Yesterday was a pretty good day. I woke up and had breakfast with host mom and brother. I guess they eat breakfast here at the house only on the weekends. My brother left to go clean the church for today’s service and my host mom and I stayed and chatted for a bit. Around 8:30 I felt my 1st earth tremor! It didn’t last long but it was kinda scary. The ground shook and things on the wall were moving back and forth too, quite the experience! I guess because of the volcano there are tremors like that frequently and sometimes the volcano can spew all sorts of stuff!
After breakfast I headed to the center. I wanted to walk around some before meeting up with the other volunteers. I found this adorable little park next to the church. So many of the old colonial buildings were destroyed in the 1949 earthquake and then replaced by these ugly 1950’s style buildings. There are a few still standing though. I found a bench and began to write a letter to Bram.
After some time an old man came and sat next to me. We of course got to talking, you could tell he was lonely, but he seemed innocent. He invited me to walk around and I politely denied, just because I didn’t want to and you know how those old men get the wrong idea. He did leave after some time only to return 5 minutes later with an ice cream cone. How do you deny such a nice gesture like that?! I took it and of course at it. I'm still here so obviously it wasn’t drugged with anything, lol. I
I walked around some more because I had like a ½ hour to kill. AS I was walking this kid was like “excuse me”, normally I ignore the hisses and cat calls but he specifically wanted to talk to me. Stupidly I stopped. He asked me if we could be friends, Seriously?!?! I said no, and he was like, why not? I won’t take up too much of your time. So I told him I would give him 5 minutes. He asked me where I was from, blah blah blah and the I told him I had to go. He was pretty polite about it and said goodbye.
I then met up with the other volunteers and we had lunch at one of the markets. It was interesting to hear Jarrett’s take on his project. Let’s just say he’s not too happy. Apparently he and Mike were put at Colegio Bolivar, one fo the most prestigious schools in the country. From his point of view it didn’t make sense that PC placed 2 volunteers there. I guess all they said they really wanted help with was pronunciation. Jarrett expressed that this was not what he had not signed up for. HE really thought putting Peace Corps volunteers in Ambato, which is already pretty developed was a waste. In a way I do agree. I def see that there is a need at the University and after talking to Sharon we noticed that it is more of a tech college and the students aren’t super motivated.
Jarrett used the word “Posh-Corps” to describe PC. In a way I agree. I mean obviously this isn’t sub-Saharan Africa, but I have the feeling most of the PCV’s are living pretty comfortable lives..aka not having to “rough it” too much.
After lunch I took the bus back with Sharon and went home, really hoping there would be water for a shower. No such luck..this is the longest I’ve gone without showering. If it’s not on by this afternoon I’m going ot my counterparts to shower, this is ridiculous! So I decided to go to the park and read. There were so many people at the park. Men, women, boys and girls, playing basketball, soccer and volleyball! Too bad I didn’t know anyone. I know I know I should of just went up to people and asked to play, but I wanted to observe more than anything.
Around 5:45 I walked to the restaurant to meet my counterpart to go to the house where Sharon is living with her counterpart until they set her up with a different place. There we met Julie, the volunteer I’m replacing, Adam, another volunteer that lives about an hour away who’s half way done and a Fulbright volunteer, who did CIMAS a semester before me.
Julie is really cool! I'm hopeful that she can help make my transition a little smooth, she’s a little bit older, maybe 30 but really awesome! I'm excited that Kim will be her another year as well. She can help me find my way around the University at first.
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So today was a full day of futbol. My dad is a ref and had to ref some games so I decided to go with. I opted out of a 3 hour long session of Mormon church..oh well maybe next time. Lets just say, I watched soccer from 10:30 AM till 5:30 PM It was chilly and rainy at points but for the most part it wasn’t too bad. Something to pass away the hours with. We arrived home and there was still no water. So I called my counterpart and took a taxi to her house to shower. She lives in a small condo but boy did I take the best shower I’ve had all the time that I’ve been here! The water was soo hot and the pressure was amazing, HEAVEN!!
Came back home and had lots of talk about my host dad and his marathons and 100 Km runs. He’s turning 56 and plans to not only run but win (for the 3rd time in a row) a 100 km run. Maybe he will train me ☺ ok I’m tired, write more later.
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