Phonics

After teaching school for 17 years, 15 in the public schools in Oregon, I knew that I would want to homeschool my own children. Part of it was the fact that we never had time to do the fun stuff (I distinctly remember seeing the idea for a big wall mural of ocean animals one year while teaching half day kinder), part is that the best part of teaching is seeing the kids' eyes light up when they finally understand something and why would I want to give that up to someone else? However, the biggest part is the teaching, both what is being taught, as well as the methods. 

Our oldest is newly 5 and finishing up Junior Kindergarten with Memoria Press (side note, I love what I've seen and used of their curriculum!). We recently received the boxes with the kindergarten curriculum for next year and it's so amazing! I feel like it's a breath of fresh air after the way I was required to teach my last decade in the public schools. 

I was taught to read with phonics, mostly because I begged my mom to teach me before kindergarten (I think she was desperate to get me to stop bugging her and maybe I could entertain my little sisters if I knew how), so she taught me the letter sounds and how to blend them together, because that's how you read. I then went to a private school that taught phonics. It wasn't until I was in junior high or high school before I realized that there was another way out there that people were taught. When I started signing up for my elementary teacher education courses, I was excited to see how to teach all the subjects I'd enjoyed as a kid, as well as how to make math more enjoyable for my future students. It was very disillusioning to me when, after completing a course, I was no closer to knowing how to teach a subject than when I started it. 

My math for elementary teachers was heavy on the "new" way of teaching that was supposed to get students who did not have high math intelligence (based on the multiple intelligences theory, that has since been debunked, as I understand it), to use their intelligence in math. This basically turned into having the students write a paragraph explaining what they were thinking when they solved the problem. I would have been considered to have high verbal/linguistic intelligence and this style was geared towards people with my intelligence. I hated it! It took what felt like a million times longer to solve one problem and seemed to make it infinitely more complex. It didn't help me solve the problem better, just took longer. There were also "new" ways to solve the problems, that were supposed to work better for students who were not math minded, rather than the traditional algorithms. This annoyed me to no end because the new methods seemed more clunky, took longer, and didn't make sense. Perhaps I was more math minded than I thought, but the traditional algorithms seem faster, easier, and make sense. 

All I remember from my social studies for elementary teachers class was creating a simulation (not what it was called, since this was back in 2002, but it was that idea). The teacher/professor was one of my favorites in the Ed department, but I don't remember anything about how and when to use primary sources or even if primary sources were even discussed! Looking back, this seems like a bit of a glaring omission!

Reading for elementary teachers was a dud as well. We spent the time working on penmanship (the one useful thing we did!), as well as how to use a book to connect to other subjects and "extend the learning". Absolutely nothing about how to actually teach a student to read! It appeared to me as if our professor assumed that we'd all be in upper elementary classes with students who were at grade level or above. I remember thinking about what to do if I ended up working in the lower grades. 

When I got my first job it was in a dual language school and I muddled through, since I'd never actually been taught how to read in Spanish, other than learning the letter names and sounds when they differed from English. The curriculum we had more or less taught Spanish phonics. I say more or less because there were plenty of sight words thrown in (I have a whole rant about the non-necessity of sight words in Spanish and how ridiculous the idea is, but I'll throw that out here later), but this was my first introduction to Spanish sílabas or syllables. The basic idea is that you teach the vowels first, then add a consonant, usually m, and make syllables with it (ma, me, mi, mo, and mu), then put the syllables together to form words. Amo a mi mamá. (I love my mom.) is often the first sentence a Spanish speaking kid learns to read. Then you the next consonant and its syllables and so on until you have all the simple syllables, then blends, etc. My third year teaching I was introduced to another kinder teacher who'd started a whole program that systematically taught Spanish reading to the kids and taught the parents how to help their children. My students took off! I loved it because it made sense and worked. The majority of my students had great success with it. It was nothing like what I'd been prepared for in college, it was much better. When I came back from Ecuador I was in a district that said they taught phonics, but somehow it never seemed to stick with the students. I wasn't sure why. Then I moved back to my original district and the curriculum had changed, there wasn't the systematic program as an option. It was a very different experience, and not in a good way! Two of the 4 years I taught there were in kinder and if felt like an uphill battle to teach phonics to my students. I even had the same assistant as at my previous school when my students did so well. We tried to implement as many strategies as we could from before, but it felt as if that was a problem. While I was gone, there had been a huge shift in accountability to the rest of your grade level team, so that everyone was no longer doing their own thing, but they planned together and then implemented the plan in their individual classes. Before, as long as we were getting the students to the standards, there didn't seem to be much caring as to how. This new change sounds great in theory, but it depends on your team. I worked with some very nice ladies who didn't know put an emphasis on phonics. They would say they taught it, but it was light and general, not a focus. Our reading units were based on a book for the week. The curriculum had activities that went along with the book, but we had to choose and adapt them for our school/classroom. This worked a little better in English, but was the complete opposite of a phonetic approach for Spanish. I remember one week we read Snowy Day and made up a booklet to show comprehension of it. The sentences were simple in English (The coat is red. or something like that), but not at all in Spanish (La chaqueta es roja.) and the word coat was left out and the students had to fill it in. In all of the sentences the word left out was a much more phonetically complex word than in English. This was supposed to be a whole class activity, but I knew my students would struggle with it being a mostly independent activity. I chose to do it in a small group setting and the other teachers were not pleased. We were all frustrated! I realize now, those teachers had never been taught phonics, so the disconnect was understandable. Two of them were very likely not taught to read phonetically, but with whole language (sight words), and all three attended teacher college after me, but well before the science of reading became a thing. I finally realized what the difference between the previous school and this one was. When I taught kinder before, it was half day and the majority of the time was spent on centers where the kids would practice math and letter sounds/reading while my assistant and I would meet with small groups working at different levels. Before this time we'd have a math lesson and a bit of a reading comprehension lesson, but it would be shorter than the math and not the focus of the day. I used it to interest the kids in reading and books, but it wasn't my focus of the day. This other school was flipped. The majority of the reading block was to be spent on reading comprehension and just a little bit on phonics. No wonder my students had a hard time! The focus wasn't on learning how to read, but what to do with reading. Kind of hard to know what to do with reading when you can't read! That's not to say listening comprehension isn't important, it is, supremely so! However, it isn't what teaches you how to read, phonics does that. 

So, back to opening up my new kinder curriculum we're going to use, it has the focus on teaching phonics, with read aloud/listening comprehension and integral part, but not the majority of the time, nor the main focus! It's such a blessing to be able to go back to the method I know works and be able to use it for my boys.

