7-11-2011

So behind in writing!! Our cooking demonstration went great! It actually turned out quite scrumptiously (yup just made that word up) We started out with a big class/audience and as time went on people slowly left because groups were leaving early to go to the market.

The second half of our morning each Spanish class took a trip to a market. Ours went to the Cumbaya market, nothing really special. I think all of us have been to the market since we’ve been here so it seemed kinda silly. We walked around and then headed to the shopping center. Mariana (Spanish teacher) left us there-she headed back to Quito so we decided to make our way back to Tumbaco. We stopped at the Pizza Hut to eat. Pretty good pizza and only about $40 for the 6 of us to eat and drink.

I then went with Bridget to get/watch a movie. We went to the “store” (pirated store) where the movies were $1.50 each!! All super good quality. We bought 127 hours, really good movie. I went back home to rest before going out but my host sister called to ask if I wanted to go to Jose Luis’s and watch the Ecuador vs Venezuela game. I went, it was fun, Lucy and I just kinda hung out in hammocks. Ecuador lost and everyone was really upset. The house was cute, kinda like a cabin. Met Jose Luis’s dog, a terror, just needs attention.

We came home and I got ready to go out with Portia and Rebekah. We met up Andrey, Edwin and Andres. The club was really cool and we danced a lot! Barra libre till 1 AM, def paid for it the next morning. Was in bed practically all day “chuchaki”..lesson learned, never drinking again, or at least for a long time! It was nice to lay around home by myself but I really wish that someone could’ve been home to make me soup and tea.

Monday-
So today was a really blah day. We met with our tech groups and had a presentation on the process of how our sites are chosen. It sounds like they do a really thorough job making sure the counter part is enthusiastic and can find a family for us. I think everyone is really excited and nervous at the same time. For health everyone has been placed but they still can’t tell us till Wed. Apparently there’s one more meeting with the CD & SSC (country director & Safety and Security coordinator) to make sure everything is good to go.

We then had the pregnancy session along with mental health. The mental health one was all about handling stress. Also about the roller coaster emotions we will face. I'm expecting all different kinds of emotions. I'm really glad I have my Mexico experience to reflect on.

The pregnancy policy chat was interesting…PC covers a lot more than I thought they would. Moral of the chat-don’t get pregnant!

Spanish was for the rest of the afternoon. At the same time we had our “resiliency test” and Mariana had to be part of that so she left us with a small activity and Spanish Scrabble. The resiliency test had 4 components-tech, safety & security, health and language/culture. They each gave us a scenario and we had to explain how we would solve it, pretty easy… After that we really didn’t have anything to do. Our 2nd L.P.I’s (language proficiency interview) were going on as well but I never got to mine, probably tomorrow. I watered our plants and we played Euchre.

Bridget’s dad gave a bunch of us a ride home, well to the Santa Maria (supermarket). Tomorrow is Taco Tuesday!! A bunch of us had to get taco stuff. $8 for 2 bags of taco cheese!! Oh well I'm sure it will be well worth it. TWO MORE DAYS!!!!!