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! :)
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