It's About Time

 It's been 15 years since I last posted anything on here and nearly a decade since I last looked at this blog! Lots has changed in my life since I was on here last time, but the biggest is that I'm no longer living in Ecuador, but back in the States, and am married with kids. My husband was asking me something about teaching the other day and I had a whole monologue answer for him (not sure he knew what he was getting into asking me that question! ;) ). He said I should start a blog, which reminded me of this site. :) So, here goes...

Shell, Ecuador

Just after Easter a lady from Oregon came down to help teach English for 2 months, to finish out the year.  She's pretty active and adventurous, wanting to see as much as she can before she goes back.  One weekend we decided to go to Shell to see the Nate Saint house.  I always thought, from the first time I heard the name, years ago, that Shell was a really weird name for a town in Ecuador, because 1 it's not anywhere near the beach and 2 it's an English word in a Spanish speaking country!  As I read more about the town, though, I realized that it was named after the Shell Oil Company and you can see there logo in a number of spots around there.  A random (seemingly) bit of US culture in Ecuador, not sure if it's better or worse that seeing McDonalds and Pizza Hut in Quito, Cuenca and Guayaquil!  Anyway, Shell's only about 3 hours or so from Macas, depending on if you drive yourself or take a bus and if you take a bus how fast the driver goes and how often the bus stops to pick up and drop off people.  We wanted to go for the historical aspects of it, to see where Nate Saint and Jim Elliot and their group were based in the 50s for their mission to the Waorani.  The Saint house is still standing and used as part of the MAF (missionary aviation fellowship) offices.  It was really cool to see how much is still preserved!  Not all of the house is the same, since last fall it was renovated.  The guy who showed us around showed us some of the wooden beams that had to be replaced, they were completely hollow, having been eaten by termites.  Essentially they almost completely replaced all the beams and boards, only able to rescue some of it.  The kitchen was the same and some of the boards were able to be used, so the inner walls were an interesting mix of painted and stained boards, the painted ones being original from somewhere in the house.  One of the coolest things, for me, was seeing the original basked they used to send presents to the Waorani, from the airplane.  It was recovered when they found the plane.  In an interesting small world connection the wife of the missionary couple that I know in Guayaquil is the daughter of some of the original missionaries in the Macas/Macuma area and her dad led the rescue/recovery mission when Jim Elliot and Nate Saint went missing.  I love how small the world can really be! :)  They also had a little gift shop sort of thing, since different Shuar and Waorani often bring handcrafts to them, knowing that they get a lot of visitors, so that they can sell them.  The mission doesn't receive any money from them, it all goes to the people themselves.  One of the things that was there were some wooden crosses.  The guy showing us around told us that they were made from the original wood from the house, by the grandson of the guy who speared Nate Saint.  On the one that I bought it has the word Itota, which is the Waorani word for Jesus.  I love the  symbolism in that little cross!  So, some pictures. :)  And just for fun a picture of a day when I quite willingly washed the plates. ;)

Busy

So life's been insanely busy, either with school or visiting friends (officially supporting and encouraging the seminary students from the church in Macas ;) ).  So, here's a few videos and pictures of what I've been up to lately.  The first one is of the younger sister of a couple of my students.  My friend Andrea walked over to the mom and asked to hold her.  Well, of course, I wanted my turn!  I got her during the singing, she was adorable!  The 2nd video is of an adorable kitten that wandered into Andrea's new apartment.  Tragically she doesn't really like cats, so does anyone want one?? :) staff retreat pics  Easter weekend  Enjoy!

Classes

I can't believe we're 2/3 of the way through the school year already!  2nd trimester exams are in a couple weeks, then just 2 months and school's over.  Granted, then I have another few weeks of summer school/VBS to teach, before getting to meet my niece and see my nephew again (oh, and all the rest of my family and friends), but it's starting to sink in that the end is in sight.  Which has the lovely effect of making me really excited and sad all at the same time. :)

I love teaching the younger classes.  Part of this is because they're who I have more experience with, but also because they're more respectful and willing to learn.  Plus, they're just adorable. :)  But my favorite part was when I started teaching 4to a week ago (9 years old, or so) and the students told me that we needed to start the day with a prayer.  Great, I thought, they're already in that habit, awesome!  Then, they about put me into tears, when they said that they wanted to pray, in English, and several volunteered for it!  I love listening to them try to talk in English, but it was even more incredible when they pray in English.  Definitely cool! :)  Of course, there's still days when I'm tempted to pull all my hair out in frustration, usually because they can't figure out how to close their mouth.  The worst part is, it's not on purpose, it's not something they're thinking of, so it's harder for them to stop and it's so distracting!

My older kids are about ready to drive me crazy.  I've discovered that teaching junior high and high school isn't my gifting so much. :)  That and, either I remember it completely differently than it really was, or my classmates and I were saints, because I don't remember too much whining and groaning when we were given assignments.   Sure, every once in awhile, or as a joke, but we'd be complaining as we pulled out our papers to work.  Here, they seriously whine at least double what the little ones do!  At times I feel like the kindergarteners and 1st graders are more mature!  It doesn't help that I've yet to discover the word whine in Spanish, I've never heard anyone use it or talk about that tone of voice, or anything.  In English, it's everywhere, but in Spanish, it either doesn't exist or is very uncommon.  Well, it doesn't exist as a word, the action definitely does!  I'm so used to telling my kids that they have to use a regular voice, that whining doesn't work with me, but, without the word in Spanish, it's much harder!  You can kind of translate it as quejarse, which is the same as complain, but whine and complain are totally different!!!!!  (well, at least they SOUND different) :)

But, with all the frustrations I have with behavior, it's all worth it when former students come up and hug me and tell me they miss me (even some of the high schoolers have been known to do that) or when I hear them pray in English, or give a speech in English.  Or, I have days like last Friday.  My high school class had been practicing a couple plays in English and I'd talked with the 3ro teacher about them.  So, Friday, I brought my high schoolers to my 3ro class and the high schoolers put on their play.  The 3ro kids loved it so much that they wanted to see it again!  The teens were willing, so they put it on again.  It was awesome to watch the faces of the little kids as they saw these big teens playing Little Red Riding Hood in English. :)  Afterwards, back in the high school classroom, I asked them how they felt.  They loved it too!  The ones that hadn't gotten to perform in front of the little kids were asking when it would be their turn, a huge switch from before, when no one wanted to perform for the little kids! :)

