And I dont mean that in some deep, analogy based manner. I mean actually, I have lost my voice! I have larangytis, or however the hell it is spelled. How did my simple case of the gripe get this bad? Well, that depends on who you ask. According to my counterpart, it is directly related to the fact that I do not eat enough soup. Traditional Ecuadorian resturants serve soup with basically ever meal, I usually just order the segundo (second course), which means that it comes without soup. Because, really?...why would you eat a warm ass bowl of liquid when it has got to be about 100 degrees outside?!?! Come on people. Cheese soup is just about the only exception I make, and even then its campo cheese, but whatever, beggers cant be choosers. My counterpart also thinks that my aversion to soup will lead to anemia. She pulled down my bottom eyelids and looked into my eyes and declared, "Yup, you are gonna get anemia." Oki-doki, whatever you say.
So what should I do about this sickness that I am sick with? Again, call in the experts. One of the guys in my office gave me some crazy ass root and told me to make a tea out of it. I think its ginger? I dont know, he said they use it in China. My dueña told me that its more picante (spicy) than aji (garlic) so, yeah. Not really trying to drink a garlic tea. Before I lost my voice, my dueña said that I really ought to do something about this gripe quickly. She says that medical research shows that the gripe causes a loss of brain nuerons. Yikes! Now its an emergency! But still, how do you kick the gripe? Tea, or course. So we make a tea with cinnimon and lime. Its gonna be "bien feo" (really ugly tasting) she warns me, so we add sugar and sqeeze some more lime into it. Finnishing touch? Rum of course. Which she only keeps in the house for making cake and gripe fighting teas. "Its gonna make you sweat" she tells me, umm...perhaps because I am sipping on a hot water/liquor mix, I think. But whatever, I drink the tea. It tasted good, the gripe did not go away.
In fact, it just got worse. Who knows what caused it. I believe that it is my body sending me a sign that I need to take more breaks. I have been put in charge at the office of what I like to call Proyecto: Bolsos (Project: Bags). There are some parties coming up in Decemeber. I have no idea what the parties are for; Ecuador has parties for everything, like the founding of towns, the first time the president farted, who knows. Anyhow, there are some parties in December where lots of people from the northern coastal town of Esmeraldes will be coming to Guayaquil. Parties mean drinking. Drinking leads to risky behavior which can include drugs and sex. Drugs and sex can lead to HIV/AIDS, in comes my organization. Prevention of HIV/AIDS is what we do, folks. So we are making 1000 fabric bags to stuff with information on HIV/AIDS prevention, safe sex, condoms, etc. Pretty cool idea, I think. Plus, we are finally going to use the sewing workshop that is stocked with 8 machines that have sat around collecting dust for the last 2 years, cuz no body knows how to use them. Who´s in charge of supervising the project? Theresa, of course (a theme is starting in my office, its called take advantage of the work-a-holic. What´s that, you know how to sew? speak English? write a budget? dance? Why dont you teach us!!!). Simple task, right? Yeah, its simple enough (although I have now nicked-named the sewing room "the sweatshop" Call it karma kicking me in the ass for buying the bootlegged, sweatshop made Abercrombie and Hollister shirts the other day...but whatever. Check your clothing tags, if it says "Made in Peru" chances are I can get it in Ecuador for $2 when it sells for $18 in the States...). I enjoy sewing, and I get to teach people how to sew: so my needs are met. We are paying people from the communities to sew and the folks from the organization are finally learning to use the machines that they have: so their needs/ Peace Corps wants are met. I.E. World Peace is met by way of Proyecto: Bolso, and I helped!
Outside of that, I really have been making strides with my work independance. I have a (work in progress, ever changing) weekly schedule that does not always include my counterpart carting me around to the different barrios. I gave a charla on HIV/AIDS to the jovenes in my favorite barrio the other day. After the charla, a group of girls asked me where I live and if they can come hang out at my house because I am "bein chevere" (pretty cool). To put it simply: Dream Come True. I also taught an English class and a Hip Hop dance class in my counterpart´s barrio. Afterwards she texted me that the kids are "fascinated with me." Her words, not mine. If I could print text messages, I would have. AND, I think I will be starting up a community bank with a dope ass group of women in another barrio, they are totally pumped on the idea. Basically, I am pretty much in LOVE with my life right now! I have a ton of work to do, I never get bored, I search for free time. Makes me feel like I am back to myself. Unhealthy, yes; but happiness is what counts, right? Next step is to tweak the schdule so that I have more time to myself, we all know how crabby I get when I dont have large amounts of alone time. Also, I pass by the Bahia (translates to Bay, means the black market selling area of the city) every day on my way downtown to the office, and it kills me to see all those 2 for $5 shirts that I have not had the chance to buy!
But, given the fact that I cannot talk right now, I have been forced into taking the day off, world peace will have to be put on hold for the time being. I spent the day today sleeping and reading, it was great. I got some AWESOME care packages in the mail this week from my AWESOME amigas back home. Cosmo magazine+candy=good day. Thanks for the gifts, gals! The ads were the best part, ahhh, I love looking at clothes that I cannot buy...Did you know that they are selling Vera Wang at Kohls?!?! Ahhhh! At least the prices are too high that even if I was in the States, I wouldnt be able to afford it. And the new sweaters from Old Navy look so cute! Too bad its so hot here I sweat standing still. And, for what its worth, I learned all about the blended orgasm, secrets all guys hide, how to spice up my relationship and what my ob-gyn really thinks. All information that I am sure will come in handy.
Anyhow, I should head home. Money is a wasting at this internet cafe, and my throat is craving some cinnimon-lime-rum tea...
love and hugs (have I mentioned that the common Ecuadorian greeting is kissing on the cheek? Needless to say I have gotten over my personal space issues...)
Theresa
Thursday, September 27, 2007
Saturday, September 15, 2007
I´ve Got to Get Myself Together...
So today I am a bit miffed. Lets back up to Wednesday. Wednesday is the day that I went to get my map, if you recall from the last post (if you are keeping up, as I am sure you are). Here is what happended on Wednesday:
7:30am my counterpart texts me from someone´s phone, not her phone, to ask if I got home okay. She cannot text me from her phone because she does not have saldo. Saldo is credit on your cell phone to call and text people, like how people in the States say "minutes" on the phone. She has not had saldo on her phone since I got here two weeks ago on Labor Day. Even before that I am pretty sure, I dont think she had saldo when I was texting her from Quito before I came to Guayaquil, because she never responded to my messages. Anyhow, I thought it was weird that she was texting me on Wednesday AM, because if she was worried about me getting home, why not text me on Tuesday night? (we had a meeting in one of the barrios on Tuesday, and I took a taxi to get back home) And if youre gonna wait until the next morning, why not just talk to me in the office? (we meet at the office Monday-Friday at 10am, per her instruction) So, I text her back that I got home fine, and ask her if she is going to the office (thinking maybe shes not going to work that day, and thats why shes texting me). She says that she will be at the office at 10am. I text her back and say fine, see you there.
