I ate too much rice...

...I will admit I have had a hard time convincing my main cook at school that I do not need that much rice with my meal.  The language barrier and me being the Director does not help the fact that I receive more.  Since I am not exactly exercising, my waistline will not handle this much rice too much longer...

It has been one day short of two months for Tanya and I living here in Ecuador.  In some ways time has flown by and in others it seems much longer than two months.  The cultural differences and structure of living in a different country definitely start to become much more real now that we are settling into life here.  I would definitely say that Tanya and I have gone through moments of frustration and joy in these two months.  Simple things like shopping for groceries, gas in the vehicle, and driving have become much more normal.  Our next step is to learn more language and conversation so that we can have better communication and more in-depth day to day living.

Tanya and I decided to not move in to Qutio to study Spanish.  We have decided to stay here on the property with the Hacienda and school and drive back and forth to another town called Otavalo to study Spanish throughout the week.  Our schedule will be determined by how much time is needed to study and practice Spanish along with the need at the school.

Speaking of school, we are definitely up and running!  We just finished the fourth week of classes and continue to progress though different procedures and organization.  We have had a good start to the school year and will continue to keep in contact so that the procedures established will become the norm at the Academy.  We have had many successes and compliments to the start of the year, but we know that there are many more things to do and it will take most of the year to establish and accomplish!
Friday was a holiday so our students and staff members (and us!) were able to enjoy a nice 3 day weekend.

On the lighter side of life, I have become better at building bigger and hotter fires.  The temperatures here at the top of the property (10,000 ft.) are generally between 38-45 degrees at night so having some heat when at home in the evening is advantageous.  It will warm up into the 60s mainly during the day, but can be warmer in the valley and Quito during the day.  I have not had to help any more calves out of our yard lately.  They have been very audible along with the hogs behind our house.  I believe though we have come to an agreement and once the sun sets, we all are able to sleep peacefully....

We appreciate everyone thinking and praying for us and the people here in Ecuador.   We appreciate the support and thoughts you have given us!  I will be working on sending out the first newsletter this weekend as well.  Of course, we have pictures below!  Enjoy and we will be in contact again soon!

We had some problems with our class schedules the past couple weeks.  A couple of our teachers were being double-booked. So we had to have people try to cover last. Two weeks ago, Tanya covered a P.E. class. The next day she covered another class and did a quick art class. Here are some of the 4th graders coloring.

Great minds must think alike. The assignment was for the student to draw his or her favorite thing that happened this week.  Here is Ms. Tanya's drawing. Below is one of a student.

Thursday we had a special assembly for the presentation of the flag of Ecuador. Our top 13th graders received the honor of bearing the flags while a few of our staff members read the significants of the colors and symbols.

The presentation of the Ecuadorian flag.

The Ecuadorian flag, the flag of Pedro Moncayo and the HOH Christian Academy flag held by Nicholas Vargas, Pamela Sandoval and Patricia Sandoval respectively.

Thanks for stopping by!

MIA

We have been Missing In Action lately.
We apologize. It has been pretty busy between school, shopping for a vehicle, me getting sick (upper respiratory infection) and then Jake getting sick. However we are still be and alive....and so is the  school!

So lets catch you up on what has been going on!

While we had a wonderful time in Peru, learning more about teaching and our English curriculm, I did not have such a great time on the return trip. I ended up getting my tri-yearly upper respiratory infection. It did help however to be able to sleep and rest most of the 48 hours  back. The only downside to all of it is because we were in such close proximity most of the time, I got several of the teachers sick plus Jake when we got back. We are still sniffling but for the most part are getting better. A good thing about being in Ecuador and being sick is you don't need a prescription for anitbiotics. We can just walk into any pharmacy and ask for what we need. A little scary but good at the same time.

We had parent night last Tuesday. It seemed to go well. We had about 100-125 parents show up. They were very interested in being involved and helping make the school a better place for their children.

