story time in spanish!

ok, this little boy is TOO precious.

while audra was helping his older brother study for an English test, he decided he'd entertain me by making up stories to go along with the pictures on my computer.

for some reason, i could NOT get the video to upload to the blog, so you have to click on this link, it's audra's vimeo account..

http://www.vimeo.com/15336091

why i love doing laundry here

views from our laundry room (aka the roof)

Altar

Tungarahua

Chimborazo (there's more to it, but it was really cloudy the day i took this)

Ay chay chay!

                                       

loosely translated from quichua that means - dang it's cold! i learned this phrase yesterday and got a LOT of use out of it.  I went with my friend Maria Isabelle (one of the other English teachers at my school) and her family to go climb Chimborazo.  This is the mountain that's closest to where we are and the peak of it is the furthest point from the center of the earth. SO that means crazy high and altitude and freezing cold! (and altitude sickness including headaches and insomnia) BUT it was way worth it. i love climbing! and even though there wasn't any snow that day, while me and Maria Isabelle rested at the second refuge, her brother climbed up further and brought us back a baby snowman!

once we finally made it back down to where we parked (which was a little difficult cause by the time we were heading down it had gotten REALLY cloudy and we couldn't see more than about 15 feet in front of us) her mom had chicken sandwiches and hot tea waiting for us in the car for the ride back.  then back at their house we had colada morada (DElicious!). which is basically this thick juice made from all different kinds of fruits- and had at least a 30 min conversation of all the foods i need to try before i leave. they decided i'm going to be fat when i go back to the states. they might be right. i'm certainly not starving to death here.

i love her family and they've already told me that i'm welcome at their house anytime!

the rest of the weekend was pretty exciting too.. we had a birthday party for my friend cris, complete with guitar hero and a food fight with cake icing. 

the rest of my life is pretty much consumed by classes and planning.  please pray that during the week i won't be too stressed with planning and classes that i don't have time to enjoy and get to know my students. thanks for all the prayers! and i promise i'll get better about this whole blogging thing. 

i love teaching!

for those of you who don't know, i'll explain a little bit about what i'm doing here.. I have been in Riobamba, Ecuador for 2 weeks now, and i love it! I'm teaching English at the University of San Fransisco, yes that's right, San Fransisco. no idea why it's called that. anyways, i'm teaching from 3:00-9:00 monday through thursday (thankfully, my schedule just changed so that i have an hour break in there. the first couple days, i almost starved to death, seriously).  

All of my classes are level 2 - which is not at all what i was prepared for. before i came i was told i would be teaching all upper level classes, and i was given a completely different schedule.  that's Ecuador for ya. and a lesson in flexibility i guess.

actually, it has worked out way better than i could have imagined! i love my level 2 students! and because it's such a low level i get to use my spanish (and believe me, i need the practice)  Teaching hasn't been easy, by any means, but i'm surrounded by other teachers who are more than happy to help and who are full of good ideas! 

SPEAKING of other teachers..i love all of the people i work with! it's just such a cool environment. there are teachers from all over! ecuador, venezuela, the US, canada, germany, and new zealand.  i just love being around people from so many different cultures and places, but that get along so well. i'm so excited to be a part of this community and i can't wait to fill you in more about what's going on down here.  but for now, since it's my first blog post ever! (i hope all of my blogging friends are proud) i'll try to keep it short, but i'm sure i'll be updating a lot here in the next couple days since so much has happened in these first couple weeks

ps i hope you like the picture. audra insisted on getting an awkward first day of school pic