Ironic

As I was making cookies this morning, I got to thinking about the differences between cookie making in Oregon and cooking making in Macas, which led to the lovely rabbit trail of ironies in my life.
~I live where chocolate is grown, but yet the only chocolate I can find is either as processed as the most fake stuff in the States or homemade and really bitter.  And the only way people make chocolate here is either the powder for hot chocolate or chocolate bars.  Living in a chocolate producing country does not mean more chocolate chips!
~I, who loves to have the windows open whenever it's above 45 or 50 degrees, now lives where the temperature would seem to indicate that I could have the windows open year round, all day long, but yet I rarely open them.  Of course, this probably has more to do with not letting bugs and dust in, but still, it seems strange.
~I love to go barefoot everywhere, I've been known to wander around in my parents field barefoot (although only the mowed parts, I have no desire to meet a snake, even nonpoisenous, or a stickerbush barefoot), but here, where it's much warmer and people traditionally went barefoot, I wear shoes.  It might have something to do with the dust and bugs, but who knows. :)
~Here, in a place with no fast food, aside from street stands, I probably eat more "fast food" than I did in Oregon.  Well, most of that is food I make, but it's still not meals like I used to make.
~Seattle's about 4-5 hours from Salem and I've only been there probably 4 or 5 times in my life, because it's so far away, but yet, I think nothing of taking the bus 8-12 hours from Macas for a weekend, to visit friends.
~Friends and students don't quite know what to do with me, because for the most part, they know more about US pop culture (movies, music, etc) than I do!  Of course, that happened in the States, too, but it's even funnier here.
~I feel like I speak more English in Macas, than I did in Salem.  I've still learned more Spanish and become more fluent, because the Spanish I speak here is with a wider variety of people, but still, it's less than in Salem (or so it seems).
~I think I have more friends my age in Ecuador, than I do in Salem.  Of course, I have "a few" more family members in Oregon!  And friends of other ages, too. :)
~In high school I used to wear shorts (granted with a sweatshirt) once the thermometer hit 60.  Now, I'm shivering in jeans and a coat if it even gets close to 70 or less.  Next year will be interesting!
~This weekend in Carnaval, Ecuador's version of Mardi Gras, so we have a 4 day weekend.  Instead of going and hanging out with friends, I'm staying at home, making cookies, cleaning and looking for materials for class online.  What happened to being lazy on vacation?!
~It's easier  to find the ingredients to bake healthy food in the States, even though most things here are made from scratch.  Almost nothing is made with whole wheat or real butter, it's all white flour and margarine.  I guess, though, I could change the way I eat and eat a lot of meat, since that's fresh and plentiful here and soups, etc are all made with totally natural ingredients. :)

I'm sure there's more, but these are the things that stuck out to me. :)  (I seriously need to do stuff where I can take pictures, I'm slacking for sure on that!)

Amazon rain

A number of years ago I heard a song on the radio called He Reigns.  It talks about people all around the world worshipping God in all sorts of different environments.  I loved the idea that even though people's situations are different, they still praise the same God that I do.  My favorite line, though, was "it's the song of the forgiven, drowning out the Amazon rain."  Every time I heard that, it reminded me of being here, in Macas, in church services with the rain pouring down so hard on the metal roof, that you could hardly hear the preacher preach, but the singing, that you could hear. :)  I kept thinking, I've been there, I've done that!  It makes me want to experience the rest of the  song, praise God with my brothers and sisters in other parts of the world, too.  Then I think, that the song is also a bit of a foretaste of Heaven, where we'll worship God with people from every tribe and language.  I can't wait to talk to people from all over, from all different cultures and times, to ask what it's like where they're from, how did they learn about God, what was life like.

It was pouring here, earlier.  Macas is in a valley in the Andes' foothills and normally you can see all the mountains on either side, but when it really rains, the mountains disappear and all you can see is Macas.  This morning was hot and sunny, but a few hours after I got home from church, I started hearing rain.  I looked out the window and Quilamo (the closest hill/mountain) had disappeared and the  rain was coming down in sheets.  The streets were starting to turn to rivers, hiding the cobblestones and washing all the dust down the drains (either that or making mud).  I just sat and listened to the rain on the roof, there's nothing compared to the sound of the rain on the roof for relaxation, and watched the rain was the down clean.  After remembering the song, it brought back childhood memories of Oregon rain.  Whenever it would rain really hard, the living room window would turn to a waterfall and we'd bring out the legos and make Noah's Ark, joking that we were going to need it soon.  I realized that I need to soak these things in, I'm going to miss them next year!  Thankfully it rains a lot in Oregon, too. :)  And there's snow there!  I'm determined to enjoy and be content where I'm at, at least most of the time. :)

Seasons

I've been thinking about this for quite awhile, over a year now.  Seasons are important to me.  I've always known they were, but never realized HOW important they were until I moved to a place that didn't have them.  Granted, if you go to different websites about Ecuador, they'll all tell you that Macas is in the Oriente, in the jungle and here there are 2 seasons, the wet season and the dry season.  My friends and family were asking me what the seasons were like down here, which is why I was looking at that portions of the websites, and I wanted to know how to answer them.  When was Macas' dry season and when was the wet?  The problem I ran into was that some sites said the wet season was from June-December, while others said October-July and still others said other durations.  I quickly realized, that if I averaged the information out, Macas was in a perpetual wet season, from January-January!  I remembered the administrator's wife telling me, the first summer I was down here, that they were ending their wet season then, in July, but after reading those websites, I was curious as to how I would perceive it, as well as how others would describe it.  So I got here in August of 2009 and it didn't rain much until about November or so, the entire time everyone told me that we were in a drought and it wasn't normal to be that dry and hot at that time of the year.  As I started to hear more and more about the weather, and talk to different people about it, I realized something.  People here don't consider their seasons wet and dry, but winter and summer.  However, they think nothing of having winter Sunday-Wednesday and summer coming in on Thursday and having Saturday be winter again!  Summer and winter here don't actually correspond to seasons, but to weather.  Whenever it's rainy and cold (and yes, my body thermometer has gotten completely messed up down here, next year should be entertaining!) it's winter and when it's sunny and hot, it's summer.  Theoretically, you could have 2 seasons in 1 day, and I think I've actually had days where different people have told me the season, but 1 said summer and the other winter!

