day sixty three - Tungurahua

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/latin_america/10189244.stm
so the earth has been rumbling and trembling the past couple days, especially today. like every few minutes it sounds like an earthquake. sometimes you can feel it. I don't know if it's been erupting since this afternoon but we can only see it at night. We've been outside watching the lava erupt and pour down the mountain. its so far away we want to drive closer soon to get a better view. haha. i just looked at this bbc website "thousands flee the volcano". it's seriously not like that. the most dangerous part is the ash. people HAVE been getting sick from breathing in the ash.

but ya...pretty darn cool.

day sixty one - it's the volcano's fault

so i guess the news of the day is there's a volcano erupting. now. close. It's pretty sweet actually i only read about these things in school textbooks and now it's coming alive before my eyes. It's very possible it will erupt soon, it's building. It also may calm down. But for now it's spewing ash as far as....who knows but it's getting Riobamba good. today i wiped a piece of ash off Alicia's face and yelled "THERE'S VOLCANO ON YOUR FACE!!". I don't know if it's related but i got pink eye or something nasty. Carmita hooked me up with some junk to fix it up and i think it's getting better. I'd like to blame it on the volcano, i'm blaming everything on it these days. Including the rain. the weather today has been so weird. It cleared up a little so we could see the smoke pouring out of the volcano. I'm going to try to get a photo at night at a low shutter speed so i can see the fire spitting out.
that's all i feel like writing for now. enjoy this blog post because tomorrow i may be buried in lava....no i'm only kidding...the only villages in danger were evacuated. its all good.

day fifty nine - herbalife

Sooo...the past few days are all mixed together in my head. I think it was monday night when we hiked up a mountain at night bringing firewood and a big pot with us so we could have a bonfire at the top of a mountain and make eucalyptus tea. The view was actually unreal, you could see all of Riobamba lit up. It reminded me a lot of the time in Kelowna when a bunch of us hiked up a mountain at night. We prayed and oh ya we brought a guitar too. We sang and then hiked back down the steep mountain which was harder than going up. We got back after 2 that morning so yesterday after the morning shift at 6:30 Glenda told us to go back to bed...thank you! I know we're crazy. high on life. high on Jesus.

Last night and the night before there have been earthquakes at night. It's the first time i've ever felt an earthquake and you could definitley hear it too!! They actually turned out to be tectonic tremors from one of the active volcanoes near here, Tungurahua. This morning there was volcanic ash all over the ground and on the cars, so there were footprints wherever we walked. We're not in danger here if it erupts but the ash is really bad to breathe in, it's like breathing in shards of glass.

Today they were fully staffed at the ark so we were given the day off. It was random to say the least...the three of us volunteers went downtown to go to the post office and i needed to find contact solution (which i finally did thanks Jesus!) and then we ran into Wilson, then later Frejol, then later Vince, their friend from Holland. The day included Alicia and Wilson deciding to get their ears pierced, getting a taxi to some village at the base of a mountain and Alicia riding a horse bareback, hitching a ride in someone's truck, trying to stop the boys from yelling english swear words at gringos, and my favorite...Wilson's stomach was upset and he really wanted this herbalife tea junk. So we're looking for what i was guessing was like a cafe. But we go into this office that looked like a doctors office. It was narrow with a sink and counter on the end, chairs along the side, and a woman behind a desk at the front. We sit down and she makes us this concoction that was like...some kind of warm citrusy stuff. I couldn't stop laughing and making fun of Wilson for bringing us to a doctors office. it was really funny actually. And he kept going on and on about herbalife and showing us the catalogue. I made fun of him for being like a commercial.

