Ecuador 5/24/2024 |
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Friday, May 24, 2024 - Summer FridaysToday the kids had the day off from school. I got up at 7 o'clock and worked in the casita until 9, at which point I went up to Sisa's room to have my meeting. I ate breakfast with the family: coffee, juice, yogurt, potato pancakes, and bread with ham and cheese.Today was the first of my "summer Fridays" at work, where, if you put in a full 40 hour week spread across other days, you can take the afternoon off. A nice perk of my relatively new job. It was hard to believe that a year ago when we had visited, I had been unemployed and desperately trying to find work. Now I had been at my new job for seven months already! So, once my workday was complete at 11 o'clock, I came downstairs. The kids had gone down to their lower farmland to pick some beans. They had invited Craig to go, but he wasn't sure how long they would be gone, and he was afraid that the direct sun would be too strong for him. The farmland is very exposed and there is no shade. Kuri was still here at the house, and he came into the casita to see us and sat on my lap. It turned out that the kids weren't gone for very long, and they came home with a bag of beans. We sat together outside shucking them, and had a lot of laughs. Many of the beans were not good; the climate has been alternatingly too wet and too dry this year for a good bean or corn crop. We chatted with our compadre Humberto in Guatemala online, and learned that our first goddaughter Aracely will be getting married next month when we visit. Such exciting news! For lunch, we had chicken soup, juice, steak, rice, red cabbage, and the beans that we had shucked. We had brought a Little Mermaid jigsaw puzzle, and we completed it with Sisa and Nena while Yupanki and Shina went to catechism up at the community church. Though there is a small church in the community, it is not always staffed with a priest. They have catechism there, and sometimes they have Sunday Mass there, but the kids have celebrated all of their sacraments in churches in Cotacachi, where the services are more consistent. After doing the puzzle, I did some online shopping. I suddenly needed an appropriate dress to wear to Aracely's wedding. I checked TJX online stores first, as I work for them and like to give them my business. However, they didn't have an appropriate size / style. I found something I liked at Macy's, and ordered it so that it would arrive in plenty of time. Aspiring chef Yupanki made dinner. He used a French fry cutter machine to make fries. (This brought back happy memories for Craig of when he used to use one while working in a kitchen in high school). Then he made chicken stuffed with ham in a sauce made from uvilla (goldenberry) and sugar. He had seen the recipe on the internet and wanted to make it. It was beautifully plated, with rice and salad. It was so delicious! He is going to make a great chef one day! Antonio talked about his job and his maritime license. We are so proud of him for getting the certifications that he needs to work at Lake Cuicocha. We went back to our casita at 10 p.m. |
 Achi Taita and Nena  Shucking beans  Chef Yupanki and his delicious dinner Photo Gallery May 24 |
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