For His Children Ecuador

I (Pete) bought some sugar cane at the grocery store after seeing Ecuadorians walking around munching on it and it is my new favorite thing. It's refreshingly quenching and it seems like a good compromise between mothers and children- kinda like Kix cereal, only for after lunch dessert. Mothers can feel like their child is getting apple-like nutrition, while the kids think they are eating sweets.

It's Holy Week (Semana Santa), so there is a lot going on in the historical part of Quito this week. I read in Quito's newspaper that the city is trying to become more known for Semana Santa activities, like other South American capitals. (You may have learned about some of the Hispanic Holy Week traditions, such as the parades (the ones with the tall pointy hats), in high school). On Palm Sunday we walked around the historical center, which was packed with Ecuadorians. We saw about 5 other American (maybe Canadian) couples or groups, and after the first two we decided not to make eye contact with any other Whities to avoid the "hey-we're-both-caucasion" smile.

We've met pretty much all of the children at the orpanage now (I'm still afraid of the babies). We can really tell that all of the children are craving love. A lot of times children we hadn't yet met would run right up to us and hug our legs. A 5-year-old girl, Jessica, who had just woken up from a nap, walked right up to me when I was sitting down on a couch, climbed on to my lap and wrapped herself in my arms.
Also, for some of the kids, we're the first white people they've ever been in close contact with. Today when I was playing with two 4-year-old boys, they poked me all over my face and asked me "te duele" ("does this hurt").

Tesha and I are adjusting well to the altitude (9,300 ft.). We've been doing mini-workouts in our living room. Our health has been really good so far.

-Pete

We've switched to a new website for our pictures. The address is:
http://community.webshots.com/user/peteandtesha

Also, the website for the orphanage is:
http://www.forhischildren-ecuador.org

-Pete

Well we've almost been here one week, and Pete and I are amazed at how much our Spanish has already improved. Daily, we are reminded of words we've forgotten. Pete says that you know you're fluent when you can have full-blown rapid-fire arguments in Spanish, so we've been practicing by having "Non-fights" in Spanish. Example: Today we "argued" about whether we should eat cereal or eggs for breakfast. We ended up just laughing at how bad we are at rapidly conjugating sentences, but with any luck we'll improve.

Tonight we gave our first musical performance for Casa Fe (that's the house for the older kids and the severely challenged kids). Casa Fe has 4 non-special needs kids who are all about five years old. All of the kids seemed to like the music. We sang in English some oldies like "The itsy bitsy spider" and "Amazing Grace." Amazing Grace really calmed the kids down. We invented motions for all of the songs and the kids seem to enjoy following along.

I also wanted to say this for all you single and married women out there: I would like you to know that there is nothing sexier than when a man plays with little kids. Pete spoke of his "second girlfriend" two-year-old Evelin in a previous blog, and let me tell you that watching little Evelin run into his arms immediately; seeing Evelin and Pete play together outside, watching Pete take her in his arms and bring her into a shady spot so she wouldn't get too hot; seeing the absolute adoration and trust in her eyes as they played together....wow it really tugs at my heart. I am so incredibly lucky to be married to such a caring man. It's amazing to me how all the kids seem drawn to Pete. One child at Casa Fe, Vilma, has cerebral palsy and is absolutely in love with Pete. She only has to look at him and she starts cooing and smiling.

More later.
-Tesha

P.S. Correction: Pete said that we went and saw a movie called The Family of the Future...what he meant was "Meet the Robinsons" (he didn't know that's what it was called in English.) It's a good movie and we recommend it.

Today I (Pete) made a new girlfriend. Her name is Evalin and she's 2 1/2 years old. Tesha and I went with the corporation's psycologist to the other FHC orphanage located in the rural town, Latacunga. Evalin came up and hugged me right away and didn't leave my side all day. I taught her how to make a popping sound with her mouth and she taught me that the 'Vaca' that we could see from the playground says "moo."

We met some high school aged female volunteers from Latacunga that Tesha talked with for awhile. We were the first people from the US they had ever talked too, so they were excited to ask Tesha lots of questions and listen to her speak English even though they didn't understand. Tesha introduced herself after we noticed them trying to sneak pictures of us on their cell phones.

