House Teams and Hot Springs

 Hi Friends!

It's time for another photo/story dump about recent days in my Quito-life.

House Teams

If you've read the Harry Potter books (or if you're British or probably any number of other nationalities) you may be familiar with the idea of School Houses.  When I returned to Alliance Academy, I was DELIGHTED to learn that they have adopted this fun tradition.  Beginning in 7th grade, each student and teacher is assigned to one of four school houses, which they remain connected to for the duration of their time at the school.  Each house is named for a local volcano and a local animal, and is assigned a color.  And intentional or not, I associate each one mentally with a Hogwarts House

The Antisana Alpacas (blue) [Ravenclaw]

The Cayambe Quilicos (red) [Griffindor]

The Pichincha Pumas (green) [Slytherin]

The Chimborazo Culpeos (yellow) [Hufflepuff]

Guess which house I was assigned to...

That's right!  I'm a Chimborazo Culpeo! [I look really intense in that second photo because taking a picture of your back in a mirror with your phone is hard.  At least for a 46-year-old]

The students have informed me that "Culpeos" is the Kichwa word for zorro, which is fox.  [Kichwa is one of the native people groups here, and some of their words are mixed into the local version of Spanish.  My favorite is the Kichwa word for baby, which is "gua-gua" (sounds like "wah-wah") because that's the sound a baby makes.  Hilarious and genius, right?!]

Anyway, even though the Hufflepuffs usually lose most things (and so far, that is matching the Culpeo's record), I'm happy to be part of a team!  We apparently do various things together throughout the school year.  Last week was a soccer tournament (which we lost soundly).  I'm not sure what else is coming, but we can only hope it's not exclusively sports-focused.  When this is the case, I am of most use in the stands, cheering on the other culpeos.  

Day Trip to Papallacta

Yesterday, I traveled with five lovely friends to a town known for their hot springs, called Papallacta (double-L in Spanish sounds like a Y sound, so "papa-YAK-tah").  We had a fantastic time!  The resort has a bunch of pools of varying sized and temperatures.  You can wander around from one to another.  There are some cold-plunge pools to be found, too.  We spent a couple hours exploring those.  I surprised my friends by not only going into a cold-plunge pool, but jumping in and going all the way under.  Beth (more experienced than I in the way of cold-plunges) tried to warn me, but I've always been a "rip the bandaid off" sort of person, and I figured faster was better.

I DIDN'T figure on my lungs seizing up from the drastic temp change, and not being able to breathe properly for a few moments.  Oops.  Well, live and learn.  It was still fun, even if I might have taken a few months off my life.  :)  Here are some pictures of the hot springs experience.

Judah.  He's 8, and he's hands-down my favorite little boy in Ecuador.  He never runs out of hypothetical situations to run past me, generally followed by some karate-chopping, martial-arts type action, complete with sound effects.  "Hey Leslie, what if a giant came at you with a huge spear and you couldn't get away??"  "Hey, what if the sky started raining fire and burned up everyone's umbrellas and houses!?!"  "What if..."  Always at Enthusiasm Level 10.

Anna.  She is adorably four. I overheard her telling her mom yesterday that she was fine to go into the bathroom stall on her own.  "I'm already a big girl almost now, Mom, 'cause I walked that whole hike, without Daddy carrying me."  Silly mom.  How did she miss that significant milestone?  A few minutes later, she asked if I was ok on TP in my stall.  [I was.] 

LOOK!!!  It's Beth and me, together again!  

After the swimming, we got lunch at the restaurant at the resort (quite tasty) and then went for a "short" hike.  Probably by this point in my life, I should know better than to trust someone who loves hiking when they use words like "short", and even when they give time estimations (about 45 minutes).  Short this hike was not- at least when you factor in the inclines- but it lived up to the hype as far as the scenery goes, for sure.  Is it possible that it took longer because I am slow?  I mean...maybe....?  But probably not.

Ok, fine.  That is almost certainly a bit part of the reason.

