SORRY! My internet was not working yesterday on my computer. Therefore, I was not able to post my blog. But… drum roll please… the moment you’ve all been waiting for… week 27! (insert Space Jam voice)
Week 27--
Where to start describing this week? I feel like so many little things happened that I simply don’t know where to begin! I’ll start with the week and end with the weekend… porque 1. that’s the order in which they happened 2. the weekend was more fun/more things happened that you may be interested to hear about, and I like to end on a good note.
Week--
The big thing in my week has been work, which is good because that is precisely what I came to Quito to do. The Academia in which I am working has its very own tourism office which helps to plan weekend trips and weekday outings for the students. All week I have been working on redoing most of their promotional materials for said trips. I’ve been striving to make these materials more eye-catching, readable (both in terms of organization and translation), and concise. I’ve enjoyed my work, as it provides an outlet for my creativeness. I hope that this week I can sit down with the “media man” at the Academia to learn more about Photoshop and Illustrator, for my work would be so much easier with these programs.
I also spent more time with my Japanese host-sister, Saya, this week. She showed me photos of her family and friends in Japan. We still need to use a little translator sometimes in order to communicate, but her Spanish is improving every day. Here is a photo of the little translator…and a little bit of Saya:
Ladies and gentlemen, Saya and translator.
Three more exciting things happened during the week.
1. I got to Skype my cousin, Laura, at the beginning of the week when the internet was still functioning properly. We laugh just as hard via Skype as we do in person. Love her for that (and more).
2. I found ice cream that costs 25 cents. Of course I bought it! Is that even a question?!
3. My friend asked me if I wanted to do a Bible study with her these next two weeks that I am here. The Lord has seriously been looking out for me in terms of sending wonderful girls to South America. We are just going to play it super informal and alternate picking passages and the talk about them. A great way to make Christ a more real part of our daily life…
Weekend--
On Friday it was my REAL mom’s birthday (happy birthday, mom!) and ECUADORIAN HOST-mom’s birthday (happy birthday Ecuadorian host-mom!). My Ecuadorian host-family had the whole family over to celebrate: aunts, uncles, cousins, etc. The little cousins are too cute, and I loved spending time with little kids again. They are just so fun and simple, that’s all! We had cake, candy, chips, and tea for dinner—delicious!
"Photo with a photo" was a huge hit with this little one.
Little Lu.
¡Feliz Cumple a ti, Yoli!
After the party I made my way over to my friends’ house for a movie night-sleepover, complete with popcorn and Chex Mix. We watched Bridesmaids, an obvious pick... aka it’s the only DVD we have down here, it’s hilarious, and Mercy hadn’t seen it yet. It was a nice, relaxed, fun-friend-filled (say that part 8 times fast) evening.
On Saturday we woke up semi-early, ate breakfast, and then hailed a taxi, to get to a bus, to take us to the bus station, to take another bus to go to the North Terminal, to take another bus to arrive in Otavalo. Lots of buses, but worth it. Otavalo is a little city and home to one of the largest indigenous markets in America. I read that while doing an advertisement for Otavalo at the Academia, and it seemed to be true. The market is enormous. A little overwhelming, but in kind of a good way? We spent the whole day wondering around, looking for/buying gifts for the family and treating ourselves to a thing or two… I bought myself this awfully warm and comfy, cozy blanket:
Comfy, cozy! Awkward pinky.
Please
don’t ask me how I am going to get all my stuff home in July. I haven’t quite
figured that out yet...
Onwards
to Sunday! My Uncle Rahl is a permanent Brother in the Church in The
Brotherhood of Hope. The Brotherhood of Hope belongs to an ecumenical
Christian community called The Sword of the Spirit, which has
little communities all over the world. These communities are a great way to
surround oneself with spiritual support and accountability. “Where two or three
are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them” (Matthew 18:20) This
is where I’m going with all of this… There is a Sword of the Spirit community
here in Quito, and my Uncle was kind enough to spend a good hour connecting
with some of the leaders/members down here with whom I could then connect.
Which I did! A lovely Ecuadorian couple picked me up Sunday morning, and we
drove to the little town of Machachi. As we drove, they further explained their
community to me. From what I understand, the community is broken up into even
smaller, more specific communities in order to surround oneself with people who
are walking along similar paths of life: married people, single young adults,
university students, adolescents, and kids. They have different meetings and
get-togethers to worship/pray/sing together, have very real talks about very real
things, and simply enjoy one another’s company. When we got to Machachi, I was
introduced to the parochial priests, seminarians, and young people from the
“university students” group. The students were in the process of planning talks
for their upcoming retreat, so I got to learn how they structure the talks and
more or less about the material that goes into each one. It was really
interesting, and I loved seeing so many people my age with a passion for living
and sharing the Gospel. I found myself thinking a lot about Young
Life, as the talks seemed to be set up in a similar fashion.
We
later had a big lunch with all of the leaders, priests, and seminarians. When a
say big…I mean big. We started with
chicken soup, then had a plate with SO MUCH food on it (more than half of which
I had no earthly idea what I was eating… but it was good), and to top it all
off, strawberries and cheese for dessert. It was one of those moments where I
felt like if I ate one more bite, I would burst. I used
to get that feeling a lot which the Chick-fil-a chicken sandwich. I could never
finish the very last bite because I would be so full. Emphasis on used to… I can eat a whole one now, no problem. Gosh, anyone want to send me a care-package filled with Chick-fil-a? If you do, you will be my favorite person on earth.
The
priests were hilarious during lunch. At least, I think they were… it’s still
kind of hard for me to understand every
joke in Spanish. But everyone else was cracking up, and the handful of jokes I
did understand were really funny. Good ol’ witty Ecuadorian priests! I can’t wait for the moment when I can understand the majority of jokes.
Sunday
night was full of family in two ways:
1. I was about to go to 6 pm Mass (it was 5:30), and my Ecuadorian host-dad says, “I think Mass is at 5 pm…” Oh boy… I was bummed out, but decided to walk to the church anyways, just to see. As I was walking, a Monarch butterfly flew past me. The sign of Nama—everything is going to be okay. Sure enough, I got to the church, asked a woman for the Mass times, and she pointed to the church and said “6 pm!” Woo! After Mass, as I walked outside, I was welcomed with a baby-shower...a mixture of a baby-blue sky with baby-pink clouds. Hello again, Nama.
2.Although my internet was not working on my computer, I was able to connect with my iphone/ipod in the corner of my Japanese host-sister’s room in order to non-video-Skype-call my Uncle Rahl. We talked for hours, and it is always a pleasure catching up with him. I was once again, as I always seem to be, reminded of how thankful I am for my family. They are all truly blessings in my life.
Speaking
of family, I found this on my computer this week. It makes me smile, and is now
my desktop backround. I just have to share it…
Three cheers for family!
Alright, this blog post has become quite lengthy. ¡Perdón! I just like sharing!
Millones de abrazos--
Courtney
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