Friday, Aug 18, 2017
Quick Trip to Bahia
Heidi and I made a trip back to Bahia de Caraquez this week! Our friend Glenys left a lot of beads and other jewelry-making supplies when she and Norbert left Ecuador after the earthquake last year. Heidi found the perfect way to put this gift from Glenys to use…as craft projects for the young girls at the Olon orphanage.
We hired a taxi to drive us almost 4 hours from our house to Bahia. It was a long drive and when we arrived at Don and Donna’s farm (where the beads were being stored), I was a happy camper to finally get out of the car! Doug (Donna’s brother) arrived at the farm to give us a hand finding the items we needed. Before we left the farm Donna had told Heidi to be sure and pick some fruit. The farm was in full bloom with limes, mandarin oranges, dragon fruit, papayas, grapefruits, and bananas…a really beautiful place to behold.
H Bar Is The Best
This was a turn around trip for us, but before we left town Heidi and I stopped in to see our friend Henry at the H Bar. Since the earthquake, the H Bar has only gotten better. Where the back wall basically cracked and pulled away from the building because of earthquake damage, Henry removed the entire wall and made open air seating with a full on river front view. H Bar looks better than ever! Some times good things can come from bad events, and Henry has worked hard to make that happen!

Our Friend Henry
The Lights On The Bus Go Flash, Flash, Flash
The drive home was brutal. It turned dark outside on our way back, and the lights from the vehicles in front of us gave me a serious headache. Our driver was good, but she drove very close to the bus in front of us as we all traveled at high speed on the windy roads along the ocean. Because the roads are so windy, it was difficult to pass the bus.
Do you know what the lights are like on the buses in Ecuador? Have you ever been on a Las Vegas party bus? The buses in Ecuador are similar with their “bling lights”. Its many back lights flashed and blinked at me for miles. The strobe effect from the red, white, and blue light made me nauseous. I finally just had to close my eyes and wait for this carnival ride to end. After 3+ hours it finally did, and Heidi and I found ourselves back safe and sound walking into our casa. Ahhhh.
VIPKID Let’s You Teach Chinese…
Kids that is. I started a new gig to fill my early morning hours. I teach English online to Chinese kids at VIPKID. Honestly I was just looking for a way to fill up some unused hours until my coaching practice is in full-bore. What I have discovered however after doing this for about a week and a half is that I like it! The kids are super smart and fun to interact with. Their learned level of spoken English at 6, 8, and 10 years old puts my learned level of spoken Spanish at 54 to absolute shame. I sit in amazement at the intelligence and ability of these young minds.
The organization I am teaching with is VIPKID. They currently have 20,000 teachers and 200,000 students. They are growing by leaps and bounds and need more teachers. The reason I am sharing this is because teaching English to Chinese kids with VIPKID is a great opportunity for someone who wants to live in a foreign country, like Ecuador, but doesn’t have a way to generate the money to do it.
If you wanted to work 8 hours a day 5 days a week, you could easily make $50,000 a year with VIPKID, and that would be more than enough to support a very enjoyable lifestyle here. All you need is a computer and internet connection, and boom…you can change where you are living. No more excuses! This is an example of technology use at its finest. See the details for a VIPKID Teaching Opportunity
And speaking of VIP Kids, check out these cute Ecuadorian kids getting their “jeep racing” on in the town plaza the other night.
And look at this sweet girl at the Olon orphanage working on an art project Heidi introduced.

Budding Artist at Olon orphanage
Living in Ecuador is kinda cool.
Chau.
I love your hair Heidi, looks a little longer. I want to thank Todd for helping me see that I could possibly teach English too. I am going to get my tesols certificate and do this for extra money. I have been searching for a while something like this so thanks for doing the ground work for me in finding this. I love the little girl who can draw. Just think Heidi you may be guiding kids in a great direction. You are doing fantastic and I am happy that you love it so much. How is the mattress? I hope that is helping you. Donna told me you got it, yay!
What I think is great about teaching online is the flexibility it gives someone where they can live while they work. Teachers with Vipkid travel all the time while working. Of course these kids are really fun to work with too. It does however make me appreciate the jobs teachers do in the regular classrooms! Teachers really are heroes in my book.
Yes the mattress is great! I’m glad you had it and Donna was so generous to pass it along. Let’s talk this weekend.
Todd