Well I have a quick Christmas update. First, feliz navidad! Second, I’m in a funky mood, so forgive me this time. For those of you back in the states I miss you more than you can know this holiday season. I miss everyone/everything so much it hurts to think about missing Christmas. As my first Christmas away from home (and I am bien lejos) this year, I spent most of Christmas Eve feeling pretty sorry for myself and in generally a foul mood. I of course had to keep a half-smile on since I was out with the jovenes (youth group) throwing a Christmas party in one of the little campo towns, but afterwards my host brother saw through it and called me out. We were riding in the back of the camioneta (truck) heading back to my town from the campo. He nodded then said “well we’re your family now” and pointed to all of the jovenes. I laughed and explained that I was really happy with that but that it isn’t even close to the same. He accepted failure and settled to just try to cheer me up. Then I got hit in the face by an overhead branch as we sped through the dirt roads. But after laughing it off, I realized I felt better that he (and all the jovenes as they were listening in) knew I was missing my country and my family – makes them understand what sacrifices I am making by being here (which I know are totally by my own choice so I don’t really have anyone to blame but myself). I’m glad I have adapted the ‘what doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger’ attitude regarding my Peace Corps service. I keep telling myself, well if I can make it through insert problem (dengue fever, dancing in front of this crowd, explaining sex to jovenes, and now Christmas away from my family) I know I can make it two years here. And of everything I’ve had to deal with, missing Christmas has been the hardest. I knew running off to hang out with other volunteers would help me ‘forget’ it’s Christmas and therefore not miss it so much, but I decided I wanted to celebrate Christmas normally, even if it meant putting myself through a little pain. So I decided to stay in my site and spend Christmas Eve with my host family. After 6 hours with the jovenes, I came home and showered off the caked dust from riding in the back of a truck on dirt roads for a couple hours. I had told my host mom I would come over after I showered to hang out, but I guess then decided I might need some help getting across the street so they sent the 10 year old girl and the newly bathed and dressed up dog to find me. I told her I’d be over soon and that I was just doing something for a minute. So I made the salad I promised to bring and packed up my computer, hard drive, etc. so I could show them pictures from back in the states (something I’ve been promising my host mom for 4 months and never gotten around to). The way it was described to me, they would all be hanging out, but as it turned out the 2 older boys were sleeping, the younger was running around with friends, and the mom and the 10 yr old girl were watching tv pretty unresponsively. So I got my computer out and played around on the internet for awhile. I had asked the 16 year old about going to church with him so finally around 8 we went. It was a very modern looking church, with a guitar/drum band, a projector with computer, and a very modern looking building. We sat up in the balcony and at first they just sung a few non-christmas songs and I was pretty bummed I signed up for 2 hrs of singing songs I didn’t know. But then they had some kids do a dance, had a little skit, and a few Christmas songs (same music, different words in Spanish so that the meanings of the songs were changed a lot). It was pretty interesting and I was glad I went, even though I wasn’t really following much of it I enjoyed just being in a place to think. Then my host brother handed me a little pamphlet that was stuck in the bible to look at. It was hate propaganda against homosexuals. The usual – “God hates gays and you are going to hell” with references to Sodom and Gomorrah to which my host brother laughed and asked me if I liked. I looked at him and just handed it back and say it was trash, rolling my eyes and said I could explain my viewpoint at a more appropriate time but basically I don’t like churches teaching people to hate others because of differences. Regardless of my religious beliefs, I don’t understand how churches can teach hatred to children, who this comic was obviously directed toward. Anyway we decided to peace out after about an hour and a half because I was hungry and I thought my host mom was joking when she told me we would be eating at midnight, so I was ready to get home and eat something. But when we got home, her and the daughter were sleeping and the brothers said ‘not a joke, we will be eating at midnight’. Bummer I thought, so I ran to my house to get something else and eat a few bites of chocoflakes cereal – mmm. When I got back the host brothers were horsing around and woke up the host mom, so I showed pictures of family/life in the states to the oldest host brother and my host mom. Oh, the dad had returned from AWOL and was sleeping off his day’s activities in the hammock outside. So after they got bored of seeing holidays in the states, pictures of our house and the 4 seasons we have, snow included, we started preparing to eat. As it turns out the midnight rule is more of a general thing, so we ate at 11:45. They carried the daughter to the table and made her pick her head up for a picture, and the host dad stumbled into the bedroom without eating or even acknowledging the presence of people in the house. But the rest of us who were awake enjoyed a yummy dinner of pavo (turkey), lettuce, potatoes, and a cheese crème with a side of chocolate bread and chocolate milk. It was delicious – the turkey was the best I’ve had in a long time (different but not better than how you prepare turkey mom). Then I handed out the little gifts I had for each of them, minus the girl who had gone to bed and the dad who had hopefully made it to the bed. The gifts were little things I had brought from the states to give them when I moved in 4 months ago but never had, so they worked as Christmas presents instead. To the mom I gave a little magnetic fishing game (the one where the fish spin around and open and close their mouths while you try to pick them up via their open mouths). The 24 year old got one of those stretchy squishy ball things with a flashing light inside that lights up when you hit it – to use in the discos because he loves to dance. The 20 year old got a magnetic 3 game set, with chess, checkers, and Parcheesi. The 16 year old got a 1 person jumping elimination game like the ones they have at cracker barrel. The girl got a mini butterfly kite and the host dad got one of the bowls dad made from wood that I brought with me. I also bought them a card that plays I wish you a merry Christmas when you open it, and I wrote them a short note about how glad I have them here. Lastly, the dog got a headband with reindeer antlers with bells, which the 20 year old host brother stole and wore around. They all seemed to love the gifts and it really made me feel happier to give them something and see how excited they were. After the brothers left to go out, the girl somehow woke back up and opened my gift and the gifts from the parents, so us girls (host mom, sister, and me) got to spend some time together before I decided to head home
Though I have surrounded myself with people I have grown close to here, I cant explain how hard today was and tomorrow will probably be. I found myself tearing up over stupid things and just feeling miserably self-pitying for the last few days. And I know it is pretty ridiculous because obviously this is something I chose when I signed up for the Peace Corps, but seeing everyone else here spending time with family, and knowing back home they’re celebrating without me – it’s hard. I feel just like I felt the days leading up to leaving for Ecuador in the first place. I know it will pass, and as far as I’m concerned personally, this will be a huge emotional accomplishment as I have never spent Christmas away from home. But let’s just say I’m glad I will be heading back home for Christmas next year!
So as not to end on a bad note, I am extremely excited for a couple things tomorrow:
• opening my “presents” in the morning. I received several packages from my mom over the last week or so, and I've been saving them in the fridge (so ants don’t get inside and ruin anything) for Christmas morning. Tonight (as it was past midnight) I opened one of the packages and allowed myself to remove one item – an NKU t-shirt.
• I decided as my Christmas present to myself I was going to buy something special for Christmas breakfast (since we do a huge breakfast with family in the states) so I bought some gouda cheese. It was bien caro (expensive) but I have been thinking about it every time I open my fridge for the last week. I also have bacon left over from something I cooked for my host family, and today I went and bought from fruit so I can make a fruit plate. If I feel like it I also could make pancakes with yogurt – so many options!
• Tomorrow morning I also will be able to “spend” Christmas morning with my family in the states thanks to modern technology – aka internet, skype, and a webcam. If all goes according to plan they can turn on the webcam and I can sit and watch everyone open presents, and vice versa with my packages. If the internet is sucking, then I’ll just suffice to talk to everyone and hear about their presents
• Finally, I’m going to meet up with a couple fellow volunteers and have a dinner with them for Christmas. I feel like hanging out with other Americans will be very helpful as we are all missing a lot and understand what we are all going through this time of year.
I am writing this because I wanted to share how I feel about being away from home, and also details of the celebrations here, but alas my blog has turned out pretty so I’m going to sign off and keep an eye out for Santa aka Papa Noel! Merry Christmas to all – Love and Miss you!
Sunday, December 20, 2009
Ok I’m back to give a few more updates!
First, December 1 was World AIDS Day. I teamed up with another organization in my town to do charlas (educational workshops) in one of the colegios (high schools) here. We were planning for Dec 1 and were supposed to have a meeting Monday of the week before to plan the details. As is the style here, I showed up for the meeting but no one else did. So I left the guy a note to say I’d been there and to call me, but didn’t hear anything. Wednesday Nov 25 was the Day against violence against women and families and I had heard from a woman I met on the street that there was going to be a parade and open house. I didn’t know what time it was at but as I was walking around that morning I saw someone from the municipio (mayor’s office) helping a cute little lady set up an information booth in the park. So I passed by and introduced myself. I stood there awkwardly for a few minutes then decided to ask if I could help with anything. She looked at me funny for a few minutes, so I clarified that I could do whatever, hang things, move stuff, etc. So she handed me some ribbon and told me to put it up on the tent edge. While I was hanging ribbons and posters and stuff, we talked and it turns out she is a member of a women’s group that meets on Wednesday mornings. They organize themselves to do crafts and stuff to sell. I haven’t been able to make I to a meeting yet but hopefully will go sometime soon. The parade ended at the park and the mayor and board were there. They had some kids from the schools dancing, a few speeches, and people just mingling. So anyway, I ran into the guy that I was supposed to meet with about World AIDS Day and he explained something came up and he couldn’t be at the office that day. But he had time right after the event was over, so around lunchtime I met him at his office to plan the charlas. I didn’t want to show up to the meeting unprepared so I had drawn up an agenda of possible activities then figured they would want to change them around some. The secretary of education also came and they decided it would be best to do the charla that Friday instead of the following week. I was really glad I had it all planned! They also offered the services of a woman that works in their office who is either or a doctor or a nurse and specialized in HIV/AIDS – perfect! I met with her and showed her what I had planned and she said it looked good, so we decided to meet before the charla Friday to finalize everything. So Friday morning I showed up early and made the posters, then sat around waiting. She said something about us waiting on a car, but I watched as the time we were supposed to start the charla came and went. Then the car we were waiting on arrived and I asked how long it would take to get to the high school – 20 minutes or so. So me, the medica, and the secretary of education piled in the car and drove to the colegio. I didn’t realize that it actually isn’t in my town – it’s out in the campo (country), so by the time we got there we were about 45 minutes late. They also then told me I would be doing 2 charlas and had about 40 minutes for each one (the plan had been 2 groups with an hr and a half each) so I had to make some last minute changes, which involved cutting the charla down to 1 activity. So the first group went pretty well, I was glad I had 2 ecuadorians there helping me but I felt like I did a good job. The kids had fun (it was a team competition with true/false about HIV/AIDS and I gave them all candy at the end). Since I had to cut the activities, the medica suggested we do the other main activity with the next group. Because that activity was more based on the previous activity, it turned out that the second group kinda got jipped. They didn’t get as much information during the activity, so at the end we basically summarized everything else they would have learned if we did both activities. In retrospect, I think we should have just done the same activity with the second group, but live and learn. At least they had fun, and the activity was a little faster, which made the other 2 women happy. So after an hr and a half of talking in Spanish with a bunch of high school kids, I was glad to pile back into the car and be done working for the day!
That was the first World AIDS Day activity I did. We also had planned more charlas for the next Monday but that fell through, so instead I met with the health promoters that work with that organization to plan the World AIDS Day activities. Meanwhile I was trying to round up the people from my organization to get them to participate in the parade – very chaotic to be in charge of getting people informed! I also made posters, interviewed labs and health clinics to get details on how much HIV testing cost/where it was available/etc., and made over 450 red ribbons to hand out with candy during the parade. So World AIDS Day came, and not only did we end up having enough people show up from my organization, but I also got a nurse I had met the week before to join our group in the parade. She and I ran around handing out ribbons and explaining to people that there was going to be free HIV testing in the park – if people in my town didn’t think I was crazy before they definitely do now! It’s okay though, I feel like at least we were trying to inform people. The reason I jumped into prepping for World AIDS Day so ambitiously is because when I was doing community assessments with the health providers I found out that (supposedly) 60% of the population in my town has HIV/AIDS. Now I know that receiving statistics from providers can be quite exaggerated (though I heard around 60% from all of the clinics), but even if this is an overestimate chances are that it’s at least close, which is way more people than I expected. The surveys I’ve done with families and youth also show that there is very little knowledge regarding how you get HIV or even what it is. Anyways I’ve decided that HIV/AIDS education is something I’m really interesting in doing in my town, so I will continue programming even now that World AIDS Day has passed.
As far as work goes, I also set up schedules with the promoters so they would know when they needed to come get me to go to work. Good in theory, not so much in practice. They still don’t remember and I find myself sending a lot of text reminders. It’s frustrating because I want to help them with their work but they are so flaky that it’s hard. And I can talk to the people at my office (who are the ones who requested a volunteer and want me to be doing stuff) and they can talk to the promoters but it doesn’t change anything. Some days it’s just easier mentally to do stuff at my house or go around to other organizations to do interviews than to constantly remind them that I’m supposed to be working with them. I know it sounds kinda dumb since I just have to send a text but 1. Having to text someone every day to remind them is 31 texts a month – not what I want to be wasting my texts/ money on! and 2. By the time I realize they aren’t coming and I have to send the text I'm then sitting at my house pissed off that I had to get up early and have sat around waiting for a couple hours. If I were in the states I could text 5 mins after the person was supposed to arrive but here I usually wait somewhere between 30 minutes and an hour because it’s not normal to be on time (but I have to be ready in case they ARE on time, otherwise I wouldn’t be able to argue my point). The schedule I made should have fixed this as I gave them a list of dates and everything, but apparently not. It really is such a little thing but it makes me feel like I’m a burden on them and that I’m not being productive, which just frustrates me. And really, I hate having to get up at 6:30 to leave at 7:30 when I’m sitting at my house until 9:30 – you all know how much I like to sleep! It’s not a deal-breaker, just something that annoys me about how my work is going right now.
On the other hand, I have kept myself busy doing more independent work and meeting with other organizations, and of course playing around in my new house I also still have the TV that the guy said he was coming to get several weeks ago, so whenever he actually get it I believe my productivity will increase drastically. I also try to spend time with my host family, mostly with the brothers. I went to their house to eat ceviche one day for lunch (since that’s not something I really wanna cook for myself – way too much work!), have watched a couple movies with the brothers, and have been spending LOTS of time with the brothers and their friends (aka the youth group I’m also supposed to be working with). It turns out that I really enjoy their company now that I have a choice whether/when I see the brothers’ friends. The youth group (which I’m going to refer to as the liceo from here on since it takes me awhile to remember “youth group”) has been doing some fundraising to provide Christmas gifts to some kids and have a party with them, so I’ve been helping them out (more like just standing there being the token gringa). They’ve sold chuzos (grilled sausages) a few times and I've just gone and hung out with them while they sold them. Other than the normal annoyances of hanging out with young Ecuadorian men (being asked out etc) they’ve been a lot of fun. I figure if I just ignore the propositions they’ll eventually go away. I don’t really have anything to worry about, they’re harmless and everyone knows I’m “protected” because of my host brothers – they just get annoying sometimes. But when we aren’t talking about me and my dating life, I enjoy getting to know them. It’s also nice just knowing people my age – if only there were more girls in the liceo! I did get invited to a birthday party of one of the guys. Yay for feeling like I have more friends! And all of this because I moved out of the host family’s house – sounds good. Tonight I am going to make mayonnaise for them to sell on the sausages. I don’t really know how but it was safer than letting the boys try to make it, and they think I’m a cooking genius, so hopefully I don’t screw this up! I know the lady last time made it from eggs, lime, oil, and soy milk. I feel like after this experience I won’t want mayo for awhile though, like Ang’s aversion to ranch dressing…
Other than the prospect of making mayo, I’ve been enjoying cooking for myself. I haven’t been making any meat dishes, just eating beans, veggies, fruit, milk, and eggs. Eventually I’ll start buying chicken to cook, but for now I’m happy with the beans and eggs for protein. My favorite new thing is CEREAL! I hadn’t had cereal since being in Ecuador until I moved into my own place, and now that’s pretty much when I want for breakfast every morning. Unfortunately it’s kinda expensive, and the cereal sold in my town is all super-sugary, but until I tire of it I've been eating a CocoPuffs knockoff with skim milk (another thing we never had in my host family’s house!) I also rarely cook with oil, eat mostly veggies, and make my juice without sugar. Overall I see this working out really well for me. The only big problem is that it’s hard to cook some things in small portions. Thankfully my host family is still open to my cooking and also now that I have a freezer I can freeze portions. A few nights ago I made a 5 bean soup (though I only know what 3 of the beans are, the others I just bought because they were in the store) and have been eating portions of that with variations – with cheese crumbles, spinach, peppers, spicy, soupy, etc. It’s basically a base that I just add whatever I feel like. I also made alfredo sauce the other day, which I shared with my host family (and they loved – thanks for sending that seasoning packed grandma!). I had a little leftover so I threw the rest into the bean base, and it made a really yummy mix. However it turns out my stomach can’t handle the bean stuff more than once a day as I found out the hard way, so I ended up freezing a bunch of it so it won’t spoil. I also bought spinach and lettuce (which are both ridiculously cheap!) and have eaten some salads (though it’s risky not cooking them, so I tend to steam them or put them in something to cook). I feel so excited about my freedom of diet, but at the same time I do miss some of the Ecuadorian foods that I can’t make/don’t know where to buy. For example, since I don’t have an oven I can’t make maduros con queso (roasted yellow plantain with cheese on the side), or tortillas (corn tortillas with cheese inside). I just need to get around to asking my family where they bought the tortillas though, since they usually just bought them instead of making them.
Speaking of food, that brings me to my next point – Christmas! I know that Christmas is going to be a really hard time for me, and I’ve been missing my family a lot in the time leading up to the holiday, but thankfully I've been getting packages and mail to make me feel better And I bought a couple special things to celebrate Christmas morning – gouda cheese and bacon! Both were quite expensive but I decided it would be my Christmas present to myself. I had decided to go to another town for Christmas Eve but I think I’ve changed my mind. My host family celebrates on Christmas Eve with a dinner and though they haven’t invited me since I told them I’m going out of town, I’m sure they would be happy if I joined them. Also the town I was going to go to is about 6.5 hours from here, and I just don’t think I want to be traveling so much for Christmas. Finally, I want to try to find a church to go to on the 24th or 25th, depending on when they have services here. I don’t usually go to church because they’re mostly all catholic and because I try to separate myself from religion (because everyone thinks I'm a missionary), but I feel like going to a Christmas service would really help. Some of the other volunteers are meeting up on Christmas closer to my town but I’m not sure yet if I’m going to go. My host brother also told me that there aren’t many buses and they are really really full right around Christmas (since people are travelling a lot). And if I decide to stay here on Christmas day, I’m going to have my own big breakfast like we always do at home (with pancakes and bacon and gouda cheese) and talk to my family back in the states on skype – this just sounds like a better idea than travelling around in a bus. I also got a couple packages from family in the states and while I couldn’t resist opening and starting the jigsaw puzzle my grandma sent me (thanks grandma!!) I’ve saved the package my mom sent me to open on Christmas morning! And I wasn’t sure if there were sweets in it so just in case I put it in the fridge so the ants couldn’t enjoy my present before me I’m so excited for opening my Christmas presents – all wrapped up in bubble wrap envelops! Cultural note: I asked my host brother what they do for Christmas and he said that on Christmas Eve they just spend time together and eat a dinner, then Christmas day they sometimes go to the city to spend time with other family members. He said they don’t do any gift exchange – just when they were younger and got toys. A lot of families go to church but he said they don’t. Mostly it just seems like they spend time with family, much like what happens in the states as well.
