(Wednesday, February 16, Day 240)

"The contents of this website are mine personally and do not reflect any position of the U.S. Government or the Peace Corps."

Phrase of the day: Regla #1: No estan en escuela; este es su programas vacaciones; cuando si quieren aprender, la puerta siempre esta abierto, pero no hablan durante clase... Rule #1: You're not in school; this is your vacation program; when you do want to learn, the door is always open, but don't talk during class.

Goodbye half of the class!
Seriously, I think 90% of the boys went(go) outside to play soccer. I'm totally fine with that though. It's much better than them watching t.v. at home or getting into trouble. Plus, I'm still left with a little more than 30 students; the ones that actually want to learn.
Yes, insane. There are way too many kids in San Isidro... So Kasie and I are teaching in a Summer School program at the moment. She's teaching English and Health, I'm teaching English and Values/Habits(How to be a decent person), and teachers from the high school are teaching Math and Computer Literacy. The classes are free, and happen 3 days a week, for two months.

No worries folks, my handwriting hasn't gotten any better...
But in my defense, it's not easy writing letters all big like that... right. And yes, apparently Shereen has a zoo (but just imagine what I tell them you all have!).
I almost forgot, every Thursday we have a "sports class" with the kids. Last week I taught them Ultimate Frisbee. It was nuts, but at least no one got hit in the face! Pictures to come in the future. (Hopefully not of kids being hit in the face).

(Sunday, February 6, Day 230)

"The contents of this website are mine personally and do not reflect any position of the U.S. Government or the Peace Corps."

Phrase of the day: "Solo para mujeres: 30 minutos, 3 veces por semana"... "Only for women: 30 minutes, 3 times a week"

Really Curves? I think you're going to have to try a little harder than that to entice women to come.

Naturally there are no gyms in San Isidro... I was in Quito for a night this past weekend. And it just became my second favorite city in South America. That may not be saying much, seeing as how I've only been to 3 major cities within the continent, but still, it beat my third favorite!

On Sunday I was introduced to Parque Metropolitano, my new favorite park in Quito.

It's not too far from the center of town, but still has some good views of the surrounding areas.

Quito, in general, is very modern. It's so modern it even had a dog park...

Exercise equipment...

Llamas (yeah, we're still in Ecuador)...

Pull-up bars...

And most importantly, bike paths (stoned and dirt)...

That was the highlight for sure. I'm going to have to go back one day, get acclimated to the altitude, and rent a mountain bike for the trails.

Not only are the parks great, apparently they sell cotton-candy at church on Sundays here!(?)

After the park I went to the mall and discovered this treat...

That's right, white-chocolate covered strawberries! I was actually there to buy sauces and spices, which I often can't find near town. (specifically the bbq sauce, olive oil, honey, and good salad dressing). No worries, I didn't go all the way there just to buy food...

In the evening I watched the Superbowl! Ha.

(Friday, February 4, Day 228)

"The contents of this website are mine personally and do not reflect any position of the U.S. Government or the Peace Corps."

Phrase of the day: Estoy muy sorprendiendo que lo consiguio... I'm very surprised that you pulled it off.

For the last month or so, Kasie has been working with Consejo Juvenil, the local youth group. This past Friday they put on a movie to raise money for their projects.

They wanted a night of terror, so they borrowed a local "garden" to hold the movie. They made a path and cleaned up the leaves and branches to make room for seats.

They put a tarp above the seats in case of rain, and more so to protect the projector, computer, and speakers.

They even brought new recycling bins to promote better trash habits.

It sounded like a great idea, but what could go wrong, pretty much did.

Before the movie-night even happened, it was like pulling-teeth to get the kids to clean up the garden.

Then the local government didn't want them to borrow the speakers, but thankfully after a little begging that was resolved.

Right before the movie was about to begin, it began raining. Unfortunately, here that pretty much means power outtages. Fantastic. They had to move some of the electrical equipment, but most of it was secured under the tarp already.

After 30minutes or so the power luckily came back! But, the speaker cable had broken while they were moving equipment when the rain began. It was after 9pm now, and everything was closed. Luckily this is San Isidro, and stores are just peoples' homes, so you can always get what they have if you knock really loud.

Finally, 20 minutes later, the movie began. Only an hour late; not too bad for Ecuador!

In the end, it was a success. Out of the 90 tickets they sold, maybe 30 or so people came. (No refunds, naturally).

And to make a little more money, they sold popcorn, soda, and water.

Oh, and the movie was totally scary! (Possibly because I was on edge looking out for snakes the whole time. We found 3 small ones while cleaning up the place).

It's called Unrest, don't watch it.

(Saturday, January 29, Day 222)

"The contents of this website are mine personally and do not reflect any position of the U.S. Government or the Peace Corps." Phrase of the day: Yo comi demasiada comida este fin de semana... I ate way too much food this weekend. But I'm alright with that! And yes, that is lasanga. It was by no means Big Auntie's, but it was good. It had chicken in it and actual tomato sauce! (If I hadn't mentioned it before, no one here makes tomato sauce, not even with pizza!) It was this girl Susi's birthday. I only actually met her like two weeks ago, but I've seen her almost every day since. I'm not sure where she was these past 5 months, but she's good friends with Kasie now. Yeah, she was pretty happy. And no worries, she did get the usual birthday treatment. (Face smashed in the cake). Surprisingly, she was still smiling after that. I don't think I've ever seen anyone get it so good! Oh,the cake was great. It was super-rich chocolate cake with a chocolate sauce on it and vanilla ice cream on the side. (Yes, I totally did bring the ice cream. I mean, I don't know how they normally just eat cake plain... no thanks). On Saturday was the graduation for Colegio Tecnico San Isidro, the high school. It was supposed to be outside, but they were calling for rain. And by that, I of course mean it was just cloudy (most people haven't even heard of meteorologists here). Because it was inside, I didn't actually get to see any of what happened due to space, but I imagine it was nice. I went because a lot of the students graduating were from that class I helped teach when I first arrived here. They are all great. And in particular, I went to see Hugo and MaFer graduate. In the evening I went to MaFer's house for her graduation party/dinner. I kind of just listened to her aunts and uncles talk, but it was nice. More so, it was really nice of her for inviting me. (She's Liseth's sister. Liseth is Mario's girlfriend. They had invited me over for Christmas Eve dinner too. Yeah, they're definitely the most considerate girls I've met). Unfortunately no pictures from that night, but it was nice. And the next night more food! Ambar, the girl who studied to be a chef, made pizza. It was good, and yes, with tomato sauce; she did go to school for cooking and all. All is going here. There was a good turn-out at aerobics last night, so that's great. Hopefully it will continue. We also have the keys to a room in the high school now, in case it rains. Tomorrow there is a meeting about a vacation program of some sort that Kasie and I are supposedly running. Things work weirdly here, but I'll make the best of it. I think I may be teaching English, and I have a girls soccer program!