Wednesday, February 27, 2008
big news!
A quick update... Today I found out that my volunteer position will be based out of the city of Macas in the jungle, or the city of Loja in the southern Sierra... more news to come soon...
La Yapa
Hello!,
It’s been raining here non-stop for the last 10 days and the President of Ecuador declared a state of emergency since there have been a lot of landslides and roads washed out. The flooding hasn’t affected the area where I am, but much of the area in the southwest part of the country is in pretty bad shape. The sun popped out this past weekend finally, which was a nice change from the thick clouds that we had the rest of the week.
Other than the rain, last week involved a bunch of cooking, which was fun. My language group cooked lunch at one of our host family’s houses and even though we were supposed to make Ecuadorian food, we were so tired of soup and rice that I think 75% of what we made was Mexican (Guacamole, tortillas, sautéed peppers and onions, queso fresco, blackberry/lime juice, fried plantains, and caca de perro). The caca de perro is a dessert/snack that's made from maize, panela (sugar cane) and a bit of oil. On Friday, we spent the morning learning about how to stay healthy by eating the local foods. One of the current Peace Corps volunteers is a former chef, so he showed us a bunch of recipes and techniques in the kitchen at the training center. It looks like I still may be able to bake something now and then since he showed us how to make a “campo” oven that works on the stovetop. All it is is a huge pot with a brick at the bottom and a tight fitting lid. You put the cake pan on top of the brick, light up the burner, and bake away. We made a carrot cake in it that came out pretty good. We also had a pot luck lunch on Friday and each of the 11 community groups made something. My group made patacones (fried green plantains) yet again. The night before, I went to the local market to pick up the plantains and decided to put my bargaining skills to work. I ended up getting 7 plantains for 50 cents. Plus, we learned recently in our language class about “La Yapa” or the “freebie” so I decided to work that into the deal as well. If you’re buying a couple of just about any fruit or vegetable, just ask for La Yapa before the deal is done and usually the vender will throw something else in for free. This time around I ended up getting a dozen of the mini-bananas as my yapa. Seven plantains and a dozen mini-bananas for 50 cents… not bad!
Besides the good eating this week, we went on two trips. The first was just about 10 of us that were selected to go up to a school in Cangahua, which is about a 40-minute bus ride from Tabacundo. The school was located way up in the mountains at about 12,000 feet above sea level. The way the bus driver navigated the dirt and stone roads was pretty amazing. At the school (called La Escuela de 29 de Octubre… for some reason lots of things in Ecuador are named after dates), we observed an environmental education session by the Fondo para la proteccion de agua (FONAG). Many schools have little or no environmental education, so FONAG travels from school to school and does a monthly workshop for the kids. We watched and helped out with two activities in a class of 10 year olds. In the first, the kids watched a movie about deforestation and then were given two sheets of paper - one that had lots of trees and the other one with lots of tree stumps. On both sheets there were several bunnies with different facial expressions, and the kids had to color in the bunny with the facial expression that applied to each scenario (i.e. happy bunny with trees, sad bunny without trees). I’m not sure how effective that activity was, since half the kids just wanted to color the whole sheet. After a morning recess (there are like 4 recesses during the day!), the kids got into groups and used colored clay to create some scenes on pieces of cardboard showing a healthy forest, an unhealthy forest, etc. The kids were pretty engaged in this activity which was good. The recess before the activity was pretty crazy… Some kids brought bulk bags of candy with them to school and were trying to sell the candy to us and other kids during the recess. In talking with the FONDO people, we learned that the quality of education here (and many other places) is pretty poor. The teachers are often more babysitters than anything else, and the kids have recess for about half the day. The trip was a good way to see what’s in store for us if we end up helping out with environmental education sessions at our sites.
