Two Weeks Left: Cloud Forest-- No lights, No water, No problem

A couple of weeks ago the NILIs decided to take a weekend trip to Mindo a small tourist town in a cloud forest, known for its bird watching and activities like tubing, hiking, and zip lining. A number of people had told us that we needed to go there before for we left, so we decided to squeeze into one of our last free weekends in Ecuador. I was extra excited for this trip because it was the first weekend outing that my roommate, Carmita, was able to join us.  

As always we took a bus to Mindo. Shortly before arriving in Mindo, we heard a huge thud as the bus came to a sudden stop…our bus driver had tried to run over a tree that was blocking the road…obviously he was unsuccessful. After unwedging and dragging it off the road, we were back on our way. By the time we got to Mindo it was dark. In fact, it was unusually dark; there wasn’t a light on in the entire city. Turns out that about an hour before we arrived, a huge storm had hit Mindo. It was the worst storm they had seen in thirty years. There was no power, no running water, and trees were down all over the city…some of the locals were comparing it to a hurricane. We weren’t entirely sure how bad the damage was since it was so dark nor were we sure if we’d be to do any of the activities that we were planning on doing that morning. It wasn't likely that the power was going to come on any time soon.  So, we went hunting through the pitch-black city for something to eat and we spent the rest of the night playing mafia by candle light. Afterwards, we all went to our rooms to try to figure out how to work the mosquito nets before dropping off to sleep.

The next morning it was clear that the storm had wreaked havoc on the city.  There were trees and power lines down everywhere.  Zip lining through the forest was definitely out of the question. We ate breakfast in a picnic area next to river while watching a number of different kinds of hummingbirds. Then we went on hike through the forest the forest.  A couple of people in group had to use machetes to clear the path since there were so many trees down. We ended the hike with coffee and tea, while we watched 50-some hummingbirds from our trail guide's back porch.  That afternoon we went to a chocolate factory and I ate the best brownie I’ve probably ever eaten in my life.  There aren’t many foods that I miss from the States but brownies are definitely one of them.

Later, our group decided split up.  Part of the group went to a butterfly garden and the rest of us decided to go tubing…and by tubing I mean like white water tubing. It was crazy! We had 5 tubes tied together, we sat on top, and hung on to the ropes. In order to steer, our guides would jump into to the water and try to push us off the incoming rocks. The water was freezing and we got soaked but it was amazing! Before going we had to wait next to the river for our guides. There was a swarm of bugs and within about 20 minutes I got over 100 bug bites…oops, I guess I won’t be forgetting the bug spray next time.

For dinner we ate BBQ!…I think the only food I miss more than brownies is BBQ (yes, I am from Kansas City). We were planning on having a bonfire and making s’mores ‘Ecuadorian style’ (which means using flavored marshmallows and the closest thing we can find to graham crackers) However, when we got back to the hostal the owners told us that there was a gas leak somewhere near by so starting a fire probably wasn’t a good idea. So instead we decided to all pool the snacks we had stashed away for the trip and tell stories. We huddled in one of the rooms dumped all our junk food on one of the beds and spent the night laughing about all the stupid stuff we did as kids…it felt just like camp.

The next morning we decided to hike down to a waterfall were we could all go swimming.  At one point on the hike we had repel down a muddy slope, some of us were more or less sliding down. I made it all the way to the bottom and starting celebrating my success just as I stepped back, tripped over the stake that was holding the rope, flipped over onto my butt and started sliding the rest of the way down the trail. The 20 people watching thought it was hilarious…there were even a couple taking video. 

The river/swimming spot had a huge water slide with a good 10 foot drop into the river. We needed some instruction before trying it out because there was a Gigantic waterfall a little ways down stream and the current was really fast that day, but no worries the was a proven safety system in place...all you needed to do was simply grab the close line that was strung across the river before going over the edge, no problem. Okay so there were some guys that would jump into help if it looked like someone wasn’t going to make it…lol. I hope my mom isn’t reading this. Well, the slide was amazing and the water was freezing! 