9:30am I text her again (to her phone this time, because I dont know who´s phone she was using earlier, so I dont know if she is still with that person) to tell her that I am going to the Municipio to get my map before I come to the office. She does not respond.
10:20am I text her again to say that I will have to wait for 30 more minutes to get my map copy. She does not respond.
10:55am(ish) I get to the office. I am told that she has yet to come in that day, no one has heard from her. I assume she is on her way, since the last I heard from her she was coming in at 10am.
lunchime She still is not there.
1:30pm(ish) I get back from lunch, shes still not there. So I blog. And dick around on the free internet.
3pm(ish) Blogging done, shes still not there, no one has heard from her. I tell the org president that I am leaving because she has not come in and I do not have any work to be doing in the office, but I have other things to be doing at home (like fixing my phone, because it does not tell me what number is calling me when I receieve or miss a call. Nor does it have voicemail. Neither of these things is explained in the user manual that came with the phone, so I will have to call customer service to figure it out. Awesome, because they speak only in Spanish. This will be important later). The org president frowns at me, as if I am doing something wrong by leaving the office when I had previously been doing nothing at all outside of blogging and blogstalking. PS, Just because I am looking at the computer does not mean I am working. He says to wait, he is going to call her and see where she is. He calls, she does not answer. I tell him again that I am leaving. He asks if I am coming back later? I respond, uhh...I guess if there is a reason for me to come back later? Tell her to call me.
Sometime while I am on my way home, my phone rings. I dont hear it. Probably because I am on the Metrovia trying to concentrate on not missing my stop again and decifering what brand of deoderant the person next to me uses, might as well since we are stuffed in so close that my nose is in his armpit.
4pm (ish) I get home, see that I missed a call. Then I swear at my phone and ask it why it does not register numbers that call me. The phone does not respond (maybe I hurt its feelings by swearing?). I start my 2 hour trek towards fixing the problem with my phone. Note to self: I will never again get mad at a customer service person who is in some basement office in India trying to help me fix my American cell phone or computer while speaking in broken English. I would have killed for some customer service in broken English. Instead, I got Spanish. But at least they were pacient with me, it cant be easy trying to fix the phone of some stupid gringo who can barely explain what the problem is in English, let alone Spanish.
6:15 (ish) She calls me and in an accusatory voice says "Where are you?!?"
I say "I am at home. Where are you??"
"In the office. Why arent you here??" still in an accusatory voice. Now I am getting irritated.
"Umm, I waited for you all day. I was at the office until at least 3, and you never came. So I left." My voice is getting louder...
"You told me you were going to get you map, so I was waiting for you to call me when you got to the office." Whoa, yelling is not necessary, it warps the sound on my crappy cell phone, and it is not helping my headache from this customer service marathon.
Oh sweet Jesus if only my Spanish was better. What part of "I will be in the office in 30 minutes" would cause her to think that I would call her when I got there? And when did she ask me to call?? And what happened to her coming to the office at 10??? Instead I say, "No, I got to the office around 11, you never came!" Okay, I will admit, it probably was not necessary for me to yell, but come on!
She yells something about me not yelling at her, and hangs up. Very mature, great.
So I call the number back (of course, shes not calling from her own phone, because she still has no saldo). I speak calmly with her. She says there is no need for me to come back into the office, but that we have a movie program the next morning. I ask her if it starts at 8am? (thats the time that I hearing it was to begin) She says yes, 8am, at the theater, do I know where the theater is? I tell her I know how to get there and will meet her there.
Thursday, 8am I arrive at the theater. I am told by the guard that no one is there yet. So I call my counterpart, she says it doesnt start till 9:30. "Arrrrrrghhhhh! SOOO glad that I woke up early for nothing!" I think, but calmly respond that its fine, I can hang out and wait.
Thursday and Friday: Thursday PM we confirm that I will take the bus from downtown out to her barrio to meet her at 8am for a charla in a school in her barrio. The charla is to start at 8am, and we should be on time so as to respect the schedule of the school, she tells me. Fine by me. So I wake up early, dont have time to drink my coffee so I drink street coffee instead, and I get to the meeting point in her barrio at 5 minutes to 8. She is not there. I text her, she walks up from her house to meet me. We proceed to wait in her house for at least 30 minutes as she finnishes getting ready to go, i.e. we get to the school late.
Let me also interject here that on Tuesday, she got all crabby about this other guy that we work with for not showing up for a meeting between her, him, and some kids in his barrio. She was (understandably) annoyed because she does not know the kids in his barrio, so with out him, the meeting cannot happen. Thursday she got all crabby with this other girl that we work with for holding up a bus that was taking a bunch of people in the barrios out to a program in the suburbs. Overall, she gets crabby when people hold up her schedule.
Then yesterday, Friday, evening before leaving the office, I tell her that I would like to go to the workshop in one of the barrios on Saturday AM. I ask her if I should meet her in her barrio, since the kids from her barrio are going and I know what bus to take to get to her barrio, but not to the barrio where the workshop is. No, she says, to meet her at the office at 8:30, and we will go together. Before I leave her at her bus stop to go home, I confirm 8:30am again with her, and she says Yes. Friday night, I get barely any sleep because my neighbors appearantly do not have to work the next day, so they are enjoying themselves with a reaggaeton dance party.
Saturday AM (today) I wake up with my left eye twitching. My eye twitches when I am stressed out and need a break. I contemplate bailing on the workshop, but dont want to because the group of jovenes that I really want to work with is going to be there, and I want to spend time with them. I drag myself out of bed, get dressed, get on the bus, and get the the office just shy of 8:30. Guess what?? SHES NOT THERE! So I call her, "I am on my way, wait for me there," she says. So I wait. Until 9:20. Someone else in the office asks me what I am doing, I explain that I was told to be there at 8:30 to go to the barrios. They remind me that the workshop started at 9am, and say that it is not reasonable for me to have to wait for her to come in. I agree, and I´m crabby now, so I leave. As I am walking down the street, guess who I see? Yep, my counterpart. I make and angry looking-at-my-watch gesture (not actually wearing a watch, but point gets across nonetheless).
"Oh, Tere! I am so sorry!"
"What time is it?"
"I know, I know. But listen before you get mad. I had to go to the pharmacy to get something for my mom..." she starts to say. Whatever, sick mom excuse is so not going to fly with me.
"You could have called."
"I know, but I dont have any saldo on my phone!"
"Yeah, I know. But thats not fair and its not a reason." Damnit limited Spanish vocabulary!
"Well lets just go and get out to the workshop."
"Um, no. I am going home."
So I leave. Feeling pissed that I will not get to see the jovenes, but glad that I am not going, cause this is getting out of hand. I go home and I work on a schedule (something I have been told we would sit down and do "Hoy, ya mismo") of how I want to be spending my days. I have got to take control of my life here. I am depending way too much on her when I really do not need to be. If I want to go to the barrio, I should just call the person from the barrio, get on the bus and have them meet me out there. Forget all this waiting around in the office for my PC experience to start. I am over it. Then I call another group here in Guayaquil (who wanted a PCV, but didnt get one assigned to them) and let them know that I would like to get together with them. I have got to come back to myself, I think. In the States, I was never the kind of girl who waited around for someone to direct me. If I wanted to get something done, I went out there and did it. Here, I feel so much more timid because of the language barrier, but whenever I take that step on my own, I always end up having a much better time than when I am holding onto someone else´s hand to guide me.
