Back-to-School Night

This evening was back-to-school night at Caleb's high school, Colegio Nuevo Mundo, although I didn't realize that until about 30 minutes into the program. The parents of the 7th, 8th, and 9th graders gathered in the school library and the (Executive?) Manager of the non-profit organization that runs the school gave a PowerPoint presentation about long-range goals and changes in the organization's top positions. Then the President (of the Board?) of the non-profit organization, also with a PowerPoint presentation, spoke briefly about several programs in which the school is participating, such as two partnerships with local universities, the purpose of which I did not catch.

Next up was a man I determined must be the new Director of the school. He said their theme for the year is "coherence." That made a lot of sense to me, as some of the 9th grade academics have seem discombobulated and it turns out it's not just my ignorance with the system.

One of the topics the Director raised briefly was AH1N1 flu. He noted that a school committee was diligently working to raise awareness of symptoms and actions to take (applause for the committee). For example, this information was on the bulletin board in a stairwell (click on the photo to enlarge it - "gripe" is "flu"):

We also heard from a faculty member about the curriculum related to drugs, sex, and alcohol, and from another about the Ecuadorian Enterprise Partnership Project, which has paired a telecommunications company with the school to provide technical assistance in management aspects such as human resources and finance. The Finance & Administration Director got up next and pleaded with the parents to pay their monthly tuition and transportation fees within the allotted 10 days at the beginning of each month. Shortly thereafter, we were directed to proceed to our child's homeroom for more information specific to each grade.

Here is a photo of Caleb's classroom with its 22 desks for the 22 students. The side walls are totally blank except for a small bulletin board, and the homeroom teacher informed us that the 9th graders had a plan to paint them in mural fashion. First, she said, they are collecting money to pay for the paint. She assured the parents that the mural would be about something positive and useful, like values the kids want to promote.

At the back of the classroom is a set of lockers, some of which have padlocks. Apparently, the class's supplies they've collected thus far - like the stapler that Caleb brought in? - are in one of the lockers and its padlock key is entrusted to a different 9th grader each week.

At the back of the classroom there's also a boombox. What you see out through the window is the sun setting behind Pichincha Mountain. Maybe you can also detect the denseness of the city at its base.
Here the homeroom teacher Paulina is writing on the whiteboard the name of each class, who teaches it, and what his/her office hours are. The parents diligently copied it all down.

One of the parents' complaints was that the kids were told today to procure supplies for science class tomorrow, which is too little time, especially given the obscurity of the items and the lack of suggestion from the science teacher as to where to procure them. The list for each student included a microscope (??), a dissection needle, an apron, and toilet paper. Most of the rest of the items Jens is currently looking up in online Spanish-English dictionaries, and he seems to be having little success translating them. The homeroom teacher said she would talk to the science teacher about providing more time and more guidance. Overall, she was very open, warm, and encouraging of communication, which I liked.

After the session, I went up to ask Paulina several questions I had. One of them was about when there would be school holidays. She said, "Oh, don't worry, we'll give you LOTS of warning. Let's see... the next one is October 9th." (That's the Friday after next.) A couple of moms who were still hanging around were a bit amused by my request and they joined the conversation, helping the teacher figure out the rest of the holidays this calendar year, which are, I learned, November 2-3 and December 25-31. I asked about Quito Day (December 6th) and they noted it falls on a weekend this year. However, Paulina assured me they would celebrate properly during the school days around the weekend. That will be a fun experience for Caleb, I'm sure.

-Spee

Recycling and Car Alarms, Part II

Remember my discomfort with throwing everything into the trash, with no composting or recycling of any kind? Here's the recycling system in Quito, which I saw in action this afternoon: The mother (sorry, I only was able to catch her from behind) is reviewing what's in the trash bags, the daughter is collecting bottles and cans in the green bag, and the son is taking the cardboard over to the side, flattening it, and making a neat pile. They will be able to take their load somewhere north of Quito and receive compensation for it.

Below is a picture taken out our bedroom window. I wanted to show you the car whose alarm is constantly triggered by the airplanes' landing and taking off from Quito International Airport, interrupting Jens's sleep. Just as I pushed the shutter button, look what roared in from overhead - a plane coming in for a landing!

The spectacular mountain in the background is Pichincha.

-Spee

Farms, Fiestas, and Films

As part of Natalie’s agricultural studies this semester, she is taking a series of field trips to markets, farms, and other destinations with her grandfather Gene, who organizes the outings using his many connections. Gene seems to be having a great time participating in his granddaughter’s education and Jens, too, when he gets the chance to go along.


