No Coma El Chancho! (Don't Eat the Pig!)

Well, it's been a while since I've posted. I've been pretty busy and have lots to talk about and pictures to share. As for pictures, you can see pictures from our 10 day trip by clicking on the title, "No Coma El Chancho! (Don't Eat the Pig!)" and by going to the following link (there are 2 albums of pictures, so make sure you check out both):

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2022778&id=1308660525&l=cf266b0fb0

Also, the following link has pictures of the Ballet Jacchigua, which I'll talk more about later:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2022910&id=1308660525&l=0b390cd900

Friday morning, we packed up "Optimus" with our luggage, piled in, and started the drive to Riobamba, our first stop in our 10 day trip. Riobamba is in the mountains to the south of Quito. We had a beautiful day for a drive. It was a clear day and you could see all of the snow topped mountains and volcanoes that are normally cloud covered. When driving south to Riobamba, you get very close to the foothills of Cotopoxi. Cotopoxi is a beautiful volcano and we stopped along the road to take some pictures. During our drive, we also stopped at a small place along the road to use the bathroom and to get ice cream, which is always a nice treat. We also stopped at a mall for lunch.

When we arrived in Riobamba, we checked into our hotel. Lucy is from Riobamba, so after we got settled, we drove around and Lucy gave us a tour of her city. We went to an open vegetable and fruit market. It was fun to see all of the different fruits and vegetables piled all over the place. It was a lot of fun and we bought some fruit to make juice with later and to snack on. We also went to a meat market where they had their freshly butchered meat hanging up for sale. They had everything from your normal cuts of meat, to chickens that still had their heads, to pig heads that still had the eye balls, to cow hooves, to pig tails. It was pretty interesting to see. I've decided that the real reason we go on these trips is so the NILI staff can eat at their favorite places because as we drove around, they kept pointing out where we were going to eat for various meals. For dinner we went to a pizza restaurant that had very good pizza.

Saturday, we woke up early, got breakfast at the hotel, and headed to Chimborazo. Chimborazo is the mountain, that if measured from the center of the earth and not sea level, is the highest mountain on Earth due to it's proximity to the Equator. I think it is also the highest volcano in the world. It was another beautiful day, which was great for our climb. We drove towards the mountain and eventually left pavement behind as we drove up a dirt road in the foothills of Chimborazo. While driving, we got to see wild alpaca and some other great sights, which I tried to take some pictures of. On Chimborazo, there are two refuges. One is located where the road ends. The other, I'm estimating is at least 1,000 ft higher up the mountain. So, we started our climb with pockets stuffed full of candy and some really hard substance that had vanilla in it and helps if you get light headed while climbing. My goal was to reach the snow, but unfortunately for me, the snow was well above the second refuge that day (they told us they've gone up before and there's been snow on the drive up), and I had to stop about three fourths of the way to the second refuge. Just walking a short distance at that altitude makes you very out of breath. The guys continued on after we stopped and eventually reached the snow (we got to rest in the Sprinter for an hour and a half before they got back). Even though I didn't reach my goal, I was able to enjoy the amazing beauty. It was so quiet and peaceful. With it being such a clear day, you could see other smaller mountains that were really far away. You could also see mist coming off the top of Chimborazo and clouds lower in elevation than we were. It was such a cool sight!

After our climb, it was time for lunch, which is always a good idea after hard work. We headed for the chancho market. Chancho is pig. In the market, there are stalls along all 4 walls with vendors all selling the exact same thing...chancho. And when I say chancho, picture an entire pig just laying on the counter waiting to be cut up and sold. When you go in, all the vendors try to get your attention and buy from them by yelling compliments like "Guapo!" which is handsom. Lucy went and bought us a leg which we took and then bought sides from another vendor. To eat the Chancho, Lucy put gloves on and broke it into pieces, which we then ate family style. We also got fresh fruit smoothies that were made from ice from Chimborazo. This ice all gets brought down the mountain by one old man, who every morning walks up the mountain, puts a block of ice on his back and walks back to Riobamba. Talk about physical work! Now, you may be wondering why the title of this post is "Don't Eat the Chancho." Well, it wasn't long after this that I started to not feel the best. At first I thought it was just from being tired after climbing Chimborazo, but it got worse throughout the day, and then I got sick overnight.