Deep breathes, loud humming to self. Then I smile and feel good for getting my own ass in gear. Later, I will call my counterpart and tell her that we need to get together to talk. Then I will professionally give her a piece of my mind in as extensive of a Spanish vocabulary as I am able to conjure up.
So this is it folks, this is me. Getting it together.
7:30am my counterpart texts me from someone´s phone, not her phone, to ask if I got home okay. She cannot text me from her phone because she does not have saldo. Saldo is credit on your cell phone to call and text people, like how people in the States say "minutes" on the phone. She has not had saldo on her phone since I got here two weeks ago on Labor Day. Even before that I am pretty sure, I dont think she had saldo when I was texting her from Quito before I came to Guayaquil, because she never responded to my messages. Anyhow, I thought it was weird that she was texting me on Wednesday AM, because if she was worried about me getting home, why not text me on Tuesday night? (we had a meeting in one of the barrios on Tuesday, and I took a taxi to get back home) And if youre gonna wait until the next morning, why not just talk to me in the office? (we meet at the office Monday-Friday at 10am, per her instruction) So, I text her back that I got home fine, and ask her if she is going to the office (thinking maybe shes not going to work that day, and thats why shes texting me). She says that she will be at the office at 10am. I text her back and say fine, see you there.
9:30am I text her again (to her phone this time, because I dont know who´s phone she was using earlier, so I dont know if she is still with that person) to tell her that I am going to the Municipio to get my map before I come to the office. She does not respond.
10:20am I text her again to say that I will have to wait for 30 more minutes to get my map copy. She does not respond.
10:55am(ish) I get to the office. I am told that she has yet to come in that day, no one has heard from her. I assume she is on her way, since the last I heard from her she was coming in at 10am.
lunchime She still is not there.
1:30pm(ish) I get back from lunch, shes still not there. So I blog. And dick around on the free internet.
3pm(ish) Blogging done, shes still not there, no one has heard from her. I tell the org president that I am leaving because she has not come in and I do not have any work to be doing in the office, but I have other things to be doing at home (like fixing my phone, because it does not tell me what number is calling me when I receieve or miss a call. Nor does it have voicemail. Neither of these things is explained in the user manual that came with the phone, so I will have to call customer service to figure it out. Awesome, because they speak only in Spanish. This will be important later). The org president frowns at me, as if I am doing something wrong by leaving the office when I had previously been doing nothing at all outside of blogging and blogstalking. PS, Just because I am looking at the computer does not mean I am working. He says to wait, he is going to call her and see where she is. He calls, she does not answer. I tell him again that I am leaving. He asks if I am coming back later? I respond, uhh...I guess if there is a reason for me to come back later? Tell her to call me.
Sometime while I am on my way home, my phone rings. I dont hear it. Probably because I am on the Metrovia trying to concentrate on not missing my stop again and decifering what brand of deoderant the person next to me uses, might as well since we are stuffed in so close that my nose is in his armpit.
4pm (ish) I get home, see that I missed a call. Then I swear at my phone and ask it why it does not register numbers that call me. The phone does not respond (maybe I hurt its feelings by swearing?). I start my 2 hour trek towards fixing the problem with my phone. Note to self: I will never again get mad at a customer service person who is in some basement office in India trying to help me fix my American cell phone or computer while speaking in broken English. I would have killed for some customer service in broken English. Instead, I got Spanish. But at least they were pacient with me, it cant be easy trying to fix the phone of some stupid gringo who can barely explain what the problem is in English, let alone Spanish.
6:15 (ish) She calls me and in an accusatory voice says "Where are you?!?"
I say "I am at home. Where are you??"
"In the office. Why arent you here??" still in an accusatory voice. Now I am getting irritated.
"Umm, I waited for you all day. I was at the office until at least 3, and you never came. So I left." My voice is getting louder...
"You told me you were going to get you map, so I was waiting for you to call me when you got to the office." Whoa, yelling is not necessary, it warps the sound on my crappy cell phone, and it is not helping my headache from this customer service marathon.
Oh sweet Jesus if only my Spanish was better. What part of "I will be in the office in 30 minutes" would cause her to think that I would call her when I got there? And when did she ask me to call?? And what happened to her coming to the office at 10??? Instead I say, "No, I got to the office around 11, you never came!" Okay, I will admit, it probably was not necessary for me to yell, but come on!
She yells something about me not yelling at her, and hangs up. Very mature, great.
So I call the number back (of course, shes not calling from her own phone, because she still has no saldo). I speak calmly with her. She says there is no need for me to come back into the office, but that we have a movie program the next morning. I ask her if it starts at 8am? (thats the time that I hearing it was to begin) She says yes, 8am, at the theater, do I know where the theater is? I tell her I know how to get there and will meet her there.
Thursday, 8am I arrive at the theater. I am told by the guard that no one is there yet. So I call my counterpart, she says it doesnt start till 9:30. "Arrrrrrghhhhh! SOOO glad that I woke up early for nothing!" I think, but calmly respond that its fine, I can hang out and wait.
Thursday and Friday: Thursday PM we confirm that I will take the bus from downtown out to her barrio to meet her at 8am for a charla in a school in her barrio. The charla is to start at 8am, and we should be on time so as to respect the schedule of the school, she tells me. Fine by me. So I wake up early, dont have time to drink my coffee so I drink street coffee instead, and I get to the meeting point in her barrio at 5 minutes to 8. She is not there. I text her, she walks up from her house to meet me. We proceed to wait in her house for at least 30 minutes as she finnishes getting ready to go, i.e. we get to the school late.
Let me also interject here that on Tuesday, she got all crabby about this other guy that we work with for not showing up for a meeting between her, him, and some kids in his barrio. She was (understandably) annoyed because she does not know the kids in his barrio, so with out him, the meeting cannot happen. Thursday she got all crabby with this other girl that we work with for holding up a bus that was taking a bunch of people in the barrios out to a program in the suburbs. Overall, she gets crabby when people hold up her schedule.
Then yesterday, Friday, evening before leaving the office, I tell her that I would like to go to the workshop in one of the barrios on Saturday AM. I ask her if I should meet her in her barrio, since the kids from her barrio are going and I know what bus to take to get to her barrio, but not to the barrio where the workshop is. No, she says, to meet her at the office at 8:30, and we will go together. Before I leave her at her bus stop to go home, I confirm 8:30am again with her, and she says Yes. Friday night, I get barely any sleep because my neighbors appearantly do not have to work the next day, so they are enjoying themselves with a reaggaeton dance party.
