#1 Sorry for not writing in the last 3 weeks. It has been awesome and busy.
#2 THANK YOU! I think this was one of my best Christmases ever. I feel like I have received so much support and heard from so many of you in the last month when I really needed it. I also got 75 lbs worth of presents! Goodness, I was like a 9 year old at Christmas freaking out about everything. Linda Aubey, I am in utter amazement in your generosity and all the amazing things. I literally received an entire suitcase full of NEW! Clothes, toothbrushes, etc. Brennan was watching me look at everything and making fun of me for pretending I was going to steal half of the really cute shirts (if I was only XS!). Also, Aunt Ginny, Betsy, and Amy helped give Bren even less room for his stuff ;) (oh, and he loved it!) I have already been stamping away…and it’s a great reward! Also, now not a single one of my students doesn’t have a toothbrush with a cover to keep it clean. And I have excess so I’m getting other volunteers on board with me! It may be a small change being made in the Center, but people are excited about it.
#3 Christmas: an overview.
The 24th and 25th we were very busy and it was honestly so great! On Christmas Eve morning, a group of us volunteers got up kind of early and started out our day ice skating! One of the malls close by has a little skating rink. It was a lot of fun and got us in the spirit. After which a big group of us watched Home Alone! Then at 5pm we had “gringo mass” in English, which I loved as we sang a bunch of Christmas carols. Then we went straight from there to Guangopolo, a small indigenous community Father Halligan (Padre Juan) has been involved with since he arrived here 45 years ago. It was definitely an experience - felt like almost the whole town was there, a procession even came in after mass had started, there were dogs roaming around, and they all get their Baby Jesus figurines blessed so there were around 200 of them up front. Then Padre provided hot chocolate and animal crackers to everyone after mass. By the time we arrived home on Christmas Eve it was 10:30pm and Madre Cindy had put a huge sandwich spread for us and a bunch of desserts and drinks. We had great fellowship and then the madres showed us a slideshow of the fall and the 2nd year volunteers gave all of us little “joke” gifts. I received toothpaste for my toothbrush obsession.
Christmas Day we had to get up semi-early again to go to mass down in La Marin and then come right back to Cotocollao for mass again. It was 2nd grade First Communion also, so they all looked pretty cute. After mass, we had a big feast complete with ham, potatoes, and all. There were probably around 60 people there between all the families of volunteers visiting and all the Chin family, who were more or less adopted by Madre and Padre years ago and now they’re all grown and the majority of them work at the Center. After eating we all piled into the living room for more gifts. Madre Miguel and her sister Judy always do a little “joke” gift type of thing every year. This year was a “photo contest that we all won, so they wanted to thank us all for being the subjects of their photos and what we won for.” There were a lot of funny (and old) pictures of some of the people. Aunt Kitty, you will be SO proud of what I won: the etiquette award. The exact description: “Etiquette was the first place winner for our photo of Taylor Barrett. Judges suggested that Taylor could qualify for the Emily Post prize for table arrangements, never suspecting that Taylor had never heard of Emily Post.” Very true, Madre! I like my plates to match on a table along with the place mats and the same glasses…and Madre Miguel took a picture of me with one of my table setting one night! So Aunt Kitty, all your work at making sure we set tables right and had good manners paid off! It was a fun afternoon and night of just hanging out with everyone.
#4 Brennan’s visit: We are having a great time, and I think Bren is starting to love Ecuador too after being very inquisitive of all the things that “don’t quite make sense here.” Exactly why “every day is an adventure (cada dia, una aventura)” for me as well! We have 4 more days left in Quito and then I’ll write a full update of our time together. Please pray for a good last week together for us at the Center and for safe travels for Bren back to the States Thursday.
Did you make it to the end?
Iola Grandma, I know at least you did so it’s worth it! Jeg elsker deg!
Enjoy the beautiful snow and stay safe.
(Also Go Badgers!…big win over Purdue last night!)
Love,
Taylor
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