wow so i realized that with all the free time that i have on my hands i really shouldn´t be falling behind so much on my blog, but lazyiness is some what contagious and when i get to be a little bit lazy, it seems to turn into a lot bit lazy. so i´m going to break that trend and fill you in...
Last weekend, i took a few of my ´mental health days´(we get to take 6 mental health days and travel to bigger cities or visit friends) and went to Riobamba to stay with Ana for the weekend. my day started at 5:30 am when my counterpart calls me to tell me that he´s leaving, right now, for riobamba to go to some meeting for the co-op and wants to know if i want to go. some how, in my state of delirousness, i said yes, i want to go cuz i´d already been planning on going to Rio and in a car is always so much easier than a bus. but after i hung up the phone, realized it was 5:30 and i had nothing packed, needed to shower and really didn´t feel like rushing around (or riding in a car with him and his amigos for 3 hours) i called him back and declined his generous offer. Needless to say, i made it to riobamba with the bus around 1 and first things first, i went straight to a laundry mat and dropped off my clothes. yes, i hauled a potatoe sack full of clothes on a 4.5 hour bus ride merely so i could have them washed and DRIED. plus its really intimidating to see and trash can full of clothes and to actually find the drive to wash all of them by hand...as i said before, the laziness is spreading...
the weekend was a lot of fun and defiantly well needed. ha it made me realize how sarcasticly bitter i have become :) there´s about 5 other volunteers that live around rio and they usually come into town for the weekends and one volunteer lives downtown Rio so we hung out at her house on friday and saturday night and went out to the bars and had somewhat of a normal weekend. i spent WAY too much money. but when you´re deprived of variety of foods, its like being a kid in a candy shop and having way too many choices. needless to say, i spent $5 on a chicken burrito, with guacamole and it was incredible delicious.
Ana lives in an indigienous village about 20 minutes above riobamba and the king of her village was in town from quito for the weekend so i got to meet him which was awesome and he invited us to come stay with him in quito anytime we like, or to visit his mother who is a little crazy and has a giant house on the beach. but ana lives in the king´s house which is empty unless he´s around and it is defiantly one of the nicest houses i´ve been in in Ecuador. i´m a little jealous, but i´m really starting to appreciate the gaps between my walls and ceiling because it just means that all the giant bugs that get in and get out just as easily.
so the weekend was good. i left rio about 3 in the afternoon on sunday and bought the last ticket for the bus that left at 3 which is good because the buses wait until they fill up or they´ll stop continusouly to pick up ppl on the road, so if you have a full bus you´ll get to where you´re going a lot faster. but anyways, i bought the last ticket, the bus is packed, i walk to the back cuz i have seat number 43 and of course, there´s only 42 seats. awesome. i get to stand for this 5 hour bus ride. but much to my dismay, after an obnoxious amount of flattering words and wistles from a rowdy group of somewhat drunk men in the back, one of them offers to let me sit on his lap. literally about to loose all of my patients, i went up and talked to the driver and asked him where my seat was, and he looks over and is like, íts right here in front with me´. GOLDEN. ha i´ve always wanted to ride in the front seat. but then some jerk from the back comes up to the front, is complaining about something, squeezes into the space between the driver and i (which isn´t a seat at all) and just makes himself all comfy and pisses off the driver so that he pulls over and starts yelling at the man in between us. i thought there was going to be a fight but instead, the bus driver calmly looks over at me and says ´there´s a seat in the back, would you mind sitting there?´ of course, i said ´sure´ which sucks, i told should´ve said no, this is my seat but being the passivist that i am and just being happy that i understood what he said to me and not wanting to be a problem, i went and sat in this other guys seat. which, of course, was in the second to last row, right in front of the drunk man who wanted me to sit on his lap. needless to say, i arrived safely in Cumandá after about 4 hours of pretending to be asleep.
this week i´ve been somewhat working, mostly just spending time online. i realize i spend a lot of time online. way too much. but i´m working on a project of putting computers in all the schools of the county of Cumandá and i´m really excited because i found a company in seattle that is going to work with me and they sell refurbished computers for $25 a piece. so now i just need to figure out to get the funds for that. i´m working on a couple of local grant programs and then there´s also a bunch through peace corp that i can do so i´m pretty excited cuz what seemed impossible is looking somewhat possible.
