Good tidings

I am happy to report that I took my first malaria pill on Monday and I have not experienced any side effects so far. I´m taking Lariam and a lot of people had been telling me that I would have nightmares and hallucinations, but I haven´t had any problems. I was a little worried too because I was going into Quito that night, but nothing happened. So things are looking good for my trip into the Oriente on Sunday. Time is flying by. I only have three more days with my family here in Los Chillos. Then Oriente, Quito, coast, Quito again, and Riobamba.

Not much else is going on. We taught at a school for one of our spanish classes yesterday. It was a lot of fun. My partner and I had first graders for culture and we tried to teach them about American holidays and have them compare our practices with their's, but it didn´t work out too well. They weren't very talkative and were instead focused on coloring the pictures we gave them. They were a bit more active during the next class, which was art, and I only helped out, but we had fun making marshmellow towers and drawing animals. Then I watched the fourth graders playing dodgeball, which they all loved. And the second class I was teaching was fourth grade geography. We gave them all maps and contries and did some comparisons with distances from Ecuador. We tried to have them read facts out loud about each country, but the kids wouldn't quiet down for that activity. They all didn't want to see us go and overall it was a great experience. It's fun to work with kids.

Also, the classes all played a fun card game, Cuarenta, today. It's a team game and you basically have to go around and make pairs with cards in the middle. It's kind of hard to explain, but fun so I look forward to playing it more while I'm here. My partner and I won two games and then almost had the third with thirty-eight points, but we couldn't get a caida, when you make a pair with the card thrown directly before your turn, which you need to win the game and the other team came from way behind and won. Oh well. Maybe we'll start another tournament.

Well, the week will end with Quichua tomorrow evening, a party for all of the host families, us, our spanish teachers, and directors on Friday, and a crab feast with my family on Saturday. I doubt I'll get another chance to write until after the Oriente, but we'll see. Chao.