We went to Lucy's home church Saturday night for the youth service. After that, we went to get dinner on the street. We got the biggest burgers you've ever seen with the smallest burger patty. They were crazy! The piece of hamburger was flat and was probably only 3 inches in diameter, but there was so much other stuff on the burger. There was ham, bacon, egg, cheese, chancho cheese (we're still not sure what this is), french fries, ketchup, and mayonnaise. It tasted really good, though I think I'd like it better without the egg. It was so big, I wasn't able to finish mine (ok and partially because I was starting to not feel so good).

The next morning, I got up for church and was feeling better, so I ate breakfast and went. At breakfast, I found out Jen had been sick the night before, too. At church, I realized I probably should have just stayed at the hotel and rested because I got very tired, kind of dizzy, and started to not feel as well again. They took me back to the hotel during lunch, got me some Gatorade to rehydrate myself, and I slept.

When I woke up, I felt much better, so I decided to go on our afternoon drive. We went to an area that was affected by a volcano eruption about 5 years ago. There was a small town on the volcano that was destroyed. Samaritan's Purse got permission from the local priest to help rebuild. The rebuilt the town in a different place. Now, the people from the town sleep in the houses built by Samaritan's Purse, because they feel it is a safer place than where their town originally was, but they still go back to their original town during the day.

Monday, was our first ministry day. We went to help the church at the District Center. When we got there, there were 2 giant piles in front of the church. One was a pile of dirt, the other a pile of grass. Our first job was to plant the grass. Now, in the states, this wouldn't be too hard. Spread the dirt around and then lay out the sod. Well, here, it's done a little different. The main difference is that instead of having nicely cut pieces of sod, they basically just took a bulldozer, took the top layer off of a field of grass, put it in a dump truck, and dumped it in a pile. So, the grass was all clumped together and buried in dirt. It was like digging for treasure to find a clump of grass in the pile. Eventually, we realized, we weren't going to have enough grass to cover the entire area. So, we made it look as best we could by spreading the rest of the dirt around evenly.

After lunch, we started working on making tables for the kids' classrooms at the church. We started off by sanding down the table tops so the kids don't get splinters. Some people also cut the metal that was going to be used for the legs to length and then welded them together. When we got done sanding, another load of grass arrived, so we helped spread the rest of the grass over the area that didn't have any yet. After this, we headed back to the hotel after a long days work. It felt great to shower. I had been completely covered in dust and dirt because the District Center and the area around it is very dusty and then we also played in the dirt for quite a while.

Tuesday, we went back to the District Center to finish our tables. We put them all together by drilling holes in the tops and the legs and then attaching the tops to the legs using grommets. Then, we painted them with a spray gun. Jill, helped draw a precious moments picture on a wall of a classroom. When the pastor saw her work, he asked her to decorate the cross in the front of their sanctuary. We went to a nearby internet cafe to print off some ideas for a design. Then, Jill got to work drawing up a plan and then she got started on her project.

In the afternoon, a bunch of kids came to the church. Jen, Kevin, and I led them in some songs with fun motions. Jen split the kids up into 3 groups, with Kevin, Harrison, and I each leading a group. We each had a Bible story to tell the kids and then the kids got to act out the stories. It was so much fun. After we were done with the kids, the church wanted to do something for us. They had a big thank-you planned for all the hard work NILI had done. They had the kids sing songs, people pray for us, and they gave us each a doll as a gift. It was amazing to see some hard work mean so much to people.

Wednesday, was our last day in Riobamba. Jill went back to the church to finish the cross. Kevin and I went with Jen to a Nazarene School. There, we went into different classrooms and helped them learn some English. With the youngest kids (2nd and 3rd grade), we sang a song about animals in Spanish and helped them learn the names of the animals in English. With some of the older kids (4th and 6th grade), we sang a song in both Spanish and English. With the oldest kids (7th or 8th grade), we asked them questions like "What is your name?" and "Where are you from?" and they got to answer. It was a lot of fun. Afterwards, we went and met with the principal. As we were going in, Kim told us that they might give us a snack and it's not optional. Well, we got a little more than a snack. We ended up with lunch, and that lunch was...Chancho! I was oh so happy to see the one thing that I really never wanted to see again. But, because I had to be polite, I ate it, hoping I wouldn't get sick again. So much for hoping.

After our wonderful lunch, we picked Jill up and left Riobamba Guayaquil. Guayaquil is a coastal city and is the largest city in Ecuador. Again, we had a beautiful day for a drive. As we left the mountains, it was fun to watch the plants slowly change from mountain plants to coastal plants. In Guayaquil, we stayed at the District Center. We arrived right before Wednesday night church got out, so we hurried and got into our rooms before it ended so we didn't have to wade through people to get in.

