Author: Hannah
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The Gift of Time
As a parent, it feels there is never enough time in the day. Well, never enough time (and energy) in the day for me to do things for myself. In the States, I was working a little under 50 hours a week teaching Spanish at a high school. When I got home, I wanted to…
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Advanced Spanish
As a language teacher, we evaluate our students on the ACTFL Scale of Proficiency which goes from Novice to Distinguished. As a high school teacher, my students were generally in the range of Novice-Advanced Low. Proficiency means what tasks the student can perform, or what the student can do in the language. Since we have…
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Reunion de los padres de familia
Last Thursday we had our first obligatory meeting for the parents of all the kids in Tomu and Jade’s school, which is called Fernando Ordoñez Cordero. The meeting began at 6:30 pm, and I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. We were told we were meeting to plan the special event on Saturday October 27th,…
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House and School Hunting
House hunting was stressful. Turns it is hard to have three little kids, whether in the U.S. or Ecuador. And turns out it’s hard to schlepp them around town via bus, taxi, and walking. Jade’s 2 year old legs didn’t last too long before she asked for “uppie”. So we found it hard to make…
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The First Few Days
The first day after we arrived in Cuenca my neck and shoulder were really hurting, and I didn’t leave the house. I felt really far away from family and friends and realized the magnitude of what it means to move to Ecuador. The next day was my birthday and I felt better mentally, emotionally, and…
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The trip here…
was long and crazy, as to be expected when you begin it with a red-eye with 3 kids under 5 years old. We said goodbye to our dear friends Joy, Lucas, Shel, & Mo at Mo’s house after a dinner of takeout Thai food, and left for the airport. Goofballs Shel & Tomu We planned…
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Why Cuenca?
When we found out I was pregnant last August (surprise!), I knew I couldn’t go back to work at Lincoln High School full-time with 3 kids under 5 years old. Too hard. We were already planning on moving to Latin America; I was looking for work at international schools. As time went on, and there…
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Coda
The Jellies (that’s us three) are en route to Tacoma, WA. We are sitting at a restaurant in a hotel across the road from the airport in Nadi. Tomu is sacked out on the floor, lying on our pool towels. Riki is working a crossword. We have a 10 hour layover, so we’ll have plenty…
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Grand Finale
My sister Libby & her friend Rob came to visit for 12 days. Unfortunately we didn’t have the best of weather for them–many cloudy days & a few rainy ones too. Plus it was super windy the whole time. With all our visitors, we try to show them some of village culture as well as…
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Auntie Wub visits Tomu
Wub is a photographer & she took lots of photos of her nephew while she was here. She also invented lots of silly games with him and brought a magnetic fishing toy that was a big hit. Here’s some of her photos. He hates the bath these days. Family meal, Guava-style. Diapering a sleeping baby…
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