but of course, my counterpart has ditched me for the past two days and i haven´t had a chance to tell him of the computer offers. yesterday, after waiting at the office for 20 min and him not answering my call, i walked to an internet cafe and saw him in the street and we just greeted each other and went on our ways. lol i really don´t understand sometimes.
this weekend i am staying in Cumandá. i´m not quite sure what i am going to do with all my time but i´m sure i´ll find something. yesterday i made chocolate chip cookies which turned out okay. the little kids loved them. my 3 year old neighbor girl ate four of them and her mom didn´t care but today she didn´t go to school because she was sick and not feeling well. hmm...odd. oh wow, also, this is the same little girl that had a 104 temp last week and all that her mom and Melita would do was rub an egg over her which is supposed to remove the demon thats making her ill. they did it three times and her fever would not go down. i was basically begging them to just give her some non-aspirin. instead they wrapped her stomach with lettuce leaves, put a mashed up potatoe on her neck and put fried onions on her feet and wrapped them in newspaper. i know i don´t understand the purposes of these remedies but really, just give her the aspirin and let her rest!
but yes...thats the last of my rants. anyways once again this is long, but before i go, i posted a photo album that my friend mitch put up on facebook on my profile. its got some good pictures of our swear in ceremony and our last week together in Quito when we were locked in our hotel because of the elections.
welp, its 9:45 friday morning and i´m not quite sure what i am going to do with my day. maybe i´ll call my counterpart again. maybe i´ll help Melita make lunch. maybe i´ll escape to Guayaquil. oohh the possibilites are endless. hope you all had a great memorial day weekend!!! my friends Ali and Eileen called me on skype and sang me America the beautiful and it has been stuck in my head all week. thank you for that. I hope that all is well!!
Friday, May 29, 2009
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Ok Grandma, here´s a new link to the photos, i hope that this one works.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2044777&id=29300584&l=dfcd1dfd31
also, i saw two of the best screen printed shirts today:
1. Its not easy being green. (cant even begin to explain the irony when the earth is your trash can)
2. Homing from work. (Worn by the man who has a mechanic shop in his front living room)
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2044777&id=29300584&l=dfcd1dfd31
also, i saw two of the best screen printed shirts today:
1. Its not easy being green. (cant even begin to explain the irony when the earth is your trash can)
2. Homing from work. (Worn by the man who has a mechanic shop in his front living room)
A week and a little more…
This past week I spent most of my time ‘work’ time going out to a bunch of banana growers farms (2 that were new). I have this little survey for the landowner and his workers as well and really the most important part is to get the workers id numbers and signatures incase of emergency/accident we would have their information. However none of the workers ever know their numbers so it makes my trip essentially pointless. Its fun meeting the people but we drive like 30-40 min for like a 15-minute session and then come home.
But this week has been better because on Monday my counterpart introduced to me Julio who is working on two projects, one of getting computers and internet to all the schools in Cumanda and the second of reforestation. Ha and actually both of these projects are frustrating in their own way. Everything is frustrating because I can’t help but think about how efficiently I could do this in the states or if I could just do it on my own but its silly to think that way because here it’s the Ecuadorian way. I do a lot of waiting. I am glad to be working with Julio though and am glad to be apart of other projects.
On Friday evening, my 13-year-old friend and I made pizzas for our families. A lot of them had never even tried pizza before, it blew my mind that these kids didn’t know how to make a pizza or even how to eat it really. I was really never making them but fortunately they turned out great. For toppings we had ham, pineapple, hot dog chunks, pepper and onion. Hot dog and pineapple was the favorite. We ended up having tons of left-overs and the little kids wanted to take them to the main corner in town next to the volleyball courts and sell the rest because on weekend evenings there is a guy on that corner that sells pizza there (only pizza in town) and they wanted to do it too. We decided to save them for ourselves instead.
