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