Time to move along (Teresa)

La Merced, in the region of Chanchamayo, has been a beautiful place to be for these 4 1/2 weeks.  We are so grateful for: caring hosts who serve great, healthy food; meaningful work with a supportive supervisor; gracious and generous folks to learn from; and amazing natural surroundings to experience.  Divine care comes in many, many forms!!

Now we are teaching our last week of classes, and ending on Thursday to be ready to travel back to Lima on Friday.  This time our bus ride will be in the daytime, so we look forward to seeing the surroundings as we go.  We`ll spend the weekend in Lima, again staying at the Mennonite Brethren Church.  On Saturday we`ll do some shopping for necessities which are cheaper in the big city; our list includes finding Magdalena`s shoe size for the black school shoes she'll need for attending school in Cusco.  (We were able to find Luisa`s here in La Merced.)  On Sunday we`ll attend church again, and then relax and pack for our next journey.

Monday morning we`ll fly to Cusco, a city of 1/2 million in the mountains (elevation over 10,000 ft), just a short flight from Lima, but a treacherous bus ride.  Cusco was the center of the Inca Empire, and is known as the "historic capital" of Peru.  Many folks are drawn to Cusco because it`s the entrance point to visit Macchu Picchu, famous Incan temples and ruins, and we look forward to visiting there.  But, we were drawn to Cusco because of the Mennonite, bilingual school located there, started 10 years ago by Peruvian Mennonite churches.  At the school, La Promesa, our girls will attend while Kent gives support to a new music teacher who is starting a new program, and I will help with tuturing English, and support in other ways that I can.

The biggest recent news is that we have a furnished apartment to rent for a very reasonable cost for the three months that we`ll be in Cusco!  We are extrememly grateful for the help of Willy Villavicencia, who works with Goshen College groups in Peru, along with Pastor Roberto and his wife Valeria in Cusco, who worked hard to find a place for us!!  We had the option of house-sitting for a missionary family during our first month, but likely will be able to move right into our own apartment.  We hear that our place is close to the school and the Mennonite church, so we look foward to getting to know the area of San Jeromino, which is a district (pop 30,000) within Cusco.

Again, we welcome your thoughts and prayers for the travel ahead and for the next phase of our adventure.  Some challenges that we are preparing for are: motion sickness for some of us on the curvy bus ride to Lima; altitude sickness for all of us upon arrival to Cusco; and our girls´ first experience of doing school work in Spanish.  (There are meds available for the first two challenges!)  Also, give thanks with us for so many gifts on the journey!

Adventure Tour (Luisa)

Yesterday my dad, Magdalena and I went on a tour to the waterfalls of three queens, but my mom felt like being lazy so she stayed home. We left at around 11:30 in a van and went to a bridge about 5 minutes away where we started walking. We walked on a nice path for about 40 minutes all up hill in the hot sun when we finally got to a little house with 10 hammocks, a swing, a small tree house, and a little stand selling hot dogs and juice. We were there for about 10 minutes before we started walking again. We walked another 5-10 minutes before we got into the river, and at the same time it started pouring rain. It poured for about 5 minutes but then it stopped and we swam a bit before walking more. But this time there wasn't any path and we had to walk in the river, but it wasn't very deep. There were a few little waterfalls that we had to climb up.  They were only 4-5 feet tall but had a fast current so we had a rope to help us get climb. There were some parts where the water was up to 4 feet but most of the time it wasn't more than 3 feet deep.

When we got to the first queen waterfall we had to climb up a 20ish foot wall to reach the second queen waterfall; they told us that it was to hard to get up to the third queen so we stayed at the second one. Here there was a place there where we could climb up an 8 foot high rock and jump into the water. It was really fun; the water was about 4 1/2 feet high and once you jump in the current takes you down and 3 foot slide. I jumped three times but then it was time to head back. On the way back we went on more dirt paths and we were in the water less, and soon we were at the little house again. We were hungry because by this time it was after 3 and we hadn't had lunch so we got some hot dogs. It took about half the amount of time to walk back as it did to walk there because it wasn't as hot and it was all down hill. Soon we were back to the bridge where we got in a truck and went back to town. It was so much fun but I'm not sure my mom would have enjoyed it very much.

Oxapampa Tour (Magdalena)

Last Saturday we went on another tour with the same tour company as the week before. This one was to Oxapampa, a town almost two hours from La Merced. Oxapampa is a German-Austrian settlement town with European style homes and beautiful gardens.

Our first stop was the Pokartambo bridge. Here we got our picture taken and I got a tamal while Luisa got a sprite and my dad got coffee. Then we went to a look out on the side of the road where we got our picture taken in front of a really big drop off. Then, as we entered Oxapampa, we stopped at a monument that was Peru's belly button meaning it was geographically right in the middle of Peru. Once we got to Oxapampa, we started to see lots of European style homes and everyone started getting their camaras out and we just sat in the van and thought "those homes look like our house in the states."

Our first stop in Oxapampa was at a store called NEVE with lots of carmels, jellies, honeys, yogurts and cheeses and we got to sample just about everything there. Then we went to Tunqui Cueva, a very cool cave with lots of stalagmites and stalagtites. Across the street from the cave we went zip-lining on a short line and we swung in some tire swings. Our next stop was Wharapo, a sugar cane processing plant where they make guarapo (an alcoholic drink), aguardiente (an alcoholic drink that looks like water), honey (made out of sugar cane) and chancaca (I'm not sure what this stuff was). Then we went to an artisan store called J.C. where we could dress up like Germans. When Luisa and I came out with our German clothes on everyone said "here come the original Germans." I had forgotten that we're German. Woops! Then we went to El Trapiche where we ate lunch. Luisa had chicken, my dad had sausages and my mom and I shared a big plate of chicken, sausage, beef and another kind of beef. Our last stop was a store called Ceja de Selva that had cheese and carmel. After that we walked across the street to the plaza and walked around and saw irises, lilies and other kinds of flowers that we have planted at home.

Since the ride was so long, our guide threw in lots of random facts about the region, here are some. 22% of Peru's coffee production is in Chanchamayo (Chanchamayo is what we would call a county), the most in Peru. Kitokito (or quitoquito) is the principal fruit in Oxapampa. Yánika is the indigenous language in Oxapampa. Chanchamayo means river of bones. There are three types of rain in Chanchamayo: loca (crazy rain ending with a rainbow), macho (male meaning that it comes and goes fast) and embra (female meaning that it is a steady, slow rain where sometimes it can drizzle for multiple days straight).Oxapampa is 1814m above sea level where as La Merced is only 751m above sea level.

Also, with all the time we spent in the van, we became friends with a family that had two daughters, ages 5 and 8. The younger girl talks nonstop leaving no space for the older sister (just like Luisa). The two sisters really liked playing games on our ipad so we gave it to them for the entire two hour ride home.

A Chanchamayo Birthday (Teresa)

Wow!  Two surprise parties in one day……yesterday we were celebrating Latin American style!  This means:  lots of people (so many new friends!), much laughter and hugs, loud singing, pop (here it’s Inca Cola), a salty snack, and a lovely decorated cake. 

The first party was at the police station, where we teach classes.  In the middle of our last class of the day we began to noctice lots of commotion in the hallway, which was quite distracting for our students.  Soon, parents and children from earlier classes, along with the policeman who supervises us, came into the classroom carrying cake, drinks, and snacks.  Policeman Johnny Alata gave a speech about how much he appreciates us being here, and that they didn’t want to miss a chance to celebrate my special day.  (We still have no clue how they found out it was my birthday.  Do the pólice just know everything?!)  The singing began with “Happy Birthday” in English, continued with the Spanish versión with the same tune, followed by another verse, “many blessings to you” (in Spanish).  Then, I was given an opportunity to make a speech, and after I did so in Spanish (impromtu, aaackk), they requested that I also speak in English.  Finally, I was instructed to go around the room to receive hugs and wishes from each person.  A lovely celebration!

Later that evening, there seemed to be excitement around the houses, along with whispering between my family members and others at the house.  We usually prepare supper for our little family on our own, but were instructed not to do so this evening.  Rosa served up a light, healthy supper for everyone in the house, and while we ate together in the living room a local friend of the family (who works with the other volunteers in our house) showed up with two cakes.  It was party time again, for me and for another family friend!  This time, at the end of the singing, each of us birthday folks had our faces pushed into our lovely cakes!  But, the icing tasted good J  We enjoyed cake, hot chocolate and visiting with all of these new friends.  Unfortunately the party came to an abrupt end when one of the young adult volunteers (who had been sleeping through the party) needed to be taken to the hospital.  All ended well at the hospital, and I won`t be surprised if the party is continued this evening!

My family also surprised me with sweet gifts, of course!  Kent treated me to a good back rub and both Luisa and Magdalena had secretly bought local treats for me when we were at the store the evening before.  Luisa knows that I can always enjoy a chocolate and coconut combination; and Magdalena gave me my own personal size of panetone (a moist bread/cake with raisins).  I`ll open those treats once all of the cake is taken care of!!

Counting on my fingers (Teresa)

When we were singing "Two little hands, ten little fingers" in English class this morning, I recalled a new skill I've picked up:  counting on my fingers.  You may be surprised that I haven´t learned this before, but I'm realizing that the method we use to count on our fingers varies with people and locations.  I'll explain....

