Well, well, well......

OKAY! So, I am alive - I know y'all were worried, teehee! There is SO very much to fill you in on, so bear with me....

• 8 million years ago [i.e. 2 Sunday's ago]: the volunteers and I participated in a "minga" which is where we do a house visit with one of the families who are part of the WBC, so we went up into the mountains --- I swear I was mountain climbing it was so freaking high!!! --- and were pack mules for 5.5 hours.  Yes, I took part in manual labor, such as moving bricks, dirt and wheel-barreling it out to the street. WOOF! It was definitely a doozie, but it was great to be able to help these families with something that would have taken them over a month to do themselves. These families are such diligent workers, it made me feel a bit awkward when I realized how tired/absolutely DISGUSTING I was. 
• We can all see in this picture, I was lookin' like a hot mess - my complexion is not usually so..."tan". As I said to Colleen on the bus home, noting my dirtiness: "I look like a monkey!" 

• The week after the minga, we continued with our education on becoming teachers - I give MAD props to all of the teachers/profs out there, especially those teaching a foreign language.  Lord have mercy on my soul. It is quite difficult to say the least. But, thanks to Corry & John, we were all almost-fully-prepared for classes. Obvi, we had to celebrate making it through orientation AND having the rest of the volunteers join us :) 
• So now, the final roll call: Elizabeth, Julia, Julianna, Joe, David [all returnees], Lea, Lili [the 2 German girlies], Colleen [my savior!], Robin, Irene, Becky, Bobby, Lauren, & Andrew 

• Wednesday = laundry day!!! Yahoo! It hasn't rained here for around 3ish months so it is beyond dusty here and it just gets everywhere. And I mean EVERYWHERE. Therefore, it was truly a blessing to have my ragamuffin clothes washed.  Since I didn't want anything to get ruined/shrink in the industrial fire place that is the dryer, I put up this nifty contraption that Colleen is so beautifully displaying:

**This clothes line actually did work [yet I did have to sleep under it since the clothes weren't dry!] I am very pleased that I was told to get this rope &pins because I would be rockin' the birthday suit and I do not believe that is acceptable in the Ecua-life.

• Here are a few pics of my classrooms that I am "Senorita Olivia" in:

{That would be Robin, in our Beginners English classroom, practicing yelling at her imaginary students}

{My Level 2 Girls English classroom - note the "Vocab Tree" in the background}

• YESTERDAY WAS THE FIRST DAY OF CLASSES!!! How can that be?! It went well - I was beyond exhuastedddddd at the end of the day, but a nice glass of vino did help tremendously! 

{Colleen & me - Not our first "first day of school" rodeo! Love this woman and am so blessed to be able to share this experience with her!!!}


• In Special Ed. yesterday, I colored a picture to hang on the very drab wall, and here is the finished product! Don't you want to be in that class!? SO much funzies  



• Today (Tuesday) in Special Ed, I recreated a Dragon Ball Z character with a leopard tail?? as well as helped Lauren decorate our calendar...not too shabby if I do say so myself!





• This week, I am not teaching Beginners English because there were not enough boys to sign up, but hopefully this week, they'll wrangle a few little Ecuas to be a part of my amazing class :) {yes, I am tooting my own horn, thank you very much!}


• My Level 2 Girls English was pretty good yesterday [we did introductions and reviewed the rules in class], but today was a LOT of fun!!! We "reviewed" colors, but they only knew about 2 colors in English, so I honestly say I have my work cut out for me.  Although I did have to punish one of my girls, I think she really got the message [she had to sit in the corner and stare at the wall while the rest of the class played "Simon Says"] and hopefully that will be the end of the misbehaving! *Please, keep your fingers crossed for me! But Corry & John came into my class today and were very impressed with my teaching skills and they even said as they were leaving "What is your major?? You really should be a teacher! You are great!!!!" So needless to say that was an amazing confidence boost, which was so very much appreciated. 

• Today, I had my first P.E. class and totally rocked it, if I do say so myself! Thank the almighty Lord above.  We did about 15ish minutes of warm-ups and then played "Tio Sam" [aka Uncle Sam from the good ol' Holy Family Parish School], which is pretty much like freeze tag and the kiddos LOVED it. HOOOOOORRRAAAAYY!!! 

• The Girls Work Program is a bit unorganized, but the girls themselves are alright; some days are better than others, but that is true for everyone and I need to keep that in mind.  We are going to the store tomorrow to get supplies for the beaded headbands they are making --- I'll be taking orders, if anyone would like a few! *Proceeds go straight to the girls making the products :) 

Welp! That's all I can think of to share with y'all.  My brain is pretty much a pile of mush, as you can see above - but just wanted to give an update on my Ecua-life. 

Send up a little prayer to the Big Man in the sky to help me get through this first week of teaching.  I would greatly appreciated it :) 

Much love xoxox