For His Children Ecuador

I'm sorry it's been so long since our last entry. Between writing sponsorship letters and working with the kids our blog entries have fallen behind but we're going to start writing in it more frequently now.

This entry will feature some of the babies...

This is Noemi at 16 months. Pete and I love to play with Noemi because she is always happy. She loves to laugh and loves for us to hold her. She especially likes to be thrown up in the air and caught. Since our arrival, Noemi has learned to walk. It has been such a privilege to watch her go from taking her first steps to now pattering all around. Noemi also loves to swim. I take her to the pool on Thursdays and we have so much fun splashing around together. In the pool, Noemi likes it when I place her on the edge and hold out my hands for her to fall into my arms. We say together (in English), “One, two, three!” and she jumps into my arms laughing the whole time. Noemi is also very cute during snack time. The other day I was feeding her a banana and before she took a bite she would always say, “Yummmm.” Every time! It made Pete and I laugh. We actually videotaped it and we hope to be able to show it soon.

Noemi’s story is very interesting. Noemi’s mother was actually hired as a surrogate for a Columbian family. Noemi’s mother already had three kids, no job, and was living with her mother so she was desperate to make some money. The Columbian family paid her $800 but then they were suddenly called back to Columbia and never came back or tried to contact Noemi’s mother. When Noemi was born, Noemi’s mother couldn’t afford to keep her so that’s how Noemi came to For His Children. She has been with us since she was about a week old. She is a very smart baby and is usually a favorite by all.

This is Andrea at 11 months sitting in Pete's lap. Andrea has the sweetest, little personality. She is very quiet and sometimes timid but she loves to be around people. Andrea especially likes to be with Pete. We recently took her to our house to play, but Andrea wanted to sit in Pete’s lap the whole time. She was so content to just be near him.

Since Andrea is more guarded then the other babies, you truly feel rewarded when she laughs or smiles at you. A few ways to get her to laugh or smile at you is to tickle her. She will laugh so hard when she is tickled that she will go into that “silent laugh” mode. Andrea is one of the more independent babies and seems content to play by herself when we are busy helping with the other babies. In the last month, she has started to walk cautiously but she still prefers to do a butt-scoot-like crawl. She never goes on her hands and knees, rather she scooches her way across the floor. When she gets excited about something she will scooch over to you with gusto so that she is practically using her butt as a trampoline.

Andrea’s story is something out of a movie. A family found a little baby only a few days old in a box on their doorstep on evening. They were afraid to touch her at first because they noticed right away that she had six fingers on her left hand and six toes on her right toe. Finally they called a neighbor (who told them to stop being superstitious) and the neighbor called the police. The police could never find out who left little Andrea there and she came For His Children shortly after. She has had her extra fingers and toes removed now (they were more like nubbins than actual limbs) but she is still very self-conscience bout them. She will not let you touch or see where her scar is on her hands or feet.

Finally, this is Emilia at seven months old. I’m pretty sure Emilia is the happiest, sweetest baby in the whole world. I have only seen her cry once in all my three months here and it was only for a second. I truly believe that Emilia has been blessed by God with one of the best-natured personalities. She is always happy and smiling whether you are holding her or whether she is playing by herself. Recently, I was playing with the babies in their room and Emilia was playing quietly by herself in her crib. The rest of the babies were playing on the floor with me, so I went to Emilia’s crib to have her join us but she looked so happy cooing softly to herself as she played with her stuffed bear that I decided to leave her there. She continued to play in her crib just as happy as could be. I also really like it when I get to play with Emilia in the pool. She gets so excited to be in the water. She loves to splash around, although occasionally she will give herself a good splash in the face which will startle her. As you can see, she is also our most photogenic baby.

Emilia is another baby who was found on a doorstep in a cardboard box only hours after her mother gave birth to her. The family who found her noticed a strange car near their house and they suspect now that it was Emilia’s mother who was making sure that someone found her. The family wanted to keep Emilia but when they called the police, the police told them they’d have to go through the proper adoption methods. So now Emilia is here at FHC and is a healthy, beautiful baby girl.

All three of these babies are very dear to my heart. Please pray for them to find loving, Christian families soon. We will write more soon!

Since this is probably one of our only venting sessions I (Tesha) thought I'd jump on and say one more thing about Ecuador/Ecuadorians that frustrates/confuses us. First, let's think about an every day situation in the United States: You’re at the grocery store. You don't have a cart. You're browsing in the middle of the cereal aisle deciding which one you'd like to have for the next morning's breakfast. While deciding you notice out of the corner of your eye that someone else is moving down your aisle with a shopping cart. You are in the middle of the aisle and the person is looking like they want to pass you so you....
a) Take one step and move out of the way
b) Pretend like you don't see them and continue standing directly in the middle of the aisle as to make it very difficult for them to maneuver their cart around you

Now I may be an optimist but I believe most of us would trouble ourselves to take that extra step so the person with the cart could easily pass. Common courtesy right? Not here in Ecuador. Seriously, it's like all people of all ages have the "I'm not going to move" mentality. It happens to us everywhere...buses, malls, grocery stores, sidewalks… At first we thought that they were just giving us "gringos" a hard time but then we noticed that everyone does it to everyone else no matter what their race or status is.

