Summer school

The first 2 times I came here, I taught the littlest kids' class and had a ton of fun with them, playing and teaching them English.  I loved it and it only helped to reinforce my love of teaching little kids.  So, then I move here and everything gets turned upside down! :)  I started out the year, like any other year, teaching the little kids, although older than I'd had in the States and really enjoyed it.  They were a ton of fun and apart from making me want to pull my hair out from their seeming lack of ability to sit still and listen :) they amazed  me with their ability to learn English from just 40 minutes 4 times a week.  Then, in the third trimester, the schedule changed and I added a class a week for the 8th, 9th, 10th and 11th grades!!  It scared me, the idea of teaching junior high and high school, but it was surprisingly enjoyable.  I really appreciated being able to get to know the high schoolers better, they turned out to be really neat to hang out with. :)  Last spring when we were talking about this year's summer school plans, we realized that there weren't any groups coming down and that we wouldn't be able to do the normal Vacational Bible School/English classes like normal.  We were trying to figure out what we would do, if anything and decided to leveling classes to help the lower kids catch up.  Well, that wasn't really so necessary with the younger kids, so it turned out to only be the older kids, junior high and high school age.  Whenever I've been put with a class or group of kids, I've ALWAYS been assigned the youngest group.  Well, this year, I'm with the OLDEST kids, the teenagers who are sophomore/junior age. :)  Slight difference from years' past!!  I was looking forward to the class, only because I already knew who the students would be, having taught the majority during the last trimester of the school year.  I wasn't too sure, though, how well they'd do at learning English, since they're the ones during the school year to not try too hard in class, or do homework or really seem to care, for the most part.  They're sweet kids and fun to talk to, but never really seemed to take school all that seriously, so I had my doubts as to how they'd do with an accelerated English course.  In the 3 days that I've taught them, they've surpassed my expectations by far!!  The first day, at first, they didn't seem to know anything, or remember much from during the school year or the past, but after the first hour or 2, the light bulbs started clicking on and they were getting it! :)  It was an awesome feeling, to watch them figure out what I was teaching them.  One student even told the administrator that she finally understood English for the first time and today several of the girls were asking me why I couldn't teach them during the school year.  I told them that I was going to teach the little ones and so one girl asked me to treat her like I do the little kids, so I started goofing around with her, teasing her. :)  We all started laughing and thus ended recess.  I think what I enjoy the most about teaching them is that, we can joke around and have fun and they allow it, but are mature enough (for the most part!) to settle down when necessary and pay attention.  The younger kids aren't able to do that.  If I joke around with them, they take that as meaning that they don't have to take me seriously.  My goofing around with them comes in the form of coming up with educational games for them or doing things that throw them off, such as messing with the calendar and moving the dates around, that sort of thing.  I love doing it and it's a ton of fun, but I also really enjoy the way I'm able to relate to the teenagers.  It's been a lot of fun finding out about this other side of me! :)  Now, I just need to get pictures.
Here's some pictures I took while in Oregon. :)  Oregon visit and some that I took when I went to the jungle with the administrators of Emanuel trip to the selva

Reentry

It was hard to come back to Ecuador, for the first time ever, I find myself missing family and friends in the States!  Not that I didn't actually miss people before, but it wasn't much different than when I lived in a different area of the country from them, now I'm much more aware of them not being close by.  It's an odd feeling, and I suppose I should figure out what it means! :)  Coming back wasn't all that hard, other than missing people (and NOT wanting to leave my nephew!!!), I slipped back into life here, as if I hadn't been gone.  In some ways it felt as if I had been gone a really long time and in other ways, as if I hadn't been gone at all.  Other than the fact that there's more humidity here, I wasn't noticing that much difference, I know a lot of people everywhere I go, both here, in Macas, and in Oregon (case in point, I went to the mall in Salem with my grandma and saw at least 10 people that I knew and/or was related to, without planning, I can do the same thing walking down the street here!).  I can cook at both places, talk with people, etc.  Then I got online this morning and was reading some friends and cousins' blogs and heard something out the window.  Reason number one why living in Ecuador is different than living in Oregon:  it's the annual festivities celebrating the anniversary of the virgin's appearance here (at least I'm pretty certain that's what's going on) and so they have a parade.  There's a parade for practically everything here, which is fun, since I love parades, although most are really little or the not so interesting civic parades when all the students and teachers dress up in their formal uniform and then the police and military parade behind the students.  The folkloric parades are MUCH more interesting!! :)  The parade going on right outside my window, right now, is made up of people from every single parish in the country!!!  At least that's what it appears to be. :)  I could be wrong, it's possible a few parrishes are missing, but the ones that ARE here, are certainly from all over, there's some from Quito (7-8 hrs by bus), Guayaquil (10-12 hrs by bus), Loja (10-12 hrs by bus, I think) and everywhere else, too.  Each group has a banner with a saying, either from a Catholic father, or a verse from the Bible, a picture of the virgin, and where they come from.  Each group also has it's own uniform, usually the same t-shirt and baseball cap (think youth group mission trips at the airport ready to leave) and singing a different song from the other groups.  It's amazing the devotion that people show towards the virgin here; it makes me wonder what they would be like if they turned that devotion towards Jesus!  People are incredibly devoted, but it makes me sad that they're putting their devotion into a person, granted a person who (if it really was a manifestation of the virgin Mary, they never actually say that it's Mary, just a virgin) helped change the world by giving birth to Jesus, but she's still human, not God.  Why worship the created, when we can worship the Creator?  He's more powerful!  The parade definitely reminds me why I'm here, to show people about Mary's Son, Jesus, she was His mom, but He's God! :)  Definitely different than in Oregon (of course, that might have something to do with the fact that it's one of the least churched states in the country, at least that's what I've heard), oh and it's really green here, too.  Maybe I should send some pictures of the green to my mom, she's been missing it. :)

Summer

It's been my plan these past couple months to write on here more often, however, as soon as I make that plan, I end up writing even less!!  It probably has nothing to do with the fact that the end of the year is super busy, I was testing kids for next year and teaching high school, along with elementary.  I'm sure it has to do with the fact that I decided to write more often. ;)  Oh, and while I was doing all of that, I was attempting to process the fact that I would fly back to Oregon for a couple weeks!!! :)  When I did think about it, I was excited to see my nephew and to get to warmer weather.  (You'd think, living on the equator, in the jungle that I'd have warm weather, but lately it's been in the 70s and rainy during the day and 60s or lower at night)  So, of course, as I was planning what to pack and where on the plane, I decided on a sleeveless shirt and jeans, along with a sweatshirt, thinking that would cover me for about any weather.  Well, imagine my surprise, as we get ready to land, the pilot comes on and says it's 55 and rainy in Portland!!!  What's up with that?!  I had just taken off my sweatshirt, since it'd gotten cold on the plane, so it goes back on and I get off, to be met by a hug from my grandma and my sister handing over my 5 month old nephew!!!!  He's absolutely adorable and there's only been 1 day so far that I haven't seen him and hung out with my sister.  We're taking him all sorts of places, today we headed out to Canyonview Camp, where we all went to day camp, through our church, and I also worked out at the horse camp.  Soooo many memories and places to take pictures and introduce him to. :)   All in all, I'd say he's pretty cute and we should probably keep him around!!! :)