Some cultural aspects

From being here for a couple months now, I have considered lots of things that I have taken for granted in the United States as well as things I am still thankful for. (These are in no particular order.)

Things I have taken for granted in the United States:
1. Access to healthier food: (better quality/ more options. ex: They don't have as a wide variety of milk, butter and cheese. Also, it is very hard to find peanut butter.)
2. The quality/ more options of consumable products such as shampoo, hand soap, etc.
3. Warm water in showers.
4. A dryer for laundry.
5. A dish washer.
6. Being able to flush toilet paper.
7. Paper towels. (however, they are used sparingly)
8. Dollar bills. (Most of the time you give a clerk or cashier a five, a ten or a twenty, sometimes they will give you a five or ten in return, but most people here use dollar coins instead of dollar bills. The coins are a little harder to carry on me.)
9. Traffic laws/ safety in transit. (To say the least, it is safer to travel in the US)
10. Dog control.
11. Waste management.
12. Quite nights. (Sometimes there are nights when the dogs never stop barking. Also, the roosters will start to crow at 4am.)
13. All four seasons. (Here in the Andees, for the most part, the weather is the same year round. The sun rises at 6am and sets at 6pm. It stays around 65- 75 degrees year round which is nice. It is also nice through to live where there are all four seasons.)
14. Last but certainly not least... Red Robin Hamburgers!

Things I am thankful for:
1. The Lord's grace and hope in his promises.
2. Close knit families.
3. My host family.
4. Family and friends I still have at home.
5. Ability to still communicate with ppl back home.
6. A quality education.
7. That English is my first language.
8. The opportunity to serve here.
9. The beauty of the landscape and night sky.
10. Warm/ temporate climate.
11. Health
12. A water filter.
13. Bread, Rice, Soup.
14. The Bible.
15. Spiritual Freedom.
16. The ability to learn and grow.
17. Plumbing.

Update

Hey Everybody!

Sorry for it being a while since I last posted.

I'm still learning Spanish (thankfully) and teaching English. Their school year ends June 30th.

I've been learning so much since I arrived. Not just the language, but also about their culture and way of life. This is definitely a unique experience.

Here are the coordinates of the two schools that I volunteer at. They are both way out in the boonies. If you have Google Earth, you can plug them into the search bar and it will bring them right up:

This is where I'm at 4 days a week:
0°14'49.76"S
78°21'53.56"W
The buildings are a little hard to see and they look like little round huts.


This is where I am on Wednesdays. The three white buildings to the right of the red one are the 3 classrooms that I teach in:
0° 6'45.03"S
78°13'30.20"W

On my next blog, I will post about some more of my experiences here, as well as some cultural differences they have here.

Kevin

Hola y tercer semana.

I have another cool opportunity. Next week I´m going to help out at another school teaching english. I'll be doing that every wednesday. The other days I´ll still be at the school in Tumbaco. But this other school, they said, will be working with "Semi-indegenous" people. I'm not exactly sure what that implies. But it sounds like a really cool opportunity!

I plugged in with a NPO called “Fundación Educativa Centro Del Amanecer” they have a branch called "Integra Ecuador" that works to aide the educational system in Ecuador. They even go out to areas with indegenous tribes! The people that I'll be working with are called "Chumillos." They live about 7- 10 mi east of El Quinche, Ecuador. It's on the furthermost outskirts of the Quito area just about bordering the Amazon, but it's high in the mountains. Most of the time, they live in the clouds. They said that it takes an hour by car, which probably means two hours by bus.

Because I speak English, the directors asked me to help them out more! I'm really excited for this.

So my schedule right now, as far as i know it is: (Until the end of June)

Mon: Help with Math at the school in tumbaco. Give private English lessons in the afternoon.

Tues: Teach English at the school in Tumbaco and give private lessons in the afternoon.\.

Wed: Teach English in Quinche (or about 10 miles to the east of quinche)

Thurs: Teach English at the school in Tumbaco and give private lessons in the afternoon.

Fri: Help with Math at the school in tumbaco.

When I have time during the week or weekends, I'll be translating and editing the content of their website.


It's such a blessing to have this opportunity. Thank you so much for you're prayers!