Ecuador 2/22/2022 - 3/8/2022 |
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Friday, March 4, 2022 - Working RemotelyThe sun was shining when we woke up this morning. Maybe the rainy weather was finally breaking for good. Aida put out a plastic tub of water so that their duck could take a bath. He had a grand old time in the water. For breakfast we had crepes, bread, ham, and coffee. Dashel was playing with her doll. She doesn't seem to play by herself with toys all that often. This was one of the rare times that we saw her playing. Abuelita sat in the sun and I took her photo. Then I went upstairs to work. This would be my last day working from Ecuador; we would be heading home on Monday. The kids got home from school. Dashel sat in a cardboard box and Yupanqui dragged it around the house as her little car. It's very cute the way these two play together. Yupanqui obviously loves his little sister very much. I had lunch upstairs because I had a meeting. We had soup and beef stew with pasta. Sisa practiced her saxophone. We are very impressed with her commitment to her music. Antonio's band came over and got all of their equipment ready. Antonio had promised that they wouldn't start practicing until after 5 o'clock, so they wouldn't interrupt my work. They were ready to go before 5 o'clock. I gave them the go-ahead to start practicing, even though it was early, since I had no more meetings for the day. As it got loud at the house, Sisa wanted to get out of there. She asked if we wanted to go for a walk down the street with her and Dashel. First Aida tried to give Dashel a bath, to remove all of the magic marker that always seemed to covered her skin. Sisa then got Dashel dressed, and the four of us headed out down toward the family's other land. Dashel was walking with her hood up and her hands in her pockets; she looked adorable! Even as we walked further and further from the house, we could hear the sound of the band reverberating through the countryside. Still, it was less loud than it had been yesterday. The sun had gone away, and there was a chilly wind. Although Sisa really didn't want to return to the house while the loud music was going on, she became cold and decided that we should turn around and go back home before we reached their other property. On the (uphill) walk back to the house, Dashel was slowing down significantly. She doesn't normally let anyone carry her (and certainly not me!), but I scooped her up as she was passing some sketchy looking dogs. To my surprise, she didn't struggle to be put back down afterwards. Instead, she yawned. So I carried her. Within a minute, she was asleep in my arms. I guess that I had finally gained her trust. When we got back to the house, Aida seemed very surprised to see a sleeping Dashel in my arms. She brought her to bed to continue her nap. We presented the 3 older kids with winter coats that we had brought for them. It was a good opportunity to do so, since Sisa had been cold on our walk. They all put them on and snuggled in. Sisa's was a little bit big on her, but Yupanqui and Shina's fit perfectly. I was lucky, as I had guessed on the sizes after not seeing the kids for 2.5 years! Sisa helped to cook dinner. We had soup, steak, melloco, fried plantains, rice, and mora juice. After dinner, Sisa got out her music textbooks and taught us some music theory; scales, rhythm, and sight reading. She really understands it inside and out; she is a natural. She wants to be a music teacher, and we are certain that she would be very successful! Antonio, who does not know how to read music, and instead plays by ear, is very impressed by her. When it was time to say goodnight, Dashel gave us spontaneous goodnight hugs again. |
 Abuelita  Sisa practicing her sax See all photos from March 4 |
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