Today is June 30th. Two months ago, I was struggling to walk through the main bus station in Quito with my obnoxious amounts of luggage on my way to Cumanda. Wow, two months seems like a long time but then also nothing at all.
On other notes, This past weekend I did my very first official Peace Corps requirement and I feel like they would be proud of me. What I mean to say is that during our first three months in site, we are required to do these surveys of 50 families in our community, compile all the information into a presentation and then present it in September (with our counterparts) in Quito. The purpose of the project is to create my projects for the next two years, assess the needs in the community and also use as a method of explaining why I am here and that I am here as a resource to the community. But anyways on Sunday I did my first survey! So now, with a bunch of corrections made to my survey, only 49 more left to do. I have been dreaded doing the surveys because I feel like it's a little bit of an invasion of personal space/information but its not like that at all. My first one was with Maria (she has lived and worked for Melita for the past 15 years) and she loved the survey. Loved it and took it very seriously. The second questions (the first asking for your full name) is do you have a nickname. She put a name that I have never once heard her been called and she explained to me for about 5 minutes why and how she got this nickname. It was really interesting to talk with her and it made me happy because it probably took us about an hour and afterwards we shared a plate of cooked beans and cheese.
Friday was Gloria’s birthday and since I have become the baking master of Cumanda, Melita asked me to make two cakes for her. I took it as two separate cakes that if you didn’t like one, you could eat the other or eat a little bit of both. So I made a normal chocolate cake so the children could decorate it and what not and then an upside down apple cake (there weren’t any pineapples at the time). Turns out, they put the two cakes together a frosted and decorated the whole thing as one. They covered it with vanilla and raspberry frostings, gumballs and fresh strawberries. And when I say they, I mean me and my 35 year old friend, Maria. Nonetheless it turned out delicious (and beautiful as you can tell from the picture).
Friday after the birthday fiesta I jumped on a bus and headed to Guayaquil.
There was a convention for HIV/AIDS prevention hosted by the US embassy, which I didn’t go to but a bunch of other volunteers did, so I took advantage of having them so close and went and visited them for the evening. There were two girls from my group, Colleen and Carolina, and then about 20 of us in total. I got in around 5 and met them at their hotel, then we left for dinner, drinks and a loooong fun night out of dancing. Saturday am Colleen left really early and Carolina and I spent the morning walking around Guayaquil until we came upon this Iguana/turtle/squirrel park where they just let all the animals roam around freely. I don’t know how or why they don’t escape but they all seemed pretty content just hanging out on the lawns. Afterwards we went to a mall and walked around for two hours where I had a Baskin Robbins ice cream cone (no chocolate peanut butter sadly, just mint choc chip) and sushi!!
I got back to Cumanda around 3 on Saturday afternoon and took a nap because it was absolutely too hot to do anything. Afterwards I got up, did a very Ecuadorian stroll (slow, slow, slow walking) through the market, the boardwalk, the main streets and sampled a little bit of everything the weekend vendors had to offer. Bbq-ed plantain, chicken on a stick and corn on the cob with garlic butter and grated cheese. Delicious.
So the bad news that I have to share is that yesterday (Monday) I found out that my good friend Ana has decided to return back to the states. She’d been struggling with her site (its very secluded and its an indigenous site so few people actually speak Spanish and majority speak the native tongue, Kuichwa) and she just decided it wasn’t her thing. It makes very sad as she was my first peace corps friend (when I got dropped off a the hotel in DC her mom got into my cab to leave and Ana saw my bags and we’ve been besties ever since) but also she is now the fourth person to leave in the past week. People are dropping like flies and it’s sad that we don’t get a chance to say goodbye. I’m hoping that Ana will be able to stay in Quito until Friday at least so that I can see. When you leave early, peace corps books the ticket for you and they usually try to do it asap.
But the good news is, this weekend I am going to Quito/Cayambe to meet my “little brother”! There is a new omnibus (group of volunteers) that came in two weeks ago and I got assigned a little brother (he’s actually 29) to help with questions, calm the nerves and what not. I have been looking forward to this weekend for the past few weeks now. But also there are a bunch of other volunteers who will be in town that I haven’t seen since we swore in so it will be fun weekend all in all.
This is a photo of where my company is building their new building. My CP told me that it would be completed in 3 months but then I asked another member of the Co-op and he told me 6 months so if its anything less than 9 months I’ll be shocked. But I’m going to try and take a monthly picture to measure the progress. I am excited because they’re building an office just for me in the new building! Whoo whoo! I think that my CP is leaving for Brasil on Thursday to go visit a company that makes dehydrated bananas (the project that I am supposed to start/help with) and hopefully he’ll be buying the machines and getting them shipped back. I say I think he’s leaving because I also thought he was leaving May 22nd and then June 26th but every time I ask him why he hasn’t left he just chuckles and changes the subject. Sometimes I really don’t understand how anything functions in this town.
