Hola! Que Pasa?

Soooo I know I haven’t written in a while, my apologies. Anyways, this weekend was pretty fun. On Saturday, there was this huge church picnic a little bit outside of the Cuenca. It was pretty cool. There was a big field for playing sports and things with a hill right next to it for people to sit on and watch. They also had a sound system set up with music playing and a hilarious announcer guy from the church. There were a few soccer games, and some of the missionaries in the church tried to start a kickball game, but the Ecuadorians didn’t really get it…and they also played dodge ball which everyone loved. After they had been playing dodge ball for a while, someone suggested Los Estudiantes de Taylor, should play. Well, we were not going to back down from that offer. After all, we’re the ones who grew up playing dodge ball in gym class every week. So, all 6 of strutted onto the field wearing out most intimidating faces as we stood opposite of our opposing team made up of a bunch of 11 year old boys. The guy with the microphone announced our presence on the field as the “team of gringos” and then the whistle blew. It was a fierce and terrifying match, as the other team ran towards us holding nothing back. After a long battle, it was down to 1 vs. 1 with John as the only remaining player on our team. The other player launched one ball right toward John’s stomach and with one graceful swoop of his arms he cradled that ball, catching it to win the game! Los Grigos gano! We won! I will not take any credit for our victory, as I was most likely more of hindrance to our performance…however, they asked us to play again and we beat them yet another time, proving ourselves worthy of our title. All in good fun, it was cool to be able to play with them, and I think everyone got a kick out of watching run around.

On Sunday, we had a group trip to Incapirca, which is a site of Incan ruins about 2 hours away from Cuenca. It was a really fun day. The ruins were pretty cool; it’s always hard for me to imagine people actually living there and what it might have looked like when they first built it. There are some pretty fun pictures which will make they’re way onto facebook sooner or later. Actually, the coolest part I thought was this rock a little ways down the mountain from the ruins, in the shape of a face! The pictures will speak for that too. I think what really made the day awesome though, was the chance for our group to really bond. During the entire 2 hour bus ride, both there and back we had some wonderful conversations together. For a while, we talked about favorite books, and childhood memories, and we had some good laughs as well. But, on the way back especially, we had a chance to share what God has been teaching us since being here, which includes a lot about patience, trust, and sharing His love. So, praise the Lord for such awesome bonding!

Monday was our first day of physiology class! In the mornings, we have a van driver who picks us all up and brings us to the University. It’s pretty nice, except that I am actually the first to be picked up, which is no later than 6:30 AM! Anyway, we are all kind of nervous (normal first day of class jitters) and didn’t know what to expect from our professor, but of course it turned out to be just fine. Our professor, Dr. Toral, is a practicing doctor at a nearby hospital and has been teaching physiology classes at the University of Azuay for a number of years now. It is still pretty daunting to know that we will be covering ALL the material in less than a month, but I guess we’ll just roll with it.

Monday night, we met with Tami (our official emotional counselor/support person while we’re here). She had us all over to her house and we made DELICIOUS homemade pizzas and a humungous salad. It was again, a lot of fun to hang out with each other and to have a chance to talk about how things are going. Tami is a wonderful woman. She is a member of Verbo church, and works coordinating medical missions teams to help out with the ministry. She was born in Ecuador, but grew up in the U.S. So, she speaks perfect English and Spanish, and kind understands the challenges with culture. Her job with us is really just to be a go-to person if there were ever to be any problems and also just to keep tabs on how we’re doing.

Tuesday, class again, nothing special. However, AFTER class the adventure began. Both John and Clarie ended up staying at the University to use the internet and head home from there, but the rest of planned on going back to the church. We had walked a few blocks the day before to catch the bus we knew went to the church and that seemed to work just fine. As we walked, we discussed our curiosity with the bus system as there are 2 different “Bus 15”s which is the one we take most often. We knew that “Bus 15 Fierra Libre” always gets us to the church, but where does “Bus 15 Monay” go? Well, we decided to “follow our hearts” again, and get on “Bus 15 Monay.” We were pumped. Finally, we would know the mystery of Bus 15 Fierra Libre vs. Monay. The bus pulled away from the curb and went straight. That’s funny, there really isn’t anything in that direction, only a small road leading up a mountain. Well, you’d be surprised what the buses here can do. That bus kept driving up that mountain, and just kept driving. We passed some really beautiful scenery, for which I wished I had my camera, but we just kept truckin’ up that mountain. A few go on, and a few got off on the way, but there was no sign of the road leading anywhere near back to Cuenca or even another city for that matter. After about a half hour riding up this mountain all of a sudden, our bus makes a sharp turn to the right and begins turning the other direction…as if to turn around. THEN, the guy who collects money from the riders, reaches down to the dashboard, and FLIPS THE SIGN IN FRONT OF THE BUS. That’s right. Monay TURNS INTO Fierra Libre! The mystery revealed! Genius! They’re just going opposite directions! And then stop. The bus had pulled up to the side of the road and shut its engine off. We were the only ones left on the bus. We were told to get off. We walked off that bus so proud that we had uncovered the secret of Bus 15, we did not realize until standing at the top of this mountain we had no idea where we were. There was but a moment of panic, before the previously parked bus started running again, and people were getting on. Heads hung low, we stepped onto the now Bus 15 Fierra Libre knowing we had “Gringo” written all over us. As we sat in our square of ignorance (a term coined by our very own, Hilary Pederson) riding back down the mountain, we still congratulated ourselves for the discovery and laughed at what we must seem like to the Ecuadorians. So, thanks to our valiant efforts and fearless following of our hearts, now you all know the secret of the Bus 15 switch.

Class again today. I don’t think my alarm is working, as I woke up at 6:23 this morning. It’s a little different than at Taylor, when you accidentally sleep in you can push getting ready and then run to class. But today, I had a woman in a van honking at me, and the fate of all the others being picked up that was changed by my lack of punctuality. Sorry! Anyways, class was fine and we got out a bit early. Sarah and I decided to try and go to the mall since we had some extra time, but Bus 13 doesn’t actually go to the mall. We road for about an hour or so, definitely got a feel for that bus route. It wasn’t nearly as adventurous as yesterdays ride, but still educational. Now I am just back at the church waiting for Marie de Lores to head home for lunch. I am starving!

I think that’s all for now! Hasta Luego.

~Lindsay