day 28

another week down. the students are making great progress. the words that i've been teaching them, i think they really know and understand what they mean. with that said, i'm glad the weekend is here. i look forward to sleeping tomorrow. it's raining right now and i pray that it is raining in the morning.

just so i can get an idea of how many people besides family, scott and alexis are reading this, would you mind leaving me a comment. just say hello. i want to get a judge of how many people are looking at this thing. thanks. i love yall and miss you.

the market

rabbits and guineas ready to cook

crazy fisherman

armadillo ready to cook

the cotton looking thing is called wava - you eat the cottony part around the seed (the thing that i took a big bite of b/c i had no idea you don't eat it gringo loco) it's real sweet, like sugar water and grows all of the place here

monkey skull

day 26

sorry, it's been a week and i haven't posted anything on here yet. my bad. nothin too much to report other than i'm starting to make friends with the teachers and more people around town. i met a girl the other day that is from here and lives and works in tulsa (which is 30 minutes from my home town) small world. p90x is very difficult to do...seems as though my 'i am goin to be discpilined speech wore off this last week as i only did them once, but played basketball and soccer in their place.) not to mention, went to a 7.5 hour long church service on friday night. they had this prayer service and no one told me it would last that long, so i'm sittin there thinkin to myself how tired and confused and wondering why they kept on talking and praying. next time i'll be ready.

oh, i had a cup of soup the other day that had a chicken foot in it...yes, chicken foot soup. it's goin to be campbell's new flavor. i think they even have a 30 second spot reserved during the superbowl to promote it...let me know how it turns out. here are some pictures for you to enjoy.

picture 1: obvious

picture 2: mi amigo - pena in the back of a taxi on the way to the la pasina (pool)

picture 3: getting ready to eat boca (beef intestines) after swimming pamella, me, deborah (she's 21 and looks 11) and pena

picture 4: grup

picture 5: little girl at the market eating said grub

day 19

the week is half way through, and i had a break through today. my little second grade class of kids that are extremely difficult went amazingly awesome. after the poor test they took last friday, i had been thinking of how to change the class so the kids could pay attention and still learn. mind you, they can't read spanish yet, and the english textbook they have forces them to read english. i know what you're thinking, "that doesn't sound too bright. why would they buy that sort of text book?" don't worry, i asked the same question. but needless to say they did and so i have to go through it. so i can comply to that request, and we will fill out the answers in the book, but i'm teaching in a new way from the way the book tells me... i think, the instructors book has the teaching guides in spanish, so i'm relatively cloudy on what exactly it is saying.

here's what i did. i went through the next unit and looked at all of the vocabulary words that they will be learning. and i drew pictures of each of them on small flash cards. and today, we went through them once as a class and then i split the class in half - team 1 vs team 2 - half way during the game i changed the names to team bird vs team star (bird and star are two of our vocabulary words) the class was attentive, excited, and it seemed as though they were really getting it. praise god. b/c i was losing a lot of patience with them. so i will be thinking of new ways to incorporate pictures and flash cards and word memorization. i will also be giving another test, one that is picture based and oral b/c about 10 parents have come to the school worried about the low score that their offspring had earned on last friday's test. since i didn't teach that entire unit, i'm throwin it out and doin another one.

another exciting thing happened today. one of the student's uncle was visiting from riobamba, ecuador, which is about 2.5 hours from shell up in the mountainous highlands. he gave me his name, address, and phone number and told me that was a place in ecuador i needed to go and see. so i might be heading that way soon. kind of crazy, but lots of fun.

day 15

i love saturdays in ecuador...

i woke up and walked to the school b/c as i was leaving my classroom yesterday, the native ecuadorian schoool teacher, johan, came to me and said the band kids would be marching at the airport/military base here tomorrow and i could go with them and the other teachers...ok. so i roll out of bed like 10 minutes before i'm supposed to be there, throw on some shorts a tshirt (b/c i only had one clean one left) and put on my flipflops b/c it was pouring outside and didn't want to have wet shoes. little did i know that the rest of the teachers were in like dress pants and a tie type of clothing, but hey, i'm foreign so it was no big deal. a bus from the military base picks all 30 or so of the little kids in the marching band and the teachers, probably should hold about 20 poeple or so....and don't forget all 20 of the drums and the xylophones... and we head to the military base which is about a 4 minute drive. we get there and turns out this is like an airplane exposition and there are a bunch of military booths set up, a stage, galo and his plane that he and the guys are building was there, all of galo's model airplanes (galo had his own booth and won a trophy for the best exposition) they had singers and dancers and the marching band from my school was awesome...no offense to class of 2003 band members of chouteau high school, but these 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th graders definitely put you to shame.