We've had a lot of problems with the vans here on the property and it was getting very difficult to get things accomplished without a vehicle. So, after several weeks of search we finally found a car we like! In fact, we went into Quito yesterday and filled out all the paperwork and drove home with it. Now, to clear things up for everyone. This will be our personal car but it was purchased through funds from Twickenham. So it is technically the school's vehicle. We were very blessed to be able to purchase a nice Ford Explorer (cars here are super expensive, even used ones) that will drive well through the mountains, up the terrible potholed road to the school and it can carry lots of people. Plus it is pretty! 

Here are some pictures from the past couple of weeks:

The first couple days of school we had kids working on posters describing what it means to be: Ready, Responsible and Respectful.

 Juan David working on a poster.

 Erik made a cross.

 Pamela hangs the signs in Learning Center 5.

 A nice day to play outside on the playground.

The School of Tomorrow Lisoft in Lima, Peru.

 Conference in Lima.

Ms. Cathy, Ms. Jenny and Ms. Marcela happy about all the note taking at the conference.

 This picture was taken at Jockey Plaza in Peru....just for Jake.

Shopping at the market in Lima.

Driving along the beach in Northern Peru.

Enjoying some fruit smoothies (something VERY common here) on our travels back from Lima.

A statue of Jesus on the border of Ecuador and Peru.

These three sweet girls (Maria, Kaiden and Jenny) made some artwork during recess out of rocks and sticks.

 I just thought this was sweet... a couple kids holding hands during recess.

Mr. Hugo talking during Parent Night.

We had a few really nice days here so we had chapel outside. 

What a nice view to see and understand our wonderful Creator!

Adventures

We have had several different adventures recently.

First, we had the pleasure of hosting our first guest! Phil Pendergraft stayed with us for a couple short days. We got to catch him up on how we are doing do far, plus talk about some Ranger baseball and Fantasy Football. Jake was especially happy about those last two. 

Saturday afternoon on our way to drop Phil off at the airport, the van started to makes funny noises. Come to find out, it is overheating and the transmission was going out. The van wouldn't shift past about 3rd gear, so we slowly crawled our way to the airport so that Phil could get off in time. We then called a tow truck to tow us back. It normally is about a one and half hour drive to/from the airport. This ride in the tow truck was about two and a half hours... Sitting four people in the front seat of a 3 person truck. Good times.

On Monday, while y'all were relaxing and enjoying your day off, we had the adventure of the first day of school. It was a bit chaotic but overall, went very well. We currently have about 153 kids with the possibility of a few more registering within the next couple of days. 

I think we feel like there is a large learning curve for us. This past couple of days we have sat back a bit and watched what the "normal" routine is so we know how to approach making changes. 

I'll let Jake writ more later on the administrator perspective of the first week of school.

Right now,  am on my own adventure! There are 6 of us teachers from the English side if classes that are going to a curriculum conference. In Lima, Peru, I am currently typing while siting on a bus. It is going to be a LONG trip!

 We took a bus this afternoon from Cayambe to Quito. But it took us about 3 hours instead of the normal 1 &1/2 because we had to take a detour. There was a landslide yesterday that is blocking the Pan-American highway. It has caused a big stir in our area, especially for a few of our teachers who travel from Quito.  Anywho. Once we got to Quito, we took a taxi to the next bus station. There we ate dinner at KFC (yes, we have a KFC!) and boarded the next bus. We will be driving for 12 hours to the boarder of Ecuador and Peru. Good thing the seats lean back pretty far! Once we get to the border, we have to take a taxi across and then go through customs. In Peru, we will board another bus to Lima. The bus rise to Lima is 23 hours long! Luckily, the we got is a deluxe. It is basically sitting in first class on the airplane... Seats cline all the way back, personally TVs and WIFI! 

 So in total, we will be on the bus for about 48 hours.... For a conference that last less than 48 hours. And then we get to do it all over on the way back! I told you it was an adventure!

So, that is what is going on with us right now.

Please keep us in your prayers as we travel and also we'd like specific prayers for wisdom and patience as we continue to learn.