hooola lluvio,chao santiago :(

Wow so I am sitting in my classroom right now and it is RAINING outside. So much my computer is sort of getting wet and I can feel the rain blowing in from the wind. I can also hardly hear anything but the rain right now. Funny thing is the rain will probably stop in 5-10 minutes and then it will become sunny and hot! Or maybe not? But most likely.

Anyway, tomorrow is my last day of class! We are just going to review everything we've done over the past month and a half. I am going to miss my kids a lot when I am home for Christmas. And I just found out today that I am going to be coming back to one less kid...
Santiago (my class), Ramero (chantals class) and Moises (one of the younger boys) are all brothers and their dad decided he is coming to get them next Friday. They also have a sister here who has cerebral palsy, their mother died while in labor with her, so the father is not taking her. I don't know anything about the family they are going back to, but hear say has it that the father now has a girlfriend that lives with him to help him take care of the boys.
So along with still praying for Cynthias father and family I ask that you also pray for Santiago, Ramero and Moises. That it is a good thing they are going back with their father, that he can take care of them properly and that they continue to grow and learn knowing Gods love.
It's so sad to see one of my students go but at the same time it could be a happy thing... My class will deffinately be different without him.

Monday, Monday

So today is Monday...after a long uneventful weekend of staying in my pajamas and watching almost the whole first season of Heroes...class starts again.
This week I am just going to spend the whole week reviewing and testing over what we have learned so far, since I am leaving in next week and will only have class Monday. I want to make sure they don't forget everything they've learned :)
I haven't blogged recently and aside from the lazy weekend...here's whats been going on. (We'll go backwards)
Friday we painted our desks however they wanted. Which ended up in a huge mess that was impossible to clean up. Despite my newly splatter painted floor the kids desks look great. I will have to borrow a camera to take pictures :) Also this weekend some guys from Kentucky were here until Sunday just to kind of look around and see what goes on because they are going to be doing some fund raising for the orphanage. So friday night we ate at El Jardins (aka worlds best steakhouse).
Thursday night after I went to bed I got woken up by Matt saying our friend Cynthia was here and she needed our help. Her father had an aneurysm and she needed to get to Quito asap so she could fly out. Patti Sue was in Quito already so we had to try and figure out how she could get there and the fastest way possible. We helped pack her stuff and got her a cab to Quito (which is 5 hours away) Matt rode with her and rode back with Patti Sue so we would be sure she got there safe. The trip to Quito and rescheduling her flight worked out well. She got to the hospital before her dad had to have surgery and the doctors said the surgery went as well as possible. He is still in critical condition so if you get the chance and think about it say a little prayer for him, their family and the doctors.
Tomorrow we are going to get out of class early as the family upstairs asked us to join them on their trip to Ambato to go Christmas shopping at the mall, see a movie and out to dinner. It should be nice. There are even some american type "restaurants" there. (If you want to call McDonalds, KFC, Tacobell restaurants) :)
I am really looking forward to coming home for Christmas and seeing everyone.....

Thursday Morning

I can't believe it's already Thursday morning. And getting closer and closer to Christmas.The other day in class we made paper snowflakes and listened to Christmas music in Spanish.Then we didnt put them up until that night and I didn't bring my computer but all the girls were still singing their Christmas songs. It was so cute. It hardly seems like Christmas with all this summer weather. Yesterday the kids started taking timed times tests. Everytime they pass one they get a piece of a paper bannana split and when they pass all their tests we get to go out for a real bannana split. They are really excited and it has helped...some of them...to actually study.
:-) Today weare going to try and play math jepordy..and I told them we could listen to Christmas music during class again if they were good. I am going to try and come up with some fun way for the kids to do a short Christmas skit or something interactive with the Christmas story for next week, but I haven't found anything just yet.
Well I need to get ready for class but I will write more tonight.

Blog from Sunday night

It's been a few days since I've blogged! This weekend has been sort of lazy, minus the adventurous Friday night.Friday night we were invited to go sing karaoke with a German couple and some Canadian girls who are stayingin Shell as well. The German male and one of the Canadian girls are interning at the missionary hospital, so someof their other co-workers went as well. We traveled to Puyo by bus to a restaurant that lost power twice while Wewere eating but had excellent food. Then we took a taxi (13 of us one taxi..truck..yes we mostly were piled into the bed of the truck...interesting site) to the first karaoke place. Not even within 5 minutes of getting there the tv breaks. So we get another taxi (yes still 13 of us) to another karaoke place where...everyone is horribly singingsad love songs in spanish. All this is okay though...because we just keep saying this will be a good story,one thatsounds a lot better than it actually was...and thats kind of how the night was. It sounds a lot more interesting thanit actually was.
Saturday morning we went on a short hike to a waterfall...which would have been absolutely amazing..but I had a horrible headache. I've been getting headaches a lot recently. Matt seems to think it has something to do withthe muscles in my back. Which could be true because my back hurts often too. The waterfall was beautiful I just hada hard time enjoying myself with the headache. So we got home and I slept...for a few hours, and I watched Newsies. Which was amazing. I had not seen it before. I didn't really do a lot of anything yesterday but sleep and try to getrid of my headache.
Today. I woke up and felt much much better. I made some toast and some coffee, listened to Christmas music, almost made us miss church because I just KNEW it was 1030 and not 10..good thing Patti Sue came to pick us up. Went to church with Patti Sue and the kids..went to lunch after church...I think I learn something new about the kids and their stories everyday.After that I read some and made some soup.Then we walked to Alexanders so Cynthia could get popcorn. Shell Days is still going on...so there was a big concert in the middle of town and the most people I have everseen in Shell. The musicians were some "rock" band..decked out in leather. Everyone was screaming for them andsinging along. It was pretty interesting. I dont know who they were but they seemed pretty popular here. Also therewere just a bunch of fireworks that went off! It really feels more like summer than almost Christmas here. Which speaking of Christmas, I am really really looking forward to the Holidays with my family and friends. I miss everyone. It's so crazy to think that I will be going home in just 2 1/2 weeks.
Tomorrow after class I am going to go to Puyo to try and get my mail...again. My mom sent me Christmas cd's about2 1/2 weeks ago and I have yet to recive them. Also I am going to finish up my Christmas shopping! I got pictures of the snow in KC. I really hope there is snow when I get home. I can't say enough how excited I am for the holidays.I am also looking forward to all the things that will be new here when I get back as well. This next year is goingto be a great year...