This evening we went out to dinner and a movie at La Plaza de Las Americas. It was wonderful to experience a modern commercial center in Quito since we had really only seen the run-down areas of Quito, outside of our gated orphanage, which sits on a hill toward the outskirts of the city. We watched La Familia del Futuro (The Family of the Future) and we understood pretty much all of it. Our Spanish is going to be really good by the end of the year.

-Pete

We've only been here 48 hours, but it seems like way more because we've been doing and learning so much. Tesha and I are happy to see how well organized the orphanage is.
I'll give you a briefing on the orphanage and what we'll be doing here: At the orphanage in Quito there are currently 42 children. The main caretakers are called Tias (Spanish for Aunts). There is one Tia for each 4 or 5 kids. The Tias work 24 hour shifts, and the children are kept on a pretty regular schedule. In a typical day the children wake up around 6 for bath time and breakfast. From 9-11:45 they have play time, pre-school and physical therapy in the pool for some. 4 of the older kids go to school during this time - two children to regular school and two to a special needs school. Lunch is around noon followed by nap time. Before dinner at 5, there is a little more time for playing and pool therapy. Dinner takes about an hour an a half (it really takes a long time to get all those kids to eat). After dinner the children have bath time and movie time and then go to bed at 8.
Most of the kids are between 1 month and 3 years, but the oldest child is 12. 20-25 % of the orphans have special needs.

This morning Tesha spent some time in the physical therapy pool working with some toddlers while I went out to get us a cell phone. We'll need a cell phone once we get our drivers licenses next week and start driving children to doctors appointments and school. In the afternoon I worked with the two oldest children, Adriana and Veronica, in the pool. Veronica is 12 and has many special needs as she is almost blind, has trouble moving on her own, and cannot quite talk. Adriana is 11 and is a little easier since she is learning to walk and can see well, but I have been warned that she bites. Tesha fed some of the babies their dinner and complained that they eat slower than I do.

Some of the activities we'll be doing this year include:
Most importantly, spending time with the children: helping to feed them, holding babies, talking with them, teaching pre-school, showing them love, changing diapers, etc;
Setting up a program for music for the pre-schoolers as well as playing music for the toddlers before bed to help the Tias calm them down;
Driving the kids to their medical appointments and school;
Helping with pool therapy and swim time;
Setting up a program for short term volunteers;
(I'll stop my list here since this blog is getting too long)

Our Spanish is already improving a lot since we spend a lot of time with the Tias who speak Spanish with us.

Come visit us,
Pete

Wow, I can't believe we're already been here 24 hours. We've learned so much already. Here's the basics so far....

First off, our house we're staying in is really neat! The best way I can describe it is that it's a cross between a castle, and a mid-west grandma's house. In other words, it's kind of gothic, with lots of stone and brick, but has a lot of knick knacks. It's a lot bigger than our guest house with two bedrooms, three bathrooms, a dining room, living room, laundry room, study, and massive kitchen. (you can see pictures online)

We are on the same property as the orphanage, so we're literary 2 minutes walking distance from the orphanage. The property is about 2 1/2 acres total, and very lush. The best part about it all so far is that we have a llama living in our backyard!! (That’s right Luke, a llama, he helps mow the lawn).

We went on a tour of the orphanage today with Clark and Melinda, the orphanage founders. We got to play with some of the kids, and had a great time. The kids are so loving, and it's clear from what we've seen that they're getting the best care possible. We feel very privileged to be a part of this organization.

Tonight we're having spaghetti with our neighbors downstairs. They don't work for the orphanage, they work for Samaritan’s purse. We hope to go on a tour of the city this weekend. We'll keep you posted.

Pete will post the next update.
Love, Tesha
To see more pictures go to:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/7572014@N06/

Hello family and friends,

This is the prequel to what will become Pete and I's weekly blog. For those of you who don't want to wait for our newsletter, you can tune in here to hear all of our adventures. Pete and I are three weeks away from leaving the country, and we're getting excited! I just got my visa today, and Pete should have his by the end of next week. We have our insurance, a place to stay, our plane tickets, and we're starting to work on packing. We leave on March 27 and are staying for the entire year.
Bon Voyage!

Love, Tesha and Pete