The next morning, Kevin wasn't feeling well, so he slept while we got breakfast. We went to breakfast at a place that serves all of the typical breakfast foods of the coast. The coast, the mountains, and the jungle all have very distinct cultures, so it only makes sense to try coastal food when you're in the coast. While we were at breakfast, I started to feel sick. After breakfast, we went to the Iguana Park. It's a little park in Guayaquil that has iguanas just roaming around. They're everywhere! There are also some turtles in a pond and pigeons, like there are in any city. After this, I went back to the District Center to sleep because I was feeling horrible. Kevin was feeling better so he went to the Boardwalk with everyone. That night, I went to the mall for a little while with everyone because I was feeling a little better and I wanted to get out, while Kevin stayed back to rest.

Friday morning, I was feeling a little better. We went to the same place for breakfast and then we headed to Salinas, a little town on the beach. I slept the 2 hours there because I was feeling pretty badly again. When we got there, we looked for a hotel. Kim and Jen got tired of looking and decided to take a break by going to the beach for a little bit. I stayed in the Sprinter and slept cause I didn't want to move. When we did get a hotel in the afternoon, I just slept for a while. Kim, Jen, and Lucy went and got me some Pedialyte, some Sprite, and some warm Jello. After drinking these things, I started to feel much better. I still stayed at the hotel to rest for a while, but was feeling a lot better by dinner time, so I went and ate a little bit.

Saturday, we went to the beach. I didn't really have an appetite, but I was feeling much better. We rented a tent with some chairs so we had some shade. I swam some. Kevin and I decided to swim out to the buoy. We didn't realize it, but there was a pelican sitting on the buoy and it didn't like it when Kevin touched the buoy. It spread it's wings and wouldn't stop watching us. We also rented some jet skis for a bit and had fun riding those around. We decided to leave when the tide had come in so far that we couldn't back up anymore because there was a wall behind us with the street above it. We went to a small market in the afternoon. On our way back to the hotel from the market, we walked along the beach. There was a man painting little painting right there, so we stopped to watch. I took a mirror, and painted a sky and some water with his fingers. Then, he painted some birds, buildings, and a boat with a brush. Then, he put a piece of glass over that and painted the rest of the water, a beach, a tree, and some people. He then covered this with another piece of glass. It was really cool to watch him do and it has some amazing details, so I bought my first souvenir!

Sunday, we got up and made the 9 hour drive back to Quito to end our trip. I slept a lot of the way because I was still very tired from being sick. It wasn't until Monday night that I finally started to get my appetite back. Monday, after our trip, we didn't have any classes which was very nice. I was just able to relax.

The last of the NILI professional arrived this week. The Benedict's arrived Monday night with their 2 children. They are here to learn Spanish before the more to Shell, which is in the jungle, as missionaries for 2 years. Kristen, who I know from when I went to Mexico City 3 years ago, got here Tuesday. Finally, Kevin and I will have some other people in our Spanish class! Dan Benedict and Kristen are both going to be joining us.

Yesterday, Kevin and I went to El Condado (the mall) because we needed to buy some things for a project in Spanish. While we were there we had fun going to some other stores. I came home with some food from MegaMaxi and some candy from a candy shop along with the paper and markers I needed for my project.

Last night, we went to the Ballet Jacchigua. They do many folk dances from around Ecuador. It was really cool to see. Their costumes were very colorful and beautiful. I loved the music. There were 4 men who all played instruments and sang.

Tomorrow, is our last day of the first block of classes. Kevin and I have our final, but then we're done! It's crazy to think that I'll have been here for 5 weeks tomorrow, which is a third of the total time I'm here. This first third has been amazing and I'm really looking forward to the rest of my time here!

