Ecuador- Ferret cam, clinics, family dinners,and antibiotics.

6-20




How do I sum up the last week of Ecuador?
It all is sort of a blur.
It was my first time working in a clinic setting.
I found myself running around like a ferret.
Since I had been there for 2 weeks already and knew the area, and Jen, and the translators, and the people of Nigeria it was expected that I knew what was going on all the time.
The good thing is that by some miracle, I did know what was going on most of the time.
The funniest thing to me was when a team member would come up to me for something and the first thing they would ask me is if I was translating at that exact moment. haha
Me translating? Muy chistoso!
Thanks to my training I also found myself able to work every part of the clinic.
One moment I would be at the check in table using my broken Spanish to tell people to sign there name here, and write their age in another place.  The next moment I am being rushed  over to listen to some child with a heart murmur. Then I am checking spines. Then someone would get my attention to do a urine analysis, then I would look over and there was no one taking BP's so I would go take a BP on probably 30 people back to back

.
I loved it! My brain works so much better when it is forced to think about alot of things all at once. If I have to try and learn Spanish while doing a urine sample, and answer a persons question about which meds we had on hand, then I am a very happy person.

I joked with Ashley, who was in Pharmacy, about needing to strap a camera to my head that we could call "the ferret cam".

Though I was running around like a crazy person, my tummy was bothering me a bit. I would have to take breaks from time to time and just sit and focus on breathing through the pain.

I told Jen about this and she kept checking up on me, but I assured her that I Was fine.
 By the second night of Clinic I went to bed as soon as we got back to the hotel and didn't care that it was 5pm and I would be missing dinner.

 That next day I felt a bit better and still managed to scurry around the clinic at anyone's beckoning call.
The things I saw and learned were amazing.
I got to work with some brilliant Doctors and Nurses.
There was also this really good-looking translator that I got to work with from time to time.

After Clinic on the Wed. night, Jen, Andres, one of the other translators (his name escapes me) and I got dropped off by the yogurt place. We met up with Erick and ate yogurt and talked and laughed.
We had really gotten comfortable with each other and enjoyed each others company so much.
 The boys joked about some handkerchief trick that they somehow all knew despite not growing up together. Maybe it was one of those things that all Ecuadorian boys learn at some point. It was some way of folding the handkercheif so that it ended up as a bra. They got so excited when they realized that they all knew this trick. They then went on to try and remember it. When they could not remember it, they went and asked the guy working at the yogurt place in hopes that he would know. Sadly we did not get to see this trick played out that night.  BUT WE DID GET TO SEE IT A DAY LATER!!! SO FUNNY!!!

We then walked to the church that we had called home for 2 weeks.
It was the mid-week service. We were really wanting some Jesus time, and we were also excited to see our friends again.

Andres also told me that I would meet his family at church.
I had spent all day working in Nigeria and sweating, and I no doubt looked and smelt terrible, but meet them I must.
AFter the service he took me to where his parents were and introduced me.
He had not yet told his family that he had a girlfriend, so shock was expected. Rather than shock, his Mom was just like "I know she is your girlfriend.".
She then proceeds to hug and kiss me and welcome me to the family. She then go on to speak blessings over me and Andres and our entire relationship. Then his Dad hugs and kisses me and all the while I am being told that they love me and about how excited they were. AS this is going on I look over at Andres who is rocking back and forth onto his toes like a very well pleased little boy at seeing his family except me so warmly.
I was then invited to dinner for the following night at his house.
I then said good bye to the family with more hugs and kisses.

We then go outside and are talking with so many familiar faces.
They are  asking me about when I leave, and what I am going to do when I got back.
I told them that I had no idea. I had no house, no family there (aside from my sister in another state) and no job. My heart was so alive and in love with Ecuador that I didn't even want to think about going back to the States.
They then said that they should pray for me.
They called over everyone who was outside, interrupting and breaking up  other peoples conversations, and my story was relayed to all of them.
It was a group of probably 20 young people that looked at me with the most caring and sincere faces. They then gathered around me and prayed for me in Spanish. It was such a great feeling to have these people care so deeply and honestly about a person they hardly knew.

That is how churches and people who love Jesus should act every day of their lives.
Once they finished praying for me, they looked at Jen and said "ok, Jen's turn!".

