Keeping Up With Sustainable Roots On November 17th at 9:45 am, the R5 SCS club (Spanish Communication and Service Club) embarked on our first Main Street Cleanup! The students were wonderfully enthusiastic as they sifted through the flower beds on Main Street in a competition to see who could pick up the most trash. Some of the less wary students visited some of the stores to introduce themselves and explain what we were doing. It was a great way to spend a morning, and ended with lunch at Pablo’s Pizza. Last month, below the Equator in Ecuador, Amanda Stahlke left Consanga and boarded an airplane in Quito en route back to the United States. She was there for six months and completed positively inspiring work. She eventually formed a marvelous friendship and found a colleague in the other volunteer, Eliana Socha, who will be returning to the United States in December. Eliana described the growth in their friendship by blogging “We hated each other, then we tolerated each other, and now everyone asks if we’re sisters. We’ll have someone to reminisce with once everyone else is sick and tired of hearing about Cosanga, Cosanga, Cosanga. Struggling through a new language and culture together, just the two of us, for months on end, is a pretty powerful bond. Of all the things I’ve gained here, this friendship may be the best.” The two girls arrived in Cosanga within two weeks of each other. When they started working together, whether they liked it or not, they only had a few things
8 The Spot Magazine | December 2011
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