The seasons here don't bring a sense of rhythm to people's lives.  Maybe I'm too much of a country girl, although, I really only ever technically lived in the country 1 year, my senior year of high school, it seems to define me better than city girl!  I've always looked to the seasons to help me relate to things and get ready for events and things that happen year after year.  For example, as the weather gets colder, the leaves start to fall, it rains a lot more and I know that Thanksgiving is around the corner.  Once we celebrate Thanksgiving, it's time to prepare for Christmas.  After Christmas comes my birthday (and now both my nephew and niece also have birthdays then!!!!) and then spring.  With spring comes Easter and my sister's and brother-in-law's birthdays and my mom's, too.  Then it starts getting a lot warmer, school gets out and we have summer, with my other sister's birthday and then school starts.  Then my dad's birthday and it starts getting colder, which means that it's time for Thanksgiving.  I realized, last year and this year, that without seasons, it's as if my body's in limbo, there's no passage of time and the calendar has no meaning, so Christmas really snuck up on me both years.  I have no frame of reference, aside from the seasons, that's enough to get it sunk into my head that it's time to prepare for Christ's birth!  Oh, people here decorate for Christmas and give presents, albeit, not as many presents as is typical in the States, but the tradition is still here, but even with seeing all of the decorations up and getting ready for the big Christmas program, it still surprised me when it happened and I, to this day, have a hard time convincing myself that it's actually passed.

I was trying to figure out why this was and the only thing I could come up with is that my mental annual rhythm is set to the seasons and I need them to help me mentally prepare.  It reminds me of the difference in how I celebrated Easter the few years that I didn't go to my church's Good Friday service.  A friend of mine's dad is a pastor and she asked me if I wanted to help them out on Good Friday, when they had their Easter service, since the building they met in they rented and was occupied Sunday mornings, so they couldn't meet then.  I said sure and had a lot of fun playing with the kids and celebrating Easter with them.  But, come Easter morning, the service didn't hold nearly as much meaning for me.  The first year I couldn't figure it out, just figured it was my mood or something, but after the 2nd year, I realized what was happening.  One year, the pastor was talking about why we celebrate Good Friday and said that without mourning, the celebration doesn't have as much meaning.  If we don't remember what was so horrible about Good Friday, how can we celebrate how good Easter is?  I realized that, for me, I needed that reminder on Good Friday, of why Easter was so special.  So the next year I went to the Good Friday service and really enjoyed Easter that year.  I'm beginning to think that I need seasons, in the same sort of way.  The change in seasons helps me anticipate what's coming next, so that I can mentally prepare for it and have Christmas (I noticed it most with Christmas and Easter) in my thoughts, so that when it comes, I've thought about it and remembered what it is that we celebrate then.

Plus, I like the cold, so it'll be nice to experience that again, even if I'll need a few more layers than I did 2 years ago!

Guayaquil and Christmas

I just got back from spending Christmas weekend in Guayaquil, with some friends of mine.  Ivan and Tannya are students at the Alliance Seminary there and invited me to spend Christmas with them, since all of their family is here, in the Amazon region and they like to spend time with me (well, for Ivan it's more of a desire to tease and matchmake for me!) :)  I had tons of fun,  even though it was a shorter visit than I would have liked.  If I had been able to stay another day, we would have gone to the beach and gone swimming (something I'm still not used to, swimming, OUTSIDE, in December)!  But I had to be back at school and really had a ton of stuff to do to get ready for January, so it wasn't TOO bad. :)  I didn't actually take any pictures, aside from when I went with Tannya and Ivan to the youth group that they're interns in, it was a weekend of watching movies, eating, hanging out and sleeping!  (oh and talking with my family on Christmas morning, my nephew's a goof!)  The strangest part, aside from not being with my family, oh and not getting my presents yet (it's not the getting of presents that I want, but to know what they are, surprises drive me crazy, if I know they're coming!) was the weather.  I'm used to cold and rainy, wishing for snow, aside from one Christmas in the early 90s when it was warm and sunny and I wore a t-shirt outside.  Guayaquil's definitely in the southern hemisphere, which means that December is the warm time of year!  Although, it makes me laugh, since Ecuador's on the tropics, people don't really know what summer and winter are really about and call any time that it's raining winter.  And, since December is also the beginning of the rainy season on the coast, it's called winter, even though it's much hotter and more humid with the rain!  It actually wasn't as bad as I was led to believe the weather would be, there were a couple time I felt drenched in sweat from the humidity, but it was actually pretty comfortable, well, while wearing shorts and a tanktop! :)

So for some reason, I wrote this and never posted.  Oops! :)  Well, here it is now.

Random

Some random thoughts, sights, or questions I've had recently...

Is it bad that, while cleaning, I'm happy about the fact that there were more cockroaches in my kitchen than in my bedroom?

Am I sadistic to enjoy watching a cockroach squirming around on its back and not squish it, but kill it much slower with bug spray?  Those things are creepy!!!

A lady was walking down the sidewalk, the other day, carrying several chickens by the legs, not so odd to think about, but then, as she readjusted them in her hands I realized that they were alive, as at least one started squirming and flapping its wings.  I guess she wanted really fresh chicken! :)  (Normally people carry them in a sack, plastic if dead and woven if alive.)

The other night a squad from the fire department was marching down the street, at about 9:30pm or so, and chanting, like I've seen the military do in movies.  At least, I assume they were the fire department, the police, soldiers and firefighters all wear camo, but in different colors, the police in blue, soldiers in green and firefighters in red, and I think they were wearing red, although that late at night, it's kinda hard to tell. :)

I found chedder cheese at a new store in town!!!  Life is great! :)  Although, it's more mild than I prefer, it still has a slight cheddery taste, yum!

FAQ

When I was first getting ready to come down here for 2 years, I sent out a list of Frequently Asked Questions that I kept getting from people.  Now, almost 2 years later, I thought it might be interesting to do another one, but of questions that people here ask me, along with my typical response.

Where are you from?
~depending on my mood, how ornery I'm feeling that day, will change  my answer, but it's usually a combination of: for the past year and a half, Macas, the United States, or Oregon.  Which leads to the next question...

Oregon?  Where's that?
~It's on the north Pacific, just north of California.  Or, if they've said that they have relatives on the East Coast (where approximately 99% of Ecuadorians move to, based on my informal poll here), then I'll say that it's on the other side of the country, about 3 or 4 days driving in the car.

Do you like it in Macas/Ecuador?
~I love it here!  It's so pretty and everyone's friendly.  I also like living in a smaller community where you can know a lot of people.

Do you have an Ecuadorian boyfriend?
~nope, just friends.  Which leads to the next question...

So you must have a boyfriend in the US, right?
~nope, just friends there, too.  Which leads to the next question/suggestion....

You should marry an Ecuadorian and live here for the rest of your life!/Why don't you marry an Ecuadorian and live here for the rest of your life?
~I'll marry whoever God wants me to, whether he's from Ecuador, the US or somewhere else, I don't know. :)

What do you do here?/What are you doing here?
~I teach English at Emanuel Christian School.  Which usually leads to either a comment that they know someone there, or me being asked if it's an evangelical school.

