First things first, thank you to everyone who emailed me suggestions. Your encouragement meant so much, and all your ideas were things I needed to be reminded of. So thank you! If I haven't heard from you yet, please don't hesitate to send me an email.
That said, we in the Manna house are on the cusp of big change. Children's Art ended yesterday after a 6 month run, Summer Two heads home on Monday, next year's Program Directors arrive a week from today, new July programing starts next week, and in a few days we'll celebrate one year in South America. Don't worry, I'm stockpiling most of my nostalgic reminiscing for the monthly update and won't go into soggy details here (that's for you, Dunc. Don't want to freak you out with tears or anything). We've got plenty of time for THAT.
To mark the end of Children's Art, I attached a tiny note, art quote and drawing to a brand new box of crayons for each of my bubbly little students; little snapshots of some of the drawings color this post (These are for you, Alecia!). Gotta love the wonders of colored pencils and an Andean afternoon with an open schedule. Apologies for the color distortion, not sure what's up with the brightness of it all.
Children's English also breathed it's last July breath yesterday, celebrated by an afternoon showing of Kung Fu Panda in the teen center (a BIG treat for the little ones who are too young to enter normally), balloons, popcorn, oatmeal raisin cookies, and Fanta. I may have laughed more at the movie than the students, but really, who's surprised by that.
Hope you have fun plans for the weekend! Between trips to the rainforest, climbing Cotapaxi part 2, attending the Gay Pride parade in downtown Quito, and a few things in between, our weekend is set to be eclectically wonderful.~Holly