In Indiana (and the U.S. in general, I think) we count starting with the index finger, then proceed in order to the pinkie, and end with the thumb, then proceed to the next hand to count past 5.  In the Galapagos (Ecuador), as we sang "Two little hands" in Spanish and English, I realized that the children were counting by starting with their thumbs, and then proceeding in order ending at 5 on their pinkies.  I assumed I would find the same pattern here in Peru.  But, on our first day of teaching here I realized that while a few students were trying to copy me, as I started on my thumb, the majority of students were starting their count on their pinkies, proceeding in order and ending at 5 on their thumbs!  So, now I can count on my fingers in three different ways!

Second Full Week in La Merced (Kent)

Our second week of teaching was very good and much more consistant!  It feels as though we have a really good routine going now. All of our classes have a steady core of students and all classes now have a nice steady minimum.  Our 7-9 year old music class averaged 20 students this week, followed by our English class (11 students), 4-6 year old music (10 students), and 10-13 year old music (8 students).  Our 4-6 year old "weekly average" is based on 4 days because on Monday no one showed up.  Our supervisor apparently had forgotten to tell anyone about our new class time. We changed the time so that we would be back to back with the 4-6 year old volleyball group, so on Monday I went down to their class during the end of their period and made a recruitment speech to the parents.  The next day we had 9 students!  The previous week we had 4-6 most days.

Our supervisor, Johnny, is very curious about us.  On several occassions after our last morning session, he hung out with us to converse and ask questions.  He´s been so encouraging and supportive of our work here and asked us if we can come back every year for their summer program!  He said that sports programs are very strong here, but there is not much music programming or music education.  (I think the one exception to this would be folk dance.  There are many folk dance clubs in Peru and many different types of folk dance.)  He's not sure how we got here or why, but he said that he believes that we "were a gift from heaven."  That huge big warm fuzzy should last us awhile.  :)  I explained to him that our reasons for coming were many.  We wanted to get a new world perspective, we wanted to learn about the Peruvian cultures, we wanted to improve our Spanish, and we wanted to volunteer and teach music to children--all of which come out of our faith.

Johnny´s response to this was that Peruvians would never do this and that it boggles his mind that we would leave the U.S. for a year and spend all this money to volunteer. He said that he's gotten very positive responses from parents and that one comment he hears is that "this family from the U.S. is different" and is doing something that is "muy bonito" (very lovely). We were with a program in the Galapagos in a community that was used to volunteers, we were a bit less of an oddity.  But now we are in an area that gets very few international volunteers like this (especially in the area of education).  I guess a family from the U.S. going around and teaching music in Spanish in Peru for no pay is a very counter-cultural thing.  The fact that the lead teacher (me) is male is even more odd because most teachers at the primary/preschool level here are female.  After 5 months of being in South America, being odd is nothing new and is something that we are now accustomed to.  Being "gushed over" by Johnny is a bit new for us, but I must admit it is definitely a nice feeling and it is very affirming.  I think we are supposed to be here.  :)

Our household changed drastically this past week.  We went from being a family living with a "host couple" to living in a hostal with 6 other foreigners!  Our hosts, Rosa and Luis, are seasoned hosts and host parents, but worked their tails off during the past 2 weeks to increase their housing capacity.  They moved their bedroom to the top (3rd) floor, to which they added walls and a roof since we´ve been here and they did some major clearing out of their first floor to make more usable space.  The six foreigners (also from the U.S.) are all with the same NGO organization,which is focused on public health and healthcare.  4 of them are only staying for 5 days, one woman for 3 weeks, and one guy 3 months.  One is between med-school and residency, one is applying for med-school, one is in residency, and the other 3 are studying public health (although one of them is a veterinarian).  Luisa has complained some about the extra noise at night, but with most of them being here a short time, it will be a short-lived challengee.  We are just happy to have a nice place to live and everyone is kind, but after 5 months of living with others, we will be happy to be living on our own in Cusco.

Challenging songs for children and adults (Teresa)

This exercise is for you to try at home.  In our Enlish class we are teaching the parts of the body, and are using many songs, including "one finger, one thumb."  In this song you begin by moving one finger and one thumb, then you add one moving foot, then one moving elbow, and finally one moving head.  By the end we`re all tired and dizzy, but it`s good for learning :)  I think the movement might be more challenging than the language!  Try it!!

Verse 1:  One finger, one thumb keep moving (x3); we`ll all be happy and bright.
Verse 2:  One finger, one thumb, one foot keep moving (x3); we`ll all be happy and bright.
Verse 3:  One finger, one thumb, one foot, one elbow keep moving (x3); we`ll all be happy and bright.
Verse 4:  One finger, one thumb, one foot, one elbow, one head keep moving (x3); we`ll all be happy and bright.

New Skills and Habits (Teresa)

We're keeping busy, but also have relaxing times at home and away.  We generally have to go away, to an internet cafe to get online, so you're not hearing as much from us.  Thanks for personal notes, for prayers, and for keeping in touch :)

We've made a habit of stopping for a scoop of locally made ice-cream on the way home from our afternoon classes each day....it's just so hot we can't resist!  Kent always has the same, maracuyá (passion fruit).  The rest of us like to try a variety:  cappucino (local coffee beans); camu camu (a jungle fruit); guanabana; queso y canela (cheese and cinnamon, both fresh); mint chip (fresh mint and cacao); strawberry chip (both fresh); pinapple (fresh, of course); rum raisin (both fresh!); mango; chocolate with peanuts (both fresh); etc.  Amazing!

Other new habits include.....
Luisa now eats all day long; seems like a growth spurt coming on!  Her favorite snacks here are hard-boiled eggs and mixed nuts.  Nice and healthy, and snack carts are in good supply here.  She hasn`t tried the hard boiled quail eggs that are sold on the street; she sticks to chicken eggs that we boil at home.  One day she ate a total of 7 hard boiled eggs!

Magdalena has taken a liking to the granadilla fruit, with her record being 10 smallish ones in one day.  They are a strange looking and textured fruit, but cheap and delicious.  Magdalena also has gotten smart about when to take her daily (cold) shower, and tries to get it in while she`s still sweaty in the evening :)  Once the sun sets at 7pm and the air cools (8-9pm) it's harder to motivate ourselves to jump in a cold shower.

Kent´s new habit is taking warm showers with the help of boiled water.  The rest of us are too lazy to take the time for this kind of preparation, and our hosts think it`s kind of funny, but they understand at the same time.  Rosa is happy to aid Kent in his shower preparations and they enjoy his happiness after a nice shower :)

One of Teresa`s new habits is getting up early to open the curtains and windows.  The bedroom windows are closed at night to keep out mosquitos, but in the morning cool air pours in when we open them.  I love to lay in bed, feel the cool air and enjoy the amazing scenery of green mountains, fruit trees and all kinds of birds.  I`ve been watching a hummingbird that regularly visits around the house, quite large by our standards, and colored in greens, purples, browns....just gorgeous.

We´ve also been developing some new skills....
Luisa has become very skilled at flagging mototaxis, and directing them to pick up her slower parents!  She took on this job when I was having foot pain, so didn´t want to walk very far to locate a taxi.  She takes off running from the house and returns in the taxi with a big smile!  We wonder what the taxi drivers are saying about us!

Magdalena is develping amazing teaching skills.  She is doing quite a bit of small group teaching in our classes, and she`s also offered regular teaching session to Kent, since she`s dismayed by his grammatical mistakes (in Spanish).  After some conversations, Kent is graciously receiving tuturial sessions from Magdalena and his Spanish is improving by leaps and bounds!  So, I guess this is also a report on Kent's new skills.

Teresa is becoming more skilled with determining when to hang out laundry around the rainy season showers...but this was reported in a previous post  :)

Tour of the Perené Region (Magdalena and Teresa)

Saturday (yesterday) we went on a fun, varied field-trip to the local area of Perené along the river with the same name.  Our tour guide shared all kinds of information with us, including facts and local legends.  Magdalena took good notes in Spanish, which we´ll share with you in English!

The Airplane Park in our town of La Merced.
- We pass this roundabout with a propellar plane every day on our way to the police station.
- The plane was used in the last twenty years for raides on drug trafficing in this region.

Ecólogic Chanchamayo, a local coffee farm, plant and store.
- Ninety percent of agriculture in Chanchamayo (which includes 6 town, including La Merced) is coffee.  The Chanchamayo region is the coffee capital of Peru.
- When coffee is natural it is brown; if it's black it's burned!
- If coffee is good, then you should enjoy it without sugar.  Only bad coffee needs sugar!
- You should drink two cups of good coffee each day:  one cup of café americano in the morning to wake up and one cup of espresso in the evening to calm you for the night.

Quimiri Bridge
- a suspension bridge 90 m long across the Chanchamayo River in La Merced
- built in 1905 to bring loads of fruits from the farms into the town
- On the other side of the bridge we noticed how the roots of plants and trees hold the rocks and bolders in place.  Our guide explained that people have often cut off roots to make coffe and produce baskets since the roots are moisture-resistant.  When these roots are removed avalanches result; this is a common problem during the rainy season on barren hillsides.
- We enjoyed freshly made juices (mango) and ice cream (pineapple, coffee, chocolate, and passion fruit) at the Bio Fresh shop along the river, with a great view of the bridge.

Mountain of the sleeping native man
- The clouds moved away just in time for us to see this natural attraction, the face (forehead, eye, nose and chin), and body profile on the top of the mountain.

Villa Progresso, a farm, hotel and restaurant
- orchards of oranges, tangerines, coconuts, bananas, plums
- heliconia, a jungle plant
- confluence of the rivers Chanchamayo and Baucatamba, forming the Perené River which eventually forms the Amazon.

