the weeds and all of the branches that the gardeners had cut down. It was a lot of work and exhausting. Friday morning we continued the hard work of weeding. We never got all the weeds (there was so much), but we did make it possible to plant. I wish that we really could have done it properly—turned the earth, added nutrients, removed all the weeds, etc. Unfortunately, we lack the resources to do the job right. Oh well. I think I am the only one who sees what we really could do with the park.
Friday afternoon a group of children helped us plant all the flowers. Then Guadalupe broke out some paint and paintbrushes and we painted stones and placed them in circles around the flowers. Paint eventually got everywhere and on everything as it has a tendency to do when you combine paint and lots of wild children. Someone got the idea to try to control the chaos and we set them to the task of decorating the park with handprints.
In the evening I was very exhausted, but my family wanted to go to the University for dinner as I assume they do every Friday (based on the fact that we went the past two Fridays in a row). We eventually broke out a deck of cards and I taught the father how to play Cheat and Janitor. He was delightfully bad at the game and quite indignant when he lost. Michelle and I almost died from laughter and I quickly forgot my exhaustion. The mother then (not so subtly) introduced me one of the students who is helping Dario in math. He wasn’t too bad and I my family owes him (and I owe them) so I agreed to help him in his English. We’ll see what comes of it. Everyone here wants to learn English but no one wants to actually speak to me in English. Hey, I speak in Spanish and I know I sound ridiculous.
Yesterday was Guadalupe’s mother’s birthday and the family invited me to their place for lunch. I showed them how to bake a cake. We made a pineapple upside-down cake but couldn’t flip it upside down. It was still really yummy and everyone ate more than their fair share. After lunch, they invited me to go with them to visit a friend of the mother’s. Not able to get home without a ride and figuring we were only going to visit someone nearby for and hour or so, I agreed to go. Little did I know that we were going to visit a family in Machala and would be there for several hours. When we finally left I was about ready to drop dead from exhaustion, but Guadalupe wanted to take me to the boardwalk because I have never seen it. Frustrated, I texted a friend that I was being Ecua-kidnapped!! I finally got home around 9 pm. I thought I was going for lunch and ended up spending 11 hours with them. They were very nice and I know they were trying to show me a good time, but it was so much Spanish and I was still tired from the day before. When I got home, the family invited me to go to a birthday party with them. I could only shake my head wearily and collapse into bed.
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