Its beginning to look a lot like Christmas.... not so much

  

Well, today is New Years Eve... wow, no it is not, Its Chrsitmas Eve... I cant even think straight in English anymore.... Anyways, tomorrow is Christmas, and being from Ohio, I look for some snow to brighten and spark the Holiday cheer, unfortunately, no hay nieve aqui... And since there is no snow, and I have, in total, heard about 7 Christmas carols/songs this season, somehow it still feels like something is different. Ive learned a lot from this experience, but most of all ive learned that I can travel over 2000 miles to the middle of the world and have a family accept me as thier own and treat me no differently than as if i was their child... This Christmas Id like to give thanks for being given a chance to travel to a little known banana republic and live for 5 months. Ive realized that if there is a place in the world where you want to go and be accepted unconditionaly, go no further than Ecuador. Sure, you might get called a gringo every once and a while, and if you are tall and blonde dont try to hide it, because you stand out like the random old grandma at a rock concert. But, none the less I have never felt so accepted by a group so large. Of course there are the exceptions like in any place, but 99% show nothing but love and compassion. I can spend  a total of 2 hours with someone and already we are best friends and they consider me nothing less. The whole atmosphere is different, the things we consider so drastically important and vital to life, here dont seem to matter. Here, they look to the heart, they rely on the family and friends, they care about what genuinely is significant. Unfortunately our culture has influenced every corner of the world, in good ways, but they take the bad as well. Dont get me wrong, I miss my home, my family, my friends, and my adapted life more than you can imagine... but i have realized that no matter what I have or what i dont have, that doesnt really matter too much... its more about the things that you choose to take from the life you have been given. I give so much thanks to God for allowing me to be one of the four lucky Ohians who got to travel to south Quito and live, do extremely hard math, and enjoy the adventures of a nother culture. No matter what i am or where i go in life, a part of me, a part of my heart, will forever be in Quito, Ecuador... Feliz Navidad,  Porque nos ha nacido un niño, se nos ha concedido un hijo; la soberanía reposará sobre sus hombros, y se le darán estos nombres: Consejero admirable, Dios fuerte, Padre eterno, Príncipe de paz. (Isaías 9:6)

We stink at this thing

Sorry for the lack of posts, but as the trips end draws near, we seem to have lost the time to write, but all is well :)

thanksgiving...ecuadorian style!!

hey everybody!!!!!!!!!!! i just thought i´d write a little something to tell you all just how our very happy thanksgiving went. first, we left school around 12:00 pm to go eat. we had papa john´s, and let me tell you that was RICOOOOOOOOOOO!! lol but from there, we kinda got a late start to the market, but we quickly bought all of the fresh goods that we needed like potatoes eggs and all the fresh fruit. then, we hurried on over to SuperMaxi (which basically is somewhat like a Wal-Mart, except inside the mall) to get all the OTHER stuff we had to buy. that took a VERY LONG TIME!!! haha but we found things like diced pumpkin for the pie, our flour, ummm cranberry sauce (which made my day:) i really love that stuff and it was the OceanSpray kind too!!)stuffing stuff haha and MUCH MUCH more stuff like my pudding mix for my specialty Hannah-Banana-Cream-Pie which in the u.s. i make every year!! sooooo then, we headed home to make all the goodies before our families arrived, which was a tad bit stressful but REALLY fun!! Nathan, the awesome cook, made the mashed potatoes, pumpkin pie, and a LOT of other stuff i can´t remember. Kellie made a hashbrown cassarole (which unfortunately here in ecuador there is no such thing as hashbrowns so we just used chopped up fries), apple pie, all the pie crust which got pretty messy lol some rolls, and, again other things i am forgetting. lauren made a tasty green bean cassarole, and other things. and i, well lets just say im the worst a cooking lol so i just made deviled eggs, mac and cheese, and my pie which turned out staying as a pudding haha. but the cooler part than all the food was the fellowship and sharing of gratefulness!!!! each one of us made a card for our family and together made a special something for our dr. torres (who, by the way hosted and paid for the WHOLE thing!!) from there, we gave small speeches to our families giving thanks to them for all and everything they do for us!! they are such blessings and it was really neat to be able to give a little bit back by making the dinner!! then, we made up a little skit of the story of thanksgiving which was quite hilarious! and after all that, each one of our moms got up to say something nice about us and we shared a VERY SPECIAL TIME!! although it was extrememly difficult to be away from my family this thanksgiving, i wouldn´t have traded being here for the world!! it was a once-in-a-lifetime oppurtunity and im so grateful that i could be able to come to this gorgeous country and learn such a beautiful language with such an incredible culture!! hope thanksgiving at home was one to remember!! sure do love and miss each and every one of you guys!! and all though i miss you, i wanna make sure i enjoy what i have left of being here because now we only have about a month and a half until were home again, which is EXTREMELY hard to believe... wow how time flies, huh????!! i guess what im trying to say is that although i miss home im very glad i can be here and right now im not quite ready to come home... but by the time january 15 decides to roll around, im SURE i will be :) love you all and God bless!!

*Word of Wisdom* never forget how much you are blessed. i advise you to go to a place sometime, (or maybe just look up one on the web) that is less fortunate than the place you live now. look at all the sadness, anger, brokeness, and poverty there is. that will sure help you to look at all things in a different light... i know it has for me. :)

note to family: miss and love you guys soooooooooooooooo much!! but i know God has some more really cool things in store for me here!! plus also, (there´s some junie b. for ya mom lol) im coming home VERY soon!! have some fun with christmas and new years, but not too much fun hahahahahahahaha love youuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!!

