I'm so thankful

thanksgiving was really great this year. we had a party of about 60 family members come and only broke about 12 glasses. whoo!! crazy allens! it has been so nice to see people in my family lately. Davy especially. i sang a couple of songs with eliza and she is awesome playing or singing anything she tries. Davy is an eating machine and i spent a lot of time just watching him shovel the food in. i got offers to go live in anarbor, michigan with my aunt jane and just be a musician...an idea :)
Christmas was even better than thanksgiving! i got jumped on at 8 am...yeah Christmas! I'm so excited...no, i was still mad. the kids loved opening their presents and running all over the place causing havok. 7 of the 11 allen kids got together for this photo: that is a big deal. i'm working on getting everyone back here slowly. i also got a new ukulele from hawaii. i could barely sleep last night because i just wanted to keep playing it even though my fingers hurt.

don't let the man get ya down!

yep. I have gotten soooo cool now that I have a job.

Chicas y Chonchos

This is Consuelo, Maralin and me. They are an energetic duo; I´ve got to be prepared for anything with them. The first 10 minutes of our visits are usually spent coaxing them to put a shirt and shoes on or let me fix their hair.
Maralin modeling with her beloved choncho.
This chicken is named "Baby." You can tell by the way they hold it that she really is part of the family.

daily, odd experiences

Last week I got the ultimate cat-call; here the guys make a kissing noise instead of whistling. I was walking on a busy road when I heard the all too familiar sound. I looked up to see nothing less than a garbage truck pass dropping trash everywhere with three worker guys not much cleaner than the truck hanging off the back. There was my Romeo. Prince Charming himself. There is a salamander living in my room. I was way happy the other day when I saw the ants on my toothbrush BEFORE I put the toothpaste on it. Everyone thinks my eye color is from contacts and the kids say they look like cat eyes. I saw a sixty-year-old woman wearing a Ramones t-shirt.

In other news, I have friends! This is Alejandra. I am pretty sure that the ward girls invite me because I provide good entertainment. I´m like the chinese girl who doesn´t know what´s going on so she just says "yes...okay.." and smiles a ton. We went bowling the other night.

¡Las Cascadas!

Yesterday I went with a group of people to a town called Bucay and we repelled down a waterfall! It was like the Garden of Eden! The gear, although made by Black Diamond, was way past due for retirement...but I couldn´t hardly say no. Wow! Next time I want to do the big falls!

one month

Yesterday JUCONI had a graduation for 13 families that have been in the program for between 3 and 5 years. The differences in the families is very positive. The adolescents better know their self worth and have a determination to continue improving life for their families and communities...at least I´m pretty sure that´s what they were saying. At the end, the staff passed out glasses of sparkling cyder...so I thought. Then I remembered-"I´m not in Utah!" I skipped the champagne. This is a picture with some little friends. ¡Te amo!

lets go to the mountains!

Friday I got to go out of the city for my first time: so beautiful! There are farms on the steep mountainsides and cows grazing that think they are mountain goats. The funny part was that my traveling companions were 4 old women. The oldest was about 85. What do you do with old Ecuadorian women in the mountains? ...ride in the back of a truck soaking wet and shivering for 2 hours!

isla trinitaria

One of the areas that I make visits in is called Isla Trinitaria. A unique thing about this area is that for lack of land many people live in houses on stilts above the river water/mud. I wanted to take some pictures of the sketcy wooden bridges that are built connecting the houses, but my co-worker said no way...except in Spanish. I had to wait until I was inside before taking my camera out of my bag because it wouldn´t be safe for us if people saw it.

vamos a la playa...

hi! i will be your kitchen for the next 4 months....what the heck were you thinking! Yep! i´ve been here in Guayaquil, Ecuador for 3 weeks now, what a different world! i´m really grateful for all of the support people have given me in coming here; wow!


no playa...well, the holy santos will protect me!