The hike went up one side of this glorious river, crossed over it on a bridge, then back down the other side.  I LOVE the sound of moving water, and I could have just sat down in places like this and listened to the rushing water for hours.

Cool Ecuadorian Tree Alert!!  The flowering tree game down here is top notch.  Those flowers were around eight inches long and so beautiful!

I'm not sure if it's Ecuador or my middle-aged-ness, but I find myself taking an embarrassingly high number of flower pictures these days.  But just look how pretty!!

Here we are, getting to the trail.  We crossed the continental divide on the trip to Papallacta, and as Beth predicted, we left behind the mild sunny weather on the Quito side of the mountains in exchange for cool, cloudy, and drizzly weather at the hot springs.  That's actually cozier when you're neck-deep in a hot spring, but less ideal for a hike.  Thankfully, the drizzle held off while we were hiking.  But Anna was REAlly excited about her umbrella, so she held it at the ready as long as she could.

Did I mention it was beautiful?  It reminded me a lot of hikes I've taken with my Uncle David and Aunt Janie in the Pacific Northwest (but with smaller trees).  And also sometimes it reminded us of scenes from Lord of the Rings.  :)

This is Lysette- new friend, worship pastor, mom of Judah and Anna, and wife to Charly (pictured below).  I have enjoyed getting to know her over the past couple months.

If the Pedersens look familiar, it's because we went together to the Teleferico (gondola ride up the mountain) back in our first week here.  They've adopted me a bit, which I am enjoying immensely. 

[editor's note: spell check insists that "immensely" begins with an 'i', but I really think it should be an 'e'.]

There was a chapel at the base of the hike.  We couldn't go in because it was locked, but check out this door!!  It's stained glass, in case you can't tell,  and ginormous, which is a little ironic because Ecuadorians aren't really known for their height.  Anyway, muy bonita.

This is my favorite picture of the day.  I'm thankful for the good things about returning to Ecuador.  The natural beauty is such a gift, as are friendships, but new and old.

Grateful.

Too Much Love

It's been a tough week.  At school, we had three days of standardized testing and we're in the middle of an Influenza B outbreak and I'm feeling overwhelmed by my job and some of my students.  At home, there are personal challenges in several areas.  

You know.  

Sometimes life is hard.

In her weekly email, my principal shared this poem by Kate Bowler that felt so spot on that I immediately decided to share it. Maybe it will be an encouragement to you, too.  There is never, ever too much love.

a blessing for when things don’t add up

Blessed are you who say:
This did not add up.
I had hoped these choices I made,
the life I tried so hard to pick,
would add up to something
Meaningful.

But now I’m left without many choices at all. 

Left wondering… did I pick right?
Did I waste my days?
What should I have done differently? 

This limited life is what it means to be human. 

In our failures and bad, bad math.
In our best intentions and hardest work,
In our waylaid hopes and far off dreams. 

In the love that is never ever too late to give or receive.

Maybe ‘success’ and ‘happiness’ can mean something different now.
On the other side of a life changed. 

Where minutes become moments.
And there will never be enough
sunsets or handholds or jokes shared.

But there is never ever too much love. 

Speaking of things that don't add up, check out this tree-pruning...technique?... Beth and I pass on our morning walks.  It's all just one tree.  I have no further commentary.

Who Says You Can't Go Back?

    The title is an allusion to a country song with the same title.  I don't think I've heard anyone say that...?  But then again, I forget many, many things.

Anywho, I HAVE come back, and in fact have been here more than a month now!  Here are some photos I've collected during that time, to give you a little taste of life here.

This morning I participated in the annual newby Amazing Race event that the school puts on for the new faculty and staff.  We had a great time scavenger-hunting around the Old Town area and wrapped up with lunch at an AH-freaking-DORABLE pizza place/local ministry house to street kiddos.  The person sitting across the table from me took this picture with the famous (in Quito) Panecillo (big, random, rounded volcanic hill in the middle of the city, with the angel statue (the Virgin of the Panecillo) sticking up into the beautiful blue sky.

