Random Happenings around Quito

These were just some things that have happened in the last week, that I found interesting. On about October 21st a huge Christmas tree was put up in downtown Quito. Now most stores have all Christmas decorations and lights hanging in the windows, and you thought we started celebrating early in the year?

I have started a university class. I am learning how to work with special needs children who don’t speak. It is very interesting and I am sort of auditing the class. The first day I arrived, it was me and 3 other girls in the class. We sat on the ground for about 2 hours during the lecture. At one point I noticed that right next to me was a scorpion! I tried my best not to freak out and one of my classmates calmly reached over and taking a play dough cup she scooped it up and threw it outside. Not much of a reaction from the rest of the class, the other 2!

On the way to that same university class, my wallet was stolen. Somebody cut open my purse and took out my wallet without me even realizing it. It wasn’t until I got to the university that I saw that my bag was cut open. When I got home, I ate some soup that my roommate made. Yes, I now have a roommate Monday-Friday. She is from Canada and she is a farmer. We have some great conversations about silage sp? apparently the food you give to cows. Anyway ate the soup, which tasted great. But I then threw up for the entire night. Not one of my best days here.

This weekend marks the start of some time off for Day of the Dead. Colada morada and guaguas de pan is the traditional drink and food during this time. Colada morada is a thick fruity purple colored drink, and guagas de pan is bread decorated to look like a baby. People here will go to the cemetery where their loved one are buried and paint the tombstone or clean up the area. Then they will sit around and eat and drink and reminisce about their dead relative. I for one am going to the cloud forest on Tuesday with a friend of mine. There’s your cultural lesson for the day.

Another new baby, Viviana, came to the orphanage on Wednesday. She is a day younger than Jennifer, but much bigger. I have been able to feed Jennifer just about every day. She is so cute!

Birthdays

Waiting for the party to begin

The same day that Jennifer arrived to the orphanage, we celebrated five of the kids’ birthdays. The day of the child’s actual birthday they will have a small cake or treat, but at the end of each month, we celebrate all the birthdays for that month. Here are some pictures from the day.

My Namesake

So today was one of the coolest experiences I have had at the orphanage so far. I was down in the office this morning and I was told we were receiving a new baby girl from the public maternity hospital today. The social worker asked if she could borrow my camera to take to the hospital with her so that she could take pictures of the baby. Each child who enters the orphanage has a baby book. This includes pictures from day #1 when they have entered our Home and the pictures and information on the baby/child continue until he is adopted or reunited with his birth family.

I asked the social worker if I could tag along and help her pick up the baby, and she agreed. Before leaving, I picked out some newborn clothes to bring to the hospital. We got to the hospital after making side trips to 3 different schools to pick up some of our other children. Then the two of us entered the maternity hospital and met with the birth mother and grandmother. The birth mother is 25 years old. This is her 5^th baby and she is a drug addict and alcoholic. Having not been on drugs for this past week that she has been in the hospital, she was having withdrawals. However she was very pleasant with us. After signing different papers, we were escorted to the nursery. The social worker asked if I would like to scrub in and “receive” the baby. So I went in and a few minutes later walked out with an 8 day old baby girl.

Now the entire hallway of patients/visitors is staring at me. Who is this white girl walking out with a newborn? Among those staring was the birth mother. She asked if she could hold her baby again. She was visibly upset about having to hand over her baby. She finally handed her back and I was instructed not to let go of the baby. There are people who hang around the hospital who might try to steal the baby. With that information, I got into a taxi with the baby and the social worker. I was laughing to myself remembering the video of Tim and Diane bringing home Ethan from the hospital. Tim drove super slow and Ethan was placed securely in his infant seat. Not the case here, I held the baby in the back of the taxi. No seatbelts and crazy driving!

We arrived back to the Home where the tías welcomed her to her new home. She did not have a name, so the social worker decided to name her after me and so her name is Jennifer. She is very tiny and if I did the conversion right only weighs 4.4 lbs. Her weight today was 2008 grams…..Jennifer is doing well and she is absolutely precious!

