Vida Cuencana

Tomorrow it will be 2 weeks since Adam and I arrived to Cuenca… I can hardly believe it. When we arrived I wasn’t sure if there would be that much for us to help with. It turns out there were needs to be met right away within the Verbo community. Adam is an athlete and the position of the “cultura fisica” (Phys Ed) teacher at the Verbo school needed someone to fill in for a few months. He is enjoying working with the older kids of the school, including teaching them some line dances from his old job at Texas Roadhouse. As far as my position goes, I have been helping a teacher at Verbo, Karina, with her English classes which go from pre-basica (Kindergarten)- quinto grado (5th grade). While Katrina is away on maternity leave I will be helping the new teacher with the classes and offering after school English tutoring. My day won’t end there, because starting this week I will be going to “La Esperanza”, the orphanage that is connected to Verbo after school to help the children with their homework. Adam will be at La Esperanza every Saturday running a soccer clinic. Although our days are pretty long, we are both enjoying being at the school, which is high up above Cuenca, yet only 10 minutes from our new house!

The view from our school

Adam and Matias, one of our many adorable students :)

La escuela!

A typical weekday after school ends with us taking a siesta and either spending time with some of the young people from Verbo and/or hanging out with Vicky, Paz, and Camila. I can’t express enough how wonderful it has been to live with these women. Our house is full of laughter (and squeals from Camila when she gets tickle attacked), fun, and respect. Last weekend Vicky and Paz (by the way, here in Cuenca they use articles in front of names most of the time, for example “la Emma”, “el Adam” etc… I have never noticed that anywhere else and I find that I am doing it now too!) took us to Parque Nacional Cajas, which is a gorgeous, moor like place that seems more like somewhere in Europe than in Latin America. Adam had a hilarious interaction with a llama, which is on video for the world to enjoy ;) As far as this weekend went, it was pretty mellow and tranquilo. We went to the Saturday night service at Verbo because on Sunday morning we ran a 4k with some of our students. It was put on by the federal government’s sports ministry and involved all the high schools in Cuenca; I think it is pretty neat that they sponsor something like that! I went back out on my own to walk around the city for a few hours, and some of my pictures (from my cell phone, they aren’t the best quality) are below.

Parque Nacional Cajas con Vicky and Paz

Incan ruins "Pumapungo", 5 minutes from our house!!

Map of the center of Cuenca, so many churches!

Parque Calderón, the main square in Cuenca

This coming week is going to be busy, as usual! Jeanne, one of my best friends from back when I studied abroad in Guayaquil two years ago will be in Cuenca on Thursday and I can’t wait to see her!! It has been far too long! I will only get to see her for a few days though, since Adam and I are heading to Guayaquil for Christmas. We are spending Christmas with the Encalada’s, the family that I lived with two years ago. Interestingly, Christmas is celebrated with a dinner on Christmas Eve at midnight. We have a two-week break and part of it will be spent in Guayaquil with family and friends, and some of it at the beaches on the coast (New Years—Montañita+La Ruta del Sol!). From there Adam is going to Quito to visit a friend of his and I will be going back to Cuenca.

The river in front of our house

Our casa!! The brown one... the one next to it was destroyed in an earthquake :O

Cuco :)

Feliz Navidad!!

Adam cocinando

la Camila and I in my room
I hope everyone has a blessed, wonderful Christmas. Love and hugs-- Emma

Ecuador X 3; the beginning

After a week and a half whirlwind of traveling we made it to Cuenca. “We” is Adam and I. He and I set out from upstate NY and headed to New York City for a couple of days on November 26th. Priscila graciously let us stay at her apartment and we set out to see as many people as we could in 2 days. One particularly silly moment was right at the beginning when the wheels of my heavyyyy suitcase wore off to nothing. Poor Adam was hauling my 67-pound bag as well as some of his things for a mile. You can follow the trail all the way to Priscila’s apartment. That night we got to go to a taping of the Colbert Report, which was lots of fun (and free!). On Tuesday I got a call from my couchsurfing friend Ethan that he was on his way into the city to spend the day with us, as did Adam’s friend Tamu. Our mini NYC trip wrapped up with a Plattsburgh (+Prisca, Ethan, and Tamu) reunion before our flight. It was at 3:30am out of JFK on Wednesday so we just pulled an all nighter…

And it kept going. Adam and I had a 12 hour layover in El Salvador and we figured we would much rather explore (on no sleep) than stay in the airport. We paid $10 to leave the airport at customs and headed out. Our guide, Alvaro, took us around for 9 hours first to El Salvador’s capital, San Salvador, and then to beach “La Libertad”. San Salvador was smaller than I expected a capital to be. Alvaro was very helpful with all of our many questions about the country, the local slang etc. La Libertad was lovely, with the warm Pacific, dark sand, and a fish market. By the time our flight left EL Salvador at 7pm, we were beat after 40 hours of almost no sleep. We got to Guayaquil around midnight and mi major amiga ecuatoriana Ana Belen was waiting for us.