Visit to the famous machetero Pepelucho
- nocturnal relative to other large rodents
- the name relates to its ability to cut with its teeth like a machete; English name is Pacarana
- this is a domesticated machetero who has stared in movies, including one from Hollywood, "El Dorado, Temple of the Sun"
- most recent film is from Peru, "Trata de no callar"
- also met the cutpe, a smaller jungle rodent

Ashaninka Indigenous Community
- 2nd largest indigenous group in the Peruvian Amazon
- comtemporaries of the Incas
- we learned some essential Ashaninka words before we arrived:  kitaitery (good morning); pashonky (thank you); habiro (hello); pabishi (enter); pisaiki (sit down); sheténedy (good afternoon); siténedy (good evening)
- "Marankiari" is the name of the village we visited.  It's set up like a living history museum where you participate in some of the culture.  When we arrived we were dressed in local garb: long brown smocks; strands of beads; headbands with feather for the women and children; straw head bands for the men; and face markings for each, depending on your age and marital status.  Kent and Teresa received 3 stripes on each cheek, Luis had one stripe on each cheek, and Magdalena was marked with a star on each cheek, meaning that she is marrying age :)
- We were served a drink of manzinato masticado. a fermented yucca drink.  Not very pleasing to us!
- We experienced a marriage ritual during which Magdalena and the other single young lady in our tour group were taken away by a single man of the community to be tested for marriage.  (Magdalena said he just took them to some plants and taught them about the properties and uses of the plants.)  When they came back to the group, we were escorted by village folks into a dance around a bonfire.  Several men played drums and a boy played the kena (bamboo flute), to provide the melody and rhythm for the dancing.
- after the wedding ritual and dancing, there was time to shop in the artisan areas and to hold boas and parrots;  both of our girls held the boa for photos!  Magdalena was surprised how heavy it was.

Boat ride on the Perené River
- We weren´t so sure about going on the "Titanic", a long canoe-like boat with a motor, fitting 18 (plus a baby) of us in our group
- lovely to experience a ride on a rushing river; high brown water in the rainy season

Restaurant:  El Shamuray
- the restaurant specializes in meats from the jungle, but none of us could think of eating the machetero or cutpe that we just met this morning!  We opted for other local meats....
- Luisa had "Milanesa de pollo", a breaded chicken fillet
- Magdalena ordered "Venado asado", grilled deer meat
- Teresa and Kent both enjoyed fried Doncella, a South American catfish
- all dishes were served with white rice, fried sticks of yucca (similar to thick french fries), and cooked ripe plantain

Bayoz Waterfall and Bride's Veil Waterfall
- beautiful hikes to various lookouts along the waterfalls
- water was especially high and brown because of recent rains, so they didn't recommend swimming; in the dry season there is much less water and it's clear, nicer for bathing
- we still enjoyed the refreshing spray along the hikes

Chanchamayo Highland Coffee
- another local plant and stores, the store that we located on our first day in town, which sells Menno Tea and has photos of Goshen's own Niles Graber Miller with a cute mishasho (coati in English), a small jungle animal
- Café Misha is the most expensive coffee.  It´s produced when a mishasho eats the coffee beans.  The poop is cleaned and processed to produce a specialty coffee which is sold for lots of money in Europe and the U.S. (e.g. 95 soles per 100 gm, or $38 for 3.5 oz)
- we stocked up on local chocolates:  chocolate with orange juice and rind; and coffee chocolates

First Full Week of Teaching in La Merced (Kent)

Our first week of teaching in the summer program was yet another lesson on flexibility for us.  We had 3 music classes this week, and English class started on Tuesday.

Our first class of the day ended up being for the 4-8 year old age group, however on Monday, our supervisor brought in 10-12 preteen/teenage boys who had their soccer practice cancelled or something, so I changed the lesson mid-stream and geared the lesson towards them since they were now the majority.  I think what happened was that our supervisor felt bad that we didn't have many children in class and he saw these boys who didn't have anything to do, so he told them to come to music class.  I did everything I could think of to engage both sets of kids at the same time, which included a singing dodgeball game from Afganistan, Native American stick games, and lots of percussion playing and improvising.  The rest of the week this class was more consistant, with a half dozen or so 4-8 year olds.

Most of our music classes are made up mostly of girls.  I think one reason this happened was because of a slight "mis-marketing" of our classes.  It's kind of hard to market "Orff style" music classes, especially when general music classes don't really exist.  I told them that we teach music using folk dance, creative movement, percussion, singing, singing games, body percussion, improvising and composing.  This got condensed to "dance class."  The other thing is that the police summer program is mostly sports segregated by gender, so some of our classes are scheduled so that a group of girls come straight from volleyball.

Our second class was made up of 10-14 year old girls.  On day 2, there were about ten 12-14 year old volleyball girls that were told  up to my 4-8 year old music class.  I decided that I didn't want to do that again, so we told them to come back a bit later for their age group.  That class went very well, and we had about 15 girls and a big focus of the class was on playing the recorder.  However, most of them didn't come back.  Each day after that we had less and less girls.  By Friday we were down to 2 girls.

Our third class of the day, which started at 4:15 and allowed us a nice big lunch and siesta break in the middle of the day, was our most consistant this week.  For most of the week we had 25 girls 7-10 years old who came directly from volleyball.  This group went pretty well, especially when we broke the class up into 2 or 3 groups for our singing games, folk dances and percussion playing.  When we're in 3 groups, each of the Dutchersmith females leads a group, and I facilitate the whole class.  This works really well.

Our 4th and final class of the day was English class. This wasn't in our original plans, but we did it because it seemd to be in high demand.  (They don't even know that I am a certified and trained ENL teacher in the states.)  Everyday it was made up of different kids.  Wednesday we had 15 children between the ages of 6-10.  Earlier in the week we had kids as old as 14.  Of the 15 students there on Wednesday, only 3 had been there on Tuesday.  

The biggest challenge of teaching English class is that I think students here are used to a totally different way of learning which is more "old school," using things such as rote memorization, work sheets and copying things from the board.  I try to use more engaging things like singing, chanting, games and TPR (Total Physical Response).  TPR involves responding to commands.  It also involves more concentration and thinking than more traditional methods so the students are kind of uncomfortable and sometimes reluctant to participate.  Luisa and Magdalena, who were the ones initially very excited about teaching English, were pretty down after Thursday's class because the kids were very distracted. and had a hard time concentrating and paying attention.  So, we went out for supper, talked about it and came up with a new plan for Friday that involves all of us and engages more students more intimately. 

So, on Friday, that's what we did.  After  singing and chanting time at the beginning, Luisa split the whole class into 4 groups based on age and ability.  Each of us took a group and did a 10 minute center.  After 10 minutes, we rotated groups until all 4 groups went to each teacher-led center. It worked wonderfully and engaged all the students all of the time! Yay!!! Our four groups on Friday were:

1.  Word matching game with family vocab--Luisa
2.  Playing a game with alphabet picture cards-Magdalena
3.  TPR using family vocab--Teresa
4.  Family vocab practice using Family pictures--Kent

Luisa and I went shopping for some teaching materials on Thursday and found blank cards (for making flash cards), English alphabet cards, English-Spanish fruit and vegetable cards, food cards, and a little basic English book that we can make copies of different pages.  The total cost of all of that was 17 soles, which comes to about $6.50.  The police station is willing to make copies for us.  Next week we are adjusting our schedule, which will hopefully fix a few of our attendance/scheduling issues.  Our first 2 classes need more students, so we are adjusting the schedule in hopes of attracting more.

A good chunk of today I will spend doing lesson plans.  Actually, "lesson plans" isn't a very good word for planning in this environment.  A list of "lesson possibilities" is a more acurate description of my planning.

Tidbits of life: week 2 in La Merced (Teresa)

We're having all kinds of interesting experiences here....and you know, "interesting" can mean all kinds of things :)

On our second day of classes, we had divided into 3 small groups to play simple rhythms with percussion instruments.  As Kent says, my groups can easily get me distracted by bringing up most any topic!  This group of girls, ages 10-12 was particularly talkative, and after Kent explained what each group was to be working on, these girls wanted to figure out why Kent talks differently.  Where is he from?  They began guessing....Argentina?  Brazil?  Then one in the group, Diana, explained that he's probably from a country where they don't speak Spanish very much.  I affirmed that indeed, we are all from the U.S.   Before I could say more, they were on to discussing what language he speaks, if it's not Spanish.  After a bit, I explained that our main language in English, which surprised them, but also helped them understand why our Spanish is "different"!  Diana, who is good at explaining, then took the chance to inform me that everyone in Peru speaks Spanish as their main language.  I appreciated their curiosity and affirmed that we are eager to learn more of their language.  Lots of good learning, even when we're far off topic!! 

Luisa and I have both been sick already in La Merced.  It seems that in our first week in each new location we all experience some level of stomach sickness.  In Mexico, they say it's "Montezuma's Revenge" on  European descendants.  Luisa timed her sickness just right....she was vomitting through the evening....but then was better through the night so she didn't miss any classes.  I got sicker through the night, so stayed in bed, and close to the bathroom through the next day.  Rosa made us special tea to settle our stomachs and a chicken noodle soup (a universal remedy!) to eat until our systems returned to normal(ish).  It all passed quickly, for which we are always grateful.