We're getting used to it now; plus we're getting really good at making ourselves a lot smaller to squeeze by people, but it still one of those things that makes you really appreciate certain common courtesies in Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave.

When something frustrates you in your home country, you normally blame an individual, a restaurant, a bank, or some other company. But when you're in a foreign country and something frustrates you, I think you tend to blame the entire country.
There are some things here that frustrate Tesha and me, and we're trying not to blame all of Ecuador. The first thing to bother us is that pedestrians have no right of way whatsoever here. A couple weeks ago we almost got hit by a car when we were crossing the street at at stoplight, in a crosswalk, with the walk signal, when the driver was making a right turn. The driver, by the way, was a police officer in his police car (we stopped, not him). I immediately blamed the whole country - the Ecuadorian mountains, jungle, and all, but now I take it back. The law favors pedestrians; in fact, you'll go to jail immediately if you hit one, but I guess drivers know that pedestrians won't gamble the driver's jail sentence with their own lives. I've never blamed the USA for American drivers who aren't courteous to bike riders, but it's easy to blame Ecuador when I'm frustrated here.
Twice now I've opened a new stick of butter that was made, packaged and sold in Ecuador, and there has been a thin layer of paper from the wrapper that sticks to the butter. "Ahh! Curse the trees of Ecuador!" I've never blamed America when the Fruit Loops bag is so hard to open that you pull until it just splits down the middle all the way to the bottom.
Today I had to try hard not to be mad at Ecuador. Because some government agency in Ecuador wanted to be a pain and maybe make a little more money, Tesha and I are required to register ourselves with our visas now that we're in the country. (I thought that obtaining the visa registered us.) It's not that big of a deal, but it's annoying because we get sent from one agency to another and then back to the same one because of a lack of communications between the agencies. To make things worse, the worker at the Ecuadorian consulate in Los Angeles forgot to give me one of the documents that I need. So now we have to pay extra because "the law leaves no written exceptions that deal with our situation." In this case, I have to try extra hard not to blame all of the land in between Columbia and Peru, since the government is causing the frustration. As nice of a person as I try to be, I will admit that I had a hard time thinking nice thoughts about every Ecaudorian in a government uniform that I saw for the rest of the day.
A related frustration is that to get my Ecuadorian drivers license, I am supposed to get a document from some sort of notary public in the United States, saying that my California drivers license is legitamate. I want to ask Ecuador, "and then should I get a document saying that the document that legitamizes my license is legitamate, and then one that says that document is legitamate...," and so on. Honestly, what will probably end up happening is that the worker will act like there is nothing he can do until I hand him a 10 dollar bill along with my license and that will serve as my offcial document. It's very easy to blame all of Ecuador for the corruption and bribery that goes on here, when really it is just a small percentage of individuals to blame.

We're having a great time here; I just wanted to share this to remind travelers that if you're frustrated at a whole country, it's probably just becuase you're out of your comfort zone.
-Pete

We saw this verse in action tonight. Tonight at our English as a Second Language group we met Dario. Dario is a native Ecuadorian but speaks English fluently and works as a teacher like Pete and me. Dario is around our age and we hit it off with him right away because of his easy smile and friendly demeanor. Then we found out that we are neighbors! Dario lives with an American missionary couple right down the street from us. We decided to take a bus home together afterwards and that is when we got to hear Dario's story...

Dario is a real life Compassion International kid from the jungle village of Shell, Ecuador. He was supported by a family from Long Beach, CA until his family no longer needed the help. It was amazing to hear how much love he had for his Compassion family. He told us how he treasured the letters and pictures they sent him, and how he loved to send them his drawings and letters in return. Dario said that it was through his Compassion family that he first learned that love is an action not a word. It struck with him that some family who he had never even met would love him enough to support him to go to school and have clothes and food for his family. Dario's dad left his family when Dario was eight. His dad left behind five children and a wife. Dario said that he always knew that someone loved him because he had a Compassion International dad who always said he loved him and was proud of him.

When Dario turned 18, his mom told him that he had to leave the house and find work. She couldn't support him and his other brothers and sisters. So she gave him all the spare money she had and sent him on his way. He went to the bus station with one backpack, boarded the first bus that came, not knowing where it was going, and ended up in a town called Banos, which is a tourist city in Ecuador. He spoke only a little English but knew a tourist agent from his home town and was able to convince him to give him a job. While Dario was working in Banos, he worked to improve his English by listening to the English Christian radio station in Ecuador called HCJB. At HCJB, as a non-native English listener, you can request written copies of the programs given so that you can follow along, so Dario was one of the thousands of Ecuadorians who got regular emails of the programs from HCJB. He kept in regular contact with the HCJB correspondent named Karen.

