We are here!

Just got into Syracuse! What a great trip it has been! All photos of the trip will be posted. More info to follow

We're in the states!

Yay! Everyone is super excited to be here at 530am. Time to catch our flight to DC at 730am!

Last day!

Today we took our city tour. We visited Gota Del Leche and each classroom had a performance for us. They sang, danced, and told jokes. The kids will be the part we will all miss most. They brought us more joy than we could ever give them. After Gota, we went to la Compania which was jaw-droppingly beautiful and which is where CMT originally started. We walked to the first center for lunch in la Marin and then walked to the Basilica where we were able to climb to the top clock tower and overlook the city. It is sad to say, but we are all packed and ready to leave this wonderful place. We can't believe this day has come so soon, it feels like we just got here yesterday. We will miss everyone and everything here. We have all seen and experienced more than others have in their lifetime and I think all of us have become more aware of the real issues in this world. We cannot wait to be home with our friends and family. Hasta lavista Sudamerica!

Second day of shadowing

Today we all had a different experience since we were all spread out between the year long volunteers. I would have had each group write a section again but it's so late and everyone is starting to get ready for bed. Once everyone was done shadowing, Caitlin took us to this beautiful restaurant called Cafe Mosacia which overlooks Quito. We all had way too much to eat and had a wonderful last night of going out before we leave tomorrow night!

Teleferico and Mitad del Mundo

Today we all met outside the kitchen at 8am to get taxi rides to teleferico. We took a gondola up to the top do we could see the whole city of Quito. We were lucky to have clear skies. Most of is were aching from all the walking in Mindo over the weekend so some of us stayed at the overlook while some of the group hiked higher up. Roberto and Mike Moore went horseback riding at the top but there weren't enough horses for everyone to ride. After teleferico we went to Mitad del Mundo to see the equator. This was absolutely jaw-dropping. We were all so excited to be at the center of the world. The sun and heat was killer but worth every second! We can now all say we have been in the northern and Southern Hemisphere at the same time! Crazy stuff. Shelby and Roberto were able to balance the egg on the nail and earned their certificates. We all got our passports stamped saying the we have been to the center of the world. We learned so much today and had a great day! 

Lastly, the end of the day was very bittersweet because our 15th member of our Le Moyne group left to go home. Many tears were shed as we said goodbye(not really but they were definitely building up as we read your thank you card out loud). You were a great addition to our group Austin. We are happy to call you one of our own. Thank you so much for putting up with us and joining in our activities with great enthusiasm and care. We will miss you! Until Dolphy Day.....

Lazy day

Today we traveled back to Quito from Mindo and arrived back in Quito around 1pm. Everyone was exhausted but half of us decided to go to the Guayasamin museum. Guayasamin was famous for his paintings and the museum is in the house he lived in for 20 years in Ecuador. Orlando was very well informed and was practically our tour guide throughout the whole museum. After the museum we all relaxed and hung out for the rest of the night.

Mindo

Today was awesome! We hiked 8 miles today to a waterfall and most of us went to a cocoa and coffee farm. The day was fantastic! It was definitely a break from yesterday's emotions. We'll post pictures soon!

Project at CMT #2 and Colleen's American birthday celebration!

Today we washed windows around the center. We also had a fantastic reflection lead by Mike Moore tonight. We have called it the path of life and it's just one of those things you have to experience in order to understand. Then after dinner four of the YLV took our group out to celebrate Colleen's 21st birthday! We all had a blast filled with dancing and singing to the top of our lungs. We are soaking up every second of this trip and never want it to end.

First day shadowing

Today we shadowed Christina's music classes. She had six different sections of fifth, sixth, and seventh graders. They wrote about their favorite songs, and some of them performed them. They also played some music and dancing games. The afternoon kids were a little more rowdy than the morning kids! The kids tried their best to introduce themselves in English and were very excited to get to meet and talk to us! It was a great day and we hope to see the kids again around the center during our last week here!

-Taylor, Mike M., Estor, Mike P.