Our hosts have a washing machine that we can use, and have lots of clothes lines on the top, open level of the house, which is the typical place to hang clothes.  The main challenge is that since it's the rainy season, it's always part science and part game to figure out a good time to wash and hang clothes.  I like this game, and often play it at home, so I'm up for it; I'm very glad to be able to hang out laundry again!  Often there is rain in the night and into the morning, but then clears to some degree by noon.  The question is what time the rain will return, and it returns very quickly.  Rosa advises "as soon as you see the sun, quick wash a load and hang it out...if there's full sun it will dry in an hour."  This has worked for me a couple of times now, as we have a "siesta" break from 12-4pm to go home for dinner and a rest (and laundry) before returning to teach more classes.  But, some days it never clears up, so then we wait to see what happens the next day.  Today our family is desperate for some clean clothes, so when the sun came out full at 11am, I left my family to finish class and I dashed home to put clothes in the washer.  Fun game, and we will enjoy sun-dried clothes tomorrow :)

Rain (Magdalena and Luisa)

        Last night when we were going to bed it started to pour. It poured all through the night and most of the morning. So when we were ready to go to work this morning we decided to take a mototaxi because it was raining a lot. But everyone else in La Merced had also decided to take a mototaxi instead of walking. Every mototaxi was full (normally only 1/4 to 1/3 to the mototaxis have people in them). Also, La Merced has a creek going through it, but are there any bridges? There are two bridges but only one is big enough for mototaxis and neither are big enough for cars. 

        As we headed out on the main street where we normally drive literally across the creek we saw lots and lots of semis, big trucks, and cars stopped on the side of the road. Then we got to see the now wide and fast flowing river that would easily knock a mototaxi off the 15 foot ledge. Not even the semis could go through. So we went over, along with all of the other mototaxis, to the other street that literally goes across the river to cross the bridge. There were already about 30 other mototaxis there waiting to cross the little bridge with the police directing traffic. This river goes right through the middle of town so we asked our host family why there wasn't a bridge that cars could go on. Their resoning was that this only happens about 15 days per year so it wouldn't be worth all the money that goes into building a big bridge. By the time we went home for lunch the river was still too strong for the mototaxis but cars and trucks could go through.

Random Musings on our First Four Days in La Merced (Kent)

We have experienced SOOO much in our first few days in La Merced.  So, I´m going to do this post with random bullet points that are ordered by what ever comes to my mind:

• Because there is no wifi in La Merced, we are unable to download any pictures onto the blog from our iPad.  When we return to Lima in 5 weeks, we will download as many of our La Merced pictures as possible.
• We are volunteering with the Peruvian National Police!  How did that happen?  In the U.S. it´s the parks and recs department that organize rec programs.  Here it´s the PNP.  Right now they run their summer vacation programs (vacaciones útiles), which are all sports, except for our music classes.
• The "vacaciones útiles" (literally "useful vacation") are very well organized, although there are always some glitches at the beginning of starting any program.  Our main glitch was that on the first day of classes (we are teaching 3), our third class had 50 students!  I had told them that my max was 25-30.  The advantage of having 4 of us teaching is that we can split the class into multiple groups.  Magdalena, Luisa and Teresa are all great group leaders, although Teresa´s groups somehow always get her sidetracked with conversation and questions, and then her groups get behind.  It´s really hard for a chaplain/pastor to cut people off and not listen to them. :)
• The majority of our classes are girls between the ages of 6-14.  I think it was kind of marketed that way.  We have them for 90 minutes each.  They are very enthusiastic and participate very well.  It might be because music education was eleminated from the public school curriculum years ago.
• At our initial meeting with our supervisor, tecnico Johnny Alata, he said that parents were wondering why volunteers from the U.S. weren´t teaching any English classes.  I was hesitant to say yes because I thought that four and a half hours of volunteer teaching were enough for one day.  However, Magdalena and Luisa got really excited about the idea and wanted to take charge of the planning.  So, starting Monday we will be teaching one hour of English classes to twenty-five 8-9 year olds (which probably means at least 25 children between the age of 6-14).
• Luis and Rosa are wonderful, hospitable and warm host parents and are great conversationalists.  However, I got "scolded" by Rosa for buying organic, local sugar because it´s very expensive by Peruvian standards.  For U.S. standards it was cheap--a little more than a dollar for a half pound.  
• We´re here in the rainy season.  It´s quite beautiful to be in a place that is surronded by lush green mountains that often have ground cover.  When we take a taxi from our house to town, we have to drive through a river.  All the taxis here are 3-wheeled moto-taxis and many don´t have doors, so when we go through a river we have to put our feet up so we don´t get wet.  This is especially tricky because usually Luisa is on my lap so that we can fit in a 3 person taxi.
• One culture shock here is that pictures of bikini-clad women adverstise nearly everything from organic coffee to car washes to spray paint to tours.
• We are in the coffee capital of Peru, which is a real treat, especially since the main coffee that people in Ecuador drink is Nescafe.  "Misha" coffee, which is named after the Coati animal (related to the raccoon) is billed as being the most expensive coffee in the world because it goes through a very complicated and unusual process.  The coati feeds only on coffee beans but can only digest the outer shell.  The excrement is then collected and the remaining shell is taken off.  Then it´s washed, roasted and processed.  Apparently it´s a very delicious coffee, but we will probably never know.  A very small bag costs approximately $35 U.S. 
• As a contrast, I bought 4 fresh bread rolls this morning for breakfast. The cost was 50 centimos, which comes out to 20 U.S. cents!
• The mayor of La Merced is Mario Jung, who was born in Korea and immigrated as an adult.
• This afternoon we hope to go to the Mariposario (butterfly park) and a small zoo which has regional animals.
• We all love it here in La Merced!  This is a very nice place to spend 5 weeks!  There are also some nice tours that we hope to do on some of our weekends.

On the road again.... (Teresa)

Yes, I like old country songs.....and yes, we were on the road (and winding roads) again last night!  We left Lima last evening at 10:30 on a nice double decker bus to travel to the region of Chanchamayo, in "La Selva Central" which is literally "the central jungle."  We´re in the town of La Merced, so it´s not as wild as it sounds....but it is lush, green and mountainous, and is considered a gateway into the jungle interior.  We arrived at about 7am this morning, waking up to the new surroundings.  It is like going on a mystery trip to travel in the night and cross into another geographic region. It wasn´t so fun when Magdalena and I woke up with stomach sickness in the night, and couldn´t go back to sleep until pills took effect. But, what fun to look around upon arrival and begin to discover this new place.

We were warmly greeted at the small bus station by Luis, our host, who quickly packed our heavy suitcases into a mototaxi and packed our sleepy family into his car taxi (taxi driving is his work).  Within 5 minutes we were greeted at their home by his wife Rosa, who is equally as warm and welcoming as Luis.  They are empty nesters whose adult children live in Lima, and they have much experience hosting university students from the U.S., including Goshen College students.  There home is nestled in a small farm of chickens, fruit trees and countryside, just outside of town.  It is another "tranquilo" place to be, for which we are especially grateful after two weeks in a huge city where we had to guard our children and belongings every moment.

After visiting for a bit with Rosa and Luis, we settled into our rooms just enough to be able to shower and nap until the main meal at 1pm.  Our agreement is that we will have lunches with our hosts, and do breakfast and supper on our own.  They are very happy to share their large kitchen which has a gorgeous view on 3 sides of the countryside and mountains.  We enjoyed chicken, rice, green salad and passion fruit juice, along with more conversation at lunch.  Then we did more unpacking before heading out for a walk to town, a 30 min. walk at a relaxed pace.

After asking for help a couple of times, we located the main plaza around which the town is set.  And, for some reason, we quickly noticed a fair trade coffee and chocolate shop on one corner :)  We had heard that Menno Tea (bottled garden mint tea company founded by former Goshen College students) is sold at a coffee shop here....and sure enough this was the place: Highland Coffee.  (Their plant is outside of town, and we´ll definitely tour that later.)  Today we just enjoyed some Menno Tea, terrific iced coffee, samples of coffee liquor (requested by Kent!) and chocolate covered orange peel (all local products!).

It seems that wifi isn´t available in town, so we found an internet store, and we are each on a computer, catching up on Facebook, email, and the blog.  Next we´ll visit a grocery store to get breakfast and supper supplies before heading back to our new home, likely by way of mototaxi.  Tomorrow morning we´ll meet with the man who directs the police department´s summer children´s programs to finalize plans for our classes that will begin on Thursday.  We look foward to teaching and enjoying music with children again, and in this new setting.  And we look forward to learning more about La Selva Central!

