chocolate, cards, cars...

Charlie
So this last week, i went to see charlie and the chocolate factory, and i loved it!!! Though i did find Johnny Depps’s Willy Wonka a little too Austin-powers at points!! Also saw lots of trailers for movies I now want to see, Papa se volvio loco (Dad went mad), Bewitched (the 60s TV show), The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, and the new Harry Potter. Which to my point of view all look really good! But I'm not sure if they come out here before I come back…hope so coz it’s more than half price to go the cinema here than it is in old blighty!!

Volunteers
So, as ever the volunteers we have keep changing, pamela’s 6 weeks are up so she’s back off to the states this week, I CANT believe how quick it’s gone! The other peeps with me are Siobhan (Irish, got another month and a half), Jean (Nrth Irish, a week), Anna (Irish, a week or so), Lisa and Joosha (Dutch, one week more – had a very interesting conversation with them trying to explain about the catholics and the virgin mary, and other christians – tough in english, let alone when all are speaking through a second language!!), and Pascal --- Pascal is from the same volunteering organization as was Anne, from Germany, and he’s going to be living (!!!) in Remar for the next year!! So I reckon I shall be handing over my English classes baton to him!

Summer’s over..
and winter has come early, or so it seemed - we had the first rain in ages, and it wasn’t just rain, it was a SERIOUS storm – lightning, thunder, hail and everything!!! It obviously wasn’t as bad as what some of Europe has been facing recently, but it was bad enough to ruin a textile factory – the hail broke the roof!!! So it must’ve been pretty serious!

Generosity…
I was really struck by the immediate response of Siobhan and Jean to the need for new cups for the kids… they literally jumped at the chance to help out! Something I could really learn from! When somebody asks me like that, out of the blue, and like I’m the only hope, I feel really pressured and I don’t like it, I like to give on my terms --- hmm! Mustn't 'overspiritualise' giving…

Last-minute last-minute trip
So last-minute our info wasn’t correct, and so last minute that in the end, I had to get ready in 15 mins (including shower and pack bag), which actually meant I forgot my PJs, though not my toothbrush! The trip was down to Riobamba with Maria Augusta and her family, supposedly to catch the train for ‘The devils nose ride’…but as it turns out, the info Maria Augusta had from her friend was out of date (and my book was correct), and the train didn’t leave of saturdays. So, we thought, never mind we’d redeem the trip by going to see Chimborazo, but then we missed the turn-off, and went way past!! So we gave up on that as well and stopped in Ambato to have lunch with David (fellow strider) instead… which was cool, and we had some DELICIOUS icecreams!

Cards ‘over’..
So I finished the week with a rather sore wrist (2 days ‘full’ writing), and it turns out we had nowhere near a thousand cards, but 598!!! Well we would have had over 700 if they hadn’t taken a load to send to people who sponser some of the kids! But hey ho, what we’ve managed will make a difference, and we did also make 500 bookmarks! And they look fab!

Other news
I was most upset to read in the newspaper this week, my ‘worst fears’ were confirmed, that Reggaetón has made it to British soil!! I knew it was almost inevitable (whilst Anne was still here, her friends had told here it had arrived in Germany) but held out a small hope that the Brits wouldn’t like it, but apparently Daddy Yankee has arrived --- ahhhhh!!!!!!!!!
And poor me, news is that something disagreed with me on sunday, so spent the night vomiting and monday in bed! Ai de me…
till next time :)