The solitude of home and smell of baking cookies does give me the opportunity to reflect and write about how life is just generally coming along here in South America. (Luckily I am afforded the weekend beginning tomorrow to drink it, chat it and shake up it con mis amigos.)
So, speaking of my students, I've, more or less, recently really settled into Americano. Ecuador has continued to push me to learn to just. let. go. I've relaxed quite a bit inside the classroom and the kids are commenting on how much I am laughing and smiling now. (Though, to be clear, I have instituted detention for tardies, so I pride myself on still being "strict" in their eyes in some form.) From my perspective, this is a product of their ultimate willingness to do a bit more work in English, but one thing affects the other and we now have a good domino effect taking place. Honestly, I have come to enjoy these kiddos more than I thought possible.
Recently our girls soccer team won a big game that had never been taken by an international school in the past. It was pretty awesome to celebrate their success. ¡Viva Americano!
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| These ladies sealed the win in a shoot out. Pretty intense. |
So, with work going more smoothly, I've got more energy to be fun. Even when fun comes in the form of waking up at 4 am to summit volcanoes. During la epoca de lluvia at that. In the past weeks I have climbed Pichincha (de nuevo) and Imbabura. Mother Nature's elements made these climbs pretty trying, but my friend Alli and I joke that we do it for the memories, memories we will laugh at, romanticize, and yearn for when we look back on these adventures.
First Pichincha...
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| This was before the rain set in. Something mystical there. |
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| Alli might be the most photogenic soggy hiker ever. I, on the other hand, am thinking "what you can't see is the pants I am wearing that you could literally wring out right now." |
Two weeks after we had unfrozen from climbing the most deadly volcano, we embarked on a 3.5 hour bus ride to tackle Imbabura, a hike that set us out on a steeeep climb to the summit, with an hour of pretty intense rock climbing in order to reach the cumbre. There were moments I thought the strong winds were going to kick me right off of that volcano. Luckily I did not perish and live to tell of it today. :-)
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| Authentic pre-trek smiles from Andy, me and Alli. |
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| Andy captured this incredible vista. |
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| Almost like Everest, right...? |
So our girls soccer team had great success, I'd call our weekend treks a big success, but the success I celebrate most right now is the success of my Aunt Abby's book on undergoing treatment for breast cancer. She has boldly titled her book What About the Hair Down There? It's laugh-out-loud funny, but incredibly real and appears on the Hot New Releases page. Pretty. Damn. Awesome, Auntie Godmom. After spending many special days (such as holidays and birthdays) in the hospital for chemo, Abby will celebrate her 55th birthday tomorrow being a best-selling author. I love it. Life's Silver Linings.
Well, I've burned the last batch of cookies, so I am going to return my attention back to the oven.
Hope your weekends are full of warmer weather and the hopeful signs of spring.
Todo mi amor,
Jame
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