We began the day shadowing Caitlin and Natalia's marketing class where the students worked on a small business presentation. It was very inspirational seeing how much pride they took in the powerpoints they made to sell the products. Due to the lack of internet connection across the campus, the students moved to the cafeteria and then the office to try to make the connection. In the classroom where their belongings were, the year round volunteers accidentally locked the keys inside. We tried everything possible to open up the door (including throwing your body against the door), but it was another way they showed us how they always have to roll with the punches.
   Then we went to their gym class where the kids played fetch. Their competitiveness and fun attitudes made us feel like we were back in elementary school. After a small lunch break we went back to the cafeteria to play jump rope, bowling, and limbo. We were forced to play and bring our inner child out! This experience was extremely worthwhile and in general, we learned much more about the center's culture.
- Colleen, Liliana, Roberto, and Jackie

I also would like to thank everyone here on this trip from Le Moyne, the students from the other colleges, and all of the people here at the Center for their graciousness on my 21st birthday today. The "feliz cumpleanos" banner, the birthday crown, my wonderful new earrings and mora birthday cake truly made this the best birthday I could have hoped for. I am incredibly grateful and appreciative for this opportunity here in Quito, and I cannot put into words how it felt to interact with the children today.
- Colleen

Today we started our day very early. We had to catch the bus at 7:00am, but Laura N. accidentally slept in until this time, which pushed our leaving time back a little. We then were on our way to Gota de leche with Eileen to teach a special education class. We each worked with one child, teaching them math. Some of the children proved to be a challenge when they refused to do their work but with a little creativity, like Laura M. teaching a girl english, these were only minor obstacles. We traveled a lot today between all three centers. For the second class, boys english, we walked to La Marin. The boys english class had a lot of energy. They were clearly enthusiastic about the topic but at times this enthusiasm got out of hand. We introduced ourselves and allowed the kids to practice their english skills by asking us questions. They really showed their skills when they said "you are pretty" to Laura N. We split up and helped them learn "donde" which means "where" in english. We traveled back to center 2, where we stay, to eat lunch and then help at the physical education class. Because it was raining we played bowling with pins made out of plastic bottles filled with sand, and jumped rope in the cafeteria. It is always amazing to see the children be so amused and having so much fun with simple material. They are inspiring and we all learned so much from interacting with them today.
-Laura N., Laura M., Austin, and Orlando

Today, we shadowed physical education and art classes for 2nd - 5th graders. The children here are very playful and excited to the fill the time in phys. ed class with jump roping games, badminton, kickball, and futbol (a.k.a. soccer). When given the freedom to choose, the children jumped at the chance to join up with their classmates and be playful and active. Wow, are they full of energy! Stacey joined in with a few girls to jumprope. They taught her songs in Spanish that set the rhythm for their hops through the rope. Marco was showing the boys how it's done on the futbol field -- or was it the other way around? It's hard to say! Stacey also went to an English class taught by a year-long volunteer from Germany who was teaching English to the girls in her class in Spanish. Pretty amazing! We ended our day in art class where the children were drawing their New Years Resolutions, and setting goals for themselves 5, 10, and 20 years from now. Marco and Stacey are not Spanish speakers, but today was a great experiences learning how to communicate with the children in other ways.

Today was a day filled with fun, smiles, and laughter. Although it's hard to communicate with the children at the CMT, playing soccer and helping with arts and crafts was a great and easy way to connect with them. Looking forward to some more fun in the sun with the kids!
-Marco and Stacey

I shadowed Natalie today.  We started with her co-teaching a Marketing class with Caitlin.  We left campus to make copies for her next class, teaching English through Bingo and getting to know classmates.  We returned as the students went to a WiFi location for their marketing presentations.  We ended up locked out of the classroom with our bags and jackets for a bit, the students had left their stuff in the classroom as well.  We went on to the next classes and later located keys to grab our and their things.  Natalie's English class playing Bingo was entertaining as the girls scrambled to find people that fit the descriptions of their Bingo squares.  It definitely was fun helping them figure out the Spanish translation of the squares.
Later Natalie tutored a man who attended the CMT as a youth.  He was preparing a speech for the 50th Anniversary event that will be held in August.  He shared his Christmas and New Years stories in English and we headed to lunch.
Afterwards we took the bus to La Marin and taught a level one English class.  They learned parts of the body and drew a person to label in their notebooks.  They got very creative with their drawings adding fashion to the assignment.
The shadow day ended with a computer class where students played Encyclopedia games on the computers, working with the volunteers to figure out the multiple choice question answers.
It was great shadowing Natalie through the day in her various volunteer teacher activities.  It showed a lot of the work the volunteers do and the broad range of tasks they take on.  They're really dedicated to do this every week day for the entire school year.
~Shelby