so this is like an all day event, right...one of my student's mom comes up to me (she speaks a little english) and says that her husband is a pilot for the military and if i wanted to i could go on a flight with some military people that needed to go to coca, ecuador (about a 45 minute flight in this double prop hold about 25 soldiers and myself cargo airplane). they said it would take 8 hours to drive there. so i went. and i got to see the top of the jungle and the napo river from about 6500 feet in the air. they also let me sit in the cockpit with them and the pilots introduced themselves to me and explained what all of the instruments were and in what direction a few key cities in ecuador were. it was pretty sweet. the father of the student, nay is his name, did not go on the flight, but when i got back to the base he said that if i wanted to go anywhere in ecuador to let him know and he would do his best to find me a flight that i could hitchhike on for free. around 4:30 galo closed up his booth, we brought everything home, (three soldiers pushed the airplane that is partially constructed without wings all the way home) and i went to go play basketball. church youth was held tonight, which has people from the age of 17 to 32 attending, it's more like the cool young adults. and then we went to the bbq place around 10:20 tonight and had a small burger and fries...

you might be wondering, what was all the p90x talk yesterday. well, just hold your horses (scott) i'm goin on the roof right now at 12:03 am to go workout for an hour. and i'm goin to the market at 7 am tomorrow in puyo with johnny and his wife ieda (the owners of the bbq place) before church tomorrow. so i wanted to post this before i do that b/c i know that i wouldn't want to write anything after i go and try and stop my heart with this dumb workout video....

day 14

i've officially been here two weeks now... and i still love it. i gave my first test today...have yet to grade it, but from the quick synopsis i gathered from the confused look on those 6 year olds' faces, i have a lot of work to do. :)

i've been doin a lot of reading and studying on how to teach esl to little kids on line and am starting to map out what i want to focus on to make it easier on them and still increase their knowledge of this difficult language...

as far as my espanol, well, i've made buddies with johnny, the guy who owns the bbq joint. he knows a small amount of english, i know a small amount of spanish, so i go hang out there late in the evenings and we teach each other new words and phrases. in fact, he is takin me to the market sunday morning before church. and he talked about maybe goin fishin sometime soon, too.

one goal of mine was come down here and work on my self-discipline, in all facets of my life, ie. spiritual, physical, fiscal-al... you get the point. so i've been reading through 2 corinthians, which talks in the end about admitting your weaknesses so that christ might be edified (2 corinthians 12:9). i have a lot of weaknesses and according to this passage i must boast about them, and not in a 'look at me' kind of way, but to reveal my weak self so that when you see good in me you know it's from god and not from me...one being food. so in combat to that, i'm currently on day two of ninety of the p90x workout series. we'll see if all the hype from my sbu friends was correct. i've been watching what i eat, smaller portions, not eating late at night. (and yes, limiting my bbq intake) so hopefully 90 days from now i'll look a little different. i'm also working on the more important aspect of my life, the spiritual side. my spiritual side will be different also

day 11

here is the absolute latest picture of your's truly...

two days down as an official teacher...i am currently teaching the 1st, 2nd and preschool and kindergarten class english all on my own. except for the pre-k and kinder classes are both together at the same time, so me and a native english teacher, johan, are trying to tackle this. it is very difficult. the first grade class works hard and does well. yesterday was the first day that the smallest ones had seen or been around me, so they just sat there, terrified. looking at me like i was an alien giant that had a fur bearing animal growing on my face and their dark brown, almost black, little eyeballs were piercing me like tiny needles. today proved to be much better with them. we learned the hokey pokey and they really liked that.

did i mention that there grades are actually one age group younger here than back in the states. so the pre-k class are actually 3 year olds, the kindergarten are 4, 1st are 5, and 2nd graders are 6 years old. the second grade class is goin to be the one where i need the most prayer for. one- they don't understand anything that i say. two-they can't read yet, not even spanish. three-apart from 2-3 students, i kind of get the feeling that none of them really care to learn english, and the 4th problem is they have english for the last hour of the day tuesday-friday, so the thing that causes them to use their minds more than any other class is the last thing that they are doing. so, my job is to find a way to motivate and enthuse their opinions on english, overcome the language barier, and try and figure out a way to hold 15 six year olds attention and still teach them something at the end of the day.

i love it...

it's definitely stretching me and teaching me a lot about teachers, obviously. and i get to use my creative side of my mind to think of off the wall ways to keep the kids happy while still being productive.

i also, really love it here. the people are nice. the town is small and i'm starting to see people in the streets. i've got like 4 new facebook friends from down here. life is grand.

gettin ready for bed....

and i had a visitor come flying in my window (which is now closed)

check this out, this guy was huge...