In Guayaquil we were able to see many friends, and Adam got to meet the family that I had lived with in 2010. We also had made it just in time for Juan’s birthday on November 30th in Milagro. This past Saturday we went to Montañita for 2 days, most of which was cloudy but still a fun time hanging out with people from todas partes. On Monday it was very sunny and we decided to delay our trip back to Guayaquil to spend some time in the sun. I got quite burned to the point of looking like a tomato, despite applying sunscreen. As if I don’t stick out enough -_- On Monday night we made it back to Guayaquil and went to Las Peñas with Galo, Andres, and Ana Belen.

Yesterday evening we arrived in Cuenca and were picked up by our lovely new family, Vicky and La Paz. They are the sisters we are going to be living with these 3 months. They took us all around last night to see various sights in Cuenca. Adam and I also have the pleasure of living with la Paz’s hija Camila, a bright and exuberant 6 year old. We are all moving to a new house tomorrow, which, although it won’t be in the “Centro” of Cuenca, has lots of space and is more modern.

Today Adam and I went to Verbo Iglesia today to meet with Gustavo, who showed us around and talked about some of the ministries we will be able to volunteer with. Adam is leaning toward teaching English with their language institute and I am more interested in helping at the orphanage, but nothing is set up as of yet. Hopefully by next week we will have a better idea of what is going on as far as out Verbo goes. We want to help como podamos!

That just touches on some of the things that have been going on since we left home. I am extremely happy to be back in my lindo Ecuador (hablando español todo el tiempo, yeii!) and with the friends que he extrañado mucho.

Falling into... Fall

I haven't been in New York for the past two falls. And I haven't been home-home for the past four falls. Just so happens it is my favorite season, although until recently I forgot why.

Despite being somewhat indignant about the chill in the air, I find that if one thinks about it as "crisp" and "motivating" it does not seem so bad. Besides, my 23rd birthday is fast approaching (well, still over a month away, but still...). I am a Halloween baby, born at 6:59pm when all the kiddos were getting over the trick or treating thing, and wanting to move on to the sorting, hoarding, trading, and chowing down portion of the night.

I have to be honest, after graduation in May, I was not particularly looking forward to spending more than four months in the same spot. It gets to me from time to time, especially when some of my friends have moved on; cycling across the country (Shaina), starting big girl jobs (Britt), interning in our beloved DC (Samita), etc. I got over myself though, and have been enjoying the routine I have. I'm working at a coffee shop in the always lovely Saratoga with some buena gente, and using my free time to hike (did 4 high peaks last week! 8 down, 38 to go!), read (just finished "Socialist Dreams and Beauty Queens" last night, Venezuela has moved up on my must visit list), spend time with my fam and friends, and just enjoy the moment that God has me in here and now. I am finding more and more that in the quiet, everyday moments He is ever faithful. It is in THOSE moments that I feel His peace, particularly about the future.

[[[ Matthew 30-33 (The Message) “If God gives such attention to the appearance of wildflowers—most of which are never even seen—don’t you think he’ll attend to you, take pride in you, do his best for you? What I’m trying to do here is to get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond to God’s giving. People who don’t know God and the way he works fuss over these things, but you know both God and how he works. Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don’t worry about missing out. You’ll find all your everyday human concerns will be met.

34 “Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don’t get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes. ]]]

And what are my plans? They are malleable works-in-progress, but they tentatively go like this:

1. Go teach English in Ecuador with Verbo Ministries. Departure-- November-December? Saving some plata primero... 2. Peace Corps: nominated for Education, departure tentatively February 2013. Country, unknown. Still waiting for the invitation which is on hold due to paperwork. Decision made about whether to accept or not? Nope... weighing the pros+cons, but not worrying. 3. In a few years, back to DC.

That's my life at the moment. Falling into the Adirondack fall all over again. :)

Josh, Emily, and I hiking last week. Que buen trip!

Santiago's Children

I just finished up Santiago's Children. It is a book by Steve Reifenberg about his experiences in Chile living at an orphanage for two years. That is such a lame way to describe it, but you should just read it... I'll try again... it is an amazing book that takes the stories of the children and people he met and weaved it in with his insecurities about his future as well as the tumultuous political climate in Chile under Pinochet. A little better haha. I'll just some of the quotes speak for themselves.

"But I came to Chile, to Santiago, to the orphanage, and my objectivity, so stern and rational, had disappeared. Time after time people invited me into their homes and their families and gave me the best of what they had, generously,openly, with few expectations in return. Children threw their arms around my neck and needed me to tie their shoestrings or lift them up until they could touch the roof with their fingertips. There was a sense of belonging, an immediacy and urgency, the joy of a child on the first day of summer vacation when life was full of endless possibilities. I was needed and welcomed and taken in, and, yes, it was recaptured, that sense of belonging, but in a different, more complex way, with all the hardships of living with and loving so many people so intensely under one small roof...."

"What had changed the most was me. I had learned some things: that the world was a lot more complicated than I ever thought; that U.S. political decisions had reverberations in dramatic ways all over the world; that children were often incredibly resilient; and that interventions, especially when carried out with compassion and love, could make a difference. Finally, I learned to believe in the idea that maybe it was not a bad thing to have dreams, even if they sometimes fell short.”

The last part that I will share is something Reifenberg included in the book from Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge by Rilke