For the second trip, we were divided up into 5 groups. My group ended up going to Cotacatchi which is about an hour and a half north of Cayambe. The weather turned out to be great, which made the trip much more enjoyable. Cotacatchi is known for its leather artisans and the stuff on display was pretty nice (belts, handbags, briefcases, jackets, etc.) The stuff was relatively expensive by Ecuadorian standards, but pretty cheap by US standards ($25 for a handmade leather handbag). It was nice to see the stuff being made right in front of you from cows that grazed right down the road, rather than some Made in China bag in the States that probably costs 4 times as much. Besides touring around the markets and shops in Cotacatchi, we also piled into the back of a camioneta (pick up truck) and drove to the Cuicochi crater, which is now a lake with two small islands in the middle of it. The scenery was awesome and the roller coaster ride there was a blast too. We all went for a mini-hike to check out the crater from above, and a couple of us are planning on going back next week to do a longer hike. At one point on the road, two mini-grandmas (both of which topped out at maybe 4 feet) had a string attached to a tree on the other side of the road. As our truck was about to pass, they pulled up on the string in an attempt to make us stop. Our truck just ran through the string, but our language facilitators told us that some people do this in an attempt to make cars stop and give some pocket change. These women, on the other hand, definitely had a few looses screws. After we passed, they started laughing hysterically, waving and pointing. We think it was just some weekend entertainment for them. The whole scene was quite the site!
One other exciting/scary event this week was during a transportation safety training session. We all piled into a bus, and about 10 minutes down the road 3 undercover police officers posing as thieves got out of their seats and started waving their guns around screaming and yelling for everyone to put their heads down. They stole 5 trainees’ backpacks and then ran off the bus. The whole event was pretty unexpected and definitely a bit scary! We were all glad it was a training event and not the real thing!
Finally, on Sunday my host family and I went to the nearby park to hang out. We played some basketball and volley (a variation on volleyball) and then I pedaled the 8 year-old around on his bmx bike while he stood on the pegs on the rear wheel. I can’t believe how much the elevation here (9300 ft) can affect you. I was totally out of breath in about 5 minutes. Some others trainees that jogged frequently in the States have said that they can now only go about 6 blocks before their hearts are pounding out of their chests. The nurses said it will take about 1 – 3 months to fully adapt. At that point I’ll be Rocky! After the park, we went out for lunch and basically ate a variation on the same thing that we eat in the house most days (soup, rice, a fried egg, a little piece of steak, a quarter of an avocado, fresh squeezed pineapple juice and a grease-bomb empanada for dessert. Even though it’s the same thing we always eat, it’s not too shabby for $1.80! Finally we came back home and eventually made some pizzas in the fireplace for dinner. I took over the dough making process and my host family now calls me “maestro” since they were pretty impressed with my rolling pin capabilities. :) Next time, I told them that I’d make some sauce from scratch though since the “bagged” tomato sauce here is absolutely hideous. It’s more like a very acidic ketchup than tomato sauce. Nevertheless, I was ecstatic that there was no rice on my plate for the first time in about two weeks!
Click on the pictures below to see them larger...
It’s been raining here non-stop for the last 10 days and the President of Ecuador declared a state of emergency since there have been a lot of landslides and roads washed out. The flooding hasn’t affected the area where I am, but much of the area in the southwest part of the country is in pretty bad shape. The sun popped out this past weekend finally, which was a nice change from the thick clouds that we had the rest of the week.
Other than the rain, last week involved a bunch of cooking, which was fun. My language group cooked lunch at one of our host family’s houses and even though we were supposed to make Ecuadorian food, we were so tired of soup and rice that I think 75% of what we made was Mexican (Guacamole, tortillas, sautéed peppers and onions, queso fresco, blackberry/lime juice, fried plantains, and caca de perro). The caca de perro is a dessert/snack that's made from maize, panela (sugar cane) and a bit of oil. On Friday, we spent the morning learning about how to stay healthy by eating the local foods. One of the current Peace Corps volunteers is a former chef, so he showed us a bunch of recipes and techniques in the kitchen at the training center. It looks like I still may be able to bake something now and then since he showed us how to make a “campo” oven that works on the stovetop. All it is is a huge pot with a brick at the bottom and a tight fitting lid. You put the cake pan on top of the brick, light up the burner, and bake away. We made a carrot cake in it that came out pretty good. We also had a pot luck lunch on Friday and each of the 11 community groups made something. My group made patacones (fried green plantains) yet again. The night before, I went to the local market to pick up the plantains and decided to put my bargaining skills to work. I ended up getting 7 plantains for 50 cents. Plus, we learned recently in our language class about “La Yapa” or the “freebie” so I decided to work that into the deal as well. If you’re buying a couple of just about any fruit or vegetable, just ask for La Yapa before the deal is done and usually the vender will throw something else in for free. This time around I ended up getting a dozen of the mini-bananas as my yapa. Seven plantains and a dozen mini-bananas for 50 cents… not bad!
