The six of us took a trip to Quito from Wednesday to Sunday. Micah had some appointments scheduled there, so we tried to make an adventure of it. And an adventure it was. There's a reason why we've spent much of our lives in places like Groton, NY, Willow Street, PA, and Shell, Ecuador.
Here are some highlights and lowlights of our trip.
There's a family that lives outside Quito (the Camdens- from Australia and Illinois by way of Houston) that has 4 kids between 11 and 5. We'd only met Leith and their two oldest boys before in Shell. But he told us to let them know if we were ever in Quito. So we did and hung out with them at their house a couple times, including celebrating Leith's birthday on Saturday. It's always fun to meet new friends, and we had a great time getting to know Leith, Amy, Levi, Nathan, Andrew, and Jane. (HIGHLIGHT)
On the way back from the Camdens on Saturday, Luke got sick in the van and threw up over himself and Jodie. (LOWLIGHT)
We got to go to McDonalds for only the 2nd time since we left the U.S. (HIGHLIGHT). Before we left for lunch at Mickey D's Jodie reminded me that someone told us only to take our credit cards with us if we were going to use them. So I left them at the apartment. I also didn't have my drivers license or Ecuadorian ID card (censo) in my wallet (retrospective HIGHLIGHT, because...). While walking from McDonalds to the street to get a taxi, I was approached by some very aggressive 8 year old girls trying to sell me some candy. They also stole my wallet/blood tester. (LOWLIGHT)
It was cold and dreary in Quito (LOWLIGHT), but at least I didn't sweat on my pillow during the night (HIGHLIGHT).
We visited English Fellowship Church on Sunday morning. This was our first Sunday Morning Service in English since last July. (HIGHLIGHT) However, it was at the end of a long and tiring weekend for the kids and they weren't in the mood for sitting quietly to sing and listen to the sermon. (LOWLIGHT).
We got home earlier than expected Sunday afternoon thanks to good weather and traffic . (HIGHLIGHT) After unpacking and putting groceries away, we went to check e-mail and our computer wouldn't come on. We're still not sure what the problem is and I'm at a school computer now. (LOWLIGHT)
Some other Quito HIGHLIGHTS:
-The kids did great on the van rides up and back from Quito.
-We hired a driver to take us up and back. Vicente and his son Oswaldo (who drove us back on Sunday) were wonderful. Vicente even took us around Quito to various appointments, markets, stores, and houses on Saturday.
-The six of us went bowling on Friday. It was a lot of fun and the kids did great. Luke tried to kick the bowling ball like a soccer ball a few times and had to be told that he probably didn't want to do that. ;-)
-We also got to eat out at Pizza Hut and Crepes & Waffles.
Other News:
Two weeks from today is the last day of school. To give some perspective on how long ago the beginning of the year was- I shared a little bit with Jodie's class about New York State when they were studying the Northeast region in the fall. While talking about past U.S. presidents who were from New York, I mentioned that it was likely that the next U.S. president would be from New York. Hillary vs. Rudy seems like a long time ago.
Today's a big soccer day in Ecuador. The Ecuadorian national team lost a friendly match to France this afternoon in a warmup for World Cup qualifying next month. And LDU Quito (referred to simply as Liga in Ecuador) plays tonight in a Copa Libertadores Semifinal match. The Copa Lib is the top club tournament for teams in South America and Mexico.
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Sunday, May 11, 2008
The weather feels right
When people ask what the weather is like here, I often say it's May the whole year. So this month feels right with my New York/Pennsylvania weather-calendar cycle. Some rain, some hot afternoons, cool evenings. I'm just waiting to see all the dandelions and maple tree "helicopters" and then it will seem perfect. We've been busy with stuff since the last post, here are a few highlights.
-Micah had a sleepover party on the Friday after his birthday. The two other first grade boys, Jonny and Josiah, stayed over after we had dinner with both of their families. Everyone fell asleep earlier than at Shea's party in December.
-There was no school on Friday, May 2 to celebrate Dia de Trabajo (Ecuador's Labor Day)*. We went to the "fair" in Puyo with our friend Elsa and her grandson Stevie. There were booths from different groups from Ecuador's Oriente/Amazonia region (the jungle area of Eastern Ecuador) and local merchants, as well as food, animals, and a bouncy ride for the kids. It made us a little nostalgic for the Solanco and Lampeter fairs in September that we're missing out on. After the fair, we went to a local pool to meet some other friends. We spent the afternoon swimming, talking, eating, and most of us getting sunburns.
-Last Saturday, I helped some local kids with their high school English class project. Leo, a kid I know from Spotlight on Thursday nights, asked if I would answer some questions for his group's project. So we did a little English Q&A on videotape. I may be the source of a few jokes now at Colegio Militar in Mera.