Now, for some random things I've noticed, especially on our trip:
-When people take their livestock to pasture, they don't just let them wander through a certain field, they tie them to a certain spot in the field.
-They utilize all of the space that can possibly be farmed, including all the way up to the top of mountains that are very steep.
-A 2 lane road (1 lane each direction), can quickly become 4 lanes when enough people want to pass each other.
-People are not intimidated by bigger vehicles. A car will pass a truck or bus that is going to slow even if there is a large truck or bus coming the other direction.
-Signs are not always as they seem. On our way to Guayaquil, there was a sign that in English means something like "Interstate Traffic That Way" which would usually been, go that way to quickly bypass the town or city. In this instance, it meant, hour long detour around a small town along twisty, turny roads. (Personally, I think the people of the town just like to laugh at people take that route)
-When on twisty, turny roads, go slowly around turns. You never know when there might be a cow resting in the center.
-Guayaquil is as different from Quito as everyone says it is. People are louder and out later at night. Traffic is crazier for two reasons: 1, there's more of it; 2, the people drive crazier (though not as crazy as in Mexico City if I remember right). Food and climate are different.
-At the beach, buoys that you would think mean "swim past here at your own risk" for swimmers and "don't come past here" for boats really are just guidelines. Many of the smaller boats, especially the ones that sell rides, will go through areas that people swim in and even come to the shore where people are swimming. Ecuador kind of makes me think of "Pirates of the Carribean" with the pirate code being just guidelines that the pirates don't actually have to follow.
-At the beach, people try to sell you anything and everything. Jewelry, woven baskets, flip flops, blow up water toys, whale watch rides, food, drinks, candy, coconuts, live small lobsters or big shrimp (I forget which, but what is someone going to do with live food on the beach?!).
-If you let one person talk to you about what they are selling, everyone who is selling stuff will flock to you.
-I don't think Ecuadorians know exactly what raisins are. First of all, the Mappus' bought a tub of rum nut raisin ice cream and there were maybe 3 raisins in it. Second, there was some breakfast food in Guayaquil that was supposed to have raisins in it, but instead it had once giant raisin that was more like a prune. Third, I bought a box of Raisin Bran cereal and it had like 5 raisins in it and the box even says that raisins are 15% of the ingredients. Anyway, I have seen boxes of raisins in the store and I assume those are actual raisins, but who knows.
-Don't eat the chancho!

The End of the Beginning

Well, as of Friday night, I'll have been here in Quito for 3 weeks. I'll be 20% done with my semester, which seems crazy when I think of all I still want to learn and still have to do. But, I definitely have a start.

Thursday night, we had our Bible study...in the dark. The power went out not long after we got to Jen's house, so we lit a few candles and continued with our Bible study. As I was saying in my last post, Jen was going to cook us monkey bread. Now, people here have never heard of that, and when you tell them that you're going to eat "Pan de Mono" they give you odd looks, so we had to share. After our Bible study, we took some monkey bread to Lucy and Solomone and to Dan and Mabel (some of the NILI Professionals), where we talked for a while. Dan an Mabel are have lots of good stories to tell.

Friday was the quincenera of one of the girls who lives on the campus with her family. A guincenera is a girl's 15th birthday and it's a huge deal. It's kind of like sweet 16 in the States. So, on Thursday at Midnight, a group of us gathered by the gate to the seminary to wait for a taxi full of a Mariachi Band to arrive. When they got here, we all went to the girl's house and the band started playing. After she woke up, we all crowded into the house to celebrate with her. It was a lot of fun. The Mariachi Band played several songs and we had cake and just had fun. The party lasted for over an hour, so I was very tired the next morning.

Fridays, our Spanish class in the morning is shortened. Instead of 9:30 to 12:30, it only goes til 11 so we can go to chapel. Well, chapel ended up being canceled because only 3 students showed up. Now, this isn't because they chose not to go, there were 2 major conventions going on at the seminary and most of the students were helping in some way with those. The seminary rents out part of its property for conventions and other things to pay the bills. Also, my New Testament class in the afternoon was canceled, so I ended up with a very free day. It was great. Kevin and I took advantage of this and headed to Carcelen with a few seminary students. Kevin needed to mail a few letters. I wanted to look at the DVD store and I ended up buying 3 DVDs for $5. We also stopped at a bread shop (they have great bread here and it's cheap).

Saturday, there was a big soccer game between Ecuador and Colombia. A group of us watched the game at the house of one of the pastors that lives on campus. The projected the game onto the wall of one of their bedrooms. It was a lot of fun to watch. Colombia won in the last 10 or 15 minutes, to the excitement of only one person in our group, who screamed as loud as she could, for what seemed like a very long time.

Sunday was a crazy day. Normally, I get on a bus with Carla and one other seminary student to get to church. But this Sunday, our church was meeting at the seminary with somewhere around 30 other churches from Ecuador. Talk about a lot of people! I have a few pictures of the service that you can see by clicking on the title of this post, "The End of the Beginning." And here's a video of the worship:



One of the most interesting things about the service is that some of the Quechuans (the largest group of indigenous people in Ecuador) were there with their churches and the sang and danced for us. Here is a video of them singing:



Kim informed Kevin and I on Monday that we needed passport pictures. We were going to go get our Censos the next morning before class. Censos are Ecuadorian IDs for people who are going to be in the country for a long time. When we have them, we don't have to travel around the country with our passports, unless we're flying, which is very convenient. So, when I got out of class in the afternoon, we headed to Carcelen to get our pictures taken. We also bought some bread while we were down there. We then went to get our Censos on Tuesday morning. We process was pretty simple and it didn't take us very long. We got a number and waited for our turn while gluing a passport picture and writing some basic information (name, residence in Ecuador, nationality, etc.) on a large envelope that contained copies of our passports. When our number was called, we went and gave them our stuff, they took our picture, paid them $4 and they printed out our Censos. They kind of resemble non-drivers licenses in the States.