Besides the good eating this week, we went on two trips. The first was just about 10 of us that were selected to go up to a school in Cangahua, which is about a 40-minute bus ride from Tabacundo. The school was located way up in the mountains at about 12,000 feet above sea level. The way the bus driver navigated the dirt and stone roads was pretty amazing. At the school (called La Escuela de 29 de Octubre… for some reason lots of things in Ecuador are named after dates), we observed an environmental education session by the Fondo para la proteccion de agua (FONAG). Many schools have little or no environmental education, so FONAG travels from school to school and does a monthly workshop for the kids. We watched and helped out with two activities in a class of 10 year olds. In the first, the kids watched a movie about deforestation and then were given two sheets of paper - one that had lots of trees and the other one with lots of tree stumps. On both sheets there were several bunnies with different facial expressions, and the kids had to color in the bunny with the facial expression that applied to each scenario (i.e. happy bunny with trees, sad bunny without trees). I’m not sure how effective that activity was, since half the kids just wanted to color the whole sheet. After a morning recess (there are like 4 recesses during the day!), the kids got into groups and used colored clay to create some scenes on pieces of cardboard showing a healthy forest, an unhealthy forest, etc. The kids were pretty engaged in this activity which was good. The recess before the activity was pretty crazy… Some kids brought bulk bags of candy with them to school and were trying to sell the candy to us and other kids during the recess. In talking with the FONDO people, we learned that the quality of education here (and many other places) is pretty poor. The teachers are often more babysitters than anything else, and the kids have recess for about half the day. The trip was a good way to see what’s in store for us if we end up helping out with environmental education sessions at our sites.
For the second trip, we were divided up into 5 groups. My group ended up going to Cotacatchi which is about an hour and a half north of Cayambe. The weather turned out to be great, which made the trip much more enjoyable. Cotacatchi is known for its leather artisans and the stuff on display was pretty nice (belts, handbags, briefcases, jackets, etc.) The stuff was relatively expensive by Ecuadorian standards, but pretty cheap by US standards ($25 for a handmade leather handbag). It was nice to see the stuff being made right in front of you from cows that grazed right down the road, rather than some Made in China bag in the States that probably costs 4 times as much. Besides touring around the markets and shops in Cotacatchi, we also piled into the back of a camioneta (pick up truck) and drove to the Cuicochi crater, which is now a lake with two small islands in the middle of it. The scenery was awesome and the roller coaster ride there was a blast too. We all went for a mini-hike to check out the crater from above, and a couple of us are planning on going back next week to do a longer hike. At one point on the road, two mini-grandmas (both of which topped out at maybe 4 feet) had a string attached to a tree on the other side of the road. As our truck was about to pass, they pulled up on the string in an attempt to make us stop. Our truck just ran through the string, but our language facilitators told us that some people do this in an attempt to make cars stop and give some pocket change. These women, on the other hand, definitely had a few looses screws. After we passed, they started laughing hysterically, waving and pointing. We think it was just some weekend entertainment for them. The whole scene was quite the site!
One other exciting/scary event this week was during a transportation safety training session. We all piled into a bus, and about 10 minutes down the road 3 undercover police officers posing as thieves got out of their seats and started waving their guns around screaming and yelling for everyone to put their heads down. They stole 5 trainees’ backpacks and then ran off the bus. The whole event was pretty unexpected and definitely a bit scary! We were all glad it was a training event and not the real thing!
Finally, on Sunday my host family and I went to the nearby park to hang out. We played some basketball and volley (a variation on volleyball) and then I pedaled the 8 year-old around on his bmx bike while he stood on the pegs on the rear wheel. I can’t believe how much the elevation here (9300 ft) can affect you. I was totally out of breath in about 5 minutes. Some others trainees that jogged frequently in the States have said that they can now only go about 6 blocks before their hearts are pounding out of their chests. The nurses said it will take about 1 – 3 months to fully adapt. At that point I’ll be Rocky! After the park, we went out for lunch and basically ate a variation on the same thing that we eat in the house most days (soup, rice, a fried egg, a little piece of steak, a quarter of an avocado, fresh squeezed pineapple juice and a grease-bomb empanada for dessert. Even though it’s the same thing we always eat, it’s not too shabby for $1.80! Finally we came back home and eventually made some pizzas in the fireplace for dinner. I took over the dough making process and my host family now calls me “maestro” since they were pretty impressed with my rolling pin capabilities. :) Next time, I told them that I’d make some sauce from scratch though since the “bagged” tomato sauce here is absolutely hideous. It’s more like a very acidic ketchup than tomato sauce. Nevertheless, I was ecstatic that there was no rice on my plate for the first time in about two weeks!
