nothing is impossible.

Well, there are two things that I thought were impossible and this past week has gone and proved me wrong. The first and most shocking is that after two months of saying he was going to Brazil, my counterpart finally, finally left today!! I spent all morning with him today sending emails, confirming his arrival, that people will be there to pick him up, etc. I tried to leave 3 times this morning but he kept asking me to wait until he was leaving too. You could also smell the fear in him. I tried to tell him that for me, traveling is one of the most beautiful treasures and opportunities that we can embark on in this life but my Spanish isn’t that good so I just told him “I like to travel. Just relax.”

Second thing I got proved wrong about, Cumanda can be fun on the weekends!! After blowing all my money in Quito for the month, I have subjected myself to remaining in Cumanda for the rest of the month but I think I chose a good month because the “festivals of bucay” started last weekend and they last til the end of the month. This basically signifies minimal school for the children, no work for the adults, and way too much drinking for all. Plus an abundance of parades and concerts and fairs. On Friday, the other volunteer invited me to her friends birthday party which took place at a bar but yet they still had a table set up for presents and adorned with a cake; and they proceeded to share the cake with everyone in the bar. It was a really fun night and I got to meet a lot of Brooke’s friends. I also met some guy who used to live in Germany for 7 years and we shared an ugly mix of a Spanish/German conversation. Its disgusting how much of my German I’ve forgotten. But the the highlight of the night was when one of brooke’s good friends (42 year old man) dedicated a song to her leaving but broke down in tears before he could finish the song. If I have a grown man cry about my leaving in two years, then I’ll know my service here has been complete!

On Saturday night, this was a big night, which Gloria has been preparing me for for the past three weeks. There was a special concert in order to kickoff the festivals by Angel Guaraca, “The King of National Music”. Honestly, Gloria acted like a 13 year old at a Justin Timberlake concert. She went crazy, screaming, cheering, dancing etc. But before Angel came on stage (which wasn’t until 1:30 am mind you) Gloria and Maria insisted that I take pictures of them with Angel, which can be viewed by clicking on this link. Once Angel came on stage, he welcomed the entire people of Bucay and then somehow turned straight toward me (I guess I stand out in a crowd of 400 plus people being white and a foot above the rest) and then called me out by name and gave me my own very special welcome. Embarrassed out of my mind as 400 sets of eyes turn to look at me, I just gave a little wave and said gracias. Apparently he had asked Gloria who I was while taking her photo. Thank you Gloria. The concert ended up lasting until 4 am and which I proceeded to dance for the entire time because to my humiliation, Angel gave me a second personal shout out saying “what a beautiful dancer our new American friend is (which is absolutely not true and I think a mean trick he was playing on me)!” Then once again, not only did the 400 sets of eyes turn to me again but I also had enough dancing partners to last me until the end of time. Thank you, Gloria.

A few Sundays ago, a little boy asked me if I could teach him English so I said sure and him and his sister later came over to my house. Apparently they now think it's a Sunday tradition because 4 times this weekend they came to my house pounding on the door until I came out (personal space/time doesn’t exist). So finally, we agreed for them to come back at 5:30 in order to give me some time to prepare (mentally) and they took it as more time to build a bigger army because when 5:30 rolled around I know had 8 kids pounding on my door shouting “goot afturnoon”. Needless to say by the end, I had 13 kids that knew their colors and how to sing “head and shoulders knees and toes” which left me smiling and singing for the rest of the day too. If anybody knows of any other great songs, please do share. I’m currently doing research for next Sunday’s class.

My other big highlight occurred yesterday at work when my boss asked the accounting intern to type up a speech for him (completely not the work of the intern but rather me). I then told my counterpart that I can type it up and in shock said “really? But its in Spanish?” well sir, I know I don’t speak a lot but I do know how to read and type. Within 5 minutes, I had three people standing behind me at the computer amazed that I could type without looking at my fingers or the screen. I think it was the highlight of their day. Today, I typed up a letter my counterpart received that was in Portuguese and it was the same thing over with them in awe that I learned Portuguese so quickly. Apparently, they think you have to be able to understand what it says in order to be able to type it. These people blow my mind but I’m glad I can help!