On Saturday we had a “Minga” at my house to clean up the yard and the temple that’s below my house. A minga is basically like a church clean up day where if there’s one hosted in your area or you get asked you obliged to join BUT if you host a minga you have to provide lunch for all of the workers. Melita hosted the minga so she made lunch for all of us, but once again, it was supposed to start at 8am and the first to show up arrived at 11. It was fun to work with everyone and I got to meet some more neighbors and we got a lot accomplished. Afterwards a group of us went over and played volleyball. Which they call equa-volley and rightfully so because the only rules in common to the volleyball I know, is three touches and then get it over the net. Other than that you can push, shove or catch the ball in anyway you please. Their method is defiantly a lot easier. Saturday evenings they have an indoor soccer league that plays games at the high school so I went with my neighbors to watch the games. They play 5 on 5 and with a miniature ball on a covered basketball court, I was in absolute awe at how well they played. And by they, I mean the men’s teams. They had one girls team and it was hilarious to watch.
Sunday was my day to relax and there’s always a big produce market in the town across the river and I was looking forward to making a big list and then having a nice lunch to myself. Instead I spent the morning chatting with my neighbor’s cousin who decided to wait two hours until her cousin came back just so that she could see their new baby chick. Besides changing my plans, I really didn’t mind because she told me what all the fruit trees in my yard were, when to harvest them and then we picked some lemons/limes. After she left, I went to the market where I ended up meeting up with the other volunteer who lives in the town across the river and hung out with her for the rest of the day. Her two years will be completed in August and she made my day by telling me she’d sell me all of her stuff aka fridge for super cheap! Sooo happy.
This morning at 4 am I had the pleasant surprise of waking up to a creature crawling across my neck, which I instantly grabbed and threw off (this is underneath my mosquito net by the way) and being the hopeful person that I am, convinced myself that it was a harmless moth or spider. But no, I couldn’t see anything but I could just hear this obnoxious fluttering as my creature buzzed around the inside of my net. So I lean over, turn on my light and it’s a giant flying cockroach. Literally, I put my sheet over me like a cape and dove on to my floor where I sat for about 5 minutes contemplating how to get him out of my net while he crawled all across my bed, my pillow, even my bear. I don’t remember what I did but somehow managed to knock him onto the floor and he crawled underneath my bed. Not wanting to move my bed for the sake of waking of the teenage boy who shares my plywood wall, I decided to let the cockroach be until I hear this wretched scratching noise as he scurries across my floor and some how he finds ANOTHER one of his friends. So now I am chasing two cockroaches around my “kitchen” still with my cape on, Raid in one hand and my dustpan in the other. I managed to slice the head off of one of the roaches with my dustpan but the other one I sprayed and sprayed and he would not die. It did slow him down so I was able to beat him a few times with the dustpan until he ran out under my door. This morning I was happy to see that he was upside down on my front porch but by time I got home from work today his legs and whiskers were twitching so I smooshed him with rocks. Talk about an incredible determination to survive.
Also, apparently it’s okay to put dead cats out to be picked up by the garbage truck. Today was the completion of my third jog in Cumanda and every taxi/car that passes me still slows down, honks and motions for me to get in. Nope, I’m not in an emergency and no I do not want a ride. Its called exercise. Not all of us can eat a balanced meal of rice, yuca and plantains and stay thin. My highlight of today was running down the sidewalk while my 6 yr old friend (who can now count to ten in English) chased me and was screaming with laughter. It really is the little moments like that that keep me going. For every frustrating thing, I’m glad there’s something unexpectedly pleasant that happens. Just like on Sunday when I found the bag of Easter candy that I bought in DC right before I left. Such a smart buy!!
Welp, this is really long and unorganized so if you’ve made it this far, I’m impressed and thank you, hope it was somewhat interesting. One of my friends just sent me this quote and its what I will end with because its been the first and last thought on my mind these days…
Be present. Its not the past or the future that matters, its being in the now.
But this week has been better because on Monday my counterpart introduced to me Julio who is working on two projects, one of getting computers and internet to all the schools in Cumanda and the second of reforestation. Ha and actually both of these projects are frustrating in their own way. Everything is frustrating because I can’t help but think about how efficiently I could do this in the states or if I could just do it on my own but its silly to think that way because here it’s the Ecuadorian way. I do a lot of waiting. I am glad to be working with Julio though and am glad to be apart of other projects.
On Friday evening, my 13-year-old friend and I made pizzas for our families. A lot of them had never even tried pizza before, it blew my mind that these kids didn’t know how to make a pizza or even how to eat it really. I was really never making them but fortunately they turned out great. For toppings we had ham, pineapple, hot dog chunks, pepper and onion. Hot dog and pineapple was the favorite. We ended up having tons of left-overs and the little kids wanted to take them to the main corner in town next to the volleyball courts and sell the rest because on weekend evenings there is a guy on that corner that sells pizza there (only pizza in town) and they wanted to do it too. We decided to save them for ourselves instead.