We walked back to the Hotel with Andres and Marcel feeling all the beauty of this place and the whole night.


The next day was our last day of clinic.
I had awoken with a terrible stomach ache still, but now it was worse. Jen gave me a course of antibiotics to start taking. I took the morning dose and went off to clinic.
When I arrived I was just too sick to really do anything right away. The women there were so worried about me when they learned that I was sick. They began to assess my health and think of ways to help me. They decided that I needed tea. One woman also offered to let me go rest at her house. I decided to stay at the church so I could do some more work If I felt better. A cot was set up for me in a back room and I lay there and snoozed for a few hours.

As I lay there on this cot I took in my surroundings. I lay in a cement room, with barred windows that contained no glass,  the yard outside was like a swamp due to all the flooding. The nearest bathroom was not only at the day care down the street but the toilets also had to be manually flushed. I smelt all the time now, and my sandals were coated with as much dog poo as mud. As I took it all in I realized how happy I was. "I could spend the rest of my life in a place like this; doing this sort of work. Loving these people, and learning from them" I thought.
As I am thinking this, a figure appears in the doorway. It is some good looking Latino boy who begins to ask if I am feeling better. He then walks over to my cot and starts preparing the tea and hot water that the local woman had sent over. He tells me how worried he is about me, and that he wished he could do more to help me. Then he gives me his cell phone to play games on if I got bored.
  He then had to go back and translate.
 I then thought about how my mom always asked me if I was "over-romanticizing" this whole mission medic thing. I am not a romantic person naturally, so that question struck me as odd. Then I thought to myself, "Over-romanticizing???? I don't think I romanticized it enough!".

I did feel well enough after a little while, that I was able to go back to analyzing urine, and doing glucose readings and all that stuff.
This was the last day of clinic. It was a hard day for me.
I cried when I had to say goodbye to the women there in Nigeria.
(I am crying just remembering it now)
All of those beautiful people that shared their lives with me while I was there.
The thought that this was our last day in Nigeria was so upsetting.

I hope you didn't forget about dinner with Andres's family though.
Though I had to say goodbye to Nigeria for the time being, I had a family to spend the evening with.
We arrived at Andres's house after a long ride on a crowded bus.
We were greeted so warmly by his mom.
She told me right away "Mi casa es su casa!".
Great!
We sat down and talked for a while. It was really funny because at this point I was understanding quite a bit of Spanish, and his mom speaks some English, and understands some English.
So it was a conversation between two Spanglish speaking women with the occasional look over at Andres to translate for us. haha

Some really incredible things happened this night. I just don't know how to explain it through typing, and I am being a little selfish in not wanting to type it. I would tell you in person, but not on my blog.
We did have a wonderful dinner.  After dinner I hooked my camera up to their computer and showed them photos of my family  from when I was in Dubai the month before.

Andres's parents drove me to the hotel after dinner, and again I felt the saddness of knowing that I would not see these people for a while.
I was leaving the next day to go back to Los Estados Unidos.

I took my second antibiotic and went to bed.
I woke up the next morning with a swollen left eye.
Aparently I am allergic to Cipro.
Good thing the reaction was mild and left me with only swollen eyes.
A bit of panic set in though when I looked at my swollen eye, and then at the clock and realized that I was supposed to meet Andres downstairs in 30 minutes!!!

I held my puffy-eyed head up proudly as I walked down to the lobby. haha

Jen wanted to pray for Andres and I this morning.
We walked to the Iguana park and talked with Jen.
Then there was yogurt to drink, and pan de yuka to eat and some tango dancing to learn before heading back to the hotel and then on to the airport.

It didn't feel real to be loading into a van that would be taking me to the airport. To think that It was all ending.

I didn't cry though. I was strong even though the flight back was filled with frustrations and problems.
There were many times that I almost turned around and went back to Ecuador.
Maybe I will talk about the flight back later, but I am sure that everyone is getting sick of my airport drama stories. I am sick of living them. haha

Ecuador- Finally back in Nigeria, Iguanas, and bagged juice

6-19
  

LOVE MY LIFE!
I woke up at 7:30 this morning and went downstairs for breakfast. I sat at a table with Jen, Paul, Jim, and Bennie. (If the new names confuse you alittle, then you know what I was feeling when I sat at the table and didn't know the people around me.)
Bennie we met right away at the airport, day one. He is a Vineyard missionary Pastor in Quito who was helping to coordinate the clinic during this last week and also translate. He had flown in the night before when the big team arrived. He also brought along his teenage daughter and two of her friends to translate.