How do you get paid?
~I'm with a mission organization, which sends me money to live on.

Do you miss the States?
~I really, really miss my niece and nephew, one was just born last week and one turns 1 tomorrow.  I miss having my own classroom and being close to my family, but I love being here, with many of my friends.

When are you going back to the States next?
~I'm going back the end of July.  Which leads to the next....

When are you coming back here?
~I'll come back during vacations (there's no summer here, so saying during the summer holds little meaning!) for the students' graduation and for summer school.

How did you learn Spanish?/You speak Spanish really well for only having been here for a year!/etc
~I took classes in high school, just like my students are learning English and I was a Spanish kindergarten teacher for 6 years before coming here.

Do you like the food here?
~I love it!  My favorite's maduros con quesillo (mature plantains with homemade soft cheese). :)

How can you walk barefoot?! (asked when I was dressed as a Shuar for the parade last spring)
~I'm from the country, I'm used to going barefoot outside, it's more comfortable! :)

Can you teach me how to make cookies? (mostly by students)
~I'd love to, but I don't know when I'll have time.  (a few students have come by and made cookies with me and we always have fun!)

That's all that I can think of, off the top of my head, I'm sure I'll come up with more later. :)

Getting Home

I often walk home from school (and yes, I'm still living 14 blocks from the school), but at times I'll catch the bus, depending on how much I'm taking home, when the bus comes by, etc.  If the bus doesn't come soon after I walk out of the school, I usually can walk home and be only a few blocks from the house before seeing the bus, so it doesn't really get me home much faster, which means the bus takes about 15-20 minutes to drive from the school to my house, mostly because traffic doesn't move all that fast on the streets here (unless you're in a taxi after 9pm and then you fly!) and because the bus stops A LOT to drop off and pick up people.  We have bus stops, but the bus will also pick you up and drop you off apart from the official stops, so there's a lot of stopping and starting.
So Friday I needed to bring home about the equivalent of a ream of paper along with my computer.  We're missing a teacher this week, so I had extra classes and extra papers to grade with less time to do it in, which means that I watched movies and graded most of yesterday!  I left about 5:15 or so, thinking to get home at 5:30, eat something and start grading some papers.  There were some high schoolers hanging out on the corner, after getting out of tutoring, and they were talking about a Pregón, the same type of parade where I dressed up as Shuar last year, but I didn't see anyone else hanging around the corner and ALL of the parades start out by the school, so I didn't think anything of it.  The bus came by within a couple minutes so I got on and sat down.  We started down the road and then, at the most annoying intersection in town, instead of going straight like normal, we turned left.  I looked to the right and there were police blocking the road, so no one could turn right and at the next block over had a ton of people.  I figured it was from the protest that I'd seen earlier that day, the taxi driver that took me back to school after lunch said that they were protesting for something to do with medicine, he didn't know and didn't have too high of an opinion of them, which I've found is pretty common.  Anyway, I just figured that it was the same protest and that they hadn't disbanded yet, which seemed a little odd to me, but not too much so.  So the bus went one block to the west from our normal route, but  then came to the end of that road and we had to go back to the main road, but there again it was blocked from going the normal route (the school's on Amazonas St and I live on Soasti St, one block to the east, with the bus route following Amazonas for a few blocks and then turning onto Soasti, but Soasti was all blocked) and Amazonas was blocked because they tearing up all the streets bit by bit to lay down new pipes for the city's water/sewer system and the street we were on, to the west of Amazonas ended at the bus station, so there was no way for us to continue.  So, the bus turned onto Amazonas heading back to the school and I started to get a little worried, but then the bus turned east, to the road on the other side of Soasti, which gave me hope.  Macas has 3 streets that go the entire length of Macas: Amazonas, Soasti and 24 de Mayo.  Amazonas and Soasti were blocked, but we were going to try 24 de Mayo.  However, we could only get as far as the main Catholic church, before it too was blocked!!  So the bus, again, turns back to the school and I asked the drivers if they weren't going to be able to get closer and they said that there was no way to continue on this side of the airport runway, but they would go down the other side of the runway.  So we go back by school, which is at one end of the runway (my house is about halfway-3/4 down the runway on the other end).  So the bus goes flying down the road with just one other passenger who gets off at the end of the runway, but the bus continues, without turning to go to the other side.  I ask the drivers if they would be able to get to La Loma (my neighborhood) and they said that the would on the other side of the loop, so I hung out on the bus.  We got to the end of the route, by the soccer stadium/track, leftover from the Ecuadorian version of the Olympics (province against province) and just waited.  I began to wonder when, if EVER I was going to get home and debating the benefit of getting off and finding a taxi, since I REALLY didn't want to walk with all that paper in my backpack!  Finally, though, the bus drivers got back on and started the bus up and headed down the road.  I breathed a huge sigh of relief when the bus headed down the east side of the runway, instead of the west (I live on the east)!  There was hope!! :)  At about 6:15 or so, I got off the bus, at my corner, ready to eat and rest. :)   Not my normal trip home from school, but definitely interesting. :)
It was nice to be able to see the country around here, instead of the usual cityscape.  The school's on the edge of town and I live on the edge of town, but between here and there, is all city, with a couple of empty lots where corn or bananas are grown, but not too much country, it's all houses, cement, cobblestones and telephone wires.  But the other side of the runway isn't developed like this side, it's the poor, newly settled area, so it's mostly wooden houses on large plots of land, with lots of ferns and tall grasses and trees.  So pretty!!  Even though I wanted to get home, I really did need that time in the country.  I don't get enough of that here, although, wherever I go i see almost completely unsettled mountains, so that does help. :)  Ahh, the capabilities of the country to relax me! :)

Shower

Yesterday was one of the secretaries at school's bridal shower.  Well, I suppose it was more of a couple's shower, since both came and the guests were of all ages and both genders.  It was a lot of fun!  I'd never been to an Ecuadorian shower before, so I had no idea what to expect.

It all started Friday afternoon when a couple from church stopped by the school.  The husband is one of the pastors at church and his wife taught the 3yr old preschool class last year at school.  They're also in charge of the Sunday School program, which the couple getting married is involved in.  They came in to give me and a few others the invitation to Patricia and Christian's shower the next day.  That isn't too uncommon, to be invited to something a few days or less before the event so I wasn't too surprised, just happy that I was invited.  It's such a privilege to live here and be a part of people's lives, to see an Ecuador that most North Americans don't get to.  Anyway, on the invitation was a suggestion of something to get them, so there wouldn't be duplicates and mine said disinfectant.  So, on my way home from school I stopped and bought some good stuff that also is supposed to scare away cockroaches and bugs, too.

