So it's been over a week since I've posted anything on the blog. Im not really sure what why, I guess you could say I've had somewhat of 'writers block'. The daily routine seems as though it's become too much of a repeat and I in no way intend on boring my readers! I feel as though my life here in Peace Corps as hit a sort of plateau. The hype of everything being new and scary has slowly come to a halt. Not that this is a bad thing. Im becoming more comfortable in my work place, have established a great group of ecuadorian friends, and well, am learning to survive the host family situation (while counting down the days till I can move out).
I often get this feeling of needing to start projects of my own or be more proactive with reaching out to the community. But then I take a step back and take into consideration what Peace Corps told us at the end of orientation; the first three months we are really supposed to sit back and do more observing, just getting to know the people, living the life, etc..Im not sure if that's exactly what I've been doing. I think my situation is a little different because of my work situation. The fact that I am in an institution that has regular work hours and projects that are already started makes it hard for me to just "sit back and watch". But it's very clear that I am in a Latin American country where things happen at their own pace. I've embraced the laid back culture and have actually learned to appreciate it.
About a week ago was my one month anniversary here at my site, Ambato. I was walking home from work the other day and felt as though I needed to pinch myself. Im actually living and working/volunteering in a Latin American country. How long has this been my dream...hmm since I was 16! This month literally flew by, so many new people to meet and new places see. I want to keep growing and keep learning and seeing new things. I don't want to get into any certain routine of 'just living life'. Im not sure if that even makes sense, I mean routine is great and I think I need it in a sense to stay sane. But I want to keep pushing myself.
Im at the point with my spanish where I can communicate just fine, but I want to take it further, with vocab..etc..I want to be able to REALLY express myself. It feels weird saying Im bilingual because I feel like that's a huge accomplishment that I haven't quite achieved. The second language will never be quite like the first but I hope that in these two years I can keep expanding my language. I was with the director of our program the other day and I told him how in college I took portuguese classes. He offered to take me to the dept. of languages and talk to the director to see if I could audit a portuguese class, SCORE! It would be awesome to start up that language again.
So I've got a meeting to go to in about 15 minutes and theres no way that I can update all of the things that have been going on. So I'll summarize real quick. As I said work is going well. We are so close to actually starting trainings for the project with Prevention and Attention of Emergencies! We have a space to start the Addictions and mental health program. The money got cleared to do Survey Monkey and upload our survey. Eulalia and I will actually be giving up our office and moving into a new one (needs to be "built") next to the director. So there are many exciting things going on there.
Family is doing fine. I've gotten into a routine with them where I eat breakfast with them, then when I get done at the gym I go and have some sort of dinner. And that's really about it for family interaction. They do their own thing, I do mine and it seems to work out well. It's such a different family life than I've been used to, probably the worst that I've had in all of my host family experiences, kinda sucks to have to end on this type of note, pero bueno, asi es la vida.
Surprisingly enough I've been watching way more basketball than I have soccer. Basketball is really popular here and the group of friends that I have are on different club teams play a couple times every weekend. It's really fun to learn the different tec. terms in spanish and see what they consider "professional" basketball, lol.
This past weekend I went to Guaranda, a small town where a couple other volunteers are. Rebekah met up with us and we had a good time. Nice to be with Americans but felt weird speaking so much english. Clearly my english going down hill and I apologize for this, my grammar was not the best to begin with and will get progressively worse within these next two years...just a heads up.
Alright enough for now. I'll try to update again soon!
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Friday, September 16, 2011
Thursday thursday thursday
Almost the weekend! Today was a good day, well after the morning. So Eulalia and I were going to go to this simulation at Gestion de Riesgos. It was a big deal because the police, firemen, Red Cross and even the governor were there. They were doing a mock test of how they would handle a volcanic eruption with an earthquake. I arrived at 9 o´clock on the dot, waited for Eulalia...She called me at 9:02 to say that I should come up to the University to help finish up this document that had to be turned into the boss. Someone had called her to say the simulation wouldn´t be starting until 10..well good to know...
