake!

I was getting ready for school and was just finishing my shower when Wilson came and told me to get out and come with him. He asked if I didn't feel the earthquake, but since we live near the airport, I just assumed things were rattling a little from a plane passing over. But, I wrapped a towel around me and went and stood with Wilson in the door frame of our bedroom and hallway. And it was definitely all shaking--a very weird experience! Good thing we didn't have any furniture or decorations, I guess. Ha! Wilson also grabbed my pajamas and made me put those on while we were standing there (even though I was still soaking wet) because he said that it wouldn't be so good for me to be naked if we had to get out of the building. Such a wise man. Ha!

I asked Wilson later how he knew what to do, and he said he didn't really know, just something way back in his head told him to stand under a doorway. (As my younger brother would tell you, maybe Wilson once saw the Saved by the Bell episode where Lisa Turtle and AC Slater used that strategy when there was an earthquake at Bayside.) :o)

I guess it lasted for a few minutes, and then Wilson told me to finish getting ready. When we got in the car to go to work, Wilson looked at me and said, "Were you scared?" and I said, "Yes, actually I was a little." And Wilson quickly answered, "Me, too!!!"

It turned out it was like a 7.0 earthquake or something (comparable to the one in Haiti), but it was much farther below ground so it didn't cause much damage. And it was actually closer to Quito, so we only felt a lesser version really. Some of the white boards at my school were loosened from the walls, and my friend Hannah said a vase of hers fell off the table and broke, but no real damage anywhere here. Praise the Lord!!!! Under other circumstances, I don't think it would have been that scary to me, but since we've recently seen such horrible effects of earthquakes in Haiti and in Chile, it just really kind of changes the way I view things, you know? I just pray that my first earthquake experience will also be my last one!!

Home Sweet Home Part 2

So, we moved into our new apartment a couple of weeks ago. It was a rather easy move actually because we don't have that much stuff down here--mostly just clothes and books. Ha! One of Wilson's brothers and two of his nephews came and helped us move, so I barely had to do anything. :o)

Our new apartment is an unfurnished apartment, which will save us tons of money in the future, but for a while we will have a pretty empty place. Unfurnished here in Ecuador means literally nothing--no fridge, no stove, no air conditioners, no mirrors in the bathrooms, nothing!! In each of the rooms, there's a big hole in the wall where you can install a wall unit air conditioner. Luckily, it's "winter" here, so we are just doing without an air conditioning for now. We put up a map of Guayaquil over the big hole in our bedroom b/c I got kind of freaked out that birds or something would come in there. Ha!

Our first night, we slept on the floor b/c our bed could not be delivered until the next day. These tiled floors were NOT comfortable!! Ha! But, our bed did arrive the next day, and we slept sooo good on our new king size bed!!!!

But, my two biggest fears about the apartment turned out just fine. We do indeed have hot water in both showers and enough pressure to flush our toilet paper down the toilet. (These are definitely luxuries we take for granted in the States!) :o)

And, we're really enjoying the neighborhood and area we're now in. I've walked to the mall a couple of times by myself, and last night Wilson and I walked to the mall to get dinner and just enjoy the more peaceful atmosphere. Oh, and there's this great bakery at the entrance of our neighborhood that we've gone to almost every day! Fresh, hot bread each morning! Yum!!!

So, it'll definitely take us a while to get everything we need here, but little by little I think this will be a great home for us!!