What I am going to miss most about Ecuador

I have about 6 and a half more weeks here.
If circumstances were different, and I was not committed to another year in downtown LA, then I would try to figure out how to stay here. So, in a moment of sentiment, the things I will miss (in no particular order):

• the 20 minute fight through crazy Ecuadorian drivers and the constant breathing in of heavy fumes of smog on the way to my school in Pascuales every day


• being ambushed by the mob of children when I walk into the school room every morning while they shout with smiles in their cute little latin way, "SENORITA KATALINA! SENORITA KATALINA!"


• using smiling to make someone trust that I love them because there is no other way I can say it


• the fresh fruit from the mercado


• the boat rides to the island


• my famliy that is starting to grow here


• the dirty reality of poverty on every corner and in every forgotten slum that makes me want to jump up and get a thousand degrees so I can be a doctor, an architect, and school teacher, a pastor, a musican, a fishman, a seamstress, a painter...and help teach people to dance and sing, and pray. And let them cry and not be afraid that they will be hurt again.


• The ability to worship God in a foreign land, with foreign music and witness how he can still teach and grow and work his spirit in me, d remind me that his power and his plan transcend the barrier of language


• I will miss walking around with barefeet and skirts everyday


• greeting people with a kiss


• saying "chao"


• being humbled by my inabilities and helplessness
• the frustration of not being able to communicate any better than a child in kindergarten


• the fresh orange juice


• 7 hour conversations with people that are so common day to day


• the way of life of being "tranquilo"


• the spanish worship services held outside my window that keep me up every night


• the kids