Well, what an exciting day! This morning we took our children to a "special" kids painting competition. Lots of children painting, mixed ages and disabilities, few with behavioural issues-as you can imagine we were fairly paint spattered and exhausted by the end of it! I was pleased to get an opportunity to actually watch a young man paint with his feet,was very talented. One of "our" children, Genesis, won first prize!!! Very proud moment for us. There were a couple of tv crews there filming and she was interviewed. Had fun at the end when of my little girls kept demanding to be interviewed too and ran up to the judges asking "what about me?" I'm afraid my soothing comments of Genesis winning for ALL of us and wasn't that nice for Genesis were apparently not convincing!

our kids

   Tonight I and Maria (the teacher I work with) went round to Ruths (other/headteacher) house for dinner. It was really fun, was so nice to get out and socialise with other women my age and just relax. We ended up by playing Spanish Trivial Pursuit. I have only played TP once in my life plus tonight was in Spanish and the girls speak no English!!! Thank heavens for expressive hand gestures ;) I was fully prepared to lose graciously and laugh it off with Christian forbearance however......I didn't lose!

Tonight I was walking back home with Pastor William after an evening prayer meeting (how good & serious do I sound?!) when we bumped into a couple of prostitutes! This led to a most interesting conversation about what is acceptable, laws, morals etc. Here prostitution is quite legal and poor William was quite surprised when I confessed that prostitution is sometimes tolerated but actually illegal in nearly all of Europe!


  I have to confess; this was not a conversation I expected to be having whist here!

Machala

Well, I`m back from sunny Machala. 7 hours there and another 7 hours back-long trip! Was boiling hot!!! I was melting the whole time which wasn`t so good.

                                                    Sunset over Machala

  On the Saturday the whole family went to a local river and went swimming. With everyone stripped off there was a lot of bronze skin on show, in comparision I was glowing white!!! But on the other hand my aglo-saxon blood was excellent to help handle the freezing cold water. I was brought up on bathing in the North Sea-nothing is cold after that!!!  The current was really strong, nearly got swept away a couple of times.

      The 7 hour drive was long but good. We drove past loads of banana plantations, banana trees as far the eye can see! Even passed a plantation for Del Monte!!! Think of me next time you eat a banana :) We also passed a sugar plantation, raw sugar canes. You could smell it before we arrived there. Finally went through a village on  flood plain-the houses built on stilts. Was soo exciting! Can`t believe it was real, felt like I`d somehow slipped into a film.

    Here the Anglican church are soo busy NOT being Catholic that they have wiped out all traditions including Easter! Talk about throwing the baby out with the bathwater!!! We didn`t do any Easter services which was dissappointing. When we arrived in Machala Friday night tough we landed in the middle of a proccession. Hundreds of people silently walking in the dark holding candles-very moving!

wow, I didn't know that!

5 Things I never knew about Ecuador


1)They just LOVE colour over here! Particularly vivid coloured check shirts for women. I even saw a yellow&green checked balldress. (my plain grey top has been hidden away!)

2) Wild dogs roam every street here. Some are pitiful, starved things and some are vicious and will savage you so carry a rock around with you and hope you can run fast!


3) Fresh fruit is NOT lacking

4)The national sport here seems to be how many people can you cram unto 1 motorbike. I've seen a family of 5 on 1 bike with all their shopping too-was a bit wobbly.

5)It doesn't matter what continent you are on-children will try to eat paint when painting!

to post or not to post

   Finally got to my mail box today and what a Shakespearean performance that was!!! Tried to mail letters and the man was quite emphatic that England did not exist!! 10 minute battle later and we finally managed to locate the UK but he was most reluctant. Wanted to send my mail to Italy and then forward it from there. I refused to believe that Italy was easier, closer or more popular than GB. I mean honestly! tut tut. The young man did not speak English (fair enough) but he wouldn't speak slowly and refused to repeat anything. He was evidently doing me a huge favour by deigning to serve me!

   Collecting post was just as fun including a need for ID which then had to be copied and checked. Plus a need for my signature in triplicate!

Love is all around

Feels horribly cheesy to quote from a pop song but....love is all around! And no I'm not tipsy on Sangria :)

  Finally checked the mail today and got a parcel off my mum, a letter from my gran, a package of proper tea off a friend and a bundle of letters from everyone in my church! I didn'y cry when I opened my mail but I have to admit to getting a bit teary eyed.
  
    I am so very LUCKY!!! I am soo supported, encouraged and loved. Everyone back home is so sweet and supportive. How lucky am I?

cough cough, who is it? Me!

Hello, how are you all? I'm afraid I'm a touch poorly. Cough just keeps on going and I`m exhausted all the time etc an had to saty off work. I`ve somehow seen 2 doctors! One says the weather is aggravating my asthma and has given me a new inhalor and if that doesn`t work then a pescription for steroids yuck. The other doctor says I`ve got an infection which is troubling my throat and "tubes" and has given me cough medicine and anti-biotics. Who do I listen to? More importantly, which will perk me up the fastest? After a long and serious thing I`ve decided on a "what the hell?" outlook and am now downing the syrup, taking antibiotics and puffing away on 2 inhalors-my idea is at least one of them has to work :)


  Decided to cheer myself up and watch a Poroit. I was just getting the good bit when the dvd died! Aaaaah. How evil is that? It's totally unimportant so naturally I went straight unto the internet and found out the ending. I'm pleased to say I'd correctly guessed who dunnit and how. Take that Hercule!
   It is in the process of being decided upon but it looks like I might start doing one to one work with the kids. Carry on with therapy etc laid out by the last therapist who worked here. Would be good to do more and have a set pattern for work. We shall see...
  Thanks a lot to anyone who has written to my new address. I don`t know what post may or may not have arrived. The Post Office is like Atlantis for me. I`ve heard of it but can`t ever get there!