November 2008

Welcome to October in Ecuador, where the green leaves remain on the branches, the only seasonal shift is the full onset of the rainy season, and no one’s ever heard of an orange pumpkin. Despite the unfortunate permanent dampness we’ve all gotten used to (and the lack of any real jack-o-lantern potential), our Ecuadorian October brought us excitement, triumphs, and more than a little halloween spirit in the form of carved gourds and halloween stickers from Mrs. Lancaster.

October also saw the initiation of two new programs for MPI Ecuador: bi-weekly adult English classes and a woman’s exercise...experience. Jocelyn has taken point in the English program (after running a successful 2 week summer course for middle school kids in August), and the class couldn’t be in more capable hands. With meticulously planned lessons, quizzes and games, Jocelyn leads the class with the perfect balance of grammar, conversation, jokes and laughter. It is a testament to her ability to teach (and also to her stellar co-teachers Dunc, Eliah, and Serena) that her students hang around after every class wanting to practice English and asking any number of absolutely random questions: “What’s your favorite season?” “Do you like milk?” “What’s your brother’s middle name?”. No one ever said teaching languages couldn’t be amusing, right?

(Jocelyn and Eliah go over common English introductions in class)

At 7 o’clock as the last of the English students trickle out, the boys head home to cook dinner (and more than likely play Risk). The girls lace up our tennis shoes, plug in the ipod speakers, and get ready for an hour and a half of hilarity: our women’s exercise class. With ages stretching from 6 year old Marjorie (who comes with her mom) to 68 year old Maria Catagnia, to say that the class ranges in ability is a slight understatement. Yet Serena, the brains behind the operation, has created a class which bridges the dramatic age gap and gets everyone’s blood flowing in a healthy and safe way. Each class includes stretching, cardio, and yoga, while every two weeks we take blood pressure, heart rate, and weight measurements of all 24 women in order to track their progress and give them feedback on their lifestyle choices. Seeing as how the women have collectively and repeatedly asked us to expand the class to three times a week, it is easy to see they’re enjoying it. We’ll see if they still want the third class when they find out it’s specifically targeted towards the abdominal region...

(Women's exercise class stretches after a hard workout. Please notice the sweaters.)

If you’ve been keeping up with the Daily Life Blog, you’ll know that October was also filled with trips to Guayaquil, cooking lessons in humita-making, visits from Coloradan families, mountain summits, and Otavalan wanderings. And if you haven’t yet made it to blog, what better time than now to visit! http://openhandsdirtyfeet.blogspot.com.

As Thanksgiving quickly approaches, we in the Manna Ecuador house are reminded daily of all the things we have to be grateful for. Please know that your letters, emails, thoughts and support mean so much to each of us. Thank you, thank you, from our corner of the world to yours.

Until December,
Holly

(The Manna girls goof around in Guayaquil)

(Seth, Dana, Mark and Dunc pause on the trek up Pasachoa)

(Mark and Seth make their way back down from the Pasachoa peak)

(Dana, Jocelyn, Serena and Holly wait with Jonathan at the bus stop after Apoyo Escolar)

(Pepita supervises Jocelyn's maneuvering of the choclo grind during our cooking lesson)

(our devious little pumpkin...ok fine, squash)

(the Apoyo crew celebrates finishing their homework!)
(Dunc Fulton and Eliah McCallah get into a tiff while hiking the Quilotoa Loop)