After the slide we decided to jump off a 30 foot cliff into the river. The trick was to not jump too far out because you didn’t want to hit the slope on the other side. I’ve jumped from that high up before, but I had a friend that wanted to try it for the first time.  Being a former diver, she asked me for a little advice. As soon as she jumped off I realized that I forgot to mention that it really hurts if you accidently sit down…when she hit the whole crowd grimaced at the sound. Having smacked a time or two myself, all I could think was, “yep, that hurt” Luckily, she’s tough and she got some really cool bruises out of the deal. (and by that I mean the back of her legs were entirely black and blue)

On the way back to the hostal, we rode on top of a “chiva”—which is an open air van with benches welded to the top.  We kept having to duck in order to avoid getting hit in the face by branches. Before we got into town we had to hop down and get inside because riding on top is technically illegal…um, the van has benches welded on top…clearly people sit up there… 

We grabbed lunch from a street vender and headed home. I did manage to squeeze one more mishap before we officially made it home. As I getting off the bus, I totally slipped down the stairs.  I'm way clumsier here…since we're at 9,000ft, I’ve just been saying that it’s the lack of oxygen to my brain. 

Ministry Week & Climbing the World's Tallest Mountain (if you measure from the center of the earth)

Week #: I've lost count

A couple of weeks ago we had a whole week off of classes in order to do ministry projects. We spent the first five days painting local churches. By the fourth church we were pros and sick of yellow paint.  Now we’re all resisting the urge to scrape the pealing paint that we find around campus, we can spot it from a mile away.  Several of the churches were lacking in the ladder department so we had to find lots of creative ways to reach the high spots…We tried scaling fences and exterior walls, stacking chairs, and tying paint brushes to bamboo poles.  We also did a little bit of concrete work…I started having flashbacks to some mission trips I went on to Brazil. However, here in Ecuador we had to mix everything by hand (and by that I mean 'shovel'). We had a lot of people so it went fast. Even though we were all exhausted by the end of it, it was an awesome few days.  

I think one of the coolest parts of the ministry week was when we were working in one of the indigenous churches along side some of the local people.  There is a guy in our group that is 6’2” and played football in college and one point he was standing next to one of the little (4’8”ish) indigenous ladies in her traditional clothing and it just hit me, “wow, we are all part of the same church, the same body, we’re getting a tiny glimpse of heaven. When we go on trips, we usually try to bring seminary students with us which makes trips way more fun and helps us speak in Spanish.  We spent most of the week in Otavalo and stayed in the same hostal that we’d been at before.  We spent several nights around the campfire playing games and singing songs in Spanglish.  Twice on this trip we ate hamburgers the size of my face and one was filled with French fries.  We also learned in Otavalo that if you hear an ice cream truck, don’t chase after it—you’ll be disappointed.  The ice cream trucks here don’t play music…but the trash trucks do…

For the second half of the week, we went to Riobamba.  We had the incredible privilege of attending the ordination of a couple of our professors.  It was a special time for all of us and it was particularly interesting for me since its something I’m looking forward to in the future.  Early Saturday morning we set off to climb Chimborazo which is 20, 561 feet high. Since it’s located almost on the equator, its peak is the closest point on earth to the sun.  For a couple of hours it’s possible that we were the closest people on earth to the sun.  

We started our hike at a cemetery of all the people who have died on Chimborazo…that wasn’t disconcerting at all… A few of us climbed way passed the end of the trail. We made it to the ice cap which was about as far as we could go without equipment.  About the time we made it to the ice cap rocks started falling, it started hailing and when we turned around realized we were totally engulfed in clouds. We had joked about bring sleds to use on the mountain side…we could have used them on the way down. The first part was so steep and full of the snow that we just slid down on our butts. Super fun, but so cold. Since most of us didn’t think to pack gloves when going to Ecuador we used socks.

After not having had classes for a week we were all a little worried that we’d lost a significant amount of Spanish. However, Monday morning after we got back my roommate told me that I had been talking in Spanish in my sleep the night before.  Apparently, a foreign language can’t even deter that little habit. 

Next Up...Mindo: Adventures in the Cloud Forest

What’s white, pink, and brown…and melts in the sun? …Me!

 Last weekend got off to a great start Friday night when we tried to teach the seminary students how to play the infamous “Animal Game”. To make it more difficult,  we used animal motions and sounds…we quickly discovered that animals have different sounds in Spanish which made the game absolutely hilarious. 

THE BEACH:  The next day we took off for the beach.  The city we went to was about 7 hours away so we took an overnight bus trip.  They showed the movie “Meet the Spartans”, a parody of movie 300. I thought this was super funny because the whole point of the movie is to make U.S. cultural references, so I’m pretty sure we were the only ones who fully understood it even though it was in Spanish.  Although it was pitch black outside when we stepped off the bus, I immediately knew we were at the beach because it was about 20 degrees warmer.  I got on the bus wearing two shirts and a hoodie because Quito is in the mountains…yeah, that didn’t last long. I hadn't experienced that kind of humidity since I lived in KC!  

