Sigue No Más

Sorry I¨ve been horrible at updating this...I promise they will be more frequent and not nearly as long...good luck it´s a super long one.

Thursday, February 03, 2011

I didn’t sleep last night.  By the time I was ready to go to bed it was already around 2 so I figured I might as well just stay up until I needed to go down to the lobby to check out.  I arrived in the lobby at 3 am sharp only to find out we didn’t need to be there until 3:30…whoops.  All 40ish of us boarded buses to the airport, checked in with minimal problems, and waited about 3 hours to board our plane to Miami.  I guess there was some pretty bad turbulence the whole time, but I was sleeping and didn’t notice.  I did, however, have some dreams about LOST so I guess subconsciously I thought our plane might go down.  We arrived in Miami, waited for about 4 hours and boarded our plane to Quito, ECUADOR!  I slept/tried to sleep/attempted to study Spanish/watched some Office/stared off into space for the 4 hour plane ride.  We were above the clouds the whole way and couldn’t see much until our descent into Quito, we were then greeted by the Andes!  We flew past a volcano that I guess is still pretty active right next to Quito and then landed with no problems.  As we walked toward customs, a PC worker welcomed us and told us where to go.  I guess since we were there for the government or for volunteering or something, they didn’t give us any problems; I wasn’t even asked any questions.  I collected my bags, sent them through security again, and walked outside to our bus.  I was welcomed with WARM air! But thin air, my heart was definitely pumping from the high altitude.  We drove about 40 minutes to our ‘hotel,’ San Patricio, where more PC workers introduced themselves.  We ate some dinner (tomato soup with popcorn is a great combo) and I was out cold by 10:30. 

Friday, February 04, 2011

We got up early (6:30 am wake-up calls will take a little getting used to), ate breakfast, and boarded a bus to the PC training center.  The center is beautiful!  It’s located in the town of Tumbaco (a suburb of Quito) and it’s the first time that the PC has had volunteers here for about ten years.  The building is bright yellow/red and has courtyards and open air hallways and lots of flowers.  We’re going to be building greenhouses in the backyard and we’re even getting some chickens! (Except we’ll be eating those chickens at the end of training, I’ll have to try not and name them). 

We started the day with some more introductions, a medical questionnaire/intro to the medical staff, and then were given tons of papers to fill out (as if I haven’t filled out enough already).  We filled out stuff about what we wanted in a host family, about our technical skills, we wrote a brief personal bio/aspiration statement, and we took a language test (not my finest work).  After that we received some great immunizations (my typhoid arm feels like someone really jacked me), a medical kit, a portion of our training allowance (in cash…I have so many random places in my suitcases that I’ve hidden cash that I’ll be finding it for weeks), we took pictures for our ID cards, and we opened an Ecuador bank account.  We then had a catered welcome lunch with the PC staff outside...great food so far. 

After lunch this embassy guy strolls in and pretty much freaks us all out.  First, he goes on and on about how he’s some macho special agent for the government/CIA something like that and then he starts telling us horror stories about what has happened to Americans that have come to Ecuador, one story occurring only last Friday.  The stories were fine, as they were meant to scare us/make us more aware of our surroundings while here, but he didn’t really give us any real solutions.  I guess that’s what all of our safety/security classes are for throughout training.  After he left, or maybe it was before lunch, we met our PC Country Director, Parmer.  He seems like a really cool down to earth guy that is very willing to help.  Actually, the whole PC staff is really willing to help/make our time here well worth it/enjoyable/safe and all that jazz, which is great.  We had a break after all that and ate a really good cake-ish thing that was cooked inside a banana leaf; Quinbolitos is what I think they were called.  After the break we split into our two groups: natural resources and sustainable agriculture.  I am of course with the Ag group and was really blown away with what they had to say we’ll be learning about/training for.  I guess they’re changing the Ag program to move more away from just sustainable farming but focus more on food security.  So we’ll not only learn the typical Ag practices but also about nutrition and community mapping so that we can go into our communities and try to tackle the malnourishment aspect as well as the agriculture aspect.  This is really exciting for me, and no worries I’ll still be able to do irrigation, and some water conservation stuff like rainwater harvesting.  We left the training center, went back to our hotel for dinner, walked around/explored the area a bit (it’s super lush and green!), and then went to bed.