After working in Banos for a while, Dario's boss suddenly left town. He owed Dario 2 months pay. Dario didn't know what to do so he decided to try his luck in Quito. He had no where to go once he arrived in Quito so he decided to go to the HCJB headquarters. At HCJB, Dario found Karen's office. He introduced himself to Karen and said this: "I've got nowhere to go but I want to get a job here. I can't pay you rent now, but if you let me stay in your house for 2 weeks and after the 2 weeks I don't have a job you can kick me out." Surprisingly, after speaking to her husband, Karen agreed. What started out as 2 weeks turned into 6 years. Karen and her husband Sam basically adopted Dario as one of their own. He still doesn't have to pay rent and they even paid for him to go to college. Now Dario works for an international volunteer organization called Youth World. He also still goes back to his home town to preach the gospel to the Shawiri Indians.

So the point of this story is that God uses people all the time. Dario wishes so badly that he could contact his Compassion family and to thank them for letting him become more than anyone ever thought he could. Now Dario gives back all the love that was given to him through his ministry outreach program.

Seriously this sounds like something out of Compassion International brochure but this is real life. It goes to show that you never know what kind of a difference you can make in someone's life.
Dario would love to contact the family in California that supported him through Compassion International to let them know how much they meant to him in working his way to a good life, but the branch here in Ecuador won't let him send them a letter. If anyone knows someone at Compassion International in the US who could help Dario contact the family, we'd love for you to contact us so we can help Dario contact the family.

Dario's coming over to our house for dinner tomorrow night. We're excited to have a new friend that we can learn so much from.

(Also we asked his permission to tell his story and he gave it to us gladly).

-Tesha

Now that Tesha and I have adapted to the lack of oxygen, inconsistant water temperature, buses that write where they're going on a board in the windshield, milk that comes in a bag, llamas in the front yard, and kids drooling on us, we've started developing an active social life.
We've been meeting lots of Ecuadorians by helping out at an English as a Second Language group at the church we've been going to down here. About 100 Ecuadorians come each Wednesday evening, divide into beginner, intermediate and advance, and then we listen to a reading or story in English and then talk about topics related to the story in small groups. We normally end up talking about whatever gets everyone talking since the main focus is to get them speaking English. Some of the things we've talked about include: George Bush, the many different sub-cultures in the US, places to travel in Ecuador, differences between the US and Ecuador, why the same 20 oz Coke that costs 50 cents here costs $1.50 in The States, and stereotypes about Ecuador and the US. We talked about stereotypes that other countries have about our countries and how that affects us as individuals. I mentioned how it can be suprising, and even dangerous in some countries, when people assume that because I am American I love guns. The stereotype here that one of the Ecuadorians pointed out was that people from other countries wrongly assume that because his country's government is corrupt, he is corrupt too.
To stay active here, we joined a nice, modern gym called Phisique. We have been really impressed by the quality of the gym and the community that has adopted us so nicely. Our favorite part is that there are always a couple personal trainers there to help analyze your fitness and help you do a good workout routine - something that is not very common in the US because it is so much more expensive to pay trainers in The States. We met the owner of the club, who lived in the US for awhile, and he has helped us get involved with some of the things that the club does with its members. For example, Tesha has started training with a group from the club to run a 15K in Quito in 3 weeks. The club even has a trainer just for runners. Since Quito is 9,500 feet above sea level, we've had to work our lungs hard to adjust, but we'll have a great advantage when we go back to the US where we had been living at 13 feet above sea level.
We've also started riding mountain bikes around the city, which is a great way to get to know the city. Yesterday I rode to Metropolitan Park, which overlooks the city from the outskirts, to try out some of the park's excellent mountain bike trails. The park is huge. To give you an idea of how big it is, I rode my bike for half an our in one direction and then got to a sign that said there was an overlook in 5 more kilometers (3.1 miles); the park is round too, so it is that far in each direction. The park is very diverse with hundreds of trails, a lagoon, a water plant, basketball courts, obstacle courses, soccer fields (Ecuadorians turn any field into a soccer field), volleyball courts (volleyball is popular here because you can use a soccer ball and a string connected between two poles), snack and juice stores, tons of playgrounds scattered about, awkward modern art scattered about, streams, waterfalls, and so on.
At the very top of the park there is a stereotypical third world community of a couple hundred Ecuadorians living in door-less cinder block homes. The community seems self-sufficient; it's likely that they hardly even use money as a means of trade. Kids, with much darker skin than the people we'd see at the upper-class fitness club, play between the houses with anything that they can pretend to be a soccer ball. Stray dogs looking for trash, and chickens that appear stray roam the streets. There's one dirt rode that runs by the edge of the community and I stopped in the middle of it, knowing that no cars would be coming through, ate some peanuts, watched an organized soccer game between competitively serious 30-year-old men, and soaked up the feeling of being the only white person on the planet. Despite the unfamiliar setting, I felt suprisingly safe and I enjoyed how everyone who passed me greeted me as if they genuinely cared how I was doing.
On my way back to modern civilization I took a fun trail through woods in the middle of nowhere and at one point had to get off my bike when 6 horses, 2 cows and 2 llamas, which apparently roam free around the park, were hanging out in the middle of my path.
-Pete

