Surviving the first Weekend in a strange, new World

Over the course of the weekend, it was delightful to see a bit more of the town, courtesy of my host-family, and to run into one or two other volunteers. I have no idea if it was just me, or all of us, but when I saw other volunteers my brain began screaming 'FAMILYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!' I'm pretty sure this is the first step in me becoming a true PCV: an unhealthy attachment to other volunteers as a safety net in my host country.

I attended Mass with my host mum on Sunday morning (6:30am is still way earlier than I like to be anywhere), and then she, her son, sister, niece and I all drove into town in his Taxi and went grocery shopping. After returning, we relaxed for most of the day. A lovely lazy Sunday. My host-family has also decided that 'Melinda' is just too difficult to remember at this juncture, so they're calling me 'Linda' now. Apparently, this weirds my mother out a little, but I think it's precious.

Update on the family dynamics:
It turns out that the local dialect for 'Tia' is 'Nena' (with both n's being pronounced like the Spanish n-ye), so all of the folks I met were my host-mum's siblings. I feel better, given that it wasn't Spanish that I misunderstood, but Kichwa.


Monday morning felt like the first day of school - my host mum was kind enough to walk me to school (holding my hand most of the way left the first-day-of-school impression), and upon arrival it felt like I hadn't seen anyone in a decade. We all seemed pretty happy to be back together, despite only having met last week. Again, I guess this is what they mean about us becoming a very odd family of sorts.

I took my language test this afternoon, and was assigned to Intermedio Alto.
Basically, we have four tiers of language proficiency; Beginner, Intermediate, Advance, Fluent. The first three classes have sub-groups, of Low (Bajo), Medium (Medio), and High (Alto), and once you hit fluent, they just don't bother with assigning sub-groups. The sub-groups help them determine where we are in each level, and what our learning needs are. I landed right where I expected to be.
In terms of my test, everything that I already knew I had trouble with is what I was told to work on. I'm annoyed that I choked up several times during my interview on trivial vocabulary, but c'est la vie. I'll just dive on in and see if I can drag my language skills up a notch or two before leaving for my assignment.

Our daily schedule is still a bit fluid, but most folks have been sorted into the language classes they need, and we're still being drilled on various aspects of safety and health. Overall, the sessions may be a bit tedious to sit through, but it's excellent and very important information for our self-care. Our two-hour lecture on diarrhea, however, just seemed... over the top.

Winning question of the day: "Can you describe mucus?" - Alex

Whatever else I gain out of this experience, my co-volunteers are smashing.