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Two crazy weeks! First, the day after my last post, we packed up and headed for Manta, a few hours up the coastline of Ecuador. We drove all day, sopped a few times along the way to see where the National Assembly is held, things like that. We stayed overnight and the next morning, picked up Cecile's family from the airport. Cecile is from Belgium, and her parents hosted Maria Jose, my host family's daughter. Cecile lives in Quito so, naturally, when the family wanted to come see the coast, my host family offered to show them around. It was fascinating. We went from Manta to Puerto Lopez to Salinas to Guayaquil, all the while working through the language barrier- a silly-sounding mix of Spanish, French, and English. We went deep-sea fishing, kayaking, drove a lot, slept a little, and played a lot of ping-pong, a universal test of brains and braun.

The day after we came back to Guayaquil was my eighteenth birthday [3/6], and what better gift is there than my family coming to visit? Their flight was scheduled to land around 5, and I spent the whole day thinking of things I needed to tell them- Traffic is crazy, don't flush the toilet paper, haggle with the taxi drivers, etc. etc. etc. I think it was partly just because I couldn'tbelieve they were really coming, couldn't imagine being with them, and then there they were. The airport was an intense moment, running and hugging Allison before I even got in the door, seeing how tall Christopher had gotten, hugging, crying, etc.

We spent the first couple days in Guayaquil, got to see the boardwalk and climb the Santa Ana hill and have some traditional Ecuadorean food, and Saturday we bounced around; had breakfast with my current host family, stopped in to visit with the Leivas, and had lunch with my friends from school and Exchange. My dad loved that part. I did too.

We spent Saturday night until Friday morning in Salinas, which was freaking fantastic. We ate ceviche and road jet-skis, kayaked and suntanned and bought at least 40 or 50 DVDs. It, of course, went way too fast, but was so great, so fun, and I felt so lucky to be laying in a hammock, having a "Heavy-Deep-and-Real" conversation with my dad until the middle of the night, sometimes later, like I'd never been gone at all.

Yesterday marked 7 months down. I offically feel pressure, like there's just not enough time left. The next 3 months are already filling up with activities, trips and school and birthdays and at the end of May, our little exchange family starts breaking up when Kourtney goes back to Ohio to graduate. Then Rose and Karlijn, then me, then Eden, Ayla, Nils, Thimo, Michaela, in succession, broken up by a week or two in between. I feel a little dread, like I would slow it down if I could. I don't want to leave this comfortable little home I've made myself, but then again, I felt the same way leaving in August. Just gotta keep looking forward...