Last Saturday Tesha and I got to go to a farm outside Quito with 8 of the orfans between 5 and 10 years of age. Four of the kids who went are special needs kids and the other four are... normal(?), non-special(?), not-needy(?), developmentally [i]a tempo (?)... [i]you can fill in whichever word you think is politically correct. The kids, and Tesha and I had a lot of fun. All of the kids got to ride horses, hold rabbits and guinea pigs, sit on llamas, pet and feed goats, and cluck at chickens, geese and cows. A few of the special needs kids are non-stop energetic, so Tesha and I felt like we were herding most of the day.
My favorite special needs girl is named Tatiana and I enjoy hanging out with her because she is constantly happy, no matter what. She's about 10 years old and she's normally in a different world than everybody else. She can't talk, but she lets you know when she's super excited by screaming and shaking her hands. She also claps for herself after taking a bite of food, or any other time she feels clapping is appropriate. Whenever she sees me, she comes up to me wanting to be picked up and held, if I don't respond, she grabs onto my shoulders and climbs me like someone climbing a coconut tree.
The farm was overwhelmingly exciting for Tatiana since there were so many interesting things; she would often see something new and immediately forget what she was doing. Any time we took our eyes off of her for more than a few seconds we'd end up having to search around the farm for her, normally finding her crashing a birthday party that was being held on the farm.
I think Tatiana doesn't feel much pain because when she falls or does something that should hurt her, she just laughs. I had to take her away from the geese and then the chickens because she kept sticking her finger inside the fence and letting the birds bite her.
She really made me laugh when she was playing with the goats: She started petting the first of three goats and then slapped him in the head. I told her that it wasn't OK to do that and since it seemed like she wouldn't be hitting any more goats, we moved on to pet the next goat. After a couple pets she let out a big laugh, slapped the second goat in the head, and took off running for the third goat. I caught her before she got to the third goat and then she saw a llama and forgot all about the goats.
You can find pictures of the day at the farm on our picture site: http://community.webshots.com/user/peteandtesha
-Pete

After spending the night in the subwoofer and then the next morning walking around Atacames, declining a myriad of "cheap priced" gadgets, we decided to head to the more peaceful town, Same (pronounced 'Sah-May'). Atatacems is a really nice beach, with a nice beach break for surfing (much like north Zuma Beach, if you know it, except the waves stay open longer), but we were ready for some relaxation.
Along the beach towns, guys drive bike taxis where there is a chariot cart for two riders attached to the front of beach cruiser bike. Some of the guys have gotten smart and replaced their bicycle with a motorcycle, using the money they save in buying water bottles to pay off the motorcycle. Since Same is only about 6 miles from Atacames we found a motorcycle-taxi-cart guy who was willing to take us there for five bucks. It lightly drizzled most of the ride and then most of the day, but we didn't really care because it's so humid any way that you can hardly feel a difference in the air.
After another hotel finding adventure in which we decided to spend a little extra on a nicer hotel and then changed our minds since everything in the nicer hotel was broken, we ended up landing at the first hotel that we had looked at an hour earlier. The owners of this small hotel, "Casa De Amigos" were so nice that we decided we would have a better time with them then we would with unfriendly people in a "luxury" hotel with good air conditioning and a big bathroom. Choosing Casa De Amigos would end up being the highlight of my trip.
Same is a very laid back beach town. Take away the ocean, sand, beach huts and old fashioned canoes, and the attitude that you sense from all of the locals will still relax you. We love the restaurant that is right next door to our hotel, so we went there for practically every meal. It's beach front - of course the town is so small that everything is on the beach. The same guy who sat us would take our order and then turn on everything in the kitchen before calling his wife or sister to do the cooking. The menus are really just to give you an idea of the type of food they serve; what really happens is that you ask the owner/waiter/co-chef what he recommends that day, because that is what they just brought in off the boat. One night the waiter recommended a delicious seafood assortment plate that would have gone for at least $25 in The States - we paid $7.20 and that included tax and tip. I drank the sauce it came in like it was soup when we were done. Seafood is so abundant in these coast towns that they serve shrimp and clams as side dishes with every meal.
So back to the hotel owned by the really nice people. It was a pretty quiet weekend and the owners are doing some painting, so we were the only short term guests. The owners, 3 Germans - Gabriela, Rudy, and Michael - invited us to eat dinner with them our first night. I was a little skeptical about how nice they were at first (maybe they were going to poisen us and steal our camera or something), but soon I realized that they just enjoy life and their new hotel project so much that it gave them pleasure to make sure that we had a great time. The next day Rudy offered us use of just about everything he could think of, mostly the boogey boards and goggles, but even his washing machine. If his motorcycles would have been ready to run, he would have let us take those for a spin too. The owners have been living all over the world operating ranches and fun adventures, so we're looking forward to later in the summer when they get everything up and running. They're even planning on buying a catamaran to do sailing trips to the Galapagos islands, so hopefully I can get in on that for a trip as some sort of workhand or something. If you're reading this and planning on going to the beach in Ecuador, let me know and I'll put you in contact with the Casa De Amigos owners.
It was cool to ride through all the different areas of Ecuador on the bus - the mountains, rainforest with waterfalls, jungle, river valley and coast. We saw the super 3rd world side of Ecuador: communities of families living in huts near the river with no electricity, running water or glass windows.
Even on the coast no one seems to have hot water, but you wouldn't want to take a hot shower anyway because, even with cool water, by the time you finish drying off, you feel wet again from the humidity.
-Pete

