A Short Series of Previous Events

So in between teaching everyday, lesson planning nonstop, and being violently sick with a horrible virus, I haven't had much spare time for posting lately. In spite of being so busy, I have managed to fit in several really fun things that I wanted to share with all of you. Therefore, I present to you a brief pictorial of the things that have occupied my time as of late.

1. Cooking and Baking Ecuadorian-style.

Here I am using my mad-kitchen skills to make lemonade....out of limes. I also chopped a boatload of fruit and mixed cookie dough by hand this day. Seriously, mad skills.

2. Seeing the Spanish version of Justin Guarini in concert.

Okay, so really his name is David Bisbal and his concert was amazing, but the resemblance to Justin Guarini is a little ridiculous. They have the same face, hair, basic history....weird. If you want to look up some of his music, I highly recommend "Ave Maria" or "Wavin' Flag". The latter was the 2010 World Cup theme song and is extremely catchy.

3. Visiting the Middle of the World...again.

So when the scientists measured the Equator, they measured incorrectly the first time. So when I visited the Equator before, it wasn't the true Equator. I visited the actual military-calculated line this weekend with some friends. The new site is also an interactive museum that has several science experiments. It was super fun and definitely worth going to the "true" site.

4. Sitting in Hot Springs

Last weekend my family woke me up at 5:30 in the morning for a "field trip". I was super groggy but it was worth it when we arrived in Papallacta to enjoy the hot springs. The water temperature here was something like 140 degrees. People say that sitting in the hot water can cure illness, fix joints, and make you super healthy. I just felt hot.

5. Pretending I'm a Spider Monkey

Yes, that's me ziplining upside down through the mountains. Here they call it "canopying". We went to Mindo yesterday with a big group and had a blast. There were ten different lines that we did and in between we had to climb parts of the mountain to get to the higher elevation and the next zipline. It might look scary, but it's actually super relaxing. The views were gorgeous and you really don't go very fast. I loved it.


6. Teaching

Besides my fun adventures, I spend all my time teaching, planning what to teach, or assessing what I just taught. I'm having a great time but it is a lot of work. I'm lucky that I have such a great school, great students, and great teachers to work with. This is my cooperating teacher and me before my big observation last week. Can you tell that I have a 102 degree fever in this picture? Teaching while super sick is possibly my least favorite experience thus far.

Chao!