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 :)