The BEST surprise!

4:30 a.m. I find myself bidding farewell to my house I’d returned to only three days before. So soon after coming back from six months in Bangladesh, I can’t believe I’m on my way to Ecuador. It’s all happening SO fast! After ten hours on a plane and nearly that much waiting for delayed flights, we land in Quito at 1 a.m. where someone from CADE has been waiting hours for us! Three more hours curving down the hills from Quito brings us back through memories of the past into Santo Domingo and finally—CADE!!!!!!!!  Though it’s 5 a.m. and I haven’t slept but three hours in the past two days, I am SO full of energy! It’s a dream coming true to be back at CADE and it is SURREAL! No one knew we were coming except the principal, so we had a few people we had to surprise J First things first, Noemi must know we’re here! We sneak up to our ‘mom’s’ door, anticipation just bouncing me all over the place.  Her sleepy face through the door crack  immediately turned to one of shock and disbelief as we bombard her with hugs, kisses, and excited squeaks and giggles J Senor desgraciado(‘Chino’, her brother) was next as we just walked into his room and jumped on his bed! Excitement was all I could feel as adrenaline pumped through my body at pulling such a big surprise on these people! Talking for a few minutes with them was just like we went back in time two years ago when we would come over and hang out with our mom almost everyday. Once 6 o’clock came around we went to pull our second big surprise at Vinicio’s house.  Seemed like forever before they opened the door, but when his kids finally did—I could NOT believe I was seeing them again!  Oh  the excitement in his house hugging and talking with everyone again was exhilarating! These were best surprises I’ve ever pulled on someone and TOTALLY worth it!

After stumbling through a few Spanish phrases in front of the staff worship that morning(my Bangla keeps coming out), I had my first Ecuadorian meal then went to sleep a few hours to survive the rest of the day. Later that afternoon we took some of our favorite kids to the river Comira, swam, and had all sorts of fun with them-just like old times!

The campus has had many new developments since we left…new dorms, classrooms, and remodeling can be seen almost all over…many of those we knew before have gone now and new ones have taken their place…it’s a different feeling of CADE. The people we DO still know, my mom, dad, and some of my favorite kids make it all worth it. We even got locked out last night and had to spend the night with our mamacita in her bed J

Coming back is the best surprise I’ve ever pulled and I will enjoy every moment of it I can! I am  once again living in a dream. Thank you Jesus for bringing me back to the part of my heart I left in CADE J

Holidays in Ecuador 'after the fact'

Despite my dormant blog activity, life here has been full of excitement! The only thing it’s been lacking in is internet…so now that I’ve got some internet I figure I owe at least a brief explanation of some of what’s been going on down here! For Christmas break the missionaries headed to Quito to stay with a cool family there. But before we leave, Brittany(the other gringa) and I make a little Christmas happen here at ‘home’ for the guys(the gringos). Not the typical Christmas but one spent with the family we’ve made here J Christmas in Quito was a game of secret santas! It’s not as big as x-mas in the U.S. but they more than make up for it with New Years! If you drive anywhere on New Year’s Eve, you can’t miss the people that have gone all out with their national gender-disguising dress-up game! They stop cars with ropes until some spare change is handed over. Some other traditions include burning a huge stuffed person, jumping over bonfires, and fireworks galore! We jumped right in with the traditions, even buying some rather terrifying masks to have some fun with! The guys, being boys, were scarring us all every chance they got! We became wary of every corner we walked around, every dark room we walked in, every noise we heard at our window--we didn’t sleep much that night! The rest of vacation included some of the best hot springs in Ecuador, a view of the city from over 13,000 ft., a drastic haircut, some tourist shopping and so much more! You all should have been there! I hope I have now given you at least a taste of our Christmas here! There has never been and never will be a Christmas like this!

So I've always wanted to go bungie jumping...

Banos So y’all have been to the bathrooms before right? Well I just went for the first time! All four of us missionaries here went together and needless to say it was quite the experience! So Banos is actually a place here in Ecuador too if you haven’t figured that out yet. The bathrooms turn out to be quite the happening place! One day the guys rented motorcycles and us girls got a quad--not the fastest choice! But it was still a party let me tell ya! We went up to this viewpoint where we could see the whole town in the valley below and found some off-roading, mud and a crazy swing that swings out almost over a cliff! I was the only one crazy enough to try it and it was exhilarating! The next day we decided to rent go-karts--much better choice! Drifting around corners and going FOR all the puddles, we were saturated with mud and adrenaline by the time we got to the bridges. From these particular bridges there is this thing called a bridge swing that is somewhat like bungee jumping without the bungee--more like jumping off one bridge to swing like a pendulum underneath the other one. So I’ve always wanted to go bungee jumping and this is sounding pretty extreme….before we could really think about what we were doing we were being strapped into the ropes and stepping to the edge of the 30ft.+ bridge! A few seconds later I took the most terrifying step of my life into the longest seconds of free fall in my life! (the picture is just moments before we jumped--can you see the fear in our faces??) I was screaming in Brittany’s ear the whole time we fell together from the bridge to what we thought may be our last few seconds of existence! We were soon just swinging wildly below the bridge hardly being able to believe what we’d just done! We kept telling ourselves how hard core we were but I think we were more out of our minds than anything! Needless to say we were pretty shaky after that and let the guys drive the go-karts for awhile. We proceeded to a waterfall that you can hike inside of! We were inside/behind a waterfall! I know not many of you can say that! Lol A weekend of adrenaline and memories thought you may be interested in hearing about!

i LOVE the beach!!!!!!!

