And so begins the second half...

Today is a clean-the-house-stay-in-pijamas-till-the-afternoon kind of day. Guido Adrian is outside sweeping the patios, Lili's playing with 1yr old Emily, the 3rd grandchild, Andrea is resting (suffering a brutal migrane), and Guido and Nancy mis papas are out shopping. I just finished washing all the dishes from desayuno by hand (there is a lavadora but it does not work...). Breakfast was fried eggs, coffee, and balls of squished plantains and butter.

This is the 2nd half of my stay in Cuenca, and things are going to look very different from here on out for several reasons. Last week I finished up with my students- one of them had his visa interview in Guayaquil last week and he passed it! It made me happy to know that he did well. Anyway, this means that I no longer have a set job to do here. So that means I've got to fill my time with something else. There are a few more museums left to see, and some more trips I want to plan to see more of Ecuador. I'm praying for more opps to serve ppl while I'm here- many are eager to master English. Yesterday I stayed in the house all day until about 5pm and could not bear it- I had nothing to do!

The house is more lively with Lili here, and I'm so glad she's here as well. She's still adjusting to the strangeness of coming home after being gone for 11 months, but, you'd be amazed at the difference it makes to have a girl close to my age in the house now. I'm excited to meet her friends as well.

Last night I hung out with a sweet sweet girl exactly my age that I met the first or second week here. She literally walked up to me in the park as I was reading and wanted to ask me questions in English for an English project in the U. By the time she left, we had exchanged numbers and last night we FINALLY got to hang out. We walked arm in arm around Cuenca, and stopped in Frutelados to have coffee and dessert. She comes from a conservative, Christian (not Catholic) family as well, and we have several things in common. What a blessing- a female friend! And I can't get over how welcoming people are here. She probably invited me to 3 different events while we were together. I hope to spend more time with her these last few weeks.

Now off to do... something! Sending my love. Chao.