So I walked up to the University to find out that the boss wasn´t even there and Eulalia was doing interviews with the guards..Long story short we didn´t leave the University until about 10:15 and arrived late to a mad chaos of people..It was so awkward at first because everyone was running around trying to do work and we were just standing there, supposed to be observers but it was really hard to observe when people were all over the place, sounds going off, it was quite the site. So much planning had to of gone on with it. We met some important people, made some contacts and had scrumptious kimbolitos! they are officially one of my favorite foods here. I could probably live off of kimbolitos and llapingachos, lol
I then went to lunch at Kims. She made a great salad and I had curry chicken, HEAVEN!!! I went back to the office in the afternoon and Eulalia and I worked on printing out this huge document..I don´t know how it became so complicated but it took us over 3 hours to get everything just right and in order..lol
I went to the restaurant to have dinner and then back home to shower befor the basketball game. The "professional" team was playing a team from santo domingo and the game ended up being really good! Worth the whole $4 this time, lol
So I walked up to the University to find out that the boss wasn´t even there and Eulalia was doing interviews with the guards..Long story short we didn´t leave the University until about 10:15 and arrived late to a mad chaos of people..It was so awkward at first because everyone was running around trying to do work and we were just standing there, supposed to be observers but it was really hard to observe when people were all over the place, sounds going off, it was quite the site. So much planning had to of gone on with it. We met some important people, made some contacts and had scrumptious kimbolitos! they are officially one of my favorite foods here. I could probably live off of kimbolitos and llapingachos, lol
I then went to lunch at Kims. She made a great salad and I had curry chicken, HEAVEN!!! I went back to the office in the afternoon and Eulalia and I worked on printing out this huge document..I don´t know how it became so complicated but it took us over 3 hours to get everything just right and in order..lol
I went to the restaurant to have dinner and then back home to shower befor the basketball game. The "professional" team was playing a team from santo domingo and the game ended up being really good! Worth the whole $4 this time, lol
Wednesday-back at work
Went back to work today. Doc still doesnt want me doing a lot of exercise so I have to take a taxi to the University which just seems ridiculous because it´s like a 20 min walk but whatever, doctors have their orders for a reason, right? We had a meeting right away in the morning with Jurisprudencias y derechos humanos about the plan de emergencias. Marcelo from gestion came in to talk and then Alexandra talked about the University plan with the brigades and committee and all the trainings that we have to do. Faculty and students came and seemed really interested and movitvated to start. At the end of the meeting the cooridantor designated professors for each of the brigades and the students that were there signed up for which group they wanted to be trained in. They seemed to be the most motivated to get things started which is really exciting!
I went to the restaurant close by campus to eat, good food! I then came back to the office and did some work until about 4 when I went to the post office to pick up the infamous package my father had sent me...well it wasn´t his package, but a package from Anne!! With tons and tons of chocolate! Yay! Although Im not really sure where dad´s package is. I decided not to go to the meeting in the evening because I knew it was going to go really late. Instead Chino and I met up with Hannah and Pepe and then went to Kims to have some cookies she made, absolutely amazing! Came home and went to bed.
I went to the restaurant close by campus to eat, good food! I then came back to the office and did some work until about 4 when I went to the post office to pick up the infamous package my father had sent me...well it wasn´t his package, but a package from Anne!! With tons and tons of chocolate! Yay! Although Im not really sure where dad´s package is. I decided not to go to the meeting in the evening because I knew it was going to go really late. Instead Chino and I met up with Hannah and Pepe and then went to Kims to have some cookies she made, absolutely amazing! Came home and went to bed.
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Well on day number two of rest...Im glad I can go back to work tomorrow, lol. Although it was nice to rest. Today I slept in till 8 am which was amazing! It was a gorgeous day outside so I decided to go downtown to the park and write some letters to people. Of course the sun didnt last too long but it was still warm. There I was, sitting on the bench minding my own business when this lady sits down next to me. She asks me what time it is and then pulls the whole "Are you from here", no I am not, is always the response...lol.
We got to talking about the states, people here love to hear about prices and how much things cost back in the U.S. We then started talking about how much it would cost to travel to the states to live. She said that she had some family to stay with but wasn´t really sure about the job situation because the economy is bad. I told her what I thought the range airplane tickets would be depending on the season; between $700-1200, she seemed to disagree, bueno...Then as we kept conversing I realized she was talking about entering the states ilegally; how much would it cost to enter the states without papers. That, I told her I really did not have experience in. By then it was noon and she said she had to go, thank god, because the convo could´ve become even more awkward. I´ll have to say that is the frist time that I´ve been confronted with the actual "issue" of an ecuadorian at the end of options (according to her), that she had to consider to entering the states illegally...
At about 1 I met up with Chino and Kim to eat llapingachos and juice at the market, probably one of my favorite places to go because there are always a variety of interesting people to watch, lol. I came back home and watched many episodes of Entourage, good times, lol.
