Thank you, little pink pill

Before I continue on I would like to say a be-lated Happy Papa's Day to my Papa Lima. (Don't worry, I actually did call him on the phone yesterday and i also had to wait till today to post.) Thank you, Papa Lima, for all that you have done for me. You taught me: how to really watch sports, that it's ok with society to dance around the house, how to play chess, to kick the Christmas tree when it doesn't cooperate with you, how to feed my sweet tooth, how to learn from your mistakes, how to change a tire, how to drive standard, that traveling to different countries is the bomb.com, to chase after my dream, that family always comes first, that singing on top of your lungs in the shower is the normal thing to do, how to love God before anything else, to serve others, how to eat with a knife and fork, how to whisle, how to work hard for your money, and how to love your family even when they are not perfect. Gracias, Papi.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Well, it’s official…I have gotten sick on this trip. The lovely event happened Thursday night with abdominal pain that hurt so much that I thought I was about to give birth (I base this statement on what has been told to me. I’m sure giving birth is the highest level of pain. Props to all the mama’s out there). The stomach tearing apart pain lasted into the wee hours of the morning until I finally took the magic little pink pill. I slept all day Friday with still some pain. Saturday I felt 75% better but the sad part is that I missed the Cajas trip with my students. It was wise that I would stay in bed than rather be passed out on the trial clenching my stomach.
At this time I would like to give out some acknowledgements to those who have kept me company throughout this frustrating time in bed:

• Thank you, little pink pill, for being the savior of the tearing apart stomach pains. When I thought my stomach was going to explode, you came in with your pinkness and make the pains not hurt so much.

• Thank you, ipod, for playing my chillax playlist. The melodies of Ingrid, the shins, Iron & Wine, Snow Patrol, The Fray and many more friends have had some assistance to calm me down during the stomach tearing apart moments.

• Thank you, TV, for providing three important channels: one that shows all the World Cup games and highlights; another that plays English and Spanish music videos; and lastly one that shows Spanish soap operas at night. Now I feel up to date on: my World Cup facts, who’s hot or not in the music biz, and that Maria has been sleeping with Paco’s bestfriend.

• Thank you, tea, for being the chosen drink of the weekend. Not only have I been having two cups of you every day for the past three weeks, but this weekend you have really shined through. I have lost count of the number of cups I have drank of you, but I’m pretty sure I’m developing an British accent and my pee smells like you.

• Thank you, Bible, through your Holy words you remind how small I am and how great my Savior is.

• Thank you, bed, for being my best friend this weekend. Since we have been cuddling so much, I took a shower just for you.

• Thank you, journal, for letting me vent out my frustrations but also providing a space for me just to be me and draw.

• Thank you, big window in my room, for letting the sun shine on me. I appreciate it since I haven’t seen the outside world in days.

• Thank you, Mark Buchanan, for writing The Rest of God: Restoring Your Soul by Restoring Sabbath (Ironic, huh?). Not only is this book was perfect timing while I was forced to rest this weekend, but you are challenging me to change my mind about Sabbath.

• Thank you, familia-Cuenca, for letting me wake you up in the middle of night when it felt like an alien was going to pop out of my belly. You sat at my bed side at 2am, made me 10 million cups of tea, made me eat the nasty soup even when I fought back, check on me while I slept, prayed over me, played salsa music to cheer me up, watched Spanish soap operas and laughed with me. I am beyond blessed on having your care and love during this nasty time.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Since I had time this weekend to really enjoy the World Cup games, I took the liberty of jotting down a couple of my favorite things about the World Cup that makes the whole singding the shiznit:

• I love it when they replay fouls, red/yellow cards, goals, or what could have goals…they make it all slow motion. I love the looks on the players face. It’s either they are constipated or are in immense pain. Also, making everything slow motion makes the players seem that they are faking or pansies. I know that it’s all real and it hurts like a mother when you get cleated in the shins but life is funnier when there is slow motion.

• They also show the coaches reaction to whenever there is a foul, what should have been a foul, yellow/red card, goals or what could have been goals. Again, it’s all the in slow motion. These little clips cracks me up because you can make out the words coming out of their mouths, which are not really gentleman like. The majority of the coaches look like they are mad at the world.

• I love it when the “underdog” comes out on top or really gives the other team a game to play. Not only makes the games more interesting but you get to see the other team scramble around and freak out that they might lose the game. For example, the Algeria and England game. Poor Brit’s thought it was an easy win, hands down. It’s like a humbling thing.

• I think it’s funny that whenever a player gets called on a foul and/or yellow/red card they put on this innocent look on their faces and throw their hands up. Of course, refs are not perfect and call some stuff that I swear they pull out of their butts. But when the ref makes a good call and the player knows full well what they did and act all innocent…I just laugh at their silliness.

• I love the thrill feeling you get when someone shoots for a goal and you feel three things: 1) pure adrenaline rush of the excitement that your team is about to score, 2) fear because the other team is about to score and that is the worst feeling in the world…other than childbirth, or 3) if you are impartial of whoever wins, you still have this adrenaline “yes, some one is about to score”. That’s when you know you love futbol.

• I giggle every time I hear the very beginning of Shakira’s Waka Waka song. It sounds like a man burping.

• When watching a game in Spanish and someone is about to score, they get louder and about to say the famous “gooooaall”. It’s like they are warming up. When they don’t make the goal they just say the last word of their sentence when the same loud tone of the “goooaaaallll”. So if you have the game on in the other room, sometimes you are not really sure that they actually scores a goal or not.

• I’m amazed of how in shape these players. I know they have to be but if you think about it…it’s intense. It’s pure sprinting for 90 minutes and then you have to kick a ball while keeping it away from the other team by using good footwork…lot’s of multi-tasking if you asking me.

• I like seeing the different color cleats each player has. The most “out there” color I have seen is lime green so far. I’m waiting for one of them to have a fuchsia or hot pink color.

• Thursday I was walking through down town Cuenca to meet some of my students at Fruitilado’s. I was running late because I was trying to finish watching the France vs. Mexico game but when I left my house it was still 0-0. When I passed a news stand, they had a mini-tv set up and I was able to catch the end of the game with 5 old men. They all looked at me for a second and saw how engrossed I was in the game and gave me a nod of approval. Despite your citizenship, race, gender, or age, you are automatically cool in Latin America if you are avid World Cup watcher.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I'm sad to say that this week is my last week here in Ecuador. Sad, I know. Since I kind of lost a weekend, I'm planning of soaking in every minute I have left of Ecuador, which includes my familia-Cuenca. Like I always tell my students, your experience with your host family can either make it or break it. Yes, you can't really control your host familly's actions but you do have some influence over your experience. I can already tell that the majority of my students are building strong relationships with their host families. Well, since it's my last week here...I'm just planning on focusing on the here and now.