pretty sure had everyone else in the house not been in bed already, i would have screamed like a little baby when i tried to kill this thing...

day 9

i had a really good weekend... i was able to help galo and eugie do some chores around the house. i played lots of basket (they don't call it basketball, they call it basket)... enjoyed church today... took a nap while it was raining. by the way, it rains here a lot... it basically rained all day yesterday and today. but i don't mind, i kind of like it.

however, something extremely marvelous happened tonight. i ate the best pancakes i have ever had!!!! after church a family came over to galo's house and he made pancakes. not the bisquick kind from a box, but from scratch. in fact, everything here is made from scratch. EVEN THEIR SYRUP!!! (which was delicious) he made regular ones, manzana ones (apple) and chocolate ones. i can't til we make them again so i can do it and bring them back to the united states and open a pancake house.

a little change happened today. due to 2nd, 3rd, and 4th grade teacher's curriculum being in spanish (and seeing as how i can't read it yet) i am goin to be teachin preschool, kindergarten and 1st grade on my own, starting tomorrow in the morning. so feel free to give me any pointers (ladonna) on how i can better teach those moldable little minds. i'm really excited about that b/c the children here are so much more beautiful and loving than back in the states, especially the really little ones.

well, off to bed, thanks for reading and keep prayin for these people down here to see the sweet love of jesus

day 7

pictures!!!! here are some pictures of the place where i live... i'm really blessed to be living here and functioning in such a nice place that has internet where i can stay in contact with all of you...

don't forget to skype me!!!

day 6

i am not happy with the sooners and their inability to score in the redzone...way to choke, you cowards!!!

day 5

today was good... a 4th grader asked me a question in espanol and i understood everything she said completely!!! i was so excited i made her repeat the question. lol. classes are going well. the kids always come up to me and hug me, a lot. today i stayed afterschool and helped some 1st graders with some extra ingles lessions, b/c they really didn't have a clue.

i also feel much better today! church tonight was long and boring, but is good b/c i'm starting to pick up on more and more words that they say during the prayers and the preaching. lookin forward to the weekend and see what festivities may lie for me.

i miss yall but am glad to be here...bedtime

day 4

today, was a good day...school teaching is fun and challenging. once i have figured out more of this spanish language, things will be much easier, but until then, very challenging. i also got to break into my stash of pepto-bismol tablets today. took a three hour nap this afternoon, b/c of stomach cramps. generally speaking, i'm a fairly tough and rough guy. breaking a bone is no problem, but if i have stomach pains or nausia i don't stand a fighting chance against a 4 year old girl who is the smallest in her pre-k class. tonight, however, i was feeling a little better and galo and eugie and her sister, jessica, took me to puyo, which is down the road 4 km to get some groceries and supplies... toilet paper, shampoo, laundry soap and food. they also took me to a bbq place where we had papas frita (french fries) and sausage. i also got a shish-kabob with more sausage and steak on it. very delicious. i know that wasn't too smart and all with an upset stomach, but how much worse can it get, you know? like ryder always, 'when in rome...'