We’ve had our first weekend getaway since coming to Ecuador. Pete and I decided to have a nice, relaxing weekend by heading to the coast. We spent our first day/night in a town called Atacames located right on the beach. The beach was beautiful but getting there was another story. We left our house at 6:30am to catch a bus. Our friends here told us to expect about a 6-7 hour trip. What they didn’t tell us was that Ecuadorian buses don’t have (or don’t use) air conditioning. This was fine the first 2 hours while we were in Quito at 9,000 feet but it became another story when we spent 5 hours driving through the jungle/rain forests. I have never been so sweaty in my whole life. Sweat was pouring out from crevices I didn’t know existed! Another thing we weren’t forewarned about was that the buses do not go directly to their destination point. In fact, it pretty much stopped wherever it wanted, to let whoever get on or off. Therefore, we probably added 2 hours to our journey because Ecuador doesn’t believe in defining exact stopping points.

Wow, were we glad to arrive in Atacames! The next task we had to tackle however, was finding a hotel. Some of our missionary friends had recommended some hotels, but when we checked them out, they were a little more expensive than what we had hoped. So, after meeting a guy on the street who recommended a hotel down the street for half the price of the others, we decided to check it out. Unlike one of the others, it had air conditioning, which at this point had become a must since our clothes; hair, etc were literary soaking wet. Man, being from Vegas, Malibu and now Quito, I had forgotten what humidity was! At any rate, we decided that the hotel would suffice for the night.

The beaches at Atacames really are beautiful. They have great surf (for you surfers out there). Lining the beach boardwalk you have your choice of different drink cabanas, all looking exactly alike with their Swiss Family Robinson-type thatched roofs, and coconut drink specials. (For any of you who have seen Arrested Development, 3rd Season…think of the episode where GOB and Steve Holt open up a Banana Stand right across from Michael’s) (If you haven’t ever seen Arrested Development, I suggest you leave your house right now and rent Season 1 and work your way up to Season 3).

We had a great evening after jumping into the 80 degree ocean to cool down. We went out for a delicious dinner of freshly caught fish and afterwards we went to one of the cabanas for drinks. The particular cabana we choose had swings instead of chairs! Pete and I even acted like the young couple we are and went out salsa-ing afterwards. Atacames at night has a very Cancun-feel to it. There seem to be too many high-school-age people trying to be cool on their own without adult supervision (I sound so old). Pete and I felt proud of ourselves for staying to a reasonably late hour (11pm-yes we are old) and went to our rooms to go to bed. However sleep would not come for three more hours because although we got a great deal on the hotel room, the concierge failed to tell us that right next door to us was a discotec night club. This meant that we heard THUMP THUMP THUMP until 2 am. It was like we were trying to sleep in a subwoofer. Now our missionary friends had warned us that Atacames was loud, however, they failed to mention WHY it was loud. We thought we could handle normal loud - dogs barking, people laughing, footsteps, etc…but we did not count on a discotec practically in our room.

To be continued……

Well we promised we'd do more profiles of some of the kids here so here are three more precious children that we love.

This is Daniela, age 2. She is by far one of the easiest kids in the orphanage. The best way to describe Daniela is that she is a lady. Everything she does is very prim and proper. At dinner she sits very straight and eats her food nicely with a spoon while the other kids at her table use their fingers and make a mess. She is a girly girl and loves pretty things. When she wakes up from her naps, she likes to sit in my lap and hold her teddy bear. She doesn't say much, but when she does speak it's in this cute little high-pitched voice. Daniela loves to observe the world around her. She loves to intently look at nature, such as a new flower in bloom. She also loves to be held. She is one of the few kids who like to sit in my lap and lean her head against my chest. She rarely cries, even when one of the other kids antagonizes her.

This is Edison, age 2. Edison has Down syndrome but that hasn't stopped him from being one of the most active kids at FHC. Edison reminds me of a rolly polly bug. He loves to be dirty, and that's why he likes to be outside where he can get the dirtiest. I think one of his favorite activities is actually to eat dirt. We are constantly stopping him from eating it. He also loves the swings and playing in a toy house the orphanage has. We love Edison because he is so happy all the time. Sometimes he will begin to cry but stop after a few seconds, as if he's forgotten why he started crying in the first place. He also loves for us to hold him. When we come to the toddler house, Edison is always one of the first kids to run up to Pete or me and stretch his little hands towards us. Edison can be mischievous. During meal times he sometimes puts his food in the bowl of his table neighbor, Brayana.