What's in the neighborhood? (Luisa and Magdalena)

A couple of days ago we took a walk on San Juan avenue (the Main Street in the neighborhood) and were surprised with the amount of vendors and small stores. So last night we walked there again but this time we took note pads to write everything down. Here are the results from one side of three blocks:

Stores:
-- 10 pharmacies
-- 9 dentists
-- 7 clothing stores
-- 5 chicken restaurants
-- 5 Chinese (Chifa) restaurants
-- 5 hair salons
-- 5 phone stores
-- 5 bakery's
-- 5 glasses stores
-- 5 gold buyers and sellers
-- 4 convenient stores
-- 3 ice cream stores
-- 3 toy stores
-- 3 photo stores
-- 2 banks
-- 2 pirated video stores
-- 2 shoe stores
-- 2 juice bars
-- 2 office supply stores
-- 2 medical centers
-- 2 casinos
-- 2 dollar/euro/soles changers
-- 1 health food in a bottle store
-- 1 alcohol store
-- 1 orthodontist
-- 1 toy/purse/jewelry store
-- 1 vet
-- 1 pizza place
-- 1 tailor
-- 1 wedding dress store
-- 1 western union
-- 1 Chinese/seviche restaurant
-- 1 perfume and gifts store
-- 1 tour agency
-- 1 Peruvian restaurant
-- 1 craft store
-- 1 Peruvian drinks store

Street Vendors:
-- 15 pirated video vendors
-- 15 general clothes vendors
-- 9 convenient store carts
-- 8 jewelry vendors
-- 8 socks and underwear vendors
-- 4 fried food vendors
-- 4 hat vendors
-- 4 remote control vendors
-- 4 shoe vendors
-- 3 book vendors
-- 3 corn vendors
-- 2 odds and ends vendors (it looked like they just robbed somebody)
-- 2 cell phone case vendors
-- 2 flip flop vendors
-- 2 cigar, shoe polish, batteries, and watches vendors
-- 2 fruit carts
-- 2 ice cream carts
-- 2 finger nail clippers and other finger nail stuff vendors
-- 2 piggy bank vendors
-- 2 toy vendors
-- 2 tiny electric stuff vendors (again it just looked like they had robbed a person)
-- 2 sunglasses vendors
-- 1 man with a basket of homemade cookies
-- 1 shoe polish, shoe laces vendor
-- 1 belts and wallets vendor
-- 1 electronics vendor
-- 1 shirt vendor
-- 1 chicha morada (Peruvian drink made out of purple corn) vendor
-- 1 man collecting recycling
-- 1 woman selling lottery tickets
-- 1 bread and chips vendor
-- 1 chia seeds vendor
-- 1 white board vendor
-- 1 quail eggs vendor
-- 1 leather stuff vendor
-- 1 second hand shoes, pants, and balls vendor
-- 1 hair stuff vendor
-- 1 chocolate bar vendor
-- 1 assorted artisans stuff vendor
-- 1 ice cube tray vendor
-- 1 poster vendor
-- 1 lanyards vendor

Two weeks in Lima (Magdalena and Luisa)

We're in Lima Peru, the biggest city we've ever been in with 10 million people. We've been here for almost two weeks and are getting ready to go to the rainforest on Monday. The first week we went to a Suzuki violin festival.  This week, what we've done so far in Lima:

--We are staying at the Mennonite Brethern church in Lima that we attended last Sunday and we met lots of people. The church is about 40 people and located in a big house.

--On Monday we went to the Malecon which is the downtown area along the ocean. We rented bikes for three hours so we could see get to see everything. We stopped at a nice artisan market where Magdalena bought alpaca yarn to knit a sweater and Luisa bought some colorful flip flops. We biked on a very nice path with trees between the two lanes of a busy main street. We also got a glimpse of a pyramid that was discovered in the middle of Lima but we didn't have time for the tour. We saw nice fountains and nice parks. Also there were lots of hang gliders that were gliding over the beach and over tall buildings and it looked fun but it was really expensive so we didn't do it.

--From Tuesday to Wednesday we went camping with three other families from church. The one family has five kids so there were lots of kids to play with. The camping place was on the beach but the beach was closed the whole time we were there so we just went to the four swimming pools. We played soccer, uno and other games with them and we had a great time. We also made Mac n cheese with tuna for supper which was new to some of them and they all wanted to try some and they loved it.

--On Wednesday evening we went to a concert at the Suzuki festival. The concert was the Latin American orchestra and choir. Each country had their own outfit which was very cool because it made the orchestra and choir very colorful and diverse looking.

--Thursday we went on a tour around town with our friend Willy. He took us to see the historic part of Lima where we got a tour of an old cathedral with catacombs underneath. We also went to the palace where the president lives and we saw the changing of the guards ceremony. We also went up on a very tall hill (in Indiana we would call it a mountain) and we could see a lot of the city and the ocean.

--Today we will go to a museum about the history of Lima. We will go with one or two of the families that we went camping with.

--Tomorrow we will go to the house of a woman from the church for lunch (their main meal) and visiting with her family.

--On Sunday we will attend this church again and then will go to the house of a family we went camping with for lunch with their extended family.

--On Monday we will leave at 10pm to go on an eight hour bus ride to the rainforest where we will be for about a month.

The Suzuki festival (Magdalena)

This past week we spent at the 30th Annual Latin American Suzuki Festival in Lima Peru. It was held at a huge catholic school called Santísimo Nombre de Jesús that was just fifteen minutes away in taxi. The festival went from Tuesday to Friday with a final concert on Saturday. From Tuesday to Friday it was like school, we had a schedule with our classes and where they were. 

Each day everyone would have a private lesson for twenty to forty minutes long where a teacher from somewhere in South America would give you a lesson on the piece of your choice. Also, for fifty minutes, everyone would be in a group class with about ten others that were their level and the teacher would help them with the group songs that everyone would be playing at the final concert. The group lesson were very fun because the teachers loved playing all kinds of games like bowing each other's instruments or walking around on chairs while playing twinkle twinkle. Each day there would also be a play-in where all the 120 violinists went to the gym and played songs from twinkle twinkle all the way up to the Bach double together. And everyone got to pick an elective or two including orchestra, choir, and cajón (a box drum). Then every afternoon there were three recitals and each kid had been assigned to one of these twelve recitals. Here you would perform with an accompanist for your peers.

One night there was a concert that all the violin, cello, recorder, guitar and flute teachers did. They had solos, duets, trios, quartets, etc. up to 12 or 15 people. It was a great concert. On Friday night was the workshop concert where the orchestra, cajones and choir performed. And the festival ended on Saturday night with the final concert where the cellos had their play-in, the recorders had their play-in and then the violins had their play-in.

The festival was a great experience getting to music with violinists from all over South America. Just in my group class alone was a girl from Bolivia, a girl from Colombia, a girl from Peru, six kids from Brazil, me from the US and our teacher from Chile. We also met a family that was there from Canada. 

Festival languages

Kent gave the girls an assignment for the third day of the Suzuki Festival, "initiate a conversation with at least one other student."  Magdalena quickly responded, "Yesterday I tried that with my stand partner in orchestra, but she only speaks Portuguese, she's from Brazil!"  Teresa suggested that Magdalena could start learning Portuguese, but she insisted that her stand partner needs to learn Spanish, since that's what the rest of the continent speaks (except for a few tiny countries on the north coast).  Meanwhile, Luisa has been able to talk with her stand partner, since she's from this city and seems as outgoing as Luisa.

This is the way it is here at this international festival.  Obviously the official language is Spanish.  But there are 25 students who came from Brazil, along with teachers and parents.  Magdalena's first private teacher was from Brazil, but speaks Spanish and English.  Her second private teacher, who was born in Japan and studied under Suzuki, is a Brazilian resident who speaks Japanese, English and a bit of Spanish.  Luisa's private teacher is part of the Colombian contingent, and teaches only in Spanish.  It's certainly true here that music transcends cultures and languages!

How's the Suzuki Festival, so far?

HIGHLIGHTS from the first two days....

Magdalena:  My teachers are fun and helpful.  My group teacher has us play a bunch of games (with instruments and songs) that are fun and challenging.

Luisa:  I like being in the orchestra with Magdalena.


LOWLIGHTS from the first two days.....

Magdalena:  I was super behind in the group class because I don't have all my past songs memorized like others do.

Luisa:  There are only two violas in the festival, so we're combined with cellos for everything.

Happy to be in Lima (Teresa)

We have arrived safe and sound in Lima after many hours of traveling...and we are happy, grateful, and tired!  We began yesterday afternoon, leaving Guayaquil at 2pm on the bus and arrived in Lima today at 6pm.  The longest stop was at the border, entering Peru, where we spent nearly an hour while everyone went through the lines with documents.  Our bus was a luxury 2 level bus, which had bathrooms, wifi, movies, snacks/drinks for sale, and meal service (included in the price).  It worked out very nicely, and we saved lots of mullah compared to flying.  Half way through the trip, Luisa declared that it was nice enough to repeat on our return trip to Ecuador at the end of May.

We really enjoyed seeing the southern coast of Ecuador and the northern coast of Peru.  We were surprised how close the Andes mountains are to the coast, and we saw sand dunes larger than our dunes in Michiana!  It was also very interesting to see crops of bananas, rice, asparagus, grapes, and others we couldn't identify.  The last two hours, just north of Lima, the road was right along the ocean.  Incredible scenery, but made me a bit nervous.  Thankfully, our bus driver didn't drive as speedily as the ones who passed us!

Once in Lima, we followed directions to the Mennonite Brethren church by taxi; 45 minutes winding through this city of 10 million (approximately).  I'm glad I don't have to drive in this traffic.  We were met at the church house by the pastor Ronald, and church members Eliana and Ricardo.  The made us feel right at home, and after showing us around the large house (including space where they worship) we walked to a favorite pizza place to get carry out.  We look forward to getting to know this church group more, including worshipping with them two Sundays.  They've already told us they look forward to us sharing music in the service :)

The Dangers of Living Anywhere (Kent)

One of the fears people have of traveling to far off places is that many places in the world are dangerous.  This is especially true of the western perception of the "developing world."  "Poorer" is often thought of as being "more dangerous."  However, this trip has helped me to realize that everywhere on the world has it's own set of dangers.  Yes, the war zones of this world are extremely dangerous.  Those are the extremes of the one end of the spectrum.  I think it's wrong to assume that the place where we are from (Goshen, Indiana in our case) is automatically on the other end of the safety spectrum.  There are plenty of dangers in Goshen, Indiana, but we are accustomed to them and know how to live with them.

