I was really excited about this morning because I was getting to work in the Pre-K classroom. And let me tell you these kiddos are CUUUUUTE! When I first got in the room the teacher spoke only Spanish so that was a little intimidating. Since these babies were only 3-4 years old they didn't speak much English either. But I still had a great time working puzzles and coloring with them. About an hour into it there was a teacher change (for breaktime) and this time she spoke only English. Which was great for me...not so much for the kids! You could tell they knew the second she walked in the room because they immediately turned Out. Of. Control. I mean running all over the room, throwing their puzzles on the floor, breaking crayons you name it. You would think that would give a teacher hives - in my own classroom it certainly would have but here I just went with it. Helped with what I could until the other teacher got back, and then the classroom immediately went back to normal. So it's not just American kids who act up when a substitute is there...
After a few hours in Pre-K there was still some time left before lunch so I headed up to the worksite. Ashley, Alissa, Santiago, Trey and Rob were busy sifting sand, loading it into buckets, taking it upstairs and then coming back down for more. I thought it looked kind of fun. WRONG. Oh my goodness!! I didn't do it nearly as long as those girls had and after 2 trips I was BURNT OUT. Manual labor is not my strong suit... (have I mentioned that yet!?) trying to have a good attitude I gave it a couple more goes, tried my hand at the sifting part instead of the carrying it upstairs part because that looked easier (wrong again - harder!!!) and then Praise the Good Lord it was time for lunch. Thankfully we were taking the Maestros to lunch that day so we got to take a truck up the hill instead of hiking up!
As usual I was super excited about my Coke in a glass bottle at Alexanders. That and relaxing while getting some much needed food! And that was only after and hour of work...back to the worksite!
Thankfully I headed to baby time where... Be. Still. My. Heart. I met Yarena. Sweet, sweet girl. I would have taken her and her twin brother home with me if they had been adoptable, I had $80,000, a good lawyer and it weren't illegal...minor details right!? She was just a doll. So happy, smiley and snuggly. I fell in love with her immediately. Her mom dropped her and her brother Saustine off at the orphanage when they were days old. She said she had 5 other kids at home, one that was another set of twins that she was still breastfeeding and she would be back in 5 years to pick them up. Break my heart in a million pieces. At first hearing this information I was just pissed. How could a mother do that?! But as the week went on, and I got to know the city of Shell a bit more - these parents were just doing the best they could. They have no birth control in Ecuador. So her best was dropping her babies at an orphanage until she felt like she could take care of them. And even if she never comes back for them they will 1. Be cared for and loved so well at Casa de Fe. 2. I will go back and bring them home with me and they will be cared for and loved in America. So....we went on a walk that day up to the worksite where poor Ashley and Melissa were still hauling dirt and sifting sand. Yikes!
But of course baby time was over too soon and it was time to head back up to the school! We headed upstairs to shovel some rocks into the buckets that were being carried up. We lasted for a bit doing that before we headed downstairs to sand some walls (that I can handle!) 4:30 rolled around and the ladies headed back to the hotel to shower and get ready for dinner. I took pictures of the hill we climbed each day and some random dogs that were in the street on the way home!
We ate dinner at a steakhouse in a nearby town called Puyo. The food was delicious. We had this really interesting chocolate pancake thing for dessert... it was pretty good - I expected it to be super sweet but that wasn't the case! After that we went to a Balsa Wood store which sold Ecuadorian trinkets and we all stocked up on plenty of wonderful junk that we didn't really need. So fun! And of course we all enjoyed a Coke in a glass bottle. Delicious!
Low: Sifting, shoveling and carrying dirt!
High: Meeting Yarena.
{Casa de Fe}
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