Day 3 - Travel Is Over

Two full days of traveling by plane, taxi, bus, and foot. To say the least, I was tired of it. Here in Shell you can walk everywhere which I am actually not tired of at all. I like the idea of walking places. After I woke up around 620, made some fried eggs, toast, juice, ham, and a pear, I walked to Casa de Fe where my first work day began. I met the guys first, who all spoke very little English. One was a student of English though so we got to help each other out today. That was pretty cool. There were six in all and they are Ecuadorian construction workers basically. They are hired by Casa de Fe and work long hot days building the new school building and a storage shed. I worked on the storage shed with them. 

My first job came as they handed me a big electric hand saw. You know, the kind that if you slip or don't use correctly can cut your arm off. I pretended like I knew what I was doing and got to work cutting up big concrete blocks to make the walls of the shed. I slipped a couple times but no lost appendages so praise the Lord for that. When I was introduced to the guys, one of them was introduced as the youngest. I could tell he was the youngest because he kinda got bossed around by the others. He was very happy when I got there though because now he had someone to delegate to. Now that I was the bottom of the food chain as far as working goes, it was funny watching the others tell him to do something and then see him look and motion to me to do it for him. I was happy to help but honestly felt like I was in their way. It was definitely fun trying to communicate with them and laughing every time they laughed even though I had no idea what they were saying. 

After about 4 hours of work, I got to take a lunch break. I went to Alexanders with a couple of the teachers at Casa, Kelsey, Meagan, and Melissa. They are all pretty cool and fun to hang out with. Alexanders was really good. I got soup, rice, a banana, and a mixture of meat and vegetables plus a dessert for $2.50. After that, we went back to Casa and I began trying to figure out what I would do for PE. Today for PE, I only had 7 girls who were between the ages of 10 and 15. My job for the evening was to entertain 7 young girls for 45 minutes. Haha.

For starters, I made them all stand in a line from shortest to tallest (don't make fun, I was told they need structure). Then we walked with everyone on the same step to the basketball court where I tried to teach them gymnastics. We did cart wheels, back bends, round offs, kick ups, toe touches and tried to hang sideways on a pole. At the end we played back bend freeze tag. The girls kept laughing at me for different reasons but it was still fun trying to act like I was a gymnast. We walked back in line again but this time we sang songs to stay on step. I sang an air force jodie I made up on spot. It was awful and I couldn't think of anything that rhymed with gymnastics. The girls liked it though so mission accomplished I guess. Lol. I did give them suckers though afterwards so maybe that is why they liked it.

After school was over I went back to where I am staying and took a little nap. I only really worked 4 hours but was pooped. No sunburn today so that was good. For dinner, I met Melissa and Kelsey along with some of the kids and we went to Patti Sue's house for pizza and salad. We also watched "We Bought a Zoo" in Spanish while we ate. I got to play with John Paul a little bit too which was probably the most fun of my day (he is Patti Sue's 3 year old Ecuadorian boy).

Following pizza, I went to this big covered court where there was some intense volleyball going on. Kelsey took and Melissa took me because I told them I wanted to play but I was not ready for this. First of all, the net was 10 feet high. More than that, the ball was as hard and big as a soccer ball, only Ecuadorians were playing so nobody spoke English, people were gambling on the games, and they were really good. The game was played completely different than back home. I watched for the first hour and then one friend of the girls asked me if I wanted to play. I said yes and walked out to play but nobody wanted me on their team since their was money on the game and they hadn't seen me play yet. It was kinda awkward hearing them argue back and forth on whether or not I could play but then again, I couldn't understand them so it wasn't that bad. haha. I will try to work myself in later but for now  I am glad I didn't play because it would have just been embarrassing. 

Tomorrow should prove to be a little better though. People are playing basketball at 4 and the missionaries here are playing ultimate frisbee too. I am a little better at those sports, at least I think I am. We are also going to the Zoo tomorrow for John Paul's birthday which should be a blast. Patti Sue and Melissa made Elmo Cupcakes and Cake that look awesome. I'm actually looking forward to some Elmo (frosting) Eyeball in the morning. Lol. Thanks for reading!