This little pod thingy with a cross in the middle is shed by the plentiful eucalyptus trees around town.  I thought the cross shape was intriguing and unique.  Incidentally, I found this while on my first long walk with my friend, Beth.  Together again!  <3

I decided to make my own granola.  This is how much was stuck to the pan after I had chisled as much as possible out with a spatula and then a spoon (in spite of spraying said pan, as directed).  In the end, I shamelessly threw the pan away and am on the lookout for something similar to replace it with.  

In general, I'm finding preparing food here to be as challenging as I remember.  Between ingredients I can't find; those that are available but expensive; those that have a local alternative but are...um...not the same; and finding the energy to get home from a full day of school and start cooking, it's been a slow learning curve.

LOOK at this stinkin' adorable stuffed mushroom that I found at the produce section of my grocery store last week!!!!  He was so cute that I had to buy him.  I have named him Champ, because the Spanish word for mushroom is "champiñon".

This is a picture of my current favorite snack.  The default pop option here is sugar-free.  In fact, you pay MORE for regular pop.  To accompany the pop is a bag of the local potato chips that are ubiquitous here, and always sells for $1.  Together, this snack, which I bought from the kiosk stand across the street from the school entrance, was $1.50.  This is extra-tempting because lunch here is at 12:15- a full hour after my lunch started last year, so I'm good and hungry by the end of 4th period (and still a period away from lunch).  A bit dangerous?  Indeed.

[editor's note: the chips always come with a packet of ketchup.  I always throw it away.]

I am making a class playlist for each period, and one of the request papers came back as you see below.  I love that the kid is an MJ fan, even if they're struggling with the titles of the songs.  <3

This was my team for The Amazing Race this morning.  I insisted that we pose in the entrance to the metro station, where there was this GIANT box of KFC onion rings.  I mean, who can pass up an onion ring?  Not Miss Foster!  

Kate, who made up 100% of our team's competitive spirit (I'll let you guess which one she is), had just shouted, "Look tough!!" before the shot was taken.  Clara and I were laughing about how we're not going to look tough.  In the background, you can see just a part of a beautiful panoramic photo of the city.  Have I mentioned that Quito is beautiful?  Cause it is.

If there's a beautiful or unusual door, I am going to take a picture of it.  Isn't this one lovely?  Solid wood and (I'm confident) hand-carved back in the long-long ago.  I can't help but think of all the people who've passed through there.

While visiting the Basilica (my favorite church in Old Town), I had to take a selfie of this- it's the actual Pope-mobile from when Pope John Paul II visited Quito in 1985.  (it's not the actual Pope John Paul II in the back, though)

As we were walking to lunch after the race finished, we saw this woman with A CAT IN A BACKPACK!!  It seemed worthy of a photo.  The cat seemed to be living its best life.

Back in Quito -or- Leslie and Her Bags Get to Ecuador

 In what feels like no time at all AND at least a decade, I am back in Quito after six full months of preparation!  Today is my third full day here*, and it's high time to share the new, true, short story, "Leslie's Luggage".

*this was true when I started writing; I'm happy to report I've been here two weeks now!  Anyway, back to the story...

November 2025: Leslie is invited to apply for a position at Alliance Academy International.  She immediately begins to question how she could possibly move there with only two checked bags.

7 Days Ago: While helping Leslie decide what to pack in her 2 checked bags, Leslie's gracious friend and life-long traveler back and forth to West Africa, gently encourages Leslie to consider checking three bags instead of two.  Leslie feels this would somehow be an indication of weak moral fiber.  It is also more luggage than she can manage on her own- going against her own law of travel.  Nonetheless, Leslie researches how many bags she can bring, but it seems there is no limit.

6 Days Ago: Leslie gets out a third suitcase.

5 Days Ago: While checking in online, Leslie discovers that the airline website will only let her check 2 bags.  Cue anxiety.  Awesome sister Brittony tries to calm Leslie as Leslie calls Delta.  Nice Delta lady assures Leslie that she can pay for the third bag at the airport.  Leslie double-checks: are you sure there will be no problem with checking three bags?  She is sure.  Side note: the third bag will cost $200. -_- Cue additional anxiety.  Cue additional sisterly efforts and the reminder that thanks to SO MANY generous friends and family, she can afford the extra bag.

