Best Valentine's Day EVER!!! :-)

Today is 2.16.11, It’s been awhile since I’ve blogged. It’s been a busy few days for me, but I will try to start from where I left off…

2.14.11 Monday

This was a rough day for me. I had a rough morning dealing with my emotions, but I had great support from my PC friends, which made it a lot easierJ I was pretty good during the day because I was busy with training, but as the evening approached all I could think about was my family at the funeral parlor and how I wasn’t there.  Class ended at 5, I went to the internet café for a short while then moseyed on home. To be honest, all I wanted to do was go straight to my room and relax, but when I got home some of my family was over to hang out for Valentine’s Day so I sat down at the table and chatted with them… and this is when my day went from being rough to having an amazing ending. Normally when my family is talking amongst themselves I understand about 40% of it… not this night, I understood like 95% of what everyone was saying, whether they were talking to me or amongst themselves I understood it. It was unbelievable!!!! I understood so much that I could actually crack jokes with them. I had a total break through moment with my Spanish. It was at this time that I knew my grandma was with me telling me everything would be okay J But wait, it gets better!

So a little while later I broke out my computer because my family wanted to hear some of the music I had on my computer. While my computer was loading up they asked me, “Do you have the internet on your computer?” I said, “No, in order to get on the internet you have to have it in the house. I’ve tried to connect to the signals within range, but they are all password protected.” I then showed them the different connections within range and how they needed a password. Normally, there are only 2 that pop up, but this time there were 3. I told them I haven’t seen this one before and that I probably needed a password as well, but I tried anyway…. And what do you know…. IT CONNECTED!!!!!!!!!! I freaked out, I mean REALLY freaked out. I got soooo excited. I was so excited that my host family was laughing at me. (and I don’t mean that in a bad way!) I immediately got on gmail and emailed my boyfriend to see if he was home from the funeral parlor yet. He was. So I signed onto Skype and we got to talk for like an hour. It was incredible!! I asked him how my family was holding up and how the funeral parlor was. Again, another sign from my grandma telling me everything was going to be okay. I went to sleep with a smile on my face.

You may be thinking, “Heather, what’s the big deal? So you understood Spanish and got to use the internet tonight. Big deal.” Well, it is a big deal. Those 2 things turned my terrible day into an incredible day. It’s really hard for me to put on paper just how much Monday night meant to me. Between understating most of the conversations that night and getting to talk to someone close to me, relieved a TON of stress and emotions that were building up. It’s hard being away from my entire family during this hard time, especially with no real means of communication. But my grandma was with me the entire night J It was unbelievable. Love you, grandma!

So it was a PHENOMENAL Valentine’s Day after all J

<3 I also want to thank my friends, family, and neighbors back in the States for their kind messages of support: Katie, Lauren, Amanda, Julia, Aunt Debbie, Kovach, and many more. You have no idea how much it meant to me when I signed on to Facebook and saw those sweet messages or emails. Although there are many miles between us, those messages touched very close to my heart! Thank you! And for those of you who supported my family at the funeral parlor, I thank you for that as well. <3

2.15.11 Tuesday

Today was a normal day. I went to the supermarket for the first time with my family and I ended up buying some animal crackers and a mini pack of oreos J

I then got to Skype with my sister and parents. It was so nice to see and talk to them without having to rush through conversation. It relieved a lot of stress and definitely made my day!!! Love you guys!

2.16.11

Instead of going to the training center for class today, we traveled to Quito and got to see the Peace Corps office in the capitol! After getting a tour of the office and listening to a safety and transportation presentation we broke off into our language groups to travel back to Tumbaco. We ate lunch at an Indian place in Quito. It was gross.

When we got back to Tumbaco a girl in my training group, whose name is also Heather, told me I had a package waiting for me at the Post Office in Quito!!!!!!!!!!!! I asked her how she knew that and she said she had to pick something up there and when she told the post office guy her name they brought 2 different packages out to her and one had my last name on it. How exciting is that!!!!!! I don’t know why it didn’t make it to the correct address, which is the PC office, but whatev, I have a package waiting for me!!!!! AHHH!!!! I’m so excited!!! The only bummer is that I can’t go get it until Monday, when I’m back in Quito. The suspense is killing me!!! I’m so excited to go pick it up and open it!! Great ending to my day J

My evening was normal… I had some dinner, talked with my family, did some homework, and now I’m blogging and about to go to bed.

Much love,

Heather