Why I love teaching...

Kids say the funniest things! There is never a dull moment when you teach at an elementary school!

1. " I want an adult buddy! I don't have one!" - 2nd grade student
I work with my students for 30 minutes each day in their lanugage arts classes in thier mainstream rooms. One of the other students thought I was just an adult coming into to hangout. How funny!

2. " How do I get in your class?" - 2nd grader
" Do you know another language? " me
" No." - Second grader

NEXT DAY

" wofhdl whldhf dhldhdl"- 2nd grader
"What did you say?" me
" That was Spanish." - 2nd grader
" I also know Japanese, now I can be in your class!"
Hilarious!!


Anyway I thought these comments were so funny! They made my day at school- I just kept laughing! haha
I hope you enjoy them!

The Fern Family Weekend

Titus and I had the same Fall Break so we met up with his siblings in Huntsville, Alabama and had a blast. We hung out, played cards, were entertained by his neice Kayley, and the boys had a scarefest- they went to see a scary movie and to a haunted house. On saturday everybody left but Ty and I. We went bowling with Joel and his wife. It was really fun getting to hangout with everyone. Here are some pictures from our trip.

My New Family

Titus and his siblings ( Joel, Kelly and Micah) went to one of the top ten Haunted Houses in America. It is an old Insane Asylum. No thank you! Courtney (Joel's wife/ my sister in law and I stayed at home and babysat. We don't do haunted houses!)


AHHH!


Courtney and I


Kaley loves her Crazy uncle Micah!! So fun.


Kaley with her aunt and uncle!


Ty being goofy!

Last Tuesday I went to a scholarship banquet for Union University and I got to hear Condoleezza Rice. It was amazing!!!

These are the girls I went with!The girl next to me (on the left)Libby, sang in our wedding.


Dr. Rice!

RANDOM

So I haven't blogged in a while. This post is very random with new and old pictures. Thanks everyone who came to our wedding and gave us the most wonderful presents! We are so appreciative of you!


Newly Weds!


Ty is an amazing artist. So I sneeked a picture of him sketching.


For the 4th of July Titus and I made a giant Pizza Cookie. It was delicious!


Old Pictures.... Just some old pictures I came across

My bestfriend and college roommate, Heather threw me a shower. She decorated our room so cute


Heather and I, I was really excited! This was so sweet of her!


This is a picture of the two girls that went through the student teaching abroad program I went through. They were in Costa Rica when I was in Ecuador. Aliana (red head) got married a week before we did!


Ty and I in Jackson at our favorite park, just a few days before we got engaged.

Favorite Places in Quito

So I leave Quito in two days to go back to the states. I am definitely torn. I would love to see Titus, my family and friends, but on the other hand I am sad to leave Ecuador. It feels like home now. So since I am leaving I decide to post some pictures from one of my favorite spots in Quito, Old Town. I love the history and architecture of this area of town. I hope you enjoy these pictures... See y'all soon!


El Panecillo


Stainglass inside the Virgin Mary (Panecillo)


The view of the city of Quito


The Basilica (a beautiful Catholic church)


Beautiful Old Town Quito

Goodbye Beautiful Ecuador!

So My last day to teach was last Friday. One of my kids asked me if I had a piece of scotch tape. I asked her what for and she said that she wanted to tape to the floor so I wouldn't leave and go back to the states. I told my cooperating teacher and she thought it was a great idea. She gave the girl a roll of masking tape. The kids surrounded me and dragged me to a chair where they tried to tape me to the wall. Bethany helped them out by bringing them toy chains. It was so funny! They were trying to hold me hostage.
See for yourself...

Cuzco the Llama

2 weeks ago I hiked to the refuge on the mountain of Cotpaxi. This mountain is about 2 hours from Quito. It is about a 13 hour hike total. Hikers can only start hiking at 12 am and then they have to be off the mountain at 2 pm because of the danger of avalanches. We only hiked about 45 minutes, but it was extremely steep. I definitely got a work out. The mountain is covered in scree so your foot slides backward every time you step. We climbed to 15,800 feet. The view was absolutely incredible and breathtaking.

Cuy Glorious Cuy...Hmmm...Tasty

My friend and I went to dinner last night and we ate Cuy. This is an Ecuadorian delicacy, it's guinea pig. Here are some pictures from our adventure. If you look close you can see the cuy's whiskers. This is only half of the guinea pig. I ate the
butt.

More of my life in Quito

More of beautiful Quito
I am having trouble uploading pictures on blogspot due to the internet here, but I will try again later. You can atleast read about what I have done so far. :)

Last week I went with one of my friends to Old Town Quito. This is this historic part of Quito where you can find big beautiful churches, colorful stucco buildings, and a hint of Catholic tradition. We visited the Panecillo,a giant statue of Mary which overlooks the entire city. In Ecuador they believe that there are territorial Virign Mary Spirits. The spirit in Quito has wings and is represented as the statue of Panecillo.

We also ate at a restaurant which the contestants of the Amazing Race Ecuador ate at. The place is called Pim's and it overlooks the entire city. Then we went to this beautiful Catholic church named The Basilica but we were not able to enter teh church because they were having Mass. Quito is a beautiful city.

The last two days of my Spring Break vacation I explored Quito. I took the Teleferiqo(like a ski lift except it is an enclosed glass box) up to the mountain of Pinchinca which overlooked the entire city.

This week I taught my students the letter W. They also had to take the Stanford Assessment Test and so both Kindergarten teachers provided fun activities for the students each day. In one of the classes the teacher made a theme for each day. Tuesday was bring and insect to school day, Wednesday was Pajama Day, Thursday was weather day, and the last day of the week was Wacky Friday. The studnets had a waterballoon fight at the end of the day. It was so much fun. Here are some pictures of my students.

I miss you all but I am having the time of my life here in Ecuador!


22 days til I am back in the states, 27 days til I graduate, and 48 days until I become Mrs. Fern!

Semana Santa

Wow I have done so much in the two weeks I haven't posted! Two weeks ago was Semana Santa or Holy week. We had school Monday through Wednesday and then had off until the following Tuesday. MOnday through Wednesday was teacher appreciation week. Each day the students brought us something:
Monday- cards
Tuesday- Flowers
Wednesday- Chocolate

My students were so sweet they brought me gifts too, eventhough I am not there real teacher! They were precious.





On Thursday I went with two teachers from Alliance and one other student teacher to the town of Banos. We took a bus which was an experience all in its own! It only costs a dollar per hour so we only paid $4 to travel to the jungle! This town is beautiful and known for having a volcano which produces warm springs. We visited baths which were heated by the volcano. Banos also has seven beautiful waterfalls!

Day 1 (Thursday)
The first day we took a 20 KM or 12 mile bike ride.


Christy, Sarah, and I at Pastaza Valley



After the bike ride we climbed a trail to this beautiful waterfall named the Pailon del Diablo (The Devil's Pale).



We had to crawl through this tiny tunnel to make it to the top of the waterfall.




We made it! We got really wet!

Day 2 (Friday)
On Friday we went canyoning down five waterfalls! It was amazing. There were five Americans and the rest were from Norway, Switzerland, and Sweden. They were all taking gap years between highschool and college and traveling South America. How cool!

I can't believe I did this! It was such a great adventure!


The last waterfall we slid down on our butts. It was so fun!


The whole crew

At night we went to the top of the mountain overlooking the city and saw an amazing fire show!



I promise to post more pictures from my adventures to Tena, Pinchincha y exploring Old Town Quito very soon!