If you’d like to learn about their adventures, I recommend Natalie’s blog at http://nat-travels.blogspot.com/. At the moment, she’s in Latacunga, having joined a friend of a Westtown friend at a big festival called “Fiestas de la Mama Negra.” We look forward to her report when she returns on Friday.

Last evening, we joined Helen at a showing of an Ecuadorian film called “Qué Tan Lejos” at Helen and Gene’s church, put on by the Spanish-speaking congregation (mostly Ecuadorians). The movie is about two young women – one Ecuadorian and the other Spanish – traveling through Ecuador at a time when a general strike has shut down most transportation and businesses. I found the discussion after the viewing very interesting and educational about Ecuador and Ecuadorians. For example, the group discussed the stunning beauty of their country and how it takes an outsider to remind them of that. Here are a couple of pictures I took today during our afternoon walk.



The group also talked about one of the movie’s themes, emigration from Ecuador, particularly to Spain. I was interested to hear their perspectives on why people go, how it changes them, what it does to families, and to what extent the emigrees’ dreams are fulfilled.

I hadn’t realized how extensive this migration was, although I was aware that Ecuadorians are the fourth largest Latino group in New York after Puerto Ricans, Dominicans, and Mexicans. The topic was particularly pertinent to us, as earlier in the day, Helen and Gene had had a lengthy luncheon with an Ecuadorian from the indigenous population who’s been in Spain for 15 years and is back for a visit. We learned that he’s living a much more comfortable life in Spain than he would have lived here, but he and his family live with negative factors such as prejudice and separation from their home communities. Also yesterday, our neighbor's sister (not of the indigenous Ecuadorian population) arrived from Spain after 10 years there. She decided to come back with her family for various economic, social, and educational reasons. I wonder how the adjustment will go for each family member, especially her school-aged children.

Speaking of adjustment, Caleb continues to work hard in school. You remember his class’s wish list for their homeroom? He reported that some items have trickled in, notably toilet paper. (I had forgotten that that was on the list!) After school/work today, we went on another exploratory hike in the Parque Metropolitano, which I enjoyed a great deal. In the picture below, Jens is explaining to Caleb how some Latino men express their love through graffiti. (Click on the photo to make it larger.)



-Spee

An Outing to Test Our Lungs and Legs

Yesterday, we had a fun hike up Cerro Ilaló, a small mountain on which we wanted to test our lungs and our legs. ("Cerro" means "hill," but the Ecuadorians have a different conception of mountains and hills than we have back home.) Here we are getting started at about 8,200 feet above sea level.














Here we are catching our breath.















Here we are continuing on our way. The water has helped carve the well used path through the volcanic dirt. The dry season is just ending and signs of fire are everywhere.















Natalie and I turned back before reaching the top, but Jens and Caleb kept going. Here is Caleb almost at the cross at the summit.














Here is Jens at the top at about 9,800 feet above sea level.















On the way back down, we ran into a group of tired Boy Scouts who were also descending. We were a bit tired too, but it was a great outing, and our lungs and legs are ready for a bigger challenge next weekend or soon thereafter.

-Spee

"Así es"

Caleb came home from school the other day with the next list of supplies needed for his classes. This list was for Art Class, and it included paint brushes, a smock, colored pencils, and other articles that we readily found at Super Paco, which is like a small version of Staples. Caleb asked if we could also buy a stapler for his classroom. He explained that the first day of school the 9^th Graders made a “wish list” for their homeroom, which included a full-sized pencil sharpener, a boom box, and a stapler, and it was the latter that he wanted to contribute. So we put a stapler into our shopping basket.

Near the end of Caleb’s list of art supplies was “1 quart of yellow acrylic paint” with the name of the paint brand, Condor. There was no sign in Super Paco of metal paint cans, so we headed to the hardware store and purchased it there. When I asked Caleb why the paint had to be yellow, he explained that each student had been assigned a specific color so that once all the paint had been brought in, they would have the full complement needed for Art Class.

Así es. That’s how it is. C’est la vie. It’s a whole different way of financing education. For 9^th Grade in Colegio Nuevo Mundo, we put down $110 for enrollment and insurance and paid $90 for Caleb’s multi-piece uniform. Now we pay a monthly tuition fee of $142 and a monthly bus transportation fee of $40. One aspect to this system of contributing supplies to the school is it allows for the families with fewer resources to contribute less and thereby lower the cost of their children’s education.