^^
l__l <- smiley face :)
..hannah..

ecuador.... q ricooooooo!!!!

hey guys!!!! i love and miss u all and hope all is well there in the u.s. i have currently been having a really good time here and guess what??? were going to the galapagos islands!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! were all so so so excited and so now we have to work to raise money while were here. so we work on saturdays with the babies and the children taking care of them or teaching in the english institute..... and that is going quite well!!!!! these past few days we didnt have to go to school because are doing a census here and our school is going to help out... so they've been having classes the past few days... not the most exciting thing in the world, but that's okay!! haha but today was superfun!! we got to ride horses (yes, again :) in the house of some friends from my church here!! that was sooooooooooooooo neat because although it was raining, it made it even more fun!! we ran through mudfalls, and mini-rivers,and there was a small "lake" from how much rain there was!! we were basically in the heart of the forest. sooooooooooooooooooooooooo i hope you guys are all ok and that God blesses each and every one of you with your specific needs... ohhhhhhhhhhhhh and please pray for us that we can be strong through the holidays since we can't be there... love and miss u!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Word of Wisdom: take some time each day to thank God for his creation, whether it be a flower or an elephant lol thank Him and praise Him for what HE HAS MADE!!!!



note to emily mccarty: hi em!!!!!!!!!! thanks so much for the letter and pics!!! love and miss u girly!!! ill try real hard to write back but if i can't know that i lylas!!! God bless!!


note to my family: hope ur all ok!! love and miss u!!! mom make logan some mac n cheese in my honor :) take care and God bless!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


love,
hannah joy peterson <3

Ecuador...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKckbnPU75s

Life in Ecuador :)

Hey everybody!!! Im so sorry i have´nt written in forever... just been REAL busy. but ummmmmm we´ve done a lot of things since i´ve written, so ill just start with the beach. my family took me to the beach called Atacames and another called Same. (oh and that´s "SAH-meh" not same haha)it was absolutely gorgeous!! even though i had just gone two weeks prior, i felt the same joy and excitement that i felt the first time when dr. torres took us. the first day was the only one that the sun shined... and i got buried in the sand made to look like a mermaid... don´t even worry about it haha. it was actually really cool!! felipe my 3-year-old nephew here made a really cool swimming "sea" pool. we checked out the beach market looking around then went back to our absolutely gorgeous beachhouse. some friends from the church own it and let us use it for free. its simply AMAZING!!!!!!! haha its so close to the beach that theres just a fence separating you from it! so then the next day i got to get up early and jog on the beach with papi and mami as we went to buy some breakfast at the market. that was VERY neat because it was perfectly chilly but i didnt even mind because i was jogging. then over the next couple of days we just chilled. like, we went to the beach, visited some family there, and spent time together. i definitely made a lot of good memories!! then, that weekend was nathan´s birthday which was really neat. it was ecuadorian of course which basically means dancing dancing dancing haha but it was really cool. i bet nathan will never forget that he had his 17th bday here in ecuador, and he definitely won´t forget the beautiful presents that he received along with the oh so special ones he got from kellie lauren and i.lol well, that was the first week of november, so the second week would have been last week... we had testing all this past week at school, but all is well; they have certain weeks where they just take monthly exams and this past week we did exactly this. then, this friday we celebrated daysi´s bday, but just the four of us went to her house to spend some time together, we had a very nice dinner of fish and beans... nathan´s favorite :) lol that was fun though! and then on saturday, we all worked at the school, because were raising money so we can go to the galapagos... nathan and i taught english while kellie and lauren baby-sat. it was a really cool experience... so cool in fact that i think i might wanna be a teacher someday... but all in good timing :) then today we were invited to go to lauren´s church. so kellie and i got to spend the night at her house, and we put up the christmas tree there. the church was pretty cool... somewhat like a pentacostal church in the u.s. i liked it!! then, they dropped me off where my family was in a city called guamani and we all spent the afternoon with friends from the church. oh and everyone... GUESS WHAT!!!!!!!!

TODAY IS MY MOMMY´S BIRTHDAY!!! it was really sad that i couldn´t be there but i heard that she had a very good time!! love you and miss you guys sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooomuch!!! but ecuador is such a blessing and a great oppurtunity that i wouldn´t trade being here for the world!!

Word of Wisdom:
"In every single thing that you do, show how grateful you are. whether that means grateful for your job, family, food, or maybe only for your life, show thanks and be grateful."

love and miss yall!!!!!!! take care and God bless!! :)

note to my family: hope you all are doing all right!! it was so good to get to talk to all of you!! i hope you know how much that means to me!! have fun, and don´t forget that someone has to make some banana cream pie for thanksgiving... ur just not allowed to call it hannah banana cream pie lol love you and god bless you all tell everyone at church and school i said hi and i miss them!!

take care everybody!!! sure do love you :)

That time that bug got squashed ;)

Ah, another day another dollar. Somehow, I seem to be an English teacher in Ecuador. Its all kinda random how that worked out, but I now teach and assist with English at the Jim Irwin English Institute. Yeah, random I know, but I needed someway to raise money for the Galápagos. Anyways, last Monday was my birthday, November 8th. And, as you can see from the picture, I had a party. It was an interesting party, unlike any birthday party Ive been too, mostly because my face got smashed into a cake, yay. I got some gifts and ate a lot of food, so it was all worth it though. School has been interesting lately. Mostly because I have had more tests than should ever be legal in a given period of time, not to mention the homework. But, I think I have gotten used to all of the homework that I have and the fact that I could have a random test at any given moment in time. So, its a little easier. I got to play paintball this past sunday, which was interesting considering it was pooring down rain and I am in Ecuador. As for the rain, today makes day number five of never ending rain. So its cold and wet. Idk what I am going to do when I get back home and dont have fresh bread and cheese all the time, I have become addicted I think. Today I realized how much I miss Ohio food. And right now all I want are some chili cheese tots from Sonic, weird, but when you crave, you crave... white castle Im doing okay without. Other than that, everything has been going fairly well. No lost limbs or major injuries,so we are all doing okay. I have to go now but I will try not to make it so long until my next post, luckily our neighbors are home a lot more often now ;) Until next time, goodbye and farewell.... oh, and if you are ever in Ecuador, and you order cake, dont be surprised if you are brought a mixture of fried white carrots and cheese covered in sugar... yeah, you know :)

Fun in the Sun and Other Things that have happened!!!!