Saturday, February 05, 2011

We arrived at the training center bright and early again today.  We went over what was in our medical kit and how to use it, etc.  After that we watched the PC staff perform some skits exaggerating certain scenarios we may encounter with our host families, some were pretty hilarious.  We ate some lunch and then were briefed on the host family selection process, and then we were thrown out into the courtyard with a notecard that had our first name on it and had to find the family that had our last name.  I was greeted by Sylvia (host Mom), Johana (host sister, 21), and Julian (host nephew, he’s Johana’s kid and is one year old).  We grabbed all my bags and I think they were a little blown away by how much I had, but I insisted I’m here for two years so it’s not that bad.  We got into a friend’s taxi and drove to their house.  We arrived at this rusty gate on a dirt alley and I didn’t know what to expect at all.  But they opened the gate and there in front of me stands this huge house, manicured lawn with flowers and lemon trees.  Looks like I won’t be roughing it for the first three months.  They showed me to my room; it’s perfect and I have a great view into the neighbor’s yard with their avocado and lemon trees.  Sylvia told me to start unpacking all my stuff and to get settled in.  She kept coming into my room to chat though during the process.  It was actually really nice, she talks slow enough for me to understand almost everything and she’s patient with me trying to get my point across.  After I unpacked my stuff I played with Julian and his Legos and then was told to go rest (man, I love the Spanish culture…it’s all about resting).  Well I ended up taking a two hour nap…the same as the one-year-old.  I got some grief about that.  And then the three of us headed out to the supermarket.  There are tons of little shops nearby where they live and the supermarket is only about a ten minute walk (it’s located right behind a KFC.  Ecuador is a lot more Americanized than I imagined, but it’s probably due mostly to the fact that I’m right outside their second biggest city).  Sylvia seems super concerned about what I want to eat and really wants to make sure that she cooks things I’ll like, so she kept asking me what I wanted at the market.  I had to keep insisting that I’ll eat whatever and that I want to learn how to cook typical dishes.  I regretted saying this as we walked up to the meat counter and was greeted by at least twenty cow tongues, about 5 cow feet, some hearts, livers, kidneys, etc.  Luckily, she saw my face and only got chicken.  On the walk home I got to talk with Johana a bit more and think that we’ll get along pretty well.  (Sylvia had told me earlier that they specifically requested a female volunteer so that Johana could have an American to bond with).  We got back to the house, I helped make some salad and found some more out about the family.  The dad (Fausto) works in the Oriente (Amazon) on a farm during the week and comes home on weekends (they said they’ll take me out there and I can drive in the tractors and milk the cows and lots of other fun stuff), there are also two older sons (Edison and Javier) that live down the street that are married with two kids a piece, and Johana is going to Cosmetology and Massage Therapy School in Quito.  Johana got a call and left to hang out with her boyfriend (I think) and I was left to ‘babysit’ Julian.  I don’t really mind it so far because the kid is pretty cute and easy going.  I just feel bad for him because I’m probably confusing him a lot with my awful Spanish grammar…whoops.  I ate dinner with Sylvia; it was tasty again and she told me how to cook everything.  Then she showed me around upstairs (on their third floor) where they wash their clothes on a cement rock thing.  She’s very intent on me learning how to do this.  Then my host dad’s sister showed up and we chatted a bit and watched the Ecuador version of Deal or No Deal.  It’s basically the same, except the women wear shorter skirts, have more cleavage, and all the suitcases advertise some brand of food.  Then my host dad got back from the farm and one of my host brothers came over.  They were all super nice and I could understand them for the most part!  And I even was able to get across my reason for being here in regards to water, organic farming, and all that.  It was great to be able to express myself so much on the first day!