Another event that’s coming up is New Years. Again, I planned to go visit friends but I think I’m going to hang out here with my host brothers and their friends. One of the traditions they do here is people make big figurines called “viejos” (old things) and at midnight they burn them in the streets. They’re made of wood wrapped in paper and painted, and people make all sorts of things. I’ve seen robots, action figures, famous people, aliens, etc. but my host family has a tradition that they make something they want in the next year. For example, a few years ago they were finishing the house they live in, so they made a house for new years. This year I think they’re going to make a car because they want a new car – it’s supposed to be good luck. I plan to help them make the viejo when they get around to it, and have even thought about making one myself (after I see how it’s done we’ll see). Sometimes people also put firecrackers in the viejos so they make lots of noise and are more entertaining. I haven’t brought it up with the liceo yet (because I haven’t decided if I’m willing) but I’m thinking about offering to have a new year’s party here. Since I have a huge yard, we could just have it outside, and I have a perfect place to make a bonfire. I figure we could borrow a grill and make hot dogs and veggies/plantains and maybe even s’mores on the bonfire! I would probably make the house off-limits (the guys can use the bathroom outside so I’d only let the girls in to use the bathroom) and of course I’d lock up all my stuff (I can *probably* trust the youth but I don’t know them well enough yet to really trust them) but with my huge yard I think I could make it work. In reality it would probably just be my host brothers and a few of their close friends I’ve hung out with a lot, but still I think it could be fun. And of course it would be BYOB – I’m too poor The liceo was talking about wanting to have a party but they don’t know where, so I’ll probably talk to my host brothers to see what they think about the idea.
Another thing that’s coming up is that Ang is coming to visit in Jan! I’m so excited! I’ve been planning out what we’re going to do, and I think we’ll be in my site some and at the beach some and in the city some. I’m excited to get to travel around but I’m mostly excited that she’s coming and that I can show someone my life here. I can write and write but it’s so different to experience it and I’m glad I have the opportunity to share it with someone in person When I was working out at the gym today, looking out over my town (my gym’s on the 3rd floor with an open wall so I can see over most of the buildings in my town) I realized that in less than a month Ang would be here and get to experience my life, and how excited I am to get to show her how cool (though not in the traditional sense as it is generally up in the 90s) my town is and my life here. I also realized that’s what I have – I have a life here. It’s a different life than I had back in the states, and of course I miss my friends/family and life in the U.S. a lot, but this has become “normal” to me. Even though it’s limited because of my term as a volunteer, this place is my home for 2 years; this is my work, my life. It was a strange feeling and I can’t really explain it, but that’s the best I can do
Oh and a side note, we still are having power outages. For now they’re just for 4 hours every morning (thankfully not at night anymore). I am hoping that soon they’ll be over as the rainy season is slowly starting and the rivers will eventually have water. For now we just get a little rain some days/nights (an hour or so), but little by little it will pick up until we have rain most of the day/night. I don’t really know what it’s really like, but you all get to experience the anticipation with me as we approach the “rainy season” – something that didn’t really exist back in Kentucky!
Okay I think that’s about all I’ve done/am going to be doing, so I’m gonna sign off. But if I don’t get to talk to you all, have a good Christmas and I miss you all!!
First, December 1 was World AIDS Day. I teamed up with another organization in my town to do charlas (educational workshops) in one of the colegios (high schools) here. We were planning for Dec 1 and were supposed to have a meeting Monday of the week before to plan the details. As is the style here, I showed up for the meeting but no one else did. So I left the guy a note to say I’d been there and to call me, but didn’t hear anything. Wednesday Nov 25 was the Day against violence against women and families and I had heard from a woman I met on the street that there was going to be a parade and open house. I didn’t know what time it was at but as I was walking around that morning I saw someone from the municipio (mayor’s office) helping a cute little lady set up an information booth in the park. So I passed by and introduced myself. I stood there awkwardly for a few minutes then decided to ask if I could help with anything. She looked at me funny for a few minutes, so I clarified that I could do whatever, hang things, move stuff, etc. So she handed me some ribbon and told me to put it up on the tent edge. While I was hanging ribbons and posters and stuff, we talked and it turns out she is a member of a women’s group that meets on Wednesday mornings. They organize themselves to do crafts and stuff to sell. I haven’t been able to make I to a meeting yet but hopefully will go sometime soon. The parade ended at the park and the mayor and board were there. They had some kids from the schools dancing, a few speeches, and people just mingling. So anyway, I ran into the guy that I was supposed to meet with about World AIDS Day and he explained something came up and he couldn’t be at the office that day. But he had time right after the event was over, so around lunchtime I met him at his office to plan the charlas. I didn’t want to show up to the meeting unprepared so I had drawn up an agenda of possible activities then figured they would want to change them around some. The secretary of education also came and they decided it would be best to do the charla that Friday instead of the following week. I was really glad I had it all planned! They also offered the services of a woman that works in their office who is either or a doctor or a nurse and specialized in HIV/AIDS – perfect! I met with her and showed her what I had planned and she said it looked good, so we decided to meet before the charla Friday to finalize everything. So Friday morning I showed up early and made the posters, then sat around waiting. She said something about us waiting on a car, but I watched as the time we were supposed to start the charla came and went. Then the car we were waiting on arrived and I asked how long it would take to get to the high school – 20 minutes or so. So me, the medica, and the secretary of education piled in the car and drove to the colegio. I didn’t realize that it actually isn’t in my town – it’s out in the campo (country), so by the time we got there we were about 45 minutes late. They also then told me I would be doing 2 charlas and had about 40 minutes for each one (the plan had been 2 groups with an hr and a half each) so I had to make some last minute changes, which involved cutting the charla down to 1 activity. So the first group went pretty well, I was glad I had 2 ecuadorians there helping me but I felt like I did a good job. The kids had fun (it was a team competition with true/false about HIV/AIDS and I gave them all candy at the end). Since I had to cut the activities, the medica suggested we do the other main activity with the next group. Because that activity was more based on the previous activity, it turned out that the second group kinda got jipped. They didn’t get as much information during the activity, so at the end we basically summarized everything else they would have learned if we did both activities. In retrospect, I think we should have just done the same activity with the second group, but live and learn. At least they had fun, and the activity was a little faster, which made the other 2 women happy. So after an hr and a half of talking in Spanish with a bunch of high school kids, I was glad to pile back into the car and be done working for the day!
That was the first World AIDS Day activity I did. We also had planned more charlas for the next Monday but that fell through, so instead I met with the health promoters that work with that organization to plan the World AIDS Day activities. Meanwhile I was trying to round up the people from my organization to get them to participate in the parade – very chaotic to be in charge of getting people informed! I also made posters, interviewed labs and health clinics to get details on how much HIV testing cost/where it was available/etc., and made over 450 red ribbons to hand out with candy during the parade. So World AIDS Day came, and not only did we end up having enough people show up from my organization, but I also got a nurse I had met the week before to join our group in the parade. She and I ran around handing out ribbons and explaining to people that there was going to be free HIV testing in the park – if people in my town didn’t think I was crazy before they definitely do now! It’s okay though, I feel like at least we were trying to inform people. The reason I jumped into prepping for World AIDS Day so ambitiously is because when I was doing community assessments with the health providers I found out that (supposedly) 60% of the population in my town has HIV/AIDS. Now I know that receiving statistics from providers can be quite exaggerated (though I heard around 60% from all of the clinics), but even if this is an overestimate chances are that it’s at least close, which is way more people than I expected. The surveys I’ve done with families and youth also show that there is very little knowledge regarding how you get HIV or even what it is. Anyways I’ve decided that HIV/AIDS education is something I’m really interesting in doing in my town, so I will continue programming even now that World AIDS Day has passed.
As far as work goes, I also set up schedules with the promoters so they would know when they needed to come get me to go to work. Good in theory, not so much in practice. They still don’t remember and I find myself sending a lot of text reminders. It’s frustrating because I want to help them with their work but they are so flaky that it’s hard. And I can talk to the people at my office (who are the ones who requested a volunteer and want me to be doing stuff) and they can talk to the promoters but it doesn’t change anything. Some days it’s just easier mentally to do stuff at my house or go around to other organizations to do interviews than to constantly remind them that I’m supposed to be working with them. I know it sounds kinda dumb since I just have to send a text but 1. Having to text someone every day to remind them is 31 texts a month – not what I want to be wasting my texts/ money on! and 2. By the time I realize they aren’t coming and I have to send the text I'm then sitting at my house pissed off that I had to get up early and have sat around waiting for a couple hours. If I were in the states I could text 5 mins after the person was supposed to arrive but here I usually wait somewhere between 30 minutes and an hour because it’s not normal to be on time (but I have to be ready in case they ARE on time, otherwise I wouldn’t be able to argue my point). The schedule I made should have fixed this as I gave them a list of dates and everything, but apparently not. It really is such a little thing but it makes me feel like I’m a burden on them and that I’m not being productive, which just frustrates me. And really, I hate having to get up at 6:30 to leave at 7:30 when I’m sitting at my house until 9:30 – you all know how much I like to sleep! It’s not a deal-breaker, just something that annoys me about how my work is going right now.
On the other hand, I have kept myself busy doing more independent work and meeting with other organizations, and of course playing around in my new house I also still have the TV that the guy said he was coming to get several weeks ago, so whenever he actually get it I believe my productivity will increase drastically. I also try to spend time with my host family, mostly with the brothers. I went to their house to eat ceviche one day for lunch (since that’s not something I really wanna cook for myself – way too much work!), have watched a couple movies with the brothers, and have been spending LOTS of time with the brothers and their friends (aka the youth group I’m also supposed to be working with). It turns out that I really enjoy their company now that I have a choice whether/when I see the brothers’ friends. The youth group (which I’m going to refer to as the liceo from here on since it takes me awhile to remember “youth group”) has been doing some fundraising to provide Christmas gifts to some kids and have a party with them, so I’ve been helping them out (more like just standing there being the token gringa). They’ve sold chuzos (grilled sausages) a few times and I've just gone and hung out with them while they sold them. Other than the normal annoyances of hanging out with young Ecuadorian men (being asked out etc) they’ve been a lot of fun. I figure if I just ignore the propositions they’ll eventually go away. I don’t really have anything to worry about, they’re harmless and everyone knows I’m “protected” because of my host brothers – they just get annoying sometimes. But when we aren’t talking about me and my dating life, I enjoy getting to know them. It’s also nice just knowing people my age – if only there were more girls in the liceo! I did get invited to a birthday party of one of the guys. Yay for feeling like I have more friends! And all of this because I moved out of the host family’s house – sounds good. Tonight I am going to make mayonnaise for them to sell on the sausages. I don’t really know how but it was safer than letting the boys try to make it, and they think I’m a cooking genius, so hopefully I don’t screw this up! I know the lady last time made it from eggs, lime, oil, and soy milk. I feel like after this experience I won’t want mayo for awhile though, like Ang’s aversion to ranch dressing…
Other than the prospect of making mayo, I’ve been enjoying cooking for myself. I haven’t been making any meat dishes, just eating beans, veggies, fruit, milk, and eggs. Eventually I’ll start buying chicken to cook, but for now I’m happy with the beans and eggs for protein. My favorite new thing is CEREAL! I hadn’t had cereal since being in Ecuador until I moved into my own place, and now that’s pretty much when I want for breakfast every morning. Unfortunately it’s kinda expensive, and the cereal sold in my town is all super-sugary, but until I tire of it I've been eating a CocoPuffs knockoff with skim milk (another thing we never had in my host family’s house!) I also rarely cook with oil, eat mostly veggies, and make my juice without sugar. Overall I see this working out really well for me. The only big problem is that it’s hard to cook some things in small portions. Thankfully my host family is still open to my cooking and also now that I have a freezer I can freeze portions. A few nights ago I made a 5 bean soup (though I only know what 3 of the beans are, the others I just bought because they were in the store) and have been eating portions of that with variations – with cheese crumbles, spinach, peppers, spicy, soupy, etc. It’s basically a base that I just add whatever I feel like. I also made alfredo sauce the other day, which I shared with my host family (and they loved – thanks for sending that seasoning packed grandma!). I had a little leftover so I threw the rest into the bean base, and it made a really yummy mix. However it turns out my stomach can’t handle the bean stuff more than once a day as I found out the hard way, so I ended up freezing a bunch of it so it won’t spoil. I also bought spinach and lettuce (which are both ridiculously cheap!) and have eaten some salads (though it’s risky not cooking them, so I tend to steam them or put them in something to cook). I feel so excited about my freedom of diet, but at the same time I do miss some of the Ecuadorian foods that I can’t make/don’t know where to buy. For example, since I don’t have an oven I can’t make maduros con queso (roasted yellow plantain with cheese on the side), or tortillas (corn tortillas with cheese inside). I just need to get around to asking my family where they bought the tortillas though, since they usually just bought them instead of making them.
Speaking of food, that brings me to my next point – Christmas! I know that Christmas is going to be a really hard time for me, and I’ve been missing my family a lot in the time leading up to the holiday, but thankfully I've been getting packages and mail to make me feel better And I bought a couple special things to celebrate Christmas morning – gouda cheese and bacon! Both were quite expensive but I decided it would be my Christmas present to myself. I had decided to go to another town for Christmas Eve but I think I’ve changed my mind. My host family celebrates on Christmas Eve with a dinner and though they haven’t invited me since I told them I’m going out of town, I’m sure they would be happy if I joined them. Also the town I was going to go to is about 6.5 hours from here, and I just don’t think I want to be traveling so much for Christmas. Finally, I want to try to find a church to go to on the 24th or 25th, depending on when they have services here. I don’t usually go to church because they’re mostly all catholic and because I try to separate myself from religion (because everyone thinks I'm a missionary), but I feel like going to a Christmas service would really help. Some of the other volunteers are meeting up on Christmas closer to my town but I’m not sure yet if I’m going to go. My host brother also told me that there aren’t many buses and they are really really full right around Christmas (since people are travelling a lot). And if I decide to stay here on Christmas day, I’m going to have my own big breakfast like we always do at home (with pancakes and bacon and gouda cheese) and talk to my family back in the states on skype – this just sounds like a better idea than travelling around in a bus. I also got a couple packages from family in the states and while I couldn’t resist opening and starting the jigsaw puzzle my grandma sent me (thanks grandma!!) I’ve saved the package my mom sent me to open on Christmas morning! And I wasn’t sure if there were sweets in it so just in case I put it in the fridge so the ants couldn’t enjoy my present before me I’m so excited for opening my Christmas presents – all wrapped up in bubble wrap envelops! Cultural note: I asked my host brother what they do for Christmas and he said that on Christmas Eve they just spend time together and eat a dinner, then Christmas day they sometimes go to the city to spend time with other family members. He said they don’t do any gift exchange – just when they were younger and got toys. A lot of families go to church but he said they don’t. Mostly it just seems like they spend time with family, much like what happens in the states as well.
Another event that’s coming up is New Years. Again, I planned to go visit friends but I think I’m going to hang out here with my host brothers and their friends. One of the traditions they do here is people make big figurines called “viejos” (old things) and at midnight they burn them in the streets. They’re made of wood wrapped in paper and painted, and people make all sorts of things. I’ve seen robots, action figures, famous people, aliens, etc. but my host family has a tradition that they make something they want in the next year. For example, a few years ago they were finishing the house they live in, so they made a house for new years. This year I think they’re going to make a car because they want a new car – it’s supposed to be good luck. I plan to help them make the viejo when they get around to it, and have even thought about making one myself (after I see how it’s done we’ll see). Sometimes people also put firecrackers in the viejos so they make lots of noise and are more entertaining. I haven’t brought it up with the liceo yet (because I haven’t decided if I’m willing) but I’m thinking about offering to have a new year’s party here. Since I have a huge yard, we could just have it outside, and I have a perfect place to make a bonfire. I figure we could borrow a grill and make hot dogs and veggies/plantains and maybe even s’mores on the bonfire! I would probably make the house off-limits (the guys can use the bathroom outside so I’d only let the girls in to use the bathroom) and of course I’d lock up all my stuff (I can *probably* trust the youth but I don’t know them well enough yet to really trust them) but with my huge yard I think I could make it work. In reality it would probably just be my host brothers and a few of their close friends I’ve hung out with a lot, but still I think it could be fun. And of course it would be BYOB – I’m too poor The liceo was talking about wanting to have a party but they don’t know where, so I’ll probably talk to my host brothers to see what they think about the idea.
Another thing that’s coming up is that Ang is coming to visit in Jan! I’m so excited! I’ve been planning out what we’re going to do, and I think we’ll be in my site some and at the beach some and in the city some. I’m excited to get to travel around but I’m mostly excited that she’s coming and that I can show someone my life here. I can write and write but it’s so different to experience it and I’m glad I have the opportunity to share it with someone in person When I was working out at the gym today, looking out over my town (my gym’s on the 3rd floor with an open wall so I can see over most of the buildings in my town) I realized that in less than a month Ang would be here and get to experience my life, and how excited I am to get to show her how cool (though not in the traditional sense as it is generally up in the 90s) my town is and my life here. I also realized that’s what I have – I have a life here. It’s a different life than I had back in the states, and of course I miss my friends/family and life in the U.S. a lot, but this has become “normal” to me. Even though it’s limited because of my term as a volunteer, this place is my home for 2 years; this is my work, my life. It was a strange feeling and I can’t really explain it, but that’s the best I can do
Oh and a side note, we still are having power outages. For now they’re just for 4 hours every morning (thankfully not at night anymore). I am hoping that soon they’ll be over as the rainy season is slowly starting and the rivers will eventually have water. For now we just get a little rain some days/nights (an hour or so), but little by little it will pick up until we have rain most of the day/night. I don’t really know what it’s really like, but you all get to experience the anticipation with me as we approach the “rainy season” – something that didn’t really exist back in Kentucky!
Okay I think that’s about all I’ve done/am going to be doing, so I’m gonna sign off. But if I don’t get to talk to you all, have a good Christmas and I miss you all!!
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
December 6, 2009
I’m writing you from my new house! I moved out of the host family’s house and into my own house this past weekend. It’s very strange and new still, but I know I’ll get used to it soon! Even though sometimes it drove me insane, I am still used to being around the family and the loud presence of jovenes, so having my own place and quiet is a little strange. The landlord lent my his tv for a few days after I moved in because he didn’t feel like moving it so I had cable for a few days. So it was a slow adjustment because I at least had the noise of tv for awhile.
