Author: Hannah
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A J-O-B
Sometimes my dad used to say that about jobs, call them J-O-B’s. Well, I got one, of sorts. A fellow Ultimate Frisbee player referred me to the job. At the end of January I became an employee of We English, a company that provides English tutors to students in China. I had my first interview…
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3 hospitals and my hero of the day
On the Tuesday of Carnaval, when everything was closed and everyone spends time with their family, Luz’ fever hit 103.5 degrees. Now, she had had a fever off and on for 10 days at this point, and I had been giving her infant ibuprofen when it got to around 101 degrees, but finally I was…
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4 small kids in one bedroom
On Sunday, February 24th, Tomu’s friend Scarlett (age 5 ½) and her family came to visit us for 12 days. Tomu and Scarlett met at Chavitos, the outdoor Spanish school in Tacoma, and Tomu put me in the awkward position of having to ask a complete stranger if her daughter could come play, right now.…
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New friends
We met an Alaskan family on the bus to Cajas back in January. Ashley, a Spanish teacher and Scott, an art teacher, are living in Cuenca with their two kids, Cormac and Story for the year. They return to Anchorage in June, sadly for us. We have decided to stay another year in Cuenca, and…
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Carnaval
In Ecuador, Carnaval is celebrated by spraying each other with foam, similar to shaving cream in consistency, which comes in all colors and by getting each other wet. In some towns they put raw eggs on each other, and flour; in another town they smear mud on each other on the banks of the river.…
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Meat tokens
In mid December we were at a party, and I asked our friend Nic if he was a vegetarian like his partner Steph. He replied, “No, I’m on a meat token system.” “Interesting, I’ve never heard of that, tell me more.” Nic explained that the meat token system is his way of regulating his meat…
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The end of the visa story
Happy Ending! We got our visas! The Fiji background checks arrived in Cuenca the day after Christmas. We submitted our papers to Diana on January 3rd, and picked up our visas on January 21st. While it has been a stressful process for sure, it took my friend Fabiola’s husband 12 years to gain legal status…
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Quilotoa Loop Trek
My partner Riki is a keeper, folks. He stayed home with Tomu & Jade for 5 days so that Mo, Luz and I could do a 24 mile trek from village to village in the Andes, ending at the Quilotoa Crater. What a treat for a mama of 3 little kids! We began our trip…
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Motown comes to town
Our first visitor was our dear friend Mo. Mo and I met through a mutual friend Joy originally in 2008, and then solidified our friendship through the Basic and Intermediate Climbing classes with the Tacoma Mountaineers. We’ve had so many adventures together in the mountains, rock climbs, glacier climbs, alpine climbs. And after having kids,…
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Años viejos
In Ecuador New Years is more important than Christmas. Here the Ecuadorians celebrate New Years by burning effigies in the streets at midnight, to symbolize that the past is the past, the old year is gone, and to welcome the new year. The effigies are clothes stuffed with newspaper, or more expensive paper maché characters…
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