Saturday AM (today) I wake up with my left eye twitching. My eye twitches when I am stressed out and need a break. I contemplate bailing on the workshop, but dont want to because the group of jovenes that I really want to work with is going to be there, and I want to spend time with them. I drag myself out of bed, get dressed, get on the bus, and get the the office just shy of 8:30. Guess what?? SHES NOT THERE! So I call her, "I am on my way, wait for me there," she says. So I wait. Until 9:20. Someone else in the office asks me what I am doing, I explain that I was told to be there at 8:30 to go to the barrios. They remind me that the workshop started at 9am, and say that it is not reasonable for me to have to wait for her to come in. I agree, and I´m crabby now, so I leave. As I am walking down the street, guess who I see? Yep, my counterpart. I make and angry looking-at-my-watch gesture (not actually wearing a watch, but point gets across nonetheless).
"Oh, Tere! I am so sorry!"
"What time is it?"
"I know, I know. But listen before you get mad. I had to go to the pharmacy to get something for my mom..." she starts to say. Whatever, sick mom excuse is so not going to fly with me.
"You could have called."
"I know, but I dont have any saldo on my phone!"
"Yeah, I know. But thats not fair and its not a reason." Damnit limited Spanish vocabulary!
"Well lets just go and get out to the workshop."
"Um, no. I am going home."
So I leave. Feeling pissed that I will not get to see the jovenes, but glad that I am not going, cause this is getting out of hand. I go home and I work on a schedule (something I have been told we would sit down and do "Hoy, ya mismo") of how I want to be spending my days. I have got to take control of my life here. I am depending way too much on her when I really do not need to be. If I want to go to the barrio, I should just call the person from the barrio, get on the bus and have them meet me out there. Forget all this waiting around in the office for my PC experience to start. I am over it. Then I call another group here in Guayaquil (who wanted a PCV, but didnt get one assigned to them) and let them know that I would like to get together with them. I have got to come back to myself, I think. In the States, I was never the kind of girl who waited around for someone to direct me. If I wanted to get something done, I went out there and did it. Here, I feel so much more timid because of the language barrier, but whenever I take that step on my own, I always end up having a much better time than when I am holding onto someone else´s hand to guide me.
Deep breathes, loud humming to self. Then I smile and feel good for getting my own ass in gear. Later, I will call my counterpart and tell her that we need to get together to talk. Then I will professionally give her a piece of my mind in as extensive of a Spanish vocabulary as I am able to conjure up.
So this is it folks, this is me. Getting it together.
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
Guayaquil, the City where Theresa Sleeps
So, I have been at my new site here in Guayaquil (or G´quil for short, becuase I send a lot of text messages here, and texting the word "Guayaquil" takes me about an hour...) for a week and a day-I got here on Labor Day. Which, PS, does not mean that I did not have to work, contrary to what the PC Volunteer Handbook and the PC Ecuador Volunter Handbook say...
The plan for now is that I basically have to come into the office everyday at 10am. I take the bus to get into my office, its about a 15 minute bus ride, plus about a 4 block walk to get here. Not bad. And what do I do while I am at the office? Well, if you frequent Facebook, you would know that I spend a lot of time on there...There isnt a whole lot of organization in my counterpart organization, so days are sort of wide open spaces for me to fill busying myself with one thing or another. Work in the barrios happens in the evening and on the weekends. Weekdays....yeah. So far I have accomplished a few things: I made up a charla about culture and personal identity, I edited a newsletter, I created a basic, teen-friendly step-by-step guide to project planning and budgeting, I translated a phone conversation (and will be translating a speech from some doctor in the US when he comes here in October), and I shared some of my favorite music with the staff (and translated the song titles, btw: Erykah Badu-if you want your music to make sense to the masses, try not to name songs things like "Hey Sugah and "Booty" cuz that doesnt translate easily). Overall, if I had to write a daily log of what I did here in the office, I would probably be kicked out of Peace Corps.
Lucky for me, I am doing exactly what Peace Corps expects me to be doing right now: "Hanging on Out." That is that I am getting to know the staff, getting to know the organization, talking to folks, not doing a whole lot of anything tangible, but building relationships. And for the bean counters, I am also attending meetings and helping with charlas and talleres (workshops) in the evenings and on the weekends. Basically, I am really enjoying myself. Like I said, the organization lacks a lot of structure, and that is part of what they want me to help with. But I have got to get my footing here before anyone will listen to me. Problem is that since my Spanish is still developing, I dont come off as very intelligent, so I think my counterparts think I cant help with a whole lot. I wouldnt say they think I am incompetent...maybe delayed? I dont know, whatever. My method to counter that (besides studying Spanish every night before I got to sleep...yeah, right) is to dive whole heartedly into any assignment that I am given, and demonstrate just how wickedly smart I am. I think its working...
My number one frustration right now is nighttime. Work happens in the nighttime. Barrios are not safe for Theresa in the nighttime. Entonces, work is hard to do for Theresa. I cannot be alone in my barrios after 5pm, and all meetings in the barrios start after 6. So I have to go with someone everytime, which is FINE with me, because I will admit that the barrios feel pretty sketchy at night. I just wish that the meetings started earlier...besides that, if the start time is 7pm, we really dont start until 8 or 8:30, which means I work from about 10am until about 9:30pm. Welcome to the Peace Corps. Last night I went to one of the barrios and met with a recently formed youth group. I really liked them: they were super friendly and open to having me meet with them. I would really like to focus on working with them to develop their group. Thats a hard thing, too: focus. My organization works with 6 different barrios, so that is 6 groups of youth. I am going to be here for two years, and relationships take time. So I would really like to pinpoint maybe 2 or 3 of the groups to focus on. Some of the groups are well developed, so I think I will focus on the ones that need more development. The two big things that the jovens want right now are English classes and dance classes. So I figure I will start out with that, and work my way in.
Nothing too exciting has really happened to me for me to share with you all, my apologies. I will try to think of something...A few nights ago there was an earthquake! I am not sure how strong it was on the Rickter Scale or anything, but I felt it. I had just gotten done practicing some heart pumping yoga, and I was lying in my bed. All of a sudden my be started to shake. At first I thought maybe my heart was just racing...but then I was certain that my bed was shaking as was the desk, the bookcase, the building. It didnt last long, and my dueña (landlady, who I live with) and her son said nothing about it. I dont know what the word for earthquake is, and just the thought of myself explaining in broken Spanish and crazy gestures made even me laugh at myself, so I didnt ask them about it. I am also on anti-Malaria medication and one of the known side-effects is hallucinations, so anytime something odd happens, I always wonder if its just a hallucination. But there really was an earthquake, because one of my friend´s mom in the States said she read about it. So I am not crazy.
Overall, I find that I most enjoy myself when I am left to my own devices and not being chaffured around by my counterparts. There is definatly a tendency to treat me like I am about 10 years old...I might not speak perfect Spanish, and I might not be from around here, but I am not a child. I can make it home okay on the same route that I take every day, I promise. Okay, so maybe sometimes I miss my stop to get off and have to walk few blocks, but cut me some slack, its my first week!
