Worries and Fears

I move in with my host family tomorrow and my worry and nervousness have come back (appetite = gone). I will not be able to understand them very well and speak even less. Even though this is a period of transition and improving my Spanish was one of the reasons I am here, it is still freaking me out. I like to talk and communicate, and so the next few weeks with be extremely hard, especially when whether or not I have wireless internet is up in the air. I also feel a little home sick too due to my increasing culture shock, so I wish there was something that could remedy this.
A few people have asked if I could take more pictures. This I really wish I could do for you guys. However, it is seriously dangerous. White people already have a giant target on them for having lots of money and flaunting that I have a camera is one of the last things I want to do (The last thing is to flaunt my laptop). I will try to take pictures when I can but until I feel more comfortable (if ever) there won't too many pictures.
More in depth, Quito is the most dangerous city in Ecuador, followed closely by it's next biggest city, Guayaquil. It is huge (2 million people) and there is lots of crime, especially directed at tourists. Saying this, we in Canada always laugh at tourists when they wear their backpacks on their fronts. However, this is a reality for even the residents here. If you are carrying anything valuable in your backpack, you wear it on your front.
There have been instances where people have been followed out of banks and robbed, especially white people. Today, we went to take out a large sum of money from the bank and we had to duck into a bakery because we thought we were being followed. You always go to the bank in AT LEAST pairs but I think that even freaks us out. There has also been an increase in express kidnapping in Ecuador, specifically Quito. This has happened to an American this last month where he was kidnapped, brought to a bank, and told to give all of his cards and information to the kidnappers. He hesitated on the PIN and was burned.
This is just some of the information that we have been told in the last few days. Hearing it once is enough to freak you out, but we have been told it three times (not including our orientation in Peterborough). I am tired of being scared all the time but this is the reality we have gotten ourselves into. We will come to be able to live with it but I am sad that this is the reality here.