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.
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Our Big Backyard (and other various thoughts and pictures)
One of the best parts of living here in Shell is the close proximity of our house to God's creation- from the volcano visible from our driveway on clear days to the sights and sounds of the jungle. The kids love exploring outside. The latest craze in our outdoor experiences is the tadpole population living in the old hot tub here on the MAF base. All of the kids in the neighborhood are often found catching and examining these little creatures. Here are some pics from a couple Sundays ago of the boys playing out back.
Here's a picture of Jadyn lounging poolside a few weeks ago when our family went to a pool in Puyo for the afternoon.
Do you remember December 15, 1999? Ron Dayne had just won the Heisman Trophy, gas cost about $1.30 a gallon, "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" was the most watched telvision show in the U.S., everyone was stocking up their pantries with hamburger helper for the end of the world that was just 17 days away, and nobody in our family had a diaper that needed changed. For the next 8 years and 4 months, that didn't happen again. Until last week. Luke is diaper free during the days now and even has had a couple of dry nights. He is still learning some proper etiquette boundaries, though. Like . . . peeing outside by a tree is often alright, but pooping on the sidewalk by the carport- not so much.
In the 11+ years I lived in Lancaster, I rode the bus a total of 0 times. (In fact, aside from trips to the dentist as a kid in Rochester, I don't think I've ever rode the city bus). But here in Shell, we ride the bus often. Not all the time, but more frequently lately. And it's so easy here- no need to look for a schedule of stops and times. We can just walk out to end of our driveway and within 5 minutes there's a bus that will stop and take us to Shell or Puyo.
The kids are taking SAT's this week at school. No, not those SAT's. Their Standard Achievement Tests for each grade level. The one positive of this is that Jodie has had to spend a lot less time on lesson plans. A big negative is that Micah has to take these tests on his birthday.
That's right, our Micah bear is 7 today!! We're so proud of our special guy and we love him so much. Happy Birthday Micah!!
Here's a picture of Jadyn lounging poolside a few weeks ago when our family went to a pool in Puyo for the afternoon.
Do you remember December 15, 1999? Ron Dayne had just won the Heisman Trophy, gas cost about $1.30 a gallon, "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" was the most watched telvision show in the U.S., everyone was stocking up their pantries with hamburger helper for the end of the world that was just 17 days away, and nobody in our family had a diaper that needed changed. For the next 8 years and 4 months, that didn't happen again. Until last week. Luke is diaper free during the days now and even has had a couple of dry nights. He is still learning some proper etiquette boundaries, though. Like . . . peeing outside by a tree is often alright, but pooping on the sidewalk by the carport- not so much.
In the 11+ years I lived in Lancaster, I rode the bus a total of 0 times. (In fact, aside from trips to the dentist as a kid in Rochester, I don't think I've ever rode the city bus). But here in Shell, we ride the bus often. Not all the time, but more frequently lately. And it's so easy here- no need to look for a schedule of stops and times. We can just walk out to end of our driveway and within 5 minutes there's a bus that will stop and take us to Shell or Puyo.
The kids are taking SAT's this week at school. No, not those SAT's. Their Standard Achievement Tests for each grade level. The one positive of this is that Jodie has had to spend a lot less time on lesson plans. A big negative is that Micah has to take these tests on his birthday.
That's right, our Micah bear is 7 today!! We're so proud of our special guy and we love him so much. Happy Birthday Micah!!
Sunday, April 13, 2008
A year ago today...
When I woke up on April 13th, 2007, I probably couldn't have located Ecuador on a map. Also, my spanish vocabulary consisted of "no" and "piso mojado", I didn't know much about Nate Saint other than there was a movie about him, and I hadn't spent much time thinking about the possibilities of moving our family to another country to be involved in MK education. When I got home from work that day, Jodie asked "What would you think about being a missionary teacher with MAF?" and as they (I'm not really sure who "they" are, but I digress) say, "The rest is history." Wow, what a year it's been! I think our family has experienced just about every emotion possible over the past 12 months. We've been stretched in ways I couldn't have dreamed of last April 12. But it's been so humbling to see how God has guided us and comforted us and allowed us to be used to serve the missionary families and local -Shellers? Shellians? Shellites?-. The whole process has been such a God thing- amazingly so. I can only imagine what our lives might look like on April 13, 2009.
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Taco A Mockingbird
April is Read-A-Thon month at NSMS. The students and teachers are attempting to read 100,000 pages collectively. Jodie had her class over for a reading and taco eating party (the kids voted on the menu. Normally you don't think of curling up with a good book and a taco- but hey). Although nobody in her class is reading Harper Lee's classic about Atticus and Scout Finch, there were appearances made by Encyclopedia Brown, Frank & Joe Hardy, the very hungry caterpillar (in Spanish), and others. Here are some pictures.