Well, we all went to the beach this past weekend with Dr. Torres........ it was soooooo fun!!! especially for me because i hadn't been to the beach for almost 8 years!!! the first night we went down to the shore... it was simply breathtaking!! the tide was coming in and we got to feel the cool sand beneath our pigtoes and the water tickled and laughed at us as we all ran full force into it!!! how clear the sky was that night too!!! im almost positive that every single star decided to twinkle timidly and check on us!! we checked out the market and got a feel for what was to come for Saturday. then we all headed back and konked out in the beautiful beach house that Dr. Torres owns. then on saturday, to the market we went... but first it was the supermarket to get some food haha. later we headed to the beach and just played for the longest time enjoying the sea to the fullest... Nathan made a very cute little sandcastle while us girls had fun writing in the sand!! After that, Dr. Torres found a housemaid for the weekend to cook and clean for us. So we all had shrimp and rice for a fun birthday dinner for the gym teahcder that also came because it was his birthday, and later came the deliciioius icecream cake... mmmmm riquisimooooo!! haha then to market we went buying and wondering at all the treasures of the beach market!! that place was sooooooooooooooo cool!! after that, we all had pizza at a beach restaurant (hawaiian... only the best of course) the next day we went to another beach called Atacames and that was super awesome!! we did this thing called "banana" where your attached to a motorboat and on an innertube-like thing shaped like a pencil (which actually looks like a banana for this reason its called banana) and that was one of the most fun times i do believe ive had in quite a long time!! it was such a thrill!!!!!!! the point is to hold on as long as you can until you cant anylonger and have to fall off into the middle of the ocean!!! and believe me they are some CRAZY boat drivers!!! haha well that was last weekend for ya!! then kellie and lauren got pretty sick... we think it was from something that they ate... but anyways we all stayed home at dr torres's house nathan and i staying to take care of the other girls....then on thursday he invited us over AGAIN haha to spend the night so we could go pick up John and Jenny the people from the church there in the US who brought us all the goodies our parents sent us!!!!!!!!!!!! what joy did i have when i saw all those poptarts, twizzlers, and reese's!!! you all dont realize just how much ive missed these everyday treats!! not to mention gum and a "tree" that my 4 year old nephew Logan made me... he said he wanted to sail it to me here in Ecuador haha how cute!!!! so then on friday we took them to the middle of the world and the historic center to show them a little bit of what they'd experience while here in Ecuador... then that night, we stayed once again at dr. torres's house and he took us all back to our houses the next day!!!! what a weekend and week!!! oh yeah, and i get to go to the beach again with my family next weekend because we our on our vacations then!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! well we had crabs today at my aunt's house... which im not gonna lie was definitely interesting... haha but how delicious those crabs were!!!! it was just kind of strange for me to see the whole thing in front of me, when i had to rip it apart to get to the meat... oh and dont even worry about it cause i ate the BRAIN!!!!!!!! haha well ive got school tomorrow so im gonna go but ill write you all soon!!! love and miss you soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooomuch!!

~Word of Wisdom~ God will provide anything and everything you could ever dream of if you just ask with a pure and humble heart!!!

Mommy i hope your doing better were all praying for you!!! Daddy Steve Jenn Logan and Grandma: take good care of my mommy and check on her often!!! oh and Logan im sooooooooooooooo jealous that YOU got to me the other Hanna whose name is Jack!!! haha after 2 years of working at the zoo i still hav'nt got to meet him... but its all good my time to meet Jack Hanna will come............... haha love ya



God Bless You guys (and America)



~Hannah

That time at the beach and the rotten pears...

Ah, Ecuadorian life. Its a life with no time, no worries, and kindness to everyone. Where you eat twelve meals a day, have three years worth of homework every night, and the president calls off 3 days of school for some reason, but i cant complain. Well, anyways, everything is going pretty well for the most part. school is still interesting and difficult, but we are making it through it. we havent had school since tuesday because the president canceled school for the week to teach some protocal to all the teachers across the land, interesting. the funny thing is when you dont have school in ecuador, the teachers give you more homework than is possible for anyone in the world to do. im still confused about that part, but i get confused a lot here. like why 95% of the intersections in this country do not have a stop sign or stoplight but rather rely on people honking as they approach them at 65 miles per hour. its none of my business i guess. so, last weekend we went to the beach with the principal and the gym coach, how interesting that was. we swam and rode on dangerous boats that dump you in the ocean and stayed at a pretty awesome beach house with an amazing view. for the most part the beach was good, there were some interesting people, and as always you get to see people at the beach who should never ever be allowed to wear swimming attire. but, oh well. kellie and lauren ate some "bad" pears, and were sick the whole way home, but they got all of us out of school on monday, so some blessings come in disguise, lol, just kidding. yesterday freddy and i went on a bike ride, that was interesting for a few reason. one, because the traffic here is crazy, two because the dog population equals the people population and the dogs here hate bikes, but that just makes it exciting right. as for the food situation we still eat 24 hours a day... oh you think thats a joke, lol... but, overall everything is going great here, and i think we are all happy and having a good time, but we are at the same time sad because we realize that our journey is half over, but all good things must come to an end. thats all i have time for today, until next time goodbye and farewell, and if you are ever in ecuador and riding horses down the cobblestone streets of an old little town, try not to get hit by cars that come unexpectedly around corners, you might fall off... oh, and try not to get hit by any falling eggs ;)   

hey guys!!!!

