settling, etc.

here's the sunset the first night i got into ecuador. i guess it's pretty alright, right?

so far my time has been spent getting settled here and acclimated to the altitude (about 2 miles high) and the missionary culture and the being here. i'm pretty sure it's the altitude that's giving me these headaches, and everyone says that goes away in a couple days. so...hooray!

on the acclimating to missionary culture tip, the first day i got here a missionary took me out to lunch. he was talking about his daughter growing up and that struggle for him. he told me he'd always liked country music, and now that she was getting older she was requesting certain music and how that was hard. he mentioned her asking for shania twain's new cd, and that that made him uncomfortable. let's cut to jeremy the music nerd's thoughts, shall we? "yeah, that'd be pretty hard for a country music purist to take--she's more generic pop than country, while still claiming some of country's aesthetics. but maybe it's more her image and lyrics. i'll ask why he's uncomfortable just to make sure." dan replies that he's not comfortable with some of the values she advocates in her music, so i nod my head enthusiastically and agree. gosh, that was close.

anyway, tomorrow i will start working at the hospital. i'm pretty excited to check that out, and a little nervous, too. apparently next week is a busy week because some surgical specialist is there, so i'm guessing it'll be a little stressful right from the beginning. but i came here to learn and to serve, so i guess there's no point in waiting around for things, right?