Orientation is almost over...

First and foremost, congratulations to Becca and Paul on your engagement! I´m very happy for you guys, and even though I learned through a mass-email, I do appreciate the shout-out and I guess I´ll get over it...especially if you both start talking me up to all your attractive female friends who will be at the wedding.

In another note...to all my other friends, stop getting engaged...seriously....it´s freaking me out. If I find out that Hieu and/or David are engaged in the next 6 months I´m going to lose it and consider living down here for the rest of my life.

It´s been a while since I´ve last updated, and I don´t know how long I´m going to have, so I´m going to be doing this update in summary version of my week.

-I have successfully completed my practice teaching session, and in my opinion, and the opinion of my observers, it went pretty well. I have ¨great teaching presence¨, which I understand as meaning that I´m incredibly attractive, further evidenced by the fact that two of my female students left me their numbers and have expressed a desire to ¨meet¨ with me before I head down to Machala. Don´t worry mom, I´m sure they just want more english practice, I´m still coming home next year...as of now... Seriously tho, the teaching went really well, so well in fact that I got a round of applause on my last day...not joking. I hope it was in fact because of my teaching skill, and not because my students were relieved they didn´t have to experience me anymore...

-After we finished teaching, we had a party/talent show for all the volunteers and our students. We have a couple very talented musicians in our group, one who writes his own music and plays piano and guitar, and another who is very very talented on the guitar. In this coffee shop we´ve kind of made our own, there have been many a jam session. So clearly they were going to do something for the talent show, and they asked me to join them. "But Bryce, what did you do? We remember your squeaky voice when you were in Semper Fy, you surely can´t play piano as well as anyone with musical talent, and lets be honest, even with your amazing drummer skills there´s no way there was a drumset that someone brought down with them...I ask again what did you do?" Alright, alright, I´ll tell you. I beat-boxed. Damn straight I did, and it was a hit. People were throwing their clothes on the stage, women crying with pleasure, and afterwards I was asked for my autograph. Ok, maybe not to that extent, but it did actually go pretty well, considering I was a white man making drum sounds with my mouth. Then afterwards we all danced salsa. I am a better beat-boxer.

- Yesterday myself and 5 of my companions went to the top of ¨the telefariqo¨, a large mountain that is above all but the highest clouds. We took a cable car up to the top of the mountain and the views there were absolutely stunning. Whenever I´m doing things like this, I have these moments where I´m just like ¨Bryce, do you realize you´re hiking in the mountains of Ecuador?¨ It´s truly amazing to think that I am down here doing things that before I only could imagine doing. And to further that thought, the trip yesterday ended with a 30-minute horseride, on the mountain, where i had FULL control over the animal, and i was wearing a native-style poncho! I have some great pictures of the whole experience that I´ll be sure to put up when I get a chance.

On saturday, the group took a trip to Papallacta, which is an area of hot springs enclosed in this resort that are said to have healing qualities. It was a 2-hour trip up, during which we played Mafia most of the time, which made me think very fondly back to the same experiences when I was in Salamanca. Then upon arriving, a group of us took a hike around the area. The cool thing is that Papallacta is right on the edge of the rainforest, so we got to see some amazing sights, and again, the entire time I was thinking ¨bryce, you´re hiking in the rainforest¨...insane... Afterwards, we went into the hot springs, which were absolutely amazing, all of different temperatures, including one that was filled with freezing cold river water that flowed from the top of the mountain. Note to self: jumping from freezing cold water to almost-burning hot spring and back and forth shocks your body something fierce, and you end up with a decent head cold... To top this whole trip off, we had some of the most amazing trout for dinner, and then had a nice relaxing trip back to Quito.

-Other random things, as much as I was joking at the beginning of this trip, people actually have started calling me Papa Chadwick with some regularity. I don´t think ¨Bryce¨ is in any danger, but I´m asking you seriously to consider thinking of me in these terms from now on. Thanks.

- The eight guys that are here have started calling ourselves the ¨dudemen¨, a name rich with meaning, and also something that I´d like to continue when I get home.

-Orientation ends on Wednesday, and I believe Thursday a group of us are going to the Amazon for a week or so, because I don´t have to start teaching until the 6th of October. Needless to say, it´s absolutely ridiculous to think that a month has almost passed, and that the actual job-part of this experience is about to start. I´m a little weirded out by the fact that I´m actually kind of looking forward to it...

-HELL YEAH WAKE AND THE SKINS, this was a great weekend for football, and I am keeping myself updated as much as I can with the goings on in sports and news in general back home...let´s hope Correa doesn´t follow Bolivia and Venezuela´s lead...because if the American ambassador is kicked out of Ecuador it might be pretty soon that you guys see me in person...

Ok, I´m going to go look for Ecuadorian´s to mack on...keep those emails coming, and I miss everyone back home lots!

BRYCE