For instance, our routine came to a halt Thursday and Friday. They were fixing the streets in our neighborhood and the water pipes burst. We had no water for cooking, showering, or flushing toilets for over 24 hours. But little things that used to annoy us aren't that big a deal in the scheme of life. We used buckets of pool water to flush the toilets and made good use of a little extra deodorant. And since we couldn't cook with clean water, we met up with a big group of our friends for beer, burgers and BBQ wings at Iguana restuarant. We were having so much fun, we almost wished the power would go out too. (after all, we have gas stoves here to cook with) But I think Carlie was the most annoyed when, on return home, she noticed bird poop on her mosquito net. A bird had flown into her bedroom and had lots of fun and then left his mark.
Anyway, back to a routine, here is a vague rundown of how we spend a "normal" week:
Monday- Olivia the maid comes at 8am, bread from the bakery in hand. I cook breakfast for all of us and make Joe a sandwhich to-go. He leaves to teach English at a local private high-school called "Amazonica" during the midday hours M-F. Carlie gets started on homeschool lessons while I send Olivia out to do the week's grocery shopping. On return, I'll either have her cook an Ecuadorian-style lunch, or I will make something quick so that she can get started on the other house-cleaning duties. If I cook lunch, she'll make a light supper that we can all eat together when Joe returns. Olivia leaves at 5pm. So as you can see, Monday is our cooking, cleaning, and staying home in general day to get things done. Any given evening during the week, I might work 8pm to midnight teaching online also.
Tuesday- Long day in service, usually with Eleanor. Working with her means we get to ride to the territory in her car. Or it could mean breaking down on the side of the road like happened last week. If it's our lucky day, she invites us back to her house for a sampling of her latest pies, tarts, or torts or whatever other scrumptious British concoction she's whipped up. She also serves ice-cold sweet tea made from a certain dried tree leaf in her garden. It's better than Bojangles!! By the time we get back home, we're too lazy to do anything but take a nap in the hammock or watch Dr. Who on Netflix. (which, by the way, we can only get season 1-3 on South American Netflix! No more Matt Smith for us.) Dinner is Olivia's left-overs.
Wild Wednesdays- Again we meet at the Kingdom Hall at 8:30 for service. Those who want to, pile 20 deep in a brother's pick-up truck and we drive an hour down the road to go preach in tiny pueblos where you can't believe people live. If we want to be home before the driver does, we're on our own to catch the next bus back to Tena. The bus only comes once an hour and doesn't stop unless you do a funny dance and flag it down. The bus comes from Banos, a tourist town 3 hours away, so when you finally board, it's usually standing-room only for the whole hour's drive. At least there's a movie playing...if the TV works.
Thursday- Back to the homeshcooling, cooking, and cleaning. Since Joe comes home from work in the early afternoon, this is when we have family worship and can prepare for the service meeting. After dinner, it's time to leave for the Kingdom Hall so we can get there before it starts at 7pm. We usually leave enough time to catch the local bus. It's 60 cents for our family to ride. Sometimes we ride the same bus as Rita and Woody or other brothers. If we're running late, we flag a taxi for $1.
Friday- Anything goes. Carlie may be finishing up a school project or report. I may have some shopping to do. I may go with Jessamyn or Rita on a Bible study. We might catch the bus and ride 40 minutes to the pueblo of Misahualli to see the monkeys.Whatever happens on Fridays, it's for sure that we'll go with a group of friends to Iguana that night, our favorite American-style eatery here in town. It opens at 6pm but we make plans to meet at 6:30. We go early and let Carlie play at the park across the street. That counts as her Spanish lessons too, playing with all the kids there.
Saturday- We usually go preaching here in town starting again at 8:30am. If the territory is on one side of town, and we go on a Bible study on the opposite side of town (which is usually the case) we only have time to do like 4 doors of house-to-house in order to make it back for the study. By the time we do the 4th door, the temps are already in the high 90s. We walk everywhere using an umbrella for shade, but usually take the Line 1 bus back home. If I don't have to work online, we might go swimming. Watchtower study, bed early if we can.
Sunday- No sleeping in. Our Sunday meeting is at 8:30am. I get up in time to walk to the closest bakery and come back and scramble eggs and get the coffee going. The smell of warm bread and coffee is usually enough to wake Joe. Carlie's a different story. We never make it to the bus-stop in time on Sunday's. We're always chasing down a taxi in our skirts, tie and bookbags. "The church on Cuenca street", we say in Spanish to the driver. Our hall is a simple but clean building with ceiling fans and plastic chairs to sit in. We usually have about 100 in attendance including studies and visitors.
After the meeting I get out my grocery list. The main super market, which is about the size of a large CVS, is on the corner. We always head to the store and pick up snacks for later or anything you can only find there for the upcoming week. It's THE place to be and be seen on Sunday, and we usually run into 20 other sisters shopping there as well as all our neighbors. After waiting in line for 58 minutes behind one person, we finally make it out of there alive and take a taxi home with all our goodies. We're usually invited over to someone's house to eat lunch on Sundays and then swim with a group in the river. Often, the brothers also play soccer after that. I try not to schedule myself to work on Sunday evenings so that we can benefit as a family from the wholesome recreation.
Sunday is Carlie's favorite day of the week. Mine is Monday because I love having Olivia's help accomplishing things in 100 degree heat. Joe's favorite day of the week is Friday night beers at Iguana. Joe also enjoys weekend nights because sometimes he gets some side-work as a bartender at a beautiful jungle lodge that a brother owns. Whiskey sours for everyone!
Well, that wraps up our week. Sunday nights for me is spent writing a grocery list for Olivia so we can wake up and start all over again. But like I said, this is Ecuador. I'm not sure there's even a literal translation for the word routine. That's something just to keep us Americans sane.
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