birthday fun

well, as you may or might not know, my birthday was on monday april 9th. it was a good day....but the first birthday in awhile that has been during a week. i seemed to enjoy it better when it was during a weekend...but oh well :)

i knew it would be a hard birthday to beat, knowing i had just spent a great week relaxing and soaking in the rays on the coast.

my students suprised me by decorating the room in a sports-like theme with things decorated with sayings like, "your classroom is a ball" " you are number one" etc...it was very cute!!

when i got home at the end of the night, 3 of my ecuadorian guy friends seranaded me with some spanish birthday tunes and some flowers! it was really nice!! my first seranade. it was really great. i could get used to that.

on tuesday, beth had planned a birthday dinner for rachel and i since our birthdays are 2 days apart. all of us single people and one young married couple got together to celebrate. we took some fun pictures.






























here is beth, rachel, and i. thanks beth for a great time! us 3 have become good friends while being here! we will have to continue with our ecuadorian lifestyle back in the states :) or just live here permenantly. heheh

chillin on the coast in canoa

here is a picture tour of my easter break vacation with my mom(sorry you couldnt make it dad :(..... enjoy!


picture from our hotel (17.90 a night)











my mom and i on a water ferry
















picture of our daily beach spot. all the carps were available for purchase...and the vendors would ride and push their carts to sell things to you. you wouldnt even have to move! how convenient!







vendors and busier beach in manta (on our way back to quito)

sorry..pictures are not in an order













plane going back to quito. you walk out on the runway.
















mom and an ice cream vendor














mom in our room with mosquito nets over our beds!













my beautiful sand art














another breathtaking view from our hotel














luis and i...after my surfing lesson! it was fun and hard. after 2 hours of hard work and a lot of salt water, i made it up on my knees without any hands on the board 3 or 4 times. i never made it standing up. maybe next time. mom tried it after me.








beautiful sunset! sunset number 2 is with a surfer in the picture! there were so many surfers in canoa! they would surf until after the sunset. it was cool watching them.


now i am just trying to figure out how i can get back there before i leave. it was awesome