Thank you !!

This time a big THANK YOU to Suzy who donated 13 American Footballs for the Kids at Casa Hogar de Jesus !! And they LOVE them... they love them so much, that we had to take them away from the kids on the first day as they were constantly fighting over them... we will figure out what to do with them over the next days and than I am sure I am going to be able to post some pictures as well....

My last month has started and there are three more trips planned... next week Quito to meet up with Nat and Ben - than one to the Cotopaxi which is one of the highest Vulcanos in Ecuador and than one more to a Beach to round off the Ecuador experience.... I know already that I am going to miss Ecuador, the vibe here, the food, the people and even my non-English-speaking students (which is 99% of the ones I teach)..... Enclosed some impressions of my day to day life here and Santo Domingo (not the prettiest city in the world :-))

Half time

.... already - which is unbelievable !! I experienced so much new things and there is still so much to encounter... not just in Ecuador but also throughout the year. Bring it on :-)
I now made the decision that in November and December I will be back-packing up north through Columbia and Venezuela and the planning started :-)
Until the next time I will leave you with some more pics of the Kids and my fellow volunteers...

La vida bonita....

.... this is where I spent my weekend :-)

Thank you....

...Maria and Hans !!

Who were kindly donating donated 150$ to buy new cuttlery, cups and plates for the kids here at Casa Hogar de Jesus.
We have about 60 kids eat here every day but not enough cuttlery and plates to have them eat at the samt time, which creates loads of troubles (mainly fights on who eats first even though there is more than enough for everybody) so we eat in shifts. With Marias and Hans donation we are now able to fit all the kids into one shift !!!

Other than that nothing much else is new... routine is about to set-in as in going to school in the mornings to teach English, than play with the kids in the afternoon and help out where I can in the evenings.... (e.g. set-up beds in homes of needing families, help organizing some fund-raising, etc.) and then try to see as much as possible on the weekends... this coming weekend we are going to go to the coastal region to relax on the beach and zip on a Caiprhina or two :-)

Hasta luego and Thanks again to Maria and Hans
Joe

I can't believe...

...that only two months ago I was sitting in an office chair in London and now I am the fourth week in Ecuador and am loving every bit of it! For example:
- The 16 hour rides in a little "busetta" to reunite a kid with his family and see that everything is good order for him.
- The reggaton and salsa music which plays in every corner of this country
- Nights up on 3000+x meters hight where you think you can grab a star so clear and close they appear
- Play Football/Basketball and American Football with the kids about every day
- Teaching teenagers at a local highschool basic Rules of American Football (btw. if anybody wants to contribute to a shipment of 20 American Footballs let me know)
- be surrounded by stunning nature
- eat fried pork, fried plantains and drink sugar cain lemonade... to die for....
- eat the fruit flesh of a cacau plant, chewed sugar chain, ate a fruit which makes everything you eat afterwards sweet for example salt or a lime....
- and much much more.....Joe

First true blog-entry

This time I got a bit more time to write a blog entry. After spending the weekend at the orphanage with a smaller group of kids (some of them got somewhat of a family with whom they spend the weekends with until they are ready to be re-united) I hit the ground full speed this week.
This Monday I started tutoring the orphanage employees in English (Mon - Wed - Fri) - which then got extended right away into a teaching job at a local high-school which I am going to now for 2 hours every day to teach English. At the same time I got asked to set-up a webpage for the orphanage... all along the regular tours... so my days are packed now. Todays schedule was for example:
05:00: Get up for 45 minutes work-out
06:00: Get breakfast ready for 40 kids and than sit at a table with 10 of them, trying to keep the order ;-)
07:00.: Join the tour to drop the kids at the school (20 kids in a bus for 10 people - horror :-))
08:00: Tutor orphanage employees for an hour
10:00: Teach English at a local high-school
13:00: Eat lunch with 10 kids at a table and still try to keep the order (which never works)
14:00: Play with the kids for an hour
15:00: Work at the webpage
19:00: Eat dinner with 10 different kids and still try to keep the order
20:00: Play with the little ones of the kids (they mainly have me run around with them on the back)
20:30: Spend 30 minutes with the middle-little-ones practicing english
21:00: Play football with the teenagers

This is physically much harder than a normal working day, but I am really enjoying my time over here - it is great to be around so many kids - though nerve-wrecking at times :-)

Hasta luego

ECUADOR

Now as the first week is over i got finally the time to get my internet access sorted...
I arrived a week ago and there are loads and loads of new impressions.... the live over here is simple but good, it is loads of fun to be around so many kids (about 60 between 5 years old up to 18) but exhausting at times as you got no time to yourself.... enclosed some first impressions....