On other notes, This past weekend I did my very first official Peace Corps requirement and I feel like they would be proud of me. What I mean to say is that during our first three months in site, we are required to do these surveys of 50 families in our community, compile all the information into a presentation and then present it in September (with our counterparts) in Quito. The purpose of the project is to create my projects for the next two years, assess the needs in the community and also use as a method of explaining why I am here and that I am here as a resource to the community. But anyways on Sunday I did my first survey! So now, with a bunch of corrections made to my survey, only 49 more left to do. I have been dreaded doing the surveys because I feel like it's a little bit of an invasion of personal space/information but its not like that at all. My first one was with Maria (she has lived and worked for Melita for the past 15 years) and she loved the survey. Loved it and took it very seriously. The second questions (the first asking for your full name) is do you have a nickname. She put a name that I have never once heard her been called and she explained to me for about 5 minutes why and how she got this nickname. It was really interesting to talk with her and it made me happy because it probably took us about an hour and afterwards we shared a plate of cooked beans and cheese.
Friday was Gloria’s birthday and since I have become the baking master of Cumanda, Melita asked me to make two cakes for her. I took it as two separate cakes that if you didn’t like one, you could eat the other or eat a little bit of both. So I made a normal chocolate cake so the children could decorate it and what not and then an upside down apple cake (there weren’t any pineapples at the time). Turns out, they put the two cakes together a frosted and decorated the whole thing as one. They covered it with vanilla and raspberry frostings, gumballs and fresh strawberries. And when I say they, I mean me and my 35 year old friend, Maria. Nonetheless it turned out delicious (and beautiful as you can tell from the picture).Friday after the birthday fiesta I jumped on a bus and headed to Guayaquil.
There was a convention for HIV/AIDS prevention hosted by the US embassy, which I didn’t go to but a bunch of other volunteers did, so I took advantage of having them so close and went and visited them for the evening. There were two girls from my group, Colleen and Carolina, and then about 20 of us in total. I got in around 5 and met them at their hotel, then we left for dinner, drinks and a loooong fun night out of dancing. Saturday am Colleen left really early and Carolina and I spent the morning walking around Guayaquil until we came upon this Iguana/turtle/squirrel park where they just let all the animals roam around freely. I don’t know how or why they don’t escape but they all seemed pretty content just hanging out on the lawns. Afterwards we went to a mall and walked around for two hours where I had a Baskin Robbins ice cream cone (no chocolate peanut butter sadly, just mint choc chip) and sushi!!I got back to Cumanda around 3 on Saturday afternoon and took a nap because it was absolutely too hot to do anything. Afterwards I got up, did a very Ecuadorian stroll (slow, slow, slow walking) through the market, the boardwalk, the main streets and sampled a little bit of everything the weekend vendors had to offer. Bbq-ed plantain, chicken on a stick and corn on the cob with garlic butter and grated cheese. Delicious.
So the bad news that I have to share is that yesterday (Monday) I found out that my good friend Ana has decided to return back to the states. She’d been struggling with her site (its very secluded and its an indigenous site so few people actually speak Spanish and majority speak the native tongue, Kuichwa) and she just decided it wasn’t her thing. It makes very sad as she was my first peace corps friend (when I got dropped off a the hotel in DC her mom got into my cab to leave and Ana saw my bags and we’ve been besties ever since) but also she is now the fourth person to leave in the past week. People are dropping like flies and it’s sad that we don’t get a chance to say goodbye. I’m hoping that Ana will be able to stay in Quito until Friday at least so that I can see. When you leave early, peace corps books the ticket for you and they usually try to do it asap.
But the good news is, this weekend I am going to Quito/Cayambe to meet my “little brother”! There is a new omnibus (group of volunteers) that came in two weeks ago and I got assigned a little brother (he’s actually 29) to help with questions, calm the nerves and what not. I have been looking forward to this weekend for the past few weeks now. But also there are a bunch of other volunteers who will be in town that I haven’t seen since we swore in so it will be fun weekend all in all.
This is a photo of where my company is building their new building. My CP told me that it would be completed in 3 months but then I asked another member of the Co-op and he told me 6 months so if its anything less than 9 months I’ll be shocked. But I’m going to try and take a monthly picture to measure the progress. I am excited because they’re building an office just for me in the new building! Whoo whoo! I think that my CP is leaving for Brasil on Thursday to go visit a company that makes dehydrated bananas (the project that I am supposed to start/help with) and hopefully he’ll be buying the machines and getting them shipped back. I say I think he’s leaving because I also thought he was leaving May 22nd and then June 26th but every time I ask him why he hasn’t left he just chuckles and changes the subject. Sometimes I really don’t understand how anything functions in this town. 
I found this little guy when i was sweeping under my bed yesterday morning. i´ve been wondering why i´ve been getting such massive spider bites and i guess this goes to show why. I wish you could see the hair on him. its pretty disgusting.Other than that though things with me are going well. I'm starting to feel more comfortable and Cumanda is becoming more of my home then just the place I’m living for the next few years. People keep seeing me and being like “whoa, you’re still here? I thought you were going to leave.” No sir, I know my Spanish isn’t that great but when I said two years, I meant two years. But when I told Gloria (my neighbor, “host mom”) about Ana last night, she got really scared and basically begged me not to leave and told me how lonely she would be. Ahh it feels good to be loved :)
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