So, as you can see I have moved my PC Assignment to the top of the page because today was Site Assignment Day! (Lovingly dubbed the "day of destiny.") I will not make a whole post talking about my site since you can read the same info above. As you can tell, my prediction was right, and I am being sent to the big scary city! Who would have thought that joining the Peace Corps would wind me up in a city that is bigger than both of my hometowns put together??? I checked the stats on Wikilepedia, and the population of the metro-area of Guayaquil is bigger than that of Milwaukee´s metro area plus the population of Green Bay (and then some...). So this is the site that I was worried about, but I have been prepping myself since Thursday, so I am feeling pretty good about it (scared, but good). I am told that my organization is one of the strongest ones that PC Ecuador works with, and I get the impression that they are basically THE major Afro-Ecuadorian organization in the country. The counterparts (our direct contact people) seem super rad, very motivated and full of good vision for the community. Overall, I am pretty sure that I got pretty lucky. What I do feel very good about is the reasoning I was given on how my site was selected. I am not going to go hooting my horn or anything, but it does seem that the staff has a lot of confidence in my potential as a volunteer. Lets hope I dont let them all down!
I go on a site visit this weekend, so I will know more after that. Until then, there is really nothing going on with me that is remotely as important as my site assignment. I have lots of reading to do!
I hope you all are well. I miss home really bad this week, for whatever reason, probably because last week was so trying. Anyhow, thanks for all the nice comments you guys make on this site, that stuff is majorly important to me (ps, if you havent made a comment, now is the time, because I am starting to question our friendship...sooo just kidding). Also, whenever you feel the urge to send me some care packages, get to getting...you know how I like presents...Target is open til 9pm...hahaha
love you all,
theresa
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Saturday, July 21, 2007
Life is calling...
So, this past week we had what is called the "Site Fair." Basically, the counterparts (or our direct contacts at our sites) come in and present information on their sites and the programs they are working on. Then, we smooze shamelessly with them in horrible Spanish grammer to get them to want us to work there. Here is how it went down:
The Thursday before last we were told that it was optional for us to make up our resumes in Spanish to hand out to the counterparts. Given that it was an option, I sided with the not doing it decision. Basically, my Spanish has improved majorly, but I still sound pretty gringa stupid, and I was not trying to call myself out like that. Well, the next day on Friday, we were told that the resumes were mandatory and that the counterparts really look highly upon those who have them (even if the Spanish is sub-par). So I made one, of course not until the last minute on Sunday, but hey, better than nothing. It cost me $3 to print of the copies. That might sound like a good deal, but a full lunch of chicken breast, rice, beans, a fried banana and a drink costs $1.50; so $3 for a stack of 10 pages is pretty expensive! Of course my language facilitator totally crapped all over my resume with his red pen...so money essentially wasted, but I handed them out anyhow.
The Site Fair was super informative! We had sites from all over the sierra (middle) and coastal region of Ecuador, and 2 sites in the Amazon! (that exclamaion mark has nothing to do with my desire to live in the Amazon, its just exciting that someone else will be and I will look at pictures). There were a handful of sites that I was interested in, but my top ones were a kick-ass Women´s Rights organization in Machala, a super rad group of youth who are working on bettering thier city in Sua, and a really chill artisan Afro-Ecuadorian group in Mascarilla. I liked the Mascarilla, its a small town where they are working on some super rad artisan projects to increase tourism in their area to generate revenue for the town and the folks who live there. We were given the chance to talk to our program manager about which sites were were most interested in because she and the PC team here are the ones who make the choice in the end. So I told her that I really wanted to go to Mascarilla, and she was like, "Yeah....no." What? Appearantly she sees me in a large city going into the barrios seeking out new leadership. Come again? Large city? You realize I lived in the suburbs even in Green Bay, right? What? I am scared....
She kept saying that her stronger volunteers need to go to the tougher sites, so she needs to use my skills in the tough cities. It seems that I was determined to be a "strong volunteer" even before the site fair, so I am not sure that my $3 spent on resumes even mattered if I will be sent to a site in a scary city that I did not hand out my resume to anyhow... We´ll see. Site assignment is on Tuesday; so on Tuesday, I will know where it has be determined that I will live for the next 2 years...