Anyways...i'm doing pretty well...trying very hard to stay healthy all the time. It's hard when you're around 80 runny noses all day. Trying to get enough sleep. Next week Alicia and I are heading to Quito because we need to renew our visas. I heard it could be like over 200$ so i'm definitely not looking forward to that.
Dios Ve Vendiga!!
Daniela

day fifty six - purpose

things are beginning to come clear for me. why i am here. i can see now why it was necessary for me to come here before returning to school. the lessons i am learning, the person i am becoming. a few things this trip was never to be about was to make an interesting blog, to take sweet pictures of scenery or tell cute stories of kids. It wasn't to be about a stamp in the passport or checking something off a life list of things to do, and definitely not about credits for an internship for my program. This trip was about stepping out in faith. making a decision for Christ. Stepping into the unknown to have an adventure with my Best Friend and be humbled and learn along the way. That's what it was about from the very beginning.

When i got here i was shocked. It was the first time i had ever travelled anywhere alone and i guess it hit me when i got here that i dont know anyone or anything. the language...everything was foreign to me and i wasn't going to be leaving for another couple months. Honestly i was very much looking forward to going home. the road has been...long. and my heart is getting stronger. the road is longer still and i am blessed by what God is teaching me.

the other day i was having coffee with Alicia and i was explaining my program at school and i was getting all excited and i said "and we get to do a student ministry every week!" and as soon as i said it i laughed. I have always said "have to do a student ministry". and it just came out that i get to. And that is truly how i feel. i am feeling more and more equipped to do God's will for my life. I'm beginning to see that we really can't grow and learn and be stretched and humbled if life is a piece of cake. It's through the hard times we grow. i have a love/hate relationship with my problems in life. My good friend Wilson told me last night: you are bigger than your problems, and God is bigger than you.

I don't know what God has in store for me for the next couple months, but i want it to go slowly because i don't want to miss out on anything, any opportunity. these friendships i have made are going to last. these things God is showing me are forever imprinted on my heart. there's so much more to learn.

day fifty four - calmaraste

they tell me that when i speak spanish i have an indian accent. it makes me really happy.

day fifty three - messenger pigeons

today i got to sleep in and it was glorious. then after the lunch shift alicia and I went into town to meet up with Wilson. He took us to a coffee place he just found. It was downtown behind a bakery. Really out of the way and completely awesome. Later Blass and Bienvenido and Fernando came and we ended up talking with this old man who knew french, spanish, english, and quichua. He was a really interesting guy and when we were about to leave he's like...where's my kiss? to alicia and I. Then Blass took us up these stairs to the top of this park thing that overlooked the south end of Riobamba. I need to go back there soon with my camera, it was amazing. Then we decided to go into the big Catholic church there and see if we could go up into the bell tower. We ended up going down some stairs into the basement that actually was a cemetary where a man and women were collecting human bones in bags. It was....weird. We weren't allowed to go up the bell tower today but maybe another day. Blass of course started talking with one of the monks about Jesus. We were walking back to the center of town and Wilson decides he's going to catch one of the pigeons. He did. And we decided to tie a message to it's foot. Like who does that? apparently us. Alicia wrote her email on it so we're just waiting to see who finds it.

I bought a cell phone today. Mine doesn't work here and especially when i move out it will be much better for safety reasons.

the allans came back today all nicely tanned. Makes me want to go to the beach really bad! We are going to go...if not by ourselves then with the Allans in July when they take the 30 oldest kids at the ark.

oh yea! haha Nacho. Today he was...for lack of a better word...making out with Miley today. He's 2. Miley is almost 2. One of the girls kept trying to stop them but he kept running back to her to kiss her. Or more like eat her mouth. I couldn't stop laughing.

I learned another thing about crying. Last night little Samuel was crying. I heard the supervisor say to the worker in charge of that group of kids say "it's Samuel". She didn't even have to look to see who it was. They know the cries of the kids. God knows our voice. He knows our cry. Our voices are ingrained in his heart. Like the verse:

Look up into the heavens. Who created all the stars? He brings them out like an army, one after another, calling each by its name. Because of his great power and incomparable strength, not a single one is missing.

it's like...if God knows the stars that well, imagine how much more he knows us. Our names, our cry, everything about us.

