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…