This breakfast was like any breakfast you would have in the states, except that there were foods that you would not see at a hotel in the states. Rice and plantains for breakfast along with so many different kinds of juice. The table talk was very American though, because we were all Americans at this table, of course.
After breakfast we were to go to Nigeria for church. We had not been to Nigeria in a few days so you could imagine my excitement to be going back.
We all loaded into the vans and I began talking excitedly with those sitting by me. I didn't know them, but I just could not hold back my excitement just because I didn't know these people.
I figured they had best know I am crazy right away.
I started asking people if they were excited to go to Nigeria, because they really should be. I was smiling all big and talking about how great of a place it is, and how much I love it and all the people there. I thought my heart was going to explode with excitement.
The people around me didn't really know how to react to my excitement.
We arrived at the church in Nigeria and I was beyond excited.
It was a breath of fresh air to see all the familiar beautiful faces. TO hug and kiss all these people that I had come to know and love over the last 2 weeks.  Juan Carlos and Byron were leading worship. Andres was also there holding this little boy named Jeremy who we all thought was the cutest thing ever.

One of the local ladies there gave the sermon and Josue (sp?) translated.  I just wish I could explain to you how beautiful this church and these people are. After the service ended, while the big group was standing around trying to figure out how to respond to this new place I went to the front of the church by Andres and Juan Carlos and Byron. They played the guitar and we all sang together just for fun.
Then Bennie came up also and joined along with us.
Only in Nigeria would this timida (shy) girl just walk up to these friends I had just met a few days before and sing with them and in Spanish even.

The group then went to lunch after church. The place we went to eat was just a room with tables and chairs and a small bar area. After we got there people arrived in cars and started to unload food from the trunks of their cars. They served us some rice, beans,and meat of sorts. I had been spoiled the weeks before with amazing home made cooking so this meal was not nearly as good as what I had been used to.  We were also given some mystery jugo (juice) that was in a little sandwich bag. We had to bite a hole in the bag and then figure out how to pour the juice into our cups without making a terrible mess. Andres said that he didn't trust the juice because it was given to us out of baggies, but I am a stupid, brave girl and figured "hey, I have been eating whatever I want since getting here and have not been sick. What harm can some juice do?".  Oh how I hate myself for thinking that.
After lunch we headed back into Nigeria with the plan to go door to door and hand out fliers advertising for the clinic. Pastor Caluca thought this was a bad idea because people around Nigeria had just started drinking and it probably was not the safest idea.  So instead we prepared the pharmacy. We bagged medicines.  SO MANY VITAMINS AND BAGS OF IBUPROFEN. 
We left Nigeria after setting up for the clinic.
We had a few hours of free-time before heading our to dinner.
I wanted to go see the Iguana park and maybe parts of the Malecon again, so I brought Andres along, you know just so I would have a body guard and translator. ha!
We may have lost track of time a little bit and arrived back to the hotel to find everyone already loaded in the vans and waiting. I felt TERRIBLE!
About half way through dinner I began to feel the effects of that bagged juice ( or something I should not have eaten) on my body.
I hardly remember the rest of the night.

*this is the last entry in my journal. From this point on I will try to summarize the last week. It will not be a day-by-day, but it should still be a good time.*

Ecuador- As the room in my journal is ending, a new chapter is starting.

This post will be packed with photos.

6-18

This morning we were up and packed and heading out the door by 6am. Somehow I managed to wake up and be pleasant. We walked outside and Andres and Efren were ready and waiting.  We squeezed into Efren's car and picked up Eric. The plan for the day was to drive along the coast. Jen and I had no idea what to expect. Somewhere in my mind I was imagining myself dripping sweat as I stumbled through the rain-forest all the while swatting a flies and wishing I had brought bug spray with me.

 We began driving up the coast and made our first stop at a little breakfast place with outside seating. It was beautiful.