The most enjoyable things I have done thus far in Guayaquil are:
1. Went to dinner at Pollo Gus (kinda like KFC) with my new host brother and told each other scary stories. He goes to a bilingually focused school, so he likes to speak in English with me to practice. He had a homework assignment to write about scary stories form other countries, so what better resource then the gringa that lives in your house? Well, if that gringa is me, there are lots of better resources, because I pretty much suck at scary stories...but we had a good time anyways. His name is Pablo, he´s 15 and he´s just a really cool, well raised, well mannered kid. His favorite food is mayonaise. The kid puts mayo on everything, including tacos. Yikes.
2. Finding a map of the city of Guayaquil. I need a map of the whole city to aid in making a map the area where I live and where I work for an assignment for Peace Corps. Simple enough, right?
First I spent about a day and a half searching the interent, no guns. Then my counterpart said I should go to the Municipio (city hall). Another said they would go with me, "ya mismo" which is said as we say "in a minute" but it could mean anytime this hour, in 4 hours, tomorrow, next week, next year...anyways, that time never came. The next day I announced that I was going to the Municipio by myself, and asked if anyone could direct me there. Another person says they are going over by the Municipio "hoy" (today). ¿Cuando? When, I asked. "Ya mismo." At that time it is about 11am. Sometime around 2pm we finally left, and were told that the Municipio was closed. Great. That was yesterday.
So this AM I went before coming into the office. I took the Metro from my house to get there. At the Metro station, they told me to get off at the Correo. I get off at the Correo and go to the Municipio, or at least what I thought was the Municipio. I ask some guards for help, they look at me funny because I talk funny. I explain that I am from the United States, and that I need a map of the city. Saying you are from the United States is like the Golden Ticket to Willy Wonkas Chocolate Factory, it turns on the help in people. So the guard tells me to go to the museum. The museum tells me to go to the Tourism Office. The Tourism Office gives me a map of the tourist areas (which I already have). I repeat that I need a map of the whole city. I explain that it is for Peace Corps, they need a map of where I live, I do not live in the area included in the tourist map. Ohhh, he says, go to the Municipio, they have a map of the city. I explain that they told me to come to him. He shrugs...I thank him for his help, and he gives me some more tourist guide stuff. Cool. So I go back to where I started and explain what happened. He tells me to walk down the street to the Mayor´s office "the grey building with the female guards in blue" and ask there. I walk to the grey building, there are no female guards in blue, but there are male guards in blue, so I explain what I need to a guard there. He takes me to his boss, I explain over again to him. He asks where I am from, I say the United States. Bingo! He has another guard take me upstairs to the office of planning (I think thats what he said) where I can get a map. The guy at that desk tells me it´ll be 30 minutes and will cost $10 (which is A LOT of money here). I tell him thats fine.
Outside, I chat with the boss guard for a while about his 3 sons who are engineers and speak English and have been to the States. He tells me he knew a Peace Corps volunteer when he lived in Quito in the 60s, and that his sister is Esmeraldas was host mom for some PC volunteers a few years back as well. He tells me I can come back anytime and chat with him. He says if I come back some afternoon, he will take me up to the Mayor´s office so I can take a picture of myself at the Mayor´s desk to share with my family back home. ¡Chevere!
30 minutes is up, I go back upstairs for my map. The guy behind the desk is muttering something to me about the $10. I cannot hear him...he says to put the money through the desk window, but do it discreetly. Ummm...okaaay....He comes out with my map. Its HUGE! Yippie! I ask for my change (I gave him a $20). He pockets the $20 and asks why I dont have a smaller bill. I tell him its all I have, so he leads me back downstairs, outside and around the corner to some juicebar where he changes the $20. I thank him and he says to come and say hello anytime. I am pretty sure he kept the $10 for himself...
On the taxi ride over to the office I chatted with the driver, who has never been to the States but would love to go sometime. He asks what religion I am, I tell him I dont have one. He says people always think hes an Evangelist because he is so tranquilo, but hes not. He says he wishes he had more copies of his buisness card to give me so that I could call him sometime. I tell him not to worry about it and that I will see him around.
When I get into my office, my main counterpart is still not there (we are supposed to meet in the office at 10am, I got in about 10:45). It is now 2:30pm, and she is still not here (see what I am talking about in terms of lack of organization...). So I am going to go home and figure out how to get to the mall on the bus from my house.
And most importantly...the best thing about this crazy city...
3. Everynight when I wake up around 4am, and everything is silent. In a city full of people, buses, the Metro, taxis and other cars, it is practially ALWAYS noisey here. I love silence, I miss silence. But everynight when my body wakes it self around 4am, everything is silent. My dueña and her son are sleeping (which means that the TV is turned off, rather than blaring at top volume), the neighbors are sleeping (which means that the niña stops whining and her parents stop yelling at her), there are no cars speeding down the street blasting reggaeton or music meant to inspire people to vote for their cadidate (there is a HUGE election coming up here, and there are something like 200 different active political parties), the buses stop running, the taxis stop honking as soon as the lights turn green: the city sleeps. Silence. 4am has become my new favorite time of day.
Life as a Peace Corps Volunteer is pretty cool.
Hope you all are well and doing good things.
Peace,
Theresa
The plan for now is that I basically have to come into the office everyday at 10am. I take the bus to get into my office, its about a 15 minute bus ride, plus about a 4 block walk to get here. Not bad. And what do I do while I am at the office? Well, if you frequent Facebook, you would know that I spend a lot of time on there...There isnt a whole lot of organization in my counterpart organization, so days are sort of wide open spaces for me to fill busying myself with one thing or another. Work in the barrios happens in the evening and on the weekends. Weekdays....yeah. So far I have accomplished a few things: I made up a charla about culture and personal identity, I edited a newsletter, I created a basic, teen-friendly step-by-step guide to project planning and budgeting, I translated a phone conversation (and will be translating a speech from some doctor in the US when he comes here in October), and I shared some of my favorite music with the staff (and translated the song titles, btw: Erykah Badu-if you want your music to make sense to the masses, try not to name songs things like "Hey Sugah and "Booty" cuz that doesnt translate easily). Overall, if I had to write a daily log of what I did here in the office, I would probably be kicked out of Peace Corps.
Lucky for me, I am doing exactly what Peace Corps expects me to be doing right now: "Hanging on Out." That is that I am getting to know the staff, getting to know the organization, talking to folks, not doing a whole lot of anything tangible, but building relationships. And for the bean counters, I am also attending meetings and helping with charlas and talleres (workshops) in the evenings and on the weekends. Basically, I am really enjoying myself. Like I said, the organization lacks a lot of structure, and that is part of what they want me to help with. But I have got to get my footing here before anyone will listen to me. Problem is that since my Spanish is still developing, I dont come off as very intelligent, so I think my counterparts think I cant help with a whole lot. I wouldnt say they think I am incompetent...maybe delayed? I dont know, whatever. My method to counter that (besides studying Spanish every night before I got to sleep...yeah, right) is to dive whole heartedly into any assignment that I am given, and demonstrate just how wickedly smart I am. I think its working...