In her crib at the hospital Getting dressed for the first time at the hospital today

Bringing Jennifer out of the nursery Her first taxi ride!

Wow! You've got a sticker up your nose......

Yesterday I visited a Catholic orphanage that is in the South part of the city. I wanted to get the chance to see how other orphanages are set up and run. This particular orphanage has about 70 children ranging in age from newborn to 16 years old. Upon arriving I was introduced to some very nice nuns. They escorted to me to a house where I was told to supervise a 13 year old boy who had to wash his clothes. So the boy and I chatted while he put his clothes in the washing machine and then washed some other clothes by hand. About 15 minutes go by and up comes the nun to check on the progress of the washing. She begins yelling at the boy when she sees that he has put his clothes in the washing machine. Apparently he was supposed to be washing all of his clothes by hand on the slabs of rock. She gave me an irritated glance, like I should have known better. His punishment was to wash more clothes by hand and then rewash the already clean clothes from the washing machine again, by hand.

Shortly after I joined in for lunch with five 2-4 year old girls. I was amazed to see the kids cutting their own meat using a fork and knife at the age of 2! Before beginning lunch we all practiced praying and doing the sign of the cross, numerous times. Then the little girl sitting next to me, decided to put the sticker from the banana peel up her nose. It got stuck there. She started to cry. I told her to take it out. She took it out. Wiped it across the table. And stuck it in her mouth. As we say here, “Qué asco” – how gross!

The visit ended with me being left alone with about 11 kids, helping with homework. I finally left without a nun in sight.

Meeting their Parents

Jessica and Fabian had new clothes on and they were told they could not get dirty. It was a morning filled with anticipation. The orphanage is surrounded by a tall gate and in order to enter, you need to get “buzzed in.” So every time we heard the click of the door, everybody would turn with expectancy hoping to see Jessica and Fabian’s new parents. After carrying on like this for about ½ hour, we finally put on Finding Nemo, and retreated to the living room. After waiting awhile more, I realized I needed to get some things from my house for some activities I was doing with the kids later. As I was leaving my house I saw the parents walking across the street to meet their children for the first time. I ran out of my house, because I really wanted to be able to witness this whole event. Well at approximately the same time they are about to enter the house to see the kids, I run up. Bad timing! I am introduced as the “lady teaching Italian to your children.” Naturally they assume I speak Italian, which I obviously don’t, and they figure this out very quickly.
Finally the door opens and out runs Jessica and Fabian with flowers for their parents. They all hug, the tías are crying, pictures are being taken, and the kids are SO excited! They are already calling them Mami, Papi in the first 30 seconds. They run and get the photo album that their parents have sent them about a month ago with pictures of their new home in Italy and pictures of their new family. This photo album has been looked through many times by the kids and shown proudly to anyone who wants to look.
In the year that I have been here, I have never been able to take part in the actual meeting between parents and children. It was such an emotional event and definitely one of the highlights of my time here so far. It is awesome, knowing what Jessica and Fabian have been through, and now knowing that they are being given a second chance. The orphanage uses the term “forever family” when talking about the adoptive family. How amazing to know that these children will never have to worry about being abandoned again. Please pray for them as they transition to a very different life in Italy. They will be learning the language and placed in an Italian school. This week we will have the goodbye party for them here at the orphanage and then they will be in Quito for the next month or two with their parents getting all the paperwork they need before traveling to Italy.

The Gym

So I’ve joined a gym. Last week was my first week. It is a small gym, but has some very fun classes. Monday you jump on these small trampolines, Tuesday is dance class, Wednesday is Aerobics/Strength training, Thursday is spinning, and Friday is dance again. I am the only foreigner and there are only about 7 people in each class. I have arrived late to each class because it takes about an hour to get to on the bus. I also forgot my sneakers to the spinning class and had to do the one hour class in boots. So I have made quite the impression so far. I am thoroughly enjoying the classes though and feel quite energized after!