On Saturday we had a “Minga” at my house to clean up the yard and the temple that’s below my house. A minga is basically like a church clean up day where if there’s one hosted in your area or you get asked you obliged to join BUT if you host a minga you have to provide lunch for all of the workers. Melita hosted the minga so she made lunch for all of us, but once again, it was supposed to start at 8am and the first to show up arrived at 11. It was fun to work with everyone and I got to meet some more neighbors and we got a lot accomplished. Afterwards a group of us went over and played volleyball. Which they call equa-volley and rightfully so because the only rules in common to the volleyball I know, is three touches and then get it over the net. Other than that you can push, shove or catch the ball in anyway you please. Their method is defiantly a lot easier. Saturday evenings they have an indoor soccer league that plays games at the high school so I went with my neighbors to watch the games. They play 5 on 5 and with a miniature ball on a covered basketball court, I was in absolute awe at how well they played. And by they, I mean the men’s teams. They had one girls team and it was hilarious to watch.
Sunday was my day to relax and there’s always a big produce market in the town across the river and I was looking forward to making a big list and then having a nice lunch to myself. Instead I spent the morning chatting with my neighbor’s cousin who decided to wait two hours until her cousin came back just so that she could see their new baby chick. Besides changing my plans, I really didn’t mind because she told me what all the fruit trees in my yard were, when to harvest them and then we picked some lemons/limes. After she left, I went to the market where I ended up meeting up with the other volunteer who lives in the town across the river and hung out with her for the rest of the day. Her two years will be completed in August and she made my day by telling me she’d sell me all of her stuff aka fridge for super cheap! Sooo happy.
This morning at 4 am I had the pleasant surprise of waking up to a creature crawling across my neck, which I instantly grabbed and threw off (this is underneath my mosquito net by the way) and being the hopeful person that I am, convinced myself that it was a harmless moth or spider. But no, I couldn’t see anything but I could just hear this obnoxious fluttering as my creature buzzed around the inside of my net. So I lean over, turn on my light and it’s a giant flying cockroach. Literally, I put my sheet over me like a cape and dove on to my floor where I sat for about 5 minutes contemplating how to get him out of my net while he crawled all across my bed, my pillow, even my bear. I don’t remember what I did but somehow managed to knock him onto the floor and he crawled underneath my bed. Not wanting to move my bed for the sake of waking of the teenage boy who shares my plywood wall, I decided to let the cockroach be until I hear this wretched scratching noise as he scurries across my floor and some how he finds ANOTHER one of his friends. So now I am chasing two cockroaches around my “kitchen” still with my cape on, Raid in one hand and my dustpan in the other. I managed to slice the head off of one of the roaches with my dustpan but the other one I sprayed and sprayed and he would not die. It did slow him down so I was able to beat him a few times with the dustpan until he ran out under my door. This morning I was happy to see that he was upside down on my front porch but by time I got home from work today his legs and whiskers were twitching so I smooshed him with rocks. Talk about an incredible determination to survive.
Also, apparently it’s okay to put dead cats out to be picked up by the garbage truck. Today was the completion of my third jog in Cumanda and every taxi/car that passes me still slows down, honks and motions for me to get in. Nope, I’m not in an emergency and no I do not want a ride. Its called exercise. Not all of us can eat a balanced meal of rice, yuca and plantains and stay thin. My highlight of today was running down the sidewalk while my 6 yr old friend (who can now count to ten in English) chased me and was screaming with laughter. It really is the little moments like that that keep me going. For every frustrating thing, I’m glad there’s something unexpectedly pleasant that happens. Just like on Sunday when I found the bag of Easter candy that I bought in DC right before I left. Such a smart buy!!
Welp, this is really long and unorganized so if you’ve made it this far, I’m impressed and thank you, hope it was somewhat interesting. One of my friends just sent me this quote and its what I will end with because its been the first and last thought on my mind these days…
Be present. Its not the past or the future that matters, its being in the now.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Photos
I made this album on Facebook but anybody should be able to view it on this link:
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=31428381&l=3193f070fe&id=29300584
enjoy! and let me know if it doesn´t work...
