Zambiza

i have a name now for the location of the city dump. i went there again yesterday and learned that Youthworld, another ministry, was there giving showers. we were going to do that, but because of the cloudy weather, we figured it was too cold, and didn't want them to get sick. nonetheless, we continued with our kids club, and this week was a lesson and workbook on Jonah and obedience. we had about 30 kids come out, with clean hair, and then clean hands and faces, and many seemed to enjoy it as usual. it's great that they remember to come, and their faces always light up when they're drawing, colouring or singing a song.

remember that baby i was telling you about last week that was sitting in the garbage? i saw it again...and attached some additional photos to give you an idea of what it's like here.



can you see her? she's sitting right in the middle...

and here she is playing with a puppy



i couldn't tell if this was someone's home or garbage that flew into a hole, but i wouldn't be surprised if it was the former...



here's a cutie eating our honey graham crackers on the way out...



and one final shot of the dump...



in the evening, Faby, Christhian, Gaby, her boyfriend David and I went to a place called Plaza de Las Americas to check out some live jazz. it was pretty cool. it sorta looks like an open mall, similar to convocation mall at SFU for those of you who know it. or like the Plaza of Nations in Vancouver, but smaller. when i arrived, i heard the tunes of Diana Krrrall playing, and thot to myself, "even in Ecuador, they like her jazz, lol." the concert was from 9:30 - 11:15pm, and it was soooo good. Ecuadorian jazz is apparently a new fusion here, and the band that started it, Pies de la Tierra (feet on the ground) are the pioneers of the genre. I soon learned the distinction between latin jazz, and ecuadorian jazz. i can't quite remember now, but i know there's a diff :) it was a 5 piece band, tho it's usually a trio. they had an additional trumpet player that plays with them, but he was in New York for the week. the band had keys, a marimba (a GIGANTIC xylophone and percussion!), a drummer (oh those jazz drummers can play!), electric bass and electric guitar. it made for a fun evening, despite that bad acoustics of the plaza. they should have been playing in some sort of a loft, or smaller room...not an open airy, no-man's land plaza....meh

today is Fabian's (the dad) birthday, so we woke up at 6:30am and sang happy birthday, cept that it wasn't happy birthday, but rather some other song...so i sang to him in english after :P the four of us (the kids, that is) bought him some cds, cos he loves piano music...so we bought him ecuadorian piano music.

the website is well on its way to completion. james said we're gonna party once it's done cos he's been working on this baby for 6 months now...so end of July is the deadline... and we've still got a bit more work left to do. we had bible study yesterday with the engineers upstairs yesterday, and it was cool...i was one of 2 women (the other being a receptionist) in a group of 20 middle aged men. well, there were a couple in their 20s, but the majority are about 30s-40s.

alrighty, well, back to work.

dL

PS: i just heard that ZOEgirl, a christian band from the states, is wandering around the HCJB compound right now. they had a concert last nite here....but i was at jazz instead :P also, Natalie Portman was in Quito a couple weeks ago giving some sort of peace talk. Gaby, who works at a flower place her some flowers...except that she didn't know that she was giving flower to Queen Amidala. oh, and there's a guy in my spanish bible study on thursday nites who was Meg Ryan's chauffeur when she was filming "Proof of Life" here a few years back. apparently the movie takes place in Colombia, but is actually filmed in Quito. celebrity sightings!