An...INTERESTING Cultural Experience

I (Kim) and the fam have been going to a jungle city called Tena to do an HIV/AIDS workshop for indigenous adolescents. This week was a little different...

I’m going to preface this by saying how much I actually HATE and despise bugs, snakes, spiders, bats etc…

If you know me very well, you know this about me and it has actually created a little anxiety in my being to think sometimes that I am not so very far away from all of these when we go to the jungle. This was never more real to me and a great reminder as it was this week DURING our workshop…

The first part of the workshop went well. At 10:30 AM like every week, we took a quick break for a snack. During this break, someone came and fumigated the hut where we were and the surrounding areas. I didn’t think much of this since I see people fumigating here all the time. When it was time to start again, the director asked me if we wanted to wait a little longer? He went in and checked for ‘fumes’ and thought it was OK, so I said OK!

After about 10 minutes or so of teaching…

COCKROACHES started coming out of every part of the hut! The walls, the ceilings etc…One fell on me and then another…NOW remember, for the average person in Ecuador, this is not that big of a deal, a little inconvenient, but not a big deal. It is for someone who doesn’t like bugs! LIKE ME! I think the students got a kick out of me dancing AROUND the roaches, flicking them of a letting out little screams…at least they saw the real me I suppose-a frady cat when it comes to bugs!

To top the whole cultural experience off, after a few minutes of the roaches coming from everywhere, the chickens that live in the village where we are teaching, all came into the hut and started eating the roaches-a fine meal I guess!

Chalk one up to being forced to deal with your fears in front of 50 teenagers! I didn’t deal with it very well, but at least we got through it! Definitely a workshop to remember…

P.S. The roaches here are not like the ones in the States. They are BIG! Not like the size of a plate big, but big nonetheless!

That Simeon...

Joel to Simeon this morning...

"Simeon, do you know why you're in timeout?"

Simeon- "Si" or (yes)

Joel- "Can you tell me why?"

Simeon- "Why?"

Simeon is 2!!!!!

On Monday (March 5th), Simeon turned 2! It's hard to believe it has been 2 years ALREADY! Life certainly has flown by and it's amazing that we have been here in Ecuador almost 2 years. We came to Ecuador when Simeon was just 3 months old. Now he is 2. I never understood it when I was a kid, but I remember people saying, when you're a kid, you think life is going so slow and you just can't wait for it to speed up, but as an adult, time goes so fast and you just want it to slow down. Life certainly does go by so fast. I want to make sure to experience life at God's pace and enjoy all that He has given me-a wonderful family, a dream, a call on my life. Right now though, I thank God so much for our Simeon. He is such a blessing in our life and now that he is with us, it seems hard to imagine life before him. We are so thankful for him and the blessing he is to us and so many around him. Here are some pictures of his 2 years...