last week of ecuador!

Before I go on to share on Ecuador.. I want to give you all a peek as to whats going on in my brain right now... So I just opened my iTunes and once it loaded, I immediately typed in "James Morrison" into the filter box. And I realized that... he is my immediate go to music. Meaning before I give myself a chance to think about what I'm really in the mood to listen to.... I type in Mr. Morrison..and listen to him until I am inspired to listen to something else! Does anyone else have an immediate "go to" on their itunes.. or is it just me? (Sometimes I ask questions on my blog & no one answers them...but I assume that when people read the question, they answer in their head.. so I'm happy)

Okay so BACK to Ecuador. Week 8.

A few weeks before our last week in Ecuador, our boss gave us the option to spend some time working with one of the projects that CARE Ecuador implements. Of course we jumped at the opportunity. So for our last week of Ecuador... we worked on the project Juntos Liderando (Lead Together) by helping faciliatate a vacational school for children in the town of Cayambe. The kids had mini classes (with topics ssuch as painting, exercise, town history, and sexuality), a lunch/snack, and free time everyday. We assisted the "teachers", helped prepare the food, and just generally bonded/played with the kids. I loved it! Loved it!
Let the pictures speak for themselves:

The teacher, explaining to the kids the history of their town (Cayambe)

The kids learning how to paint..

The teacher taught them a method where they painted a blob, and then blew the paint to create streaks.

The color quality in this picture isn't the greatest.. but focus on the kids!

Loved these little girls

And then we moved outside to play games.
(The little boy in the picture..was the most outgoing kid I have ever ever encountered.)

I let the girls use my camera to get this picture..

I've never seen such concentration when eating chips

The next day & back inside..

And finally.... on Friday we went out to eat with Alex (our "boss" when we were working on the Lead Together project)

The next day (Saturday) was our last day in Ecuador. We spent the day with our host family.. going out to eat, driving to parts of Quito we hadnt been before, and drinking coffee at a coffee shop. Much later that night (really early Sunday morning) we boarded a plane and headed back to the US!

I want to thank anyone who read this blog, anyone who encouraged me, and anyone who prayed for my summer.  This summer was an unbelivable learning experience... I learned about myself, I learned from God, and I learned about other people. And while this experience had its fair share of "challenging" moments.. I wouldn't trade the memories, risky adventures, Spanish conversations, twice-a-day bus rides, or weekend travels for anything in the world.

(PS- I'm absolutely terrible at "recapping" a trip.. so if you thought that was corny, or didn't really explain anything.. feel free to look through all my blog posts since I first left for Ecuador.. starting here