December 16th
Today I traveled to Quininde with Dr. Jeny and Paty who came along to clean the computers, and add more protection for the children's sake. There was a lot of fog as we travelled through the mountains, but we made it to Quinine in about 4 hrs. It was nice to be in warm weather. Summer is my favourite time of year, and while Quito has a wonderful climate, Quininde is just like July in Canada :)
Dr. Jeny and her husband have a palm plantation, and I'm enjoying staying in the countryside here. It's so different but beautiful. I am used to streets lined with maple trees and pines, here I'm surrounded by palms and cocoa trees.
December 17th
As I sit in the kitchen writing, there are donkeys braying outside the window :) the donkeys are used to pull the carts that pick up the palm nuts once they are felled from the trees.
Today was exciting. In the morning I worked with the ladies from the project, and we put together 227 bags of candy for the sponsor children for Christmas. The language barrier is still difficult for me, but I'm getting better at knowing when to laugh or nod my head, etc. (not sure that's a good thing lol) in the afternoon I helped serve meals for the kids, and then just observed while the teachers led them in bible study, and singing and played games. Boy, I have a lot of respect for these ladies now! Keeping 100 kids under control is not an easy task, and most of these children do not come from homes where there is regular if any proper discipline. What a task.
I thought my Spanish was coming along ok, but when there is 100 kids shouting at once, it's impossible for me to understand anything! I definitely have some work to do yet.
On a side note, I used to wish for blonder hair, now I'm wishing it was black :)
December 18th
You know they don't have bathrooms and are not used to using them, when a child walks into the room and just proceeds to pee while standing there. No one even seems to notice lol.
Today we celebrated Christmas with the kids at the malecon project. Dr. Jeny had a box wrapped in Christmas paper, and was explaining to the children, that this gift was from God for them. She the opened the box and inside there was a piece of paper on which she had written, 'Jesus'. She then went on to explain that Christmas is when we celebrate that God sent Jesus to earth as a baby for us. A good lesson I think. The people here are very visual and learn best by seeing and memorizing. It should be interesting to plan lessons to help them learn this way.
December 19th
Paty and I took the bus back to Quito this morning. I believe the plan is for me to be here in Quito till January 12, at which point I return to Quininde and begin teaching. They have asked me to teach ESL to all the kids in the projects, and then for the teenage girls, I will hopefully be teaching them basic baking skills and how to make tropical flower arrangement. So until I return, I've got a lot of work ahead of me! I've never even looked at a lesson plan, let alone made one, so this should be interesting!
Christmas is just around the corner, although in this warmer climate it's still a little hard for me to believe!
I want to wish you and your family a very wonderful, blessed and peaceful Christmas season!
God bless!
Melissa
