Patience Needed...

So...about that being sick for my entire trip! Please pray for patience and acceptance of my sickly fate. I have now been sick to one extent or another for over two weeks. The good and bad news: I finally made it to the doctor. He was a very knowledgable doctor who knew English. His verdict: an infection of the sinuses. Not sure if that is good or bad, but he prescribed three drugs. Two are pills and one is a nosespray. Ever since I have started taking the drugs I have felt worse than before, but I can only hope it is the pain before the relief. The doctor said that is has held on this long because of the weather here: it changes so quickly from morning to afternoon to evening, that it is keeping my body from fighting the infection off. Sad day! I don´t really care what it is at this point, I just want to be able to breath normally and do things without feeling like I need an eternal rest. So pray, pray, pray that these medicines work and are stronger than my body´s reaction to the new city.

One thing I thought I would do for you: post some interesting things I have noted about Quito, or Ecuador in general.
1. They love Micheal Jackson.
2. They wear their jackets and coats all day long, even though it gets warmer than 80 degrees in the afternoons.
3. Everyone sells something. Candy vendors on the busses, hot dog vendors on the streets, clothing vendors on the corners.
4. They love to run. Maybe because it is cheap, I don´t really know, but it is as common here as in college towns.
5. They love to sign karaoke to English songs. (haven´t experienced this yet)
6. Stereotypes are the same here as in America - coastal people are lazy, the natives hold lower jobs and scrape by, though they were here first...
7. Stores are tiny. The average shop is maybe 10´by 10´or smaller. They cram alot of things inside, though!
8. They don´t know how to eat healthy portions, either! Just like Americans, they load the plates up! Probably why the average person here is overweight...
9. Food is sold everywhere - no permits needed, just bring your cart of whatever and start cooking! In the park today, 4 or 5 vendors selling cups of fresh fruit like watermelon, and a couple ladies cooking up lunch... on a cart... rice and chicken and veggies, and I don´t know what, but alot of food! And smells awesome!
10. Women and children are helped out more here. On the busses, the assistant always makes sure to offer a hand to the ladies, and sometimes picks the kids up and puts them on the sidewalks (the busses don´t always stop all the way). They are always concerned for their well-being. It is very sweet.

Many of you are wondering what I do in the orphanage. Well, it really depends. Usually it is playing with the younger kids and helping out with lunch, feeding the babies, and making sure the older kids eat and don´t goof off. On days it isn´t raining, we usually go outside. (Those pictures, by the way, are my friend Gillian´s - but were taken of the same kids I work with. I still hate cameras.) They have a swingset, see-saws, play houses, monkey bars, and in the back, a blacktop with basketball hoops. For 40 kids, it really isn´t very adequate... Many of the kids simply stand around waiting... I also help kids with their homework...some as simple as drawing rectangles, but some need help with their English homework, which is great, because I can actually be of some help. There is a little, little baby, only 2 months old, and I helped out with her one day, holding, feeding, burping, rocking, that sort of thing - most of the time it is just trying to give the house moms a break. I help fix lunch some days, and I bought a couple of books, and am translating them into English, so they can have books in both languages. I am done with one so far, and the kids really seemed to like it. It is about a musical dwarf whose friends are able to fly on the magical notes he plays. It´s pretty funny... Their books are long, with terrible pictures, and in one language or another. They also don´t have paper and crayons, except for what is supplied for school. I am going to take my art supplies I brought to the orphanage this week.

Well, that is about it - nothing crazy this weekend, but hopefully I´ll get to travel again next weekend. A couple of girls from our group got robbed last weekend of everything they had with them - cameras, money, credit cards, clothes... not at gunpoint, but by trickery (they acted like they were bus employees). So needless to say, traveling this weekend was rather light. I still haven´t made it to the coast, though, and I also need to see the central district where all the pretty churches and museums are. I´ll let you know when I go.

Talk to you soon!