My number one frustration right now is nighttime. Work happens in the nighttime. Barrios are not safe for Theresa in the nighttime. Entonces, work is hard to do for Theresa. I cannot be alone in my barrios after 5pm, and all meetings in the barrios start after 6. So I have to go with someone everytime, which is FINE with me, because I will admit that the barrios feel pretty sketchy at night. I just wish that the meetings started earlier...besides that, if the start time is 7pm, we really dont start until 8 or 8:30, which means I work from about 10am until about 9:30pm. Welcome to the Peace Corps. Last night I went to one of the barrios and met with a recently formed youth group. I really liked them: they were super friendly and open to having me meet with them. I would really like to focus on working with them to develop their group. Thats a hard thing, too: focus. My organization works with 6 different barrios, so that is 6 groups of youth. I am going to be here for two years, and relationships take time. So I would really like to pinpoint maybe 2 or 3 of the groups to focus on. Some of the groups are well developed, so I think I will focus on the ones that need more development. The two big things that the jovens want right now are English classes and dance classes. So I figure I will start out with that, and work my way in.
Nothing too exciting has really happened to me for me to share with you all, my apologies. I will try to think of something...A few nights ago there was an earthquake! I am not sure how strong it was on the Rickter Scale or anything, but I felt it. I had just gotten done practicing some heart pumping yoga, and I was lying in my bed. All of a sudden my be started to shake. At first I thought maybe my heart was just racing...but then I was certain that my bed was shaking as was the desk, the bookcase, the building. It didnt last long, and my dueña (landlady, who I live with) and her son said nothing about it. I dont know what the word for earthquake is, and just the thought of myself explaining in broken Spanish and crazy gestures made even me laugh at myself, so I didnt ask them about it. I am also on anti-Malaria medication and one of the known side-effects is hallucinations, so anytime something odd happens, I always wonder if its just a hallucination. But there really was an earthquake, because one of my friend´s mom in the States said she read about it. So I am not crazy.
Overall, I find that I most enjoy myself when I am left to my own devices and not being chaffured around by my counterparts. There is definatly a tendency to treat me like I am about 10 years old...I might not speak perfect Spanish, and I might not be from around here, but I am not a child. I can make it home okay on the same route that I take every day, I promise. Okay, so maybe sometimes I miss my stop to get off and have to walk few blocks, but cut me some slack, its my first week!
The most enjoyable things I have done thus far in Guayaquil are:
1. Went to dinner at Pollo Gus (kinda like KFC) with my new host brother and told each other scary stories. He goes to a bilingually focused school, so he likes to speak in English with me to practice. He had a homework assignment to write about scary stories form other countries, so what better resource then the gringa that lives in your house? Well, if that gringa is me, there are lots of better resources, because I pretty much suck at scary stories...but we had a good time anyways. His name is Pablo, he´s 15 and he´s just a really cool, well raised, well mannered kid. His favorite food is mayonaise. The kid puts mayo on everything, including tacos. Yikes.
2. Finding a map of the city of Guayaquil. I need a map of the whole city to aid in making a map the area where I live and where I work for an assignment for Peace Corps. Simple enough, right?
First I spent about a day and a half searching the interent, no guns. Then my counterpart said I should go to the Municipio (city hall). Another said they would go with me, "ya mismo" which is said as we say "in a minute" but it could mean anytime this hour, in 4 hours, tomorrow, next week, next year...anyways, that time never came. The next day I announced that I was going to the Municipio by myself, and asked if anyone could direct me there. Another person says they are going over by the Municipio "hoy" (today). ¿Cuando? When, I asked. "Ya mismo." At that time it is about 11am. Sometime around 2pm we finally left, and were told that the Municipio was closed. Great. That was yesterday.
So this AM I went before coming into the office. I took the Metro from my house to get there. At the Metro station, they told me to get off at the Correo. I get off at the Correo and go to the Municipio, or at least what I thought was the Municipio. I ask some guards for help, they look at me funny because I talk funny. I explain that I am from the United States, and that I need a map of the city. Saying you are from the United States is like the Golden Ticket to Willy Wonkas Chocolate Factory, it turns on the help in people. So the guard tells me to go to the museum. The museum tells me to go to the Tourism Office. The Tourism Office gives me a map of the tourist areas (which I already have). I repeat that I need a map of the whole city. I explain that it is for Peace Corps, they need a map of where I live, I do not live in the area included in the tourist map. Ohhh, he says, go to the Municipio, they have a map of the city. I explain that they told me to come to him. He shrugs...I thank him for his help, and he gives me some more tourist guide stuff. Cool. So I go back to where I started and explain what happened. He tells me to walk down the street to the Mayor´s office "the grey building with the female guards in blue" and ask there. I walk to the grey building, there are no female guards in blue, but there are male guards in blue, so I explain what I need to a guard there. He takes me to his boss, I explain over again to him. He asks where I am from, I say the United States. Bingo! He has another guard take me upstairs to the office of planning (I think thats what he said) where I can get a map. The guy at that desk tells me it´ll be 30 minutes and will cost $10 (which is A LOT of money here). I tell him thats fine.
Outside, I chat with the boss guard for a while about his 3 sons who are engineers and speak English and have been to the States. He tells me he knew a Peace Corps volunteer when he lived in Quito in the 60s, and that his sister is Esmeraldas was host mom for some PC volunteers a few years back as well. He tells me I can come back anytime and chat with him. He says if I come back some afternoon, he will take me up to the Mayor´s office so I can take a picture of myself at the Mayor´s desk to share with my family back home. ¡Chevere!
30 minutes is up, I go back upstairs for my map. The guy behind the desk is muttering something to me about the $10. I cannot hear him...he says to put the money through the desk window, but do it discreetly. Ummm...okaaay....He comes out with my map. Its HUGE! Yippie! I ask for my change (I gave him a $20). He pockets the $20 and asks why I dont have a smaller bill. I tell him its all I have, so he leads me back downstairs, outside and around the corner to some juicebar where he changes the $20. I thank him and he says to come and say hello anytime. I am pretty sure he kept the $10 for himself...
On the taxi ride over to the office I chatted with the driver, who has never been to the States but would love to go sometime. He asks what religion I am, I tell him I dont have one. He says people always think hes an Evangelist because he is so tranquilo, but hes not. He says he wishes he had more copies of his buisness card to give me so that I could call him sometime. I tell him not to worry about it and that I will see him around.
When I get into my office, my main counterpart is still not there (we are supposed to meet in the office at 10am, I got in about 10:45). It is now 2:30pm, and she is still not here (see what I am talking about in terms of lack of organization...). So I am going to go home and figure out how to get to the mall on the bus from my house.
And most importantly...the best thing about this crazy city...
3. Everynight when I wake up around 4am, and everything is silent. In a city full of people, buses, the Metro, taxis and other cars, it is practially ALWAYS noisey here. I love silence, I miss silence. But everynight when my body wakes it self around 4am, everything is silent. My dueña and her son are sleeping (which means that the TV is turned off, rather than blaring at top volume), the neighbors are sleeping (which means that the niña stops whining and her parents stop yelling at her), there are no cars speeding down the street blasting reggaeton or music meant to inspire people to vote for their cadidate (there is a HUGE election coming up here, and there are something like 200 different active political parties), the buses stop running, the taxis stop honking as soon as the lights turn green: the city sleeps. Silence. 4am has become my new favorite time of day.
