QUOTE: The door to happiness opens outwards. Anyone who tries to push this door open thereby causes it to close still more. – Søren Kierkegaard
QUESTION: How do young people spend their free time in Guaranda compared to the US?
Hi friends and family!
Today was our second free day. We started the day off with a PJ breakfast at Criss’ and ate eggs and humita. After breakfast, we headed back to the hotel and formed our groups for free time. We were allowed to head out without a GGL! Some glimpsers headed to the basketball court and soccer field, while others went to the fruit market and cupcake shop! During this time, a couple members of the Cash Group for our CAP project went out with Stephanie and Eduardo to buy supplies for the project which took about 45 minutes. After about four ho
urs of free time, everyone met back at the hotel at 12:45 for lunch at Feroz. For lunch, we ate soup made of carrots, tomatoes and grains, with popcorn to go on top! Then we had salad, rice, and steak.
After lunch, we headed back to the hotel to write appreciation letters to our donors. We wrote the rough drafts first and will write our final drafts in a couple days. We had about an hour of free time to hang out at
the hotel and then we walked back to Verbo Divino for English tutoring and it was one of the students’ birthday and our glimpers got him a Cookie Monster cupcake! We then headed to dinner at Criss’ and had rice wi
th a salad and more steak. Once we got back from dinner, we had a time of reflection with our reflection groups to debrief on the day before (Deconstructing Poverty). After that we had our nightly meeting and half of us got our laundry back!
P.S. Hi Mom, Dad, Jamie, Abby and Buster! I am having a blast in Guaranda! Today I went out with my friends to the fruit market and bought some dragonfruit. I also walked up. A lot of stairs to play basketball 🏀 and soccer ⚽️ . I hope you guys are doing well and sorry I haven’t called I’ve been busy playing basketball and enjoying all my free time that I have here. I have learned a lot and am having a great time, I’ll tell you all about it when I come home. See you soon! Love, CJ❤️
P.P.S. Hi parents, Eden, Mich and Ciara! I’m alive!! I’m having a great time here trying new things and being immersed into a whole new culture. Today my new friends and I did lots of fun things! We got to explore on our own and my group went to the open air market and got some exotic fruits! I miss you guys a ton and I can’t wait to see you guys! Love, Betsy
Hi. jocelyn.. i love you and miss you a lot.. but I’m so happy and very proud of you.. thank you for calling me today.. it was nice to heard your voice. Have fun and see you soon! Coco and Luna said hi..
Hi Danielle. Great to hear from you and that you’re having a good time. Thought you’d be happy to know that lots of things made it out of the house on Monday as donations. But there are more things now stuffed into the garage. The front yard looks very different, loaded with plants all over. Half the back yard has been cleaned out and the center patio is full of plants and things. Nikki can fill you in when you get back.
Learn lots! Love you,
Mom (and Nikki and Kelsie)
Hi Adam, I’m disappointed to not see your face in any of the pictures today. You’ll be pleased to know we didn’t go over our data usage this month! I guess it takes sending you out of the country to stay within our plan! I almost didn’t know what day of the month it was, since we didn’t get our monthly text reminders that we’re about to reach our data limit. I wonder if we can go 2 months in a row?! Who am I kidding? You’ll catch up as soon as you get back to the states!
Anyways, I hope you’re having a good time! We look forward to the updates every night. Are you speaking any Spanish? Sounds like you’re all eating well.
Love you!
Hi CJ and fellow travelers – Glad to hear your free days are active and spent exploring! So what other exotic fruits are plentiful there? Are there any mosquitoes where you guys are? Has it been hot there? You are missing our typical San Francisco summer fog!
Miss you and can’t wait to see you!
Big hugs!
mom, dad, jam, ab and buster
Hi Adam,
I’m disappointed to not see your face in any of the pictures from today’s blog post. It looks like you’re all eating well, and the menu sounds like something you would appreciate. Hey guess what?! We didn’t go over our data usage this month! I guess it takes sending you out of the country to stay within our plan. I almost lost track of what day of the month it is, since we didn’t get our monthly text warning. Dad is so thrilled! We’ll see if we can keep it going another month. Who am I kidding? As soon as you are back in the states, you’ll get all of your notifications and we’ll be back to our limit. Ha!
Anyways, we love you and are glad to see you’re doing such thoughtful and inspiring things. Keep it up! Are you speaking any Spanish?
Lizzy!!! I hope you are having THE BEST TIME 603 misses you!!! i can’t wait to hear about everything you guys do when you get back 🙂 Justin is doing a great job keeping your streaks but i miss seeing your beautiful face every day :’)
Love Dillen
Hi Oliver I hope you are having a great time still. Are you taking lots of photos? You haven’t been in any for a few days. We miss you and love you! See you next week.
Love Mom