Two Months Already?

You know that you are starting to feel more at home in Duran when...
...your once (semi)puntual self shows up a lil late to almost everything...
...a meal isn´t a real meal without a healthy heaping of rice...
...you find the word, "chevere" seeping into both you Spanish and English conversations...
...it takes you an hour and a half to walk a down your street to the corner store because of all the
neighbors that you stop and talk to...

And so it goes here in Ecuador, our first two months proving to be a fascinating yet challenging transition with only a few minor stomach problems to report (speaking of which, our stomachs are still full, thanks to the generosity of the board of directors who visited us last week...thank you!!!). We have jumped into our job sites at local public schools, Nuevo Mundo, the Padre Damien hosptial, after-school programs and more...all this to the tune of the Reggeaton that is blasted from almost every bus and house. Gotta love that Daddy Yankee!!! But the most significant developments have not occurred at the work sites, but in our very own nieghborhoods. Duran is really beginning to feel like home. Not only can we now put names to the faces we see when walking down the street, but conversations are much deeper, smiles more heartfelt. Now if only my spanish could cooperate with me more! Thank the Lord for the patience of those who listen to my attempts at the spanish language.
The Antonio Jose de Sucre (AJS) community is about to welcome our first retreat group of the "005-2006 year. Villanova will be spending a week with us starting on Saturday, with our own Chelsea Nichols at the helm. Bring em on! And a happy birthday to Keri, who celebrated her 22nd birthday this Tuesday.
And now for some random news...many of us are still trying to learn the guitar...still attempting to learn how to cook from scratch...and what started as a few people meeting together to run has flowered into quite a team: almost nine people showed up last weekend to run the back road in Arbolito (the one by the Pedregal, for those who know the area), half of those being Ecuadorian. If we keep this up, a team T-shirt and official team name is sure to follow. Updates to come!
Well that is about all the news from south of the equator...take care and God bless!!!

--Jackie Heap