Tuesday night, the NILI professionals wanted to order pizza for dinner and they invited Kevin and I to join us. We had fun eating Pizza Hut pizza, drinking Pepsi and 7UP! with ice, and just talking in English. It was a lot of fun.

Today, we headed to Colonial Quito for our Wednesday field trip. For pictures, click on the title again. We were supposed to go to a Ballet tonight, but they are out of town so we are going to go in a few weeks. Colonial Quito has some very old and beautiful buildings. We saw the outside of the President's house while we were there. In Colonial Quito, we went to a church, a bread shop, and a museum.

The name of the church we went to was "La Iglesia de la Companera de Jesus" or "The Church of the Companion of Jesus." It is called this because a woman named Mariana de Jesus prayed there every day. Personally, I think this woman was a bit fanatic, but she is very respected by Ecuadorians. She came from a rich family. When she turned 15 she decided to dedicate her life to Jesus. She changed her name to Mariana de Jesus because she was not going to marry. She only ate honey. Any food her family provided her, she gave to the poor people of Quito. Now, here's the weird part. She wore a shirt that had spikes sticking out of it on the inside and beat herself on the back to share in the pain of Jesus. The church itself was gorgeous. I was very sad that I wasn't allowed to take pictures inside. Almost everything is covered in a layer of gold. The church is designed so that it is symmetrical. While a painting or sculpture on one side of the church may not be exactly the same as on the other side, they closely resemble each other. Also, in the back, there are "2" spiral stair cases. On a closer look, there is only 1 real staircase. The one opposite, is an optical illusion painted on the wall. There are also 2 famous paintings in the church. One is a graphic portrayal of the punishments in hell for different sins. The other is of the day of judgment when the righteous join Jesus in heaven and the wicked are taken by demons away from heave to be tortured.

We then took a break in a bread shop. Everything looked very good. We all got different things and everyone liked what they got. I got a piece of chocolate cake that was "muy rico" (very good).

We then went to "El Museo de la Ciudad" or "The Museum of the City." This museum showed the history of Quito. It was very interesting and we had a very knowledgeable guide. Again, I wasn't allowed to take pictures when I was inside, but the Museum had some courtyards that were very pretty that I took pictures of.

After the museum, we headed back to Optimus Prime or Optimus for short (our nickname for the Sprinter, the large vehicle we take everywhere) and headed for lunch. We ate at a place called "Pollo Campero" or "Chicken Farmer." After lunch we headed to El Jardin, the mall. I bought a few snacks at SuperMaxi before leaving.

This is going to be my last post for a little while. On Friday, we're headed out of town! We are going to 2 other cities in Ecuador, Riobamba and Quayaquil. There are 11 of us going. The 2 NILI classic students (that's Kevin and I), the 4 NILI professional students (Dan and Mabel, and John and Jill), 3 NILI staff (Kim, Jen, and Lucy), and 2 seminary students (Harrison and Carmen). We are leaving after lunch on Friday and coming back the following Sunday. Some of the things we get to look forward to are climbing Chimborazo (a volcano), ministry work in Riobamba, and sightseeing in the costal city of Quayaquil! It's going to be a great experience!

Mas!

It's been almost a week since I last posted, so here's some of what I've been up to.

On Saturday, the students cook the meals. Carla was supposed to help with dinner, so I helped to. Little did I realize I'd spend 4 hours in the kitchen. We went in at 4:30 (dinner is served around 7) and finished cleaning up around 8 or 8:30. I helped cut green beans that were then cooked, wash, peal, cut, and fry potatoes to make french fries, and fry a food that is kind of like a small hot dog. And of course they also cooked rice! It wouldn't be lunch or dinner without rice. The main part of the meal was very interesting. I don't know what it's called but it was fun to watch it be made. They took plantains and shredded them. Then, they mixed it with peanut butter. Then, they took the mixture and made little rolls stuffed it with tuna. Then, they fried them. It was really good. I wasn't expecting tuna to go good with the banana and peanut butter tastes, but it did. After everyone ate, we washed the dishes and cleaned up. It was a lot of fun!