Life as a Peace Corps Volunteer is pretty cool.
Hope you all are well and doing good things.
Peace,
Theresa
Tuesday, September 4, 2007
Thats right, I am a VOLUNTEER
Much has gone down since the last time I wrote, but only bits are intersting enough (and vauge enough to put on the internet) to write about...
Last week we, Omnibus 98, swore in. We spent the week in Quito, and officially became volunteers on Friday, August 31st. During the week we had lots of sessions on volunteer rules, guidelines, safety and security, etc. Most of it was review, but this time it was for serious because the PC-Ecuador Director was there. Surly, I made a really wonderful impression on him...the week prior we were asked to complete evaluations of training and staff and stuff. Well, I happen to take evaluations very seriously and I like to take my time and really be honest on them. Once, in college, I helped rally my class to really be honest about the short-comings of a professor we had for Human Disease and Society, because he had really done a poor job the entire semester...we were honest and thorough, and now, he no longer teaches that class....ahh, the power of evaluations. So anyhow, at the end of Community Based Training here in Ecuador, we were asked to do these evaluations, and part of the evaluation was on the Country Director. Well, I was a bit miffed that the Country Director chooses to take an annual vacation every year when the Youth and Families/ Rural Health Omnibuses come into the country. I wrote that respect is a mutual relationship, and so to earn our respect, he should start by respecting us enough to stay in the country when we arrive. Well, of course given my luck, I was appearantly the only person in my group to make such a comment, or a bad comment in general regarding the Country Director (something about being concerned that he was personally going to read all of the evaluations....whatever). So of course he announced to the entire group what I had written and promised to keep close contact with me so that he could change my mind...grrrreat.
Overall, the week of training was, well...it was like most of the official PC stuff training is: kinda boring. This week, however, was better solely based on the nature that we were in Quito. You know what that means? Gringos! And you know what that means....Gringos=good resturants! Yum! I had Indian food, Italian food, Mexican food, and my personal favorite: A TURKEY SUB SANDWICH! Funny what you get excited about after eating rice, chicken, potatoes and salad for so long. I was pretty lucky in training, though, my family was kick ass and I got way more variation in meals than most folks did. Oh! On that note, guess what I had for my last meal in Tabacundo?!?! CUY! Thats right, I ate a delisious-doesnt-taste-like-chicken-or-bologna (as some have said) oven-roasted GUINEA PIG! Weird, huh? They are a super common food in the Sierra of Ecuador (which is the middle part of the country) becuase they are native to the area and rich in nutrients. Pets in one country, dinner in another, dont judge! I cannot describe what they tasted like, but it was good. It was really hard to eat, though, because they basically just skin the animal and pop it in the oven with a bunch of seasonings. So, unlike any other meat I have ever had, it is not pretreated...that means that all the stuff on the inside of the animal are still there...that means that I have no idea what I actually ate, but there was definately some non-meat products ingested during that meal. When in Rome...
Anyhow, back to Quito...so yeah, we had training stuff, we met some more volunteers from Ecuador and learned about volunteer groups that exist (like Gender and Development Group, Peer Support Network, the volunteer newspaper, LGBTQ group, the volunteer "student government" group, etc.). Honestly, I wasnt all that intersted in any of the groups...mostly because it there seems to be a repeat of the same cast of characters over and over again...much like college student organizations...I am just not sure I want to get involved. So unlike me, I know. The only one I was really intersted in is the LGBTQ group (feeling a little odd not being surrounded by gay folks...miss you friends), but we cannot join groups for 3 months or 6 months or something like that, so we will see. Plus there are only 3 seats open in that group, and I dont know who else in my Omnibus is interested.
Fast forward to Friday: we swore in! The ceremony was at the home of US Ambassador to Ecuador, Linda Jewell´s house. Whoa, now that was a house, and all we saw was the back yard! I bet she never has to worry about not having any water or the toilet not flushing (thats how it was for me in my hotel room for much of the week. No consistant water to shower + toilet not flushing + 6 girls in one room= very smelly bathroom). The ceremony was as to be expected: National Anthems are sung, Country Director gives lots of offical thank yous to the important people who attend, Madame Ambassador thanks us for our service and cries (she cries every year appearantly), we take the offical oath, Omnibus speakers, Omnibus talent. If you recall from previous entries, I was the Youth and Families Omnibus speaker, oh yeah! I wrote my speech the day before the ceremony, only because I am so good at planning ahead for serious occasions. But it went down really well! I asked my group ahead of time to write down for me things that they had learned from their fellow 98ers, and I worked the comments into the speech so it had a real personal touch for our group. My goal was to remind us how and why we came here, while not being too serious and not joking around too much. My personal favorite part of the speech was the analogy of joining the Peace Corps to swimming in unfamiliar waters (grab your nose, close your eyes and jump); my compañeros seemed to enjoy the part where I said "Chuta" which means shoot, but it came out sounding like a vulgar word for vagina with my Wisconsin accent, and when I said we would all often question leaving "Target stores, Starbucks Coffee and customer service" to come to Ecuador. Those are three things that Ecuador does not have and could really use a dose of. Especially the customer service, this is what happens when no one works for tips.
After the ceremony we had delicious bagels, coffee, and fruit salad (have I always been this obsessed with food? What is happening to me?), and took lots of pictures...which I swear to eventually put onto a fliker account online so that you all can see. I would explain to you why it is not yet done, but it would take too long and I get angry when I think about it.
Friday night we had the swear in party. Good times, way too many drinks in a short period of time at a high altitude...enough said. Swear-In Party in PC-Ecuador is kind of like the high school prom, at least what I think prom might be like, I guess I dont really know because I never went to mine, but we will not speak of that, either, because whenever that topic comes up I get emailed by the past and have to tell him that I still have no interest in what he has to say. Annnnyways, Swear-In Party in PC-Ecuador is a lot like high school prom in that all the current volunteers seem to see it as some kind if signal towards hook-ups to come. Great, so basically it gave me the stress of being at a straight bar. First, none of the current volunteers were talking to any of the newbies, especially not of the opposite sex...cuz if you did it might mean that you want to get on them. As we loosened our whistles a bit with the open bar as the night went on, intergration happened, so that is good. There was no hooking up to be had by this prude though, worry not. Nor was there any late night drive through meals, damnit!
The rest of the weekend I basically spent time soaking up time with my friends here, as we were all leaving for our sites on Sunday and Monday. Lots of conversations on how weird the last 10 weeks have been...we barely know each other, really, and we are all so close. We got our cell phones last week, too, so it shouldnt be too bad now that we are in our sites, we can still keep in contact. Overall, it was probably the best week of training, cuz there was more free time and more freedom to do what we wanted in general. Signs of what is to come, I suppose.
So now I am at my site. I am officially living in Guayaquil. I am not here for my site visit of a technical trip, I am not leaving. Crap! now its for real. More on that later...I am at my office now, and my counterpart just got back from lunch, so I suppose I should stop blogging.