Click on the pictures below to see them larger...
Monday, February 18, 2008
Guata
Hola!
My second week in Ecuador was chock full of events, sleep not being one of them! I've been lucky enough to not have any stomach issues yet. My family's been pretty good at boiling all the water and cooking/peeling all of the fruits and veggies. About 6 people weren't as lucky last week though and spent most of the week affixed to the toilet sipping rehydration salts. The nurses have assured us all that it’s coming though, so I’m awaiting my gastrointestinal fate! On Thursday, we spent the whole day in training going over every type of gastrointestinal issue, mosquito-transmitted illness, and skin disease that we could potentially expect. Who knew there were so many distinct types of diarrhea! Everyone’s favorite by far was the 20+ daily bathroom visits and rotten egg smell emanating from your skin that comes with a giardia infection. The four types of worms that you could get and the fungal skin infections sounded appetizing as well. All were described in extremely graphic detail. Yum! Dengue fever sounds like a blast too. 10 days straight of fever, aches and light sensitivity – They basically described it as the flu times ten. We also got out malaria meds that we’ll be required to take if we end up living below 1500 meters above sea level. These are the once-a-week pills that are known for causing extremely vivid dreams and nightmares. The once-a-day Malarone pills that don’t have many side effects aren’t prescribed since they’re reserved as a treatment in case anyone was to get malaria.
The other classes this week consisted mostly of a ton of Spanish and cultural training. I feel like I’m not getting any better at the Spanish, but everyone else feels the same way, which is good. The trainers claim that it will just come at some point, so we’ll see. On Friday, we had our first full-day technical training session, which was a ton of work but also a bunch of fun. My group built an A-frame greenhouse, learned a bunch about agriforestry and soils, planted an organic garden, and learned about some plant propagation techniques. We ended the day with some lukewarm beer at a local joint in Tabacundo.
The food last week was good, although I’m definitely getting sick of rice already. This past weekend, my family made some Patacones, which are basically slices of plantains that are fried, smooshed with the bottom of a mug, and then fried again (because they didn’t absorb enough oil during the first fry!). We also made some banana fritters, roasted choclo (a starchy corn) on the fireplace, and some sort of steamed beef, tomato, and onion dish that was made from beef that was cut right off the unrefrigerated carcass of the cow hanging behind the counter in the butcher shop. The variety of fruits and vegetables that are available at the outdoor markets in town is unbelievable. I’ll try to grab some pictures next time I’m there. The mutant heads of cabbage that are about 2 feet in diameter are pretty crazy. Today for lunch, I had a whole trout, rice, lentils and some unknown exotic fruit juice for $1.25.
The “guata” that my family made one night though, does not rank highly on my list of great food experiences… My host mother put the plate in front of me and I asked what it was. “Guata,” she replied. Hmm… “What is guata,” I asked while picking over the unknown chunks smothered with a yellowish brown sauce. She said it was “oveja” (sheep). I thought, “Ok, I can do this… it’s just mutton. I’ve had this before.” So I started to eat it, but couldn’t get over the squishy, rubbery texture. I asked again what is was and again she said guata. So, I ran to my room quickly and looked it up in the dictionary. “Andes - Belly,” it said. At that point my gag reflex kicked in when I found out my plate had a pile of diced sheep stomach lining on it. I returned to the table, and attempted to eat more of it, but I was literally gagging on every bite, and just concentrated on the rice and oregano tea she had made. The whole time I was thinking, “OK, what am I going to do with this guata?” The dogs were on the roof, so that option was out. Then when my host mom finally got up, I did it. I swiped the remaining guata off the plate with some napkins and shoved it into my pocket! Later when I returned to my room, I put it in a plastic bag, tied it up, and disposed of it at class the next morning! I made sure to leave two little pieces of it on the plate though. When I brought the plate into the kitchen my host mom asked why I didn’t finish the last two pieces. I told her that the texture was different than what I was used to. After some more polite back and forth, I think she got the hint that I don’t like guata!