CARNAVAL: The beach was packed for Carnaval, which is a world-wide celebration that takes place before the start of Lent.  Different countries have different ways of celebrating Carnaval. Here in Ecuador, people spray each other with ‘foam’ (‘espuma’- their version of silly string) and throw water, eggs and flour. Basically, if you’re not willing get wet or dirty, then don’t leave your house.  Several random strangers on the street squirted me with water...apparently I’m an easy target. At one point, I noticed some ladies leaning out of the fifth story window of their apartment…buckets of water quickly followed…Another time we (that is our group of eight 20-somethings) got chased up a gigantic hill by four ten year olds who were trying to soak us. We also discovered that the ‘spray foam’ can dye your skin blue. If I thought being a gringa screamed ‘easy target’, looking like smurf is worse.  It was all tons fun and what better place to “play Carnaval” than at the beach?

And of course the beach was gorgeous! The water was like bath water. We spent most of our time playing the waves, laying out on the beach soaking up sun, and chowing down on the local food. There were venders walking all over the beach. We ate a lot of frozen yogurt, ice cream, and salchipapas (hot dogs mixed with French fries). There was also a Reggaeton concert and some indigenous dancing. But I think my two favorite parts of the trip were: 1) the sunsets 2) sitting around the campfire at night on the beach looking at the stars…it doesn’t get much better than that.  We had a little bit of trouble making it back home…and by that I mean, we almost missed our bus, it was literally pulling out of the parking lot when we arrived. I loved the beach, but wow, I got burnt! Mom, promise I reapplied my sunscreen like 10 times a day, but apparently it doesn’t really matter when you’re as white as I am.  I should have known when I saw a notice with directions to the nearest dermatologist posted inside the bus on the way to beach, whoops. My fingers even got burnt! I didn’t even know that was possible! Now, I look like a Neapolitan ice cream: I’m a little tan, really burnt, and somehow still kind of white…what?

MOUNTAIN CLIMBING: Last weekend I went to the beach and this weekend I climbed a mountain!  We woke up this morning, hopped on a bus, and picked a mountain. We ended up choosing a mountain that overlooks the monument that marks the equator. The monument looked huge when we walked passed it on the way to the mountain, but once we got to the top it looked like one of the tiny key chains we had seen in the gift shop.  I somehow managed to get stuck by a giant cactus several times while I was trying to "pretend" to touch it for a picture, whoops. Well, we’re already planning what mountain to climb next--preferably one without dangerous plants...

Week Seven: Indigenous Wedding and Learning How to Cook

ALMOST HALFWAY DONE! WHAT?!

My First Indigenous Wedding:

               A couple of Sundays ago the NILIs were invited to go an indigenous weddings. The wedding was two hours away so we had to wake up at 4:30AM to catch a bus. In Otavalo, they always have weddings on Sundays during church. The service was in both Spanish and Quichua (the indigenous language), so pastor would say something in one language and then translate it into the other (it was actually really cool even though I was really confused).  The ceremonies were simple but the parties afterwards were huge!

When we arrived at the party there were a number of people sitting on the ground next to large bed sheets piled high with gigantic mounds of beans, toasted corn, and rice. They mixed it by hand and then carried the sheets around the room to serve everyone the first course of food.  And oh my, was there a lot of food: soup, potatoes, corn on the cob, chicken, etc. Everyone was served at their seats; they don’t really do the buffet thing here, even with appetizers.  They only had about four cups for 150 people so several guys would walk around with bottles of coke, pour a drink and wait for the person to finish so they could serve the next person. I don’t know how many shots of pineapple coke I had, It tasted so good!...but it burnt so bad.  And what’s a wedding reception without a cake? They literally had the biggest cake I’ve ever seen! The whole thing was such a cool experience.  

The Basilica:   

Last Thursday we took a trip to the Basilica, the largest church in Quito. It was huge!! We got to climb through the ceiling of the building, and up (I don’t know how many) ladders in order to reach the top of the clock tower.  The whole time I was thinking, “man, I wish I would have attended this church…playing sardines in here would have been Intense!” Although, there’s a slight chance you’d never make it back out again.   We got an incredible view of Quito from the top of the clock tower. And of course we all had to see how far we could hang out of the openings in order to take pictures. 