hi guys i hope your all doing well because i sure am!!! we all had an amazing weekend with dr. torres!!!! we went horsebackriding TWO DIFFERENT TIMES!!!!!! also we went to an ecuadorian market named Otavalo... its quite popular. not to mention we went on a pedal boat ride and had to some trouble making it back!! haha but i love and miss u all and dont want any of u to worry because were all doing great!!! mommy and daddy i miss u terribly but am having the time of my life in my school church and home!!! thanks so much for giving me this oppurtunity and also thanks God!!! i wouldnt be here without you!!

take care!!!

Word of Wisdom: do everything in your power to do something for someone less fortunate than you... even if it is just sharing a smile :)

Love y'all!!




~Hannah :)

Would You Like Some Cow Foot Stew?

So, if you^ve ever wondered what the hoof and lower leg of a cow tastes like when its boiled down into a stew, just come down here. but dont smell it, because its like a sweaty jr high noy after gym class.... anyways, enough about the wonder soups. i dont have too much time to write because i am in some random internet store because we have no internet at home, darn neighbors. school is going good for the most part, i never thought i would ever learn so many different ways to change and mix elements and to make it even better in spanish. math is fairly easy, although sometimes i wish the teacher spoke english, but i am uaully able to understand. other than that all is well. i am quite amazed at how many ways fruit can blened into juices and i didnt realize how many fruits there were in the world until ive had a different everyday after school since ive been here... well, thats all the time i really have for now, but i just wanted to drop in with an update and let you know everything is okay. the whole president situation has been all but swept under the rug because i ahevnt heard anything about it in a while. we are all safe and healthy and doing well. until next time, good bye and farewell... Chao desde Ecuador...

It's All Good!!!!!!!!!!!

Hey guys!! i know that some of you might be quite worried about us, but everything is fine now. today, michelle went to the dentist like normal, and Papi and Naty and i all went to the mall. yesterday, we couldn't do that with the assurance of security because all the police were surrounding the President, and not out and about doing there job. but now were perfectly fine:) i hope you all are having a great time there and i miss you all. we are grateful for all the prayers. our God is an Awesome God!! he and he alone is our fortress and he was the one who kept us safe!!

~Word of Wisdom~ Remember that whether you are near or far, God is with you no matter where you are!!!!!!!!!!!!

Love and miss u all

take care

~ Hannah :)

P.S. Mommy im praying for you and so is my family here :) sure do love you <3>

*Peterson's and Bryant's: please take care of my mommy while she is in recovery because i cant be there to do my job as a daughter :(

Dios les bendiga (God bless you)

The day the president died...well almost

So today was a very interesting day indeed. it started out very normally, just like every other day in ecuador... get up at 5:30 get dressed and take a bus to the hardest school ever.well let me start by saying that last night my family and i went to downtown quito, and visited a bunch of old churches, building, and the then finally the presidents house. all of this is about 20 minutes or so away from my house. so anyways... today i went to school. and did some homework, and ate some peach yogurt with cornflakes in it, and then some bread that had a flavor but idk what it was... so we did that and then it was about 11am and my ecuadorian mother came into the courtyard of the school and called me over to her. it took me a while to get what she was trying to tell me but i knew it was something about police and problems and the government... well, heres the story... so today the president of ecuador passed a bill that lowered the pay of the police force and declined bonuses to them. heres the thing... ecuador has one police force in the entire country,  the ecuadorian national police. well it might not be a good idea to lower the pay of every police officer in the country at one time, but thats beside the point. also the president is not a very popular guy to begin with. so the police everywhere totally shut down and the police in quito blocked off the downtown, shutdown traffic, and attacked the president. and what do rebellious people do when their are no police, they riot and steal things. so the president who was already injured from a surgery last week, apparently got in the way of a gas bomb that was thrown during the battle between the police and the military. when confronted he ripped off his tie and shouted, if you want to kill me, kill me. so he was taken to the hospital. a few hours a go we got to watch a major battle go down when the police and rioters bombed the hospital and raided it in an attempt to assasinate the president. they failed and the military managed to resue the president and take him back to the palace. where he stood in front of thousands of flag waving people and gave a speech on the importance of democracy. all of this went down about 20-30 or so minutes away from where we are. so yeah, that was my day. i watched the entire layout of a possible overthrow of the government of the country of ecuador. this is only a fraction of the events and things i saw today, but the rest will just ahve to go down in the story books. but we are all safe and everything is relatively under control. theres most likely no school tomorrow because well people tried to kill the president today. everything is still in pretty much chaos because this was less than a good experience. thepresident is currently being interviewed and talking and shaking his fist. so who knows what will happen in the future. but all of us are safe and sound and unharmed, but we definitely have a story to tell. on the good side, i got a 19 out of 20 on my first mathematic analysis test... you know... 

Hi everybody!!!!