We sat around eating our breakfast of plantains mixed with cheese and bacon. Eric began reminiscing (in Spanish) with his best friend Efren and began laughing so hard that he was crying.

Eric is usually the more analytical, logical, careful, and more serious sort of person, so to see him let his guard down and laugh that hard was so great. Then we headed on up the coast and stopped at our first beach of the day.

It was absolutely breath taking.

The beach was deserted of people. There was only us and a couple hundred sand crabs running around.

Jen and I excitingly ran along the beach with giant smiles on our faces.

We spent some time taking in all the beauty of the beach and not imagining ever ever seeing another thing so beautiful.

We squeeze back into the car and drive on to beach number two.

I am just going to spare you all alot of time reading now and tell you that we went to about 5 beached that day. (I am even forgetting how many we visited.)

 At every beach I ran around like an excited 5 year old. I ran to the water and walked in until my rolled up pants were getting wet.

I then scoured  the beach for any shells I could find and treasure.
 

Efren saw how excited the shells were making me and even began picking up one that he thought were pretty and giving them to me. He was well pleased when I freaked out at the sign of them as if they were the best thing I had ever beheld.

At every stop I kept my eyes open for anyone selling colorful beaded earrings. I had seen some before and decided that I must have a pair before I left Ecuador. Finally the time came!

I found them, and Andres bartered with the guy for me, so I got them for $1.50. ( I still adore these earrings.)

We then got lunch together. We were getting very hot from walking along all these beautiful beaches and not swimming.

We thought it was probably about time to swim. Jen and I did not dress for swimming because we didn't expect to spend the day at beaches.

After lunch I went to find a swim suit or something to swim in.

What I found instead was wonderful.
We looked for shorts,but they were all way to small. Then I looked up and beheld it. THE PURPLE DRESS OF MY DREAMS! haha

It was the only one that they had. I tried it on, and found that it fit me perfectly. It had to be mine. I bought it without taking the time to even barter for it.

We then drove on to a private beach (I'm not even sure how we got into the beach area).

I swam in my scrubs,and Jen swam in what she was wearing. It was beautiful! A great end to the day (not the end to my day, but an end to beaches.)

I then put on my new purple dress and colorful earrings, and Jen bought a wrap that was obviously from Hawaii and wore that. I am going to be totally honest, We looked so great!haha

On the way home Andres and I sat next to each other and continued to talk as trusting friends do.
He then nervously asked me if I would be his girlfriend.
Maybe it was the beaded earrings, the purple dress, or all the beaches we had just visited that bewitched me, but I thought about it for a few seconds and told him that I would.
This girl who doesn't date!!
Who was completely content with the idea of being single forever, 

Who thought that no guy could ever compare with her daddy, 

now has a boyfriend.

Here is where I change topics real quick.
I know so many people are curious about this boy so let me tell you a few things about him.
His name is Andres.
He loves Jesus more than anything.
He is 20 years old.
He speaks Spanish, English, Portuguese, sign language, and some Italian.
He is trained in Martial Arts.
He is studying to become a dentist.
He plays Bass guitar on the worship team.
He loves learning.
He loves to read and watch movies.

He thinks that Sharks are pretty cool animals.

He likes the color red.
He knows how to dance the tango but not salsa (well aside from what I taught him).
He is just a really great guy and takes really good care of the people around him.

 I also just want to add that he Loves Ecuador and has no desire to come to the States. (except for now, to visit me)


That night Jen and I got dropped off at a hotel which was to be our new home for the last week. No more living in La Roca. :[
We also met the big team that was just arriving from the States. A team of over 20 people from all walks of life and training.
It felt a bit overwhelming to go from being a team of 4 to becoming a team of about 30 (including translators).

Imagine how spoiled Jen and I felt to be in that hotel with hot  water in our shower, and pillows and quilts on our beds.


So lets recap the day;
So many beautiful beaches,
Colorful beaded earrings,
PURPLE DRESS,
seeing Eric laugh so hard that he cried,
hundreds of sand crabs,
swimming at a private beach,
a boyfriend,
a hot shower,
pillows and blankets,
and a huge new team to work with.

    I should also probably mention that we saw a rainbow on the way home.

Ecuador- Good-byes, familiarity , and salsa dancing with Icecream.