Aside from the guata, the rest of the week was pretty benign. I showed my host family iTunes on my laptop and they now think my favorite band is ABBA since that’s the first album that popped up when I opened it. On Thursday I had to sit through a whole DVD music video of ABBA’s Greatest Hits! Other than that I learned how to trim the front lawn with a machete and how to wash my clothes on the family’s washing stone (which stretches clothing out to about twice its original length). On Saturday night a bunch of us went out to a club in Cayambe called Recuerdos (Memories) which plays 70’s and 80’s tunes mixed in with salsa and merengue. We had a blast and it was nice to be able to interact with people that are not in the 11 and under demographic like the kids in my host family. (I think we’ve watched Toy Story in Spanish about 4 times already.)
Hope you enjoy the pictures below!
Enjoying lukewarm beer after a long week
My second week in Ecuador was chock full of events, sleep not being one of them! I've been lucky enough to not have any stomach issues yet. My family's been pretty good at boiling all the water and cooking/peeling all of the fruits and veggies. About 6 people weren't as lucky last week though and spent most of the week affixed to the toilet sipping rehydration salts. The nurses have assured us all that it’s coming though, so I’m awaiting my gastrointestinal fate! On Thursday, we spent the whole day in training going over every type of gastrointestinal issue, mosquito-transmitted illness, and skin disease that we could potentially expect. Who knew there were so many distinct types of diarrhea! Everyone’s favorite by far was the 20+ daily bathroom visits and rotten egg smell emanating from your skin that comes with a giardia infection. The four types of worms that you could get and the fungal skin infections sounded appetizing as well. All were described in extremely graphic detail. Yum! Dengue fever sounds like a blast too. 10 days straight of fever, aches and light sensitivity – They basically described it as the flu times ten. We also got out malaria meds that we’ll be required to take if we end up living below 1500 meters above sea level. These are the once-a-week pills that are known for causing extremely vivid dreams and nightmares. The once-a-day Malarone pills that don’t have many side effects aren’t prescribed since they’re reserved as a treatment in case anyone was to get malaria.
The other classes this week consisted mostly of a ton of Spanish and cultural training. I feel like I’m not getting any better at the Spanish, but everyone else feels the same way, which is good. The trainers claim that it will just come at some point, so we’ll see. On Friday, we had our first full-day technical training session, which was a ton of work but also a bunch of fun. My group built an A-frame greenhouse, learned a bunch about agriforestry and soils, planted an organic garden, and learned about some plant propagation techniques. We ended the day with some lukewarm beer at a local joint in Tabacundo.
The food last week was good, although I’m definitely getting sick of rice already. This past weekend, my family made some Patacones, which are basically slices of plantains that are fried, smooshed with the bottom of a mug, and then fried again (because they didn’t absorb enough oil during the first fry!). We also made some banana fritters, roasted choclo (a starchy corn) on the fireplace, and some sort of steamed beef, tomato, and onion dish that was made from beef that was cut right off the unrefrigerated carcass of the cow hanging behind the counter in the butcher shop. The variety of fruits and vegetables that are available at the outdoor markets in town is unbelievable. I’ll try to grab some pictures next time I’m there. The mutant heads of cabbage that are about 2 feet in diameter are pretty crazy. Today for lunch, I had a whole trout, rice, lentils and some unknown exotic fruit juice for $1.25.
The “guata” that my family made one night though, does not rank highly on my list of great food experiences… My host mother put the plate in front of me and I asked what it was. “Guata,” she replied. Hmm… “What is guata,” I asked while picking over the unknown chunks smothered with a yellowish brown sauce. She said it was “oveja” (sheep). I thought, “Ok, I can do this… it’s just mutton. I’ve had this before.” So I started to eat it, but couldn’t get over the squishy, rubbery texture. I asked again what is was and again she said guata. So, I ran to my room quickly and looked it up in the dictionary. “Andes - Belly,” it said. At that point my gag reflex kicked in when I found out my plate had a pile of diced sheep stomach lining on it. I returned to the table, and attempted to eat more of it, but I was literally gagging on every bite, and just concentrated on the rice and oregano tea she had made. The whole time I was thinking, “OK, what am I going to do with this guata?” The dogs were on the roof, so that option was out. Then when my host mom finally got up, I did it. I swiped the remaining guata off the plate with some napkins and shoved it into my pocket! Later when I returned to my room, I put it in a plastic bag, tied it up, and disposed of it at class the next morning! I made sure to leave two little pieces of it on the plate though. When I brought the plate into the kitchen my host mom asked why I didn’t finish the last two pieces. I told her that the texture was different than what I was used to. After some more polite back and forth, I think she got the hint that I don’t like guata!