forever learning, daniella

day fifty two - cholitas

i dont even know if it's day fifty two, i dont know why i started naming my blog posts like that, its hard to keep up.
so just a few random things...i'm actually starting to get a tan! since it rains so much here and when it is sunny we're usually inside with the babies, it has taken me a while. but you know when other gringos comment that you're dark it's a good sign.
one of the allans daughters came up to visit for a while so their whole family went to the beach for the week. which means it's been a little crazier during the day and a lot quieter in the evenings.
i really need to stop eating bread!! one of my favorites here are cholas, or cholitas. they're little buns with a butter/brown sugar filling and they're amazing.
i'm offically moving out of the ark on june 7th. I'm not too sad about it because i'll probably still be here every day. But i will be staying with one of the supervisors and her daughter closer to town. And i will probably be taking spanish classes with her daughter as well. they have a super cute apartment above an internet cafe which they own. Naomi and I have already been brainstorming how i'm going to help with the street ministry. we're dreaming big! like getting a local music scene going with concerts and stuff. her big dream is to start a record label because there's nothing like that here.
i helped lucy take her first few steps the other day!! she's so cute. she really could do it she just doesnt know it yet.

spanish class today was...interesting. the girl is really sweet but she kept answering her phone and leaving the room to get a new pen and asking me questions about english so in two hours i didn't learn very much. i learn so much more by just hanging out with my friends and asking them questions and copying what they say.
One of my favorite parts about wednesdays is that i get back to the ark around 6:30 when the kids are playing outside for a last minute attempt to burn off their energy. And when i walk in Antony will see me and come running to me to pick him up and he'll start pointing at things he wants to show me like the dog, stitch, or the moon. i love it.

since Zoe has been gone this week with her family we haven't been doing preschool classes and the kids will ask me every day why we're not doing classes, and when we're starting again, it's really cute how much they love it.
i get really excited when i realize i just successfully understood someone and responded. What happens more often though is i will answer someone in english hoping they'll understand, then a couple seconds later remember how to say it in spanish. i am learning!
i've been missing a few things about home. like going to quality foods with my mom. i realize i've been talking a lot about my family lately. they're amazing.

day forty eight - perdidos

really? day forty eight? i can't believe i haven't blogged all week...oops. it's been pretty crazy here and a lot has been going on.
yesterday morning started with preschool for me. they are so funny. we were playing with playdough and Zoe told me before they left i had to frisk their pockets to make sure they didn't take playdough. She said it's happened before haha. I just love it.
Then Alicia and I went to Pelileo for the afternoon. It's a town about an hours bus ride away and is known for it's jeans. I really needed a pair since the babies pee on mine all the time and it's hard to fit in time for laundry. So we shopped for a bit then ate at a little hole in the wall and had fried plantain, potatoes, roasted corn and pork. SO good. then we just walked around for a bit in the sunshine before catching the bus back.
Alicia and I with her new dreads that we've been working on.

patchwork fields...every space is used, even steep hillsides

When walking back to the Ark from the bus we ran into Isaac and a bunch of people who were going to a concert that we wanted to go to. So we planned to go back to the Ark to get permission then catch a taxi to meet up with them. So far so good. The taxi driver knew where the church was and everything but when we got there the gates were locked, there were no cars or people anywhere and the lights were turned off. The driver tried to leave us there but we convinced him to take us to another church with the same name. We saw a couple people we knew there and there was some kind of performance there so we stayed...only to find out Isaac really wasnt there and it wasnt a concert but a church talent show. [side note...we stayed for a minute to watch them perform noah's ark and watched as winnie the pooh marched into the ark, then watched in horror as they sacrificed the little lamb. That child will be scarred for life]. We quickly realized that we didn't really know where we were, we couldn't communicate very well with anyone, we didn't have enough money for another taxi, and we didn't know any phone numbers. So we prayed. We decided people were going to worry and we needed to somehow call someone. So we walked out, hoping to find a phone...and there was one right next door. We found the Allans number in the phonebook and thankfully they were able to call Isaac to come get us. It turns out the concert wasnt that night at all, they were somewhere completely different in a house church. Plan for next week...buy a cellphone. The night was really great though, we ended up at Calamare's house church where we prayed and sang songs for a while, then ended up driving around as usual dropping people off and ended up at the bus stop where that guy and his wife makes the wicked awesome fish soup, encebellados de pascado. It tasted even better this time. We took it with us and so there i was eating soup in the back of a moving truck at 12 in the morning. It was glorious.

