Here are some pictures I have taken since I have been here. I haven't taken many, but here are some to give you an idea of what I have been up to.
View from my apartment!
View at night. Lights for miles and miles. We even had a firework show a couple of nights ago!
Our Kitchen. We have a lot of space! I am also learning how to cook on a gas stove, so that has been.....interesting. I am also drinking a lot of water, I don't think I've had to pee so much in my life.
View from my classroom. Guys, I have my own classroom. What?!
View from down the hall of my classroom.
I am quite enjoying the food here. I am also enjoying the prices. This whole plate, plus a bowl of soup and a drink for $4.39. Sah-weet!
The new staff members were sent on an Amazing Race scavenger hunt. We got to explore a bit of the old part of Quito (I live in the new part).
One of our tasks was to get our shoes shined. I sat next to Mary and a little boy insisted on shining my sneakers. I finally convinced him not to.....well more like I had to get up and walk away, he was pretty determined.
My roommate and I took a stroll to check out the new "hood". We stopped for empanadas and lattes along the way. (Lots of food options, Dominos is next door too)
Real poor quality, but here I am trying a really delicious fruit called Pitahaya. (I think it is actually Dragon Fruit, but it tasted different than what I have tasted in the States.)
On Wednesday we went to a town two hours outside of Quito called Mindo. Here you can go zip lining and repel waterfalls, no big deal. Our group decided to go to the butterfly garden and tubing. My concept of tubing is like floating down a calm river or being pulled behind a boat. Tubing here was more like whitewater rafting, only via 7 tubes tied together with ropes. It was kinda intense, but super fun and a good use of 6 bucks!
I will leave you with a poem I came across this week. It's a bit lengthy but so worth the read.
THE
ART OF AWARENESS
Thoreau wrote: “Only that day
dawns to which we are awake.”
The art of awareness is the art of learning how to wake up to the eternal miracle of life with its limitless possibilities.
The art of awareness is the art of learning how to wake up to the eternal miracle of life with its limitless possibilities.
It is rising to the challenge
of the stirring old hymn: “Awake my soul, stretch every nerve.”
It is developing the deep
sensitivity through which you may suffer and know tragedy, and die a little,
but through which you will also experience the grandeur of human life.
It is following the
philosophy of Albert Schweitzer who teaches “reverence for life,” from ants to
men; it is developing a sense of oneness with all life.
It is identifying yourself with the hopes, dreams, fears, and longings of
others, that you may understand them and help them.
It is learning to interpret
the thoughts, feelings, and moods of others through their words, tones,
inflections, facial expressions, and movements.
It is keeping mentally alert
to all that goes on around you; it is being curious, observant, imaginative that you may build an ever increasing fund of
knowledge of the universe.
It is striving to stretch the
range of eye and ear; it is taking time to look and listen and comprehend.
It is searching for beauty
everywhere, in a flower, a mountain, a machine, a sonnet, and a symphony.
It is
knowing wonder, awe, and humility in the face of life’s unexplained
mysteries.
It is discovering the mystic
power of the silence and coming to know the secret inner voice of intuition.
It is avoiding blind spots in
considering problems and situations; it is striving “to see life steadily and
see it whole.”
It is enlarging the scope of
your life through the expansion of your personality.
It is through a growing
awareness that you stock and enrich your memory . . . and as a great
philosopher has said: “A man thinks with his memory.” -- Wilfred A. Peterson
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