This is Juan Jose age one year and 9 months. He is the second youngest kid in the toddler house and is a quirky little kid. The picture above is showing one of Juan Jose’s famous half-smiles. Juan Jose is a serious child, and a full smile from him is rare, but when something amuses him he will give you this particular lopsided smile. Juan Jose is very independent for his age, and would rather do things alone most of the time. One of his favorite things to do is to destroy anything that is neat. If there is a box of toys put neatly away, you can rest assured that Juan Jose will have them scattered over the floor in no time. He thinks it’s funny when we tell him to pick up the toys. Another funny thing Juan Jose does is how he acts at meal times. During a meal when Juan Jose is served something he doesn’t particularly care for he will obey his tias by putting the food in his mouth, but he won’t chew. He will put more and more food in his mouth until it puffs out his cheeks. He ends up looking like a begrudged chipmunk. It makes me laugh every time!

So that concludes our second portion of “Meet the Kids.” These are my favorite sections to write and I hope it gives you a better understanding of how much we enjoy these kids.

Ok, Pete tells me it isn't that big of a deal that there are so many words in Spanish that are very very similar. After all, in English we have 'picture' and 'pitcher' (say them out loud). But still, it fascinates me how there are so many similar words in Spanish. I frequently mix them up so I thought I'd share some of them with you and you can imagine the funny sentences I might have said mixing up these words....plus you might learn some new Spanish vocab....
Hombro (shoulder)
Hambre (hungry)
Hombre (man)
(in case you're wondering I have actually said, "I am very man." instead of "i am very hungry" and I have also said, "my man hurts" instead of "my shoulder hurts.")
Llover (rain)
Llorar (cry)
Llenar (to fill)
Llevar (to take)
Llegar (to arrive)
Ok I realize that some of these sound similar and some will not sound that similar but...they can mix you up if you're tired.
Sacar (to take)
Secar (to dry)

Pagar (to pay)
Pegar (to fight)....imagine the possibilities... "I would like to fight you this much...." instead of pay

Sentar (to sit)
Sentir (to feel) ..... I have said "he sits sad."

Another common mistake that we make as Americans (I made it when I was in Argentina) is to say "embarazada" for embarrassed. It actually means "pregnant."

Finally the all time low mistake that didn't happen to me fortunately but happened to friend of mine was to use the word "excitada" for excited. The word "exitada" does mean "excited" but in a more, how shall I put it, bedroom-style way. If you ever want to say "I'm excited" use "emocionada" which doesn't mean emotional, but 'excited' in the non-bedroom sense.

As you can see, the thing about Spanish is that not pronouncing a vowel correctly can really mess up what you're trying to say. In English we can say, ‘necessarily’ or ‘necessarily’ and people can easily decipher what we mean. Looking at some of the words I posted above you can see this is not the case with us and Spanish. Thankfully the people here are very forgiving and most of the time they know what we mean, and we are getting better at our pronunciation.

I (Pete) have begun driving in Ecuador, where the lines and signs don't really mean anything. I was nervous that I might not be able to understand some of the signs in Spanish, but that is not a problem because there aren't many signs. Most of the street name signs are posted on buildings on the side of the road, so even with a passenger it can be hard to tell which street your crossing. Some street name signs are as far as 100 yards from the street corner... on a small yellow house.
The 3 basic rules of driving in Ecuador are that the driver in front has the right away, even if he wants to swerve into your lane as you are passing; pedestrians never have the right away, especially at crosswalks, but sometimes on highways if they are carrying something; and you can apparently legally break a traffic law as long as you first beep your horn- For example, a bus or taxi can run a read light as long as they beep their horns first. Oh, one more rule, and I think people would drive slower here if they all new this rule: If you injure someone while driving, you can be thrown in jail.
No one pays attention to the lanes because the drivers have figured out that they can fit 3 cars on a two lane road. One nice thing though is that cars will give a courtesy beep when they are coming up to pass you.
We don't have our Ecuadorian drivers licenses yet; we can drive with our US ones for 30 days from our arrival. Even if we had no license, the de facto police policy says that a five or ten dollar bill can normally serve as your license.
Today Tesha and I drove to the Red Cross to get blood tests to find out what type of blood we have. (I'm A negative, can't I sell mine?) They print your blood type on your drivers license here (duh America, why haven't we thought of that?). It cost us $2.50 to get our blood tests done. I think that's about what doctors in The States charge if you lick an extra one of those popsicle stick things that they stick down your throat.

We've been adding more photos on Webshots, but they've been added to existing albums. I'm not sure if Webshots tells you which albums have been recently updated. I know we've updated "Pool," "Toddlers," and "Preschool" this week.
-Pete

Well Pete and I achieved one of our goals this weekend....making some Ecuadorian friends! Actually we met one of them; her name is Fanny, last Sunday at church. She speaks English well and even spent time going to school in Minnesota for undergrad. We decided to meet up this last weekend at a mall in Quito called Qui Centro. It's about as modern as you can get for malls, they even have L'Occitane. Fanny brought her sister, Ivet, and her boyfriend, David. They were all so nice! We only spoke Spanish the whole night which was great not only for practicing but I think it did wonders for our confidence as well. They took us to a great little Ecuadorian restaurant and then we went cosmic bowling.