We got to talking about the states, people here love to hear about prices and how much things cost back in the U.S. We then started talking about how much it would cost to travel to the states to live. She said that she had some family to stay with but wasn´t really sure about the job situation because the economy is bad. I told her what I thought the range airplane tickets would be depending on the season; between $700-1200, she seemed to disagree, bueno...Then as we kept conversing I realized she was talking about entering the states ilegally; how much would it cost to enter the states without papers. That, I told her I really did not have experience in. By then it was noon and she said she had to go, thank god, because the convo could´ve become even more awkward. I´ll have to say that is the frist time that I´ve been confronted with the actual "issue" of an ecuadorian at the end of options (according to her), that she had to consider to entering the states illegally...
At about 1 I met up with Chino and Kim to eat llapingachos and juice at the market, probably one of my favorite places to go because there are always a variety of interesting people to watch, lol. I came back home and watched many episodes of Entourage, good times, lol.
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Monday, September 12, 2011
Woke up in the middle of the night to go pee and found out this morning that there was blood in my urine. The PCMO was called and I had to do a urine test. Kind of a pain in the butt here because you have to go to a pharmacy and buy your own cup, lol. And of course it took me forever to have enough urine to fill it up haha. I then had to take a taxi downtown to find the lab. Taxi driver definitely told me the wrong direction. I paid four dollars for the test! Super cheap right? They said to come back at 5 for the results.
On my way back up I stopped at Kim's to grab some movies and tv shows to watch for the rest of the day. I also picked up some bread and fruit that I would be eating the rest of the day because surprise surprise there is no food at our house and there was no way that I was going to walk to the restaurant every time that I wanted to eat something. I got home and set up a nice nest in the living room with a 7 liter jug of water (oh yeah our water was cut off so I had to go buy water...) food, movies, etc..Around 2 pm I took a nap and then at 5 went to get the test results.
Nothing serious just a UTI that probably turned into a slight kidney infection. I then called the PCMO with the results and she instructed me on what meds to buy. I then had to go to an ATM to get money and then to a pharmacy..all of this was done in the rain, ugh.. I hopped on a bus to the mega maxi because I wanted to get some juice. All of the juice requires refrigeration after opening and we don't have a fridge so I had to stock up on juice boxes, lol came home and watched a movie, then skyped with mom and howard. Family was home around 9 and I went to bed by ten. I actually felt a lot better by the end of the night and I don't think there is anymore blood, lets at least hope not. Im going to be on meds for the next week and then have to go back for another test to make sure everthing's good. Im also restricted from doing any type of exercise till wed, which means no work till then. I called my counterpart and she was pretty nice about it. Just sucks because there are some really important meetings that Im going to miss...oh well.
On my way back up I stopped at Kim's to grab some movies and tv shows to watch for the rest of the day. I also picked up some bread and fruit that I would be eating the rest of the day because surprise surprise there is no food at our house and there was no way that I was going to walk to the restaurant every time that I wanted to eat something. I got home and set up a nice nest in the living room with a 7 liter jug of water (oh yeah our water was cut off so I had to go buy water...) food, movies, etc..Around 2 pm I took a nap and then at 5 went to get the test results.
Nothing serious just a UTI that probably turned into a slight kidney infection. I then called the PCMO with the results and she instructed me on what meds to buy. I then had to go to an ATM to get money and then to a pharmacy..all of this was done in the rain, ugh.. I hopped on a bus to the mega maxi because I wanted to get some juice. All of the juice requires refrigeration after opening and we don't have a fridge so I had to stock up on juice boxes, lol came home and watched a movie, then skyped with mom and howard. Family was home around 9 and I went to bed by ten. I actually felt a lot better by the end of the night and I don't think there is anymore blood, lets at least hope not. Im going to be on meds for the next week and then have to go back for another test to make sure everthing's good. Im also restricted from doing any type of exercise till wed, which means no work till then. I called my counterpart and she was pretty nice about it. Just sucks because there are some really important meetings that Im going to miss...oh well.
Sunday Sept, 11 2011
Today wasn't the most productive day. Pretty much just hung around home, was pretty sick all day. I won't entertain you with details....I went on a hunt for saldo and of course like every store around my house was closed because it was sunday I guess. I talked to Ruth and Dad which was nice then the fam came home and I explained to them that I couldn't eat because I felt really sick. They thought it was something I ate..I hope so. If Im not better by tomorrow I will be calling the Peace Corps medical officers.