So about my house, it’s really nice. It’s really spacious for one person and has 2 ‘bedrooms’ but one is just empty now since I only need one room. The one that’s empty has a big metal door that’s like a garage door, so at some point I may use that for some purpose. I bought a fridge and a stove-top and my landlord surprised me and let me borrow a hammock, bed, and a gas tank, saving me from having to buy a lot of expensive stuff. I also borrowed a fan from a friend, so I essentially got out of having to buy much stuff! Also my host family gave me a small Christmas tree to use so I can decorate my house :) the house is very secure, and I have all of the keys to all of the doors, which makes me a little nervous that I’m going to lose them. I’m planning on giving 1 copy of the keys to my host family in case I do lock myself out, because the doors lock automatically when I leave. Right now I feel like a janitor because I have 10 keys on my key chain now – doubles of: lock on the gate to get to the house, front door, back door, lock on the water tank, keys to my bedroom (the other bedroom and the bathroom I don’t care around). Other than that the house is really great. It’s strange to have my own place but I'm excited to get to ‘nest’! I’m going to buy wood to make a table, and I made a makeshift closet by hanging a broom handle with cable from the metal supports of the room (which I was really proud of doing so innovatevly!”. However my host family is helping me a lot getting stuff settled in. Today the host dad came and put some nails in the walls for me (apparently just trying to hammer nails into a cement wall makes big cracks in the cement so its better to drill a hole then put the nail in) and said he’ll come back to install towel racks, other nail hangers, and even a real closet and shelf system in the kitchen when I’m ready. Oh and the windows now are just glass without screen, so I’ve been putting screen on the windows/openings to keep the mosquitos down a little (I did buy a fumigator spray today to kill the mosquitos sometimes when I just need a break). He seems pretty excited to be able to help and I’m welcoming the help. If I would have just nailed the nails in without asking him for a hammer I would have big cracks in my wall right now. I have lots of stuff to learn about Ecuadorian housing!
Well, it’s been awhile since I last updated. For one thing, we don’t have consistent power. There is a nationwide power shortage so the government has been doing scheduled power cuts twice a day. Here ours is out in the morning from 8am until 10 or 1030, then in the evening from 5 until 7 or 8. Every year the rivers run dry, which is where they generate most of their energy, so during the months before the rainy season starts there are always power cuts. Its annoying at times, but that is how it is here. One thing I think is pretty dumb though is that in the big city the street signals are connected to the same power source and they don’t have a backup generator to provide power during the cuts. They cut the power there during the mid afternoon, while people are out having lunch or driving home from work. So they have cops directing traffic at all of the intersections because the lights don’t work. It seems pretty inefficient, but I guess they cant prevent it.
Another issue that’s going on right now is that with the droughts there isn’t enough food in the fields for the cows so the cows are really skinny and not giving off very much milk. Therefore, the price of cheese made in the coastal region has doubled in the last month. Milk from the sierra is just as cheap because they have plenty of grass for the cows, but the milk is brought here pasteurized so people here cant make cheese from that milk. Apparently this isn’t a regular thing though – this year is the first time its happened.
A few weekends ago I went with my host family out to a farm in the campo (country). It’s the farm of my host dad’s family, but none of his family lives on the farm. They have a family that they pay to work the land and a house for visitors. So we went and stayed in the visitors house. My host parents, host sister, and about 15 relatives and I all climbed into a camioneta to get to the house, which is really far back on bad roads. It was a little scary getting to the farm but once we got there it was soo interesting! Near the farm we tried to cross over a small creek, but it turns out the small creek was a bit deeper and mushier than the driver realized. Sooo we got stuck. First the men got out and tried to push, then they put rocks underneath the tires to try to help. Tires still spinning we decided that everyone should unload, so we all climbed out to reduce the weight. Then after watching the men struggle without progress, the women decided to help. After a few tries I was the only woman still helping, while the others took pictures of the efforts. Finally we got the truck unstuck but I apparently was holding/pushing wrong because I didn’t have a good hold once it starting moving. I made a split-second decision to keep pushing even though I knew I wouldn’t make it out of the muck unscathed, which resulted in the truck getting out and me on my knees in the 8 inch deep mud. I tried to get up a couple times and failed, just falling back down (which my host mom got on video) until one of the guys came and helped me up. Everyone fussed over the fact that my pants and shoes were covered in goop, but I told them I’d rather just wait to deal with it til we got to the farm, so I just rinsed me hands off in water pool of the creek (with 3 of the men standing around just in case I needed help or fell into the creek). Everyone laughed at me for only bringing 1 pair of jeans until I pointed out it was only an overnight trip, at which point they still laughed because I was covered in mud. It was a dirty experience but at least it seemed to be my initiation into the extended family. It broke the ice between us and seemed to show them I’m out there to help and make an effort, that I’m no different from them just because I’m from the U.S. So anyway, after the creek extravaganza we headed on our way to the farm!
When we got there my host dad took me around the woods to show me the various fruit trees – including orange, coconut, plantain, plum, banana, lime, guanabana, and papaya trees. He knows how much I love coconuts so he used a long cane to knock the rest of the coconuts off the 75 ft tree which was a really interesting process. He started by putting the end of the cane near the tree then hoisted the cane up like a high jumper until he had it upright. Then he twisted and hit the coconut until it fell. It sounds really easy but my super-strong host dad had trouble controlling the cane so one of his nephews who looks like a line-backer came by and help him. I sat by and took pictures (I offered to help but both of us knew it wouldn’t be much help haha) So anyway, we collected various fruits and it was truly one of the most interesting experiences I’ve had here in Ecuador – an experience I couldn’t get in the U.S.! After going on our walk, we went back and had lunch. Afterward, we went down to the river to “bathe” which I translated as swim but actually meant bathe, as in soap, shampoo, etc. That was a real “I’m actually in the Peace Corps” experience, but it was actually pretty fun. The water was a huge relief from the heat and I learned to wash my body under my clothes which was pretty awkward. I spent a good amount of time in the water enjoying the freshness and company of the host family. Then we went up and had dinner. After dinner there is of course no power, so the sun went down and we sat around talking over candles. I didn’t last long though and went to bed pretty early. The next morning at 5am my host mom burst into my room and excitedly told me that the monkey was singing and I needed to get up to hear it. Even though I’d gone to bed early I wasn’t ready to get up yet, so I just laid there in the bed and listened for about 20 minutes until I fell back asleep. It was a very monkey-from-the-zoo singing, but really neat to be hearing. The monkey lives a little ways from the house we were staying in, so naturally the next day when I got up they told me we were going for a hike to find the monkey. I was pretty excited, not only to look for the monkey and see my first in the wild monkey (there is a little baby pet monkey chained to a sign on a roof in my town that I pass by sometimes, and he comes out and jumps around when I pass – so cool!) but to just check out more of the wilderness of the campo. So we prepared to head out, which involved putting jeans on and tucking them into my socks to keep the millions of little red ticks from getting inside my clothes. We walked and walked through the forest, and passed the monkey’s habitat area without a sighting (sad face). After a long hike we arrived at a small cane house and rested for a few minutes before heading down to the creek bed. There wasn’t much water as it’s the dry season, but I imagine it is gorgeous during the rainy season. There was a cascade of rocks and boulders followed by a short bed then a 50 ft dropoff that would make a beautiful waterfall. While they played around I spotted a really pretty and huge tree that I could easily climb and relax on. When they finally noticed me up there I was taking pictures of them, then one of the relatives came and took my camera to get pictures of me on the awesome tree. Eventually the host dad went down to the waterfall edge and climbed down so he could get a picture of all of us on the ledge from below. I can only imagine how cool the waterfall is during the rainy season! After awhile we headed back up to the little cane house and my host dad made a fire to smoke the ticks off our clothes and the termites of the cane house. Then we headed back on the long hike towards the house. After we got there I decided to go out into the forest and gather some oranges and limes for everyone to take back home. I picked enough to fill a big bucket then when I got back to the house my host family was leaving for another walk so I tagged along. This one involved crossing a stream on rocks in my tennis shoes then hiking through a very arid environment until we reached a really pretty riverbed. I decided not to swim because I was in my normal clothes and shoes, and walking back in wet clothes wouldn’t be fun, but the host family got in. After I’d had my fill of the scenery I decided to go back because I was feeling very dehydrated. When I reached the stream I saw a beautiful butterfly that I think was a monarch. I tried to get a picture but it flew away just before the picture took. This time crossing the stream in my tennis shoes on little rock steps didn’t work out and I ended up with a very wet right foot. But it was ok because when I got back I just laid the shoes out to dry and went to bathe in the river again. This time everyone came and went from the river and I stayed longer, and ended up getting to bathe without clothes, which was much neater than with clothes on under the hot sun :) It was such a relaxing and natural feeling bathing in this fresh and clean stream – amazing! I rejoined the family at the house for lunch after awhile then we prepared to leave. Of course the camioneta was running on Ecua-time so it was a couple hours late, but I passed this time playing with the little boy that lived on the farm. He was so cute and different from the kids in my town because they are very isolated living on the farm. Initially he was really afraid of my differentness and shy, just watching me from a few feet away. But after awhile I finally got him talking and we made drawing with the corn kernels and played some hide and seek games. I went back upstairs into the house for awhile because I needed a little break from entertaining him and when I got back he had collected a bunch more corn kernels to play with – it was soo cute! Finally as the camioneta arrived I was trying to pull a splinter out of his foot, which ended up being pretty unsuccessful unfortunately, but he was so cute pretending it didn’t hurt yet flinching when I touched it with the tweezers. When we drove away he was sitting on the ground watching us leave, waving, with a puzzling look on his face. It was a very cool experience, and probably the closest thing I will have to interacting with the indigenous people here in the coast region. After a long but pretty trip back in the camioneta, we arrived at the car just as the sun had set and headed back to my town.
One thing I feel a little guilty, but that’s not really the right word - maybe self-conscious, about is that no matter how hard I try to be just another person here I am always treated as if I'm above everyone on the pecking order. For example, normally the father would be served food first in a traditional Ecuadorian family, but with me I am always served first, whether I’m in my host families house or in a guest’s house. I also am always given my own bed when we’ve been on vacations even though usually 2-3 people are sharing beds (which I am secretly grateful for because I've never liked sharing a bed with another person). It’s just strange to receive special treatment all the time. I don’t know if it’s because of my skin color/nationality or because of respect for my decision to move to Ecuador and work and live with the people here, but I tell myself it’s the latter to help me feel better. It is very strange to move from being a majority as a white woman to be in the states to being a “rich and powerful” minority here, receiving respect and privileges just for things I cannot change, how I was born to be. I sympathize with the white men in peace corps, who receive more special treatment than white women because they are basically at the top of the social order in Ecuador. Nonetheless, I am sometimes grateful for the special treatment when it keeps me from having to deal with things I’m uncomfortable with even though normally it just annoys me. And there’s your reflection for this post :)
Another random note, my host mother from the sierra called me the other day. When I picked up my phone and saw it was here I was really confused and wondered if I had put someone else’s number on her name because I couldn’t imagine her calling me. Then I had a little panicky feeling and wondered if something bad had happened to someone in the family. I answered it and kept waiting for some sort of news – good or bad. But news never came, she just asked how things were going and what I was doing, then when I was coming to visit, and abruptly said goodbye and hung up. I used to think about them all the time, but to be honest I hadn’t thought about them in awhile since I've gotten used to being here, but now the longing to see them is back again. I feel such a desire to see them, especially the kids, and the feelings of missing them are back stronger than ever. They were the first Ecuadorians I really got to know and I feel like they are a huge part of my experience in Peace Corps. So many days spent with them, and though the number of days isn’t that many relative to my life, they make up a huge part of my transition process. I’m also a little surprised that they were thinking about me enough to call, especially when I know they don’t have a lot of money and every call costs. But anyway, I told her the next time I was in Quito I was planning to visit and that I miss them a lot, and I hope I conveyed that I really do miss them. I am really hoping for a reason that I have to go to Quito so I can go see them, even though I said I wouldn’t be back until August probably.
Ok I’m gonna sign off but I plan to do another update soon including:
- World AIDS Day activities
- Work update
- More details about MY NEW HOUSE! :)
Check out these pics on facebook with work stuff and my new house!
Work pics:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2042449&id=46900557&l=bdf6e800e4
My first house (who would've thought it would be in Ecuador!) http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2042592&id=46900557&l=c3158e48ca
I’m writing you from my new house! I moved out of the host family’s house and into my own house this past weekend. It’s very strange and new still, but I know I’ll get used to it soon! Even though sometimes it drove me insane, I am still used to being around the family and the loud presence of jovenes, so having my own place and quiet is a little strange. The landlord lent my his tv for a few days after I moved in because he didn’t feel like moving it so I had cable for a few days. So it was a slow adjustment because I at least had the noise of tv for awhile.
So about my house, it’s really nice. It’s really spacious for one person and has 2 ‘bedrooms’ but one is just empty now since I only need one room. The one that’s empty has a big metal door that’s like a garage door, so at some point I may use that for some purpose. I bought a fridge and a stove-top and my landlord surprised me and let me borrow a hammock, bed, and a gas tank, saving me from having to buy a lot of expensive stuff. I also borrowed a fan from a friend, so I essentially got out of having to buy much stuff! Also my host family gave me a small Christmas tree to use so I can decorate my house :) the house is very secure, and I have all of the keys to all of the doors, which makes me a little nervous that I’m going to lose them. I’m planning on giving 1 copy of the keys to my host family in case I do lock myself out, because the doors lock automatically when I leave. Right now I feel like a janitor because I have 10 keys on my key chain now – doubles of: lock on the gate to get to the house, front door, back door, lock on the water tank, keys to my bedroom (the other bedroom and the bathroom I don’t care around). Other than that the house is really great. It’s strange to have my own place but I'm excited to get to ‘nest’! I’m going to buy wood to make a table, and I made a makeshift closet by hanging a broom handle with cable from the metal supports of the room (which I was really proud of doing so innovatevly!”. However my host family is helping me a lot getting stuff settled in. Today the host dad came and put some nails in the walls for me (apparently just trying to hammer nails into a cement wall makes big cracks in the cement so its better to drill a hole then put the nail in) and said he’ll come back to install towel racks, other nail hangers, and even a real closet and shelf system in the kitchen when I’m ready. Oh and the windows now are just glass without screen, so I’ve been putting screen on the windows/openings to keep the mosquitos down a little (I did buy a fumigator spray today to kill the mosquitos sometimes when I just need a break). He seems pretty excited to be able to help and I’m welcoming the help. If I would have just nailed the nails in without asking him for a hammer I would have big cracks in my wall right now. I have lots of stuff to learn about Ecuadorian housing!
Well, it’s been awhile since I last updated. For one thing, we don’t have consistent power. There is a nationwide power shortage so the government has been doing scheduled power cuts twice a day. Here ours is out in the morning from 8am until 10 or 1030, then in the evening from 5 until 7 or 8. Every year the rivers run dry, which is where they generate most of their energy, so during the months before the rainy season starts there are always power cuts. Its annoying at times, but that is how it is here. One thing I think is pretty dumb though is that in the big city the street signals are connected to the same power source and they don’t have a backup generator to provide power during the cuts. They cut the power there during the mid afternoon, while people are out having lunch or driving home from work. So they have cops directing traffic at all of the intersections because the lights don’t work. It seems pretty inefficient, but I guess they cant prevent it.
Another issue that’s going on right now is that with the droughts there isn’t enough food in the fields for the cows so the cows are really skinny and not giving off very much milk. Therefore, the price of cheese made in the coastal region has doubled in the last month. Milk from the sierra is just as cheap because they have plenty of grass for the cows, but the milk is brought here pasteurized so people here cant make cheese from that milk. Apparently this isn’t a regular thing though – this year is the first time its happened.
A few weekends ago I went with my host family out to a farm in the campo (country). It’s the farm of my host dad’s family, but none of his family lives on the farm. They have a family that they pay to work the land and a house for visitors. So we went and stayed in the visitors house. My host parents, host sister, and about 15 relatives and I all climbed into a camioneta to get to the house, which is really far back on bad roads. It was a little scary getting to the farm but once we got there it was soo interesting! Near the farm we tried to cross over a small creek, but it turns out the small creek was a bit deeper and mushier than the driver realized. Sooo we got stuck. First the men got out and tried to push, then they put rocks underneath the tires to try to help. Tires still spinning we decided that everyone should unload, so we all climbed out to reduce the weight. Then after watching the men struggle without progress, the women decided to help. After a few tries I was the only woman still helping, while the others took pictures of the efforts. Finally we got the truck unstuck but I apparently was holding/pushing wrong because I didn’t have a good hold once it starting moving. I made a split-second decision to keep pushing even though I knew I wouldn’t make it out of the muck unscathed, which resulted in the truck getting out and me on my knees in the 8 inch deep mud. I tried to get up a couple times and failed, just falling back down (which my host mom got on video) until one of the guys came and helped me up. Everyone fussed over the fact that my pants and shoes were covered in goop, but I told them I’d rather just wait to deal with it til we got to the farm, so I just rinsed me hands off in water pool of the creek (with 3 of the men standing around just in case I needed help or fell into the creek). Everyone laughed at me for only bringing 1 pair of jeans until I pointed out it was only an overnight trip, at which point they still laughed because I was covered in mud. It was a dirty experience but at least it seemed to be my initiation into the extended family. It broke the ice between us and seemed to show them I’m out there to help and make an effort, that I’m no different from them just because I’m from the U.S. So anyway, after the creek extravaganza we headed on our way to the farm!