6-17

Sheri and Manaal left at a very early hour. I woke up at 3am to bid them goodbye. It was very sad to see them go. I wish I had been able to spend more time with them as they waited for their ride to the airport but I was much to tired. I slept until 10am and then proceeded to take hours to fully wake up to my usual cheery self.  Jen and I spent the rest of our morning and early afternoon taking care of some clinic things then went out. First stop was the Lavanderia to drop off our dirty clothes.  After all the hard work of dropping off our laundry, we got some frozen yogurt and pan de yuka.  Can I just say that I love pan de yuka. SOOOO good! We then visited two pharmacies; the first pharmacy stop was just to buy smell good lotion, and the second was to purchase bajalinguas (tongue depressors.). I love being here. We know our way around now and feel ok to walk around without a male bodyguard. Of course, now that we know our way around, it is time to leave our church home. 
After our early afternoon stroll, we made plans to visit the Malecon.
We had some friends that didn't get to go with us before and wanted to go with us and I was anxious to go back just in hopes of finding colorful beaded earrings. So we met up with Victor, Checho, Andres and another friend (I feel terrible that I cannot remember his name) and headed out for the Malecon. I walked the whole way there with Checho. We had a really good talk, and he also taught me some more Spanish and I helped him with his English. I love learning Spanish with him, he is such a patient teacher. Checho could not stay long because he had to do some sort of work. We said good-bye to him and then started walking up the steps toward the light-house. It was about 400 steps up.

The last 40 steps were closed, which kept us from the light house, but it brought us up high enough to see a beautiful view of Guayaquil.

It was dark by this point so we looked out and saw all the lights of the city. It was amazing. As we started walking down, we kept our eyes open for any places to eat. We found a really small place that was advertizing sandwiches and pizza. Once we sat down we were told that pizza really was our only option, so pizza it was.

We sat around the table eating pizza and talking about great things. YOu know the usual, "what are your dreams?", "what do you do now?" and things like that. I don't feel like I need to really type out all of that but know that those are the conversations that friendships are built on. AS we are sitting there eating our icecream, Salsa music can be heard outside coming from a nearby restaurant. Andres tells me that he will salsa with me even though we could only use one hand because of the coconut Popsicles in our other hand. OF COURSE I CAN SALSA WITH ONLY ONE HAND, SILLY BOY!
So he and I went outside and salsa danced while we ate ice-cream.
It was a pretty romantic (and lets face it, sappy) moment. I wouldn't trade it for anything though, and the fact that I had coconut icecream while it was happening makes it an even fonder moment. 
 We finished walking down the stairs and at the bottom found a bunch of tents full of pretty things being sold. I bought some bracelets. One has an "H" on it, thus I bought it, and I bought one like it (but not with an "H" on it ) also for Julia. HOORAY!
We all crowded onto a metro car to get back. It was so packed. Imagine the most crowded bus or train you have been on in the States, and then add another 50 people or so. It makes things exciting though.

Ecuador- Ceraceta, Lions, Mice and late night Ice Cream parties

6-16
It was an early morning departure. We left the church at 8am for Ceraceta.

We got there around 9 and had to start teaching almost right away. Manaal began by teaching about nutrition.  She got the kids excited and involved. We then did a skit about a wealthy king who dressed as a beggar to visit his kingdom. He found that those villagers who had the most would give him nothing and the family with the least gave everything they had.   The kids really liked it and laughed as we over exaggerated as we acted. I then did a teaching on dehydration. Eric was my translator this time. It was so different having him translate for me. I felt like my teaching was a completely failed attempt this time. Everyone else assured me that it wasn't but I still felt that I could have done better.

We then did one more skit. This skit was the parable of the King who asked his servant to pay back a debt, but forgave the debt when the servant told him that he could not pay. The forgiven servant then demanded a payment from one of his debtors that owed him the smallest amount. The forgiven man was unrelenting in wanting his payments. I hope you know the rest of the story.
In our skit we replaced the King with a Lion (the king of the jungle), A monkey was the forgiven servant, and the man with the small debt was played by me, a timid mouse.
It was a riot. The kids were laughing so hard.

After the children thanked us and gave us many hugs.  I couldn't believe how much love they showed us.  I was hugged by so many children that I almost fell over a couple of times.  When I sat down, a group of girl came and sat by me. I just wished I could have talked with them.

