weekend getaway to quito

this past weekend..me and amy...a sweet girl from england who is staying here for 3 months...took a little getaway to quito.....it was good to get away...and get back into the "real world." its weird...bc in quito, people are dressed up and dressed nice....and us "shell" people are in our rags and "country" clothes...its a big difference...living in shell, you kinda forget there are civilized and upscale people in the world...which is kind of nice to escape from...but its just a little shock when you havent been to a "real" city in a few months. going to quito is nice bc its like a small taste of america...a lot of quito is really developed and if you were in some places, you would forget that you are in a 3rd world country...i really dont understand it..bc there are 3 really nice malls in quito with stores like: Tommy Hilfiger, Hugo Boss, Lacoste, Liz Claiborne, SUnglass Hut, Diesel, Addidas, United Colors of Beneton....etc...these stores are expensive in teh states and they all the clothes are marked up 20% here bc they are all imported...i have one question...how in the world can the ecuadorians afford these clothes? i cant even afford them....how can they...when they make a significantly lesser salary???i dont get it! anyways...its still nice to see familiar stores...

but all of the stores are not truly genuine..because you will see signs like..
"sunglass HOT" instead of sunglass HUT
Chuck Jaylor instead of Chuck Taylor

which is pretty humourous...its like, if youre going to make a sign...cant you get the english right?! :) just some unique things about Ecuador..its kind of odd how much they look up to Americans..they think we have it all...and many of them think the lighter skin that you have, the higher class you are...and the darker skinned Ecuadorians are usually poorer bc they are the indigenous indians (im not racist..im just saying their point of view)...its interesting...many ecuadorians will wear shirts with English writing on them just because it has English on it...but usually the shirt sayings make absolutely no sense at all! bc people have tried to translate and its all wrong....and the sayings on these shirts are somtimes horrible...but they dont even know or care really what it says...as long as its in English...maybe for that moment they wear the shirt..they might feel a little cooler...who knows. but dont we do the same thing? its just not as obvious for us...we do it in more subtle ways.

have an outstanding day!

it rains everyday in shell...even in my classroom!

well...it has been raining a lot here in Shell lately...the rainy season i think its called...and im not kidding...i mean atleast once-3 times-all day rain...but i kind of enjoy it because it cools things off...and i dont mind it :) it works out nicely because if it is really hot..you know its going to rain in an hour or so to cool things off :)

the other night, there was a huge rain storm...which causes leaks sometimes...which this one did! it was raining so much..that the ceiling was leaking all over! no matter where you were in the classroom, you would get dripped on! and buckets were pointless bc a new drop would start in a different place from before! when my desk started to get wet..i decided to put an umbrella over it so my papers wouldnt get ruined...then i had the idea to have everyone get their umbrellas to take a picture :) it was definately a moment to remember! (this was taken on valentines day..hince the heart "love glasses"..and when you wear these "love glasses" they help you to love others as God loves us! cool, huh :)


the adventures never stop in shell ...... :)

end of the spear.....and wow....

well...today i went over to the johnson's house to bake some cookies because my oven doesent work right....and when i got over there, 2 men were sitting on the couch...come to find out they were Jessie Saint and Dewey (a Waodani indian who speared one of the 5 guys)! i was like wow...it was crazy...

later tonight...jessie saint (nate saint's grandson) brought the movie, end of the spear over to let us watch it! the movie was good, even though it wasnt actually filmed in Ecuador...and the shots of Shell, well thats not the real Shell...but anyways...it was a good movie...even though some parts werent totally correct..but i guess thats how it goes...

during the movie when the guys are getting speared, Dewey was talking in Waodani about which guys actually killed which guys, and which guy he killed...I cant imagine what he is thinking in his mind. I wish I could talk to him and ask him a million questions...

it was so powerful after the movie was over to be sitting in the same room with Dewey, one of the indians who speared one of the guys. i mean wow. i just wonder what he was thinking. He has been a Christian for over 40 years now...and still is. there are 3 of the 6 Waodani indians who speared the guys alive today...Dewey, Maincai, and Komi (spellings are wrong)...Dayuma is still alive, but she is really sick. killing in the Waodani tribe still happens today within the younger kids who are not Christians..but it isnt as common....

if you have any questions about the movie about what is true etc..i can try to answer them for you! walk in faith....

rafting pictures and more...

here are some pictures from the rafting trip that i have mentioned in a previous entry...this is a picture of the group of us "Shell" people who went....all of them are gone except for 2 other people! that is how high of a turnover rate it is here...especially with a lot of med students...they are only here for a month or so...and then head back to the states




below is a picture of our boat on the water...if you look closely..i am the 2nd person from the back and i am sitting on the left hand side! the trip was a great one...even though the sun wasnt shining..it was neat to be rafting down the river and see villages living on either side, with the kids running down to wave to us...or you might see a woman washing her clothes in the river...







here is a picture of our group after we had our lunch break...nothing too exciting :)



well, live continues to continue, as usual! things are going well, and right now i have a lot to do..but no energy to do it. a team is here and they brought down a DVD of a conference called, Women of Faith...so a bunch of us ladies here gathered in the school library and watched it for about 5 hours! it was neat!

OH! last night, me, and 2 other ladies and their kids had a sleepover because both of their husbands were gone...so we got together and had pizza, cappucinos (Shell style), and some dessert! it was a nice change of pace...i even ended up sleeping on the floor..which took me right back to high school when we would always have our sleepovers and crash on the floors :) i miss those days! nflalea :)

the sign

Bienvenidos a shell..which means WELCOME TO SHELL...this was the sign that i have never been more happy to see when i was riding from banos to shell..that i stopped to take a picture...across the street are people riding away from shell to who knows where...when i was taking the picture..the man said something to me...but i dont remember what :) if you come to shell, youll have the ultimate privledge of seeing this sign too :)

36.4 mile ride from banos to shell

well today, 10 of us...a random mix between ecuadorians and american missionaries who live in shell took a bus at 7 am to banos, about an hour away...with our bikes tied to the top of a bus, for a 50 cent extra charge...and then to get on our bikes and ride back to shell....by car, this journey takes an hour and a half...and its about a 4-5 hour bike ride...with tons of hills...a constant climb..but i was proud of myself bc i didnt stop to walk once! God was my strength...no doubt!

here is a picture of the sunset this morning, before we took off for the bus stop...the building is the hospital here!



here is a picture of one of the beautiful scenery...this picture does not do the ride justice one bit...but i didnt to stop and take pictures of everything...i just enjoyed the ride..it was so great! its so great to ride down a ride with small waterfalls just trickling down teh sides of the mountains...you just have to experience it on your own!










this man was walking down the side of the mountain carrying a lot of thick grass on his back that he just finished hand cutting with his machette...ecuadorians are very strong and have a lot of endurance! this picture was taken when our journey was halted by a huge landslide that happened about a week ago..that blocks the road...so we were waiting for the guys to let us go..they let cars go by one by one...while one guy checks to see if rocks are falling :)







a picture of me resting for a small bit before i was going to tackle the next hill!
needless to stay that i was very happy to be back in shell after a long and hard jouney...id say it was one of the most physically challenging things ive ever done! praise god for endurance and strength! maybe when my parents come...ill be ready to do it again and well see what my dad thinks about it :)