If there was a list called "The Top 10 Safest Places to Live in South America," the island of San Cristobal, which was our home for the first 4 months of our South American journey, would most likely be on this list.  Overall, it's safer than Goshen, Indiana.  The police are the only ones who own guns.  There is an extremely low crime rate.  Parents feel safe letting children roam the town just like "the good old days" in the United States.  There are only two organized sports for children, basketball and soccer, and there are not near the number of injuries we have in the states.  Traffic is very light here and is doesn't go very fast.  There aren't many accidents at all, and when there are accidents they don't involve semis, snow, ice or deer.

However, there are other dangers, and we have learned how to live with them.  Whether you are swimming in Lake Michigan or the Pacific Ocean, you need to be careful with waves and currents. Most sea creatures are not harmful to humans, including the sharks here.  Only the sting rays are dangerous, and if you don't get too close to them and you stay out of their way, there's no problem.  Centipedes are one of the more dangerous land animals in the Galapagos.  They are much bigger and longer than their North American cousins, and their bite will give you a fever for a few days.   Adult male sea lions can be very dangerous, but everyone knows to stay away from these beasts.  There is only one adult male per group, so usually there is just one  per beach.  Human-made structures don't have the same standards and codes as we are used to, which can be dangerous.  A number of the National Park railings and boardwalks are missing some pieces.  A large section of overhang at the brand new airport recently broke off and fell on someone, sending them to the hospital.  And then there's electrical wiring, which is often sticking out of things and looks a bit haphazard.

Hot showers here are luxuries and we are not assuming we will have these everywhere we go in Ecuador and Peru.  Our shower (see picture) consisted of a long pipe coming out of the wall about 18-24 inches.  On the end of the pipe is a shower head, which has wires coming out of it and are taped to the pipe.  These wires are what heats the water.  When I first saw this set-up, it looked quite haphazard, but then I got used to it, because things that would not pass inspection in the US are everywhere.  Then one morning as I was taking a nice hot shower there was a pop and an explosive noise.  Teresa, who was at the sink started yelling "Stop!  Stop! Stop!"  I was in my own world, shampooing my hair and enjoying my hot shower and didn't really want to be bothered, but being the obedient husband that I am,  I looked up to see that the shower head was on fire, and had a flame of about six inches high!  I quickly turned the water off.  The flame became smaller, but was still there, so I blew it out.

So, there I was naked, wet and with shampoo in my hair.  Do I cry for help and have our whole host family examine the situation while I am wrapped in the shower curtain?  Awkward!  Should I try to rinse my head off in the sink?  No, the sink is too small and my head is too big.  Then I remembered that on the shower head you can turn on or off the hot shower, although it wasn't  exactly clear to me which way was off.  I did my best guess and turned on the water.  I was right!  Cold water came out and I quickly rinsed off with cold water.  I got dressed and ready for the day and then went out to tell Yolanda, the matriarch, what happened.  Yolanda's eyes got big and concerned as I told her what happened, and then she burst out laughing! She said that Pepe will fix it later.  By the time we came home for lunch, a new shower head with new wires was installed, although some of the other remaining parts are still black from the fire.

We don't always know what dangers lie ahead of us.  However, we know to take precautions--especially when traveling.  The Ecuadoran Government actually hands out a Safety Guide pamphlet to everyone entering the country.  After all, it is in their best interest that tourists have a good experience.  It covers things like how to identify  licensed taxis, tour guides and tour agencies, drinking water, and ATM safety.  On our 26 hour bus ride from Guayaquil to Lima that we will take today, we've been told that we should not get off the bus (safety reasons) until we arrive.  Once we get to our destinations, we will be in places where we will be connected with our hosts, which makes a big difference.  Being part of a community and being connected to local people, like we will be most of the time, is really key.  It's like the t-shirt I used to have:  "Guns don't protect people.  People do."

Horsing Around on New Year's Eve (Teresa)

Picture an afternoon in the green, rocky hills on a tropical island....a perfect mix of sun and a refreshing breeze. You and a few others set off to a horse farm where able guides will match you with a gentle animal for an afternoon of horse-back riding, hiking along hilltops where tortoises roam free, and viewing breath-taking vistas of the island, coastline, and ocean.

Now you almost have a complete picture of what we did on the afternoon of New Year's Eve.  The weather was perfect; not too hot, cooler than the port town where we live, and the rain had ceased after steady nighttime showers.  The mosquitos and flies had been enlivened by the recent rains, but we had put on long pants, sleeves, and substantial repellant.  Our group included the two German volunteers from our house, Kassandra and Isabel, Magdalena, Luisa and me.  The guides were attentive and skilled with the horses, hiking along with us (leading the horses of Magdalena and Luisa), up and over rocky, verdant hills until we reached the plateau where they own another piece of land.  There we left our horses tied, and while they rested we hiked together, stopping to take it the views.

Cloud cover came and went as we picked out sights we now recognize:  the grand Leon Dormido (the large rocks where Kent went with a group for deep-water snorkeling);  the lovely, little Sea Lion Island where all of us had visited (and snorkeled) on our boat trip a few months ago; the port and town which we've called home for nearly 4 months; picturesque sandy and rocky beaches, some we've visited and some not; and Frigate Hill that we've enjoyed hiking many times.  From this point we could easily identify where the rains fall more and less often by the colors of vegetation.  We could also easily see the covering of invasive guava trees just below the plateau.

Our guide, and farm owner, explained that the area where we were standing had also been taken over by introduced guava trees and raspberry bushes.  When he bought the land from the parks department it was with the understanding that he would undertake a reforestation project, like that of the park property nearby.  This farmer, along with a crew of international volunteers, has cleared this plateau of guava and raspberries, and has re-planted thousands of young scalesia trees.  Some are already four feet tall, now growing quickly in the rainy season.  Because of the reforestation project, this area is a perfect habitat for the native tortoises to thrive, and we spotted two of them (approximately 7 & 20 yrs old) resting in the afternoon sun.

The only part of the idyllic picture I painted in the first paragraph that didn't happen was the hope for a gentle animal to ride.  Well, several of us had a gentle horses to carry them up and down the hills.  But my horse and Luisa's horse weren't!  They actually were nervous, rowdy, or just full macho horses.  I don't know the correct term since, as we told the guides at the start, only Isabel was a knowledgeable and experienced horse-rider; the rest of us were not.  They put Luisa on hers because of it's smaller stature.  I'm not sure how I lucked out with mine!  When the horses were in line and walking along one by one, we did alright.  But when my horse was too close to any other, or saw other male horses in the pasture along the road, he made quite a fuss, even rearing up, and scaring the crap out of me several times!  When we all reached the top of the hill, and Luisa's horse came near to mine, they both went nuts, nearly throwing us from their backs, and knocking over the younger of our two guides.  The owner soon got them under control, and Luisa and I dismounted safely, though we were certainly shaken.

When it was time to mount our horses again, I first asked what other tips they could give us for handling our horses.  They reiterated what they had told us on the way up, but didn't give me much comfort for my return trip.  The one guide did give me some comfort by escorting Luisa's horse again on the way down.  My horse probably sensed my nervousness, because on the return trip he didn't want to go!  I had to repeatedly put my heels in his sides ("harder!" the guides told me) to keep him moving at all.  And the owner (trying to help?) repeatedly commented on what a "fun" ("divertido" in spanish) horse I had.  He also said my horse was tired of carrying too much weight.  Was he really commenting on my weight?  Was this comment appropriate, in any culture?!  I just really wanted to get back to our starting point and get back on my own two feet!  I considered dismounting and leading the horse rather than riding, but who knows what this crazy horse would've done with me in front of him!

Finally, as we neared the starting point, I could breath a sigh of relief.  And just then, I heard Magdalena and Luisa both let out a holler.  Magdalena's horse (Luisa watching from behind) got spooked by something and reared up, nearing tossing Magdalena.  She stayed on, and again, the guide got the horse under control quickly.  But, at that point we were all ready to dismount and put this experience behind us.  Who's idea had this been anyhow, for all of us with no or very little experience with horses, to take this trek?!  We all managed to to dismount with no more problems, to say "thank you", and pay what we owned our guides.  With nerves on edge we returned to the safety of a taxi, and headed back to town.

But there was more adventure to be had before we reached home.  At the edge of town, two young men, dressed up as women in black mourning clothes and carrying baby dolls, ran into the road, blocking our taxi from passing.  These "viudas" (widows) are a common tradition here on New Year's Eve, which we had heard about but not yet witnessed.  Now we had!  They were quite a sight, but also quite playful as they danced around and hollered until someone from the car would give them a few coins, then they would allow up to pass.  We were all laughing by the time we reached our house; nearly forgetting our earlier brushes with danger, we were ready for the festivities of the evening and night to come.  A wild and crazy New Year's Eve, and it was only 5pm..... a bit too much excitement for me!!

Leaving San Cristóbal (Magdalena)

Just an update to say that we left San Cristóbal today. We flew for and hour and a half to Guayaquil, the city we were in for our first week, and we will be in a hostal for two nights before taking our 26 hour bus ride down to Lima, Peru.