Hey everyone!!! i love and miss you all!!!! but this weekend was very fun!!! on friday we went to the city market that had clothes, food, and all kinds of other things. on saturday we all cleaned, and later we got to go to the park!!! that was very cool!!! we rode through something like a river with boats that you had to pedal like a bike and let me tell you that was some very good excercise!!! after that, we all went to check out the styles of dresses for michelle's wedding then later we had discipleship which God really showed up at and after that we went to a "Pijamada" (pajama party) but unfortunately, i was so tired that i slept through the whole thing!! and today, papi spoke in church about the book of 1 Samuel and it was a very special message. tomorrow he is leaving for another trip to another city to minister to the less fortunate :) i have quite a bit of math homework which is not exactly what i would call "easy" but nontheless, God is with me yet and guiding me all the way!!! i love and miss you all and hope that things are going well with all of you!!

~Word of Wisdom~ be willing to try new things, daring to do the impossible, and love others as if Jesus were right beside you the whole day!!

God Bless,

Hannah

P.S. mommy and daddy i hope you get all your "house" jobs done and please don't worry tooooooooooooooooooooooo much about me because i love my family and am very content here.

I love and miss you all!!!!!

hi everyone!!!!!!!!!!! just wanted to let you all know that i am having a wonderful time here and everything is awesome!! school is much different, especially when it comes to homework, but its good to experience different things... it is how we learn. the church is amazing too and i already have become a part of the family there as well. i am taking the school bus every morning and evening now, and its very nice because in the mornings, my mom accompanies me and in the afternoon, i ride alone with the other kids on the bus. i am so grateful to be here and i don't want ANY of you to worry about anything because God is providing everything that we all need.

~Word of Wisdom~ look up to the hills and seek the face of the Lord, because he always listens even when you think he can't hear you, and he will fill the desires of your heart. amen.

P.S. i miss and love you mommy daddy steve jenn logan and grandma!!!!! and of course everyone else :)

Deep fried plantains are chévere

Ah Ecuador, land of mountains, jungles, beaches, and so much more.... not to mention amazingly chévere(awesome for you back in the home land) deep fried sweet bananas. i didnt realize how much i missed fried food until i took my first bite of said deliciousity. i miss a lot of things and a lot of people, but every morning on my way to school when i get to see cotopaxi, the amazing snow covered volcano, i remember why i am here and thank God so much for the opportunity. oh jim irwin, you are an interesting place for sure... with your air raid siren for a bell and random rooms fit into every place that a wall could be constructed. but besides your faults i must admit you are a pretty good place. especially considering your teachers great students with the national hand shake slash fist bump which the entire country of Ecuador seems to know. whereas i am learning chemistry entirely in spanish, i think i like it, and can actually understand what is going on. like kellie said, we do get stared at a lot... like all the time. i mean i do stand out considering i am the tall pasty white kid with blond hair, although i must say i am working on darkening up a bit... which is not hard to do here. but so far everything is going well and i have learned so much spanish already its amazing. school here is literaly 30 times harder than what i am used to, and i think  to myself constantly how in the world does anybody stand to work this hard every year for their entire school career. and then i realize that the reason math and science here are so important is because in order to make something of yourself you kinda need to be good in one of those areas, and let me tell you that even the lesser of people here are amazing in those areas. it makes me realize how priviledged i am to live in the US, and i wish everybody there understood how lucky they are to be able to learn so many different things in school and be able to do so much, rather than complain all the time. the people here dont complain very much and are extremely nice... a lesson i think we all need to learn. i mean even if you get cut off in traffic here, which happens every 30 seconds you are in a car, people dont get angry, they just keep on going. and i am still eating more than should ever be consumed by a person in one day... meal after meal after meal, and then fruit between meals, and bread between meals, and so many other things.... not that the food is bad, but man there sure is a lot of it... ah, i almost forgot... this past weekend we all went to mindo which is a  city in ecuador, where we did 12 ziplines through the jungle... im not going to lie when i say that it was amazing, because well it was pretty fantastic. althougbn i almost hit aa tree and the line that bounces does less than honorable things to men, i enjoyed the whole experience emensely... then afterword we went white water tubing in the rockiest coldest water i have ever been in, but it was pretty amazing too. i also seem to have fallen in love with this beverage that appears to be a mix between rice pudding and egg nog... idk but its pretty tasty. well, thats all for now, but please keep reading. until next time, goodbye and farewell.... oh, and if you are ever in ecuador, get on the bus quickly, because if you dont, you might be in trouble... the bus waits for no one

Thank you Kique!

Sorry about the lack of posts lately...we have all been pretty busy, and stressed. Plus, Nathan only has internet when Freddy's neighbors are home hahaha and Lauren is having computer problems. But as all of you probably know Kique and Sierra left Sunday morning...yeah, there was a lot of tears. All of us miss him terribly, he was our comfort zone and like a dad to us all. I think when he left, it hit us how real this whole thing is. Kique, thank you so much for everything you did to get us here. Seriously, the only reason we are here is because of you. I dont know how we can ever repay you! You have done so much for us and not having you here has sucked, but we know it will be for the best...we need to grow up ;) We love you!!!