Aside from the guata, the rest of the week was pretty benign. I showed my host family iTunes on my laptop and they now think my favorite band is ABBA since that’s the first album that popped up when I opened it. On Thursday I had to sit through a whole DVD music video of ABBA’s Greatest Hits! Other than that I learned how to trim the front lawn with a machete and how to wash my clothes on the family’s washing stone (which stretches clothing out to about twice its original length). On Saturday night a bunch of us went out to a club in Cayambe called Recuerdos (Memories) which plays 70’s and 80’s tunes mixed in with salsa and merengue. We had a blast and it was nice to be able to interact with people that are not in the 11 and under demographic like the kids in my host family. (I think we’ve watched Toy Story in Spanish about 4 times already.)
Hope you enjoy the pictures below!
Building a small A-frame greenhouse
Setting up a small organic farm
Enjoying lukewarm beer after a long week
Sunday, February 10, 2008
Still Alive!
Hi all,
I made it through the first week without getting killed! It was good to meet the other 42 people in my group at the staging event in DC – all of whom are environmental conservation or agriculture volunteers. Everyone’s extremely friendly with a good sense of humor, and even though it’s only been a few days we all feel like we’ve known each other for weeks. There are a bunch of folks fresh out of school, and also a good number in their later 20’s and early 30’s. Our group also has 5 married couples, 2 of which are in their 50’s/60’s. People come from all over the country which is pretty neat. The staging event consisted of lots of icebreakers, skits, cross-cultural case studies, and role-playing. There was a bunch of time in the evenings to hang out in Georgetown where everyone got to know each other better.
We arrived in Quito Wednesday night and checked into a hostel located a couple of blocks away from the Peace Corps Office. We were all pretty exhausted and headed to bed soon after we arrived, only to be awoken by an incessant banging noise followed by “reggaeton” drum beats for the next 2 hours. Hooray for ear plugs. In the morning, we had some breakfast and headed to the Peace Corps office where we were introduced to all the staff members, language facilitators, and the Country Director, “Cisco”. We had some presentations and then filled out a ton of paperwork and got some vaccinations. Luckily I only needed the rabies vaccine so my arm was in much better condition than the people that had to get 4 or 5 shots with the “highly energetic” medical officers. I also had my language competency interview, and although I thought I bombed the thing since I was staring blankly at the woman for half of it, I ended up getting placed in the intermedio medio (mid-intermediate) level class. This is the minimum level everyone needs to achieve to get sworn is as a volunteer at the end of training, so unless I somehow get worse I should be good to go as far as the language requirement. After lunch some current volunteers had a panel discussion about everything from only having electricity three days out of the month at their site and having to take an hour bus ride to get water, to intestinal parasites and all the goodness that follows… Whoa! At the end of the day we all got on a bus and headed to Tabacundo where we stayed at the Hostal Centro Mensaje and had a whole bunch of orientation classes for the rest of the week. The food has been pretty good so far. Breakfast is usually some kind of bread, yogurt, an unidentifiable cheese that tastes similar to mozzarella, hard boiled or fried eggs, and some kind of crazy fruit juice that nobody has ever heard of before (i.e. tree tomato). Lunch and dinner always start with some kind of soup and then we have chicken or beef, rice, potatoes, and some kind of vegetable. There’s always a sauce called ají on the table as well which has hot pepper, cilantro, garlic, and citrus in it. At night, there’s a little bar across the street where you can get a wine bottle sized bottle of “Pilsener” (the national beer) for $1.20.
On Friday, we found out who our host families are. I’m staying with the Liseth Atiaga family in Cayambe. The husband (William – pronounced weeyem) is some type of “vendedor” (seller) and the wife (Linseth) is an “ama de la casa” (literally lover of the house, or housewife). They have three kids – a 12 year old girl (Kelley), an 8 year old boy (Jordan) and a 2 year old boy (Ronny). Before heading to the house, we had a final little treasure hunt/language practice where we had to ask random people on the street where the post office/police station/etc. is, and once at the location ask the workers a bunch of other questions. We also had to take a city bus to the open-air market (22 cents for a 20 minute ride), and each of us was responsible for buying certain items and not getting ripped off! The bus gets insanely packed and some people are literally hanging out the doors when the bus is moving down the street. People will also get on and off the bus while it’s still moving! At the market, my little group was able to buy 2 amazing pineapples and a guaba (a 2-foot long bean pod with white furry seeds inside that taste like a cross between a banana and a mild pineapple) for $1.00! The prices of fruits and vegetables are insane (i.e. 20 oranges for a buck). “Luxury items” like a bottle of Herbal Essences shampoo or a TV, however, are the same price or even more expensive than in the States.