Shea and Micah are also reading lots of books this month. Shea has been re-reading many Magic Tree House books along with C.S. Lewis' The Last Battle. Micah's interests have leaned more toward non-fiction including books about storms and Ben Franklin. Not to be outdone, Jadyn and Luke are also reading lots this month. The other four of us have all taken turns reading to them. Some of their favorites are The Bearenstein Bears and Lily the mouse (Jadyn) and books about airplanes (Luke).
Shea and Micah are also reading lots of books this month. Shea has been re-reading many Magic Tree House books along with C.S. Lewis' The Last Battle. Micah's interests have leaned more toward non-fiction including books about storms and Ben Franklin. Not to be outdone, Jadyn and Luke are also reading lots this month. The other four of us have all taken turns reading to them. Some of their favorites are The Bearenstein Bears and Lily the mouse (Jadyn) and books about airplanes (Luke).
Sunday, April 6, 2008
3 down, 1 to go
Today was the last day of the 3rd quarter at school for Jodie, Shea, and Micah. Today is also our 8 month anniversary in Ecuador.
Here's are some highlights and pictures from recent weeks.
Celebrating our first Easter in Ecuador was a blend of old and new. In Ecuador (and probably all of South America), Easter and holy week do not have any of the Spring-themed "fluff" that we associate with the season in the U.S. There's no Easter bunny, plastic eggs, or those little Peeps marshmallows. So we imported some of that with us. Our family painted Easter rocks and eggs and on Easter morning the MAF missionary families had a brunch and egg hunt. Our church had just one service on Easter Sunday, and it was at 5 a.m. So, I was the only one to attend church on Easter Sunday. Here's some pictures of the kids decorating their rocks.
These are Jod's students at Prairie Days- a class project where the kids each researched and led an activity for the other school students about life on the 19th century U.S. prairie.
Edgar and his daughter Sharly are friends of ours that we met at Edgar's bakery. Unfortunately, the bakery closed down last month, but they live in Shell and we're still able to see them from time to time.
I've been helping out at "Spotlight" most weeks. This is a club to help people learn English. Beth, the boy's teacher, usually leads but wasn't able to be there a couple weeks in a row. I was the only native English speaker last week and we had 13 Spanish speakers- more than the normal turnout and more than half were young children. It actually went alright, but I was glad to have some "help" this past Thursday.
I'm really enjoying teaching Phys Ed at NSMS this year. It's a neat way to keep in touch with the school and gives me a little outlet away from home. The kids (3 classes of 1st thru 8th graders) are a lot of fun and I've enjoyed getting to know each of them and their personalities. I'm still getting used to being called Mr. Richardson, though.
Look for our April newsletter in your mailboxes (the ones on your front porch or by the street) this month.
Here's are some highlights and pictures from recent weeks.
Celebrating our first Easter in Ecuador was a blend of old and new. In Ecuador (and probably all of South America), Easter and holy week do not have any of the Spring-themed "fluff" that we associate with the season in the U.S. There's no Easter bunny, plastic eggs, or those little Peeps marshmallows. So we imported some of that with us. Our family painted Easter rocks and eggs and on Easter morning the MAF missionary families had a brunch and egg hunt. Our church had just one service on Easter Sunday, and it was at 5 a.m. So, I was the only one to attend church on Easter Sunday. Here's some pictures of the kids decorating their rocks.
These are Jod's students at Prairie Days- a class project where the kids each researched and led an activity for the other school students about life on the 19th century U.S. prairie.
Edgar and his daughter Sharly are friends of ours that we met at Edgar's bakery. Unfortunately, the bakery closed down last month, but they live in Shell and we're still able to see them from time to time.
I've been helping out at "Spotlight" most weeks. This is a club to help people learn English. Beth, the boy's teacher, usually leads but wasn't able to be there a couple weeks in a row. I was the only native English speaker last week and we had 13 Spanish speakers- more than the normal turnout and more than half were young children. It actually went alright, but I was glad to have some "help" this past Thursday.
I'm really enjoying teaching Phys Ed at NSMS this year. It's a neat way to keep in touch with the school and gives me a little outlet away from home. The kids (3 classes of 1st thru 8th graders) are a lot of fun and I've enjoyed getting to know each of them and their personalities. I'm still getting used to being called Mr. Richardson, though.
Look for our April newsletter in your mailboxes (the ones on your front porch or by the street) this month.
Sunday, March 16, 2008
I'll be home for ... flag day
We'll be heading back to the U.S. in just 88 days. Last week the plane tickets were purchased. We come home for the summer on Thursday, June 12 and return here to Ecuador on Thursday, August 7. There's so many people we want to see when we're back home that 8 weeks just doesn't seem like enough time (the person Jodie's most excited to see is the clerk at Turkey Hill who gives her the first ice tea and ice cream she's had in 11 months. Next on her list is the waiter or waitress at Olive Garden).
Brief updates and anecdotes from life in Shell.