The shower was supposed to start at 5, but I didn't get there until 10 after, or so and they hadn't started yet, so I didn't feel too bad getting there late. :)  About 5 minutes or so after I got there, we started.  Patricia and Christian, the couple whose shower it was, were upstairs, in another apartment, with the little kids, while Lucia and Klever, the couple throwing the shower told us a couple things before they came down.  Lucia said that one of the activities would be for Patricia to make Christian a salad and a cup of coffee, to show that she can take care of him, but that they were going to make sure the coffee had no sugar, without either of them knowing it, and that Christian would have to eat and drink it all with a smile on his face, to show that he wouldn't hurt Patricia's feelings.  At least, that's how I understood it. :)

They came downstairs and Lucia and Klever's son had a game for us to play.  We all got into a circle and held hands, except for 2, leaving a hole in the circle.  The 2 on either side of the hole had to grab hands, leave the circle, find someone else to fill the hole and go back to their spot, leaving another hole.  Then he was going to randomly start counting down from 10 and when he got to 0, the 2 on either side of the hole would have to pay penance.  It was hilarious!!  People forgot what they were supposed to do, so everyone else was yelling at them to run and find someone and every once in awhile it was 2 guys who had to grab hands, which inspired whistling and catcalls.   We played a few times and then they decided that we  had enough people who would have to pay penance.  The first 2 had to stand and be puppets while half the group went up, 1 at a time, and positioned them however they wanted. :)  The second pair had to dance like ducks, per majority vote of the group while the last pair had to dance a really silly kids song which ended with them stomping their feet, flapping their arms like wings and wiggling their backside like a duck or chicken or something!

Then they had Christian tell the story of how he and Patricia got together, while one lady kept warning the dads in the room to pay attention for when their daughters grow up!  It was probably one of the most amazing stories I've heard, it sounds like it's straight from a fairy tale.  He would come in to town to see her when she got off work, to walk her to the bus, half a block away.  He'd wait with her for the bus and then go back to the country, walking at least a foot away from each other, but that 5 minutes was worth it, to him, to go into town to see her. :)  This was all before they ever dated, then when he actually asked her to date him it was over the phone!  They had everyone laughing so hard!

After that was the traditional dress the bride and groom.  We got toilet paper and tape for her dress, while the guys got newspaper and tape for his tux.  I was amazed at everyone's creativity!  Patricia's dress reminded me of something from the early 1800s, like Pride and Prejudice or something similar.  Then they put toilet paper sashes on a couple of the high school girls and made them the bridesmaids.  Christian's costume was even better, though!  He looked like a cross between an ancient knight and a robot. :)  They even gave him tails in the back, and a pocket in front with a little flower sticking out of it.  They made a hat for him, but I wasn't quite sure what kind it was supposed to be.  At first I thought it was a bandanna, but then it looked a little like a VERY short chef's hat!  Then I saw that they were giving him facial hair.  At first it was just a Hitler mustache, but then that got removed and made into sideburns with a handlebar mustache and then one of the sideburns fell off, so he looked lopsided. :)  After they were all dressed they had a mock wedding ceremony full of jokes and more puppetry.  During the ceremony, a person stood behind each Patricia and Christian, pretending to be their hands.  It reminded me of the skit we used to do at Sonshine about morning routines, or something, where the person behind has to do everything the person in front is supposed to do, without looking.

Later Klever read some comments about matrimony that were supposed to be funny.  Most of them were, but there were a few where everybody just kind of looked at him confused.  The one I remember the best was something like: archeologists make the best husbands because the older you get, the more beautiful you look to him! :)


All in all, it was hilarious and a great time!  I loved the mix of ages, everyone from an 70 something retired missionary to 2 year olds were there, although the kids were mainly playing outside and upstairs, but those of us who were actually attending the party were a mix of a few high schoolers, some of us in our 20s, a few in their 30s and 40s and a few that had to be at least 70 or more!  It was great! :)

Clothing

Walking down the street also is great for people watching!  Some look as if they just came from the jungle, with big rubber boots all muddy, old baggy jeans for the guys and skirts for the ladies, carrying their babies in bright slings, barely holding them on, just tension and a big diaper!  Then after them come people dressed no different than you’d see anywhere in the States, jeans, t-shirt, shorts, etc.  Next to them could be a woman dressed up so much that she looks like she’s going to a fancy restaurant, but is really just getting home from work, wearing her uniform.  And then after that could be someone dressed in their traditional clothing, that hasn’t, as far as I know, changed for centuries.

The first time I saw an indigenous lady in traditional clothing I had the hardest time not staring.  Then the first time I saw an indigenous lady from a different village I again struggled with not staring.  The clothes seem so foreign and exotic at first.  But I soon realized that it's a normal every day thing for many to continue wearing traditional clothing all the time and not just at reenactments, like in the States.  Now, I've gotten used to it and can even tell, to some extent, what region the lady comes from, based on her clothes.  Most of the ladies in town, in traditional clothes, come from the areas around Riobamba and Ambato, in the highlands and wear long black or navy blue wraparound skirts with embroidery on the bottom.  The most amazing part of it though, is the belt they use.  It's a really long strip of brightly embroidered fabric that they just wrap around them a bunch of times, tuck in the end, and that holds up the skirt!  I was slightly shocked the first time I saw a younger lady, around my age, dressed in the traditional skirt with a t-shirt on top and zip-up sweatshirt!  The combination traditional and contemporary seemed odd at first, to me, but appears to be the way they've allowed themselves to "modernize" while still carrying on tradition.  But after seeing them, I was still taken aback when I saw a lady from Otavalo in town.  They're very easy to spot, since they always wear white, lacy embroidered shirts, with a double skirt underneath, at least that's what it appears. :)  It looks like it's a tan skirt underneath with a black one on top.

 I was beginning to think that all of the indigenous people from around Macas had completely assimilated, since the only ones I saw dressing traditionally were from the highlands, until I was getting ready to leave Macas the 2nd year I came down and was at the airport waiting for the plane to land.  The plane was hours late and I looked out the window at the airport, and saw a crowd gathering to meet the incoming plane.  That wasn’t the odd thing, though, but how some were dressed.  It was all men in suits, but over half had yellow and red feathered crowns on their head and were wearing long loops of what looked like beads, but I knew were seeds.  They were looped across their chest, crisscrossing their bodies.   Others just had the seeds.  My friend, who was with me, said that the feathered crowns were for the shamans or heads of the clan.  They were meeting some dignitary, which is why the plane was so late.