Throughout the night, we were able to learn some very interesting facts and opinions about Ecuador. This is all through the perspectives of well-educated, 20-something-year olds. It was a very eye-opening night for Pete and me so I'm going to share their thoughts with you with a disclaimer: I am not saying these are my opinions and I'm not saying this is the whole story on all matters.

Presidents: We talked about their new president, Rafael Correa, and what they thought about him, his relationship to Hugo Chavez and his relationship with the US government. Here's their opinion: Rafael Correa is the first president in a long time that actually ran for office and won fairly and conventionally. They say that it gives them hope that he will actually make good on his promises to help end corruption and give more to the lower classes. They say that he is not like Hugo Chavez, and that actually they are having some difficulties with Chavez right now because Correa is trying to control the Columbian guerrillas and terrorism that occurs on the border between Ecuador and Columbia. Finally, they said that one of the reasons the US doesn't feel supported by Correa is because he did not want to make a deal with President Bush to take up arms against Columbia. According to them, President Bush approached President Correa and asked him to help the US fight Columbia to get rid of its terrorism and drug problems. Correa said that he is interested in protecting Ecuador, but not unnecessarily making war with other countries.

Elections: Today Ecuador had elections to vote on whether or not to start an assembly to take the place of its current Congress. According to Fanny, the Congress is very corrupt and they are hoping that making a new assembly will help control corruption. An interesting thing about Ecuadorian voting is that everyone is mandated to vote. Everyone has these official voting cards they have to carry with them at all times. It's like the equivalent of our drivers' licenses (although they have those too). When they leave the country they have to show their current voting cards to the authorities. Their voting percentage is above 70% (much better than the US). Another interesting thing about Ecuadorian elections is that 2 days before an election, no one is allowed to drink alcohol. They are not allowed to sell it at restaurants, stores and people aren't supposed to drink it in their homes. From what I understand this is for two reasons: So that everyone voting has a clear mind, and also out of respect for the country.

Wow, so that was a lot and it was only a fraction of the conversations we had. Last night was like a crash course in Ecuadorian history, politics and culture.

Fanny and I are going to get together possibly next week at her Mom's house so they can show me how to cook more receipts from the coast (her mom is from the coast). I'm excited.

Since coming to Ecuador, I have now had the opportunity to cook two dishes from an Ecuadorian cookbook that FHC director Melinda gave me. I thought I would share them with you all in case you're bored of your old recipes and want to try some new ones.

1st Recipe: Shrimp Ceviche

(You might have already tried Ceviche before but I found this recipe to be really good.)

1 lb Shrimp, peeled and cleaned
6 Tblsp fresh lime juice
1 tsp salt
1 Red onion
1/2 Tblsp fresh lime juice
1/2 green pepper
1/2 large tomato
1/2 cup fresh orange juice
6 Tblsp ketchup
2 Tblsp olive oil
1 Tblsp minced cilantro

Cook shrimp for 1 minute in 2 cups boiling water. Strain and save 1 cup of the cooking water. Mix lime juice and salt in a large, flat, non-metallic container. Marinate shrimp with lime juice in refrigerator for 1 hour. Cure onion with 1/2 Tblsp lime juice. To cure, cut onion in half, slice each half as finely as possible so you have thin strips. Rinse strips. Thoroughly rub salt into onion. Marinate for at least 10 minutes. Rinse onion strips several times to remove excess salt. Squeeze out water. Add lime juice.

While the onion is marinating, dice green pepper and tomato into small, thin pieces. Add onion and vegetables to marinated shrimp. Mix in the reserved water and remaining ingredients (I mixed them all together first in a separate bowl and then poured them over the rest of the ingredients).

It's best served with Rice. (although the Ecuadorians eat it with popcorn)

2nd Recipe: Cazuela Verde

You may have to look hard for some of these ingredients but it's a very tasty meal. Cazuela is a plantian and peanut stew. Serve it hot out of the oven with a plate of rice and cut lime.

1 big tomato
1 red onion
1/2 white onion
1 green pepper
2 cups water
2 tsps alino (ingredients under)
- 1 Tblsp garlic, minced
- 1/2 tsp ground Cumin
- 2 Tblsp Water
- 1 pinch of salt
1 Lb fish fillet (we used Dorado- a very mild fish and it was delicious)
2 tsp cumin
Salt and Pepper
3 green plantains, peeled
(if no plantains are available substitute 2 very green bananas for each plantain)
1/2 cup peanut butter

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Take the first 6 ingredients and puree them with 1 and 1/2 of water. Then pour pureed ingredients into a pot. Rinse blender with remaining 1/2 cup of water and add to the pot. Bring to a boil.

