b-a-n-a-n-a-s

This morning my roommate Chelsea and I were scheduled to work with the 2-5 year old kids. We planned a really fun activity for them last night that I was really excited about: we found a book about a monkey looking for a banana, then made up little craft bags for the kids to make their own binoculars out of toilet paper rolls that they would then use to look for paper bananas that we made to hide around the park. We made sure that each of the zip lock bags had the same stickers and crayons and materials to decorate the binoculars so there wouldn't be any fighting over materials, which has been a problem in the past. I was excited to try out a new technique of separating the kids at different tables so that each kid would have their own space to create. We were ready!

I was really looking forward to doing the activity, but around 12:30 am last night I started throwing up. And that continued about every two hours until around 9 am, then intermittently from then until about 4 pm. Needless to say, I did not go to shift. Luckily my friend Chalae was able to cover for me at the last minute which was greatly appreciated. She told me that the kids really enjoyed the activity which I was glad to hear—I like when the activities work out (they don't always...). I had an off this afternoon so I was able to rest even further and I am happy to report that I am feeling a lot better. Not 100% yet by any means, but the vomiting has come to a stop which is always nice, especially when it has a tendency to come out of my nose... I just ate a banana and it has stayed down so it looks as if I'm well on my way on the road to recovery.

Some good news about being sick: I had the whole day off so once I stopped throwing up I was able to get some things done that I had been putting off for a while. Things like showering (the last time was Thursday, no big deal), laundry (including blankets and sheets!), and, of course, blogging.

Here's to a hurl-free day tomorrow! (Hear hear!)

guayaquil

Today we went to Guayaquil. It was a day filled with lots of sun, temple grounds, a lady stalker, flora and fauna, an unsolicited phone number, hijos solteros, skin advice from a stranger, crying from laughing so hard, delicious meat, oreo chocolate ice cream, important bathroom signage, river strolls, truck honking, live iguanas, screaming, giggling, 444 stairs, wind, 3 ducks, founding fathers, pirates, and an anchor.

It was a busy day.

incapirca

Today we went on our first-ever field trip to Incapirca! For more details see my facebook photo album. And look for the ducks. That is all.

things found

Ok, so while I have been spending a lot of money on hand-made things like the shirt (and earrings from the Peruvians, and woven bracelets, and more earrings...), not everything I find to collect costs money! Walking home from volunteering at the Catholic-run all-girls orphanage tonight I found these on the street:
That's right, those are x-rays. There were actually 3 sheets in all that I rescued, and I am rather excited about it. When we walked past them on the street they just looked like shiny black pieces of something, but I felt like I should go back and take a look. So we did. And how cool is that?! I think I am going to take them and make them into book covers.

Speaking of books, we made little journals at the all-girl orphanage for the activity tonight. My roommate Chelsea and I were in charge of it and I think it went pretty well! We made sure we were really organized: we cut the paper ahead of time, separated the girls into 6 groups (which correspond to the 6 tables in the room where the activity is held), made 6 ziplock bags full of the materials we would need to make the books (2 bottles of glue, 3 colors of embroidery floss, 8 markers, enough paper to make 10 journals, hole punchers, beads, and 3 pages of stickers), and included a list of helpful phrases—glue: goma, "We are going to make journals!": ¡Vamos a fabricar diarios!). My biggest fear was not that we wouldn't be prepared (clearly if anything we were over prepared), but that the girls wouldn't be as excited about it as I was. Also, after doing prep for the activity for over 2 hours I was almost so tired of the project I wasn't even excited about it anymore.

Luckily, all my fears were for not. The girls all seemed to really like the project, and once I was there my own enthusiasm was renewed. While we got some of the run-of-the-mill kid-type creations, some of the girls were really creative with their journals, coming up with their own ways to bind the journals or drawing their own pictures for the covers. When we had to leave after our alloted 45-minute activity time the girls didn't want to stop decorating their journals to let us go. It made me happy.

PS I'm not supposed to post pictures of any of the kids on my blog unless it's private, and I don't want to do that, so instead I'm going to make a private Picassa album of the photos from the orphanages. So if you want to have access to that little gem, let me know and I'll put you on the list, or whatever I have to do to give you access to that. Pictures of some of the girls with their journals will be there.

cinnamon rolls

Today my roommate Chelsea and I made cinnamon rolls to bring to one of the girls we visit teach—she has 3 finals to take tomorrow plus get all her stuff packed so she can leave early the next morning for San Diego. We put some whole wheat flour in them to make them more substantial and breakfast-y and I'm going to bring them over to her tomorrow before my 7 am usage final. We had a bunch of extra (we are only giving her 3) so I packed some up to bring to my friend Paige to thank her for lending me one of her books, and then let the roommates and their fiancees and home teachers have the rest. They were gone within the hour. There is something satisfying about making food and being able to share it with other people. I just might become one of those people that always doubles a cookie recipe and then gives the excess to people I feel impressed would appreciate them. Just maybe...