-The students and teachers at Nate Saint had a pizza party on Friday for reaching their April Read-a-Thon goal of 100,000 pages. They read over 120,000 pages combined during the month of April. Jacob, one of Jodie's 3rd graders, was the top individual reader with 11,000 plus pages!
-Friday night was the school's Cultural Fair. Each of the classes presented for the community some of the things they've been learning about in Social Studies this year. Shea & Micah's class did projects on different holiday celebrations from around the world. The two boys were partners and had a booth about Quebec's Winter Carnival. They worked hard and did a great job at their booth, and even had yummy pancakes and hot chocolate! Jodie's class did a "living map" of the U.S. complete with mountians, the Mississippi River, and Statue of Liberty. Each student (and Jodie) prepared some information about their "home" state. New York, Pennsylvania, Illionis, Minnesota, Texas, and California were represented.
-Last night we had a despedida (going-away party) for the 6 missionary families that are leaving Shell in the next few months. We've gotten to know some of them well over the past year, and it will sad to see them go, but in the Father's hands we know that a lifetime's not too long to live as friends.
-We celebrated Mother's Day today with a trip to the pool/water park in Puyo. We played in a wave pool, a water playground, and some amusement park height water slides. Then we went out for pizza and bought some fruit at the market before heading back home on the bus. Our kids were so excited to give Mom gifts and confirm that she officially is the Best Mother in the World! Jod's final Mother's Day gift just left- a group of 6 serenaded her with 2 songs and roses. Our friend Isaac's church youth group was selling those and I couldn't resist this one of a kind gift.
Our camera's broken at the moment, so pictures may be a little more sparse the next several weeks.
*Dia de Trabajo is actually on May 1, but when it falls on a Thursday the president often declares both Thursday and Friday a holiday. Since NSMS only could have 1 day off, we changed our day off from Thursday to Friday. Glad I could straighten that out for you.
-Micah had a sleepover party on the Friday after his birthday. The two other first grade boys, Jonny and Josiah, stayed over after we had dinner with both of their families. Everyone fell asleep earlier than at Shea's party in December.
-There was no school on Friday, May 2 to celebrate Dia de Trabajo (Ecuador's Labor Day)*. We went to the "fair" in Puyo with our friend Elsa and her grandson Stevie. There were booths from different groups from Ecuador's Oriente/Amazonia region (the jungle area of Eastern Ecuador) and local merchants, as well as food, animals, and a bouncy ride for the kids. It made us a little nostalgic for the Solanco and Lampeter fairs in September that we're missing out on. After the fair, we went to a local pool to meet some other friends. We spent the afternoon swimming, talking, eating, and most of us getting sunburns.
-Last Saturday, I helped some local kids with their high school English class project. Leo, a kid I know from Spotlight on Thursday nights, asked if I would answer some questions for his group's project. So we did a little English Q&A on videotape. I may be the source of a few jokes now at Colegio Militar in Mera.
-The students and teachers at Nate Saint had a pizza party on Friday for reaching their April Read-a-Thon goal of 100,000 pages. They read over 120,000 pages combined during the month of April. Jacob, one of Jodie's 3rd graders, was the top individual reader with 11,000 plus pages!
-Friday night was the school's Cultural Fair. Each of the classes presented for the community some of the things they've been learning about in Social Studies this year. Shea & Micah's class did projects on different holiday celebrations from around the world. The two boys were partners and had a booth about Quebec's Winter Carnival. They worked hard and did a great job at their booth, and even had yummy pancakes and hot chocolate! Jodie's class did a "living map" of the U.S. complete with mountians, the Mississippi River, and Statue of Liberty. Each student (and Jodie) prepared some information about their "home" state. New York, Pennsylvania, Illionis, Minnesota, Texas, and California were represented.
-Last night we had a despedida (going-away party) for the 6 missionary families that are leaving Shell in the next few months. We've gotten to know some of them well over the past year, and it will sad to see them go, but in the Father's hands we know that a lifetime's not too long to live as friends.
-We celebrated Mother's Day today with a trip to the pool/water park in Puyo. We played in a wave pool, a water playground, and some amusement park height water slides. Then we went out for pizza and bought some fruit at the market before heading back home on the bus. Our kids were so excited to give Mom gifts and confirm that she officially is the Best Mother in the World! Jod's final Mother's Day gift just left- a group of 6 serenaded her with 2 songs and roses. Our friend Isaac's church youth group was selling those and I couldn't resist this one of a kind gift.
Our camera's broken at the moment, so pictures may be a little more sparse the next several weeks.
*Dia de Trabajo is actually on May 1, but when it falls on a Thursday the president often declares both Thursday and Friday a holiday. Since NSMS only could have 1 day off, we changed our day off from Thursday to Friday. Glad I could straighten that out for you.
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