Walking

As I sat and looked out my window on a little corner of Paradise, I was trying to think of something to write, since it's been so long and I have so many stories, that at the time I want to share, but as the days go by and I have no time, I forget the details and they're not as interesting anymore.  And then along comes a guy pushing a cart and advertising his wares.  His voice is loud enough that it easily carries up to me, on the second floor, with my windows closed, but I can't understand what he  says.  I look at him and see that in his handcart are coconuts and that he's selling coconut juice.  And it reminds me of my walks home from school.  I don't usually see the handcarts near my house, since it's not a commercial area and they don't really do as good of a business here, but there's many downtown, on nearly every corner, actually.  It got me thinking, too, of the things here, that have become normal to me, but that are anything but in the States, or at least in Salem. :)  So I tried to think of all the things that I've seen here in the past week, when walking home, or taking the bus.

The cobblestone streets at first made me feel as if I were in Europe a hundred years ago, but then I looked up and saw the tangle of electrical wires and realized that I had to be at least in the 20th century. :)

Getting ready for a parade wouldn't be worth it if you couldn't string banners from the bucket of a front loader!

People are dressed in so many different ways, the styles are so much more varied than in the States!  But that's a whole 'nother blog post.

The next block I'll most likely see one or more of my students, yelling "Teacher!!!  Es mi profe!  Mire mami! (It's my teacher!  Look mom!)  Teacher, teacher, hola!!"  Sometimes they'll be walking along with their parents, other times hanging out on the front stoop of the store while waiting with their parents and other times with their head hanging out the car window as their family drives by.  But nearly every single time I'm outside, I see at least one student or parent of a student.

Then I see a flat bed truck with wooden sides and a wooden pole above, running down the middle, sometimes with a tarp over, sometimes not.  I never know what I'll see inside the trucks.  A cow or 2, a horse or 2, even a pig or goats.  But often the trucks will be full of people.  If a trucks empty, people will often pull it over and pay to take them somewhere, if they're going in the right direction.  I was surprised, last week, when I saw a particularly high truck with guys riding in it, well, not in, in, more straddling the sideboards, at least 2 stories off the ground, as if they were riding a giant horse!  Usually they're on the bed of the truck :) but this one must have been full, either that or they felt like being more adventurous than normal!

One day I was sitting on the bus when it pulled over to pick someone up, totally normal, but up walked a boy carrying a chicken.  Now this isn't really abnormal, but this chicken was alive and just tucked under the kid's arm like a football.  It was really hard not to laugh, what with everyone from the States asking me if the buses are anything like the infamous chicken buses of Mexico and Central America.  Up until then I'd seen many things get on the buses, both city and intracity buses, but never anything live, that wasn't human!  People often get on buses carrying huge buckets, sacks of grain, machetes, sugar cane, all sorts of things, but I'd not seen a live animal before!  Still haven't on the buses between cities, just the regular city buses, that really aren't all that different from Salem's city buses. :)




There are dogs all over the place, some confined behind fences, some allowed to roam free and some that are without owners.  A lot of times they band together, especially at night.  I'll often hear them after I'm in bed, all howling together.  So, at first I didn't think anything of the 2 dogs I saw on the sidewalk last Friday.  But then I looked closer.  There was a tan one and a black one, but the black one looked a little weird.  I'd already passed them, so I turned to look again.  No wonder he looked a little funny!  That was no fluffy tail, but a corkscrew pig's tail!  He was a little piglet about the size of a terrier and running around with the dog. :)  I guess he can eat the garbage from the garbage  pails as easily as the dogs do, but it still made me laugh to see.  Then of course, there's the millions of chickens, although not usually in the downtown area, but once you're not in the 3 or 4 blocks of  main downtown, most houses have them. Although, most families keep their chickens behind fences, every once in awhile, they'll be out on an insect hunt, in the streets or sidewalks.

On nearly every block you see someone with a little stand, either stationary or rolling, trying to sell something. Whether it's the man carrying 10 brooms all strapped onto his shoulder, the lady with balloons tied onto a really tall pole, a man with icecream on a platter with a cone stuck on top, the rolling carts selling orange juice, coconut juice or nuts, or the grills set up in front of a restaurant, doorway or just on a corner with fried plantains, grilled plantains, empanadas or meat on a stick, you can nearly find just about anything you want from these roving salesmen.  In fact, I think that might be the only way you can actually buy a book in Macas, aside from the school's bookstore and textbooks.

And that doesn't even take into consideration all of the little stores, each fairly specialized, that line the streets of Macas. :)

Fun and crazy times

It's been pretty busy these past few weeks, with summer school, then getting ready for the school year and now, the first week of classes, so I haven't had much time to do anything other than get home, eat and read a bit before going to sleep.  But here's a bit of what I've been up to. :)  The first one is my friend and I playing around with my hair, it's actually long enough to almost sit on, but we were goofing around and pretended it was short.  The 2nd is the adorable 5 day old son of one of the students at school.  She's made wonderful progress this year, in her attitude (so I hear, I didn't know her at the beginning) and is amazingly mature.  The last is one of my favorites, me riding!!!!  A friend of mine's brother-in-law owns this gorgeous horse and invited me to go riding last Sunday!!!!!  It's amazing how much I'd missed it. :)

Church

Today was quite the interesting day at church.  First of all, I left the house late and there wasn't any taxis for the first few blocks, but I finally saw one that was empty.  Normally it's not a big deal, but leaving the house late and then walking for 20-30 minutes tends to make one REALLY late for church. :)  When I got there there was a group from Canada, doing evangelism in Sucua, a town about 10-30 minutes from here (10 min if you drive your own car, 30 min by bus).  One of the men preached and it was as if I was back at Salem Alliance in my childhood.  We used to joke that the Canadians were taking over the church, since the head pastor, the worship pastor, their wives and all of the high school interns were from Canada. :)  Plus they're from 2 different Alliance churches in Canada, so it was cool to hear someone with a similar background, doesn't happen every day!  They even knew of Salem Alliance, I think, at least they appeared somewhat familiar with it when talking with them afterward.

At the end of  the service, the youth/worship pastor got up and made a few announcements, one of which to let everyone know that the Shuar Bible is now translated and at the end of the month there's going to be a big dedication service for it, in Macuma.  He invited everyone who wants to go to get together and form groups for traveling.  After the service was over, I was talking with a couple who are going with a group of Shuar to the dedication and invited me to go along.  I'd love to go!!!  The entertaining part is that there are only 2 ways to get to Macuma, the fast way and the slow way. :)  The fast way is by a 5 person plane.  The slow way is to take the bus for a couple hours and then walk 3 hours, they're no roads!  Lois, a retired missionary here, was telling us that part of the trail includes crossing rivers on logs and stuff like that.  I think it would be awesome!!  I just have to figure out if the timing will work out.  It's on a Saturday, but it's the Saturday in the middle of getting ready for the school year.  I think it would be absolutely amazing to be able to go! :)  To get to be at the ceremony dedicating the Bible in a new language.  I hope I can work it out.

