Welcome to the third blog of the year. February was one of my favorite months in Ecuador. I enjoyed it so much, and like always I am looking forward to letting you all know about my adventures. 

We began the month by celebrating our dear friend Monica Palacios. Our queen graduated from a well known University here in Cuenca with a Clinical Psychology degree and I could not be any more proud. In the past we had talked about how much this field meant to her and all that she wants to accomplish; there is no doubt she picked the right career. She is so passionate and has a huge heart for others. We were lucky enough to get invited to her graduation party and it was nice to celebrate such a huge accomplishment with her and to see the Palacios family once again. We also got to meet some of her friends who were nice. We are both so grateful for the Palacios family and all they have done for us. Once again, congratulations Monica!!!

Our outfits for the night

With Monica at her graduation party 

Another highlight of February was celebrating Valentine’s Day with my kids at the Fundacion. The kids made cards for each other and many gave their friends and siblings roses and other gifts. They also played a lot of games and had the chance to win prizes. It was so beautiful to witness the love in the room and enjoy each other's presence. I had a blast dancing and singing with the kids and seeing so many happy faces. I felt so grateful and continue to be grateful for having these wonderful kids in my life. I received so many hugs and love that day which made me so happy. It was nice to see the kids be kids and not worry about their circumstances. Overall I had an amazing Valentine’s day and enjoyed spending time with my favorite humans. 

Dancing with my kids 

A card from one of my kids 

Friends giving each other cards

The best highlight of the month was celebrating Carnaval. In Ecuador, this holiday is celebrated toward the end of the month but truly basically all month. It consists of many traditions such as comparsas, Bailes, espuma but one of the most popular ones is throwing water at each other.  Everywhere you go there is someone throwing water. You can not even go to the store without getting wet. You are safe nowhere! Another tradition is spraying this soap called kareoka which gets you all full of foam. This is the favorite of the kids who love to spray you any chance they get. The first thing we did to celebrate Carnaval was attend this huge event in Plaza San Francisco. At first, it looked very calm but soon it got very crazy. We met up with some friends from work and then began to walk around to see what it was all about. Soon enough we began to get sprayed with soap, got Maizena all over our hair and body and got paint of all colors in our faces. I even got an egg broken in my hair.   It was a very fun experience and truly something I have never experienced before. The only bad thing was that I got Kareoka, paint, and Maizena in my eyes which hurt badly and was hard to see. Over the weekend we had the opportunity to visit other Plazas and parks to continue the celebration of Carnaval. At Plaza el Otrongo they had a huge stage with live music and many food stands with traditional food eaten on Carnaval. A famous dish that is eaten on Carnaval is “ Igo en miel” and I was fortunate enough to try some. Another place we went to also had live music and a huge foam gun. The music was fantastic and I had a great time. 

The beginning of the night 

The aftermath of Plaza San Francisco 

At Plaza San Francisco for Carnaval

At Parque la Libertad 

Eating Igo 

I also got the chance to celebrate Carnaval with my kids at the Fundacion. The program included a lot of fun games and it was so fun seeing the kids enjoy themselves. There was also a dance competition for each family and the kids dressed up as comparses (like the kings and queens of Carnaval) and they looked so cute. The kids also had the chance to get all of the staff and volunteers wet which trust me they enjoyed themselves so much. They took every opportunity to throw water at me and at the end of the day I was soaking wet. 

The winning female comparse 

     

Celebrating Carnaval with my kids 

For the most part, life is good. I continue to love my time here and be grateful for this experience. Thank you so much, Mark and Linda, for this opportunity. I am looking forward to seeing what will happen during the rest of my time here in Ecuador. Thank you all for tuning in.

Hello all!! Posting the blog a bit late this month! We have been absolutely swamped, and I’m just now able to take a minute to reflect on everything that happened in February.

This was definitely one of the most eventful months thus far!  One of the first significant events for us was Valentine's Day, or Día de San Valentin.  Although I’m still living the single life, it was a great day to celebrate other important relationships in my life!  During classes at CEDEI, I allowed extra time to create Valentines written in English. Both my classes of niños and teenagers really enjoyed it, and even gave me some! I gave one to all of my students too.  After, we went to dinner with some friends. It was so nice to have a day that reinforced some of the important connections that I’ve made that impact my life daily. I was definitely feeling warm and loved!

Cards from my students!