           

My Ecuadorian Family:

This past weekend I lived with an Ecuadorian family. I didn't speak any English for a whole weekend! My family lives within walking distance of were I’m staying and they attend one of the local Nazarene churches. We spent most of the weekend cooking, which is totally different when you buy the food fresh and cook from scratch for every meal. In the States, I have trouble working the microwave, so I’m pretty sure I provided a lot of entertainment for my family. In the end everything was delicious. We made a couple of traditional Ecuadorian dishes “Caldo de Gallina” y “Llapingachos” yum! Monday morning in class we all got to taste everyone else’s dishes, I think my favorite was “Caca de Perro” If you don’t know what that means go ahead and Google translate that one…

            My family took me to a ‘Baby Shower’ (which is what it’s called in Spanish too, so at least I knew two words).  It was really fun and the food was amazing as always. However, we did get lost on the way there and some random person on the street sprayed me with water for Carnaval even though at that point it was still a week away…yeah, this weekend should be interesting…I’m going to the beach with a big group of gringos for Carnaval…I don’t think I’m coming back with any dry clothes.

The Jungle

Well our trip to the jungle got off to an exciting start. This what we found we arrived at our hostal...the holes got bigger and bigger every day. Just walking out our front door was an adventure.  The first evening we were in Shell we got a special “welcome to the jungle” dinner from...my cousin! She lives here in Ecuador with her family as missionaries.  It actually wasn’t until several months after I had already decided to come to Ecuador that I realized she had gone through the exact same program that I’m in now and is currently living here. It was one of the many connections to Ecuador I discovered while planning my trip here.  This visit was a great reminder of just how good God is. 

Sunday night there was a wicked thunderstorm, which I loved…well, that is until lightning struck a near by tree, knocking out the power and blowing out one of the outlets in our room (and by that I mean I saw a bright flash of light burst from the wall right over the head of my sleeping friend in the bed next to me…)

The next morning we picked up our tour guide and jungle boots and headed out for our first real adventure.  At the first place we stopped we watched some of the largest freshwater fish in the world chow down on breakfast…we were all very careful not to fall in. The goal for the day was to hike through the jungle to waterfall where we got swim and then hike back out. Before we headed in we all had got our faces painted like the indigenous people, using a local fruit (which we later discovered is really hard to get off). 


We spent the morning trekking across several streams (I never been so thankful for rubber boots). A ways into our hike our guide asked if we were hungry…thinking he may have magically stashed some food for all of us in his tiny little backpack…I yelled...yes! …he started passing out leaves…he told us to open the small bulb located at the base of the leaf.  When I broke mine open, tons of tiny ants started pouring out…and then of course our guide yelled…Lunch! They were surprisingly good…tasted like lemons, who knew? We finally made it to the waterfall and the water was freezing! But of course we all went for a swim. 

            

That night the power went out in the restaurant we were eating at for dinner, so we almost ended up having a candle light dinner on Valentine’s Day. The next day we went shopping in Baños (yes, that’s ‘bathrooms’ in English). Baños is located near Tungurahua is an active volcano which had its last major eruption in 1999 and several mini eruptions since. Before we left the van we were told, “If you hear the volcano alarm...sprint back to the van!” That's a new one. I can’t say that I’ve ever done a volcano drill…apparently they do them here.

            

That afternoon we went White Water Rafting! When they handed us the life jackets and helmets…I knew this was going to be a lot of fun. It had been raining a lot so the water was really high and fast. It was definitely intense, we lost one for a minute and I almost flew out a couple of times…I totally loved it!

            

The next morning we went to a monkey reserve and played with monkeys.  We brought sugar cane with us to feed to them…we discovered that sugar makes monkeys hyper too…they were jumping all over us. I never thought that I’d have a monkey on my head.

           

That afternoon was the coolest part of the whole trip.  If you haven’t heard the Nate Saint Story, you need to watch “End of the Spear”. It’s an incredible true story about missionaries that flew into the jungle in Ecuador to find the Waorani tribe…if you haven’t seen the movie, I won’t ruin it for you.  The Waorani tribe still leaves in remote parts of the jungle in Ecuador. On Wednesday, we flew into the jungle to meet the Waorani!  We took a couple of tiny 6-passenger planes and landed right in the middle of their village (the “landing strip” was a long stretch of grass with a river on both ends).  When we got there they did a welcome dance for us. Then they let us try throwing a spear and using a blow gun. The whole experience was incredible! This was a trip I will never forget.   

