Running Out of Time...

I know, I know....half of my blog posts are posts composed into lists. This is going to be another one of those posts. What can I say...I'm a sucker for organization...and lists easily arrange my thoughts in a canny and tactful manner.

With only 33 full days left in Ecuador, here's a compiled list of the pros and cons of leaving my beautiful country.

Reasons why I love Ecuador:

• The benefit of being able to find at least one tienda on basically every street corner. They're all so cheap. If I'm hungry, I can just walk about 10 feet from anywhere I am, go into a tienda, and get a bag of chips for 10 centaroos. It's pure bliss.
• I am continually amazed by two food items here - fruit and bread. Not only can you find tiendas everywhere you go in Ecuador, but you can also find fresh and cheap fruit being sold anywhere you go, and I'm telling you...it's 10x better than the fruit in the states. The same is true with the bread. Oh, boy....I'm gonna miss it. 
• I don't know what it is, but I walk so much more here than I do in the states. It think it must be that everything is closer together. There are actually places to walk to. I can walk to church, to tiendas, to the peluqueria, and even to soccer if I wanted to.
• The language. I just love it. 
• $1.50 movies. I know, they are pirated DVDs. But, I buy them. 
• Seeing people out walking. It's so much more common here.  
• The beach. I don't think I'm going to be seeing anything that closely resembles an ocean in the CO, unless it has gone through a major change since I was last there in August. 
• The culture. Not gonna lie, there are things in the Ecuadorian culture that I absolutely cannot stand. For one, they aren't very specific or very good on communicating things. But, I can also see the  good things about them not getting too stressed out over minor misunderstandings and keeping no track of time. The culture has really taught me a lot and has increased my ability to be patient. 
• The opportunities. I'm going to miss all of the amazing opportunities to serve Jesus here. I have met so many amazing people during these experiences. I will always remember the kids that I have had the benefit of spending time with here. 
• The people. Like, I said...I have met some amazing people here. I'm gonna miss 'em. 

Obviously, there are many more things that I will miss about Ecuador, but if I complied a list of every single thing, I assure you, you wouldn't be able to read it all in one night. 

Things I'm looking forward to back in Colorado: 

• My friends and the rest of my family. Oh boy, oh boy. I'm so looking forward to seeing the amazing people that I have missed oh so dearly over the last 9 months. This is definitely my number 1.
• Driving. 
• My church. It will be fun to be back. 
• Being able to leave the house without being cautious of the people around you trying to mug you.  
• More English speaking people (although I'm still not sure if this is a benefit).  
• I'm just looking forward to summer in general. I'm so ready to be done with school, and just to hang out with friends, swim in the pool, work (maybe), take in the beautiful summer evenings, read, and just do pretty much whatever I want. 

Again, there are several other things I'm most definitely looking forward to in the states, but this is what comes to mind.

I'm glad there's always at least something to look forward to in life. PTL.