Keep your fingers crossed for me.
peace,
theresa
The Thursday before last we were told that it was optional for us to make up our resumes in Spanish to hand out to the counterparts. Given that it was an option, I sided with the not doing it decision. Basically, my Spanish has improved majorly, but I still sound pretty gringa stupid, and I was not trying to call myself out like that. Well, the next day on Friday, we were told that the resumes were mandatory and that the counterparts really look highly upon those who have them (even if the Spanish is sub-par). So I made one, of course not until the last minute on Sunday, but hey, better than nothing. It cost me $3 to print of the copies. That might sound like a good deal, but a full lunch of chicken breast, rice, beans, a fried banana and a drink costs $1.50; so $3 for a stack of 10 pages is pretty expensive! Of course my language facilitator totally crapped all over my resume with his red pen...so money essentially wasted, but I handed them out anyhow.
The Site Fair was super informative! We had sites from all over the sierra (middle) and coastal region of Ecuador, and 2 sites in the Amazon! (that exclamaion mark has nothing to do with my desire to live in the Amazon, its just exciting that someone else will be and I will look at pictures). There were a handful of sites that I was interested in, but my top ones were a kick-ass Women´s Rights organization in Machala, a super rad group of youth who are working on bettering thier city in Sua, and a really chill artisan Afro-Ecuadorian group in Mascarilla. I liked the Mascarilla, its a small town where they are working on some super rad artisan projects to increase tourism in their area to generate revenue for the town and the folks who live there. We were given the chance to talk to our program manager about which sites were were most interested in because she and the PC team here are the ones who make the choice in the end. So I told her that I really wanted to go to Mascarilla, and she was like, "Yeah....no." What? Appearantly she sees me in a large city going into the barrios seeking out new leadership. Come again? Large city? You realize I lived in the suburbs even in Green Bay, right? What? I am scared....
She kept saying that her stronger volunteers need to go to the tougher sites, so she needs to use my skills in the tough cities. It seems that I was determined to be a "strong volunteer" even before the site fair, so I am not sure that my $3 spent on resumes even mattered if I will be sent to a site in a scary city that I did not hand out my resume to anyhow... We´ll see. Site assignment is on Tuesday; so on Tuesday, I will know where it has be determined that I will live for the next 2 years...
Keep your fingers crossed for me.
peace,
theresa
Sunday, July 15, 2007
My first very good day
Alright, so certainly not to say that I have not been having good days, but you know, it can only be so good when I spend so much time studying Spanish everyday (not to say that I hate training, well...).
Anyhow, we had this weekend FREE! Oh, how I love a free day! So what did I want to do? Really, how well do you know me....I wanted to go SHOPPING!!! Me, my host mom, host sister and my PCT friend John loaded ourselves up in my mom´s car and headed to Otovalo. According to another PCT friend, Otovalo is a world famous artisan market. Based on the high numbers of gringos (non-Ecuadorians) that were there, I would tend to agree that it is a tourist destination.
Basically, Otovalo was like a small piece of my personal heaven. There were stands upon stands upon shops upon shops of neat little artisan crafts like blankets, table clothes, shawls, jewelery, nick-knacks, EVERYTHING. It was freaking awesome. Now, I must say that I was nervous because I am not every good at the whole bargaining game, on top of that I get the numbers ¨fifty,¨¨sixty,¨and ¨seventy¨ (cincuenta, seisenta and setenta) completely mixed up all of the time. And I am bad at math. Overall, I was not built for bargaining. Well, am I ever in luck because my host mom happens to be the queen of bargaining! Being a gringo means that you get the "special gringo price" which means that they try to sell stuff for way more than it needs to be sold for.
What I really wanted to buy was a shawl. Shawls and ponchos are all the rage in the Cayambe area seeing as how we are in the mountains and it is COLD! Its a great look to toss one over your clothes for the day, especially useful at night when it gets really chilly. My host mom has one, and its just so cute, I had to get one. She paid $10 for hers: it is super thick wool and solid black. Of course, I wanted something a little more fancy...so I found one that is two-tones of green with a little pattern at the bottom, basically is hot. The dealer started off at $13 (I think, or maybe he said $15, I wasnt really listening because I was distracted by shawls and finding a color I liked best). My host mom whispers to me immediately that we are not paying more than $10. She starts bartering, but he isnt budging. We had to go to the next booth over to find a different color, but the booth was owned by the same family. This lady offers it at $13 again, my host mom decides on $8. The lady is all, "Oh no, I cant go that low." My host mom responds by saying that the last guy told us $8, but the lady still wont budge. Then the lady offers $10, I figure thats cool, since that´s what my host mom started out at, I start reaching for my money. Wrong! My host mom says "$8 or we are not taking it," the lady says 11, my host mom replies with a firm "Ocho y no mas." The lady turns to help another gringo, who is also getting the gringo price of $13 for a sweater, my mom tells that dude not to pay more than $9. Finally, the lady turns to us and settles for $8, I pay up and we leave. Oh, and ps, the other gringo got his sweater for $9. Man, my host mom is good! She doesnt even barter, she just offers a price and waits them out. I need to learn that!
