Days At Work

Days at Work

6/20/12

            After I last wrote on Saturday, Santiago and I had quite the adventure making pancakes. They tasted good but had the weirdest shape I have ever seen. Since then, we have improved in our pancake-making skills, but that night is what I’d rather be writing about!

            That night Santiago took me to his cousin’s baptism party. We didn’t go to the service, but we made it to the party. It was my first Ecuadorian party, and it was awesome. There were actually people there that wanted to buy my boots! (Good job, Mom!) I got to dance with all four of the cutie Santos brothers and eat a ton of good food. They passed out soup first with chicken parts. Santiago and I got the head and the neck of the chicken, so I kept poking at the eye saying, “I SEE YOU!” After soup, they gave us another type of meat, chicken, rice, and potatoes. Then they passed out Aguardiente, which is a typical South American alcoholic beverage made from sugar cane. One person would have a cup and the bottle and would pour a little bit in a cup, and after someone drank it, they would continue to use the same cup. I bet some of you are cringing.

            So we had an awesome time and were ready to leave at 12 when Santiago decided to say goodbye to his aunt. However, she insisted that we stay for cake, so we did. The cake was awesome, and I don’t even like cake. I’m honestly not sure what it was, but they put fruit ice cream on the side, which was good. It was just a great night trying to dance the Ecuadorian way!

            Oh, and in case I didn’t mention this before, there was no electricity in my house on Saturday and some of Sunday. There was a storm that knocked off the power, so I literally came home to darkness.

            That morning I was supposed to sing for church and then we were supposed to go to a meeting for that camp, but it didn’t happen. I had been on the verge of being sick for a few days (because my whole family has been), but I woke up feeling terrible. I had a sore throat, a stuffy nose, and was extremely tired and weak. The dancing the night before didn’t help, but I wish my little siblings would cover their mouths when they cough!

            So I went to Santiago’s for the day, and he made me tea and pancakes. I ate a little bit of lunch with his family before going back to sleep. Then we watched Evan Almighty, which always cracks me up. I also Skyped my parents for a little bit before returning to my house to make eggs.

            For dinner I had, of course, my favorite, eggs, as well as some food that Angelica made. It was a wonderful meal, and I was very full! At that point I was feeling much better!

            The next day I woke up to another great surprise: no water! So I did what any normal person would do and attempted to wash my hair with a bottle of water. That was probably one of the worst ideas I have ever had in my life, but you do what you gotta do! (and not to mention that the entire city didn’t have water ALL day, so I wonder how many people were going to the bathroom outside…)

So I did my devotionals before going to visit El Refugio (the camp I worked at in January) for the first time to talk to a woman about helping out. We made up somewhat of a schedule, and I came back to my house to hang out with Angelica. I got to straighten her very long hair, which was fun, before Santiago and I went to take the bus to Cayumbe.

            We got to Cayumbe a bit later than we hoped, but Susie and Glenn came to pick us up and dropped us off at the place where they do ministry. I watched and took pictures as Santiago played kickball and soccer with the kids. Then we went inside to hear their Bible lesson. They sang songs from words put on paper and held up in front of them. Gissela, the one who runs it, then gave a Bible lesson about Saul (Paul) and pride. I was so proud of myself because I understood the entire thing. It definitely encouraged me to be able to understand one service, even if it was a children’s service. She actually didn’t use very small words either. She used words like “persecution”. It was also cute to see Santiago playing with the kids; they really liked him!

            After I discussed more times to come to Cayumbe with Gissela, Santiago and I took the bus back, which was way too long! We got to our friend Israel’s house later than we thought because they were having a dinner for Rachael, who was here with one of the interns, Lydia, for a little while. We ate a bit and hung out there for a little while. We started to watch Due Date, but it was getting late, so we headed back home.

            Yesterday (Tuesday) was my first day of work! I got to El Refugio at 11am and started helping out. We were feeding nearly 60 people! We put cups and drinks on the tables and made “Walking Tacos” (my favorite back in January!). I cut tomatoes for at least an hour and a half. My apron was stained with red, but I think I did okay! I got to serve the avocadoes, and it was nice to be able to see all the Americans that have come from Madeline’s church (“the Geneva group”).

            While eating, I was asked if I wanted to take a Spanish class with Steffy (in about twenty minutes, he said), which I said definitely! So I had my first Spanish class with Steffy, and it was great. I understood her well, and I learned a lot of new words and verbs. She gave me some homework to do, and then I started to do it before Angelica and Anita came back.

            Once they came back, they gave me a couple of different jobs, such as refilling things, putting things out, and setting up the jello. After dinner, I started to talk to one of my Ecuadorian friends, Jhonatan, and three of the Americans were helping clean up. One asked me if I was from Ecuador, which I thought was cute. Then she asked how I learned Spanish and told me that she was taking Spanish in high school and stuff. So we talked for a bit while cleaning, which was a lot of fun. I liked being able to get to know some of the Americans.

            When we walked back to the house, Angelica gave me some strawberry cookies, which were awesome, and then Santiago and I did some of my homework. He helped me find pictures to demonstrate some of the new verbs I had learned. It was a bit hard, seeing as some of them were like “frying”, “boiling”, and “pursuing”.

            Today I have another fun day at work ahead! Right now I’m about to head out to my second day at work. Other than the fact that I’ve been sore and had a blister, I’m ready to go! It’s been a lot of fun being around so many people, and I’m definitely feeling encouraged after understanding a lot on Monday! Here’s to my days at work! (See, Mom, I’m doing things!)