Week Four: Making Mom Proud

Mom this blog is for you…I just wanted to let you that I’m probably going to eat more veggies in the next three months than I did all four years of college. In fact, I’ve been eating all sorts of new things, so I thought I’d share some of the typical foods we eat for each meal and some of the new things I’ve tried.

Typical Breakfast Foods: Boiled bananas, ham & cheese sandwiches, toast (which I burnt to a crisp the second week I was here…and of course everyone thought it was hilarious) mixed fruit, yogurt (you don’t eat it with a spoon, you drink it out of a cup)…oh and I almost forgot ‘fruity loops’ 

Typical Lunch Foods: (the biggest meal of the day) There are two essential staples for lunch here: soup and rice. We also usually have some type of chicken, veggie salad and juice (which is always made fresh, Yum!)

Typical Dinner Foods: more often than not, we have fried rice with ketchup, mayo and hot dogs mixed in…As you can see, the theme here is rice. I’m a fan of rice, so all is well.

I’ve decided that everything tastes better in Spanish…the Spanish names for things are so much more fun. For instance, one night when I asked what we were eating and they said “hígado” I thought “mmm…that sounds good”. That night I discovered that liver isn’t half bad.  Some other foods I’ve eaten for the first time here are beets, chicken feet, all kinds of fun fruits, and a bunch of other stuff that I have no idea what it was.

They call me “llena” here (which means ‘full’ in Spanish) It’s one of the closests words to my name.   During the first week I was here, one of the seminary student (who had just learned my name) tried to explain to me that I was like the moon…(he meant like a “full moon”) yeah…that one took me a little while to figure out.  

I wrote my first paper in Spanish…I had to look up a lot of words and I may have made up some stuff…but hey. The paper was supposed to be about our time in college and we had to present it in class. I decided to try to explain why I camped out in the parking lot of ‘Chick-fil-A’ my freshman year of college... My professor thought I was talking about “Chifles” which are fried banana chips- a popular snack here in Ecuador. But once she figured out that I got 52 free chicken sandwiches out of the deal, she decided that one night in a parking lot was more than reasonable. 

Last Saturday I went with my roommate to children’s event at her church. It's a fairly small church but they had about 150 kids from the neighborhood show up!  It would have been utter chaos in the States, but even though most of the kids came without their parents, they were really well-behaved.  It was a lot of fun, although I didn’t totally understand what was going on…Well, tomorrow we’re headed to the jungle…I’ve heard rumors about some of the fun things we get to try in the jungle, but I won’t ruin the surprise…;) 

Week Three: Acquiring new skills...

Okay, so its official, learning Spanish is way more difficult and way more rewarding than I thought it would be. I've just started having very basic conversations with my roommate (with my dictionary close at hand--its pretty much my best friend here). 

This past week the NILIs (as we're called) decided to try to wash our clothes by hand...of course, every time we told the seminary students this, they laughed. Apparently for good reason, its a lot harder than it looks...my clothes are a little stiff.  We also went to Otavalo, which is one of the largest and most famous open air markets in Latin America. We literally shopped till we dropped. It's huge! Even though the market was incredible, I think my favorite part of the whole weekend was on Friday evening. We decided to play games around the campfire with some of the seminary students. A lady from Holland saw us playing and asked to join us. It was so much fun and super funny to try to play games in
Spanish with people from three different countries.  

When I decided to come to Ecuador to study Spanish, it was because I saw an open door, not because I had been planning on doing this all my life. In fact, this hadn't been in my plans at all, but God seemed to continue to confirm the decision over and over and over again, so I kept heading in this direction. Now that I'm here, I'm realizing that this experience is impacting me in a much more profound way than I had ever anticipated.  His ways are truly higher than my ways. I'm reminded time and time again, that this experience isn't really about my performance; it's about His purpose.  

Week One: A..mazing!

I’ve been here in Ecuador for about a week and it’s A..mazing! I only got about four hours of sleep in the first 48 hours of my trip, but it was worth! 

I’ll start with a little bit of an explanation… for those of you who have no idea why I’m living in Ecuador for four months. Right now I’m studying Spanish in an immersion program (NILI).  I’m taking Spanish classes, staying on the campus of the Nazarene Seminary in Ecuador with other Nazarene college students from the States and students from all over South America.  