Sunday, February 06, 2011

I set my alarm for 8 am this morning thinking that that was plenty early enough to make it to breakfast…alas I was wrong.  Sylvia came knocking at my door at 7:30, amazed that I was still sleeping.  The whole family and I ate breakfast…lots of fruit, yogurt, eggs, and bread.  I found out that my host Dad worked at a local brewery (Club Premium…I guess a lot is exported but I’m not sure to where) for thirty years before he bought his farm.  He said he’ll take me there some day and show me around.  I went upstairs for awhile to study some vocab.  I got a call from a fellow volunteer later on to go out and explore.  I invited Johana and Julian along and we went out to find some boots for the fieldwork I’ll be doing and other random things we needed.  It started raining so we went back and played with Julian.  Johana then out of the blue asks if I want to watch Julian’s birthing video.  Not wanting to be rude I said yes and proceeded to watch her attempt a water birth and when that failed saw Julian come out via C-section…interesting.  Right after that, we ate.  Then it started to rain more so I took a nice little nap.  I woke up to Sylvia coming in my room to greet me (she and Fausto left for Quito earlier in the morning because someone had broken into his sister’s house and stole a lot of electronics), she and Johana looked over the vocab I had to learn and I think they will be quizzing me throughout my time here.  She already asks me the names of all the food she cooks (lentejas are my favorite so far…lentils and veggies in like a stew/mash thing).  We ate dinner later and Fausto started asking me all kinds of questions about the US.  He was most surprised by the fact that it doesn’t rain during the winter and that when it’s 70 degree outside it’s actually not that hot because the sun isn’t as strong as it is here.  Oh and he thought it was crazy that kids move out of their homes after college and live on their own.   After dinner/chatting they told me to go rest yet again because I have to get up early tomorrow morning…love me some rest!

Monday, February 07, 2011

Today was the first day of ‘classes.’  I ate breakfast with the fam and then Sylvia walked me to where I had to catch the super crowded bus that takes me to the PC center (el centro).  Parmer the Country Director was back and gave us a long speech about all the PC policies and what can get us kicked out immediately, what we can/can’t do, where we can/can’t go, and lots of other rules.  It’s weird having so many rules but in the long run it all makes sense.  For lunch we walked down the street a little ways to a lady’s house where she had set up tables and cooked us all a three course meal for a whopping $2….awesome!  After lunch we split into groups and we talked more about the Ag program…equivalent to syllabus week.  I caught a bus back into Tumbaco and walked back to my house.  At dinner we discussed the upcoming weekend and how we’re going to a family reunion of sorts on Saturday and that it’s Johana’s birthday so I guess we’re going dancing….it will be fun to meet all of her friends.  Dinner was actually really fun tonight because I’m realizing the family is pretty open and sarcastic and makes a lot of jokes and I’m able to make some back so it’s been fun conversing somewhat normally.  After dinner Sylvia, Johana, Julian, and I went to my host brother Edison’s house to meet more family.  I met his wife, his wife’s sister, his two kids, and the wife’s sister’s two kids.  Edison’s oldest is a 6 year old girl and she kept asking me to say things in English and then would rattle on and on super-fast in Spanish and I kept getting confused and she kept asking ridiculous things and it was just a fun time.  She then danced for us to some good old Reggaeton. 

Tues-Sun:

I’m probably not going to be writing specific days anymore because it’s too time consuming and I don’t really have that much to say…and let’s be honest you probably don’t want to read that much.  The past couple of days we’ve had more policy lectures, intro classes, and we’ve had interviews.  I had a thirty minute long Spanish interview where I had to talk lots and was tape recorded.  It was a little nerve wrecking but apparently I did pretty well because between that and my written test I got placed in the high intermediate class, and we only need to be at middle intermediate in order to pass the language portion of training, so it looks like I already passed…woohoo!  We also had interviews with our program directors, so I met with a bunch of the Ag folk.  They asked me what experience I had, what I like to do, and stuff like that.  I basically said put me where ever you want but just give me some water stuff.  They could tell I was really interested in water and suggested that I design/build a rainwater harvesting system at the training center in order to teach the others/get some practice in…so I’m super excited about that and I have some other trainees on board too.  We also bought our cell phones.  You all can call me from the states, I think someone said something about Gmail or Skype being cheap and having the ability to call international cell phones (my number is 08-360-8731 if anyone wants to try, I think there needs to be a country number, I think it is 593, in there somewhere too, not quite sure).We’ve had free time after lunches so I’ve been able to break out the Frisbee and got some people to toss with me.  A group of us decided to walk home from the training center rather than take the super crowded, super bumpy, long bus ride (it’s only 20 cents though).  It took a little over an hour but most of the walk is on this dirt path that has an awesome view of all the mountains, so it was totally worth it and might become a regular routine. 

We went to an entirely organic farm in the campo one day.  The guy that runs the place was a tad radical but he definitely knew all about plants and all the different nutrients needed for a good output and how to put those nutrients in the soil.  He stressed and stressed the importance of microorganisms in the soil and talked all about how to naturally get them in the soil even without fertilizer or compost.  We learned how to compost, plant seedbeds, and harvest algae from a pond to use for fertilizer/compost.  All in all it was a pretty interesting and informative day, except the guy was a tad bit preachy.  Oh, and we had the best lunch ever.  The owner’s wife cooked it all…we had the best quinoa soup ever, a wonderful veggie lasagna (sorry Mom this one might trump yours), fresh tomatoes, basil, and mozzarella, salad, and a really good coconut flan thing.

We all went out as a group for the first time this week; it was a fellow trainees’ birthday so we found a super gringo bar that had some good ole eighties music playing, including none other than Pat Bennetare, to sample the local brew.  It gets pretty dangerous here at night to walk/take a taxi home, so we all were home between the hours of 7-9.

I got my second round of rabies shots on the same day I almost/did get attacked by a dog.  Apparently whenever you see a garage door or big metal gate open you aren’t supposed to walk past it but wait until it closes.  Well I didn’t know this and started to walk past my neighbor’s gate when returning from training one night.  A huge Rottweiler comes out from the driveway and stares me down.  I start to walk past him but he inches toward me so I bend over to pretend to get a rock to throw at him, as this is a typical way of getting stray dogs to leave you alone.  I guess it’s not true for guard dogs.  As soon as I pretended to throw something at him he lunged at me and got ahold of my ankle. I got loose and tried to keep walking and he lunged again barking, at this point thankfully his owner came out and called him off.  So I raced over to my house and went through the gate only to be barked at and chased by my stupid dog, Oso (Bear in Spanish).  I do not like the guard dogs here.  Luckily, I was wearing jeans and some thick socks so I only got a large bruise where the teeth tried to break the skin.  I will now pay much closer attention to garage/gate doors.

I had a pretty interesting Saturday this weekend.  We had classes in the morning and then I went back to my house to meet up with Johana so she and I could take a taxi to go to her grandparents’ house where there was a huge lunch/gathering.  We get to the house and I’m bombarded with people.  There must have been at least 10 different aunts and uncles, 20 cousins, and a ton of little kids running around.  We then go find Sylvia in a shed/garage cooking some random meat over a stove.  I look up and realize the meat must be pig because there is a huge pig head hanging from the ceiling.  I guess they had butchered it earlier in the day; luckily I had class and missed that ordeal.  The pig must have been huge because they had big plastic containers, like recycling bins, filled with hunks of meat just chilling on the floor.  The first thing they had me try was smoked pig skin.  It was super tough and kind of made me want to throw up because it was so greasy.  They had other foods too like toasted corn (tostadas), boiled corn (Mote), grilled bananas with cheese inside, and frittata (essentially every hunk of meat from the pig fried in a frying pan).  The meat was actually really good it tasted like bacon on the outside and really greasy pork on the inside.  Everything was rico…basically the Ecuadorian way of saying something is really rich or in other words greasy.  They also boiled all of the insides of the pig and made a soup out of them called Menudo.  I couldn’t make myself try it but I did have a hunk of kidney or heart, not quite sure what they were giving me.  Can’t say I enjoyed that hunk of meat.  After eating everyone mingled and I tried my best to listen/understand conversations, basically I just sat around for a long while.  We played Celebrity later though and it was fun to try and guess the Spanish equivalents of a lot of movies/famous people.  We had cake to celebrate Johana’s birthday and they shoved her head in the cake, classic.  After that we went home and then I went out with Johana for her birthday to the local bar in Tumbaco, Sharma Kings, with her friend.  When we got home her dad still hadn’t gotten back from the grandparents’ house because I guess all the men just hung out drinking whiskey until early in the morning.  Fausto was surprised I didn’t wake up when he got home because he had blasted music and had his own little dance party in the living room.