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=31428381&l=3193f070fe&id=29300584
enjoy! and let me know if it doesn´t work...
Sunday, May 10, 2009
happy mother´s day!
Augh so frustrating. i just typed up a whole blog and then it got deleted. so here we go on a quick, concise second version...
this week was interesting. for as little as i did i am a little shocked at how quickly it went by. my boss has a really hard time of actually calling when he says that he´s going to call so i didn´t end up meeting up with him until on wednesday where we talked for about an hour and then he sent me off to work on my own in my house. i am excited though because i created a survey to ask to each member of the co-op, after looking at the final draft though, my boss did tell me that i couldn´t ask about half of the quesitions i wanted to ask. apparently, you don´t need to know the problems, needs or changes that the people want in order to improve the company. but anyways the survey and creating a web page are my first projects for these next few weeks. ha who knows what i´ll do after that.
in my other free time that i haven´t been ´working´ i´ve been moving into my apartment. for some reason Melita decided that since i had so much free time it would be a good time to move out on my own. i wouldn´t exactly say that i was ready to move in on my own but i didn´t really have much of an option. but its good, i enjoy being on my own and have a lot less awkward moments of just hanging around Melita´s house. plus my neighbor has a daughter of 13 yrs old who has taken to me and i really enjoy having her around. i talk to her like crazy (reminds me a lot of my cousin Natalie) and i´m certain she cant understand about 70% of what i say but none the less she still hangs out with me. all the time. my first night in my apartment i had two peeping toms and a lady that came and banged on my front door asking for sugar because she thought my house was a store...no lady i do not have sugar to sell you. its 5:30 in the morning.
yesterday i ate two ice creams by 11 in the morning. it is soo hot here. its think its like 29-30 degrees celcius if that means anything to anyone. i haven´t got a clue, i just know its hot and i don´t like it. the mornings are defiantly the best time of day. its cool and calm and no one is out. its just you and the roosters. and its completely unfair because the roosters start crowing at 11 at night. the sun doesn´t come up until6!! what are you guys doing?
today is mother´s day here as well and its a pretty big deal. everyone goes to their mom´s or grandmother´s house so i am basically free for the day because all of my ´friends´are with their families. there´s a teenage boy in the internet cafe and he´s been listening to allison kraus´s songs for about the last 20 minutes. sometimes i forget where i am.
but yes, other than that i am doing pretty well. i´m a little frustrated with my boss and confused about what i´ll actually be doing but that will come with time. its defiantly going to take a completely different mind set. we´re taught that if we actually want something, we need to get up and work to achieve it. here, they patiently wait it out and wait for it to come to them. ya mismo is a phrase that is used all too often. basically means its coming...like you can ask how long til the bus is coming, how long til the main street in Cumandá is completed, are we eating soon, when will i be able to speak this silly language? Ya mismo. its coming...just gotta wait for it.
anyways i hope that you all have had a nice weekend and have a wonderful mother´s day. please give my mom an extra hug for me if you see her :)
this week was interesting. for as little as i did i am a little shocked at how quickly it went by. my boss has a really hard time of actually calling when he says that he´s going to call so i didn´t end up meeting up with him until on wednesday where we talked for about an hour and then he sent me off to work on my own in my house. i am excited though because i created a survey to ask to each member of the co-op, after looking at the final draft though, my boss did tell me that i couldn´t ask about half of the quesitions i wanted to ask. apparently, you don´t need to know the problems, needs or changes that the people want in order to improve the company. but anyways the survey and creating a web page are my first projects for these next few weeks. ha who knows what i´ll do after that.
in my other free time that i haven´t been ´working´ i´ve been moving into my apartment. for some reason Melita decided that since i had so much free time it would be a good time to move out on my own. i wouldn´t exactly say that i was ready to move in on my own but i didn´t really have much of an option. but its good, i enjoy being on my own and have a lot less awkward moments of just hanging around Melita´s house. plus my neighbor has a daughter of 13 yrs old who has taken to me and i really enjoy having her around. i talk to her like crazy (reminds me a lot of my cousin Natalie) and i´m certain she cant understand about 70% of what i say but none the less she still hangs out with me. all the time. my first night in my apartment i had two peeping toms and a lady that came and banged on my front door asking for sugar because she thought my house was a store...no lady i do not have sugar to sell you. its 5:30 in the morning.
