Update

Puerto Lopez is going well. Super busy this week with volunteer work and my final exam. I am getting better at communicating, but still a ways to go. One thing that is pretty cool is the community here. For example, my host mom invited the yard man to have lunch with us today.

Cleaning Bathrooms

Most disgusting day of my life.

1st week of classes

Things are still going well. Teaching has gone well, even with my lack of Spanish skills. The kids are all super nice and suprisingly eager to learn. I have one 5th grade class that is a little bit of a pain in the butt, but not too bad.

I was asked to build a planter to grow weed two days ago. Of course I refused. Unfortunately, I missed my chance to get into the South American drug game.

1st day of classes

Had a great 1st day of classes. Teaching was challenging, but fun! Looking forward to tomorrow. Today the janitor at the school bought me ice cream because he said I look to skinny. He kept calling me ''Flaco, Flaco!''. What a true man of God! How many times do you see a janitor from a 3rd world country buy ice cream for a rich white guy? Blows my mind.

Update

Its weird being the tallest person in the town.

Puerto Lopez Update

Everything is going well here. I had a good first week of volunteering. This week was a planning week, and the children come on Monday. I will be teaching 5th and 6th graders english. Also, they have me repairing a bathroom that is dilapidated, and possibly fixing a broken water cistern. Excited to enjoy the weekend at the beach and hang out with the host family.

Definitely learning to use a whole lot less here. Suprisingly living in a tropical climate without AC isnt that bad.

Easter Weekend

I had a great Easter Weekend here. I went to some neighboring towns with my host family. Not a whole lot to report. Everything seems to happen very slowly in this town. I did go to a small church for their Easter service, which was pretty cool. It was one of those churches where people are always screaming and yelling. I couldn't really understand them, but it was an interesting experience. My Spanish is getting better, but I still can't understand when people talk fast.

Shower

I electrocuted myself in the shower with the electric water heaters they have down here. Nice and refreshing....

Passover

I had a great passover feast with my host family last night. I bought some wine and unleavened bread (crackers), and we read the last supper part of the Bible. It was my first time celebrating Passover as a christian.

This morning I went for a run on the beach and saw some locals that got their car stuck in the mud. It was pretty intense trying to get the car out before the tide came up. With the help of about 20 people we got it out just in time. Praise God!

Puerto Lopez

I made it to Puerto Lopez, but got my laptop stolen on the bus when I was sleep. I was quite impressed with the sneekiness of the theif as I had my backpack at my feet the whole time.

Puerto Lopez is beautiful. My host family lives about 5 minutes walk from the beach. I have a 22 yr old host brother, Angel, and my host mom's name is Elsa. They have been very nice. I spent most of the past two days at the beach since there is not much volunteer work to do because of Holy Week. When I start work on Monday I am going to be teaching English at the elementary school in the morning, and then working on a stormwater design and construction in the afternoon for the school. Apparently, they are having flooding problems.

Quito was a pretty cool city. The day I was there I did a city tour. The church there is quite impressive, and compares to Notre Dame.

Some highlights from the past few days:

-I saw a giant St. Bernard dog try to kill another smaller dog. It was pretty intense. The bigger dog was on top of the small dog tearing into its neck. Some locals started hitting the dog with bycicles to save the small dog, which eventually worked. The small dog was bleeding, but I think it was ok.

-I accidently hit a guy sunbathing in the nuts with a soccer ball. It was pretty embarrassing, and he was super mad, and cussed me out. I am terrible at soccer.

-If anyone is wondering what happened to all of the Sacagewea dollars, they are all in Ecuador.

Made it to Quito

I made it to Quito...overnight busride to Puerto Lopez. Hopefully updates to follow tomorrow.