Alright, so as for what has been going on these few silent days. School has been really confusing and we have all been extremely overwhelmed. Time and organiztion really doesnt mean much here and us FCA kids arent really used to that. The first week we were all put in classes that werent what we needed, this REALLY stressed us out. Actually, Hannah has been fine this whole time, she has been in the classes she needs. As for Nathan, Lauren and I this past week we havent had classes, which has been amazing! haha. Dr.Torress and Kique needed this week to sort out what classes we needed, so the four of us have been staying in the teachers lounge and learning spanish all day. I have learned more spanish the past three days then I have in my entire life. Each day is getting better. School starting kinda stunned us all and set us back a bit, but we are starting to get back on track. We all knew this would be hard. At Jim Irwin its like we are famous. We get followed, stared at and talked to every second lol. The teachers are awesome! They are SO helpful and make us feel welcome. Dr.Torress is also amazing, but that is just a given lol. This country is an incredible place! The cuture and people are so great. Its just school and the language barrier that is presenting a challenge. But for me personally, I have grown so much already. My relationship with God is insanly strong, stronger than ever before. Also, my independence continues to grow but at the same time Nathan, Lauren, Hannah and I are SO close now...we're like siblings lol.

I miss my school and my class A LOT though. I realized I seriously have the best class in the world at home. I miss my family and bestfriends too. Its hard to vent to people who dont speak your language...so Im in desparate need of that. But that is what God is for, so its all good :) I also realized how incredibly fourtunate I am to live in the U.S. and speak english. It was weird on September 11th here, not a single word was said about it and no one here really gets it. But overall, I am really happy. I think the stress and confusion is just something that will go away with time...I mean it has only been 2 weeks haha. God has crazy awesome plans for all four of us here and I just get wait to fulfill them! I love and miss you all and hopefully I'll be able to write again soon.

So, Ecuador is awesome... no AMAZING!!!

Hi everybody!! So today was great because it was the second day of classes and I had my 2 favorites today: Biology and Anatomy... both for 2 hours each!!! Lets just say that I was basically in heaven. haha. Also today we went to a place where we could get some very important papers for Michelle. And you all will never guess what was on TV--- America's Funniest Home Videos (which might I add were HILARIOUS) and it reminded me of my family and friends which sort of made me sad... But after this, we all went to a Science Museum for free because one of Michelle's friends works there and gave us an awesome tour!!!! we got to see many interesting things, and once i figure out just how to send pictures i definitely WILL!!! Ohhhhhhh!!!!!!!! I forgot to mention that my mom here in Ecuador totally braided my hair... beautifully!! I just love this place, the school and am eternally grateful for this AMAZING opportunity to come here!! And Mommy, please dont worry because I promise every night we do our devo's and we pray. I also get to be involved in like 3 worship bands which is quite chevre (or cool in English) and actually that is exactly where I'm going very soon. So, never forget how much I love you all and miss you alot. Oh, and a word of wisdom for the day:

Remember that you are blessed to live in America and consider it a privelege. Don't forget to laugh often love much and LIVE WELL

I miss and love you all but I can say with a peace very deep down in my heart that you don't have to worry because I am VERY content here and I do believe that someday if it is the Lord's will I am definitely coming back here. This place is so beautiful and sooooo nice that I'm pretty sure that I will have quite a hard time leaving this gorgeous country.

P.S.

the culture is sooooooo different here and I think that the USA should take after the hospitality, love, and respect that Ecuador has. Seriously.

School is Hard.....

That is my post, enough said  

Immigration, mathematics and cuchuchos... oh my!

Hello again! Nathan finally showed me how to create my own entries without bugging him for his password. First a cell-phone, now I'm blogging... who knows, maybe next I'll try SKYPE... wait... I've done that to! This trip has been very educational for me so far:) This morning I spent hours with some of the maestros at the colegio and we discussed scheduling and class placement. The educational system is much different, which makes it complicated, but every day I feel like I'm making progress. Today I picked up the passports from immigration and our next step is to register with the census bureau so each student will receive a cédula. (An international student id). Most of the students have uniforms and things seem to be falling into place. The students took a placement exam today to find out what information they needed to review before tackling their courses. Until today, I never knew how awesome Mr. Garrett was. Numerous times throughout the exam there were requests for his presence. Kellie even saved a seat for him just in case he decided to catch a flight. Thanks Mr. Garrett for all you do with these kids! There hasn't been much down time for any of us. It's been exciting, but also tiring. Sierra started school yesterday and she is about a foot taller than everyone in her class. She has been having a blast playing with dogs, cats, monkeys, cuchuchos, rabbits and any other kind of animal she can find. By the way, a cuchucho is some kind of wild animal with a long striped tail (maybe a lemur). It was running around in the woods when we were at the zoo. When it approached Sierra she bent down to pet it and it rolled over for a belly rub. After that, it followed her the entire time. Oh, and Sierra bought a llama the other day... not a big deal! Have a great day!

Kique

oh dinner was so delicious... what? its snack time... im pretty sure we just ate

Dont get me wrong, the food here is impressively delicious, and extremely healthy, we even have real chocolate... but with all good things, there is usually a downside... and that would be that we seriously eat all the time....all the time... all the time. i really dont know how they do it, but if you have an ecuadorian student in your house right now... you seriously need to give them food all the time... like for reals, because they are probably super hungry. so give them food, they will be very happy. the food is a little different but its still good... my body is not sure what to do about all the fresh food, but i love fruit, so its all good. lol. but enough about food,.. i have previously mentioned a little bit about the driving... ah, the driving... ill give ecuador credit because i have not seen a single accident and they are very good at driving... but it is not normal for somoeone from ohio... you see, those lines in the road, the single, double, and dotted lines, they mean absolutely nothing... nothing at all. and people dont get angry either... they just honk their horn and drive on by, no screaming, no flying fingers, no nothing... its all done with style. its not unusual to see cars four wide driving down a two lane highway, in fact if you dont see that, consider it a rarity. in fact, the middle line is a road of its own, but i would try it in the us, you will get arrested and probably wreck... but if you plan on every driving in ecuador.. id suggest entering yourself in a demolition derby for practice, if you get hit... you might want to stick to a taxi. .... enough about driving... quito is an amazing city... especially at night, considering the city has 3 million people...  you can imagine the lights that stretch for miles, sorry, kilometers in each direction through the shadows of the mountais and volcanos.. yeah, the volcanos are pretty amazing here, im not gonna lie... i have gotten to see several of them throughout the country, and each one of them is more beautiful than the next. in fact, all of the mountains here are super magnificant. i have taken so many pictures, and you cant take a bad one, it is not possibly with Gods amazing craftsmanship... but with all of these things i miss home too, my family friends, and everyone... and even the food... today while we were waiting to get our visas approved by the ministry of imigration, the four of us bought pringles, oreos, and candy bars... all legitimate... i didnt realize how much i loved pringles and oreos... but apparently i love them a lot, lol... well, thats all for now... so until next time, goodbye and farewell.... oh, and if you ever come to ecuador, the coffee here is amazing... and i hate coffee

