(View from above in Mindo, an Ecuadorian cloud forest)How wonderful it is to look around and feel proud and at peace, even amidst the tumult of activity that January and February brought for us down in Ecuador.
After returning from our respective December destinations, we jumped into one of our infamous Monday morning marathon meetings, discussing and planning out our next seven months. Jocelyn and Dunc took point on the intermediate English program, picking up where their beginners English had left off in December. With seven students inscribed, the two of them are able to provide detailed and closely monitored attention to each student, which comes in handy when attempting to explain past participles and irregular future verbs.
During the last class of women's exercise in December, Serena had the women fill out an anonymous questionnaire, the overall aim of which was to find out their impressions of the class, whether they were satisfied with the workouts, and what they would change. 100% of the women cited complete satisfaction with the class, writing that the only improvement they could see would be "más!" (more!). Inspired by their positivity, Serena has expanded the women's exercise program considerably, incorporating yoga, aerobics, tae bo, pilates, weights, and tai chi into three days of intensive exercise. The women love and hate it at the same time; the groans of pain on pilates abs days are universal.
Late winter also saw the initiation of two brand new programs for MPIEcuador, children's beginning English led by Dana and children's Art, led by me (Holly). With 15 kids enrolled in each class, Dana and I have our hands full in the most wonderful ways. English meets on Mondays and Wednesdays, and is filled with memory games, team competitions, and more vocabulary than I'm able to keep up with. Class is often held outside, and Dana's enthusiasm is enough to inspire even the coolest middle schoolers into running around in search of the day's vocab words.
Children's art class, a first for most of my students, fills the Casa Barrial every Tuesday and Thursday with piles of crayon shavings, newspaper cut outs, paint splatters and rogue markers hiding out under the bookcases. Thus far we have drawn imaginative responses to Neruda poems, made tissue paper Valentines, and kicked off our painter's study with Vincent Van Gogh's Starry Night. The shock factor of Van Gogh's famous ear incident fixed the students focus immediately; with studies planned through March for Georgia O'Keefe, Jackson Pollock, Oswaldo Guayasamin, Monet, Andy Warhol and Vermeer, here's hoping I can find something for each artist akin to a chopped ear to draw them in...
(Art students create their own interpretations of Van Gogh's "Starry Night")The middle of February found Eliah and Dana, our Agricultural Education PDs, joined with 20 Ecuadorians from the community in the first agriculture charla (discussion-instruction) as they learned the best practices of raising cuy, ie. the guinea pig. No irony wass lost on the fact that Eliah, our staunch vegetarian, put the whole thing together.
But wait, there's more! During the last week of January, we received something we've been anticipating for months: the keys to MPIE's very own library/teen center/office space! Mark, Seth and Dunc have attended weekly meetings with the Cooperative to map out our big plans for the first lending library and teen center in the entire Valley and have spent countless hours planning, designing, fund raising and stocking the space. To kick off the grand opening this Saturday, Seth has been putting together a huge concert/ book drive, complete with Ecuadorian celebrities, interviews on local radio stations, and more meetings than I would have thought possible.
(Part of the new library space; stay tuned next month to see what we've done with it!)And there you have it: our past two months in a slightly too-long email summary. Tune in to the Daily Life Blog for up-to-date information on each PD, the progression of their programs, and a coming-soon weekly video interview with the lucky victims of my choosing...
Sweet Hopes for Spring,
Holly and Team Ecuador
(our advertising attracts people of all ages...maybe he's interested in women's exercise?)
(Mark and Serena show their excitement of having a car for a week! Thanks to NJ, Mark's wonderful aunt and our house-guest for a week)
(Dana and Jocelyn play a game with the kids in Children's English)
(Eliah and Dunc get ready to cross a river in Mindo in a tiny metal cage)
(Seth tends to the meat for Serena and Mark's birthday bbq)
(making friends with a lost baby cow outside our front door)
(the whole crew with Pepita and family at our house for a dinner party)