Stories I've been meaning to tell

Be prepared for a novel. Gather up some sweets and hot chocolate.

1. I'm so awkward. The greeting custom here is a side-half-kiss-on-the-cheek thing. You do that when you meet someone for the first time and when you greet your friends. I'm pretty used to it, being half persian... but I'm still awkward. I never know if I'm supposed to do the half kiss cheek thing or if I can just get away with a handshake/head nod. So, this week, when I ran into an older Baha'i youth and her husband at the school, I gave her the half kiss and just kind nodded my head at her husband because I'm not as familiar with him but he thought I was going for the half kiss so he leaned a bit forward but then I head nodded instead so he just looked confused and awkward and it was really weird and I just started laughing at myself and walked away half embarrassed, half wishing I lived under a rock.

2. The other week Val and I went to a community to start a junior youth group, but it started torrential down pouring (again). Standing in the middle of the street, looking like we just finished laps, I turned to Valerie and said, "Well. This puts a bit of a damper on things." Hahahahahaha a "damper" on things... because it was wet... damp... he he har har.

3. I went to a waterfall. I sang TLC's Waterfalls the entire time in my head. But it was magnificent, awesome, so COOL and fun. There was a bit of hiking, a bit of rock climbing and a bit of casual walking. All in all, it was a great time.

4. A volcano is erupting in Ambato... a city 5/6 hours away from me where my friend Emily is pioneering. Also, I'm surrounded by three active volcanos. Haaaaaaaaaa (nervous laugh).

5. A chicken walked in through my front door yesterday.

6. Jin Soo is 17 years old. He speaks Spanish, Korean, and a bit of English. He's really bright and really smart. Yesterday he told me that this was his first year at the Baha'i School, so I asked why he switched schools. He said that his mom didn't like the English program at the school he was originally attending and switched schools for the sole reason of putting Jin Soo and his brother Jin (I think their parents really like the name Jin) in a better English program. Well. That back-fired. Guess who his teacher is and guess who knows nothing about teaching English??

7. I spent the past weekend in an indigenous community. Our group of 16 people (three kids) slept in one medium sized concrete room, with plastic bag as the ceiling and wool blankets to keep us warm. The next morning I decided to go for a walk in the mountains area with my prayer book to find a nice spot to think. I wandered around and reached this hidden path and I thought to myself "hidden path, you're about to be found" and I followed the hidden path into this luscious-green-mountain-side-scenery-perfection view. It was the prettiest view I've seen here yet. In my awe, I realized I really had to go to the bathroom (which made sense because the bathroom situation at the concrete room/house wasn't quite glamorous, so I'd been holding it for a bit now). Luckily I had some toilet paper in my pocket (rule #1 of Ecuador - bring toilet paper everywhere you go) so I looked around, contemplating the possibility of going au-natural. But just as I was about to go find a spot to do the deed, something jumped out from the green-lousciousness and I screamed and jumped. I realized it was just a small bird. But the bird wouldn't go away... so I decided to just go to the bathroom back at the house because I didn't feel comfortable going around the bird. Stupid bird.

8. Yesterday, at the Annual Baha'i Convention, I was making some juice. Lime-onade. First I peeled the limes then cut them open to take out the seeds. After that, I put them in a blender. When it came time to blend them, I asked Ellie (the resident chef in our Baha'i community) where the top for the blender was. But she didn't know and told me to just use my hand to cover the top. Well. My hands are small. And they didn't entirely cover the top of the blender. So, I asked Ellie... "como asi? (like this?)" and she nodded her head.... so I turned it on. And you know the rest. The blender shot up lime chunks into my hair, my clothes and the kitchen counters. So embarrassing. At least my clothes smell kinda good.