Amazing, amazing, amazing!

Once again I find myself in one of the most beautiful countries I{ve ever visited.  The people here continue to amaze me, which you may have guessed by the title of this blog.  I am staying with Freddys family and Sierra and I have our own 2 bedroom apartment.  As we were moving in our things, I realized that Freddys sister and son moved out of the apartment and in with the grandparents just so we would have a place to stay while we are here!  We have spent an average of over 10 hours a day travelling and the sights have been amazing.  One of the highlights was eating the worms.  For those of you who think, hey, no big deal, I{ve eaten worms before when I was a kid, please watch the movie Charlie and the Chocolate Factory to get a good picture of what these beasts actually look like.  Youll find them in the part of the movie where Willy Wonka is eating with the oompaloompa chief.  Anyway, I{ve gained 5 pounds since I arrived and its time to eat, so I better go.  Nathan, Kellie, Lauren and Hannah are having a blast and are truly enjoying this country and are representing FCA very well.  Nathan looks very sharp, get it, in his nice red sweater vest uniform!  I{ll be back in a week but I must say that I could easily stay here the entire 4 and a half months with the kids.... If only Katie and my other munchkins were here!  Hasta pronto!


Señor Wentz, or Kique as Im known to the natives!

¡Hace frio!

Well I just got done typing out this nice, long blog post and then Daysi's computer decided to shut off...awesome. Haha so now I'm just gonna type a shorter less imformative one :). So far my Ecuador experience has been all that I hoped it would be, I absolutly love it here! The people are insanly nice, I like their culture better than mine lol. One thing though is it is suprising cold here, like freezing actually lol. I have had to wear long sleaves and a sweat shirt everyday, haha. Daysi and I are becoming best of friends and I love it! And same goes for Nathan, Lauren and Hannah...all our families are treating us as part of the family, for real! I look forward to eating here lol the food is delicious, even though we eat like 5 meals a day. Nathan doesn't agree with me about the food though, but that is only because he has been so lucky as to try all the "native" food hehe, what I eat is normal and really really fresh! I have gotten to go a lot of places already like; the ecuator (which is at a place called Mitad del Mundo), a volcano that I forget the name of, a church monument so high up I got light headed, the mountains and downtown Quito. Each place was incredible! So far it has seemed like a vacation and it's been smooth-sailin', but school starts Wednesday and I know that is going to change everything. I'm excited for school though and eager eager eager to learn as much spanish as possible! Tonight all us U.S. kids and Kique are having dinner with the families of the Ecuador kids in Lancaster right now, so I'm excited for that too :). Mk well I'm going to go hang with Daysi. I miss and love all you guys! Adios.

Ecuador cant handle my shoe size

well today i got my uniform for school... its pretty amazing, considering i love sweater vests... but it seems not too many Equadorians are 6 ft tall and have size 47.5 shoes...13 for those of you who still use the US shoe measuring scale... so that was an adventure trying to find one that fit, luckily i brought black pants and shoes because we would have had to scavange the entire country for those, haha... but anyways, i am having an amazing time, and so are kellie, hannah, and lauren, although they dont seem to want to post anything, lol... pretty much Ecuador is amazing and the people are the nicest of anywhere i have ever been. youd think i was an actual member of every family here... you cant beat that. well, thats all i have time for for now... so until next time, goodbye and farewell... oh, and if you are ever in Ecuador, dont be afriad to drink the orange juice... it is quite amazing

1 meal, 2 meals, 3 meals, 4... oh, and dont throw rocks at the crocodile

Ah, another day in ecuador. again you are going to have to forgive me but i cant type very well and still use this spanish keyboard that was sold in canada made from parts manufactured in china... so anyways.. the title of this post says a lot. because you see, since ive been here i have eaten enough food to hold me over until june. dont believe me, well its true. we eat a lot over here. and to explain that statement, two nights ago, or should i say yesterday morning i ate dinner at twelve thirty in the am... ah, the stomach pain, lol. and i have just been informed that we are about to eat dinner. if my memory serves me correct i just ate about 2 hours ago... ayayay... anyways.. so we left quito tuesday afternoon like i said and since then i have seen many amazing things. the mountains are fantastic and until you have seen them you cant quite realize how amazing they are. yesterday we went to the top of some mountain to view a snow tipped volcano, which was pretty cool. today i saw a triple waterfall, oh and i ate some slug like worms... not gonna recommend those to you, they were less than delicious and chewy to say the least. just a few hours ago we swam in some pools of naturally heated water, which felt very good considering it was about 40 degress or less in the mountains. and then we ate which was pretty good actually, but thinking of that makes me realize that i am going to be eating again here soon. well, i have to go eat, so i will talk to you all later.  feel free to pass the blog along, and until until next, goodbye and farewell.... oh and if you are ever in ecuador, visit latacunga, you cant walk 10 steps in that town without finding an ice cream shop... in my 16 years of life i have not seen a third of the number of ice cream shops that i saw in 15 minutes, it was pretty astounding 

So.Much.Spanish.