When we got there my host dad took me around the woods to show me the various fruit trees – including orange, coconut, plantain, plum, banana, lime, guanabana, and papaya trees. He knows how much I love coconuts so he used a long cane to knock the rest of the coconuts off the 75 ft tree which was a really interesting process. He started by putting the end of the cane near the tree then hoisted the cane up like a high jumper until he had it upright. Then he twisted and hit the coconut until it fell. It sounds really easy but my super-strong host dad had trouble controlling the cane so one of his nephews who looks like a line-backer came by and help him. I sat by and took pictures (I offered to help but both of us knew it wouldn’t be much help haha) So anyway, we collected various fruits and it was truly one of the most interesting experiences I’ve had here in Ecuador – an experience I couldn’t get in the U.S.! After going on our walk, we went back and had lunch. Afterward, we went down to the river to “bathe” which I translated as swim but actually meant bathe, as in soap, shampoo, etc. That was a real “I’m actually in the Peace Corps” experience, but it was actually pretty fun. The water was a huge relief from the heat and I learned to wash my body under my clothes which was pretty awkward. I spent a good amount of time in the water enjoying the freshness and company of the host family. Then we went up and had dinner. After dinner there is of course no power, so the sun went down and we sat around talking over candles. I didn’t last long though and went to bed pretty early. The next morning at 5am my host mom burst into my room and excitedly told me that the monkey was singing and I needed to get up to hear it. Even though I’d gone to bed early I wasn’t ready to get up yet, so I just laid there in the bed and listened for about 20 minutes until I fell back asleep. It was a very monkey-from-the-zoo singing, but really neat to be hearing. The monkey lives a little ways from the house we were staying in, so naturally the next day when I got up they told me we were going for a hike to find the monkey. I was pretty excited, not only to look for the monkey and see my first in the wild monkey (there is a little baby pet monkey chained to a sign on a roof in my town that I pass by sometimes, and he comes out and jumps around when I pass – so cool!) but to just check out more of the wilderness of the campo. So we prepared to head out, which involved putting jeans on and tucking them into my socks to keep the millions of little red ticks from getting inside my clothes. We walked and walked through the forest, and passed the monkey’s habitat area without a sighting (sad face). After a long hike we arrived at a small cane house and rested for a few minutes before heading down to the creek bed. There wasn’t much water as it’s the dry season, but I imagine it is gorgeous during the rainy season. There was a cascade of rocks and boulders followed by a short bed then a 50 ft dropoff that would make a beautiful waterfall. While they played around I spotted a really pretty and huge tree that I could easily climb and relax on. When they finally noticed me up there I was taking pictures of them, then one of the relatives came and took my camera to get pictures of me on the awesome tree. Eventually the host dad went down to the waterfall edge and climbed down so he could get a picture of all of us on the ledge from below. I can only imagine how cool the waterfall is during the rainy season! After awhile we headed back up to the little cane house and my host dad made a fire to smoke the ticks off our clothes and the termites of the cane house. Then we headed back on the long hike towards the house. After we got there I decided to go out into the forest and gather some oranges and limes for everyone to take back home. I picked enough to fill a big bucket then when I got back to the house my host family was leaving for another walk so I tagged along. This one involved crossing a stream on rocks in my tennis shoes then hiking through a very arid environment until we reached a really pretty riverbed. I decided not to swim because I was in my normal clothes and shoes, and walking back in wet clothes wouldn’t be fun, but the host family got in. After I’d had my fill of the scenery I decided to go back because I was feeling very dehydrated. When I reached the stream I saw a beautiful butterfly that I think was a monarch. I tried to get a picture but it flew away just before the picture took. This time crossing the stream in my tennis shoes on little rock steps didn’t work out and I ended up with a very wet right foot. But it was ok because when I got back I just laid the shoes out to dry and went to bathe in the river again. This time everyone came and went from the river and I stayed longer, and ended up getting to bathe without clothes, which was much neater than with clothes on under the hot sun :) It was such a relaxing and natural feeling bathing in this fresh and clean stream – amazing! I rejoined the family at the house for lunch after awhile then we prepared to leave. Of course the camioneta was running on Ecua-time so it was a couple hours late, but I passed this time playing with the little boy that lived on the farm. He was so cute and different from the kids in my town because they are very isolated living on the farm. Initially he was really afraid of my differentness and shy, just watching me from a few feet away. But after awhile I finally got him talking and we made drawing with the corn kernels and played some hide and seek games. I went back upstairs into the house for awhile because I needed a little break from entertaining him and when I got back he had collected a bunch more corn kernels to play with – it was soo cute! Finally as the camioneta arrived I was trying to pull a splinter out of his foot, which ended up being pretty unsuccessful unfortunately, but he was so cute pretending it didn’t hurt yet flinching when I touched it with the tweezers. When we drove away he was sitting on the ground watching us leave, waving, with a puzzling look on his face. It was a very cool experience, and probably the closest thing I will have to interacting with the indigenous people here in the coast region. After a long but pretty trip back in the camioneta, we arrived at the car just as the sun had set and headed back to my town.
One thing I feel a little guilty, but that’s not really the right word - maybe self-conscious, about is that no matter how hard I try to be just another person here I am always treated as if I'm above everyone on the pecking order. For example, normally the father would be served food first in a traditional Ecuadorian family, but with me I am always served first, whether I’m in my host families house or in a guest’s house. I also am always given my own bed when we’ve been on vacations even though usually 2-3 people are sharing beds (which I am secretly grateful for because I've never liked sharing a bed with another person). It’s just strange to receive special treatment all the time. I don’t know if it’s because of my skin color/nationality or because of respect for my decision to move to Ecuador and work and live with the people here, but I tell myself it’s the latter to help me feel better. It is very strange to move from being a majority as a white woman to be in the states to being a “rich and powerful” minority here, receiving respect and privileges just for things I cannot change, how I was born to be. I sympathize with the white men in peace corps, who receive more special treatment than white women because they are basically at the top of the social order in Ecuador. Nonetheless, I am sometimes grateful for the special treatment when it keeps me from having to deal with things I’m uncomfortable with even though normally it just annoys me. And there’s your reflection for this post :)
Another random note, my host mother from the sierra called me the other day. When I picked up my phone and saw it was here I was really confused and wondered if I had put someone else’s number on her name because I couldn’t imagine her calling me. Then I had a little panicky feeling and wondered if something bad had happened to someone in the family. I answered it and kept waiting for some sort of news – good or bad. But news never came, she just asked how things were going and what I was doing, then when I was coming to visit, and abruptly said goodbye and hung up. I used to think about them all the time, but to be honest I hadn’t thought about them in awhile since I've gotten used to being here, but now the longing to see them is back again. I feel such a desire to see them, especially the kids, and the feelings of missing them are back stronger than ever. They were the first Ecuadorians I really got to know and I feel like they are a huge part of my experience in Peace Corps. So many days spent with them, and though the number of days isn’t that many relative to my life, they make up a huge part of my transition process. I’m also a little surprised that they were thinking about me enough to call, especially when I know they don’t have a lot of money and every call costs. But anyway, I told her the next time I was in Quito I was planning to visit and that I miss them a lot, and I hope I conveyed that I really do miss them. I am really hoping for a reason that I have to go to Quito so I can go see them, even though I said I wouldn’t be back until August probably.
Ok I’m gonna sign off but I plan to do another update soon including:
- World AIDS Day activities
- Work update
- More details about MY NEW HOUSE! :)
Check out these pics on facebook with work stuff and my new house!
Work pics:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2042449&id=46900557&l=bdf6e800e4
My first house (who would've thought it would be in Ecuador!) http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2042592&id=46900557&l=c3158e48ca
Friday, November 6, 2009
6 de Noviembre 2009
So I'm hanging out bored playing online jigsaw puzzles (yup got back into that old habit again!) and figured I might as well update all of you. 3 updates in 2 days - good luck trying to keep up :)
So I was in my first earthquake last week. Before you get too excited, it wasn’t a big deal – just a small shake. I was sitting at the kitchen table working on my computer and the family was scattered throughout the house. My chair shook and I looked around the chair to pet the dog, thinking he was hitting the chair leg for attention but he wasn’t anywhere near. I looked pretty loco looking down and around the chair. I was confused for a minute then just ignored it and went back to the work. A few minutes later my host brother burst out of his room and my mom came out and they started talking about the “earthquake”. They looked at me and asked if I felt it and I explained yes but I thought the dog had pulled a sneak attack which they thought was funny. Anyway, it was barely noticeable and people standing didn’t feel it, so it wasn’t a big deal but in addition to the 3 major earthquakes they’ve had in eastern Ecuador, it’s a healthy reminder that it is possible here. Since I don’t have any experience with earthquakes I read over safety tips and stuff so if we get a bigger one I’ll be prepared. It’s weird having the ground moving like that though!
So for Halloween a group of us met up in the big city, dressed up, and went out to a discoteca. I dressed up as a vampire, pretty easy but as it turns out wearing a sweater in a totally packed club wasn’t my best decision! But at least everyone was totally sweating from dancing and the heat. It was a lot of fun though. It had a cover then free drinks after that, but of course the drinks were bottom shelf stuff. Being my first time out in Guayaquil I was a little nervous so I just had a couple beers and called it a night. Super packed, but I think the club would be more fun on a normal night, so I bet we’ll be heading back there sometime. It was also nice to get to hang out with other volunteers that aren’t in my training class in addition to our normal crew. With so many of us near the big city we tend to hang out with each other a lot since we know each other already. Even though in the states I don’t really do much on Halloween, it was nice getting to do something here – the American holidays can be lonely and suddenly are much more important here. The Ecuadorians also celebrated Halloween to an extent. Children dress up in costume all day, just going about their normal business – go to the store, walk around town dressed in costume. Then in the evening the teens and young adults go to clubs or parties dressed in costume. To me it seemed more that they are embracing the American holiday as a way to have a party – totally legit though! This assumption is based on the fact that my host brother asked me why we celebrate Halloween and said here they celebrate because we do in the states. It also may be related to the Ecuadorian holiday November 1. This is the “Dia de los Santos” and it’s a huge holiday here. The families all gather and go to the cemetery to celebrate their loved ones. There are also different foods and food venders chill out by the cemetery selling food and drinks. The youth often head to the beach to celebrate because the entire country is off work for Monday and Tuesday, and the schools take the whole week for vacations. It is pretty interesting
A really gross (and very Peace Corps-like) story… I was in a hurry to get somewhere so I unpacked my backpack onto my bed very quickly. I had pens and pencils and erasers and that kinda stuff in it, so I was just grabbing by the handful and putting on the bed. Well I put a handful on the bed then as I was scooping another I saw something moving in the previous pile. I moved the piece of paper off and it was a huge cockroach, like 4 inches long. He was upside down so he couldn’t move or anything, so I had a minute to freak out! I jumped up and down and shook my hands and made this high pitched squeaking noise with the little air I could manage to breathe (I didn’t want to alarm my host brother into thinking there was something terrible happening). After a few minutes of that followed by a stream of curse words I realized I had 2 options. Deal with it myself or get my host brother, who would make fun of me for the rest of my time here in Ecuador. I started to get him then realized will be living in my own place soon and I might as well start dealing with this stuff now. So I double bagged a couple grocery bags, picked it up like you pick up dog poop, tied it, put it on the ground, and proceeded to rain-dance on it until I was sure it was sufficiently dead (about 5 minutes later). I carefully picked up the bag and put it out in the trash. Then I grabbed my soap and washed my hands for several minutes, scrubbing every part that may have touched the nasty thing. After this ordeal I dumped the backpack contents and went for a walk to clear my memory a little. Thinking about this later, I realize how lucky I have been with my Peace Corps experience as far as gross bugs and such!
Well we are officially 2 weeks short of our “3 months in site” date! And as such, I have my official site visit coming up soon, where one my manager people comes to my site to see how things are going. I’m stressing about this a little because my work is still very… slow and complicated. Hopefully she can help me work things out a little bit though. Also I have to have apartments ready to be approved. The apartment search has been incredibly difficult but I finally got a lucky break yesterday. A friend of my family showed me an apartment on the main street, which was nice but waaay out of the Peace Corps price range, so I explained that to him and he was like “well me and my family are living in a house near your current house” (and a bunch of stuff I didn’t understand) which didn’t make sense to me because I wasn’t interested in living with another family. But I followed him to the house where there were like 3 women and a couple kids and he started showing it to me. Not sure exactly how to broach the subject I said “it’s nice, but don’t they live here…?” at which point I realized what I hadn’t understand previously, that they are just living there temporarily to fix it up. So everyone had a good laugh as the lightbulb clicked in my head for everyone to see. It’s really great though, so I’m hoping it works out. I’ll know in 2 weeks if it gets approved, and if it does I’ll give more details then. I’m still looking for more places but I really love that house so cross your fingers for me!!
So one of the things I’ve been cooking for my family since I got here is spaghetti, because they love it. However, last weekend when I was out of town my host mom decided to cook it herself. It was both a relief and saddening for me. Relief because now if they want spaghetti they can cook it. Sad because that was kinda my “thing”, my way of contributing, and now I’m not really needed anymore. She made it for lunch again today so I pushed down the bad feelings and told her how good it was. It was really good, lacked a few things so I gave her some pointers, but I think she was relieved I liked it. It’s a very strange thing though – I make them spaghetti when they want it because they seem to like it so much, but she wants to make it for me/thinks I want to make it because I like it so much. I do love having a change from the normal foods here but I’ve never had so much Italian, we have spaghetti/lasagna almost every week! Definitely helps keep my American-food cravings down though! I haven’t taught them to make hamburgers yet though, so I still have one secret! Also I think I’m going to make them chili cheese dogs soon. I have some gold star seasoning, so just need to buy the meat, hot dogs, buns, and cheddar cheese! I’m definitely ready to break open those seasoning packets :)
As far as adjustment to the new life here goes, it’s very complicated. Sometimes everything is great, and other times I feel like a hormonal pregnant mood-swinging teenage bitch (sorry to the family, no other word really conveys what I’m trying to say). This is totally common with volunteers, and just with adjusting to living in a new country in general (or at least that’s what I‘m telling myself…), but it is so frustrating sometimes. For example, I am craving dill pickles, and of course I have not found any here in Ecuador (…adding pickle seasoning to the list of things I want Ang to bring when she visits… haha). I also worry that my host family doesn’t understand the emotional reactions I have, but for the most part I do a good job concealing this from them – they just think I'm tired or busy from what they say. I’m not proud of my emotional responses and do everything I can to just get out of the situation and take a walk but I will be happy when this part of the adjustment process is over! I think it will be better when I actually have my own place too so I can have “peace and quiet” on a regular basis. This experience just reinforces my knowledge that I’m not good at living with people! I’m also going to be very sad to leave my host family though. I wish I were able to live with people better because they are totally awesome. At least I will be living super close if I get one of the 2 places I’ve picked out to move to. And hopefully we can keep a really great relationship so I get to spend a lot of time with them – I just need my own place to retreat to when I need it!
Also, I have found my current second home – the gym in my town. It has soo much character I LOVE it! Okay try to visualize: it’s painted seafoam green and hot pink, has mirrors on the walls like an old dance studio, and one wall is completely open (it’s on the 3rd floor). The open wall is great for providing a cross breeze but also provides a nice home for dozens of birds, so there is bird poop all over the place. Every time I enter the gym birds squawk and take off out into the street. Okay now for the equipment: pretty much all of the equipment is circa 1980 but mostly in functioning shape. For cardio items there are 2 elliptical (my personal favorite), 2 bikes (funky positioning so they’re uncomfortable to ride), a stair machine (made out of hydraulic pumps), and a treadmill (that doesn’t have a motor, you just push it to run on it) – none of which are electrical, they’re all mechanical (for you old fogies I realize that natural progression was from mechanical to electrical but it’s weird for me because I’ve never really used machines like these). As far as weight machines, there’s several newer looking weight machines (the chin up/bench press one is my favorite) and a TON of free-weights. They also have a TV with workout videos (nope, won’t be doing that in the presence of testosterone-fueled men) and a stereo with music (there’s one workout CD I totally LOVE – it starts with Eye of the Tiger, which is basically the best workout song ever!, progresses through some good 70s disco music, Michael Jackson, and ends with reggaetone. I really might slyly steal this CD to make a copy). Besides the fact that everything’s covered with poop from the birds, it’s way nicer than I thought it would be and the best part its only 50 cents for an hour. Also, it’s never very crowded (though I haven’t been on weekends yet), and the guy that owns it is a doc who has a practice on the 1st floor. It’s also a block from my house and really safe – what more could I ask for! I’m gonna go every other day with a 2 day break once a week (or that’s my goal at least). The cool part is that since I’m paying for an hr I pretty much have to stay for an hr so I’m getting some great workouts in. But the absolute best part is that I don’t have to run by vicious dogs and cat-calling men anymore – no one can even look in since it’s the 3rd floor! Maybe I do have a chance to get in shape here :) And I'll be getting a photo up ASAP of my sweet gym, it's too cool to do justice describing without pictures
Ok finally, if you’re out of Christmas gift ideas and want to help support our work here in Ecuador, check out these calendars. The photos were taken by current volunteers here in Ecuador and compiled by our Volunteer Advisory Committee. All proceeds go to support small project grants and volunteer activities (which we need money for!) and the photos are really amazing. They’re $10 each or 5 for $40, which includes shipping to anywhere in the U.S. (allow 2-8 wks for delivery apparently, so you better order ASAP for Christmas!). Please consider buying these for those relatives, coworkers, or friends whom you don’t know what else to get for Christmas! Check out the website for a preview and to order them – I know I’m going to!
http://www.friendsofecuador.org/index.php?tg=articles&topics=8
Current English song stuck in my playlist: “High Road” by Fort Minor
Current Spanish song stuck in my playlist: “Llamada de Emergencia” by Daddy Yankee
So I'm hanging out bored playing online jigsaw puzzles (yup got back into that old habit again!) and figured I might as well update all of you. 3 updates in 2 days - good luck trying to keep up :)
So I was in my first earthquake last week. Before you get too excited, it wasn’t a big deal – just a small shake. I was sitting at the kitchen table working on my computer and the family was scattered throughout the house. My chair shook and I looked around the chair to pet the dog, thinking he was hitting the chair leg for attention but he wasn’t anywhere near. I looked pretty loco looking down and around the chair. I was confused for a minute then just ignored it and went back to the work. A few minutes later my host brother burst out of his room and my mom came out and they started talking about the “earthquake”. They looked at me and asked if I felt it and I explained yes but I thought the dog had pulled a sneak attack which they thought was funny. Anyway, it was barely noticeable and people standing didn’t feel it, so it wasn’t a big deal but in addition to the 3 major earthquakes they’ve had in eastern Ecuador, it’s a healthy reminder that it is possible here. Since I don’t have any experience with earthquakes I read over safety tips and stuff so if we get a bigger one I’ll be prepared. It’s weird having the ground moving like that though!
