Quito so far

So we landed in Quito not 24 hours ago and I already feel like I have entered a new world. My host family is very kind and it is forcing me to communicate ONLY in Spanish which is definitely not the easiest thing when I´m not used to it! I already really miss home and the little things that we take for granted every day like clean water out of the tap, a shower with a lot of water coming out and rules for driving!

I am really having a hard time being away from Evan. Yes I do realize that it has only been a little over a day, but it´s the prospect that we may not get to talk or really communicate other than through email for the next 3 weeks that really makes it hard. Tomorrow we have a tour of the city and then on Wednesday we start visiting/teaching in the schools. Friday morning we leave for a more northern city called Otavalo over night to stand on the equator, visit the inidigenous people´s culture and go the Saturday markets.

If I can ask for prayer requests for health/safety, homesickness and speaking Spanish I would greatly appreciate it. I didn´t realize that Quito is actually 10,000 feet above sea level and not the 3500 I initially thought, so I haven´t been feeling the greatest today with some altitude sickness. Pictures and more updates to come later.

Ciao a todos

Updates

So, my Ecuador trip is finally almost here! I'm nervous, excited, sad and can't wait. I will miss Evan so much, but I know that this will be a great opportunity for me, teaching in Ecuador and traveling outside of the country for the first time ever! I would love any prayers for safety.

To update the next few weeks:

Thursday- Leave for Portland, Education graduation

Friday- Hang out in Portland with my parents and Evan

Saturday- All school GFU graduation (where I get my Masters!)

Sunday- 6am, leave for Quito, Ecuador! 12pm-ish, land in Atlanta airport, then 8pmish land in Quito. I will meet my host family and then have all day Monday to explore the city.

Monday through Fridays I will help teach in the local Secondary public school, then have Spanish classes in the afternoon (which for me might be slightly boring since I already know Spanish, but it's ok).

Then in the evening and on the weekends, we are free to travel and go where we want! My friend Denise and I already have some cool trips in mind. Since we have internet access daily at the Spanish school, I'm hoping to add frequent updates of my adventures and travels!

Sunday May 24th- Fly into Portland, 10am. We're taking the red-eye Saturday night out of Quito home, not looking forward to that!

I'm so excited for my first real travel experience! T-6 days!

Warm Day Off

Today Evan and I both had the day off from work AND it happened to be one of the most beautiful days in Bend so far; 80 something! Days like today remind me why I still live here ;)
Slept in, coffee/reading date at Thump, nap, bike ride around Bend and the Deschutes river, bought new flip flops from Gap, bbq steak, hang out with friends! Couldn't be more perfect!


BBQing in our Backyard!
Steaks!
Biking Bend!

Mark and Avery Wedding

On April 04, Gabe, Dianne, Evan and I all drove over to Portland to see Mark and Avery get married! Mark is a really great family friend of the Hendrix's so it was fun to see so much of the family at the wedding. The day couldn't have been more perfect. The sun actually shone and Portland actually had warm weather!

The happy newlyweds!

Wedding Ceremony
They had a cookie buffet after the ceremony in between the reception. Leaving with bubbles to the reception in beautiful downtown Portland!


Emily and Adam, Jake and Rose :)
Hendrix boys...Mark and Avery :)
Wedding reception in an old downtown theater. So beautiful!Cutting the cake :)Dancing through the nightThe next day, Portland was SO beautiful that we all decided to stay a while longer and hang out in the Pearl District.


This place below is the cutest place ever! Evan and I would totally live here!

If it was this sunny all the time in Portland, I would move to the Pearl District in a heart beat! Evan and I found this place called 'Cupcake Jones'. They only make specialty cupcakes! I had a chocolate chip cookie cupcake, with chocolate chips in the cake, piped cookie dough in the center and butter cream frosting non top.



We ate breakfast at this amazing place 'Mothers'. It's this amazing little place for breakfast downtown Portland that has amazing food, awesome atmosphere, just so cute! Apparently it's a pretty famous place, presidents like Clinton have eaten there! I totally recommend it!

My vanilla latte
Hanging out in downtown Portland near the parks

My yummy cupcake!

The end of a wonderful trip to Portland!!!!

I haven't forgotten

Yes, I do remember that I have a blog. However, with the craziness of school and life, I literally haven't had anything interesting to blog about or time to write that I have nothing interesting to write about. My students in all three of my classes are great overall, I haven't had any discipline issues, it's actually been a good experience; I'm just exhausted. So with that said, I have only 2 more weeks until Spring Break, where we will spend 4 lovely days at the Oregon coast near Depoe Bay with our friends Kip and Kristin!! Then only 2 more weeks after that until I am completely DONE!!! With that said, my blog posts should be more exciting and more frequent, because 1. I will actually have a life again and 2. with that life I will have time to do fun things and time to blog about said fun things! Evan and I can't wait!!!!!!!!

Holiday review

Carie and me at Powell's- a candy store that LITERALLY carries every kind of candy every made!!

Home-made sushi night!







Where the boys were most of the 5 days they stayed :)
Christmas morning in Folsom
Evan's birthday dinner!
Evan's beer making kit he opened on his birthday
Our Christmas tree!

Exhaustion

Sorry for not updating out life in forever. Student teaching 3 subjects when there are only 4 blocks in a day is starting to wear on me, but I love the teachers I work with. Evan still enjoys working at Whole Foods and falls in love with his job more every day. I like to look forward to fun events coming up this year and they are what keep me motivated to get through the next 7 weeks of student teaching!

• Last week of March, Spring Break: Either Napa or the Oregon Coast with Kip and Kristin!
  
• April 04- Mark and Avery wedding in Portland
  
• April 10- Last day of student teaching
• April 8-12: My parents and Amy come to visit, see my mini graduation and spend Easter with us.
• April 11- Mini- graduation
• May 02- Actual graduation in Portland
• May 03-23: Ecuador!
• June 21-28: Flying to Arizona to spend a week with my parents and grandparents. Evan's first trip to AZ, Sedona and the Grand Canyon!
• July 18: Erika and Brian wedding in Chico (basically my little sister I never had is getting married). We'll be down for a few days to see Davis friends too :)
• August 18: 2 year anniversary

Soon I will add pictures from Christmas/New Years, nothing super exciting has happened since then!