New Years celebration on San Cristóbal (Magdalena)

A couple nights ago we had a great New Years celebration. We started off in the afternoon by decorating the patio to create a display for the muñecos. Pablo was entering the competition this year and the judges would come by the house later to judge. Then our family, Ashanti, Diana, Kassandra and Isabel went to the malecón to look at the other muñecos. When we got back to the house the judges had already come and gone so Pablo put the muñecos in the back of the truck to display and most of us got in and we went around town showing off the muñecos. When we got back (at 10:30) we had supper. After that we still had an hour to waste. Everyone was tired but as it got closer to midnight everyone became more excited and became more alive. When it was about twenty 'till we all headed out on he street with the muñecos and put them on the rocks across the street. Luisa and Ashanti decided they were going to run around the block with suitcases which signifies good luck with lots of good travel in the new year. Then when it was midnight lots of fireworks went off down the road and we lit the muñecos with lots of gasoline. Then we all gave New Years hugs and went to the park in the middle of town where most of the people on the island were gathered along with lots of tourists (mostly Brazilian). And lining the edges of the park were lots of beer vendors. We danced to the music of the band for a while. Then our host family went home and our family went for a little walk around the park where we happened upon a drunk volunteer that we knew and he wanted to talk to us for a while. Being a sheltered Mennonite child, I hadn't ever talked to a drunk person before. It was funny. He kept bending over really far (more than someone who is over 6' 6" needs to) to talk to my mom. He asked us a couple times what part of the US we are from and he talked about how he lives in the part of Germany that is really close to the Czech border and in Czech they have really dangerous fireworks that can burn off half your arm. Then after we had been talking to him for a while he leaned over and said in my moms ear, "I'm sorry but I have to pee." Then we went on a pointless walk around town which didn't make any sense because nothing is open at 1:30 in the morning. So my dad and Luisa went home and my mom and I went back to the party and stayed for a half an hour more before walking home.

New Year's Traditions and Superstitions in Ecuador (Kent and Teresa)

As the new year approaches, I've been hearing Pablo (from our host family) talk a lot about what colors to wear and what colors not to wear, especially when the midnight clock strikes twelve on New Year's Day.

Yellow--if you want financial prosperity in the new year, you should wear a yellow shirt.  Many women, I am told but have no way of confirming this, also wear yellow underwear.

Red--to have lots of love in the new year, you should wear a red shirt and/or wear red underwear.

Blue and White--if you want peace and harmony in the new year, you should wear a blue shirt.

Black and Dark Purple--These are the two colors to be avoided because that's what you wear when family dies.  If you wear one of these colors, someone in your family will die in the new year.

Other New Year's traditions/superstitions:

If you want to travel a lot in the new year, at midnight you should run around the block with a suitcase.

To fulfill all of your dreams in the new year you should eat twelve grapes (one for each month).

If you put a dollar bill (or any other denomination of paper money) in your shoe, you will have financial prosperity in the new year.

Probably the most celebrated New Year's tradition is that of the Año Viejo muñeco (doll/effigy of the old year).  Pablo has been busily constructing two huge figures out of bamboo, wood scraps, plastic scraps, cardboard, tape and paper mâché.  His effigies this year will represent the rival soccer teams Barcelona and (his team) EMELEC.  The idea of the Año Viejo tradition is that you make an effigy representing someone that you love or that you hate, and then you burn the effigy to welcome the New Year.  The idea is that you burn the bad of the old year and start the new with a blank slate.  If you create an effigy of someone you love, it is an honor for them to be burned and it's supposed to bring that person good luck in the next year.  Many in this town will line one of the main streets with their creations, and before burning them they will "beat all of the bad" out of them.  Then everyone burns their effigies together, followed by a big party in a downtown park.  Happy New Year!

The Gingerbread House (Luisa)

A week before Christmas Ashanti told us she wanted to make a gingerbread house. We had never made a gingerbread house from scratch, we had always bought a pre-made gingerbread house from the farmer's market and just decorated it. But we decided it would be fun to try. We found a recipe on line but thought that it was too small to share with everybody so we decided to do a one and a half recipe. So we went to the store and bought the stuff to make it. 

The Sunday before Christmas we made the dough and then put it in the fridge to set. And then on Wednesday, Christmas Eve, we rolled out the dough, cut the pieces and put it in the oven. As we took the pieces out of the oven and set them out to cool some of the bigger pieces broke but we knew that we could just use frosting to fix them later. Then we made the frosting. We put in the eggs and powdered sugar and mixed it up. But we decided it was too hard. So we put in a few more eggs but then it was too soft so we put in some more sugar also. Then we put it in baggies and put it in the fridge. 

On Christmas Day we decided the gingerbread walls weren't dry enough and Ashanti decided she didn't want to work on the project anymore so Magdalena and I used frosting on a few to glue them together. Later that day we decided that they weren't going to harden just sitting out so we put them back in the oven. We took them out of the oven and they were harder so we thought it was going to be fine. We let them set again until Friday and we went to glue them together and one of the roof parts broke. So we glued the roof back together and put together the walls. They stayed up fine. But later that day as we were getting ready to put the roof on we realized that the walls were starting to fall over. So we put a wooden skewer to hold them up. We decided that the roof was too big and heavy and wasn't going to stay on the house so we decided to decorate it separately and not put it on. We decorated the house with the help of our friend Diana and set it out for people to see and to eat. And we figured out why people usually make houses in a smaller size rather than bigger.

Sports in Ecuador (Kent)

As in many countries around the world, soccer (fútbol) is the number one sport in Ecuador.  The second most popular sport is probably basketball, and both males and females play.  The third most popular sport would probably be volleyball, although it is mostly played by men in a 3 on 3 games with a soccer ball instead of a volleyball.  All towns have their own soccer field/stadium, basketball courts/gymnasium, and a volleyball court.  Although our town is only about 5,000 people, it has a large soccer stadium, a large gymnasium, and various parks with volleyball courts and basketball/soccer combination courts.   Other recreational activities that are popular with locals on our island are skateboarding, surfing, body boarding, snorkeling, aerobics, running/jogging, and walking.

As far as popularity, however, soccer is much, much, much, much more popular than anything else.  Males and females of all ages wear soccer jerseys, although many more men and boys play soccer than girls.  Organized soccer starts young for boys, and you can see them walking the streets in packs after practices/games all dressed up with matching jerseys, shorts and socks, just like the professionals.

Ecuador's professional league has 12 teams and is of a pretty high caliber.  The next caliber higher would be the European leagues, which are seen as the best in the world.  Similar to  baseball in the United States, there are professional "minor leagues" for soccer.  Besides the 12 "A" league teams, there is a "B" league and a "C" league.  What's different in Ecuador, however, is that a team can get promoted or demoted from one league to another when the season is over.  The two worst teams in the "A" league get demoted to the "B" league, and the two best teams in the "B" league get to move up to the "A" league.  The same happens with the B and the C leagues.  There is even a "South American" cup where all the professional teams from all of the South American leagues play in a tournament to see who is the best.

It is common to see flags, banners, murals and even whole buildings promoting people's favorite professional soccer teams.  (see pictures)  The closest and most familiar big city to the Galápagos Islands is Guayaquil, which is Ecuador's biggest city.  There are also a number of people from the island who have lived or studied in Guayaquil.  So, it is no surprise that the two most popular teams on the island are from Guayaquil.

These two teams are "Barcelona" and "EMELEC."  I've asked people around here why there is a team named Barcelona in Ecuador, and no one is quite sure.  It probably has to do with the fact that it is a very popular team in Spain.  "EMELEC" is the Ecuadoran electric company and also has a professional basketball team as well.  Barcelona is yellow and EMELEC is blue.  They are often the two best teams in Ecuador and they are very fierce rivals.  When either team is playing, nearly everyone in town has the TV on.  Restaurants, bars, stores and shops all have it on, and many draw large crowds on those nights.  One small shop regularly has 30-40 people bunched outside on the sidewalk and street all glued to the TV.  You can tell whenever there is a goal because you can hear cheering throughout town.

EMELEC and Barcelona were in the 2 game finals this year, and they were last year as well.  EMELEC won last year and as the days led up to this year's finals, more and more banners and jerseys were seen around town.  On the days of the finals, lots and lots of people were sporting their team's jersey.  The rivalry is so intense that during the tournament the fans from both Guayaquil teams can't even be in the stadium during the same time or else fights will break out.  So, the first game of the finals was held at the Barcelona stadium, and only Barcelona fans were allowed in.  The EMELEC stadium, however was also full of EMELEC fans watching the game on the big screen.  The second game was at the EMELEC stadium and only EMELEC fans were allowed in, and the Barcelona fans watched on the big screen TVs in their stadium.  I asked my host brother Pablo how they keep the opposing team's fans from entering the stadium.  He said that to be allowed entry into the stadium, you have to be wearing that team's jersey.  No fans from the other team would want to be seen in the other team's jersey.

The first game of the finals was in the Barcelona stadium, and it ended as a 1-1 tie.  EMELEC actually was leading most of the game, and Barcelona scored late in the game.  Because EMELEC had no fans at the game, it was actually seen as a victory to tie Barcelona on their home field and it gave them an advantage heading into the game at the EMELEC stadium.  Although I didn't watch much of the other games, I didn't want to miss the final game on Sunday, December 20.  I camped out with Pablo in the living room to watch the game, both clad in EMELEC blue.  I decided to root for EMELEC for several very important reasons:  1) I like the color blue much more than the color yellow, and 2) I like to root for the team that has the smaller fan base.