So for Halloween a group of us met up in the big city, dressed up, and went out to a discoteca. I dressed up as a vampire, pretty easy but as it turns out wearing a sweater in a totally packed club wasn’t my best decision! But at least everyone was totally sweating from dancing and the heat. It was a lot of fun though. It had a cover then free drinks after that, but of course the drinks were bottom shelf stuff. Being my first time out in Guayaquil I was a little nervous so I just had a couple beers and called it a night. Super packed, but I think the club would be more fun on a normal night, so I bet we’ll be heading back there sometime. It was also nice to get to hang out with other volunteers that aren’t in my training class in addition to our normal crew. With so many of us near the big city we tend to hang out with each other a lot since we know each other already. Even though in the states I don’t really do much on Halloween, it was nice getting to do something here – the American holidays can be lonely and suddenly are much more important here. The Ecuadorians also celebrated Halloween to an extent. Children dress up in costume all day, just going about their normal business – go to the store, walk around town dressed in costume. Then in the evening the teens and young adults go to clubs or parties dressed in costume. To me it seemed more that they are embracing the American holiday as a way to have a party – totally legit though! This assumption is based on the fact that my host brother asked me why we celebrate Halloween and said here they celebrate because we do in the states. It also may be related to the Ecuadorian holiday November 1. This is the “Dia de los Santos” and it’s a huge holiday here. The families all gather and go to the cemetery to celebrate their loved ones. There are also different foods and food venders chill out by the cemetery selling food and drinks. The youth often head to the beach to celebrate because the entire country is off work for Monday and Tuesday, and the schools take the whole week for vacations. It is pretty interesting
A really gross (and very Peace Corps-like) story… I was in a hurry to get somewhere so I unpacked my backpack onto my bed very quickly. I had pens and pencils and erasers and that kinda stuff in it, so I was just grabbing by the handful and putting on the bed. Well I put a handful on the bed then as I was scooping another I saw something moving in the previous pile. I moved the piece of paper off and it was a huge cockroach, like 4 inches long. He was upside down so he couldn’t move or anything, so I had a minute to freak out! I jumped up and down and shook my hands and made this high pitched squeaking noise with the little air I could manage to breathe (I didn’t want to alarm my host brother into thinking there was something terrible happening). After a few minutes of that followed by a stream of curse words I realized I had 2 options. Deal with it myself or get my host brother, who would make fun of me for the rest of my time here in Ecuador. I started to get him then realized will be living in my own place soon and I might as well start dealing with this stuff now. So I double bagged a couple grocery bags, picked it up like you pick up dog poop, tied it, put it on the ground, and proceeded to rain-dance on it until I was sure it was sufficiently dead (about 5 minutes later). I carefully picked up the bag and put it out in the trash. Then I grabbed my soap and washed my hands for several minutes, scrubbing every part that may have touched the nasty thing. After this ordeal I dumped the backpack contents and went for a walk to clear my memory a little. Thinking about this later, I realize how lucky I have been with my Peace Corps experience as far as gross bugs and such!
Well we are officially 2 weeks short of our “3 months in site” date! And as such, I have my official site visit coming up soon, where one my manager people comes to my site to see how things are going. I’m stressing about this a little because my work is still very… slow and complicated. Hopefully she can help me work things out a little bit though. Also I have to have apartments ready to be approved. The apartment search has been incredibly difficult but I finally got a lucky break yesterday. A friend of my family showed me an apartment on the main street, which was nice but waaay out of the Peace Corps price range, so I explained that to him and he was like “well me and my family are living in a house near your current house” (and a bunch of stuff I didn’t understand) which didn’t make sense to me because I wasn’t interested in living with another family. But I followed him to the house where there were like 3 women and a couple kids and he started showing it to me. Not sure exactly how to broach the subject I said “it’s nice, but don’t they live here…?” at which point I realized what I hadn’t understand previously, that they are just living there temporarily to fix it up. So everyone had a good laugh as the lightbulb clicked in my head for everyone to see. It’s really great though, so I’m hoping it works out. I’ll know in 2 weeks if it gets approved, and if it does I’ll give more details then. I’m still looking for more places but I really love that house so cross your fingers for me!!
So one of the things I’ve been cooking for my family since I got here is spaghetti, because they love it. However, last weekend when I was out of town my host mom decided to cook it herself. It was both a relief and saddening for me. Relief because now if they want spaghetti they can cook it. Sad because that was kinda my “thing”, my way of contributing, and now I’m not really needed anymore. She made it for lunch again today so I pushed down the bad feelings and told her how good it was. It was really good, lacked a few things so I gave her some pointers, but I think she was relieved I liked it. It’s a very strange thing though – I make them spaghetti when they want it because they seem to like it so much, but she wants to make it for me/thinks I want to make it because I like it so much. I do love having a change from the normal foods here but I’ve never had so much Italian, we have spaghetti/lasagna almost every week! Definitely helps keep my American-food cravings down though! I haven’t taught them to make hamburgers yet though, so I still have one secret! Also I think I’m going to make them chili cheese dogs soon. I have some gold star seasoning, so just need to buy the meat, hot dogs, buns, and cheddar cheese! I’m definitely ready to break open those seasoning packets :)
As far as adjustment to the new life here goes, it’s very complicated. Sometimes everything is great, and other times I feel like a hormonal pregnant mood-swinging teenage bitch (sorry to the family, no other word really conveys what I’m trying to say). This is totally common with volunteers, and just with adjusting to living in a new country in general (or at least that’s what I‘m telling myself…), but it is so frustrating sometimes. For example, I am craving dill pickles, and of course I have not found any here in Ecuador (…adding pickle seasoning to the list of things I want Ang to bring when she visits… haha). I also worry that my host family doesn’t understand the emotional reactions I have, but for the most part I do a good job concealing this from them – they just think I'm tired or busy from what they say. I’m not proud of my emotional responses and do everything I can to just get out of the situation and take a walk but I will be happy when this part of the adjustment process is over! I think it will be better when I actually have my own place too so I can have “peace and quiet” on a regular basis. This experience just reinforces my knowledge that I’m not good at living with people! I’m also going to be very sad to leave my host family though. I wish I were able to live with people better because they are totally awesome. At least I will be living super close if I get one of the 2 places I’ve picked out to move to. And hopefully we can keep a really great relationship so I get to spend a lot of time with them – I just need my own place to retreat to when I need it!
Also, I have found my current second home – the gym in my town. It has soo much character I LOVE it! Okay try to visualize: it’s painted seafoam green and hot pink, has mirrors on the walls like an old dance studio, and one wall is completely open (it’s on the 3rd floor). The open wall is great for providing a cross breeze but also provides a nice home for dozens of birds, so there is bird poop all over the place. Every time I enter the gym birds squawk and take off out into the street. Okay now for the equipment: pretty much all of the equipment is circa 1980 but mostly in functioning shape. For cardio items there are 2 elliptical (my personal favorite), 2 bikes (funky positioning so they’re uncomfortable to ride), a stair machine (made out of hydraulic pumps), and a treadmill (that doesn’t have a motor, you just push it to run on it) – none of which are electrical, they’re all mechanical (for you old fogies I realize that natural progression was from mechanical to electrical but it’s weird for me because I’ve never really used machines like these). As far as weight machines, there’s several newer looking weight machines (the chin up/bench press one is my favorite) and a TON of free-weights. They also have a TV with workout videos (nope, won’t be doing that in the presence of testosterone-fueled men) and a stereo with music (there’s one workout CD I totally LOVE – it starts with Eye of the Tiger, which is basically the best workout song ever!, progresses through some good 70s disco music, Michael Jackson, and ends with reggaetone. I really might slyly steal this CD to make a copy). Besides the fact that everything’s covered with poop from the birds, it’s way nicer than I thought it would be and the best part its only 50 cents for an hour. Also, it’s never very crowded (though I haven’t been on weekends yet), and the guy that owns it is a doc who has a practice on the 1st floor. It’s also a block from my house and really safe – what more could I ask for! I’m gonna go every other day with a 2 day break once a week (or that’s my goal at least). The cool part is that since I’m paying for an hr I pretty much have to stay for an hr so I’m getting some great workouts in. But the absolute best part is that I don’t have to run by vicious dogs and cat-calling men anymore – no one can even look in since it’s the 3rd floor! Maybe I do have a chance to get in shape here :) And I'll be getting a photo up ASAP of my sweet gym, it's too cool to do justice describing without pictures
Ok finally, if you’re out of Christmas gift ideas and want to help support our work here in Ecuador, check out these calendars. The photos were taken by current volunteers here in Ecuador and compiled by our Volunteer Advisory Committee. All proceeds go to support small project grants and volunteer activities (which we need money for!) and the photos are really amazing. They’re $10 each or 5 for $40, which includes shipping to anywhere in the U.S. (allow 2-8 wks for delivery apparently, so you better order ASAP for Christmas!). Please consider buying these for those relatives, coworkers, or friends whom you don’t know what else to get for Christmas! Check out the website for a preview and to order them – I know I’m going to!
http://www.friendsofecuador.org/index.php?tg=articles&topics=8
Current English song stuck in my playlist: “High Road” by Fort Minor
Current Spanish song stuck in my playlist: “Llamada de Emergencia” by Daddy Yankee
Longer update coming but for now, PC had my address wrong just a little (it was wrong before). It shouldn't have affected any incoming mail (according to PC) but to make things easier please change the address you have (the middle set of numbers is 01 not 11)
Casilla 09-01-11805
Guayaquil, Guayas
Ecuador
South America
K I'll update again this weekend!
Casilla 09-01-11805
Guayaquil, Guayas
Ecuador
South America
K I'll update again this weekend!
Thursday, November 5, 2009
"Remember, remember, the Fifth of November, the Gunpowder Treason and Plot. I know of no reason why the Gunpowder Treason should ever be forgot... But what of the man? I know his name was Guy Fawkes and I know, in 1605, he attempted to blow up the Houses of Parliament. But who was he really? What was he like? We are told to remember the idea, not the man, because a man can fail. He can be caught, he can be killed and forgotten, but 400 years later, an idea can still change the world."
-V for Vendetta
-V for Vendetta
Thursday, October 22, 2009
just a quick note - i bought an internet card for my computer (to save my computer from the thousand viruses in the cyber cafes here) and i have free unlimited internet for the first month - so open a skype account (it's free and really easy), search for my email (s08.jbaldridge@wittenberg.edu), add me as a friend, then we can chat (with video if the internet is working well enough) for FREE! after the free month ill only be buying internet occasionally so now's your chance to chat with me :)
21 de Octubre 2009
Back for another update!
Work has been alright, pretty much the same – some days I’m busy and productive and some days I sit around and don’t do much. I appreciate the flexibility but it’s hard not to feel useless sometimes. Tuesday we had a mtg with our new coordinator for my program, the boss from the office in Guayaquil, and the 3 promoters who work in the homes. We met at my host family’s house here at 9:30 – so realistically it started at 10:30. It was really nice to get to meet with the boss from the office again and this time I had an agenda and felt important running the meeting haha! I also am doing a few small side projects, like preparing pamphlets with information for the families we work with. The boss liked that idea a lot and I felt the rare moment of usefulness. I also did a brief training in the community assessment interviews that I have delegated to the promoters to do (go me, I will have 135 completed interviews in 2 weeks!). The reason I’m having them do them is because they know the families better than me and therefore are more likely to receive truthful answers. Also, not that it’s a determining factor, I am happy to have less work for me. I will still go around to houses and do interviews at random, and also go to the leaders of the community, health centers, schools, etc. so it’s not like I’m taking all the work off my back. Oh, and I will have the nice job of putting the data in the computer and analyzing all of it. But either way, it will sure be a help for them to do so many interviews! And since my organization is really interested in the results and applying them to their programs, they are fully backing me :) I’m not sure how useful the results really are for me, but for the organization at least it’s a set of statistics they can go off of. And for me, it’s a project to focus on, to keep busy, to feel useful.
At the meeting was also our new coordinator for the project in my site. She seems very nice. She is a psychologist (soo excited about that point – maybe I’ll lose the job of curing the kids of all of their psychological problems, which would take a LOT of pressure off of me!) who lives in Guayaquil (not so excited about that point – I’m not sure how often she will actually be in my town since it is 1.5 hrs away..). She technically would be my new counterpart, but I had talked with the boss at the office in Guayaquil (I went to the office last Friday for a meeting) and expressed my concerns (she isn’t from my town, doesn’t have contacts in my town, won’t be in my town much, I won’t be in a lot of contact with her since she isn’t here, etc. – all related to location) so I’m deciding on a new counterpart right now. To be honest, it will just be on paper. I big part of the meeting was finding which of the promoters can help with the jobs my counterpart would have – making contacts, helping with the interviews, looking for an apartment, etc. – and instead of having 1 counterpart, the job is now divided amongst the 3 promoters. I put my host brother as my counterpart on paper (technically haven’t emailed the form in yet actually…) because he is someone who I see regularly, most likely to know where I am, has a lot of contacts, and is associated with a different project of the same organization (a project that I’m also working with). So yah, I’m feeling a lot more independent and free with this change, though a lot more responsibility of my job rests on me since we don’t have an office to go to every day.
Also, I had made a coffee cake for the meeting so I could feel like a good host. I was a little worried they wouldn’t like it because it wasn’t like Ecuadorian cake – aka it was moist and delicious – but they loved it. I was so relieved! The lady from the office even asked me to email her the recipe (which I had a fun time trying to translate last night! She’ll be lucky if she can replicate since it’s in broken Spanish and I don’t really cook strictly from recipes…). The cake itself was decent but what really made it was the icing, which was a total accident! I actually was trying to make fudge for my host family (I felt bad making cake for the mtg but nothing for the fam) but it never solidified. I think it’s because I used panela (unrefined sugar, bought in block form) instead of regular sugar. I also added some ground peanuts. And margarine because I don’t know where to buy real butter (I think the butter issue is what killed it). Either way, I ended up with a super sugary, delicious, thick panela syrup with peanut flavor, so I poured some over the cake to top it off. My host mom said she was more interested in learning to make the topping than the cake! Since the fudge didn’t work I made them a cake last night, which was gone this morning. I’m starting to think they may actually like my cooking :)
Speaking of cooking, I know you won’t believe it but I ate not one but two crabs tonight for dinner. And not canned crab but real live watched-them-die crabs. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t feel a little sick eating it because I kept thinking of them being alive, but at least they killed them before they put them in the water so I didn’t have to listen to them scream (some people say it’s just steam I swear they scream). The flavor was okay, and it was a lot of work for not a lot of food (they had pretty skinny legs), but I did it. The plan tonight for dinner was that my host mom was gonna pick up some choclo (corn) on the way back from Guayaquil, but then she walked it with a huge smile on her face carrying a string of crabs and my stomach dropped. They were all sooo excited about the crabs and I broke the news that I don’t eat crab. My host mom argued with me for a minute about it and said I would love them, but I feigned ignorance (works well with my host fam). She said I could eat a tortilla that they had brought for breakfast but I could tell she was disappointed. I got to my room and decided that no, I was going to try the crab. One of the things of being in Peace Corps is that I can convince myself to eat almost anything, and not only that but I have a responsibility to give every food I encounter here a chance. Soo I came back to the kitchen and told her I didn’t know if I would like it but I would give it a try. Plus it was starting to smell yummy (really just the seasoned water but at least it was making me a little hungry). This cheered her up and I helped make the salad. When we sat down to eat I just stared at my plate for a minute then finally asked for help. They laughed that I had no idea how to eat crab, then got the cooking stone (a rock they use to grind and mash things) and handed it to me. The first try splattered shell, meat, and some liquid all over the place and my host mom decided she would have to show me, explaining “carefully, slowly” several times. After this I was set loose on the poor crustacean legs. My first 2 tries I pulled the meat out without having to crack it, so I proudly thought “wow I’m really good at this” but turns out it was just beginners luck! I used the rock a lot, while my family just cracked the shell with their teeth (that’s not something I could stomach doing though, maybe next time…) So I had gotten into it when I got the body. I took the rock and gave it a good whack, then my host mom intervened and showed me how to open it without the rock. And boy, was I sad I opened that thing. I’m okay with the white leg meat, but there was something brown and gooey and absolutely unappetizing. She told me to pour the salad inside and mix it up and drink it. I expressed my concern for this part and then told them I would be happy to share the body – it wasn’t the part I preferred. So my host mom gladly took it off my hands and I considered if I wanted another or should just eat the tortilla. After walking around the kitchen for a minute they said if I just wanted to eat the legs that was fine, and I decided I actually kind of liked the flavor, though it was still a lot of work, but why not – I’m in the Peace Corps! So I grabbed a smaller guy, passed the body off to the host dad, and got to work. It was actually pretty good, and I think poco a poco I can get used to the idea of eating those cute little crustaceans – though I would still prefer not to see them alive before I eat them! I took a picture of them alive and almost took one while I was eating but my hands were really messy so I decided not to. I told my host family that my family in the states wouldn’t believe I ate crab so they might have to vouch for me!
The other pic is of my FAVORITE food here! it's called corviche, and heres (mas o menos) how you make it. Grind up green plantain, mix with gound peanuts, take a piece of fish and pat corn breading around it so it's encased, then put the fish/corn breading inside the platano/peanut, then put this whole thing back in the husk and fry it. serve with ahi salsa - que rico! we dont eat it every often but mm its good. and cheap - i just found out the lady sells them for 30 cents each. she cooks and sells them out of her house. oh and theres another version made with yellow plaintain (which is really sweet) and something else sweet gooey and delicious inside. tastes kinda like banana mixed with funnel cake. :)
I’d like to point out that my life doesn’t actually revolve around cooking, but I have received a lot of feedback that you all like reading about food experiences, which is why a lot of my blog is centered around food!
So last Friday I was in Guayaquil for a mtg at my organization and decided I wanted to do something that night. Seeing as how my options in my town are pretty limited I texted a friend that lives in a nearby town to see what she was up to. I’d been wanting to see her town and I felt spontaneous so after my never-ending meeting I hopped a bus to go see her. Now when I say spontaneous, I mean I decided to go spend the night somewhere with nothing – no clothes, shower supplies (important in the heat here!), meds, toothbrush – nothing. So I ran to the store and bought some wine and Doritos, the essentials! The town she lives in is smaller than my town (but unlike my town somehow they have the kind of ice cream you scoop, not just buy from a cooler) and it is divided by a river. And to cross the river you have to walk across a bridge made of cane. I was a little nervous at first – it creaks and moves and shakes and there are holes – but I figured she hadn’t fallen in for her 2 months so I would be ok. Anyway it was fun, we watched Twilight (Sarah I thought of you when I saw awkward Jasper!), ate Doritos, and drank wine Friday night, then Saturday we went across the cane bridge to the town. It was neat getting to see another person’s site and just do something spontaneous – it felt so liberating! Of course, I had to get approval and everything from Peace Corps so it wasn’t totally spontaneous but still more than my normal life. Also, it was nice seeing what it’s like to have a smaller town. It’s not by any means as small as La Chimba was but it has a very different atmosphere than my town. She also isn’t the first volunteer in her site, which changes the atmosphere a lot, and also causes people to constantly refer to the previous volunteer. We waited all morning to see a parade with horses but kept receiving “ya mismo” responses (can mean anything from 10 minutes to 10 hours) and when I left at 3 it still hadn’t happened… On Saturday I went with her to check out apartments. She found the coolest apartment, I am soo jealous! It is huge, fully furnished, safe – perfect! I have hope that if she can find something so cool in her town, surely in my larger town there will be something neat too!
On Tuesday I talked to the promoters and my former counterpart about needing to find an apartment to get approved next month when I have my visit from my program training specialist. I still don’t know when I’m actually going to move out of my host family’s house (I’m really torn whether I want to have my own place, live with them longer, etc.) but I need to have 2 options that meet Peace Corps standards for the visit. So anyway, they’ve been telling me about apartments they’ve seen that are for rent, but it looks like price range may be difficult for me. One of the promoters showed me an apartment then I found out its $100/month, and my maximum is $70/month. I told her that and she said that almost all of the apartments in my town go for $100/month, so I’m feeling like I won’t be able to find anything very nice. She called me this afternoon and showed me a set of apartments that go for $70, so hopefully I can get the owner to show me the apartment soon. It doesn’t look that nice from the outside and it’s first floor (I wanted 2nd), but thanks to one way windows (pretty cool for security!) I couldn’t see anything about the inside. Anyway, I’ve heard of about 4 apartments so far, but I haven’t seen them and expect several are out of my price range. I should be able to find lots of options though since my town is so big, so I’m crossing my fingers!