Saturday, Sept 10, 2011
Had to wake up early again because I was off to Riobamba for the day. It's a really easy trip to make, just about an hour in bus. I met up with Shannon, Orrin and Lauren. We walked around a bit, went to a couple markets and then ran into Sylvia and Anne! A while later Chloe and Nick showed up. Talk about a gringo fest, lol. We went to eat at this really good Mexican restaurant. At this point I wasn't feeling so hot. Lack of sleep ad not having eaten the greatest was most likely the cause of it.. After lunch we went to this cafe and people got beers, I had chamomile tea, haha. Some other volunteers from other omnibuses stopped by, it was nice to meet and chat with them.
Shannon and I headed back around 4 to Ambato. Riobamba's a pretty neat city. Much more flat than Ambato. They have a nice market and some neat old buildings but I don't know, by the end of the day I was ready to go back. Ambato is really starting to feel like a place that I belong to, now that I have friends and a good work environment. The bus ride was quite interesting. When we arrived to the terminal they said there were seats on this one bus, so we got on and clearly it was packed with NO seats. I told them I wasn't going to stand so they were like, oh here you guys can sit behind the driver. Four of us squished on this bench type thing. By this time I was really feeling sick. Stomach cramps, nauseous, just really crappy. I couldn't even sleep because of the lack of space. We arrived in Ambato and I took a cab to my house. Shannon took the bus. I was trying to get to Kim's to catch a ride with Pepe to go to the economistas house. The economista is the basketball coach for the group of guys that Im friends with. He was having a little get together at his house. I didn't quite make it to Kim's on time but it worked out that Chino was just getting out of class so we could take a taxi together.
So I get to his house at 6:45, he's still getting ready, lol. By 7:30 his dad was supposed to be back so we could take the car...he wasn't... Chino's mom made me oregano tea for my stomach, which actually did help. His dad never showed up so we eventually just took a cab and finally arrived at the economistas around 8. Good thing we hadn't gotten there earlier because they weren't doing much, lol. I had a hot dog because I figured I needed to eat something. Then there was dancing for like the rest of the night. Poor Kim was really sick and wanted to go home but couldn't so she slept till everyone was ready to leave, which wasn't till around 2 am.
Shannon and I headed back around 4 to Ambato. Riobamba's a pretty neat city. Much more flat than Ambato. They have a nice market and some neat old buildings but I don't know, by the end of the day I was ready to go back. Ambato is really starting to feel like a place that I belong to, now that I have friends and a good work environment. The bus ride was quite interesting. When we arrived to the terminal they said there were seats on this one bus, so we got on and clearly it was packed with NO seats. I told them I wasn't going to stand so they were like, oh here you guys can sit behind the driver. Four of us squished on this bench type thing. By this time I was really feeling sick. Stomach cramps, nauseous, just really crappy. I couldn't even sleep because of the lack of space. We arrived in Ambato and I took a cab to my house. Shannon took the bus. I was trying to get to Kim's to catch a ride with Pepe to go to the economistas house. The economista is the basketball coach for the group of guys that Im friends with. He was having a little get together at his house. I didn't quite make it to Kim's on time but it worked out that Chino was just getting out of class so we could take a taxi together.
So I get to his house at 6:45, he's still getting ready, lol. By 7:30 his dad was supposed to be back so we could take the car...he wasn't... Chino's mom made me oregano tea for my stomach, which actually did help. His dad never showed up so we eventually just took a cab and finally arrived at the economistas around 8. Good thing we hadn't gotten there earlier because they weren't doing much, lol. I had a hot dog because I figured I needed to eat something. Then there was dancing for like the rest of the night. Poor Kim was really sick and wanted to go home but couldn't so she slept till everyone was ready to leave, which wasn't till around 2 am.
Friday September 9, 2011
The same girls from the day before came to work and we wrote up an "oficio" which is like a formal letter. Then we all went to a meeting with Jurisprudencias about the emergency action plan. They seem super excited and animated to get it started so that's good! I left at lunch and grabbed some granola and yogurt to eat for lunch. Took a short nap then Chino and his sister Mayra picked me up to see if my packages were here. They were!! Except the lady couldn't find where one for them was so I just got the one from mom. We then went to get food for the surprise bday party they were going to throw for their mom. I ended up going straight to his house to help set up and what not. The party was really fun! Very traditional Ecuadorian, lol.
thursday, september 8th, 2011
2 girls from the groups for the addiction and mental health came in today to work on some stuff. We spent the whole morning making up a broshure that has general information about the program, that we will eventually be passed out to different facultades in the University. I think it turned out pretty snazzy. In the afternoon Eulalia and I went to a meeting with MArcelo, the coordnator for gestion de riesgos to talk a little bit about the project we are doing at the University. Marcelo is going to be helping us with some of the trainings. I left at 4ish to go to the gym. Im not even sure if anything got resolved at the meeting, lol. I went to the gym, ate at the restaurant then went home to shower and get ready to go to Kim's for wine night.
