Well once again, its been way too long since I’ve updated but I have to say that this time its only partially my fault. I did type up a blog about a week ago with some good stories for ya’ll but I only saved it to my flash and when I went to post it on a computer with internet, it told me that the flash had a virus and was unable to open the documents…thus I have managed to ruin flash #7. Lets hope #8 will have more luck…
So as of recent things have been a party here. The last week of January was a week of fiestas for the city of Cumanda. I was lucky enough to be forced to parade with the group of wives of the Municipal members (because I am my counterpart’s chosen representative) on the final day of the fiestas. It was fun except for the fact that I had to wear a creamy orange blouse/more like suit jacket with shoulder pads with black dress pants that sat embarrassingly high on my hips, we paraded at 9 am, it rained on us (weren’t allowed to use umbrellas), we had to watch 3 more hours of parading from the judges platform, had to sit through 2 hours of “meetings” in a boiling hot, air-condition-less room and didn’t get to eat until 4:30 in the afternoon. So when I say it was fun; well I hope you can catch my sarcasm. It was as if I had a real job and was expected to be a grown up…not fun.
Another reason why I was so irritated about the parade, it happened to take place on the same day that our doctors would be in Guayaquil to give us our required Swine Flu Vaccinations. Obviously I couldn’t miss the parade so I had to travel to Cuenca (6 hours to and 6 hours back) the following Tuesday merely to receive a damn shot. I was not happy. But I have to say it was well worth the trip merely because I finally met my one true love, Maria Jose, my new, precious, smelly, 8-week-old kitten that has a fascination with peeing on my shoes.
Two weekends ago I celebrated my birthday and two days before I received the greatest birthday present ever; a visit from my super great incredible friend Stefanie. We have had a great time reconnecting, catching up, traveling, drinking beers and just hanging out. For my birthday, we have had the fortune to celebrate all weekend long. On Friday night after the ritual service in the Temple with Melita, they surprised me with an ice cream cake and a Melita dedicated a few songs to me. Saturday (actual Birthday) Stef and I went for a hike-jog in the am and then went to the market with friend Jorge to buy meat and veggies for the BBQ on Sunday. Afterwards we went back to the house, relaxed, returned to Jorge’s house for a special birthday dinner that he made for me and 3 other friends. Stef and I then went back to my house where friends Alice and friends were waiting for us with Margaritas and tacos. We then headed to my friends bar to celebrate the night away. On Sunday we all meet up around noon, packed everything into the back of a pickup truck and headed to this awesome local pool that provides a free covered area to BBQ and eat. So we spent the afternoon grilling meat, chicken, sausages, shrimp, potatoes and green bananas while throwing buckets of water (carnaval game) and drinking beer.
All in all, I had a great weekend and couldn’t of imagined a better way to spend it. Although I did wake up Saturday morning craving Mom’s Birthday breakfast…
I spent this the entirety of this past week in Riobamba attending a Beekeeping conference. I went with a professor from the local high school because we’re hoping to start up a beekeeping project with the students this following school year. She’s the same professor that I am helping with the chicken project. Which is a lot of fun but slightly frustrating because I am just supposed to chaperone the students and help them clean, feed, care for the chickens but since they’re in summer vacations they haven’t been doing a very good job of showing up. So it basically turns into Amanda and the chickens project.
This past weekend was Carnaval and it was a weekend of pure craziness. Technically Carnaval starts after Epiphany in January and by “start” I mean it allows people to start “playing carnaval” which is only played by getting people wet with buckets of water and water balloons. So the past few weeks I have had the occasional balloon tossed in my direction which was fun and didn’t bother me but I think that today is the first day that my clothes have remained dry since Saturday. Kids and adults went crazy. It was literally impossible to walk down the street without getting water thrown at you. But Stef and I took it into our hands and used my third storey apartment to our advantage and spent afternoons just throwing water balloons at cars and pedestrians. Sunday afternoon a friend invited us to her family’s pool and the instant we arrived, they covered us in buckets of water and face paint. We spent the day swimming in our clothes, tossing water and dancing. It is crazy here how they go all out and it is a lot of fun, but I am glad that it is over!
These upcoming weeks have in hold for me continuing to take care of the chickens, I’m starting an Tourism based English class in the evenings, working on finding a good week to organize my girls basketball camp and getting ready for my parents visit in March. There have been so many people that have already invited my parents over for dinner, how they want to have a big BBQ or kill a chicken and roast it, it makes me even more excited for them to be here, to see where and how I live!
Well I hope that all of you are doing well, hope you had a great Valentine’s Day and have made your promises for lent! Take care. Love love.