Okay final bit of news. I called the PC doctor on Saturday night because he was about to go off duty for a couple weeks (there is a different doc but they don’t know anything about me or my medical history) and firmly requested again that I be allowed to get the Dengue Fever test. He told me “yes of course!” (as if I hadn’t requested before) and said to go Monday. Not only did I have permission, he said I didn’t have to go to Guayaquil since there is a lab in my town. So Monday I went to this lab and they drew the blood, I paid my $12, they laughed at me a lot (hopefully because I'm a gringa and said something stupid… I was a little nervous they were just gonna take my blood and not test it - $12 from the dumb gringa for no work!), and told me to come back Tuesday in the afternoon. So I went and finally received proof that I had dengue. I was really relieved and a little bitter. Relieved because if it wasn’t dengue, I wouldn’t have known I had and probably would never know. Bitter because I couldn’t just get the blood test without having to fight for it. Either way, I just wanna say – I was right. I DID have dengue. Every doctor I dealt with was wrong and I was right. And a $12 blood test proves it. So there. I sound like a 5 year old, but it’s been a long 5 weeks from being sick to finally having an answer. Anyway, now that I know, I would like to keep from getting it again. I’ve been wearing the cancer-causing mosquito repellent pretty much constantly, and I'm still getting bites but the number is definitely decreasing. I’m also going after the mosquitoes I see with a passion, smacking, squishing, slapping them whenever I get the chance. And occasionally resorting to spraying my room when I’m severely outnumbered – that kills them all quickly but then I inhale cancer all night. I wish mosquitoes didn’t exist. They don’t have a purpose and they suck, literally.
Alrighty it’s late so I'm gonna get to bed so I can get up early in the morning! Peace :)
Back for another update!
Work has been alright, pretty much the same – some days I’m busy and productive and some days I sit around and don’t do much. I appreciate the flexibility but it’s hard not to feel useless sometimes. Tuesday we had a mtg with our new coordinator for my program, the boss from the office in Guayaquil, and the 3 promoters who work in the homes. We met at my host family’s house here at 9:30 – so realistically it started at 10:30. It was really nice to get to meet with the boss from the office again and this time I had an agenda and felt important running the meeting haha! I also am doing a few small side projects, like preparing pamphlets with information for the families we work with. The boss liked that idea a lot and I felt the rare moment of usefulness. I also did a brief training in the community assessment interviews that I have delegated to the promoters to do (go me, I will have 135 completed interviews in 2 weeks!). The reason I’m having them do them is because they know the families better than me and therefore are more likely to receive truthful answers. Also, not that it’s a determining factor, I am happy to have less work for me. I will still go around to houses and do interviews at random, and also go to the leaders of the community, health centers, schools, etc. so it’s not like I’m taking all the work off my back. Oh, and I will have the nice job of putting the data in the computer and analyzing all of it. But either way, it will sure be a help for them to do so many interviews! And since my organization is really interested in the results and applying them to their programs, they are fully backing me :) I’m not sure how useful the results really are for me, but for the organization at least it’s a set of statistics they can go off of. And for me, it’s a project to focus on, to keep busy, to feel useful.
At the meeting was also our new coordinator for the project in my site. She seems very nice. She is a psychologist (soo excited about that point – maybe I’ll lose the job of curing the kids of all of their psychological problems, which would take a LOT of pressure off of me!) who lives in Guayaquil (not so excited about that point – I’m not sure how often she will actually be in my town since it is 1.5 hrs away..). She technically would be my new counterpart, but I had talked with the boss at the office in Guayaquil (I went to the office last Friday for a meeting) and expressed my concerns (she isn’t from my town, doesn’t have contacts in my town, won’t be in my town much, I won’t be in a lot of contact with her since she isn’t here, etc. – all related to location) so I’m deciding on a new counterpart right now. To be honest, it will just be on paper. I big part of the meeting was finding which of the promoters can help with the jobs my counterpart would have – making contacts, helping with the interviews, looking for an apartment, etc. – and instead of having 1 counterpart, the job is now divided amongst the 3 promoters. I put my host brother as my counterpart on paper (technically haven’t emailed the form in yet actually…) because he is someone who I see regularly, most likely to know where I am, has a lot of contacts, and is associated with a different project of the same organization (a project that I’m also working with). So yah, I’m feeling a lot more independent and free with this change, though a lot more responsibility of my job rests on me since we don’t have an office to go to every day.
Also, I had made a coffee cake for the meeting so I could feel like a good host. I was a little worried they wouldn’t like it because it wasn’t like Ecuadorian cake – aka it was moist and delicious – but they loved it. I was so relieved! The lady from the office even asked me to email her the recipe (which I had a fun time trying to translate last night! She’ll be lucky if she can replicate since it’s in broken Spanish and I don’t really cook strictly from recipes…). The cake itself was decent but what really made it was the icing, which was a total accident! I actually was trying to make fudge for my host family (I felt bad making cake for the mtg but nothing for the fam) but it never solidified. I think it’s because I used panela (unrefined sugar, bought in block form) instead of regular sugar. I also added some ground peanuts. And margarine because I don’t know where to buy real butter (I think the butter issue is what killed it). Either way, I ended up with a super sugary, delicious, thick panela syrup with peanut flavor, so I poured some over the cake to top it off. My host mom said she was more interested in learning to make the topping than the cake! Since the fudge didn’t work I made them a cake last night, which was gone this morning. I’m starting to think they may actually like my cooking :)
Speaking of cooking, I know you won’t believe it but I ate not one but two crabs tonight for dinner. And not canned crab but real live watched-them-die crabs. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t feel a little sick eating it because I kept thinking of them being alive, but at least they killed them before they put them in the water so I didn’t have to listen to them scream (some people say it’s just steam I swear they scream). The flavor was okay, and it was a lot of work for not a lot of food (they had pretty skinny legs), but I did it. The plan tonight for dinner was that my host mom was gonna pick up some choclo (corn) on the way back from Guayaquil, but then she walked it with a huge smile on her face carrying a string of crabs and my stomach dropped. They were all sooo excited about the crabs and I broke the news that I don’t eat crab. My host mom argued with me for a minute about it and said I would love them, but I feigned ignorance (works well with my host fam). She said I could eat a tortilla that they had brought for breakfast but I could tell she was disappointed. I got to my room and decided that no, I was going to try the crab. One of the things of being in Peace Corps is that I can convince myself to eat almost anything, and not only that but I have a responsibility to give every food I encounter here a chance. Soo I came back to the kitchen and told her I didn’t know if I would like it but I would give it a try. Plus it was starting to smell yummy (really just the seasoned water but at least it was making me a little hungry). This cheered her up and I helped make the salad. When we sat down to eat I just stared at my plate for a minute then finally asked for help. They laughed that I had no idea how to eat crab, then got the cooking stone (a rock they use to grind and mash things) and handed it to me. The first try splattered shell, meat, and some liquid all over the place and my host mom decided she would have to show me, explaining “carefully, slowly” several times. After this I was set loose on the poor crustacean legs. My first 2 tries I pulled the meat out without having to crack it, so I proudly thought “wow I’m really good at this” but turns out it was just beginners luck! I used the rock a lot, while my family just cracked the shell with their teeth (that’s not something I could stomach doing though, maybe next time…) So I had gotten into it when I got the body. I took the rock and gave it a good whack, then my host mom intervened and showed me how to open it without the rock. And boy, was I sad I opened that thing. I’m okay with the white leg meat, but there was something brown and gooey and absolutely unappetizing. She told me to pour the salad inside and mix it up and drink it. I expressed my concern for this part and then told them I would be happy to share the body – it wasn’t the part I preferred. So my host mom gladly took it off my hands and I considered if I wanted another or should just eat the tortilla. After walking around the kitchen for a minute they said if I just wanted to eat the legs that was fine, and I decided I actually kind of liked the flavor, though it was still a lot of work, but why not – I’m in the Peace Corps! So I grabbed a smaller guy, passed the body off to the host dad, and got to work. It was actually pretty good, and I think poco a poco I can get used to the idea of eating those cute little crustaceans – though I would still prefer not to see them alive before I eat them! I took a picture of them alive and almost took one while I was eating but my hands were really messy so I decided not to. I told my host family that my family in the states wouldn’t believe I ate crab so they might have to vouch for me!
The other pic is of my FAVORITE food here! it's called corviche, and heres (mas o menos) how you make it. Grind up green plantain, mix with gound peanuts, take a piece of fish and pat corn breading around it so it's encased, then put the fish/corn breading inside the platano/peanut, then put this whole thing back in the husk and fry it. serve with ahi salsa - que rico! we dont eat it every often but mm its good. and cheap - i just found out the lady sells them for 30 cents each. she cooks and sells them out of her house. oh and theres another version made with yellow plaintain (which is really sweet) and something else sweet gooey and delicious inside. tastes kinda like banana mixed with funnel cake. :)
I’d like to point out that my life doesn’t actually revolve around cooking, but I have received a lot of feedback that you all like reading about food experiences, which is why a lot of my blog is centered around food!
So last Friday I was in Guayaquil for a mtg at my organization and decided I wanted to do something that night. Seeing as how my options in my town are pretty limited I texted a friend that lives in a nearby town to see what she was up to. I’d been wanting to see her town and I felt spontaneous so after my never-ending meeting I hopped a bus to go see her. Now when I say spontaneous, I mean I decided to go spend the night somewhere with nothing – no clothes, shower supplies (important in the heat here!), meds, toothbrush – nothing. So I ran to the store and bought some wine and Doritos, the essentials! The town she lives in is smaller than my town (but unlike my town somehow they have the kind of ice cream you scoop, not just buy from a cooler) and it is divided by a river. And to cross the river you have to walk across a bridge made of cane. I was a little nervous at first – it creaks and moves and shakes and there are holes – but I figured she hadn’t fallen in for her 2 months so I would be ok. Anyway it was fun, we watched Twilight (Sarah I thought of you when I saw awkward Jasper!), ate Doritos, and drank wine Friday night, then Saturday we went across the cane bridge to the town. It was neat getting to see another person’s site and just do something spontaneous – it felt so liberating! Of course, I had to get approval and everything from Peace Corps so it wasn’t totally spontaneous but still more than my normal life. Also, it was nice seeing what it’s like to have a smaller town. It’s not by any means as small as La Chimba was but it has a very different atmosphere than my town. She also isn’t the first volunteer in her site, which changes the atmosphere a lot, and also causes people to constantly refer to the previous volunteer. We waited all morning to see a parade with horses but kept receiving “ya mismo” responses (can mean anything from 10 minutes to 10 hours) and when I left at 3 it still hadn’t happened… On Saturday I went with her to check out apartments. She found the coolest apartment, I am soo jealous! It is huge, fully furnished, safe – perfect! I have hope that if she can find something so cool in her town, surely in my larger town there will be something neat too!
On Tuesday I talked to the promoters and my former counterpart about needing to find an apartment to get approved next month when I have my visit from my program training specialist. I still don’t know when I’m actually going to move out of my host family’s house (I’m really torn whether I want to have my own place, live with them longer, etc.) but I need to have 2 options that meet Peace Corps standards for the visit. So anyway, they’ve been telling me about apartments they’ve seen that are for rent, but it looks like price range may be difficult for me. One of the promoters showed me an apartment then I found out its $100/month, and my maximum is $70/month. I told her that and she said that almost all of the apartments in my town go for $100/month, so I’m feeling like I won’t be able to find anything very nice. She called me this afternoon and showed me a set of apartments that go for $70, so hopefully I can get the owner to show me the apartment soon. It doesn’t look that nice from the outside and it’s first floor (I wanted 2nd), but thanks to one way windows (pretty cool for security!) I couldn’t see anything about the inside. Anyway, I’ve heard of about 4 apartments so far, but I haven’t seen them and expect several are out of my price range. I should be able to find lots of options though since my town is so big, so I’m crossing my fingers!
Okay final bit of news. I called the PC doctor on Saturday night because he was about to go off duty for a couple weeks (there is a different doc but they don’t know anything about me or my medical history) and firmly requested again that I be allowed to get the Dengue Fever test. He told me “yes of course!” (as if I hadn’t requested before) and said to go Monday. Not only did I have permission, he said I didn’t have to go to Guayaquil since there is a lab in my town. So Monday I went to this lab and they drew the blood, I paid my $12, they laughed at me a lot (hopefully because I'm a gringa and said something stupid… I was a little nervous they were just gonna take my blood and not test it - $12 from the dumb gringa for no work!), and told me to come back Tuesday in the afternoon. So I went and finally received proof that I had dengue. I was really relieved and a little bitter. Relieved because if it wasn’t dengue, I wouldn’t have known I had and probably would never know. Bitter because I couldn’t just get the blood test without having to fight for it. Either way, I just wanna say – I was right. I DID have dengue. Every doctor I dealt with was wrong and I was right. And a $12 blood test proves it. So there. I sound like a 5 year old, but it’s been a long 5 weeks from being sick to finally having an answer. Anyway, now that I know, I would like to keep from getting it again. I’ve been wearing the cancer-causing mosquito repellent pretty much constantly, and I'm still getting bites but the number is definitely decreasing. I’m also going after the mosquitoes I see with a passion, smacking, squishing, slapping them whenever I get the chance. And occasionally resorting to spraying my room when I’m severely outnumbered – that kills them all quickly but then I inhale cancer all night. I wish mosquitoes didn’t exist. They don’t have a purpose and they suck, literally.
Alrighty it’s late so I'm gonna get to bed so I can get up early in the morning! Peace :)
Monday, October 12, 2009
Here are my photo albums on Facebook, anyone should be able to access then even if you're not on Facebook so you can see my pictures!
Photos from Training:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2038835&id=46900557&l=616c53fd5f
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2037219&id=46900557&l=30d42f29e9
First 3 months in site:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2040694&id=46900557&l=75e6d54a65
Skype Pics of talking with the family:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2040218&id=46900557&l=872b7570ee
Photos from Training:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2038835&id=46900557&l=616c53fd5f
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2037219&id=46900557&l=30d42f29e9
First 3 months in site:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2040694&id=46900557&l=75e6d54a65
Skype Pics of talking with the family:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2040218&id=46900557&l=872b7570ee
Sunday, October 11, 2009
11 de Octubre 2009
Ok well here’s a decent update since I have some time to write today:
I went to Guayaquil last Thursday to get my phone that had finally been repaired, and when we entered the city they had closed off a part of the big highway and it was full of military. I mean it looked like full out war. They had tanks and heavy artillery jeeps; soldiers with machine guns, grenade launchers, bayonets, etc; helicopters flying overhead. It was surreal. I saw weapons I had only seen on TV of images of Iraq or other hostile territories and they were within 50 feet from our passing bus. And this was a huge line military – I read in the paper that lines on that road there were about 5,000 soldiers and over 100 tanks/jeeps, all armed to the teeth. At first when I saw the troops I thought of the protests and civil unrest that’s been going on here in Ecuador and panicked thinking the military was moving into Guayaquil for some reason. But then I remembered that the following day there were going to be massive parades and celebrations for the independence day, so I felt much better. It was definitely a sight to see though. I wish I’d had my camera so I could show you the enormous number of military – something you would never see back in the states!
To explain the part about the protests briefly if you haven’t seen it on the news, there have been a lot of issues between the national government and various groups recently. As such, three groups were protesting over the last few weeks, the indigenous peoples, teachers, and labor groups. Because of the possibility of violence and road closures during these protests (which did occur in some regions), Peace Corps placed us under travel restrictions, so we were not able to leave our sites for just under 2 weeks. But the issues have been resolved/are in the discussion phase and we are free to travel again as security has been restored. In my town there weren’t any problems with any of these groups. The day before teachers started protesting throughout the country and refused to work I asked my host mom whether she was going to work the next day. She looked at me and laughed and said, of course, that’s her job and they don’t get into the protesting here. However the travel restrictions prevented me from getting my phone fixed in a more timely manner which was a bummer.
So this last Friday (Oct 9) was the Independence day of Guayaquil, which is a national holiday because it was a huge movement for democracy and standing up to the Spanish control back in 1890. Because of that the schools/universities were closed on Friday and Saturday, so my family decided to go to the beach to visit relatives for a short vacation. Of course then they asked if I wanted to go I had to say yes :) So we left Friday morning early and drove to Guayaquil to pick up the nephew of my host parents, then passed through on to Santa Elena.
Only the 10 yr old girl, the 6 yr old nephew, and my host parents went – the host brothers all stayed here at the house for whatever reason. It was so cute how excited the kids were – it reminded me how cool it was to get to go to the beach when we were young and how excited we were to jump into those waves. I was excited to not only get to spend time at the beautiful beach but just to get a vacation from my site. Unfortunately the weather didn’t really cooperate with us and it was quite cold for the beach. This is the cold season so it wasn’t unexpected but I was still a little disappointed. The high temperature was 77ish during the day, which sounds warm for you people back in KY, but I’m not adapted to having temperatures up in the 90s every day, so it seemed really cold. Also, it was completely cloudy and windy – very much like Florida in the cold season. I didn’t think to bring any long sleeve shirts because hey, we were going to the beach right?
In La Libertad we ate breakfast in a restaurant next to the fish market where they cook different kinds of fish and yellow plantains on a grill and serve them to you at these big communal tables with a salad for $2.25 (see photo). It was a very “local” experience, very Ecuadorian and not at all touristy. The fish was good, but in the traditional style it was served whole, eyes and fin and all, which I’ve actually gotten pretty accustomed to. Not my favorite but what can ya do? It was a huge fish so I ate about half then passed the rest on to my host family to eat. They devoured it, offering me the head which my host mom says is the best part, but I graciously refused and said I would try the head another time. My host dad ordered something that was fish eggs and he said it was from a really large fish. It was about 7 inches long, roundish (kinda looked like a sausage) and filled with thousands of small fish eggs. I tried it but it didn’t seem to have much flavor, just a texture like quinoa but it was eggs instead. The kids really liked it but to me it just seemed bland and dry. After we ate the fish breakfast we walked around the market and my family told me about the different kinds of fish they were selling. I took a couple pictures, including a swordfish head that was sticking up into the air. It smelled very fishy which I'm not a huge fan of, but was interesting to see all the different seafood. After that experience we walked to the centro comercial (shopping center) and looked around. I bought a bunch of jewelry for cheap, which is my favorite part of the coast culture (I got 5 pairs of earrings, a surfboard “Ecuador” necklace, and a bracelet with “Amor y Paz” in ecuadors colors where the “y” is a peace sign – all for $4.75). I’m trying to put a picture on here of them if I can get it uploaded, so look for that.
