D.C to Pesillo

It has been a busy last 7 days, flying to D.C., meeting up with the volunteers, there are 46 of us! We flew down to Miami, then arrived in Quito with no problems, where we took buses to the hostel where trainers and other peace corps volunteers were there greeting us, it was nice. In Quito, we spent 3 days doing orientation stuff, like getting shots, taking a language interview test (I tested at intermediate, which surpised me) and letting us know what we could and could not do while we are peace corps volunteers...the list is pretty long. Anyways, we really didn´t have time to explore Quito since we were so busy but from the parts I did see, it seemed pretty nice. During our three days, we go to do a tourist thing but taking a bus up to the mitad del mundo (middle of the earth, equator) which was pretty kids, they had some scientific experiements that blew my mind.
As far as the host family siuation goes, we were put into groups of five based on our undertsanding of spanish. So since I tested out as an intermediate, I am with a group who all speak spanish at a similar level to me, which is nice. Our group got assigned in a small town called Pesillo, which is about 40 minute bus ride from Cayambe. This sounds a lot, but we only have to go into Cayambe two days a week for a technical training (for me, that is learning how to deal with donkey poop) and the buses go about 25 miles per hour since the roads are far from straight. Pesillo is a cool little town, most of the people farm and have pigs, chickens, dogs, or donkeys in the backyard. My place is a little nicer than I thought it would be, but you definitely know that you are in the third world, but I find the life down here refreshing and simple, which is a nice change of pace from the states. My family owns a little store in front of their house and have about 10 diary cows in a location about 5 miles from their house. I am now milking cows everyday in the afternoon! My forearms are getting a workout. My family is really nice, they have a son, 20, that works in Quito, a dughter, 13 and a another son, 7. I am getting along with them really well. I don´t think I have embarrassed myself too much...I think.
I am enjoying my time so far, relearning spanish quickly and looking forward to our agriculture sessions in the upcoming weeks and am safe as can be!

Hasta luego