day 2

today was amazing! woke up and went to church. ran the sound booth for them, b/c the only people that know how to take care of the sound board, play in the band. last night i played the bass with the band when they were practicing b/c their bass player was gone. it would have been fun to play this morning though... mi amigo, fabriscio, has been hangin out with me since i've been down here. he's 21 and speaks enough english for him and i to communicate. so far my mind fills full of spanish words that everyone defines for me. pray that they will stick and my simple oklahoma mind will not be overwhelmed or overloaded, especially with learning 100 new names tomorrow. back to my day, went to lunch with fabriscio after church with his family. we were sitting at a big table and a local man named david who is probably in his late 40's or early 50's sat next to me and started talking to me, in english. very nice guy. turns out he is a mechanic for MAF, which is a missionary group of pilots here in shell, ecuador. after lunch we went back to galo and eugenia's house, which is where i live (i hope to put pictures up in a couple of days). galo's grandpa, 82 years old i think, was hit by a car last night while riding his bicycle, so galo and euge went to quito this morning to visit him. he is doin ok, but hurt hand and what i could make out of galo's broken english, a concusion. i talked to galo tonight and he said he will come home tomorrow or the day after, they just wanted to watch him for a couple of days. be in prayer that everyone will return safely and unhurt, especially grandpa galo. back to my day, again... played basketball with about 15 teenagers and young adults this afternoon. was absolutely incredible! good exercise and compared to most of these guys, i'm pretty good. scott, you are not allowed to come down here and show me up, so if you want to visit, that's ok, but the court is my turf and off limits to you :) we had church at 7 pm tonight, and while walking to church i found out that my knock off north face coat that only cost $44 on ebay is not completely waterproof. the left sleeve has a leak and so does the right ribs area. so tomorrow i'm goin on a hunt to invest in an umbrella. i figure the combination of my coat, which joey told me, "smells fake, kind of like small malaysian fingers," and a south american umbrella, i can most likely get to places on wet days in a fairly dry fasion. walking home from church i needed to find some dinner, and walked straight to the place that i have been telling most of you about since returning from being here in november. the ribs place. so i'm walking up to open street restaurant, it is on the south side of the square that holds a replica model plane of nate saint's plane that he flew onto palm beach back in 1956 and the restaurant is open to the sidewalk, which is where you order. there is a long line, so i almost go to my house and contemplate coming back to order later. but as most of you can figure out i decided against that and went directly to the food. i'm wearing a camdenton lakers basketball mesh shirt thingy that someone gave to me from the church at osage hills, and these people in line are obviously from the states b/c they're white as ghost, loud, and talking amongst each other. someone from the group reads my shirt as soon as i walk up and they go, "hey, we're from eldon!!!" that's right, eldon, which is just up the road 20 minutes from osage beach where i live. they are here on a mission trip as church, helping one of the local nazarine churches build a fourth story on their church. turns out, that two of the people that i used to work with at the mexican restaurant, vista grande, are here with the church. so i've managed to be here for less than two full days and have already met some people all the way back from lil' ol' missouri, i can see my dad shaking his head, clapping his hands, standing up and saying, "you're just like me cody." i'm not lying when i say that every vacation we went on growing up, my dad could not go anywhere without running into someone that he knew from a previous time in his life. and also while we were eating, my friend david, the maf plane mechanic, walked up to eat dinner and reconized me. so i'm making friends here outside of my small group that are kind of forced to be my friends, ie. church, school, and people i'm living with.

i have a big day tomorrow and can't wait to tell all of you all about it. thanks for your prayers and know that i love it here.

ps- get a skype account and find me: cody.james.gilmore or codyjamesgilmore@yahoo.com - i have a web camera and we can chat for free and i can see your pretty smiling faces and you can look at my ugly hairy smiling face, which my dad and brother say when video chatting with me that if i had a tape measure behind me and could turn to the left would pass for a filthy mug shot. over and out!

home again, home again...

well, i made it! i got here about 1:30 this morning, so after about 24 hours of traveling i'm here. yesterday was a long day, but some cool things happened. i had about a 5.5 hour layover in miami, so after logging on to their wifi, updating facebook, and chatting with some friends on there, i went in search of food. now some airports have lots of great restaurants and food, and i'm pretty sure that miami international does as well. but, i think i was in the international wing of the hub so it was either little salads (puke) chineese or pizza. so while i was waiting in line for, you guessed, pizza, an older gentleman wearing a lookenback, texas hat comes up to me, leans closer and speaks with a softer almost dulled whisper and says, "hey, i bought a full pizza instead of just the three slices that my wife and i needed. it was cheaper, we have some more left over do you want some?" now most of your responses to this question in a north american airport would be spiced with doubt and questioning to the motives of the older gentleman and his offer. well, before my mind thought about it, my stomach (and mouth) replied, "absolutely" yada, yada, yada...i sat with a john and shay wells from texas and ate the remainder of their delicious sausage pizza. which did two things: allowed me to share with them what god is doing in my life and pass some serious waiting time. it's neat how god blessed me that day with those people.

woke up this morning had breakfast: pan, i think (bread), and cereal. got my room set up, desk, clothes put away and guitar tuned. then had lunch with the pastor of the church and school and his family. and now we are back at the casa listening to a jungle rain storm...i'm going to take a nap now.

last day home

well, it's a new year and i can't think of a better way for me to start 2009 then to be packing a small backpack with a few changes of clothes, getting my guitar and preparing for a journey that i feel is going to change my life forever. i leave for the airport tonight around 2 am...my flight is heading for miami at 6:05 am, so i have to leave really really early. i have had a great last two weeks preparing. i went home to oklahoma and had a great time with my family for an early christmas. i'm goin to miss yall very much, but look forward to finding new people that i will call family in my new home in shell. last night i got home from wintertainment camp in westboro, wisconsin. we took 12 students up there for a week of snow filled activities and hearing the word preached for five days. it was awesome!!! the message for the week was 'becoming s.e.r.i.o.u.s.' i couldn't think of a better way to spend the last week of 2008, the last week in the states, then hearing kent talk about becoming serious for god. thank you kent for your words and willingness to allow god to speak through you to a group of 250 kids.

the next time i write on here i will be in south america, so here's to airplanes and a new year

i love you all and will keep prayin for all of you