On Sunday, I went to church with Carla again. I didn't realize it before, but there are around 10 students from the seminary that go there. Like the week before, we took a bus there and got a ride back with someone. After church, we went to El Condado, the mall, for lunch. I got McDonald's because it sounded good. Then, for dinner we went to Carcelen and ate in a small place. At the restaurant, there was a TV and Spiderman 2 was on in Spanish. I was entertained to watch it in Spanish because everything was dubbed except for names. I still find it hard to believe how cheap food is here. I'm given $10 for lunch and dinner on Sundays and I spent just over $6. My dinner, which was very filling, was only $2.35. That includes the soda I had.

My classes have continued this week with Spanish every morning from 9:30 to 12:30. While this still seems like a lot of Spanish at one time, I'm already noticing an improvement in my Spanish. And my New Testament Class and Kevin's Christian Faith Class are in the afternoons when we can fit them into the NILI schedule and Stan's schedule. I have a lot to read before I have NT tomorrow.

NILI has started a new program called NILI Professionals for adults to come learn Spanish. This semester there are going to be 3 couples here for the program. Tuesday night, the first couple arrived and tonight, the second couple will arrive.

Yesterday, I woke up at my normal time, 6:45, to go to breakfast. When I got to breakfast, I found out that breakfast wasn't being served then. Disappointed that I could have slept longer, I headed back to my room to take a shower. Later, after our Wednesday morning meeting and devotional time we got breakfast. Lucy was great and made us grilled cheese sandwhiches and provided us with fresh mora juice and cold milk for our cereal! So, this really was a great breakfast! 1. I miss cold milk already. 2. Mora anything is amazing. In English, mora is a blackberry, but they seem to be so much better here. 3. I like the cheese they have here. We have it for breakfast a lot, but I've never had it warm. It was great! So, thanks Lucy!

Instead of Spanish class yesterday, we had a field trip and the NILI professionals went with us. We went to la Basilica! La Basilica is a beautiful old Catholic church. Not only is it beautiful, it is huge and you can explore it and it has great views of the city! I took lots of pictures that you should check out by clicking on the title of this post, "Mas!" We started out by going into the main sanctuary. The arcitecture and stained glass windows were amazing. Then we headed back outside into a kind of courtyard. After this we headed up the towers. We were able to walk along a catwalk above the roof of the sanctuary. We also climbed some very steep stairs to the top of the dome over the center of the sanctuary. After carefully going back down the stairs, we headed up one of the clock towers using a very skinny spiral staircase. We continued up past the clocks of the clock towers using ladders. The rungs of the ladders were made of rebar. It was kind of scary, especially since I don't like heights. We went up through the bell tower as high as you can go. There was only the top peak above us. The floor here was thick wire, so you could see the 12 or so feet you'd fall if the wire broke. From here you could go outside and sit on the legdes of the roof. There were no railings or anything to stop you from falling or even any signs telling you to be careful. I guess they figure that if you're stupid enough to actually stand up while you're out there and risk falling, you deserve to die. The view from here was spectacular, not that it wasn't from other places in the Basilica, but this was quite a bit higher up. It was a really awesome place to go!

Last night, I did laundry for the first time while I was here. There are 3 decent sized washers and 2 driers. I only had 1 load to do, so it didn't take me long and it was relatively easy, though figuring out which cycle is which is kind of difficult since it's all in Spanish. One thing that I found interesting is that the 3 washers are designated for certain types of clothing (I didn't follow this becuase I didn't want to do more than 1 load if I didn't have to). Each washer is labled "solo jeans" or "solo camisetas" or "solo ropa interior." In other words, "only jeans" or "only shirts" or "only underwear." The only reason I can think of for them to do this is that a lot of the students have never used washing machines before and have only hand washed their clothes. By telling them to do that, they make sure they don't mess up any of their clothes.

Tonight is our weekly Bible study over Richard Foster's "Celebration of Disciplines" at Kim's house. We're going to be talking about the Spiritual discipline of meditaion tonight. I've learned that another name for our Bible study could be "American snack food night." We always have some sort of snack and ff we have cravings for something American, Kim or Jen will get what we want before the Bible study and we'll eat it then. Tonight, Jen is making us monkey bread! Yummy! I don't know exactly what goes into making monkey bread, but it's kind of like a huge cinnimon roll except with some different stuff. It's good!

That's all for now!