CMT #1 project

Today is the first day Marco joined in our activities! We are so happy he's feeling better since he's been out of commission since we arrived. We went to CMT#1 today in La Marin. Out project was to paint the staircase at the center. We took a little break around noon to join in mass and eat lunch with the kids at the center. The kids are absolutely adorable! They try to practice their English with us any chance they get and the little ones really just like to play with the us. After lunch we were put back to work. Most of us were covered in paint but it was a lot of fun just working all together.

Minga!

Our Minga started at around 8-830am and we worked until 1pm. We got on public transit with our host for the minga(Nancy). She took us to her house up in the mountains(I will try and retrieve the name of the town later). Once we got to her house she explained what she wanted us to do. Nancy told us her house has been getting a lot of moisture and humidity and said that it has been feeling like a basement. So what we ended up doing was digging out a 12 foot trench along her house. The tools we used were obviously reused and fixed many times showing us how, in this culture, you don't just throw things away, you fix them with the resources you have and make the best out of it. She told us that she had been working on this trench by herself before we showed up. So she was very grateful for our help because we got a lot accomplished in the time we were there. Her plan is to seal the brick of her house with cement and then place a tarp of some sort above the trench. Thoughtout the Minga, three of her five daughters gave us refreshments which we were very grateful to receive. We found out that this woman is a widow; her husband fell and got a very bad head concussion which resulted in brain damage and he passed away shortly after. Her youngest is pictured with us, she is three and her other two daughters who were helping with refreshments. The family fed us after our hard work and the food was absolutely delicious. The work was humbling and we were all inspired by her hard work and dedication.

Cuicocha and Otavalo

We left at 830am to start our quest to Cuicocha which is about two hours away from the center. Cuicocha is a big crater lake created by a volcano. We drove up to the visitors center and took a boat ride around the islands of the crater. The start of the boat ride was quite comical, given the fact that we all piled into a tiny motor boat and once we had floated about 20 yards away from the dock, our guide realized the motor was broken and wouldn't start. We were honestly having a blast despite this minor incident. We changed boats and we were on our way! We were given cinnamon water after the ride which was warm and absolutely delicious. After Cuicocha we drove to leather town and spent about a half hour there looking at all the leather goods. Once we finished up there we went to Otavalo. Otavalo is the famous market in Ecuador where you can buy all sorts of goods from scarfs to blankets. We had a good time bartering with the locals. After a long day of very touristy activities, we are all back at the center, well fed, and ready for bed.

Downtown Ecuador!

We were in one of the first colonized cities in South America! The architecture was beautiful and we went to a bar, Noches de Bohemia. We sang karaoke. Some of the top hits were Hips Don't Lie(en espanol) and Bohemian Rhapsody(en engles). Our group just had a fantastic time being with one another. It's only the third day and none of us want to come back home to the negative degree weather. 

Volunteering in the shops!

Liliana, Taylor, and Laura N. We're in the bakery. Jackie and Shelby were in the cosmetic department(salon), Stacy and Marco went to carpentry, Mike P., Roberto, and Estor went to auto mechanics, and Mike M., Colleen, and Laura M. Went to metal mechanics. Orlando walked around to help translate and check up on how everyone was doing!

First Brunch!

We had lunch this morning at the Center's bakery! We all had delicious breakfast sandwiches, hot chocolate, espresso, and cinnamon buns. It was fun trying to order our meals in Spanish. Thankfully Liliana and Estor were there to help us out! I have a feeling we'll be eating here every morning. Fresh baked goods every day.

We have arrived!

Its been a long day but we're finally here. Judy met us as we got in and we have our beds. We get to sleep in tomorrow because orientation is not until 1:30pm. So after a very long day of traveling, Goodnight!

Here we go!

We're taking off in a few minutes! See you soon Quito, Ecuador! 

We have arrived in Houston,TX!

Taylor and Laura are enjoying lunch during our 4 hour layover in Houston. Traveling has been going smoothly(knock on wood) and we are all looking forward to the beds awaiting us at the Working Boys Center.