-it's been storming a lot more here lately. There's always a lot of rain, but it seems like there's been more thunder and lightning with the rain recently. That's not always real good news for our electric and internet connection. In addition, our Vonage phone only seems to work for about an hour a week- so if you get a frantic call from us some time, it's because we want to talk quick before Vonage stops working.
-Jodie's class is "traveling" in the Midwest now. This Thursday they have "Prarie Days": a classroom fair where the students will share and we'll all get to have some food. Look for pictures in an upcoming post.
-I played in a 5 game basketball league here in Shell over the past few weeks. Our team came in 3rd place (out of 6 teams) with a 3-2 record. In one game we played against a team with the pastor of our church on it. For those of you who know Pastor Clovis, you may cringe for me when you read this next part. We were both going for a loose ball. We collided. He didn't budge. I went horizontal and landed on the cement floor. Fortunately, I didn't land on my head.
-One of our fellow MAF families is leaving Shell tomorrow and moving to Oaxaca, Mexico. Sean and Rebecca Cannon and their daughters, Brooklyn and Madison, will be working with Alas de Socorro in Oaxaca where Sean will be a pilot. Thankfully, they are faithful bloggers so we'll be able to see and hear how they're doing. It's exciting to see how God is leading them and how they'll be able to shine for Him in their new home.
-Last night at about 3 a.m we awoke to a loud crying/moaning sound and rattling in our kitchen cupboards. We could tell it wasn't one of our kids, but it didn't sound like a cat's meow. It sounded like a baby crying. I opened the cupboard door and saw the front half of Georgia poking out from the 1/2 inch space between the back corner post of the cupboard and the wall. She was stuck.* And she wasn't to happy. And probably not able to breathe. Jod helped yank her out from the front, while I went down to our back porch, reached up into the floor boards and pipes above our hot water heater and tried to shove her legs up. After several minutes (almost a half-hour) of screeching, howling, and other very non cat-like sounds, we were able to get her unstuck.
- Luke has been taking a renewed interest in using the potty. He's been in underwear for most of his daytime hours the last few days. His technique for "liquid waste" is to stand up on the toilet seat and let it go into the waiting pool under his feet. I guess he's trying to practice for public bathrooms with the urinals that go down to the floor.
*Georgia had been easily climbing up through a large hole in the back of our cupboard by climbing up through the space above the hot water heater. But I taped that shut last night which led her to a more desperate and dangerous attempt at breaking into our house in the middle of the night.
Brief updates and anecdotes from life in Shell.
-it's been storming a lot more here lately. There's always a lot of rain, but it seems like there's been more thunder and lightning with the rain recently. That's not always real good news for our electric and internet connection. In addition, our Vonage phone only seems to work for about an hour a week- so if you get a frantic call from us some time, it's because we want to talk quick before Vonage stops working.
-Jodie's class is "traveling" in the Midwest now. This Thursday they have "Prarie Days": a classroom fair where the students will share and we'll all get to have some food. Look for pictures in an upcoming post.
-I played in a 5 game basketball league here in Shell over the past few weeks. Our team came in 3rd place (out of 6 teams) with a 3-2 record. In one game we played against a team with the pastor of our church on it. For those of you who know Pastor Clovis, you may cringe for me when you read this next part. We were both going for a loose ball. We collided. He didn't budge. I went horizontal and landed on the cement floor. Fortunately, I didn't land on my head.
-One of our fellow MAF families is leaving Shell tomorrow and moving to Oaxaca, Mexico. Sean and Rebecca Cannon and their daughters, Brooklyn and Madison, will be working with Alas de Socorro in Oaxaca where Sean will be a pilot. Thankfully, they are faithful bloggers so we'll be able to see and hear how they're doing. It's exciting to see how God is leading them and how they'll be able to shine for Him in their new home.
-Last night at about 3 a.m we awoke to a loud crying/moaning sound and rattling in our kitchen cupboards. We could tell it wasn't one of our kids, but it didn't sound like a cat's meow. It sounded like a baby crying. I opened the cupboard door and saw the front half of Georgia poking out from the 1/2 inch space between the back corner post of the cupboard and the wall. She was stuck.* And she wasn't to happy. And probably not able to breathe. Jod helped yank her out from the front, while I went down to our back porch, reached up into the floor boards and pipes above our hot water heater and tried to shove her legs up. After several minutes (almost a half-hour) of screeching, howling, and other very non cat-like sounds, we were able to get her unstuck.
- Luke has been taking a renewed interest in using the potty. He's been in underwear for most of his daytime hours the last few days. His technique for "liquid waste" is to stand up on the toilet seat and let it go into the waiting pool under his feet. I guess he's trying to practice for public bathrooms with the urinals that go down to the floor.
*Georgia had been easily climbing up through a large hole in the back of our cupboard by climbing up through the space above the hot water heater. But I taped that shut last night which led her to a more desperate and dangerous attempt at breaking into our house in the middle of the night.
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