#15 (...everything) and #27 (KARAOKE!!)

Another work week just came to a close, and I am amazed that next week is my last week of service.

I´m not ready yet.  I´m 100% not ready to leave, at all.  Man.

Wednesday, we took the day off of Cristo and instead traveled around the valley going to other group members´service sites.  I don´t know if I´ve explained this before, but there are four different service sites that students are working with here.  Cristo (obviously) is one; there´s another site that works with the elderly; two girls are working in a health clinic and sometimes in a hospital; and two other people are at a school/foundation that works with kids with severe disabilities.  We went to the latter two sites on Wednesday.

We learned a decent amount about the health care system in the valley we´re living in.  Every city has its own clinic, bueno bueno.  And then we visited one of the hospitals.  The hospital is meant to serve a population of nearly 200,000.  And it has 15 beds.  A lot of these beds are all in the same room.  It was interesting, to say the least.

At the special needs center, I realized that I don´t think I could ever have that job.  Some of the classes are integrated, but then there are a few that house kids with things like cerebral palsy, hemiplogia, etc.  I really don´t think I could do that, day in and day out.  Those are special people who can have that job for years.

And I realized how lucky I am to be able to make even stupid decisions during the day, like whether or not I want to wake up at 7 or 7:10; if I´ll eat cereal or bread; if I´ll walk on one side of the street or the other. 


Dang.


Last night, we went out to Quito again, and ate some delicious crepes before going to a different bar.  And we...


KARAOKED!!

So I can cross number 27 off the list.  "Let it Be" by the Beatles and "As Long as You Love ME" by Backstreet Boys were for sure belted out last night.  Good deal.


Tomorrow, we have a trip to Volcan Cotopaxi, which is one of the most active volcanoes in Ecuador.  It´s also one of the few mountains on the equator that has permanent ice on top.  I never really even though about how CRAZY that is...


So for this day trip, I´m going to do a few important things: Eat breakfast.  Bring snacks.  Wear warm clothes.  Slow down. 


It should go better than our first volcano adventure....