Then after church, I went out to eat with a couple other "gringos" to a new restaurant.  It has the exact same name as another restaurant in town and serves the same type of foods, but the other place is still open, so I'm not sure what's up.  They're only a couple blocks apart, too, so I kinda doubt that it's a case of franchising or anything, but who knows.  What was really funny was when we got there it was semi full, mostly with Ecuadorians, but there was one table of what looked like gringo tourists.  That still throws me off, since I'm used to being the only blonde person around, it's almost as weird for me to see another blonde, as it is for the Ecuadorians!  I never did figure out if they were from the States or not, though, since I couldn't really hear them speaking, and when I did it was a Spanish with an accent, it wasn't Ecuadorian Spanish, but it didn't have the cadence of a native English speaker, either.  Then about 15 minutes later a group walked up, very obviously tourists, one girl even had an Ecuador guide book!  I'm not quite sure why she had the guide book, though, unless it was for useful phrases, because there's rarely anything on the Amazonian region in the guidebooks, and if there is, it's mostly full of things in the northern jungle, there'd be little to no information on Macas.  Hopefully she figured that out! :)  So, they walked in and were asking for chairs, so that they could all sit around the 1 table that was open.  Then the owner (I assume that's who it was, at least) walked out and had the other group of gringos move their table over (the 2 groups were next to each other).  I assumed they knew each other until I heard someone say, "but we don't know each other".  The guy told them that it didn't matter!  It was sooo hard not to laugh really loudly!! :)  The table next to us only had 1 guy and when he was done, the 2nd group moved over to his table, making me laugh even more.  Those poor people!  At least it provided  me with some amusement at lunch. :)  It was odd though, I think there were more gringos than Ecuadorians there, a first, I would imagine. :)  It's actually getting more common to see whiter people on the streets.  My first year down here, I don't think I saw anyone else, then the 2nd year I came, there were a few.  This year I've seen some, but not too many.  I don't usually see many gringos, unless I'm in Quito or Cuenca.  I probably would when I go to Guayaquil, but I don't hang out in the areas that they go to, so I don't think I have, other than the missionary family at the seminary.

I really need to do better at taking pictures, but I keep forgetting to pull out my camera in class, and I haven't done anything outside of class to take pictures of, maybe this week, I hope! :)

Church

Today was quite the interesting day at church.  First of all, I left the house late and there wasn't any taxis for the first few blocks, but I finally saw one that was empty.  Normally it's not a big deal, but leaving the house late and then walking for 20-30 minutes tends to make one REALLY late for church. :)  When I got there there was a group from Canada, doing evangelism in Sucua, a town about 10-30 minutes from here (10 min if you drive your own car, 30 min by bus).  One of the men preached and it was as if I was back at Salem Alliance in my childhood.  We used to joke that the Canadians were taking over the church, since the head pastor, the worship pastor, their wives and all of the high school interns were from Canada. :)  Plus they're from 2 different Alliance churches in Canada, so it was cool to hear someone with a similar background, doesn't happen every day!  They even knew of Salem Alliance, I think, at least they appeared somewhat familiar with it when talking with them afterward.

At the end of  the service, the youth/worship pastor got up and made a few announcements, one of which to let everyone know that the Shuar Bible is now translated and at the end of the month there's going to be a big dedication service for it, in Macuma.  He invited everyone who wants to go to get together and form groups for traveling.  After the service was over, I was talking with a couple who are going with a group of Shuar to the dedication and invited me to go along.  I'd love to go!!!  The entertaining part is that there are only 2 ways to get to Macuma, the fast way and the slow way. :)  The fast way is by a 5 person plane.  The slow way is to take the bus for a couple hours and then walk 3 hours, they're no roads!  Lois, a retired missionary here, was telling us that part of the trail includes crossing rivers on logs and stuff like that.  I think it would be awesome!!  I just have to figure out if the timing will work out.  It's on a Saturday, but it's the Saturday in the middle of getting ready for the school year.  I think it would be absolutely amazing to be able to go! :)  To get to be at the ceremony dedicating the Bible in a new language.  I hope I can work it out.

Then after church, I went out to eat with a couple other "gringos" to a new restaurant.  It has the exact same name as another restaurant in town and serves the same type of foods, but the other place is still open, so I'm not sure what's up.  They're only a couple blocks apart, too, so I kinda doubt that it's a case of franchising or anything, but who knows.  What was really funny was when we got there it was semi full, mostly with Ecuadorians, but there was one table of what looked like gringo tourists.  That still throws me off, since I'm used to being the only blonde person around, it's almost as weird for me to see another blonde, as it is for the Ecuadorians!  I never did figure out if they were from the States or not, though, since I couldn't really hear them speaking, and when I did it was a Spanish with an accent, it wasn't Ecuadorian Spanish, but it didn't have the cadence of a native English speaker, either.  Then about 15 minutes later a group walked up, very obviously tourists, one girl even had an Ecuador guide book!  I'm not quite sure why she had the guide book, though, unless it was for useful phrases, because there's rarely anything on the Amazonian region in the guidebooks, and if there is, it's mostly full of things in the northern jungle, there'd be little to no information on Macas.  Hopefully she figured that out! :)  So, they walked in and were asking for chairs, so that they could all sit around the 1 table that was open.  Then the owner (I assume that's who it was, at least) walked out and had the other group of gringos move their table over (the 2 groups were next to each other).  I assumed they knew each other until I heard someone say, "but we don't know each other".  The guy told them that it didn't matter!  It was sooo hard not to laugh really loudly!! :)  The table next to us only had 1 guy and when he was done, the 2nd group moved over to his table, making me laugh even more.  Those poor people!  At least it provided  me with some amusement at lunch. :)  It was odd though, I think there were more gringos than Ecuadorians there, a first, I would imagine. :)  It's actually getting more common to see whiter people on the streets.  My first year down here, I don't think I saw anyone else, then the 2nd year I came, there were a few.  This year I've seen some, but not too many.  I don't usually see many gringos, unless I'm in Quito or Cuenca.  I probably would when I go to Guayaquil, but I don't hang out in the areas that they go to, so I don't think I have, other than the missionary family at the seminary.

I really need to do better at taking pictures, but I keep forgetting to pull out my camera in class, and I haven't done anything outside of class to take pictures of, maybe this week, I hope! :)

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. :)