Today Alicia and I took some of the older girls for a walk. It was an amazingly beautiful day and it was lots of fun. We walked down the road a bit to an ice cream place called Mickos. They had a courtyard in the back so we just hung out on the grass and ate ice cream. All of them know english pretty well so we've been trying to take advantage of that and get to know them better since we only work with the younger kids.


Other things that have been going on are the Allans have started watching Lost in the evenings, we had an awesome bible study last thursday, Alicia is getting dreads, and a new volunteer came today! Her name is Rachel and she's from England but she's been travelling latin america for 15 months! We've only just met her but I'm already excited to hear more about her adventures.

ciao for now, daniella

day forty three - plans.planes.

Spanish class today went really well! i think it makes a big difference one on one and i'm excited for next week already.

I got to feed Miguel the other day. He is so tiny and precious. He's only a few weeks old.

I don't have too much else to say except when i bought my plane ticket the return date said June 7. As of last night....it now says August 10. Ya i couldn't stand the thought of leaving in a few weeks. There's so much more for me to learn here. June 7 i'll be moving out of the ark somewhere in town. Most likely with one of the supervisors here and her daughter. I'll be taking more spanish classes, volunteering at the ark, and helping out more with the street ministry. There's also a possibility of me teaching english classes to lower the cost of my spanish classes, depending on how much spanish i can learn between now and then.

Zoe found a tape to play in the preschool today...and it was one of the tapes that i listened to as a kid and it brought back so many amazing memories! All i wanted to do today was watch every episode of the Last Chance Detectives. If someone wants to be my best friend for life they can send me a copy of any episode.
Antonio

Ingrid

Maria

Miguelito

Oliver


stoked to be here for another few months!!!!!!
daniella

day forty - spanglish

Last night was street church and as usual it was just great. Alicia and I took a taxi into town this time and we got rearended in one of the many round-a-bouts. that was interesting, it turned out to be not a big deal. then we met up with the others in the park in the town centre and played the guitar and Isaac talked for a bit, which i mostly didn't understand. They have a really sweet tradition here on the night before Mother's Day where people will stand outside their mothers windows and serenade them. So there were trucks parked outside of houses everywhere with people singing into microphones and there was music everywhere. We drove to some of the guys houses and sang to their mothers and it was really great. we didn't end up getting back until 2.

Today was super nice to just sleep in and then go into town with Alicia. We went to the SuperTia where i bought some shoes for 3$ and then walked to the coffee place. We ended up talking for a long time and it was really great. We're sure missing Jessalyn though! We ended up running into Blass on our way back and sat in the park and talked with him for a while.

Just gearing up for another busy week. My Spanglish is pretty good...hoping it will keep turning into more Spanish than English. I wish I could hang out with my mom today! There really will be more pictures soon i promise. Oh. and random fact about Riobamba...if you hear something like an ice cream truck...it's not an ice cream truck. It's the garbage truck, warning people that they're coming and get their garbage out on the road. I get a glimmer of false hope everytime i hear it.

day thirty eight - change

Things are changing a bit around here. The two newborns, Emma and Miguelito were moved from the supervisors room into the baby room so we get to see them everyday now and feed them! they're so tiny.

Yesterday was Thursday and i love thursdays because we have our bible study. i was so tired because we had stayed out late and i woke up at six to wake up the babies and change them. But the bible study was great and then we walked some of the guys down the road where they could get a taxi home. The ditch outside the front gate is almost filled so Isaac can use his truck again more easily but we really have been enjoying walking. So i got back after 12 again and got up at 6 this morning. I'm starting to crash now. I know i need to sleep because i'm getting a cold. They went to the hospital tonight to bring people tea and i really wanted to go but i have to wake up at 6 again tomorrow.