After the shopping we headed to the beach because the kids really wanted to get into the ocean. I just stayed on the sand and read because it was soo cold, but they hopped around in the ocean collecting shell treasures and playing in the sand. For the rest of the day we pretty much hopped beach to beach from La Libertad up to Barcelona, about an hour drive straight through. I did end up swimming in a cove because I couldn’t stand the thought of not getting in the ocean at all on my vacation. It was cold. Very very cold. My host dad decided not to get in, but my host mom got in with me, which was nice. We got to chit chat a little about the beaches in the U.S. and stuff like that. We could only manage to stay in for about 15 minutes then we were shivering too hard so we got out and ran to the showers. Now, here not only do you pay to use the public bathrooms (anywhere from $0.10 to $0.30), but you also pay to use the showers ($0.50) because people don’t just rinse the sand off, they take real showers. It was an interesting experience for me – very “Peace Corps”. I hung my clothes and towel on a nail and showered a foot away from them, the whole time trying to keep from soaking my clothes. To be honest, I felt like I was doing something a bum might do in the states, but here it is normal to take a real shower at the beach. It was strange, but at the least the water was warm and we were clean when we got into the car! Then we drove to my host dad’s cousin’s house in Barcelona (in the campo about 15 mins from the beach) where we were going to stay the night.
After my beach shower I was clean but hadn’t really cleaned up much, like I hadn’t put on makeup of earrings or anything, which I was okay with. But after a few minutes at the relative’s house, they rushed me into the car and we headed out to the town center because apparently there was a fiesta for the patron saint of the town. Not only was a poorly dressed for such an event, I also didn’t realize we were leaving for more than a couple minutes so I had to pee. So at the center I used some random woman’s bathroom, then we piled back into the car and drove to the next town to pick up people for this fiesta. We drove behind 2 trucks that were full of people – there was a band, people with bottle rockets, etc. – typical EcuaFiesta fashion. So we drove to this next town, and I was thinking “ok the fiesta is here” but we went to a church, they ceremoniously carried out the Virgin Mary and loaded her into the truck, then we drove around the town playing music and shooting fireworks off, apparently informing people in this town that we were having a fiesta in Barcelona. After about 15 minutes of driving, our caravan (now of about 10 cars and 15 motorcycles and 3 more trucks of people) left to return to Barcelona. But instead of stopping, we passed through to go to the town on the other side, collecting more people. Finally we returned to the house of the uncle while the caravan went to the neighborhood of the fiesta. I wanted to go to the fiesta and when I asked I was given the normal Ecuadorian response – “Ya mismo” which translates roughly to “yah yah soon soon” and can imply anything from 5 minutes to 5 hours to never. Well we ended up just sitting and talking with the aunt and uncle, which was alright because we were all exhausted from traveling. It was nice to get to talk to them as well, and I realized my Spanish has either improved or I have just gotten used to the costal accent. I actually carried on a normal conversation without a whole lot of miscommunication – yay! Then we went to bed early and boy did I sleep like a baby!
The next morning we got up and had breakfast (really good fresh bread and cheese with hand squeezed orange juice) then went to see the artesian coop store in the town. I bought a really neat purse made of a reed/grass and leather with a zipper closure (I didn’t plan to buy anything but I just fell in love with it) and a little container made of the reed/grass (I’ll look up the name) for $10. The purse was $8 (would cost $20 or more in the states) and the container was $2.50 but I got her to sell both to me for $10. I could have probably gotten the price lower but this stuff was so beautiful and I don’t mind supporting the local artisans. Afterwards we drove to some nearby towns looking for bakeries to buy bags of bread to take to family back in my site. The bread in the coast is much better than here in my town, so we ended up buying 3 large grocery bags full to give to family here. We also stopped at a lot of artesian shops to see the crafts (there were so many beautiful things!). We returned to the house and my host mom and the aunt made a shrimp ceviche (mmm delicious) then we headed out to go to the beach in Salinas. Oh and the uncle gave me a yummy looking watermelon because he remembered I really like watermelon – so nice of him! The people here are so friendly! In Salinas we hung out on the beach for awhile, the kids played in the ocean while I sat and talked with the parents, then we went into Santa Elena to another relative’s house to visit. There we watched a little of the Ecuador-Uruguay game and visited. They had baby ducks and chickens which were really cute. We decided to change our plans and drive back in the night instead of getting up early and driving back this morning, so we stopped quickly in the center of Santa Elena to see a church there that the colonial Spaniards constructed, then we headed back. I couldn’t sleep in the car and everyone else was so it was kinda boring, but I had brought my MP3 player so at least I could listen to music. While we spent a lot of our beach vaca in the car driving between beaches and houses, it was still really nice to get out of my town. I feel so much more relaxed and less frustrated after just a few days enjoying myself with my family
This morning I woke up and the mango tree behind out house is starting to ripen! I ate 3 mangoes for breakfast (this type of mango is about the size of an apple with a huge pit) and they are so sweet and delicious. This kind isn’t cultivated for export – it only is available in Ecuador (or other countries where it’s grown). I’m really excited for the rest of the fruit to ripen! The cherry tree is also ripening, but the cherries I tried that were supposed to be ripe didn’t seem to have any flavor to me, so I don’t know if it’s a different variety or if they’re just not in their prime yet. I also tried an under ripe plum today from another tree in our backyard, which is a delicacy here. It was sour and tasted very green, but everyone here loves them. I think maybe they like the green flavor, but that’s something I’m not very accustomed to.
Well this entry is long enough, so I’m gonna sign off! I couldn't wait to get the pictures uploaded so i'll do that another time!
Ok well here’s a decent update since I have some time to write today:
I went to Guayaquil last Thursday to get my phone that had finally been repaired, and when we entered the city they had closed off a part of the big highway and it was full of military. I mean it looked like full out war. They had tanks and heavy artillery jeeps; soldiers with machine guns, grenade launchers, bayonets, etc; helicopters flying overhead. It was surreal. I saw weapons I had only seen on TV of images of Iraq or other hostile territories and they were within 50 feet from our passing bus. And this was a huge line military – I read in the paper that lines on that road there were about 5,000 soldiers and over 100 tanks/jeeps, all armed to the teeth. At first when I saw the troops I thought of the protests and civil unrest that’s been going on here in Ecuador and panicked thinking the military was moving into Guayaquil for some reason. But then I remembered that the following day there were going to be massive parades and celebrations for the independence day, so I felt much better. It was definitely a sight to see though. I wish I’d had my camera so I could show you the enormous number of military – something you would never see back in the states!
To explain the part about the protests briefly if you haven’t seen it on the news, there have been a lot of issues between the national government and various groups recently. As such, three groups were protesting over the last few weeks, the indigenous peoples, teachers, and labor groups. Because of the possibility of violence and road closures during these protests (which did occur in some regions), Peace Corps placed us under travel restrictions, so we were not able to leave our sites for just under 2 weeks. But the issues have been resolved/are in the discussion phase and we are free to travel again as security has been restored. In my town there weren’t any problems with any of these groups. The day before teachers started protesting throughout the country and refused to work I asked my host mom whether she was going to work the next day. She looked at me and laughed and said, of course, that’s her job and they don’t get into the protesting here. However the travel restrictions prevented me from getting my phone fixed in a more timely manner which was a bummer.
So this last Friday (Oct 9) was the Independence day of Guayaquil, which is a national holiday because it was a huge movement for democracy and standing up to the Spanish control back in 1890. Because of that the schools/universities were closed on Friday and Saturday, so my family decided to go to the beach to visit relatives for a short vacation. Of course then they asked if I wanted to go I had to say yes :) So we left Friday morning early and drove to Guayaquil to pick up the nephew of my host parents, then passed through on to Santa Elena.
Only the 10 yr old girl, the 6 yr old nephew, and my host parents went – the host brothers all stayed here at the house for whatever reason. It was so cute how excited the kids were – it reminded me how cool it was to get to go to the beach when we were young and how excited we were to jump into those waves. I was excited to not only get to spend time at the beautiful beach but just to get a vacation from my site. Unfortunately the weather didn’t really cooperate with us and it was quite cold for the beach. This is the cold season so it wasn’t unexpected but I was still a little disappointed. The high temperature was 77ish during the day, which sounds warm for you people back in KY, but I’m not adapted to having temperatures up in the 90s every day, so it seemed really cold. Also, it was completely cloudy and windy – very much like Florida in the cold season. I didn’t think to bring any long sleeve shirts because hey, we were going to the beach right?
In La Libertad we ate breakfast in a restaurant next to the fish market where they cook different kinds of fish and yellow plantains on a grill and serve them to you at these big communal tables with a salad for $2.25 (see photo). It was a very “local” experience, very Ecuadorian and not at all touristy. The fish was good, but in the traditional style it was served whole, eyes and fin and all, which I’ve actually gotten pretty accustomed to. Not my favorite but what can ya do? It was a huge fish so I ate about half then passed the rest on to my host family to eat. They devoured it, offering me the head which my host mom says is the best part, but I graciously refused and said I would try the head another time. My host dad ordered something that was fish eggs and he said it was from a really large fish. It was about 7 inches long, roundish (kinda looked like a sausage) and filled with thousands of small fish eggs. I tried it but it didn’t seem to have much flavor, just a texture like quinoa but it was eggs instead. The kids really liked it but to me it just seemed bland and dry. After we ate the fish breakfast we walked around the market and my family told me about the different kinds of fish they were selling. I took a couple pictures, including a swordfish head that was sticking up into the air. It smelled very fishy which I'm not a huge fan of, but was interesting to see all the different seafood. After that experience we walked to the centro comercial (shopping center) and looked around. I bought a bunch of jewelry for cheap, which is my favorite part of the coast culture (I got 5 pairs of earrings, a surfboard “Ecuador” necklace, and a bracelet with “Amor y Paz” in ecuadors colors where the “y” is a peace sign – all for $4.75). I’m trying to put a picture on here of them if I can get it uploaded, so look for that.
After the shopping we headed to the beach because the kids really wanted to get into the ocean. I just stayed on the sand and read because it was soo cold, but they hopped around in the ocean collecting shell treasures and playing in the sand. For the rest of the day we pretty much hopped beach to beach from La Libertad up to Barcelona, about an hour drive straight through. I did end up swimming in a cove because I couldn’t stand the thought of not getting in the ocean at all on my vacation. It was cold. Very very cold. My host dad decided not to get in, but my host mom got in with me, which was nice. We got to chit chat a little about the beaches in the U.S. and stuff like that. We could only manage to stay in for about 15 minutes then we were shivering too hard so we got out and ran to the showers. Now, here not only do you pay to use the public bathrooms (anywhere from $0.10 to $0.30), but you also pay to use the showers ($0.50) because people don’t just rinse the sand off, they take real showers. It was an interesting experience for me – very “Peace Corps”. I hung my clothes and towel on a nail and showered a foot away from them, the whole time trying to keep from soaking my clothes. To be honest, I felt like I was doing something a bum might do in the states, but here it is normal to take a real shower at the beach. It was strange, but at the least the water was warm and we were clean when we got into the car! Then we drove to my host dad’s cousin’s house in Barcelona (in the campo about 15 mins from the beach) where we were going to stay the night.
After my beach shower I was clean but hadn’t really cleaned up much, like I hadn’t put on makeup of earrings or anything, which I was okay with. But after a few minutes at the relative’s house, they rushed me into the car and we headed out to the town center because apparently there was a fiesta for the patron saint of the town. Not only was a poorly dressed for such an event, I also didn’t realize we were leaving for more than a couple minutes so I had to pee. So at the center I used some random woman’s bathroom, then we piled back into the car and drove to the next town to pick up people for this fiesta. We drove behind 2 trucks that were full of people – there was a band, people with bottle rockets, etc. – typical EcuaFiesta fashion. So we drove to this next town, and I was thinking “ok the fiesta is here” but we went to a church, they ceremoniously carried out the Virgin Mary and loaded her into the truck, then we drove around the town playing music and shooting fireworks off, apparently informing people in this town that we were having a fiesta in Barcelona. After about 15 minutes of driving, our caravan (now of about 10 cars and 15 motorcycles and 3 more trucks of people) left to return to Barcelona. But instead of stopping, we passed through to go to the town on the other side, collecting more people. Finally we returned to the house of the uncle while the caravan went to the neighborhood of the fiesta. I wanted to go to the fiesta and when I asked I was given the normal Ecuadorian response – “Ya mismo” which translates roughly to “yah yah soon soon” and can imply anything from 5 minutes to 5 hours to never. Well we ended up just sitting and talking with the aunt and uncle, which was alright because we were all exhausted from traveling. It was nice to get to talk to them as well, and I realized my Spanish has either improved or I have just gotten used to the costal accent. I actually carried on a normal conversation without a whole lot of miscommunication – yay! Then we went to bed early and boy did I sleep like a baby!
The next morning we got up and had breakfast (really good fresh bread and cheese with hand squeezed orange juice) then went to see the artesian coop store in the town. I bought a really neat purse made of a reed/grass and leather with a zipper closure (I didn’t plan to buy anything but I just fell in love with it) and a little container made of the reed/grass (I’ll look up the name) for $10. The purse was $8 (would cost $20 or more in the states) and the container was $2.50 but I got her to sell both to me for $10. I could have probably gotten the price lower but this stuff was so beautiful and I don’t mind supporting the local artisans. Afterwards we drove to some nearby towns looking for bakeries to buy bags of bread to take to family back in my site. The bread in the coast is much better than here in my town, so we ended up buying 3 large grocery bags full to give to family here. We also stopped at a lot of artesian shops to see the crafts (there were so many beautiful things!). We returned to the house and my host mom and the aunt made a shrimp ceviche (mmm delicious) then we headed out to go to the beach in Salinas. Oh and the uncle gave me a yummy looking watermelon because he remembered I really like watermelon – so nice of him! The people here are so friendly! In Salinas we hung out on the beach for awhile, the kids played in the ocean while I sat and talked with the parents, then we went into Santa Elena to another relative’s house to visit. There we watched a little of the Ecuador-Uruguay game and visited. They had baby ducks and chickens which were really cute. We decided to change our plans and drive back in the night instead of getting up early and driving back this morning, so we stopped quickly in the center of Santa Elena to see a church there that the colonial Spaniards constructed, then we headed back. I couldn’t sleep in the car and everyone else was so it was kinda boring, but I had brought my MP3 player so at least I could listen to music. While we spent a lot of our beach vaca in the car driving between beaches and houses, it was still really nice to get out of my town. I feel so much more relaxed and less frustrated after just a few days enjoying myself with my family
This morning I woke up and the mango tree behind out house is starting to ripen! I ate 3 mangoes for breakfast (this type of mango is about the size of an apple with a huge pit) and they are so sweet and delicious. This kind isn’t cultivated for export – it only is available in Ecuador (or other countries where it’s grown). I’m really excited for the rest of the fruit to ripen! The cherry tree is also ripening, but the cherries I tried that were supposed to be ripe didn’t seem to have any flavor to me, so I don’t know if it’s a different variety or if they’re just not in their prime yet. I also tried an under ripe plum today from another tree in our backyard, which is a delicacy here. It was sour and tasted very green, but everyone here loves them. I think maybe they like the green flavor, but that’s something I’m not very accustomed to.
Well this entry is long enough, so I’m gonna sign off! I couldn't wait to get the pictures uploaded so i'll do that another time!
Thursday, October 8, 2009
8 Octubre 2009
So a short reflection on things I have gained an understanding of here in Ecuador. I never gave much thought to how difficult it is to leave your country, your family, and your home to live in another place for more than just a vacation. Specifically I’m referring to the exchange students we had, most in particular Isabel because I lived at home with her. I never understood nor tried to understand how hard it must have been for them, especially at a younger age. I’m having a hard time explaining it in words, but I looking back so much makes sense – I can feel the emotions she must have been feeling, understand the difficulties she faced. Her constant frustration, feeling lost and isolated, looking for people to relate to and activities to do… At the time I didn’t give it any thought, just figured that she was fine because our family was so inviting and because we had the assistance of speaking German that everything must have been great for her. And I really wish I had considered her experience from her point of view more back then because I think that was something I was supposed to get out of having an exchange student. But I was so focused on how she was affecting my life and how it must be so cool for her to get to study for a year in America that I didn’t think about the difficulties of displacing your life for an extended period of time. And obviously she made that adjustment and seemed to enjoy her time with us. Given my experiences here, this is something I’ve been thinking about a lot. I feel like I’m learning something I should have begun to understand through the experience of having an exchange student, but this time I’m on the other side trying to explain the emotions and experiences to my host family here. And it is very frustrating sometimes trying to explain it in another language to people who haven’t even left the country much less taken the chance to live somewhere else. I find myself thinking “you can’t understand” when I talk to them because of the frustration of trying to explain something so complicated. My host brother and I talked about this last night because another friend has decided to return to the US this week. He was saying how we are supposed to be here for 2 years and how it doesn’t make sense to get here and just go home without finishing. He wasn’t able to understand that a lot of people really love the idea of Peace Corps but the reality of it is that it is very difficult to live in another country almost completely isolated from familiar people and things, in a different culture, struggling to speak a new language. The closest agreement we came to was that when he spent a night at his girlfriend’s house an hour away he missed being in his bed and having his things. He seemed to think it was the same which was frustrating as I tried to explain the fact that he was at least in the same culture and same language, but at least he is trying to understand. Anyway, I just wanted to share my reflection on my experience here in relation to the experiences of our exchange students as this was not a concept I had considered in the past. I know it’s a little jumbled to read - forgive me my English skills are decreasing gradually :)
So a short reflection on things I have gained an understanding of here in Ecuador. I never gave much thought to how difficult it is to leave your country, your family, and your home to live in another place for more than just a vacation. Specifically I’m referring to the exchange students we had, most in particular Isabel because I lived at home with her. I never understood nor tried to understand how hard it must have been for them, especially at a younger age. I’m having a hard time explaining it in words, but I looking back so much makes sense – I can feel the emotions she must have been feeling, understand the difficulties she faced. Her constant frustration, feeling lost and isolated, looking for people to relate to and activities to do… At the time I didn’t give it any thought, just figured that she was fine because our family was so inviting and because we had the assistance of speaking German that everything must have been great for her. And I really wish I had considered her experience from her point of view more back then because I think that was something I was supposed to get out of having an exchange student. But I was so focused on how she was affecting my life and how it must be so cool for her to get to study for a year in America that I didn’t think about the difficulties of displacing your life for an extended period of time. And obviously she made that adjustment and seemed to enjoy her time with us. Given my experiences here, this is something I’ve been thinking about a lot. I feel like I’m learning something I should have begun to understand through the experience of having an exchange student, but this time I’m on the other side trying to explain the emotions and experiences to my host family here. And it is very frustrating sometimes trying to explain it in another language to people who haven’t even left the country much less taken the chance to live somewhere else. I find myself thinking “you can’t understand” when I talk to them because of the frustration of trying to explain something so complicated. My host brother and I talked about this last night because another friend has decided to return to the US this week. He was saying how we are supposed to be here for 2 years and how it doesn’t make sense to get here and just go home without finishing. He wasn’t able to understand that a lot of people really love the idea of Peace Corps but the reality of it is that it is very difficult to live in another country almost completely isolated from familiar people and things, in a different culture, struggling to speak a new language. The closest agreement we came to was that when he spent a night at his girlfriend’s house an hour away he missed being in his bed and having his things. He seemed to think it was the same which was frustrating as I tried to explain the fact that he was at least in the same culture and same language, but at least he is trying to understand. Anyway, I just wanted to share my reflection on my experience here in relation to the experiences of our exchange students as this was not a concept I had considered in the past. I know it’s a little jumbled to read - forgive me my English skills are decreasing gradually :)
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Ok weeelll I had another update written but 1st the computer I went to at the cyber erased my flash drive so I lost that copy. But of course I had the copy on my computer at home buut when I went to format the flash drive to remove the viruses that I got from the cyber, somehow it also formatted the SD drive that I store my journals on, so I lost that copy as well. So now I will have to re'write it, but I don´t know when I´ll have time to do so, so it might be awhile.
