Back in the jungle

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I'm back and writing from the jungle! It is strange how quickly the vibe in the house can change. I left when there were 10 people in the house, most of whom had been there for a number of months and I returned to just Racehl and myself! We have had a few volunteers in and out and the outlook is good 😊
I feel as though I have hardly had any time to breathe since my return. The house always seems to need so much attention, nevermind the lesson plans, teaching and entertaining the volunteers. Oh yes, and I got the flu! Thankfully it passed after only 2 weeks but I learned that the pharmasists do not ask any pertinent questions- they just hand out pills...the first of which I was allergic to! Secondly, the kids to not seem to have an reference for the term 'germs'. Even after I would explain that I was sick, they would all still run up, touch me and some still asked for my water bottle!
A few strange animal incidents:
-A neighbor yelling to us from the street at 6:30 a.m. on a Saturday to see if we wanted to buy a jaguar skin he had killed
-Our first scorpion sighting- in my bed!
-A tarantula that would not leave the kitchen for more than 4 days
-Brownie Disaster: Rachel and I have decided to bake some brownies by candle light. After she had tasted the batter we turned the generator on and saw that somehow our chocolaty batter was filled with small, dead worms!!!! UGHHH vomit.
As for other news, I'm learning a lot of new and practical skills. Well maybe it's not necesarily learning, but the fact that I am forced to do things (which may seem simple and logical, that I would not do otherwise) like varnishing the house, working with power tools (we want to build a ping-pong table for the house and a table for one school next!), and helped fix the water pipes that burst.
Our garden at the house now has 1 avocado plant, about 10 onions and the tomatoe seedlings are soon to go into the ground! Peppers are next!
More good news- Jeremy will be back in Ecuador next week and I am beyond excited! For those of you who don't know him, he will be working on a volunteer basis with a local company to help bring fresh water out to the communities where I teach. His website is: http://amazonunited.wordpress.com/get-involved/donate/
And you just wait, next week I will regale you all with stories of the "Arajuno Lodge". Rachel and I are playing hostess to a family of 31 Ecuadorians for 2 nights. We are to cook, clean and entertain during the evenings in a house accostumed to at most 16 people!! It is going to be a bit ridiculous I can imagine...we still trying to plan the menu and figure out the logistics of cooking 10 chickens and 17 cups of rice in our little kitchen!!!

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