My good friend Jon Dunning (who’s 6′5″, has the thickest red hair ever, and who wears Green Bay gear, ball caps, and red Converse hi-tops on a regular basis), went to the OHPC youth group Halloween party as me!

That’s a knee-high on his head. I’m sure I woke up everyone within 2-3 floors of me laughing! (Incidentally, gold earrings are SO 1995 … I’m totally “stainless-steel” now.)

… both David and Lois Wells are out of town, so we’re watching their dog. We got pretty attached to her when we stayed with them the first few days we were here. She’s very smart, and very cute, and we’re not really sure what she is. Maybe some sort of hound, maybe a beagle mix. She also has a number of names. Lois calls her “Blessing”, David calls her “Chiquita”, and I call her her “HEY! We do NOT chew on the rug!”. At any rate we’re enjoying having her, especially when I come back from using the bathroom at night and she’s curled up on the bed in my spot. We’ll have her until Saturday.

This past Saturday was Harvest Festival at Alliance Academy International. It’s really a pretty big deal. Lots of booths, lots of food, lots of fun to be had. The whole thing is a fundraiser for the various classes. Rachel and I had done a lot of walking earlier in the day, but decided that anything would be better than sitting at home bein’ bored. We were pleasantly surprised at how fun the whole thing was. We skipped the haunted/mad/fun house (they kept changin’ its name), but took advantage of the plethora of food that was available, both in the gymnasium and the cafeteria.

One of the ladies that we’ve hung out with quite a bit since we’ve been here teaches dance at the school. Her girls danced a couple of times throughout the evening and did a really fantastic job. There were also Shrek photo ops.

One of the big things there was a silent auction. Nothin’ really grabbed my attention, except a used RCA DVD player with some surround sound speakers. The first time I went by, I bid nothing. The second time, I bid $20. The last time I went by, I’d been outbid by a bit, so I decided to bid my maximum and put down $35. I won! I wasn’t initially aware of how large the system was. It had a good size subwoofer, and five smaller speakers in addition to the main player unit. I was even more surprised when I got home and realized that whoever had donated the system had included the original receipt. The whole thing was just over two years old and had originally cost $600! So for much less than we would’ve paid for a brand new DVD player (minus any surround-y goodness), we got THIS! We’ve already put it through its paces with “Blade” and “Stargate”. We is happy!

Oh, I’ve also made some changes to the header graphic. Thanks to my good friend, Doug, it now acts as a “reload the blog” link again. I’ve also added several new images that we’ve taken to the rotation. Hope you enjoy.

… a few nights ago, I was bored and suggested that we run up to the rooftop and see the city at night. I took some pix and have stitched them into a rough panoramic. Pardon the blurriness. I don’t have a tripod.

… there aren’t many things wrong with me that can’t be fixed by some authentic candy corn!

On two different occasions now, people at AAI have given Rachel a handful or two of the good stuff for me, so I’ve had appetizers. But then … one of Rachel’s colleagues followed us out the front door of the school yesterday and said that she was hopin’ that she’d catch us, and that she’d seen real candy corn at one of the local malls, El Jardin, and wanted to let us know. (Seriously, Rachel works with the most wonderful group of people!)

Anyway, guess where we went tonight as soon as school was out? It was one of the Mr. Bulky sorts of things, and we spent over $30. I walked out with three bags full of yellow, orange, and white, honey-flavored, sugary goodness. I realized today that I’ve now lost 18# since we got here, and I reckon it’s high time that downhill slide was arrested!

Now, if I could just find some Right Guard Sport Cool-scented Clear Stick deodorant, saline solution that doesn’t cost $10 a bottle, and a Foreman Grill …

… seem to keep things pretty exciting around here.

My meeting with the psychiatrist from the American Embassy has been canceled, due to scheduling difficulties. Namely, he will be in town during a time when The Alliance Academy is closed for holidays (Oct 31 - Nov 2). I am not sure how it is that I get 2 1/2 days off for Halloween, but I won’t argue! Perhaps I will get to meet Dr. Roland next time he is in town.

Rick and I have been invited to join some of our friends at the beach for Thanksgiving. We were both trying to think of ways to enjoy the holiday without feeling too homesick… this should help! I am not sure how warm the weather will be there (warmer than here, though), and there isn’t a whole lot to do there (read, fish, etc.), but it will be a way to see more of Ecuador and spend time with friends. Rest assured, Rick will take lots of pictures!

