Life as I now know it- parte cinco: part 5

The time that one spends while visiting Ecuador and while actually living here is more different than one could think. I have learned this.

Here are some(only a few of MANY) things that I love about my life here:

-starting my day with a hot mug of tea and a bowl of fruit (sleepytime and mango are excellent choices, if I do say so myself.)
-how people stop by any time during the day to sit and chat... or sometimes not even to chat... just to sit. Sometimes its to do homework

-theres usually something to do(in the school or the church. sometimes its visiting people at their homes for lunch) ...though sometimes I just need a break and take some "me" time to read or ride on the bus or walk in circles in the mall or the grocery store.

-greetings are kisses on the cheek... sometimes a hug and sometimes a hand shake too.
sometimes if you're lucky enough they come with lollipop sugar slimed across your cheek :)

- Its always warm. all the time. and "cool" is about 23◦c.

Here you see a lovely shiny picture of me, the night before school starts, in my school tshirt.(before my haircut- I got it cut last week. No tears.)

I've been spending a fair amount of time in the school teaching (obviously), preparing lessons for my upcoming classes (which I did not do enough of last friday), and sometimes just visiting with friends.
On friday I gave a test in my 5◦ class(fourth grade). Was that ever a lesson for me. These kids are CHEATERS!! In a class of 20 I think there were maybe 8 that didnt show evidence of cheating on their tests. Also I ended up taking away two tests and giving them zeros because they were warned two times about cheating and still were out of their desks comparing sheets and telling answers. It was a little bit discouraging for me just because I really want to trust them, but I cant really do that. Also I had been hoping to be able to judge how well the kids are comprehending what we're going over, but its hard to know when they're all cheating how many really get it and how many just are super sneakers.

Please dont think that I'm not enjoying my time in the classes though! I really am. That is just one of a few challanges that are presenting themselves to me.

The primero (kindergarden) class is SUPER cute. They're so little and dont understand really anything in english, so we have to translate everything.. sometimes they dont even get it them. :) I'm teaching with my friend Johanna... She's my age and is also studying in university at nights. Heather was helping teach class the day that this pic was taken ->.

The kids in primero are enthusiastic learners. And they love cameras!

Tomorrow... orrrr actually later today (its 12.20am) theres going to be a Canadians meeting at our house. Janna, Nikki, Myself, Heather, Dale, Janet, and their boys are all coming over and we hang out, eat a bit, have some excouragement/sharing/prayer time. Its good. I'm looking forward to it.
Later on Dale and Janet are going to a meeting and I get to hang out with the Horst boys for the day!!

They're seriously cool boys.Usually there is yelling and wrestling that happens while I'm around Selwin (guess which one he is??!)
And the other three LOVE Odyessy adventures, so we talk plenty about them. We're all Wooten fans :) Hopefully they remember to bring a set to the house tomorrow... I think thats the plan.