More cards from my students :)

Another one of our favorite days in February was a day we got to celebrate the accomplishments of one of our good friends, Moni.  She just graduated from University with a degree in Clinical Psychology, and we were lucky to attend her graduation party. It was great to celebrate her, meet some of her friends, and see her awesome family again.  We are so proud of her accomplishments! If you’re reading, congrats again Moni!

We are so grateful to know Moni and her family!

By far the biggest event in February was Carnaval. Before living in Ecuador, I didn’t understand the scope of Carnaval since we don’t have it in the United States.  I thought it was maybe something in Brazil, but didn’t know much about it. I quickly found out that it is a holiday celebrated all over the world in February. Many people used the large break from school or work to travel, but we stayed here in Cuenca to see how Carnaval is celebrated in our home.  There are many traditions associated with this holiday, and we became very familiar with most of them. For example, “playing carnaval” includes getting your friends as wet as possible by throwing water, water balloons, or even using water guns. People also spray this “foam,” called “karaoka” at each other- which can be really fun, but dangerous if it gets in your eye!  People also tend to throw other things, such as MAICENA and paint at each other. My first experience of this was playing Carnaval with the kids at Calazans. I always left with the songs stuck in my head for the rest of the day! We had a day just dedicated to Carnaval, and played lots of water games. Of course, the kids (and teachers) tried their best to get me the most, and I wasn’t mad about it! I was so grateful that my first experience with the holiday was with them, and that we were all able to enjoy it together.  We had so much fun! I also got to try a food that is traditional for Carnaval, called Mote Pata, which is corn (mote) with meat. On the first official day of Carnaval there was a huge event in the plaza right by our house, the Plaza San Francisco. There was live music and the plaza and surrounding streets were full of people playing Caranaval. We got absolutely destroyed by everything from the foam and water to paint and Maicena. By the end we were almost unrecognizable! The event finished with fireworks and a finale of the live music, and we went home to finally take a nice hot shower. I definitely had fun at this event (as a once a year type of thing)! We thought maybe the water throwing would die down from there- but we were so wrong.  All of Carnaval includes events like these, and even walking down the street isn’t safe! One day, I was walking down the street eating a piece of bread, and someone driving by in a car threw a water balloon at me, knocking my bread out of my hand! We had heard some horror stories about people playing with frozen water balloons or balloons filled with animal blood, but luckily we didn’t have any bad experiences like that- it was all in good fun! We took the chance to go to some other similar events here in Cuenca, as well as rest up for the coming week- something we cherish because our schedule is normally so busy. It was so wonderful to be here in Ecuador for something so culturally significant and to experience it firsthand with people I love.  Although I wouldn’t love getting water thrown at me in the street all the time, I really enjoyed Carnaval here in Cuenca.

One of the students at Calazans trying to get me! (Notice the foam in his hand)

Ready for the festivities at Calazans!

Mote Pata

Jhoseline and me- the aftermath of the event in La Plaza San Francisco!

Otherwise, things are pretty normal here in our lives!  My regular classes are coming to an end for this cycle, meaning I am just about to finish my second cycle of teaching! It is crazy how much of a routine I have found in teaching, and how much I have come to enjoy it although I never thought this would be the path for me.  My ninos classes finished their final projects (puppets) and had a class party on the last day! My 102 class of teenagers also wrapped up, and we had a party as we reviewed for the final exam. I’ll definitely be glad for a bit of a break, but I’ll miss all of my students from this cycle so much! It also means that I have quite a bit of grading to do as the cycle comes to an end.

Final Project- Puppets!

In Calazans things are also going well! I have been doing a lot of helping to add details to art projects that students are working on.  Although I always loved painting, I struggled conceptually with what I would want to paint. Now I am loving that I can use something I love in a helpful and productive way to enhance the artwork of the students.  I have come to a point where I can usually recognize what students have done without their names because I can recognize their individual techniques. Collaborating with them is one of my favorite things I have ever done! I love that my relationship with all of the students continues to get stronger- for example, after missing one day from being sick, I came back to a million questions and statements like: “Where were you???” and “We missed you!!!” I of course replied that I missed them too! 

The process of one of the art projects I am working with a student on!

As we are getting March underway, I continue to be extremely grateful for my life here in Cuenca.  Now it has been about a year since the interview and selection process for this grant, something that is so surreal to think about! Every month here proves to be richer, and I can’t wait to see how my life here will continue to evolve.  If you’ve read this far, thank you! Until next month!