A Feeling of Independence

So with today being our 7th day together, and our 5th in Ecuador, it was time to do laundry.  After a late night of team bonding and blogging, I slept in until 11:30am which was a great way to start my Saturday.  Minutes after waking up, Chris, one of our project directors, called our room inviting us to go do laundry. Deciding I didn't want stinky clothes all week and needed to know where the laundromat was, I got out of bed and joined.  The laundromat was a lot closer than I thought and an interesting process.  Clothes are placed in a basket, they determine a price based on the size of the load then you pay and are given a receipt for pick up.  It's not that the process was hard, I am just used to doing my own laundry.

Lunch consisted of some good ol' shawarma at tres pey (3P), my new favorite food here, only to find out that it's Persian and not Ecuadorian....darn.  We spent some quiet time in the rainforest park, only to learn that there are 3 new rules to add to the list of forbidden activities.

1. Shoes cannot be removed...
2. No laying down...
3. No sitting on rocks...

The "..." is to indicate the stupidity of the rules and my disagreement but no matter what we seem to do, the Ecuadorian police find ways to ruin our enjoyment and fun.  The rules are interesting and hard to understand when there are couples openly making out on the benches but whatever.  I was able to correctly navigate us to the grocery store, back to the hotel, and later back to the laundromat.  I have for now been chosen as the team navigator which is pretty cool role considering I enjoy leadership positions.  Being able to navigate through the streets of Guayaquil is a proud accomplishment with having no sense of direction whatsoever.  I've just been able to remember the streets that run perpendicular and parallel with each other and a decent feel for the number of blocks between places. 

Feeling independent thus far is a great feeling because I wasn't sure how I would adjust to the new setting.  I originally fell in love with the idea of STINTing in Ecuador in between transferring but decided on a 5 week trip first.  STINT is a program with Campus Crusade for Christ where students intern overseas for a year to help with a partnering campus ministry.  Many students who STINT do so after they finish college degrees prior to entering the job force or joining staff with Cru.  I wanted to STINT for a year after I graduated from COD and before I transferred to a 4-year university.  The reasons why to finish my education first (without breaks) were greater.  

I have been wavering with the idea of entering full time ministry, maybe joining Cru staff but before possibly doing any of those, I need to get a potential backup degree first so that is what chemical engineering is doing for me.  How's that for a backup major...fun.  But I really do enjoy the major, just unsure if I will pursue a career in that field.  This trip is a great opportunity to explore those ideas.

Keep me in your prayers

Buenas noches desde Ecuador (good night from Ecuador!)

*for a different view on today check out my teammate's blog at jennareallyspeaking.blogspot.com.  We have tried to blog together the past few nights to avoid any potential overlap in our posts to save us some time.