 We then walked to the church there in Ceraceta. We sat in the church and rested as a local family made us lunch. I taught the group how to make 8-pointed origami stars.

We then walked to a nearby house and rested in hammocks until it was time to eat lunch with them. As is a reoccurring theme in this story, the meal was HUGE, I was stuffed by the end of it and thought I might explode.
We then prayed with the family before leaving to do some house visits.
Manaal and I went with Andres and found a house with many people to do check ups on. It is always a great time to work on a team with Manaal.
We saw one lady with a crazy high BP and then an elderly lady in the same house with the BP of an active teenager, though she was having some other health problems that led us to believe that it could possibly be TB. Upon digging a bit deeper into the history of this illness we were able to better  determine what was going on and give appropriate advice. We made sure to have Dr.Sheri talk with her though.

church in Ceraceta

We prayed with the family quickly then and ran to the van to be driven to the Guayaquil church.  Next thing we know, 2 hours had passed and we were rushing around getting ready to leave when Christian and Marlon come upstairs and ask about Manaal and Sheri because they had gifts for them. They also said that they had a surprise for Manaal and Sheri tonight. We went downstairs and met Pastor Caluca (the pastor of the Nigeria church). We found taxis and all headed to Pastor's house.  At his house we sat around his living room and talked about many things. He asked me again about what my dream was. He thought that I had shared too little before and wondered if I really had more of a dream than what I had said a week or so before. I told him what was going on in my life. About my housing situation, my family's living situation, things about my work, and mostly I told him that I was just confused. I was LOVING life in Ecuador. My heart was so alive, I was so happy.

I was just struggling with the dichotomy of if I was so happy because I was doing the work that I am meant to do, or because i am in the place where i am supposed to be.
Manaal also told him about where she was in life right now. He encouraged us and prayed for us.
We were then served a large meal that his wife had prepared. We sat around the table laughing and talking. It is people like this that mae me love Ecuador.  We all were getting tired half way through dinner. It had been a long day for all of us.  I was so excited for a shower and bed once we got back to the church.
We all said goodbye to Andres and headed into the church.

I got out of the shower and expected to find the girls in the room packing and resting. TO my surprise I found a group of people sitting around the table, including Andres (who had never left apparently) eating ice cream and talking. This was the surprise that Marlon and Christian were talking about. A group of our friends were sending Manaal and Sheri off with a small party.
We sat about a bit and I could hardly stay awake. As soon as the party dispersed I shuffled to my bed and fell asleep quickly to the sound of Manaal and SHeri packing.

Ecuador- Clinic, friend filled lunches, and Nigeria good-byes.

6-15
Today was clinic day in the house of Andres's Grandmother and Aunt.

  We had a very large group of friends with us. We had about 4 guys from the church who came with and just talked with people about Jesus. Sheri and I worked inside the house seeing patients while outside Manaal and Jen did some primary assessments and send in only certain people to Sheri and I.

Checho went with us this morning. We found our selves short a translator so we called Checho who speaks enough English. Checho is the best sort of person. He is the sort of friend I don't  think I would ever get sick of hanging out with (not that I make it a habit of getting sick of my friends).

He helps me alot with my Spanish and I help him with his English.
 After the clinic we went to lunch with the group, and Victor and Christian also came and joined us for lunch.
I LOVE the people here so much!

Lunch was wonderful and so filling. NO matter how I tried to pace myself, I couldn't eat all of my meal. After lunch we had to rush around to be ready to leave for Nigeria.  It was our last day doing house to house visits there in Nigeria. A local lady who we had come to know well came with us along with her son Juan Pierre.
I worked with Jen and Eric today. We saw many runny noses again, and high blood pressures.  Before leaving Nigeria, we took photos with our friends in Nigeria. Jen and I would be coming back in a few days, but Manaal  and Sheri were leaving very soon.

Once we got back to the church we said our goodbyes to Eric and asked Andres if he would go with us to the Mall. Manaal needed to buy a dress for a dinner that she was going to as soon as she got back to the States. We hailed a cab to the mall and spend the next few hours walking around trying to put together a nice outfit on a small budget with a short amount of time to look. I fell asleep early knowing that I had an early morning ahead of me.