No more blogging

I feel slightly disconnected with things that I care about and people that I love, so I've decided that my next post will be my last.

Life is too exciting right now. Too many things are happening. So to quickly share:

- I have a job teaching in a language institute. It has been wonderful experience thus far, teaching the Ecuadorians how to pronounce "strawberry." They also find "Holy Cow!" and "Hold your horses!" to be quite funny expressions.

- I have 17 credits, in Spanish. Some days, I question that decision. But most days, I absolutely love it. With four literature classes in Spanish (and a fifth education class), I couldn't be happier about the progress of my Spanish skills, not to mention all the opportunities that I have to read and write in a new language.

- I have 50 hours of community service yet to complete. Right now, there's a gap between my life and the normal, poorer Ecuadorian life. I'm looking forward to heading back to a nearby Parish to help a few malnourished youngsters do their homework.

- I have new friends. From Europe, from America, from Ecuador. Relationships that I care about. A new host family that I want to get to know. New students to share life with. A crazy but good-hearted New Mexican companion whose friendship means a lot to me.

- I have plans to travel, more and more. To more beaches and hopefully at some point, the Amazon jungle (if Andrea can get it planned!).



But with all that being said, as I delve ever-more deeply into this study abroad experience, I know that many of these experiences will pass. My home will change again. And most of all, my best friends will no longer sit on a computer screen, next to a blue Skype cloud.

They will be real again. My tangible and palpable friends.

So I'm adjusting a bit.
I need to be here in Ecuador, and home, in conversation and in prayer.