… the forecast for the next three days is “mid-to-upper 60’s and rain”. Same as it’s been the last 21 days. I don’t think it did much more than sprinkle last Thursday, but it’s rained pretty much every day since we’ve been here. I guess that’s why they call it the “rainy” season.

We did get to go out on Saturday and explore a bit. Rachel and I ventured out on our own, which was kind of a first. We’re starting to figure out the Trolebus system, which runs pretty much down the center of town north and south, and costs $0.25 to ride as far as you’d like. We went to a park called El Ejido that has a long row of booths where various craftsmen sell their wares, and where local artists show up on the weekends with their paintings. We even got a little bit of Christmas shopping done! Then we wandered farther north on foot, into an area called La Mariscal. It’s (not so) affectionately referred to sometimes as “Gringolandia”, as it’s pretty “touristy”. We didn’t see much that looked like that, but did find this great little restaurant called “Quito Tempo” that’s been added to our list of places to take visitors.

Got some bad news the end of last week. Evidently we were told shortly after we arrived (at the same time we were being told everything else in the world) that we’d need to get our visas “registered” within 30 days of arriving in the country. We didn’t. Now it’s going to cost us $200 each in fines. That’s money we really don’t have. I’m trying not to get discouraged about it. It’ll work out, I’m sure. When Rachel found out about it, she just sat at the desk of the lady who’d delivered the bad news and cried.

Oh well, I keep tellin’ myself (and anyone else that’ll listen) that I really don’t think it was God’s plan to have us come down here and starve. Perhaps it was His plan to have us come down here and learn more about what it means to really rely on Him alone, and not our financial planning and security.

I continue to be amazed at my minds ability to bounce back and forth between random emotions. Within one single day, my emotions can range from ‘excited and happy to be here’ all the way to ‘hopelessly lost and homeless’.

There is a part of me that feels a sense of comfort and relief in Spanish culture. It isn’t that I feel like I fit here, as much as my comfort zone appears to be in the knowing that ‘I don’t fit here’. Who knew that ‘not belonging’ would be my default setting!

On the other hand, ‘not belonging’ or just being ‘new’ in my work setting is always a huge stressor. I tell myself that it is temporary and that, eventually, I will know the ropes. For now, I am continually wondering if I have missed something or somehow done the right/wrong thing. People are gracious, and it is getting better, but it still feels pretty weird. I have an appointment scheduled to meet and consult with the Regional Psychiatrist for the American Embassy next month. I have to admit, that one overwhelms me more than a little bit!

Rick and I are making some friends here, people we can spend time with and who share some common interests. Even so, no one here knows us like our friends in Kansas do. There is a level of comfort and ‘being known’ that we do not have here (and may never have here…). It is nice to know that we are still in touch with friends in the States who know us and love us anyway! Thank you all for your love and prayers!

… how much I really needed to hear from so many of you on my birthday yesterday. Turning 38 is brutal enough, but doing it 3,000 miles away from most of the people I love was takin’ its toll. Some highlights of the day included a singing telegram from the “Gaithers” (a.k.a. the OHPC worship team), a “birthday card” from Joey Pierce, multitudinous email, facebook, and myspace messages, more calls than I can remember, getting to call my dad during his surprise birthday party (I was born on his birthday), and the list goes on and on and on.

Finding out today that my favorite red-headed, red-shoed, really tall drummer sent out an email givin’ some of you the heads up did nothing to diminish it. Seriously, I needed the love, and a lot of people I love came through for me. I can’t thank you guys enough. You’re the best friends anyone could ever ask for!

Rachel and I, along with several of our new Quito friends, headed out for an adventure today. We finally got to see the old, colonial part of town. It was kinda rainy, but we got to see a lot. I can’t wait to get back and spend some more time there. The pictures just don’t do it justice. I was telling Rachel on the cab ride back that seeing things like this has such a visceral impact on me. It’s like being kicked in the gut if being kicked in the gut felt good. It just rocks me back, puts me in perspective. I’m so anxious to show you guys around when you come to visit! Here are some pix and a short video:

The guy with holdin’ the phone in my face was a student doing a project for his English class. He had to go out and interview someone who didn’t speak Spanish. It was kinda cool. I think his name was Angel.