Phone´s still broken though, so that´s why I won´t be answering texts/calls until it´s fixed.
Keep writing me! :)
Phone´s still broken though, so that´s why I won´t be answering texts/calls until it´s fixed.
Keep writing me! :)
Saturday, September 19, 2009
September 19, 2009
Thats a photo of me with my new hair cut (see below for the story)
So I know my posts have been a little dry but I've had an interesting time recently, so hopefully I can add some humor in here (Now that I’ve written the whole thing I came back to say it’s really long, sorry! It’s so hard to try to write everything in a semi-organized fashion, I kinda just write what I would say, which can be pretty verbose and scattered. If I were a good writer I would go back and rewrite, but alas I don’t have the time, patience, or urge to do so. So you get to follow along my though processes for an exorbitant amount of time) The first thing that comes in mind to share is my first “teaching” experience in Ecuador. I use quotes because I was supposed to be observing my host mom teaching language classes (side note: Thursday I really wanted to go back to work but I hadn’t heard back from my counterpart so I tagged along with my host mom. And by really wanted to go back to work I mean I really wanted to go back to sleep when my 6am alarm went off, but after a week and I half without working I knew that afternoon I would regret not getting up and doing something productive, soo I threw myself in the freezing cold shower and was instantly awake). So I get into this 3rd grade classroom with my host mom and she teaches for a few minutes, and boy are these kids restless. It’s a very different environment in the classrooms here, very chaotic and she literally has to scream for them to hear/listen to her. Then she comes over and tells me she has a meeting with the directora (principal) and a couple of the moms, and she’ll be back in 5 minutes. I’m like um ok great? So she leaves the kids with a little story to read in their textbooks. Wellll that lasts for about 2.5 minutes, then one by one they start misbehaving. At first they’re just joking around, then they start running around, then they start climbing the windows like little monkeys (the windows are just bars without glass, and they start about chest level for me, so they had to grab hold and pull up – I'm impressed by the agility of these kids!). Then some of them start running out of the door. A few ask me to go to the bathroom, and I let the first one go, but then when all of them asked, I figured out quickly they just wanted to escape. I felt like a movie star, surrounded by paparazzi touching me and asking me questions, except this was little kids poking me until I looked at them and asking repeatedly to go to the bathroom. Well I had a dilemma because I didn’t want anyone to pee their pants (how embarrassing for little kids!) and I was afraid that the one who needed the bathroom would be denied because the group wanted attention. At this point the noise had drawn a crowd of the parents who hadn’t left yet, some of whom were yelling at their children to sit down and behave. So I decided the safest thing was to ask the parents, so I asked one of the moms about the bathroom thing, and she said not to let them go because the 1 I had let go was picking a fight somewhere. Well, then some of them decided they wanted to just go without permission, so I lost two more out the door, one of whom wasn’t even in the class according to the moms. So the moms were like, just close the door duh! Again, dilemma: do I literally lock these kids in the room with me, that seems like entrapment or holding them against their will or something? But ruling out the moral issues, I decided that the legal system here probably wouldn’t have a problem with it and what else was I supposed to do?? So I shut the door and stood in front of it, checking my watch. It had gone from calm reading to totally loco in about 7 minutes. At this point they were running and throwing things and writing on the board and erasing what the teacher had written and all kinda of crazy stuff, so I confiscated the dryboard eraser and markers and a large stick someone had pulled out of nowhere and remained guarding the door. A male teacher came by at one point and restored semi-order for about 30 seconds then he lost interest and left as did the parents, so now I was on my own with these boogers. I knew if I took charge by teaching something they would calm down but I didn’t really wanna go there, so I kept checking my watch. 20 minutes. Chaos. Kids asking me stuff in Spanish amidst all of this = no way I could understand. Then it happened, I was talking to one child and I heard laughter. When I turned a boy was pulling up his pants – he had been depantsed. That was the end of it, I had let it go too long and I was taking charge. I yelled for all of them to sit down immediately and when they saw the look on my face they obeyed, only a few of the problem children resisting, but they gave in very quickly with my “obey or else” look. So after I had them at least seated (there were still paper airplanes flying) I asked them if they had learned any English in school, which caught their attention as well. They had learned the numbers 1-9 so we recited those, and I was teaching them the numbers 10-15 when my host mom fiiiiinally returned, a little proud smile on her face when she saw I was teaching English to a well-behaved class of 35 demon children. 5 minutes with the hora ecuatoriano (Ecuadorian hour) = 30 minutes real time. I was soo glad she came back to a well behaved classroom and didn’t see what a mess I’d made of it while she was gone! Well I sat and de-stressed while these little angels told her how great I had done when she was gone and how they really wanted me to come back. Yah, no way if there’s any chance I’ll be alone with them for more than a few minutes. Just a note, they acted up like crazy even while the teacher was there, kids getting out of their seats when they felt like it, yelling out answers, walking/climbing around. Phew I would looove to see these children in American schools – they wouldn’t be able to act like that where there’s actually a system of respect and discipline – or maybe I just haven’t visited any American schools recently. This just reminded me of a zoo with a trainer trying to control AND teach the animals, but really just yelling and hoping to make a difference in 1 or 2 of the 35 children’s lives. I did work 1 on 1 with some of the kids during the group work time, which was actually pretty cool. They’ll listen to anything I have to say since I'm a new gringa! That was class #1.
Class #2 was 4th graders, and I was a little worried when we were walking to that class and my host mom said “that was the easy class, here comes the crazy one.” I silently prayed I wouldn’t be left alone with them or I might just walk out on the Ecuadorian education system. Well as usual they were really quiet and shy when I first introduced myself, but one I took a backstage seat and watched my host mom teach they opened up a little bit. Then they started coming up to me and asking questions, or just coming up to say hi, which was cute except for the fact that my host mom was still standing teaching. I also strategically stood near a few boys who seemed to be having issues, which helped them focus on the teacher very nicely – good old proximity control! There were 2 boys in particular in this class who seemed to have a lot of issues paying attention and sitting still, but they also seemed to be looking for affirmation, so they would bring up their notebooks while she was teaching just to show her how good of notes they were taking. Adorable, but I could tell they were really wearing her patience, so I tried to help keep them focused. Well they were learning about articles in this particular lesson (la, el, los, las, etc – aka “the” in English) and my host mom wrote about 20 words on the board and had them copy and fill in the articles. Some of the children were running up every answer to ask her to check them so she was very busy. So busy she didn’t notice a boy copying the answers from his friends notebook. I bet he thought he was really sneaky, he kept peeking under the desk, writing, then looking around the room for a minute. Buuut clever as he was it was obvious since I was watching him. I walked over and before he had noticed and hidden the notebook I had my hand out and told him to give it to me. The notebook quickly disappeared into his friend’s backpack, so I told him he needed to do his own work and that I would be watching – I don’t think he was my biggest fan. Well, at this point everyone keeps coming up and tattling that so and so it cheating. Not only did I not know their names, but I was at this point walking around the room simultaneously helping kids who were struggling and using proximity control to control the cheating. I noticed a couple things that bother me about the education system here. For one, the kids who are trying get a lot of punishment. For example, several of the kids kept walking up, putting their notebooks on the teachers desk, standing there, and copying the words from the board. Or they would get up and come to me to ask what the word on the board was (they couldn’t read her handwriting). The teacher would notice them and yell at them to sit down they shouldn’t be out of their seats. But they kept doing it and kept being yelled at. I figured it was because either the handwriting (something they can’t help), or they were sitting too far away to see (something they can’t help – the classrooms here are set very backheavy, away from the teacher and the board, because of how large the rooms are, so a lot of kids are really far back. This encourages distraction/goofing off and makes it hard for kids to hear/see. I think this is a general problem with schools here since I've seen it in every school I've been in). I received confirmation when I was working with a really sweet quiet boy who just couldn’t do the assignment. He was supposed to copy words from the board into lines but only could do it when I was spelling it out for him. Then there was a word-search and he had to look for different words off the board and again he just stared at his paper with a sad look on his face. When I explained he just needed to find those words, he nodded then just looked up at the board. So I asked him if he wanted me to copy the words down for him and he nodded. I copied the words and told him I’d come check on him in a minute. I kept an eye on him and saw he wasn’t copying them from his neighbor, he was intently doing this word search. When I went back a few minutes later he proudly showed me his paper, completed perfectly. After the class I told my host mom about this and she said she knows he can’t read. But he had read the sentences in his book to me, so I explained I think it’s a problem with self-esteem and the fact that he can’t see the board. She then explained how she doesn’t have time to help him with the other 35+ kids demanding so much attention, which is frustrating but absolutely true. There are a few kids who are so desperate for attention (who show signs that this is due to abuse or neglect at home) that she can’t begin to focus on working with the more reserved ones, so they just fall through the cracks. It’s terrible and I know it goes on back in the states too, but the scale is much more extreme here. From my initial surveys with community members, it seems like a lot of kids don’t finish high school, usually for economic reasons (they have to work in the fields or on the streets). I also think a lot of this inability to divide attention equally stems from the lack of disciple/order in the classroom. It is completely chaotic. I believe that in some smaller schools out in the campo this isn’t as much of an issues, as my visit to the school of my counterpart was nothing like this, but I think the schools in the city (at least both of my host parents schools) are completely chaotic. My host brother was telling me that when he was in elementary school, during recess a couple of 4th graders were play-WWF-wrestling (this is how a lot of tragic stories begin) and one ended up in a choke-hold for too long and asphyxiated. I know that happened a lot in the states too, but things in the states changed as a result. Here, it seems very little has changed. My host bro said recess is better now, but when I was there kids were climbing on walls and roofs, running with sticks, throwing rocks, and smuggling candy and who knows what else in through the windows. It was unbelievable. They literally corralled them for 10 minutes to get them back into classes, and during this time I took away weapons (large sticks, rocks, etc) from 3 different kids who were chasing their classmates around. There’s a little cultural difference for you, the kids here are violent. They hit, kick, scream, do whatever they want and they generally receive nothing besides maybe a look from the adult. There doesn’t appear to be much discipline in general because the attitude is “oh it’s okay that he just punched the other child, he’s just playing. That’s normal.” And I don’t mean light punches, they’re full out aggressive attacks. It’s worse with boys than girls, but I have seen many a girl throw a tantrum when she doesn’t get her way or get into physical violence with a peer. The adults are very permissive with children here and pretty much let them do anything, even though they usually weakly say “no, don’t do that” a few times, but they always give in. Bad news when no never means no for a person’s whole life (which also apparently translates to other social settings but thankfully I haven’t had any issues there). Okay another issues with the system here: recess occurs not between classes but during a class. Soo we have the kids in this class for 45 minutes, then they go run and act crazy for 15, then they go back for 45, and of course are going to do absolutely nothing for at least the first 20 minutes. So we’re looking at about an hour of productive (and I say that loosely) time for this class period.. Who’s idea was that, really?? It would be so easy to correct, and also just by moving the classrooms into a structured format (all facing forward, closer to the board/teacher), and implementing a little discipline.. I can imagine the differences. Anyway, when class was over the 4th graders were so cute, they all came up and shook my hand – that time I felt like a celebrity doing good, not surrounded by paparazzi. Well I only went to those 2 classes with my mom because the only class she was supposed to have had been changed to computers for the day, so she only was teaching 2. So after that, we left early and I headed to the market to buy some veggies. When I was walking back I passed a couple kids from the first class and they stopped to talk to me. It was then I decided that no matter what else I do here in my site, I want to work with kids in the schools at least part of my time, even if it’s just once a week. Whether I’m teaching English, or helping children individually in classes, or working with the kids to develop a tutoring program, that afternoon was the happiest I've been since I've been at my site. I’ve had days when I’ve accomplished more, but this reminded me why I’m here in Ecuador, why I’m dealing with all of the changes and cultural differences, and why I’m putting myself through missing my life at home. And I know it’s not the kind of work that’s going to change the world, but if I change just one or two of their lives I think it’ll be enough of a reward for me. I want to balance this with the organizational work I’m going to be doing, and hopefully in that aspect I’ll be able to work on sustainable development. That part of my work is so overwhelming and obscure – how am I supposed to know how to create programs that are sustainable, that will help the community, etc., and what exactly AM I supposed to be doing?? I know it’ll work itself out with time, but for now it’s really difficult to deal with. Working with the kids provided me with some sort of concrete experience – it’s easy and I know how to do it, and I enjoy it. So that’s what I need right now, and that’s what I’m gonna do
Since this is already over 4 pages, I’m gonna save the other topics I was going to write about for another time, except to tell about my first Ecuadorian hair cut. So I explained to my host mom that I needed to cut my hair since it was long enough to tie up and it hadn’t been cut for 4.5 months now. She asked how I wanted it and I showed her a picture like it was before and explained I just wanted it layered, basically just like it was but all of it shorter. She said some word back and demonstrated with her hands what I’d just described, so I thought we had an understanding. So we headed to the beauty salon here. She talked to the lady and I said a few words of clarification, used hand gestures to explain, everything I could so this would go smoothly (a fellow volunteer had a very bad experience with her first haircut and ended up with a mullet and I was trying to avoid it). Well she starts cutting. Things are looking pretty good for awhile, then she starts cutting some parts really short but I keep telling myself she knows what she’s doing and throw a few words to clarify again, and she appears to understand. Well the scissors are moving as fast as her mouth, and I swear she’s cutting without looking at this point, just chatting with my host mom. Eventually I start literally squirming in my seat, telling myself it’s just hair and it’ll grow out, then finally it’s over. I’m just staring blankly in the mirror (the woman’s still just chatting away not noticing anything, blow-drying my hair) when my host brother walks in and says something about how my hair is shorter than his (he does have pretty long wavy hair, so it’s not like I have a buzz cut or anything), then he sees my face/reaction, laughs, and walks away chuckling to himself. In the end she didn’t layer it, didn’t cut everything, just cut some parts really short and left some parts long – basically did nothing I told her to do. Okay, the top is still pretty long (3.5 inches or so, don’t think she cut it at all), the back was cut to about 1.5 inches, but not the sides in the back (that part is like half an inch), and the sides range from 2 inches to .5 inches, depending on which part. Now, my whole point of cutting my hair was because I wanted it shorting because for one it’s a lot cooler here in the heat, and I guess the lady accomplished that much at least. Buut for whatever reason, they seem to think Americans like mullets (which I blame on the American TV shows they have here). Before you start judging, my hair wasn’t a total mullet, but definitely was a close cousin, too close for me. So I pay the lady the dollar and walk out stunned, trying to decide how long it will take before I can meet up with any other Americans or take any pictures of myself. And my host mom is insisting she likes it, so I tell her I like it to – what good does it do to be negative at that point? Well now a few days later, I’m actually starting to like it. I know it hasn’t grown a lot, but it doesn’t look like a mullet anymore, and my only big issue is I wish the top part was a little shorter (but I’m not getting into going back to any salons here). It’s actually a lot of fun, after I shower I just towel dry it then let it air dry without using a brush, and it’s really wild and curly looking. With a little mousse it would be more fun (and with a little gel it could seriously be a Mohawk, which I think I’m going to have to try at some point). Then after it’s dry I can brush it so it looks like I didn’t roll out of bed, but it still sticks up and is curly some. It’s very free and wild (not to mention really cool in the hot climate) while still presentable - I think my hair type is perfect for this cut. I got compliments from my coworkers today when they saw it, and I'm really happy with it. So the lesson: I guess everything works out in the end, even scary Ecuadorian haircuts. I just need to get it cut and wait a few days before leaving the house so it fixes itself
Okay I realize this turned into a long, probably really boring entry, but I had decided to be sure to write this weekend especially since I’ve gotten lots of encouragement from my friends back home: I’m glad those of you who are reading this are reading it and letting me know (not sure if that sentence makes sense). It’s really easy to feel like people don’t read my blog which makes it easy to not write often, especially since I get to talk to my family fairly often so it’s not like this is the only means of communication with them. It’s hard not being able to chat with you all when I want to, and I always think “oh man ___ would really get a kick out of this”, or “I wish I could tell ___ about this” – buuut then I usually forget before I write it down haha! And I really like getting little messages or facebook chatting about what’s going on in your lives (you know who you are) sooo send those when you have time! And if you haven’t heard it, look up “You know you want me” by Pitbull and Calle Ocho – it’s playing all the time here and therefore is in my head constantly, and I actually really like it.
One more little thing: I am feeling much better. I don’t know what tropical illness I had, but I know it was probably transmitted by mosquitoes and it was either a systemic viral infection or dengue fever. I'm gonna get a test later on to check if it was dengue, but the point is I am feeling almost back to normal. The only thing is that I’m really tired, sleeping 12 hrs a night, which I think is how it will be for awhile. I did start running again, and once I get back to a regular work routine, I think the tiredness will work itself out. Maybe I’ll just be going to bed at 8pm for awhile like I have been, but that’s okay because I think that’s what my body needs right now. It was definitely one of the most miserable times in my life, which was all that much harder since I’m here away from my home. Thanks for all the well-wishes, they really helped me feel better! And yes, I’m trying to avoid the mosquitoes, but the little buggers are really fast and smart – I've gotten a couple bites today and I can’t figure out when or how but apparently they were in my pants somehow. I’m killing them as fast as I can but they’re pretty much everywhere here and they’re small and sneaky and did I mention fast? :)
Ok thanks for reading this long entry (unless you cheated and just skipped to the end like I used to do in the “Make Your Own Adventure” books…)
Jessica
Grandma: Since I know you read this to grandpa when mom gives it to you, I just wanted to say hi and I love you and miss you. I just got your letter with the newspaper clippings – the article about the world’s oldest dog and the comics. You know, I never read the comics back in the states, but I really like getting them here. I’ve hung them on the wall with my pictures (I brought some with me to Ecuador and mom has been mailing me some too, so I made a collage). I know this will probably take awhile to get to you, and the next letter you write will take awhile to get to me, but I just wanted to say thank you for consistently writing me. I hope you are both healthy and happy, and I think about you often too. Try not to worry, I am doing well here. I’m glad you have the opportunity to read these blog entries and hopefully they’re interesting enough to keep you entertained! Miss you and Love you both! Jess
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