Harding Academy Group

So, basically, the best group ever came down to Ecuador last week. I don't want to type too much, but I will say this: they are AWESOME. They were from Harding Academy in Searcy, Arkansas, and they made me really want to go to Harding. I am having serious problems deciding between Harding or ACU now (If anyone has an opinion on that, please share!). Anyways... this group came, and they all apparently already knew my name, because they had all read my blog and seen my videos. Which is kind of embarrassing... But we had SO MUCH FUN when they were here. Thank you Senor, Kaitlin, Morgan, Anna, Amelia, Ean, Jacob, Jordan, Wil, Chris and Zach for amazing memories. Here are some of them:

- Getting to sing on the streets of Cayambe and Tabacundo!
- Going to Otavalo and buying weird Ecuadorian clothes
- Dressing up in our weird Ecuadorian clothes (though not me, sorry, even though it was my idea!)
- Zach using a fake 20 dollar bill to pay a poor Ecuadorian woman!!! (Totally joking)
- Playing the foot game (can't remember what it was called) and Zach pretty much winning every time
- Talking with Morgan about rooming together.... YES YES!
- 877... CASH NOOOOOOW. wah.
- Getting a letter signed by all of you telling me to go to Harding!
- Jordan feeling bad for the vendors in Otavalo and not wanting to bargain!
- Chris hitting Dayana with a basketball (I laughed out loud typing this)
- "I don't think I can do this anymore morally"
- Playing hide-and-seek in the dark and laughing because Kyle looked like Bigfoot
- Wil trying to steal my baby!! Just kidding :)

YOU WERE ALL SUCH A BLESSING TO US HERE! The kids can't wait for you to come back :)

And now, I leave you with a couple of videos:

GO HOH!

So do you remember a blog post I did a while ago about my school sports uniform? How I am number 23 (for my birthday) and my name is "LA FLACA PODEROSA" (The Skinny Powerful One)? How our team is the BEST? I actually didn't say that, but after this Friday I believe I can. The women had their first basketball game (they had already played soccer and won 3-0), and since the game wasn't during school hours I was allowed to go. After school on Friday I ran down the hill, hearing "GO MISS!" from my students, changed into my uniform and tennis shoes and then went down to Amanda's house. We hopped in the car and arrived just in time for our first basketball match. We played against teachers from another school in Tabacundo, and had SO MUCH FUN! We started out playing sort of crazy-like, everyone running around everywhere and just trying to get the ball, and then Maritza's husband, Carlos, who is a P.E. teacher at the school, arrived and called a time-out. From then on he acted as our coach - telling us exactly what we needed to do and where we needed to be. "Maritza, you are good at passing. Amanda, you are fast and can intimidate the opponents. Carla, you are good at shooting. Monica, you can run a long time without getting tired. Ansley... you are tall."  Yes, that's literally how it went. I was definitely the tallest person on both teams, so our strategy went a little something like this: the rest of the players on my team would run around trying to shoot and I would just stand under the basket waiting for the ball to fall. 99% of the times it would just fall in my hands and I could hold it up over my head while one or two short Ecuadorian women would be jumping to try and get it from me. I'm glad that I could be of some help on the team - if you know me you know I am not very good at sports... it runs in the family (actually just in myself, my sister Bronwyn and my mom). But the BEST players on our team were Miss Carla and Amanda - Miss Carla made pretty much every single one of our points, and Amanda is VERY intimidating on the court. She is not afraid to run around and steal passes and she is very good at looking fierce. I am not... But ANYWAYS... We won 38-14!!!

 GO HOH (Hacienda of Hope) TEACHERS!!

About half of our team (by the team we decided to take pictures the other half had already left). From left to right: Clemencia (Clemen), Maritza (Mary), Carlos, Edison (Loky), Ansley (La Flaca Poderosa), Margarita (Magy) and Amanda (La Ley).

La Flaca Poderosa and La Ley (The LAW). I am jealous of her cool name - her students gave it to her!

Crazy trio!! 

Cena y Desayuno

     My favorite kinds of cenas (suppers) are the ones that we eat things like this,

and I look up from my plate and see this.

My favorite desayunos (breakfasts) are the ones where I make something like this:

and when I look up from my plate I see this.

My favorite cenas end with moments like these:

and my favorite desayunos end with faces like these:

Have I said the words "I AM BLESSED" on this blog before? Because God is blessing me more than I could ever imagine possible. I LOVE THESE KIDS.

Congrats B!

My sister's club at ACU won Sing Song this year! Congratulations to Bronwyn and Alpha Kai!!!! I love you and I showed your video to the girls here- they made me play it over and over and over again. You rock!!! I miss you!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOt4hNCmprw&feature=youtube_gdata_player

The Joys of being a Teacher

 Yes, I think I can now consider myself a teacher. I have been teaching for almost two years now, whether it was teaching private English lessons in Brazil after school, my first job last year as a teacher, or now teaching at the school in Ecuador. I believe I can say that it is something that I am good at, and something that lots of times brings me JOY. I do miss LEARNING, and will be ready for college in August, but I will miss being a teacher. I will miss getting excited with my students when they learn something new, laughing with them when they say something silly, receiving lots of sweet cards and big hugs, and just showing them that I, as their teacher, support them and will always be willing to help. I will miss the big smiles and funny moments and sweet hearts. I will miss the big kids, who are always ready to laugh with me, and surprise me with little moments of shy-sweetness (does that make sense?). I will miss the little kids, who are not afraid to say "I love you, Miss Ansley!", and who try their best every single day to learn and please me.

 My Granna wrote me a letter that says:

 "Dear Ansley,
    I would like to think I passed my love of teaching to you. I have always felt teachers were born not made. You really have a gift for teaching. The way you relate to children , the way you take them into their imagination for adventure is wonderful. These children will never forget you. You will be their 'Angel Ansley'. "

 Granna, I hope you are right. I will miss these kids, my little angels. I will miss working here. I will miss teaching and the joy that it brings. I am going to make the best of the three months I have left, and pray that, by the end of my time here, I will have made a difference in their lives. I am blessed.

Uniform

The teachers from the school are participating in sports games against the teachers from other schools in Tabacundo. We each had to pick a name and number to put on the back of our uniforms. My number was chosen by me, and it is the number 23 (its my birthday number - I wanted number 9 for Nilmar, Garrett, but that one was already taken!). My name was chosen by my teacher friends, and it is:

LA FLACA PODEROSA.

(The skinny powerful one)

Yes, I am a dork. But I am skinny, and powerful. So I like the name.