 4 Days Ago: Leslie arrives at the Fort Wayne International Airport with her three checked bags (each one weighing in at under 49 lbs (50 is the limit).  She is invited to be checked in by a Young and Eager Gate Agent (YEGA).  Said agent pulls up Leslie's itinerary and says, "You'll have to pick up your luggage in Atlanta and check it back in there, since your layover is so long."  Cue anxiety.  Is there any possible way to check it all the way through?  It's all one ticket and that's a lot of luggage to haul around on a layover.  YEGA clickity-clacks on her computer.  Ok; they will be checked all the way to Quito.  Leslie, unsure whether to be annoyed that they don't just do that in the first place, or grateful that she won't need to lug 150 pounds of checked bags around Atlanta, nods and thanks YEGA.

Next, YEGA directs the first bag to be put on the scale.  It registers 51 pounds.  "I know exactly what to pull out of there to make it 50 lbs," Leslie says.  "Oh, it's ok," replies YEGA, "I can waive the extra pound."

[editor's note: I have been traveling internationally since I was 18, and never once in my life has any gate agent, from any airline, in any country ever offered to WAIVE AN OVERWEIGHT BAG.]

Leslie nods slowly in amazement.  "Thank you!"  YEGA checks in bag #2.  49.5 pounds.  On to bag three.  More clickity-clacking.  YEGA says, my system isn't allowing you to check 3 bags.  Leslie calmly explains the very confident Delta lady's info.  YEGA tries again.  Sorry, my system will not allow you to check three bags.  Could we speak with a manager?  Of course.  Leslie listens to the manager explain to YEGA on her walkie-talkie that Quito must have an embargo on checked luggage right now.  Leslie politely asks if she could speak directly with the manager.

Ten minutes later, YEGA's manager is now clickity-clacking and after about 5 minutes, he announces that he has worked some sort of magic to allow me to take three bags.  Again- Leslie is relieved but also...what the heck?!  He continues to say that since Leslie has such a long layover in Atlanta, she will need to collect and re-check her bags there.  Leslie (semi-patiently) rehashes why that's not going to work and point out that YEGA was able to check them all the way to Quito.  Clickity-clack.  Ok, done.  Checked all the way through.

Delta, what is going on???

Leslie allows relief to trump annoyance and listens as YEGA's manager explains to her how to put a bag tag on my third piece of luggage, which is a plastic trunk.  They finish up, hand her a boarding pass, and wish her a good flight.  "Thank you both so much for your help!  Who do I pay?"  YEGA looks at her manager.  He looks at her.  "Well... the system didn't charge you."  What?  "Yeah, I could have waived the fee for the third bag, but I didn't.  If I had, you would see "waived fee" right here on the baggage claim slip.  I didn't waive it; the system just didn't charge you.  I have never seen that happen."

Leslie says, "I don't know what you believe about God, but there are an awful lot of people praying for me right now.  In any case, thank you so much!"  As Leslie walks away, she hears the manager say to YEGA, "Never have I ever seen that happen!"

2 Days Ago: Leslie arrives safely at the airport in Quito.  After spending some quality time with the passport check lady (who was suspicious that she was coming to live here but didn't yet have a visa) Leslie made her way to the baggage claim carousel, where she found all three of her bags waiting patiently for her.  What should have cost $400 ended up only costing $100.  Leslie is so thankful!

The End

As a reward for reading through the whole story, here are a couple of pictures from my first day.  I took them on my first trip to the grocery store.

Such beautiful flowers!  And I forgot how blue the sky is here!

My new building.  Our apartment is on the first floor, so you can't see it because of the gate.

My first day of work will be Monday- day one of three of orientation for new teachers.  Between now and then I have a lot of time to get a bunch of things sorted out- phone plans; learning to use Uber for taxis; buying odds and ends for the apartment; and doubtless other things I'm not thinking of yet.  Life here is off to a great start, and I am thankful.