What's in a title...by any other name might smell as sweet?

What a strange week. I don't know why, but I feel like I've been living in a cloud for the past several days. I was in Wisconsin all last weekend, which really threw me off. Got to see the kid sister graduate (muchos congrats, deaker!) and my dear aunt Lois get married (more congrats, Lois and Larry!) So you can imagine that with all the celebrating and partying there was plenty of EATING. Oh my word. Too. Much. Food.

The beginning of this week I spent getting ready for my English class, making rhubarb pie, cleaning, and biking. And occasionally chasing the baby rabbits in our backyard. Stay out of our lettuce, nasty rabbits.  

Oh! Guess what. So one of my English students who has become a very dear friend, Irma, invited me over the other day because her mother was flying in from Ecuador. Sometimes I just think it's so funny that I spent all this time in Cuenca, Ecuador, and then I come to the Twin Cities and just HAPPEN to find myself connected with some friendly Cuencanos. Thanks, God. Anyway, we went to the airport to pick up her mom, and after a tearful reunion, we headed back to the house to unpack. Among all the Ecuadorian goodies that Mami brought were ten suspicious looking packages. What are these, I asked her. Cuy, she replied. Wait, CUY!?!?! Cuy is something I tried several times while in Ecuador and will never forget it. Basically what you do is take a guinea pig, shave it and scour it, and then roast it. And then eat it. So my friend's mother brought 10 CUY in her suitcase from Ecuador. The only problem she had with security was a small bag of fruit that her sister sent along. But the poor, dead guinea pigs made it across the continent. So we celebrated with a good guinea pig roast with rice, potatoes, salad, and mote. I even got my friend Alyssa to try it with us. I think we were the only gringas in the state of Minnesota to be doing that. 

Yeah, I don't have much else to say...still working out the details for the next year, still praising God, still making mistakes, still enjoying my bike rides. In fact, yesterday I biked into downtown St. Paul to do some shopping, got all turned around, and headed the wrong direction for a good half-hour. Got a better work-out than I was planning on. 

Next Thursday I'm leaving for Cristo Vive camp. This is the highlight of my summer, seriously. I can't wait. I plan to take many, many pictures and then make you look through all of them so you can see how much fun we have. Please pray for the preparation as we are getting ready. 

Til next time.