Finally, on Saturday we all made it to our host family houses. Everyone is super nice so far and the house is pretty nice. When I got there, they gave me a big hunk of watermelon and an orange Tang-like drink. Then I helped William and Linseth out in the front yard with a rowboat that they were fixing. After that, the whole family and I piled into the car and went to some unknown destination with vicious barking dogs to hang up a “Se Vende” (for sale) sign. Una abuelita (a little granny) was milking a cow next to the property and I got the impression that the “for sale” property belonged to William’s sister, but he speaks so fast that I have no idea what he’s staying. I’m getting very good at smiling-and-nodding! Pet dogs are totally different here than in the States. They all mostly live outside and it’s common for people to throw rocks and poke them with sticks if they’re not behaving (which is most of the time). The PC trainers recommended that we carry a rock with us in case a dog attacks! After escaping from the barking dogs, we went to the “supermarket” to pick up some items. It felt good to be a few inches taller than nearly everyone in the store! Back at the casa we had some dinner (soup, chicken, rice, veggies and hot chocolate) and then we sat around and I showed them some pictures of the States which I attempted to describe in mangled Spanish. Kelley is my savior since she can always sense when I have no clue what’s going on, and she tries to explain it to me in other words! After looking through a bunch of their family photos, I headed to bed. On Sunday, we left the house at 7:30AM and headed to one of the churches in town. I think I picked up about 5% of what they were saying. The service ended with a rousing rock ballad of “No hay nadie como tu” (There’s nobody like you (Jesus)). After that we hung out on the roof of the house for a while and had some more watermelon. Then we all piled into the car and went to Otavallo to check out the crafts there. We had lunch at a restaurant in town (soup, a hamburger without the bun, rice, and peas, with lovely yellow Jello for dessert and a glass of guabana? juice). Then we headed back to the house and I watched Narnia in Spanish with the kids and ate some kind of extremely hard bean/nut that they gave me and some chocolate wafer cookies. Jordon was awesome during the movie and taught me about 20 new words. Ronny is like a little jumping bean and is continually throwing himself onto the couch, climbing onto my lap and crumbling cookies on my shirt! That´s it for now! Hope you enjoy some of the pictures at the link below!
http://picasaweb.google.com/jkreiselman/PCWeek1
I made it through the first week without getting killed! It was good to meet the other 42 people in my group at the staging event in DC – all of whom are environmental conservation or agriculture volunteers. Everyone’s extremely friendly with a good sense of humor, and even though it’s only been a few days we all feel like we’ve known each other for weeks. There are a bunch of folks fresh out of school, and also a good number in their later 20’s and early 30’s. Our group also has 5 married couples, 2 of which are in their 50’s/60’s. People come from all over the country which is pretty neat. The staging event consisted of lots of icebreakers, skits, cross-cultural case studies, and role-playing. There was a bunch of time in the evenings to hang out in Georgetown where everyone got to know each other better.
We arrived in Quito Wednesday night and checked into a hostel located a couple of blocks away from the Peace Corps Office. We were all pretty exhausted and headed to bed soon after we arrived, only to be awoken by an incessant banging noise followed by “reggaeton” drum beats for the next 2 hours. Hooray for ear plugs. In the morning, we had some breakfast and headed to the Peace Corps office where we were introduced to all the staff members, language facilitators, and the Country Director, “Cisco”. We had some presentations and then filled out a ton of paperwork and got some vaccinations. Luckily I only needed the rabies vaccine so my arm was in much better condition than the people that had to get 4 or 5 shots with the “highly energetic” medical officers. I also had my language competency interview, and although I thought I bombed the thing since I was staring blankly at the woman for half of it, I ended up getting placed in the intermedio medio (mid-intermediate) level class. This is the minimum level everyone needs to achieve to get sworn is as a volunteer at the end of training, so unless I somehow get worse I should be good to go as far as the language requirement. After lunch some current volunteers had a panel discussion about everything from only having electricity three days out of the month at their site and having to take an hour bus ride to get water, to intestinal parasites and all the goodness that follows… Whoa! At the end of the day we all got on a bus and headed to Tabacundo where we stayed at the Hostal Centro Mensaje and had a whole bunch of orientation classes for the rest of the week. The food has been pretty good so far. Breakfast is usually some kind of bread, yogurt, an unidentifiable cheese that tastes similar to mozzarella, hard boiled or fried eggs, and some kind of crazy fruit juice that nobody has ever heard of before (i.e. tree tomato). Lunch and dinner always start with some kind of soup and then we have chicken or beef, rice, potatoes, and some kind of vegetable. There’s always a sauce called ají on the table as well which has hot pepper, cilantro, garlic, and citrus in it. At night, there’s a little bar across the street where you can get a wine bottle sized bottle of “Pilsener” (the national beer) for $1.20.