Make alino by placing garlic, cumin, water and salt in a blend. Blend until smooth.

Add 1 Tblsp alino to the pot. Stir. Simmer to form a thick, dry sauce, about 25 minutes. Now wash fish and cut into 1 inch pieces. Rub with remaining alino and dry spices.

Prepare plantains. This is done by cutting off the ends and then running the plantains under hot water (this is because the insides are sticky). Slide your thumb beneath the sliced skin, along the outside of the curve, while holding the plantain under running water. Cut plantains into 1/2 inch rounds. Blend until liquid with just enough water to cover plantains (about 2 cups). Blend peanut butter with one cup of water. When refrito is ready, add liquefied plantain, peanut butter and 1 tsp salt. Stir continually until mixture has thickened and changed color, about 20 minutes.

Fill one large ceramic or Pyrex baking dish with half the mixture. Add fish on top. Cover with remaining mixture. Make sure you do not fill the dish too much or it will overflow. Bake 40-50 minutes. The Cazuela is done when a crispy ring forms around the inside of the dish.
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Well that's it for recipes for now. This week I'm trying to make something called Llampingachos. I'll let you know if it's any good.

Love, Tesha

Several times now after eating a meal at a restaraunt we have been given after-dinner-cough-drop-mints! The first time I (Pete) thought our waitors were playing a prank on the Americans, but by the 3rd and 4th time, I knew something was just weird. Today's lunch was topped off with a "candy" cough drop that was "mint/chlorophyll flavor." CHLOROPHYLL???

Today we went to Mitad del Mundo ("The Center of the World"). It was fun to stand in both hemispheres and make jokes about which way the toilets would flush, which season it was, etc. The Equator is only about 20 minutes ($5 by taxi) from our house.
By the way, if you didn't know, they use the US dollar here, so that is convenient.

We've been doing pretty well on eating Ecuatorian food lately. We actually did have Ecuatorian breakfast our first day, but it was mostly hashbrowns and eggs, but with a different name. Last night Tesha made shrimp Cebiche (not to be confused with Cerviche or Corviche). We ate it with rice as the Tias suggested, but the Tias told Tesha that Cebiche is customarily eaten with popcorn on the side.

Today in Mitad del Mundo for lunch Tesha had Ecuadorian breaded shrimp and I had "Llapingachos a la Fritada." I'm not really sure what part of my meal was classified as Llapingachos, but it was good. Ecuatorians seem to like to eat a wide variety of foods with each meal.
Happy Easter,
Pete

Since we've been here a little over a week now, we're really getting to know some of the kids. Over the next year we're going to do little profiles of each one so you guys can better understand how wonderful and special each one of these kids are.

This is Marianela age 2 and a 1/2. She quickly captivated my heart with her mini afro, beautiful lips, large eyes, and delicate features. She is by far the most laid-back kid at FHC. It's like she's was born naturally cool. When all the kids are screaming and crying, she just sits back looking on at the organized chaos around her. We've only seen her cry once and it was brief. One funny thing about her is that she is the slowest eater. The tias are constantly getting after her during meal time for not eating. It's hilarious because if you watch her you can see that she remembers to eat, and then gets engrossed in watching everyone else eat, and then forgets again. She appears very individualistic but at the same time she is sweet with the other orphans and likes to share. Last week when I woke her room up from their naps for dinner, she helped all the other kids make their beds.

This is Andres age 2 and 1/2. He has the sweetest face and loves to smile. Andres was the first kid to make Pete and I feel welcome at FHC. Clark Vaughn, the orphanage owner, was giving us a tour of the orphanage on our first day and Andres came right up to Pete and grabbed his hand. Since then we've worked with Andres almost everyday. He always wants to sit in one of our laps, and during dinner he wants us to sit right next to him. If I even get up for a second to help with the other children, Andres will ask me to sit back down. He also loves to test us at dinner time by pretending to eat his food. He loves to try and make us laugh by making silly faces at us during dinner as well. He seems to be a naturally happy kid.

This is Brayana, age 1 year 5 months. She is a beautiful little girl with almond shaped eyes, and straight black hair., Pete and I think she might be a little bit Asian, but no one knows for sure. Pete and I call Brayana La Torbellina which means Whirlwind in Spanish. We gave this to her because she is a feisty, bouncing ball of energy. She never walks, she always runs at full speed. She loves to laugh. She is also extremely ornery, especially at dinner time. During dinner she will dramatically eat one bite then ferociously shake her head to and fro. It makes all the other kids at her table laugh. The tias are constantly having to reprimand her at dinner because she wants to make jokes instead of eat. When I tell her: "Come Brayana" (Eat Brayana). She will smile at me and shake one little finger as if to say, "I'm not done with my show yet." It's very hard to get frustrated with such a lively little ball of joy. She also really likes Pete. On our first day, she ran into his lap and stayed there until we left.

I really had to limit myself to only picking three kids for tonight because there are so many wonderful kids at the orphanage that I want to tell you all about. They are all beautiful and unique. We will do another profile blog in the next couple weeks.
-Tesha