Here’s another insight into “Así es.” We live very close to Quito International Airport and the jet planes roar in and out overhead. (A huge new airport is under construction outside the city, responding to complaints over many years that Quito needs longer runways, less of a steep dive in and out among mountains, and more distance from dense populations.) The vibrations caused by these planes trigger car alarms in our neighborhood. Even a truck driving by can trigger car alarms. It’s enough to drive you batty.

We were discussing this annoyance with our friends Sandra and Tom over dinner the other night, shortly after hearing from Sandra about her human rights work with refugees from Colombia who demonstrate a lot of initiative and energy in comparison to the local Ecuadorian population, which causes tension between the two. Tom told us how he’d finally convinced the skeptical dealer to set the alarm on their new car on the “least sensitive” setting. Jens talked about how a car alarm right behind our apartment outside our bedroom window goes off several times a night. We discussed various approaches: the Ecuadorian approach to these annoying car alarms is “Así es” and the American approach is to take action, for example, by speaking with the neighbor, while Sandra said the Colombian approach would be to shoot up your neighbor’s car if it was that annoying!

This is not to say that everyone just sits around accepting things as they are. Here’s a different story: As the movers were finishing their delivery of our rented furniture and appliances last month, I went around the apartment and up to the roof-top laundry room and maid’s quarters to see what was missing. I noticed the dryer was not plugged in and upon inspection, realized that the cord was too short to reach the plug high up on the wall. Later, I mentioned this to one of the moving fellows, suggesting we might need to buy a special extension cord, but he assured me he had taken care of the matter. Here’s a picture of how he solved the problem. Very creative!

Quebradas and Arrows

The other day after Caleb arrived home from school and ate a hefty snack, he, Jens, and I took a little excursion to the Parque Metropolitano Guangüiltagua in the car Helen and Gene have lent us, the Hyundai Atso. We call it “Atso” for short and could say that it’s named after the famous Finnish orchestral conductor Atso Almila, but I prefer the meaning “Ability To Survive and Operate.” Driving in Quito can be nuts. Here’s a picture of this small, fuel-efficient vehicle that lacks great oomph, but does a fine job getting us around.


For a city, Quito has a good amount of green space, which is wonderful. The Parque Metropolitano, with its forest cover of planted eucalyptus trees, dominates the long crest of a hill (not a mountain by Ecuadorian standards, but certainly by New Jersey ones) on the eastern side of Quito. It faces the long, high ridge formed by Pichincha Mountain on the western side of the city. The blog “Positivo Ecuador” says, “Considered one of the largest urban parks in the world, with an area of 1,410 acres, the Parque Metropolitano is a space for recreation and relaxation for the residents of the capital city who live consumed by the stress of the city” (my translation). Here’s a view of the park’s forest from the roof of our house.

Although not feeling “consumed by the stress of the city,” we had a really nice walk in the park, working our lungs a lot to continue acclimating to the altitude, which up there is close to 10,000 feet above sea level. Jens is full of stories of how Ecuador and the city of Quito used to be and especially loves to tell of the “quebradas,” the huge ravines cut into the volcanic dirt by water, many of which have been filled in for urban development. In the Parque Metropolitano we could see the tops of ravines that widened and gaped down into the valleys miles away. We could imagine Jens scampering along underneath the brush, following the tunnels where the water rushes when it rains, and encountering many exotic natural and human-made items of interest.

As part of his sharing his past, Jens taught Caleb how to make an arrow using a hollow stalk of sawgrass reeds and a eucalyptus acorn. Eucalyptus acorns are shaped a bit like an arrowhead with an indentation perfect for fitting snugly onto the tip of the reed to make a nice point for the arrow. Here’s a picture of Caleb throwing his arrow into a quebrada from the look-out post.

-Spee

Sunday in Quito

This morning was another 3-mountain day in Quito. Here’s the view of Cotopaxi Mountain from our roof, where we were hanging laundry. It seems we’ll have to do laundry often because of how few uniform outfits Caleb has for school. It’s a good thing it’s the dry season and almost any day is good for hanging out clothes.

Sundays are a bit different here. I miss going to Quaker Meeting. My father-in-law Gene already had the idea of starting a Quaker Worship Group here, so we’ve been exploring that together. The first person we asked about how to get out the word was a young woman who works at the U.S. Embassy. Her reply surprised us: It turns out she grew up in a Quaker family in Indiana. She herself didn’t seem too interested in worshipping with us, but will help us publicize the place and date, once we figure that out ourselves.