After a few more hours of fun in Otovalo, we returned to Cayambe for a family reunion at my host uncle´s house. Oh, let me rewind a minute and share with you that I awoke that morning to the sound of a pig dying. Have you ever heard a pig die? It sounds exactly like how you would think: the standard pig squeal sound tinged with intense pain. You see my family had a pig, and I knew that my host dad was going to slaughter it for the party on Saturday. I guess I just didnt think that I would hear it happening...which makes no sense at all since the pig lives (well, lived) pretty close to the door to my room. So anyhow, I basically just stayed in bed for forever, hiding under my covers and trying to gather up the courage to leave my room (I was afraid that I would see the pig and its blood and stuff). When I left my room, there was nothing to be seen. I told my host mom over breakfast that I was scared, she just laughed and said that it always scares her a bit, too.
So anyhow, we got back from Otovalo and went to my host uncle´s house for the party. There were about 6 of my host mom´s siblings and their families there, suffice to say that I was overwhelmed. I am always overwhelmed around large groups of new people, add the language in there, and WOW. I was scared. But it was fine, I busted out my cards and taught the gang Uno and a bunch of other card games. My friend John came over and taught some games, too. We ended up playing Uno, President, Spoons (Chucaras), Crazy 8s, and Mentira (which is Spanish for liar, my kid-friendly translation of Bulls**t, which by the way didnt matter because my host sister figured it out and told all the rest of the kids what the real word was and they all got a good giggle out of it). The family also taught us three games, one was called Burro (donkey or probably really A**hole) , one was called One, two, three, and one I dont remember the name but it was fun. Playing President was especially fun because the loser (who we called the Burro) had to do some humiliating thing that the President decided on. One of my cousins (who is about 13 years old and was very fashionable) had to kiss the pig´s head (which was skinless and no longer attached to the body)! Oh, it was FUNNY!
Anyhow, the pig was totally delicious and worth my fear from the morning. They cooked it over an open fire in a huge metal bowl with garlic and onions. Oh, it was delicious! Here, they also eat the raw pig skin (including the little black hairs) with salt. I tasted it, I did not enjoy it.
So, a day filled with shopping, integrating with my extended-host-family through cards, and delicious fresh pork. Saturday was a good day.
I dont really have a moral to the story for today. I will say this: When you get done reading this, go home and kiss your washer and dryer. The novelty of prescrubbing clothes (and my filthy shoes) on the rock has officially worn off. Clothes get crazy dirty here because the streets are super dusty, everything gets dirty dust on it. You go home and kiss your washer and dryer, and I will kiss my right bicep muscle which is bulging in size from diligent scrubbing!
Amor y besos,
theresa
Anyhow, we had this weekend FREE! Oh, how I love a free day! So what did I want to do? Really, how well do you know me....I wanted to go SHOPPING!!! Me, my host mom, host sister and my PCT friend John loaded ourselves up in my mom´s car and headed to Otovalo. According to another PCT friend, Otovalo is a world famous artisan market. Based on the high numbers of gringos (non-Ecuadorians) that were there, I would tend to agree that it is a tourist destination.
Basically, Otovalo was like a small piece of my personal heaven. There were stands upon stands upon shops upon shops of neat little artisan crafts like blankets, table clothes, shawls, jewelery, nick-knacks, EVERYTHING. It was freaking awesome. Now, I must say that I was nervous because I am not every good at the whole bargaining game, on top of that I get the numbers ¨fifty,¨¨sixty,¨and ¨seventy¨ (cincuenta, seisenta and setenta) completely mixed up all of the time. And I am bad at math. Overall, I was not built for bargaining. Well, am I ever in luck because my host mom happens to be the queen of bargaining! Being a gringo means that you get the "special gringo price" which means that they try to sell stuff for way more than it needs to be sold for.