Welp, the second I looked out the window on the plane and saw the breath-taking mountains...it hit me. We did it, we were finally here! (btw Nathan, i found the exclamation point hehe). However it did take me about 15min to figure out how to log into Blogger, since everything is in Spanish lol. But anyways, I already am in love with Ecuador, it is gorgeous...well the mountains are anyway ha. Except everytime I get in the car, I feel I´m going to die (sorry moms, that probably doesn´t help things) because the driving is CRAZY. In order for us to get to the market, we have to make at least 3 U-turns...and there is constant traffic, pedestrian and vehichle traffic. The city and the streets look exactly how I pictured them. Stone streets and walk-ways, muti-colored buildings, fruit stands and small kiosks on every corner...and a really sad thing that I hate is many, many, stray, doggies :( They´re everywhere, searching for food...es muy triste! My house here is bright orange, and very nice! It has a big backyard and they have lots of chickens, 2 ducks, 2 rabbits and 3 dogs. One of the dogs just had 5 puppies ten days ago! It is very exciting lol. I have my own room with and adorable pink bed spread that they bought just for me (because I told Daysi my favorite color was pink)! The family is more than I could ask for, they are SO loving and gift giving! They just keep giving me gifts and it makes me feel bad! lol. Jorge, the father, is the best! He always smiles and makes sure I´m okay. The mother (whom I forget the name of at the moment :/) is also amazing! She makes delicious food and always trys to give me more more more lol I love her. Then there is Carla and Andres, Carla is 20 and Andres is 10. Carla is awesome, she is gorgeous and super welcoming, she always makes sure I´m in the loop (she and Daysi are the only ones who speak any english) she is hilarious and super small, shes not even 5 feet tall haha. She actually just came up to me and was like "Uhh, i dont want this shirt...you have it." and layed it on my lap, hahaa like I said she´s awesome. Andre, I think is really confused by me lol he speaks NO english and just stares at me like I´m crazy lol...but he constantly gives me things and smiles at me, he trys to talk to me but it only last like 2 min haha. And then there is Daysi, who most of you know or know of, I don´t know what I would do if she wasn´t here. She lets me know whats going on and translates, plus she keeps me company and doesn´t make it awkward lol This family is incradible, they are all really close to eachother and very loving...I´ve been here less than 48hrs and I already feel like part of the family. I´m so excited for the rest of this experience, I´m a truly blessed 16 year old :) Well, I´ll be sure to continue updating but now I´m gonna go watch some spanish tv :)
Hasta luego.

WE ARE HERE

Well, we are here, as you can tell by the title of this post, which would have an exclamation point, but i cant seem to find it on a spanish keyboard, how sad. Also every word i am typing has a red squiggle underneath of it because it thinks i am spelling everything wrong. but that doesnt matter because like i said, we have arrived in quito ecuador. the mountains here as so beautiful and idk how anybody navigates the streets here because they all look the same. today is tuesday and apparently that means the open street market which is so different from anything i have seem in ohio or anywhere else for that matter. basically this place can be summed up into one word, different. but different is amazing and if you want an example of that, feel free to come join us. i went to the school i will be attending for the first time today, its blue and yellow walls make me feel like a traitor to my native land, but i will adjust, because when school starts the last thing i will be thinking about is the color of the walls. the medina family is amazing too and i have eaten many interesting things so far. this morning i drank half a glass of juice before i realized it was tomatoe juice, i dont like tomatoes period unless they are in ketchup so lets just say i was pretty amazed. oh, and the tomatoes grow on tress here. a little different, but i guess that makes them taste better. lol. last night when we arrived i gave so many hugs and to people i had absolutely no idea who they were, and still some of them i dont. we then ate pizze, which was unique but i think it may have caught on in my system, well see i guess. also if you have noticed all the typos then please forgive me because i am trying my best to even space the words let alone give them capital letters or punctuation. I am about to head out to somewhere, i dont really know where but im sure it will be exciting, ah, i guess it is the beach, and who knows were else. so please if you havent started to follow us yet, go ahead and do so now, and feel free to pass the blog along. until next time... farewell and goodbye.... oh, and if you are ever in ecuador, feel free to put the brown sugar in your glass of warm milk, it is quite delicious, and no one will think a thing about it

The Time Is Upon Us...

Well, the day has finally arrived. In a few hours the four of us accompanied by Señor Wentz and Mrs. Debbi Peterson will be awaking as we begin our long journey to the Equator. It seems like just yesterday I began the 200 and some odd day countdown to our adventure, and yet here we are, the night before departure. We will miss all of you... family, friends, and even all the rest of you, lol :) Our last few weeks of goodbyes here have been nice and I'm sure we will all be eagerly awaiting our return to see you gain. So, after saying my last few farewells, and enjoying a last American meal of homemade noodles and mashed potatoes (compliments to my Nana) I believe I am ready to set out and accept the challenge, I just have to convince my uneasy stomach to feel the same way... 

The Day Is Closing In...

Hello to those of you who shall check in often, and to those of you who won't but really will because you are pretending remember... Well, we leave this Monday for Quito, Ecuador by way of Miami Florida. I'm sure I speak for all of us when I say that we are very nervous, but at the same time very excited. Please keep in touch and hopefully we will be able to check in and post here often. Hasta Luego :)