We’ve been going to Helen and Gene’s church instead of Quaker Meeting. It’s the English congregation of a Lutheran church that also has a Spanish congregation and a German congregation. The English congregation draws people from many different religious backgrounds, although most are what they call “mainline” Protestants. I get very confused with the texts, hymns, stand-ups, and sit-downs. One great thing about going to church is seeing people Jens has known forever and whom I probably met on my first trip to Ecuador 24 years ago (wow!).

This afternoon, Natalie has been doing her usual Goddard work. During her 8-day residency at the college in late August, she made a plan with her advisor for this semester, which has a focus on midwifery and farming and social change. She has a blog at http://nat-travels.blogspot.com/, but I see she hasn't yet talked about her studies. That doesn't mean she hasn’t been busy – she’s been working this afternoon on a bibliography and a paper. Gene, her grandfather, is all excited about taking her on field trips and discussing agriculture and social change with her.

Caleb is doing homework this afternoon and it’s not easy. For example, he has to write out in Spanish the number 23,363.4451, which they write as 23.363,4451. He had only barely learned his numbers in Spanish up to 1,000 before Math class on Friday, so he has 3 times as much work as his classmates to do the homework. I'm impressed, though, at how he keeps up his interest and moves ahead. He had a lot of new vocabulary in his notes from History class, some of it being new words for him in English as well, such as rhetoric, discourse, Machiavelli, and Pavlov. Doesn’t that combination of words make you wonder what the theme of the History lecture was? Jens is trying to help Caleb figure that out.

Here’s a picture of Jens and me at the supermarket loading our groceries into orange reusable grocery bags (that’s a big, yummy, ripe papaya I'm touching). We already have accumulated well over 50 plastic bags from shopping, and I’m trying not to accumulate any more. It’s been feeling really weird to put everything into the trash can and not recycle anything, but I keep reminding myself that the recycling must be happening – surely someone is going through our garbage somewhere and taking out anything reusable. That’s the way it is in the developing world.

-Spee

Jens and Natalie arrive!

As we crept along in the rush-hour traffic to the airport last evening, Jens and Natalie roared by overhead in an American Airlines jet. How do you know that’s their plane, Caleb asked? At the airport, I showed him how it was the only plane expected to land within a two-hour period. Yes, Quito is a big city, a capital city, with much activity, but its airport is not that big – bigger than Albany’s, though.

Here they are on the plane:

Caleb and I went upstairs and waved to Jens and Natalie from a glassed-in balcony and then, after waiting patiently downstairs by the exit doors from customs, had a happy reunion. Upon arriving home, we fed the travelers dinner and then celebrated with a yummy cake Helen had brought. Both Jens and Natalie are tired from late nights before coming to Ecuador and from the altitude, but they’re in great spirits. Natalie immediately nested in her room, creatively hanging her large colorful scarves over the curtain rods to create a pretty decent curtain.

Caleb survived the first week of school and was upbeat about it. Some of the things he reported were:

- There are about 21 kids in his class, with more boys than girls.

- There are two other new students besides him.

- From his classroom there's a gorgeous view to the west of the entirety of huge Pichincha Mountain. On a clear day, he can also see snow-capped peaks Cotopaxi and Antisana.

- He has many classes: English grammar, English literature, Spanish language arts, World History, Computer, Art/Music, Math, Social Sciences, Physical Sciences, and Phy Ed. Some classes meet only once or twice a week, of course.

- He knows what is going on at a general level, but misses a lot of the details. The English teacher, Paulina, was out both Days 2 and 3, so hasn’t been there to provide extra help.

- He enjoys having for lunch a big empanada (with a little cheese in it), bought at the school snack bar for 50 cents.

Each day he has come home exhausted and has needed time to space out and let his brain recuperate from the huge effort.

You should have seen us in the school supplies store yesterday afternoon. We were having such a challenge figuring out from his notes what supplies he’s supposed to buy for each class. Helen and Gene were able to help us out, but only a bit. Even when Caleb had copied one of the lists from a fellow student’s notebook, it didn’t make much sense. For one thing, he’s still trying to get used to the Ecuadorian cursive handwriting. In the store itself, I did solicit the help of another mom in figuring out what the math teacher might possibly have been asking the kids to buy. Caleb says that today the art teacher gave him another list, including special paper and paint brushes. Since he copied this one from the blackboard, maybe it will be less of a challenge to decipher.