I got to visit the mall of Tumbaco for the first time when Johana, Julian, and I headed out for a nice Sunday lunch at the food court.  The walk there wouldn’t have been more than ten minutes but she insisted we get on the bus for about a minute instead to get there, and then take a taxi home.  While we were waiting for the bus I saw a clown juggling in the street.  It was crazy dangerous because people drive like maniacs, but he wasn’t a bit phased.  The mall is super nice and equivalent to any American mall, the only difference is this mall has everything.  A drugstore, pet store (explained all the animals I saw in children’s arms), a store called the Japan Store which had a ton of electronics, beauty salons, music studios, shoe stores, outfitters, and lots of other stuff.  The food court had all kinds of foods and will be a good place to go if I start getting sick of rice and potatoes.  That night we ate dinner with Space Jam on in the background…a Spanish dubbed Michael Jordan is pretty funny.

Random Thoughts:

• ·        I am not allowed to flush toilet paper down the toilet…I am doing a better job of remembering lately.
• ·         Breastfeeding in the middle of a sidewalk while talking to people is acceptable.
• ·         I hear so many dogs barking outside my window at night I think that I’m in 101 Dalmatians when they start the dog SOS chain.  There is one dog, in particular, that sounds like he’s the size of a horse but when he howls he sounds like a dying cow or at least what I think a dying cow would sound like.
• ·         There are some roosters around me that like to squawk during the day, not just at dawn.  One of them starts with the normal cock-a-doodle-do thing but then drags it on so that it sounds like an old man crying for help…reminds me of the ‘help I’ve fallen and I can’t get up’ commercial.
• ·         I probably shouldn’t have told my family I lived in Peru for two months.
• ·         As soon as I told my host dad that my real dad is retired, he exclaimed ‘Oh, so now the government pays him a lot!’
• ·         There’s a circus in town, so there is also a car with a megaphone that constantly drives around the neighborhood blasting a creepy voice giving details about the circus.
• ·         I’m regretting not bringing my John Deere Hat because Fausto has a John Deere Trucker hat, we could have been twins.
• ·         I can’t figure out how to take a hot shower, mine have been ice cold.  I do know that hot ones exist though because when my host sister comes out of the shower the bathroom is steamy.
• ·         They all kinds of juice here.  They just pick a fruit, throw a few chunks of it in a blender with a lot of water and some sugar, blend it, and then strain it.  I’ve had cantaloupe, star fruit, papaya, watermelon, Quaker Oats, guanabana, baboca, tree tomato, and pineapple juice so far.
• ·         The old-man crying rooster is making me have some pretty weird dreams.
• ·         We got the diarrhea talk from our PC nurse.  She basically said we’ll all get some sort of worm, amoebae, or Giardia here; something to be greatly excited about.  She even gave us our very own stool sample kit.
• ·         There are quite a few fancy cars here; I see BMWs regularly.
• ·         Every type of dip is called salsa, even if it’s guacamole.
• ·         There are no choking hazard concerns here; Julian is given all kinds of small foods like toasted corn and popcorn.  He is normally coughing up or spitting out hunks of food a while after eating.
• ·         Every cream based soup is accompanied with popcorn.  It’s the Ecuador equivalent of oyster crackers and actually really good.