yesterday i ate two ice creams by 11 in the morning. it is soo hot here. its think its like 29-30 degrees celcius if that means anything to anyone. i haven´t got a clue, i just know its hot and i don´t like it. the mornings are defiantly the best time of day. its cool and calm and no one is out. its just you and the roosters. and its completely unfair because the roosters start crowing at 11 at night. the sun doesn´t come up until6!! what are you guys doing?
today is mother´s day here as well and its a pretty big deal. everyone goes to their mom´s or grandmother´s house so i am basically free for the day because all of my ´friends´are with their families. there´s a teenage boy in the internet cafe and he´s been listening to allison kraus´s songs for about the last 20 minutes. sometimes i forget where i am.
but yes, other than that i am doing pretty well. i´m a little frustrated with my boss and confused about what i´ll actually be doing but that will come with time. its defiantly going to take a completely different mind set. we´re taught that if we actually want something, we need to get up and work to achieve it. here, they patiently wait it out and wait for it to come to them. ya mismo is a phrase that is used all too often. basically means its coming...like you can ask how long til the bus is coming, how long til the main street in Cumandá is completed, are we eating soon, when will i be able to speak this silly language? Ya mismo. its coming...just gotta wait for it.
anyways i hope that you all have had a nice weekend and have a wonderful mother´s day. please give my mom an extra hug for me if you see her :)
Monday, May 4, 2009
2 years.
Well I would like to officially report that I have become a “Peace Corps Volunteer” which means that I have survived my training and that PC now believes that I am capable of serving two years and making an impact for the better. However, their recent increase in confidence has managed to weaken my confidence as I realize this two yearlong adventure is about to begin. It was all fun and games when I was able to take comfort in the other 43 volunteers that were around but now that I’m on my own it’s a little more serious.
I have arrived in Cumanda with my obnoxious amount of stuff without any problems, much thanks to the endless hours of safe bus traveling that I sat through in training. Fortunately my counter-part/boss that I will be working with for picked me up from the bus stop so that I didn’t have to walk the half-mile to my house with all my stuff. The biggest problem that I had was receiving a call from my supervisor telling me that I couldn’t travel to Quito or Guayaquil and that I needed to have my medicine and face mask with me at all times due to the Swine Flu outbreak. Awesome. But I did read today that the Health Department of Ecuador proudly reports 0 cases of the flu here.
I have spent this whole weekend shopping and buying stuff for my apartment. I bought a bed and cooking unit today and some how I managed to forget that I didn’t have any money. The store vendor then drove me to the atm with all my stuff in his truck and I proceeded to mess up so many times with my pin number that atm refused to give me money. The vendor then continued to drive me to my house, help me unload my stuff and told me to come pay him tomorrow. I like this life style. However I did spend more than half of my ‘move-in allowance’ that Peace Corps allotted me, so I guess a refrigerator isn’t going to be a necessity. I mean who wants anything cold when its 100 degrees all day everyday? Yesterday I picked out the paint for my apartment; it’s going to be Amazonita green. I think it’s going to be a little obnoxious but I think it’ll be good for boosting my energy level on those days when I just don’t want to get out of bed.
Tomorrow is supposed to be my first official day of ‘work’. But I’ve yet to talk to my counterpart since he picked me up and dropped me off on the first day I was here so I’m a little curious to see what tomorrow will bring.
Saturday night I went to the evening mass with my neighbor and I am fully convinced that it gave me a migraine so we’ll see if I ever go back. There are a couple other churches in town so I hope for sake’s sake that they are better.
Today I went with the lady I live with to the river and it was the first time that I’ve been cold since I’ve been here. It really reminded me of being at silver creek falls so not only was it incredible to have goose bumps, it was also a little nostalgic. Melita, the lady I live with, is Taoist and knows everything about natural remedies and medicines. Today she asked me what my sign was, and I told her Aquarius and the first thing she said was “oh, you cry a lot don’t you?” Maybe…how’d you know? Ha but then I think about it and my friend Cora is an Aquarius and that girl couldn’t cry for the life of her, so I’d like to think of it as a lucky, but very accurate, guess. She is defiantly going to be one of the highlights of my time here.