On Friday, we found out who our host families are. I’m staying with the Liseth Atiaga family in Cayambe. The husband (William – pronounced weeyem) is some type of “vendedor” (seller) and the wife (Linseth) is an “ama de la casa” (literally lover of the house, or housewife). They have three kids – a 12 year old girl (Kelley), an 8 year old boy (Jordan) and a 2 year old boy (Ronny). Before heading to the house, we had a final little treasure hunt/language practice where we had to ask random people on the street where the post office/police station/etc. is, and once at the location ask the workers a bunch of other questions. We also had to take a city bus to the open-air market (22 cents for a 20 minute ride), and each of us was responsible for buying certain items and not getting ripped off! The bus gets insanely packed and some people are literally hanging out the doors when the bus is moving down the street. People will also get on and off the bus while it’s still moving! At the market, my little group was able to buy 2 amazing pineapples and a guaba (a 2-foot long bean pod with white furry seeds inside that taste like a cross between a banana and a mild pineapple) for $1.00! The prices of fruits and vegetables are insane (i.e. 20 oranges for a buck). “Luxury items” like a bottle of Herbal Essences shampoo or a TV, however, are the same price or even more expensive than in the States.
Finally, on Saturday we all made it to our host family houses. Everyone is super nice so far and the house is pretty nice. When I got there, they gave me a big hunk of watermelon and an orange Tang-like drink. Then I helped William and Linseth out in the front yard with a rowboat that they were fixing. After that, the whole family and I piled into the car and went to some unknown destination with vicious barking dogs to hang up a “Se Vende” (for sale) sign. Una abuelita (a little granny) was milking a cow next to the property and I got the impression that the “for sale” property belonged to William’s sister, but he speaks so fast that I have no idea what he’s staying. I’m getting very good at smiling-and-nodding! Pet dogs are totally different here than in the States. They all mostly live outside and it’s common for people to throw rocks and poke them with sticks if they’re not behaving (which is most of the time). The PC trainers recommended that we carry a rock with us in case a dog attacks! After escaping from the barking dogs, we went to the “supermarket” to pick up some items. It felt good to be a few inches taller than nearly everyone in the store! Back at the casa we had some dinner (soup, chicken, rice, veggies and hot chocolate) and then we sat around and I showed them some pictures of the States which I attempted to describe in mangled Spanish. Kelley is my savior since she can always sense when I have no clue what’s going on, and she tries to explain it to me in other words! After looking through a bunch of their family photos, I headed to bed. On Sunday, we left the house at 7:30AM and headed to one of the churches in town. I think I picked up about 5% of what they were saying. The service ended with a rousing rock ballad of “No hay nadie como tu” (There’s nobody like you (Jesus)). After that we hung out on the roof of the house for a while and had some more watermelon. Then we all piled into the car and went to Otavallo to check out the crafts there. We had lunch at a restaurant in town (soup, a hamburger without the bun, rice, and peas, with lovely yellow Jello for dessert and a glass of guabana? juice). Then we headed back to the house and I watched Narnia in Spanish with the kids and ate some kind of extremely hard bean/nut that they gave me and some chocolate wafer cookies. Jordon was awesome during the movie and taught me about 20 new words. Ronny is like a little jumping bean and is continually throwing himself onto the couch, climbing onto my lap and crumbling cookies on my shirt! That´s it for now! Hope you enjoy some of the pictures at the link below!
http://picasaweb.google.com/jkreiselman/PCWeek1
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