You’d think that math would be easy because the language barrier doesn’t come into play so much. Yet Caleb did part of his first math assignment wrong because it turns out they set up division problems in a totally different way and he mixed up the divisor and dividend. He’s learning quickly not to be hard on himself.

Today, Jens and Natalie had lunch with Helen and Gene, who are delighted to have them here. Afterwards, they went to get cellphones for Natalie and Caleb. That way, we feel a little more relaxed as our kids enter Ecuadorian social life and travel in a new city.

I’ve been working long distance for Save the Children and CORE Group and as I wrap up those assignments, will probably take on two new Columbia University consultancies. Skype is a big help, especially at 2 cents a minute for me to call colleagues’ phones in the U.S. For me, having Jens and Natalie arrive yesterday was a big treat and the icing on the cake was the big container of raspberries from home that Jens brought me.

-Spee

Caleb's First Day of School - 9th Grade, not Kindergarten

Caleb started school today at Colegio Nuevo Mundo. I drove him there without getting lost or scraping any of the many cars that were in close proximity to me in the rush-hour traffic. Here is a picture of the entrance gate showing the guard, the traffic police officer, and a kid who is late, running to the gate.















Here the kids are gathering on the basketball court in preparation for the opening "presentation." See two girls giving each other a big hug in greeting. The 7th graders are in a line closest to us and the 12th graders farthest away. Can you spot Caleb?















Next picture: At least one kid was taller than Caleb. The woman in white to his right is his Homeroom and English teacher and may also be his teacher for a couple of other subjects. After she and I spoke about his special situation, i.e., low level of Spanish comprehension, she promised to provide him with good support. She greeted him warmly and proceeded to introduce him to some classmates.















One woman was putting on the music for the National Anthem and the school's Director was preparing to speak. Many parents stayed to watch, but I had to head home to let in the DSL installation team. They came and now we have broadband service in our new home, yippee. Caleb reports that he had a good first day and that he's exhausted.

-Spee

Elena and Leonidas's wedding

Yesterday, we went to the wedding of Elena and Leonidas, an Indian couple who met and live in a village near the base of the huge, beautiful snow-capped mountain of Cayambe. In fact, yesterday was a “three-mountain day,” meaning that as we traveled north from Quito, we had gorgeous clear views of not only Cayambe, but also snow-capped Cotopaxi and Antisana. One of the first things Jens will have you learn about Ecuador is that its mountains are the highest in the world, if measured from the center of the earth (because of the equatorial bulge). Next, you must learn the names of these spectacular Andean peaks, which are spread around the country. Lastly, you must know that Ecuador’s national anthem won first prize in the world – when was that, back in about 1980?



Back to Elena and Leonidas. How is it we were invited to this wedding? Elena is the daughter of Segundo (I forgot to ask if he was the second son or how else he came by that name), a man who has known Helen and Gene since their missionary days a half century ago. Segundo has always encouraged strong bonds between the two families and it’s because of him that Jens and I are the godparents of Elena’s nephew Edison.

Finding the wedding was no easy matter and took us over one hour. We understood that the wedding party, friends, and relatives were gathering very early at the bride’s home village many miles away and then coming to the groom’s village for a 12 noon ceremony. We had the name of the small town and we knew the ceremony would be not in a Catholic church but an evangelical church. When we arrived at the small town, we asked people about every 100 meters for directions and eventually arrived at the town’s evangelical church. (Helen and Gene explained that the indigenous population is not very strong on giving driving instructions. One reason is because they walk and do not necessarily know which paths are drivable.)

There at the church we found not a wedding but some meeting. One of the people knew about Leonidas’s wedding and told us we needed to go up the mountain to the village of Carrera. We wended our way on hand-laid cobblestone roads up, down, around, and over, asking for directions enough times that Caleb’s Spanish vocabulary in this realm is now very strong. It turned out that the small village of Carrera has three evangelical churches and that was one reason we were wandering all over the place.

Our confidence that we would eventually arrive (by now it was well past the noon hour) was bolstered when we met a man who had just gotten off his cell phone and reported the wedding party was on its way by hired bus and would be there “in a short while.” He gave us instructions, but still we wandered. We did make it to the church before the crowds arrived and sat for a while in the car, out of the fierce wind, taking in the splendid vistas of the 11,000-foot-altitude plateau – so vast and striking that photos do not do them justice.