Its odd to think that a year ago today I was graduating from U of P. It doesn’t seem like it was that long ago. My how a year can fly by. I can’t believe that some of my friends have had a real job for almost a year now…what crazies they must be. But they can probably afford more than a bed and cooking unit for their apartments as well.
Now that I am almost done rambling on, I just want to express how hot it really is here. I can’t tell you the actual temperature because its in centigrade and that means nothing to me. But its 10:30 at night and I am in my bed under my one sheet, solely to protect me from the deadly mosquitoes, in shorts and tank top and I am sweating. I have an argument every morning and night with Melita because she thinks its cold out and insists that I keep the windows and doors closed, when I think that life would actually be somewhat bearable if they were open. Naturally she wins every time but give me a year of this Spanish thing and I think I might be able to develop a pretty good argument. However I am lucky because we’re in winter right now and winter is hot and wet and summer is dry and cool and summer starts in June. I just have to survive the month without melting…
I have arrived in Cumanda with my obnoxious amount of stuff without any problems, much thanks to the endless hours of safe bus traveling that I sat through in training. Fortunately my counter-part/boss that I will be working with for picked me up from the bus stop so that I didn’t have to walk the half-mile to my house with all my stuff. The biggest problem that I had was receiving a call from my supervisor telling me that I couldn’t travel to Quito or Guayaquil and that I needed to have my medicine and face mask with me at all times due to the Swine Flu outbreak. Awesome. But I did read today that the Health Department of Ecuador proudly reports 0 cases of the flu here.
I have spent this whole weekend shopping and buying stuff for my apartment. I bought a bed and cooking unit today and some how I managed to forget that I didn’t have any money. The store vendor then drove me to the atm with all my stuff in his truck and I proceeded to mess up so many times with my pin number that atm refused to give me money. The vendor then continued to drive me to my house, help me unload my stuff and told me to come pay him tomorrow. I like this life style. However I did spend more than half of my ‘move-in allowance’ that Peace Corps allotted me, so I guess a refrigerator isn’t going to be a necessity. I mean who wants anything cold when its 100 degrees all day everyday? Yesterday I picked out the paint for my apartment; it’s going to be Amazonita green. I think it’s going to be a little obnoxious but I think it’ll be good for boosting my energy level on those days when I just don’t want to get out of bed.
Tomorrow is supposed to be my first official day of ‘work’. But I’ve yet to talk to my counterpart since he picked me up and dropped me off on the first day I was here so I’m a little curious to see what tomorrow will bring.
Saturday night I went to the evening mass with my neighbor and I am fully convinced that it gave me a migraine so we’ll see if I ever go back. There are a couple other churches in town so I hope for sake’s sake that they are better.
Today I went with the lady I live with to the river and it was the first time that I’ve been cold since I’ve been here. It really reminded me of being at silver creek falls so not only was it incredible to have goose bumps, it was also a little nostalgic. Melita, the lady I live with, is Taoist and knows everything about natural remedies and medicines. Today she asked me what my sign was, and I told her Aquarius and the first thing she said was “oh, you cry a lot don’t you?” Maybe…how’d you know? Ha but then I think about it and my friend Cora is an Aquarius and that girl couldn’t cry for the life of her, so I’d like to think of it as a lucky, but very accurate, guess. She is defiantly going to be one of the highlights of my time here.
Its odd to think that a year ago today I was graduating from U of P. It doesn’t seem like it was that long ago. My how a year can fly by. I can’t believe that some of my friends have had a real job for almost a year now…what crazies they must be. But they can probably afford more than a bed and cooking unit for their apartments as well.
Now that I am almost done rambling on, I just want to express how hot it really is here. I can’t tell you the actual temperature because its in centigrade and that means nothing to me. But its 10:30 at night and I am in my bed under my one sheet, solely to protect me from the deadly mosquitoes, in shorts and tank top and I am sweating. I have an argument every morning and night with Melita because she thinks its cold out and insists that I keep the windows and doors closed, when I think that life would actually be somewhat bearable if they were open. Naturally she wins every time but give me a year of this Spanish thing and I think I might be able to develop a pretty good argument. However I am lucky because we’re in winter right now and winter is hot and wet and summer is dry and cool and summer starts in June. I just have to survive the month without melting…
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