Want to know how glorious my life is?

Last Friday I was sitting eating lunch with Melita and the normal crowd at the Tienda and my friend Jorge calls me. I answer and he says “its suuuuper sunny outside, lets go to the pool.” I tell him, “Jorge I can’t its Friday and I have work to do lets go tomorrow” and he says “come on, its sunny and warm, lets go.” Needless to say an hour later a group of four of us and a bag of mangoes were headed to a beautiful afternoon at the pool.

For thanksgiving, a small group of us go together at my friend Abbie’s house. She lives in a tiny po-dunk town of maybe 200 people so we were literally out in the middle of nowhere. Her site made Cumanda feel like a metropolis. But the small town was a great atmosphere for us to get together and have a good time. On Thursday we woke up at 11 and were cooking by noon and eating by 8 pm. A day full of cooking but a day well spent. We feasted on turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy, green bean casserole, zucchini bread, whole wheat bread, walnut/blue cheese salad, cranberries, berry cobbler and fresh delicious pumpkin pie. The best part, everything we ate was made from SCRATCH. Except for the cranberries, we luckily found a can of those. I was actually pretty impressed that we found all of the ingredients and it turned out to be an incredible, beyond words, meal.

Before I allowed myself to leave for Abbie’s house, I had a list of things I had to accomplish here in Cumanda. One of them was to teach my first, official English class. I was dreading it and nervous as all get out but it was actually really easy and slightly enjoyable. The most frustrating part is having to deal with the teacher. Before I began teaching, she told all the students to pay extra attention to my pronunciation because it's a rare chance for them to learn from a native speaker. But yet anytime I asked a question, she was ALWAYS the first one to respond with the answer in her crazy spanglish which all of the students mimicked what she said. Guess I’ll need to teach the teacher first and then maybe we’ll make progress on the kids. On Tuesday I have class number 2 and at the request of the teacher, we’re going to learn Christmas songs. This I can handle…

I’ve been thinking for a while about starting a project of teaching how to can fruits and vegetables because its super easy and I know that it would be really popular here. So last Sunday I set out on an adventure to find jars suitable for canning and as I went on my search, I ran into one of my friends who decided to accompany and help me. We searched for 2 hours and found nothing with a metal or sealable top. Guess that’s why nobody cans their own food. So instead of spending my Sunday afternoon canning as I had hoped, my friend invited me to his nephew’s 5th birthday party where we listened to the entire N’sync album and had platters of cheese, bologna and candy passed around.

Yesterday I worked with the women’s group from the municipal selling food at a memorial service for the kid that just recently passed away. I returned from traveling at 2 in the afternoon, showered and changed and went to the memorial service at 3 which is where I stayed until 11 pm that night. I thought it was only going to last one or two hours but like always, Ecuador fooled me and took way longer than had expected (and necessary if I may add). But it was really impressive that this kid of 22 years old was so well known and respected in the community that there was a special memorial service with at least 500 people in his honor. After the service ended (at 11) I went back to my house, changed once again, and went to a dance fundraiser that my friend was hosting, unwillingly danced for an hour and then went to another friend’s bar. Hmm what a weekend.

I took a break from writing and just got back from picking my first crop of green beans from my garden. I finally ripped up all of my lettuce because I got so frustrated with my neighbors rabbits and chickens eating them before I even had a chance. If I can’t eat them, nobody can eat them damnit. But now I have fresh basil and green beans to make for my dinner. I don’t think I’ve ever had a pesto green bean salad mixture before but welp, tonight’s going to be the night.



Also, I added a few photos to the blog. The other day my friend Jorge got asked my a local school to paint a mural on one of the school’s walls so I decided to help him out. The last line says “to love is to teach” which I is how I feel, I may not be doing tons of work here but at least I have my love to give!

Anyways I hope all of you had a great thanksgiving. These past few weeks and months have defiantly improved for me and that is what I feel the most thankful for. I am thankful for the people here in Cumanda that have opened so much of their lives for me and are willing to share them with me. I am thankful for each of you that continue to stay updated on my sporadic adventures and for all of your encouragement and prayers.

I hope that all of you had a great thanksgiving with friends and family. Love love.