When everyone arrived, Caleb got to have that experience many other Brauns have had of being visibly very different and stared at and welcomed in special ways. He, who to me is still my little boy, towered over the Indians, which was so striking I had to take a picture.



The actual wedding service was pleasant and interesting, although Helen’s and my hackles went up when the pastor, quoting the Bible, said that a wife must submit to her husband’s authority. He didn’t dwell on that topic long and he did say about five times that a man must not beat his wife and must respect her and must be in partnership with her. Gene (“el pastor misionario”) and other pastors were called upon to come up front and convey blessings upon the couple, and as requested, Gene laid his hands on the groom and gave a wonderful prayer for the couple.

After about an hour when I thought the service was over (the bride and groom never kissed, as this culture eschews public affection), the pastor said that next we would have the presentation of the baby, which is like a welcoming ceremony (baptisms come later in life). Oh, did I forget to mention that this couple has a toddler? I was told that they were likely married a while ago in a civil ceremony and were saving up their money for the wedding service and reception. After the presentation of the child, we all went to the groom’s home for the reception. They said it was very close, only 20-30 minutes on foot, and we drove there in about 15 minutes over a very bumpy dirt road.



A big crowd gathered there and we were given seats of honor, meaning we had chairs at a table inside out of the fierce wind. The first course was soup with corn, beef, cheese, and carrots. The second course was a loaded plate with corn, potatoes, chicken, and guinea pig topped with onions and tomatoes. Caleb learned a lot about eating customs under such circumstances: How does one eat the big piece of meat in the soup? (use the hands) How does one eat the plateful of food with one’s hands? (get rescued by someone requesting spoons for us) Where does one wipe one’s hands? (get rescued by mom with the pocketful of tissues) What does one do with the leftovers? (give them to someone else to finish or take them home by putting them in a plastic bag, several of which all the women seemed to have tucked away – this is not rude!) We didn't see much of the bride and groom and their families, as they were very, very busy serving the 100-150 guests. Still we got a photo of the newly married couple before we left (that's Segundo in the background).

We left early, before the cake was served, as we wanted to get back to Quito by dark. The vistas were again spectacular as the sun headed toward the horizon, highlighting the snowy peaks and grassy plateaus against the dark crevices and ravines that erosion has created over the millennia.

-Spee

Our place in Quito

Hi, All –

Welcome to our Ecuador blog! ¡Bienvenidos! ¿Cómo están? Caleb is learning how to make upside-down question marks, among other things during his daily Spanish lessons.

Here I am in front of Helen and Gene’s 10-story condominium building. When looking for apartments within our budget, we found out they live in quite a ritzy neighborhood. As a result, we’re not as close to them as we had all wished, but still, it’s less than a 15-minute walk to our place – that is, if you make the walk before 6:30 p.m., when the back door to the Quicentro Mall closes. That’s right, you have to walk right through a ritzy mall if you want to shave 5 minutes off the walk.

I like our neighborhood a lot and am glad not to be in a high-rise, taking the elevator all the time.

Here’s a view of the 3-story house, where we rent the 2^nd floor (the 1^st floor is too low to see).

The front windows are the dining room (no curtain) and living room. The next window back is the office, the one behind that near the corner is Natalie’s room, and the one around the bend is the dressing room of the master bedroom. Where you see laundry on the roof we have 2 rooms, one with the washer and dryer and the other the “maid’s room” with a cot and a simple bathroom with a shower. That’s our overflow area for visitors.

We share the building with 4 dogs and 11 members of the Hernandez family, whom I hope we get to know. One 19-year-old college student (female) is looking forward to meeting Natalie.

Here’s a view of our street, which is a dead end. Our place is half-way down on the left-hand side. The neighborhood is relatively quiet and has a park right around the corner with tennis and basketball courts and more. It’s a gated community, if you can believe it. We have a huge handful of keys: one each for the front gate for people on feet, front gate for parking, front gate’s padlock for parking, door to stairwell, two for door to apartment, one more for metal door behind the wooden door to the apartment. Do you get a sense that people are worried about being robbed??

Here’s our living room and our kitchen. A long line of ants appeared the minute we put food in the kitchen.

Caleb and I are having a good time learning Spanish and the neighborhood, taking care of business such as making copies of keys, and hanging out with Helen and Gene.

Write us and let us know how you’re doing!

Love,

Spee