I can´t believe it´s already been three weeks since I got to Ecuador!! Things have been going SO great -- thank you all for your letters (Tina, GM, Mom and Dad) and emails -- they really do mean so much!! Also, those of you on Facebook should check out the recently tagged pictures of me -- our director Megan posts pictures often of our adventures! We´ve been living in solidarity with the people here, riding public buses to work, buying local food from our neighbors, watching our money spent with monthly personal and food stipends.
Here are a few more details of the big things going on in my life right now:
We moved in!
This past Wednesday, Tasha Mark Jessie Celso and I moved into our lovely house in the Antonio Jose de Sucre (AJS) neighborhood! We have big fans, individual bedrooms, a few bathrooms with showers / flushing toilets [all from cistern water though -- no running water here yet], a kitchen, living room, dining room, chapel and beautiful porch. It is so homey (especially with the great supply of toiletries, medicine and books that have been left behind from past volunteers and retreatants!). We´ll start this coming week with Community Night, Spirituality Night, daily prayer, and cleaning rotations. We also cook dinner together often (grab bread in the neighborhood for bfast and lunch is provided at work) -- some fave meals include fried plantains, rice, eggs, fruit and veggies, beans or lentils, juice, and stir fry variations. We really love living there and are having a great time so far!
I started working!
I spend my mornings as an assistant social worker and part-time English teacher at Chicos de la Calle, a Salesian [yay Jerica and Theresa!] program in Duran for boys who are at risk for / currently living on the streets. Aside from my two English classes (each of about 8-10 kids, meeting twice a week for 45 min), I record attendance of all 80 kids and any missing info on their charts (shoe size, demographics, family info, etc.). I also love the time just hanging out with the boys at snack, lunch and in the workshop! Jessie works there too -- most of her job is just chilling with the boys. We always come out of there with big smiles and lots of stories to share!
In the afternoon, Tasha, Mark (when he isn´t teaching at Nuevo Mundo) and I run Valdivia, an after-school program in our neighborhood. We do a welcome / prayer, activity (critical thinking, arts and crafts, teaching character values, etc.), recess, chat about values, and distribute bread / bananas / vitamins. This week we had about 20 kids each day -- pretty small, but we know our numbers will grow! It´s so much fun, and a great way to keep meeting families in the neighborhood.
Free time is great!
In the past few weeks, we´ve had a lot of fun, esp as a whole RdC community (all 16 of us). Last night everyone came over to AJS to celebrate Jon and Christina´s bdays, where we made a wonderful meal of rice, veggies, MEAT!, hummus, cake and Big Cola! We hung out and laughed all night long -- so great to spend time together. We´ve also loved our time randomly buying Yugoso (this delicious packaged [aka safe] ice cream treat), playing Bananagrams, and listening to music. We also went to the beach one day (where we got varying degrees of Ecua sunburn) and went to the Malecon, the touristy waterfront area in Guayaquil, one night to hang out.
Thinking of and praying for you often -- esp sending my love to all those moving into Villanova around this time!! Send me an email and let me know what´s been going on in your life!
Love, Beth
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