What I really wanted to buy was a shawl. Shawls and ponchos are all the rage in the Cayambe area seeing as how we are in the mountains and it is COLD! Its a great look to toss one over your clothes for the day, especially useful at night when it gets really chilly. My host mom has one, and its just so cute, I had to get one. She paid $10 for hers: it is super thick wool and solid black. Of course, I wanted something a little more fancy...so I found one that is two-tones of green with a little pattern at the bottom, basically is hot. The dealer started off at $13 (I think, or maybe he said $15, I wasnt really listening because I was distracted by shawls and finding a color I liked best). My host mom whispers to me immediately that we are not paying more than $10. She starts bartering, but he isnt budging. We had to go to the next booth over to find a different color, but the booth was owned by the same family. This lady offers it at $13 again, my host mom decides on $8. The lady is all, "Oh no, I cant go that low." My host mom responds by saying that the last guy told us $8, but the lady still wont budge. Then the lady offers $10, I figure thats cool, since that´s what my host mom started out at, I start reaching for my money. Wrong! My host mom says "$8 or we are not taking it," the lady says 11, my host mom replies with a firm "Ocho y no mas." The lady turns to help another gringo, who is also getting the gringo price of $13 for a sweater, my mom tells that dude not to pay more than $9. Finally, the lady turns to us and settles for $8, I pay up and we leave. Oh, and ps, the other gringo got his sweater for $9. Man, my host mom is good! She doesnt even barter, she just offers a price and waits them out. I need to learn that!
After a few more hours of fun in Otovalo, we returned to Cayambe for a family reunion at my host uncle´s house. Oh, let me rewind a minute and share with you that I awoke that morning to the sound of a pig dying. Have you ever heard a pig die? It sounds exactly like how you would think: the standard pig squeal sound tinged with intense pain. You see my family had a pig, and I knew that my host dad was going to slaughter it for the party on Saturday. I guess I just didnt think that I would hear it happening...which makes no sense at all since the pig lives (well, lived) pretty close to the door to my room. So anyhow, I basically just stayed in bed for forever, hiding under my covers and trying to gather up the courage to leave my room (I was afraid that I would see the pig and its blood and stuff). When I left my room, there was nothing to be seen. I told my host mom over breakfast that I was scared, she just laughed and said that it always scares her a bit, too.
So anyhow, we got back from Otovalo and went to my host uncle´s house for the party. There were about 6 of my host mom´s siblings and their families there, suffice to say that I was overwhelmed. I am always overwhelmed around large groups of new people, add the language in there, and WOW. I was scared. But it was fine, I busted out my cards and taught the gang Uno and a bunch of other card games. My friend John came over and taught some games, too. We ended up playing Uno, President, Spoons (Chucaras), Crazy 8s, and Mentira (which is Spanish for liar, my kid-friendly translation of Bulls**t, which by the way didnt matter because my host sister figured it out and told all the rest of the kids what the real word was and they all got a good giggle out of it). The family also taught us three games, one was called Burro (donkey or probably really A**hole) , one was called One, two, three, and one I dont remember the name but it was fun. Playing President was especially fun because the loser (who we called the Burro) had to do some humiliating thing that the President decided on. One of my cousins (who is about 13 years old and was very fashionable) had to kiss the pig´s head (which was skinless and no longer attached to the body)! Oh, it was FUNNY!
Anyhow, the pig was totally delicious and worth my fear from the morning. They cooked it over an open fire in a huge metal bowl with garlic and onions. Oh, it was delicious! Here, they also eat the raw pig skin (including the little black hairs) with salt. I tasted it, I did not enjoy it.
So, a day filled with shopping, integrating with my extended-host-family through cards, and delicious fresh pork. Saturday was a good day.
I dont really have a moral to the story for today. I will say this: When you get done reading this, go home and kiss your washer and dryer. The novelty of prescrubbing clothes (and my filthy shoes) on the rock has officially worn off. Clothes get crazy dirty here because the streets are super dusty, everything gets dirty dust on it. You go home and kiss your washer and dryer, and I will kiss my right bicep muscle which is bulging in size from diligent scrubbing!
Amor y besos,
theresa
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