Something came up at home for Jessalyn and she had to leave unexpectedly today. That is a huge change. The dynamic is different now, there being just two of us in the room. She will be missed! i haven't taken any pictures or videos lately but there will be some soon for sure.

day thirty six - quack

last night we walked Frejol home with some of the Allan's kids and some of the older kids at the Ark. Usually Isaac would drive him home but they've been digging up the road to put in new sewage pipes so it's hard to get the vehicles in and out. It was just really good to walk at night (though it was very cold) and talk and hang out.

Today was supposed to be my first real spanish class. The teacher was there and it turns out she's still learning English. She's pretty good but we kept stopping so that we could teach her some English that she didn't know. I was a little frustrated. I'm hoping next week will be better because Alicia and I will be taking separate classes from now on because they finally understood that i really am just at square one and i won't learn much by being taught in spanish.

In preschool today Zoe was reading the kids a book about elephants and Felipe was honestly trying to convince her when the book was done that elephants can fly with their ears. The earnest look on his face was priceless.

tonight after the meeting i went for a walk downtown with isaac, naomi, frejol, cebolla, blass, and rice and his buddy. i always forget his name so i've just been calling him rice or arroz. i usually don't go out at night during the week because i have to wake up so early but i've been wanting to get more involved with the street ministry. Since the road is being dug up there's huge ditches right outside the foundation and we heard a little puppy stuck in the bottom of a big hole. So Cebolla jumped down and threw the puppy up (it was seriously so tiny, like a rat) and then crawled back up. I felt like we were the neighborhood superheros or something. We went to the jail so they could visit some guys there and we bought them some bread and prayed for them. These are the kind of guys that just know everyone and when you see a drunk man on the street you don't keep walking but stop to ask where his house is, if he needs help, and then pray for them and tell them about Jesus. I feel like i'm in the right place. It's also good because i feel i learn the most spanish while hanging out with them. i may be learning more street spanish than proper spanish but i'm ok with that.

day thirty four - Dios es Bueno

I really liked today. And i can't even tell you why specifically except that God is good.
Alicia and I took a long walk to a really good bakery we've been hearing about...we weren't disappointed. One of the staples here is pan (bread). You can find it sold pretty much on every street. they make it in different kinds of buns with cheese or sugar or something in the middle, or croissants. of course, Chris's bread at Mountain View is way better and i miss it! But it's still pretty good here...except it's hard to find whole wheat anything! most things are made with white flour. So anyways we went for our walk and almost got caught in the rain. You leave the house and its 25 degrees and you're thinking you should have put on sunscreen and the next thing you know there's black storm clouds overhead and it starts pouring rain.

these kids are seriously amazing. Jennifer's irresistible dimples, the way Tito never walks but runs or yells or something (note to self to put up a video of Tito soon), the way Georgina's little belly sticks out of her shirt, Geovanny's laugh, Mary's toothless smile, the way the kids look so miserable when they sit on the naughty steps (am i horrible for loving that?), the way Nacho is always missing one shoe, how Romina loves to listen to music, the way the little kids line up on the potties to go pee, when they fall asleep at the table, how i change Oliver and as soon as i put him down he's wet again, when Julissa falls asleep on the potty, how Patty was so excited for preschool today she slipped on the tile floor...i love them.

day thirty three - may?

i can't believe it's may. I completely missed May 1st because i got the flu and i was in bed all day and all last night. i'm feeling a lot better today though, but it's going around the Ark. Jessalyn already had it and we're just hoping Alicia won't get it. I don't get sick a lot, but when i do it hits pretty hard.

Teletuvie went back home to Quito today. This photo is from Cebolla's birthday...I'm not quite sure why he has tape on his nose.
Teletuvie, Blass, and Cebolla


Just getting ready for another busy week. There are two groups here volunteering right now. One group is here for a few days helping with maintenance and there's a family of five that's here for a couple weeks.

real lattes!

daniella