See you kids later. If you want my cell phone number, shoot me an email. If you dont have my email address and dont have access to it, well, then you are probably not someone that I would give my cell number to anyways, so....
peace,
theresa
Last week we, Omnibus 98, swore in. We spent the week in Quito, and officially became volunteers on Friday, August 31st. During the week we had lots of sessions on volunteer rules, guidelines, safety and security, etc. Most of it was review, but this time it was for serious because the PC-Ecuador Director was there. Surly, I made a really wonderful impression on him...the week prior we were asked to complete evaluations of training and staff and stuff. Well, I happen to take evaluations very seriously and I like to take my time and really be honest on them. Once, in college, I helped rally my class to really be honest about the short-comings of a professor we had for Human Disease and Society, because he had really done a poor job the entire semester...we were honest and thorough, and now, he no longer teaches that class....ahh, the power of evaluations. So anyhow, at the end of Community Based Training here in Ecuador, we were asked to do these evaluations, and part of the evaluation was on the Country Director. Well, I was a bit miffed that the Country Director chooses to take an annual vacation every year when the Youth and Families/ Rural Health Omnibuses come into the country. I wrote that respect is a mutual relationship, and so to earn our respect, he should start by respecting us enough to stay in the country when we arrive. Well, of course given my luck, I was appearantly the only person in my group to make such a comment, or a bad comment in general regarding the Country Director (something about being concerned that he was personally going to read all of the evaluations....whatever). So of course he announced to the entire group what I had written and promised to keep close contact with me so that he could change my mind...grrrreat.
Overall, the week of training was, well...it was like most of the official PC stuff training is: kinda boring. This week, however, was better solely based on the nature that we were in Quito. You know what that means? Gringos! And you know what that means....Gringos=good resturants! Yum! I had Indian food, Italian food, Mexican food, and my personal favorite: A TURKEY SUB SANDWICH! Funny what you get excited about after eating rice, chicken, potatoes and salad for so long. I was pretty lucky in training, though, my family was kick ass and I got way more variation in meals than most folks did. Oh! On that note, guess what I had for my last meal in Tabacundo?!?! CUY! Thats right, I ate a delisious-doesnt-taste-like-chicken-or-bologna (as some have said) oven-roasted GUINEA PIG! Weird, huh? They are a super common food in the Sierra of Ecuador (which is the middle part of the country) becuase they are native to the area and rich in nutrients. Pets in one country, dinner in another, dont judge! I cannot describe what they tasted like, but it was good. It was really hard to eat, though, because they basically just skin the animal and pop it in the oven with a bunch of seasonings. So, unlike any other meat I have ever had, it is not pretreated...that means that all the stuff on the inside of the animal are still there...that means that I have no idea what I actually ate, but there was definately some non-meat products ingested during that meal. When in Rome...
Anyhow, back to Quito...so yeah, we had training stuff, we met some more volunteers from Ecuador and learned about volunteer groups that exist (like Gender and Development Group, Peer Support Network, the volunteer newspaper, LGBTQ group, the volunteer "student government" group, etc.). Honestly, I wasnt all that intersted in any of the groups...mostly because it there seems to be a repeat of the same cast of characters over and over again...much like college student organizations...I am just not sure I want to get involved. So unlike me, I know. The only one I was really intersted in is the LGBTQ group (feeling a little odd not being surrounded by gay folks...miss you friends), but we cannot join groups for 3 months or 6 months or something like that, so we will see. Plus there are only 3 seats open in that group, and I dont know who else in my Omnibus is interested.
Fast forward to Friday: we swore in! The ceremony was at the home of US Ambassador to Ecuador, Linda Jewell´s house. Whoa, now that was a house, and all we saw was the back yard! I bet she never has to worry about not having any water or the toilet not flushing (thats how it was for me in my hotel room for much of the week. No consistant water to shower + toilet not flushing + 6 girls in one room= very smelly bathroom). The ceremony was as to be expected: National Anthems are sung, Country Director gives lots of offical thank yous to the important people who attend, Madame Ambassador thanks us for our service and cries (she cries every year appearantly), we take the offical oath, Omnibus speakers, Omnibus talent. If you recall from previous entries, I was the Youth and Families Omnibus speaker, oh yeah! I wrote my speech the day before the ceremony, only because I am so good at planning ahead for serious occasions. But it went down really well! I asked my group ahead of time to write down for me things that they had learned from their fellow 98ers, and I worked the comments into the speech so it had a real personal touch for our group. My goal was to remind us how and why we came here, while not being too serious and not joking around too much. My personal favorite part of the speech was the analogy of joining the Peace Corps to swimming in unfamiliar waters (grab your nose, close your eyes and jump); my compañeros seemed to enjoy the part where I said "Chuta" which means shoot, but it came out sounding like a vulgar word for vagina with my Wisconsin accent, and when I said we would all often question leaving "Target stores, Starbucks Coffee and customer service" to come to Ecuador. Those are three things that Ecuador does not have and could really use a dose of. Especially the customer service, this is what happens when no one works for tips.
After the ceremony we had delicious bagels, coffee, and fruit salad (have I always been this obsessed with food? What is happening to me?), and took lots of pictures...which I swear to eventually put onto a fliker account online so that you all can see. I would explain to you why it is not yet done, but it would take too long and I get angry when I think about it.
Friday night we had the swear in party. Good times, way too many drinks in a short period of time at a high altitude...enough said. Swear-In Party in PC-Ecuador is kind of like the high school prom, at least what I think prom might be like, I guess I dont really know because I never went to mine, but we will not speak of that, either, because whenever that topic comes up I get emailed by the past and have to tell him that I still have no interest in what he has to say. Annnnyways, Swear-In Party in PC-Ecuador is a lot like high school prom in that all the current volunteers seem to see it as some kind if signal towards hook-ups to come. Great, so basically it gave me the stress of being at a straight bar. First, none of the current volunteers were talking to any of the newbies, especially not of the opposite sex...cuz if you did it might mean that you want to get on them. As we loosened our whistles a bit with the open bar as the night went on, intergration happened, so that is good. There was no hooking up to be had by this prude though, worry not. Nor was there any late night drive through meals, damnit!
The rest of the weekend I basically spent time soaking up time with my friends here, as we were all leaving for our sites on Sunday and Monday. Lots of conversations on how weird the last 10 weeks have been...we barely know each other, really, and we are all so close. We got our cell phones last week, too, so it shouldnt be too bad now that we are in our sites, we can still keep in contact. Overall, it was probably the best week of training, cuz there was more free time and more freedom to do what we wanted in general. Signs of what is to come, I suppose.
So now I am at my site. I am officially living in Guayaquil. I am not here for my site visit of a technical trip, I am not leaving. Crap! now its for real. More on that later...I am at my office now, and my counterpart just got back from lunch, so I suppose I should stop blogging.
See you kids later. If you want my cell phone number, shoot me an email. If you dont have my email address and dont have access to it, well, then you are probably not someone that I would give my cell number to anyways, so....
peace,
theresa
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