Just a quick update this time to say that things are really flying along in terms of prgress on the house. We put up four walls yesterday, going about three quarters of the way to the ceiling. By lunchtime today, we had finished two of those all the way up, and made a back wall with a partial window, which is the wall i was working on. I tell you, ( Read more... )

When I get a chance to transcribe it, last night´s journal entry is one for the books. I can´t even begin to describe the conditions here. My host family is larger than I thought: one mother (father deceased), nine children, ages 22 to 4, and four grandchildren (two who are not in the house but with their father somewhere, they´re eight, and the ( Read more... )

Safe arrival in Ecuador following a day of prolonged travel. Very tired tonight, but dinner smells amazing. We are staying in a hostel tonight and then going to the barrio tomorrow to meet our families and begin our work details. Already the disparity between the wealthy downtown and the absolute poverty of the hillside shacks is stunning and ( Read more... )

In preparing for leaving the country for nearly two weeks to build houses and live in, er, 'rustic' conditions and work twelve hours a day building houses, Praeceptor and I took a little vacation this Friday and Saturday. We left LittleOne with her grandparents and went to a resort in the Berkshires. I got a massage and he soaked in a hottub and we ( Read more... )

That's right, folks. Between my scare today (thought I saw a spoiler-icon, but was later assured it was a general goodbye-to-the-series icon) and watching a great little YouTube video with a Harry Potter song, I actually did work and stuff ( Read more... )

Double pieces of good news today! Finally, a little turn of the tides for us ( Read more... )