Tarzan Helps Kick off on-campus Winterim Evening Activities

We swung right into the on-campus Winterim Evening Activities last night with the hypnotist and a pizza party! The hypnotist was extremely funny- check out the link!

R U Dgtal Nativ Photography and GMap

The day started out with a brief run around of the school taking pictures of other Winterims having a great time. Then we had a lecture on how to take photography and make sure the lighting and perspective is just right. The image above is an example of a good picture. It shows action of the quilting and the perspective was at the table line which provided excellent lighting to the picture. We learned next about how to make and use Gmaps. Then we were on our own editing blogs and summarizing the great things other Winterims are doing. Then we put in our information into the Gmaps. We moved on to our daily jobs which mine was to write this post.

And that concluded our day.

Turn, Baby, Turn

Turn, Baby, Turn!

Mr. Oldham and his students are off to a great start as they begin their two week journey into the world of wood turning. The students are allowed to make whatever they like on the wood turners, so long as it's spherical. One student, Alex, is setting out to make a model lightsaber. However, he, like all the other students are starting out by making beautiful wooden bowls. These bowls are created by spinning a block of wood on a turner while slowly widdling down the surface with multiple sized carving tools. We wish Mr. Oldham and his students luck in these next two weeks, and we will be keeping y'all updated!

Chess

Students have been enjoying learning and playing the game of chess. It is considered a challenging game for most. Colby Emma has been struggling, he has found himself in last place on the leader board. Today he went 0-5 and is hoping to be more successful in the second half of the day. Other students, like Yeong-Jin Choi are climbing up the leader board. Yeong-Jin is 3-0 today and hopes to keep his win streak alive.

Quilting

The quilting group jumped off to a nice start yesterday. They hit the fabric store early to gather fabric for their projects. The group members said that the fabric store was fun, because they were able to begin thinking about their personal project. During the second half of the day, they were taught to use a sewing machine and cut fabric. For homework, they were told to create an outline for their quilt. Today, they began to cut and sew together their fabric that they purchased at the store yesterday. Although there have been a few minor sewing machine mishaps, the amateur quilters are quickly making their ways to pros!

Andes and Amazon Adventure

Hola from Ecuador!
We made it here last night rather late in the evening, and checked into our cute hotel in Quito, Ecuador. We were all pretty tired from our travels so we feel alseep quickly. This morning we woke up to a great breakfast together and Meg Lewis wowed us with her spanish speaking skills. (She also left her cell phone on the plane in Atlanta, Georgia yesterday). We are getting ready for a fun filled day with our awesome guide, Markus who knew all of our names right when we got on our tour bus. Today we will be emarking on an amazing adventure where we will drive to the northern part of the country and stay in a village for the next three days. On our way to the village, we will be passing Ecuador´s most picturesque, snowcapped colcanoes, Cayambe, Cotopaxi or Antisana. We will also vist the sacred Peguche Waterfall and give an offering to Pachamama (Mother Earth) and then enjoy a traditional Andean lunch in the village of Peguche. After that we are going to visit the Andean instrument workshop and listen to a musical demonstration. Once we make it to the viallge of Quitugo were we are going to begin our service project. During this project, we will help with thei deforestation issues as well as learn and teach about our different cultures. We will be staying overnight at the school, which will be an experience for all of us, but we are excited for this different and new adventure. Hope to write soon when we find another computer! Pictures to come!
Love, TEAM ECUADOR