There were two brothers in the starting line-up, one that played for EMELEC and one that played for Barcelona, and they actually had to guard each other in the game.  Within the first minutes, the Barcelona brother fouled the EMELEC brother and received a yellow (warning) card.  Then, still early in the first half, the Barcelona brother fouled his brother again.  This time it was much harder and the EMELEC brother had to be carried off the field in a stretcher.  This resulted in a red card, which meant that he was not only ejected from the game, but Barcelona had to play the rest of the game with 10 players instead of 11.  The police had to surround and escort the Barcelona brother off the field so as to protect him from the EMELEC fans.

Between the home field advantage and having one more player on the field, it is not surprising that EMELEC won the game pretty soundly, 3-0. They now have the bragging rights of being the best team in the country.  Although I did not go out on the town to see the celebrations, I could hear the shouting and the honking from our house.  Pablo and his daughter Ashanti were jumping for joy and shouting as well when the game was done.  He took various pictures of the TV screen showing the score and the celebrations and immediately posted them on Facebook for all to see EMELEC, Ecuador's 2014 professional soccer champions.

Mennonites have more fun! And other comparisons... (Teresa)

Recently, as we left church after our third mass of the week, Magdalena said "I don't get Catholics; at least Mennonites have fun at church!"  After some laughter, I had to delve more into that comment.  Magdalena explained further, "we have social time, there are ways for others to be involved in the worship service, we don't listen to one man talk the whole time, we have good singing, and we have things for children to do like children's time and Sunday school."  It has been a challenge for Magdalena, and all of us, for this Catholic parish to be our primary worshipping community during these 3 1/2 months.  But I'm glad for her to experience a different way of doing church.  It's also helpful for all of us to realize what we appreciate about Faith Mennonite our home church!

Comparisons of here and home have been a big part of our experience away, thus far.  We aim to be open to new ways and ideas, but we can't help but compare and contrast the cultures and the differences between our "sabbatical life" and our "normal life."   The good thing is, we are finding plenty that we really enjoy here, and at the same time plenty that we miss from home.  For instance, we certainly love spending lots of time outdoors and in nature, always planning the next warm weather adventure, like kayaking, snorkeling, or bicycling.  But, Magdalena has also been talking quite a bit about snow to us and to local folks.  She might be romanticizing it a bit, but she really has missed Indiana fall and now winter.  Recently the girls and I realized that we were all feeling as if we are waiting for fall to come, then we realize it's not coming, and we missed it!  The four seasons seem to be in our bones.

It has been very special to get to know this very small island and population.  No matter what event we go to, we are recognized and we have people to talk with, often children or teachers from the preschool.  Last weekend went to a party (the "Wild Baptism Party"!) in an area of town that we hadn't been to before.  I was nervous, assuming that Kent would be playing in the band, and the girls and I would stand around not knowing what to do.  It was a delight when we stepped out of the taxi and immediately saw a few children playing on the street that we know from the preschool and who were excited to greet us.  Later a mom was excited to meet the "musician family" who had taught her son so many fun songs that he now sings at home.  Her son (a five year old) immediately began singing one of our songs, Diez Deditos (Ten Little Fingers), and she joined right in singing with him!

It's also been lots of fun to share more of daily life with our daughters.  At our best, we can really bring out good things in each other!  (And when we're not at our best, there are learnings to be embraced, right?!)  Recently, when we did our bike ride together, Luisa was passing me on a long, steep incline, leaving me at the back of our group.  As she slowly passed, she spurred me on, "it's not such a bad hill, you got it girl!!"  That gave me a laugh and an extra boost of energy.  Similarly, Magdalena kept me going when she and I needed to paddle hard in our kayak last Saturday.  At one point, I was groaning with the sense that we weren't making any headway against the current.  She responded with a hearty, "calm down, Mom, and keep paddling!"  We soon found ourselves moving ahead and into to calmer waters.  Great lessons from my daughters on keeping on with the hard task at hand!!

Obviously, when I compare "normal life" to "sabbatical life" there's really no comparison; it's like comparing apples to papayas!  But I have to say that I absolutely love having fewer responsibilities:  not having to answer any telephones; doing an embarrassingly small amount of housework; no committee meetings to attend; and generally having a very small circle of involvements.  And it's delightful having plenty of time and space to do as I please:  sit and watch the sunset; take a walk as the sun sets; take frequent naps; read novels; write; walk slowly (I think I've slowed my general pace since we've been here); waste time without feeling (too) guilty; drink coffee slowly; study Spanish grammar; watch people and other animals; or go on another adventure with my family!

And, as we compare, we think ahead to the next phase of our year away.  There are a number of reasons we are glad to have had our Galapagos time as the first part of our year.  It's been fairly structured since we are working through a volunteer organization, and are living with a host family.  This structure has helped all of us in the process of learning and adapting to the culture and language.  This was a good place for our girls to take Spanish lessons, especially for Luisa to jump start her learning.  This will be the most expensive part of our trip because of the extra costs of island life; when most everything must be imported, food and supplies are generally twice the cost on the mainland.  We are definitely looking forward to lower costs in Peru and the Ecuadoran mainland.  Also, now that we are preparing to go to Lima, we realize what a shock it will be to go from the tranquil island life to the big city!  (Two weeks there will likely be enough before heading to smaller cities.)  It has been wonderful for our girls to have so much freedom here, and for all of us to easily walk from place to place.

Comparisons.  Apples to papayas, cross-country skiing to snorkeling, small city of Goshen to small island town San Cristobal, Goshen Mennonites to Ecuadoran Catholics.  Can't really compare!  But....we do....and discover lovely experiences all around.

Christmas party at school (Magdalena)

On the Tuesday before Christmas we had our Christmas program that we had been preparing for with the kids for weeks. Each class had their own song (from somewhere around the world) and the whole school sang Feliz Navidad and Navidad (Jingle Bells tune) together. The day before we were supposed to have a big dress rehearsal with costumes, but since the stage didn't arrive until 10 and it didn't get finished until 11 we didn't have much time left so they didn't use their full costumes.

We arrived at the school after 8 on the big day because the program was supposed to start 9. The whole performance area was very decorated and each classroom had lots of decorations of their own. The head teacher told us that she, her husband, another teacher and her husband had all stayed there until 2 o'clock in the morning decorating. But it looked great! Kent and Luisa went around giving out the gifts that we had made for the teachers (a CD with all the songs we had sung with them and a book with the lyrics). And the 4-year-old teachers (no, the teachers weren't 4) gave us a present. Then we waited around for the program to start.

The program started long after 9, probably 9:30 and it started with one of the teachers singing a Christmas song karaoke style, which is how they like to sing. Then the kids did their songs. We started off with "Ho Ho Ho," a song from the US that has a simple circle dance that one of the kindergarten classes did. After that was "Campana Sobre Campana," a Latin American Christmas Carol that one of the 3-year-old classes did with motions. Next was a simple African song, "Sing Noel," that a 3-year-old class did with a simple little dance. Then "Zumba Zumba," a song from Spain that my dad normally does in the US in English; a kindergarten class did this song with a simple circle dance. Next was "Mi Burrito Sabanero," a Latin American Christmas Carol that a 3-year-old class did with motions. Then was "Noche De Paz" (Silent Night), which a 4-year-old class did with motions. After that was "La Piñata," a Mexican song that one of the kindergarten classes did a circle dance with. Then the last class did "Paz Y Libertad" which isn't a Christmas song but it was nice anyway; a 4-year-old class did this with scarves. Then our family sang "Joy To the World" a Capella and we finished with "Navidad" and "Feliz Navidad."

After the program all the kids headed to their classrooms along with their parents. We were invited by one of the teachers to go to her classroom but the head teacher also told us that each teacher was expecting us. So we went to the first room and ate some fish balls and chicken balls with sauce and she gave us a present from all the kindergarten teachers. Then we went to the next room where they were having a whole meal with big pieces of meat and lots of rice and the teacher wanted to give us all a meal but we insisted on only taking two meals. Then we went to the next classroom where they were having a birthday party along with a Christmas party and they gave us pop and candy. Then, in the next room, we had pop and we were given a basket of candy. And the next room was also having a full meal so we got two more meals and another basket of candy with balloons. And the next classroom we got cake and jell-o and pop. And the next room we got more cake and more pop. And by the time we got to the last room, their party was done and all the kids and all the parents had already left but he teacher had saved us some cake and had a present for us. We talked with her for a little bit and then we went back to the performance area and helped to clean up.

I got a cardboard box and started picking up all the trash. Some people we taking the covers off the chairs and stacking them. Others were taking down the tents that had saved us when it rained. And others were taking apart the stage and the decorations. With the help from the volunteers and teachers we finished around 1. Then we went to the school office and wondered if we would have to take a taxi home because of all the presents and food we had been given but we managed to carry it all. And when we got home we showed our host family what we had been given and they were very impressed.

Merry Christmas Eve (Teresa)

"The Christmas story is not about how blessed it is to be givers but about how essential it is to see ourselves as receivers. We prefer to think of ourselves as givers—powerful, competent, self-sufficient, capable people whose goodness motivates us to employ some of our power, competence and gifts to benefit the less fortunate. Which is a direct contradiction of the biblical account of the first Christmas. There we are portrayed not as the givers we wish we were but as the receivers we are."

(From: William Willimon in The Christian Century)


Dear friends and family who continue to follow our sabbatical adventures,

I share this quote with you because it is especially meaningful to me during this year of receiving SO MUCH!  We are learning to more truly be "the receivers we are."  May we all be open and delighted to receive the Peace of Christ today and every day.

Merry Christmas Eve, and abrazos fuertes (big hugs) from our family to yours!