I have a thing for the beach…it kinda goes along with my thing for the sun. And that thing just got bigger because I just experienced my first Ecuadorian beach! It’s called Perdernales. The sun here is intense; When it shows its face it means business! I fared much better than the other missionaries here and came away with just some slight pinkness. The water’s warmer than SoCal and you can rent body surfing board things for a dollar an hour. Fresh coconuts (the meat and the juice), modified hair wraps, ice cream, jewelry, and MUCH more all right there! Simply amazing. We watched a pretty cool sunset from a tower of sorts and did some gymnastics in the twilight. Let me tell ya…photo shoots at the beach turn into never-ending memory cards full of fun! What a weekend. Did I mention how much I love the beach?

First SUNNY day!

When I walked out of my ‘house’ this morning and saw some blue between the clouds and felt a slight fresh breeze I KNEW it was going to be a good day. Turns out to be the FIRST SUNNY DAY I’VE HAD HERE! I’ve seen the sun here before for a few hours maybe, but never for a whole day like today! I don’t know what’s happening—there’s finally a sunny day on the equator! It’s also Week of Prayer this week so it’s a nice break in the middle of classes. Also, kids here are apparently really motivated to work for this Spelling Bee that we’re going to have in English. Needless to say, classes went well today! And it was sunny. And everyone that lives here at the school went to a pool this afternoon! First pool I’ve seen since I’ve gotten here! And it was sunny! Did I mention how amazing today was going? Us gringos even did a little gymnastics in the pool! When I didn’t look at all the trees and rainforest type bushes around the pool, I almost felt like I was in the U.S. today! It was quite entertaining watching the boys, one by one, throw everyone who was still dry into the pool. Some things about boys don’t change with culture! There were two adorable little girls that came along too and me and the other gringa had some fun with them. Some definitely embarrassing moments passed today…but sometimes those are the most memorable and fun to look back on. And did I mention it was sunny ALL DAY? When we got back to the school, and after the nightly prayer meeting for Week of Prayer, we had these fried banana tortilla things called ‘verdes’. Absolutely delicious! Who would have guessed the perfect end to a perfect day was yet to come? One of the pastors here gave us the most scrumptious chocolate cake with a peach on top that I’ve ever had! Simply amazing day! Just had to share it with you ….and let you all know that there are indeed SUNNY DAYS on the equator :) Sunny days always make good days. Now that I know they do indeed exist here, they ain’t got no more excuses for not coming ‘round more often! I love the sun :) I love today!

MIDDLE IN THE MIDDLE

So I’m a middle child. And on Sunday we went to the middle of the world. No joke! I was standing in the exact middle of the globe! Besides the sun being more intense there, you should really believe me on the whole toilet flushing opposite ways on opposite sides of the equator thing. Exactly on the equator water doesn’t swirl in any direction. A few steps to the south it goes clockwise and a few steps north of the equator it’s counterclockwise! Crazy I know. You’re reading this from an eye-witness. And I think you should go try and balance an egg on a nail. Right now. Go! Don’t worry, it IS possible. And if you get it—you’re an Egg Master. I am! Just look at that pic of an Egg Master! DOOO IT!!!! And be sure to tell me about it :)

FIRST VACATION!

After less than 2 weeks of being at CADE with the other student missionaries, we head to Quito for the weekend! First vacation with my new fellow teachers! It was quite an experience…like everything here! We stayed with a super genius family in Quito and went to the smallest church I’ve ever been too! I think it was about 3 families big. Unsurprisingly they made the white kids do special music. For those of you who know me, I don’t sing in front of people unless it’s in a group. That changed when I got here. There’s no option—you have to sing! It was fun though! The genius family we were staying with is also musical, and they had a piano! I hadn’t gotten to play a piano since I left the U.S. yet! It was amazing. I never thought I’d be so happy to play with 9 fingers! Turns out not to be quite as hard as it sounds. Good weekend. And good food! They don’t celebrate Halloween here, but they celebrate the Day of the Dead on Nov. 2. There’s this hot berry drink called ‘Colada Morada’ that they drink with ‘Guaguas de Pan’ to celebrate. The guaguas look like little gingerbread dolls but they taste like a loaf of bread. It is quite the scrumptious tradition! I may even dare to say better than the Halloween candy…though chocolate is pretty hard to top! And good chocolate is hard to come by here…not that I’ve looked or anything :)