Fun Stuff: 

My roommates’ name is Carmita, she’s from the coast of Ecuador. I’ve only been living with her for a week and I already know its going to be a fun semester.  Today, she taught me how to ride the bus and I taught her how to ice skate...yep, I said ice skate J

I started class on Monday.  I’m not gonna lie, the class is a little over my head…okay so its probably going to be the hardest class I’ve ever taken (mostly because its entirely in Spanish) but I’m definitely learning a lot…which is why I’m here.

I’m starting to get know some of seminary students from South America which is exciting. We've been taking a lot of trips around Quito. The people at “Penguino” (a local ice cream shop) already know us...we’ve been there like four times this week.  We've also already visited a crater and the equator!

Things I’ve already learned while in Ecuador:

~ It’s really hard to explain what a “Snuggie” is in Spanish when you don’t know the word for ‘blanket’ or ‘sleeves’

        ~ There’s nothing quite like using a tea  bag on a sunburn.  

~ Popcorn in soup is actually pretty good, but don’t be surprised if you find a chicken foot in it.

~ When you learn a second language, it gets harder to spell in the first.

~ It’s dangerous to throw things at people in the States, its rude here (that includes tossing something when someone asks for it)

~ It’s possible to balance a raw egg on the head of a nail (…when you’re on the equator)

~ Smiling & nodding works as long as no one asks you a follow-up question…

~ Volleyball is a lot harder at 9,000 ft…so is sprinting.

~ I’m sorry US of A but the juice, bread, and roasted marshmallows are way better here.

~ Ecuador also has us beat in the flower department, you can get 2 dozen roses here for only $1.25!

I'm leaving for Ecuador tomorrow! I can't believe it! I feeling pretty excited...and little nervous, but honestly it doesn't quite seem real.  I've been so caught up in all the little things I have to get done before I go...passport, visa, purchasing tickets...figuring out how to get my taxes done while I'm gone, etc. I haven't had a whole lot of time to think about the fact that I'm moving to a foreign country for four months! (..where I don't know anyone and don't speak the language,  ha) Yep, its definitely going to be an adventure.

Although, I've had a long to-do list, things have started to fall together. Yesterday, I got the last of my shots. (which has actually made writing this a little awkward because my arms are still sore) But I'll take a couple sore arms any day over Yellow Fever, Tetanus, or Hep B.  Yesterday, I met with a nurse who specializes in international travel. So basically, she spends an hour telling you about all the ways you could die (complete with diagrams) and by the end of it, you (happily) pay her to stick you. I walked out of that office, rubbing my arms, thinking "man...she's gotta love her job".


Where I'll be:
I've posted a map Ecuador, for those of you who are wondering which continent it's on.  (It's okay, I wasn't paying attention in geography either) I'll be staying in Quito which is the the capitol city of Ecuador.  Quito is located in the Andes mountains, next to an active volcano. Quito's altitude is over 9,000, one of the highest capital cities in the world.  Many people experience 'altitude sickness' for several days after arriving. (Luckily, I wasn't planning on running any marathons while I was there) Ecuador is literally located on the equator (Quito is about twenty miles South of the equator). However, since Quito is at such a high elevation, the weather is actually similar to Seattle's summer (during the day its between 60-75F). I'll be there during Quito's rainy season, so Seattle has been good practice all around.


Eventually, my hope is to write these posts in both English and Spanish, although it may be a little while. I've had the equivalent of about one year of college Spanish.  In other words, I'll have lots of funny (embarrassing) stories to share about how I'm stumbling through learning the language.  


Actually, I haven't even made it down there yet and I already have one...I was at Family Christian, one of the places I've been working for the last six months.  A lady walked up to the counter to check out, while speaking Spanish to her children.  We always have some cheap items located on the front counter, so in Spanish I tried to offer her some of our 'five dollar' items...she smiled and gave me a funny look. Immediately, I knew I had said something wrong but I had no idea what.  For weeks, I was trying to figure it out. Then I got to the 'health' section in my textbook and I realized that instead of offering her 'five dollar' items, I had offered her 'five pains' ...ha, ha whoops...shh, don't tell my manager.


Anyways, I'll try to post stories and pictures as I go.  I appreciate all your thoughts and prayers!


Chau!