Earlier that morning at breakfast the lights were cut off, pretty sure because my family hadn't paid the bill..well when I came home at 6:30 we STILL didn't have electricity!! So I found my headlamp and went into the bathroom to shower in FREEZING, I repeat, FRIGID cold water. The only good thing about it was that I wasn't that cold after getting out because there was no possible way I could get colder than I already was.. I then fumbled around my room and got ready, thank god for my head lamp, lol Chino picked me up and we went to grab wine then off to Kim's house. It was a really god time, good conversation. Apparently her neighbor is kind of crazy and is trying to get her kicked out, when really Kim has done nothing wrong. I think it's a cultural thing, where to this woman it's not acceptable that she's a white, single female, living independently and alone.
Earlier that morning at breakfast the lights were cut off, pretty sure because my family hadn't paid the bill..well when I came home at 6:30 we STILL didn't have electricity!! So I found my headlamp and went into the bathroom to shower in FREEZING, I repeat, FRIGID cold water. The only good thing about it was that I wasn't that cold after getting out because there was no possible way I could get colder than I already was.. I then fumbled around my room and got ready, thank god for my head lamp, lol Chino picked me up and we went to grab wine then off to Kim's house. It was a really god time, good conversation. Apparently her neighbor is kind of crazy and is trying to get her kicked out, when really Kim has done nothing wrong. I think it's a cultural thing, where to this woman it's not acceptable that she's a white, single female, living independently and alone.
Sunday, September 11, 2011
September 9, 2011
On wednesday I went to work in the morning. Eulalia and I went down to the ciencias campus to talk with the doctor that will be in charge of the brigade for emergencias training we are doing. AT first it didn't look so great because he was demanding we give him more details of the project and how it was going to work exactly. Clearly he had not looked over the plan, lol. We informed him that it was all in the doc and then gave him some info about how we needed to start with a committee. He thought we should do the whole campus (involve everyone) but id not want to be in charge of coordinating everyone. He was to originally be the coordinator for his facultad and Eulalia tried to convince him that we could do the whole campus and he would be a good person to coordinate with other facultades, which isn't his responsibility, it's ours..He clearly said no but would do what he could to help.
I didn't go into the office in the afternoon because we had the evening REd Voluntariado at gestion de riesgos. I I went to chino's to skype the county clerks office to find out about Absentee ballots. It's kind of complicated but since Im inquiring about it now, I should be able to get everything in order to vote! I left for my meeting, which took over 2.5 hours!!
I didn't go into the office in the afternoon because we had the evening REd Voluntariado at gestion de riesgos. I I went to chino's to skype the county clerks office to find out about Absentee ballots. It's kind of complicated but since Im inquiring about it now, I should be able to get everything in order to vote! I left for my meeting, which took over 2.5 hours!!
September 6, 2011
It's hard to tell if today was productive or not. I couldn't shower last night because the electric water heater death trap wasn't working. So I got up this morning and it still didn't work! I asked my host mom to help and for some reason it worked for her..thank god. I got into work and Eulalia showed up, so that's good, lol I guess her mom is doing better. Around 10ish this guy named Franklin, whose wife is actually the cousin of my host mom came in. Apparently he works with the University of different trainings. He's quite the character! Very energetic and animated. He has an office downtown and asked if I wanted to come help with english for kids, just an hour a week. Im kind of longing for kid contact and it's only one hour a week. So since I dont really work friday afternoons I agreed to help out.
Juan came in with his 5 students that are going to be working on the addictions and mental health program with us. We figured otu what our 1st steps would be. We are going to go around to the facultades and present the encuesta (surveys)..I think it should be good! Then it was lunch, so I went to this restaurant that I go to once in a while. I came back and it was still pretty early so I decided to take a nap in the sun, felt so good to be warm, lol. I got back to the office and Eulalia and her daughter came in. Eulalia and I were supposed to work on the schedule for these trainings but then some friend came in and they literally talked until i left.. As I was walking out of the building I tripped and my sandal broke!! Noooo!! My favorite sandals, yes Nat the cut one's you helped me pick out at DSW. They are/were my only nice sandals. I couldn't really walk home so I hopped in a taxi which turned out to be a good decision because it started to rain. I changed and went to the gym, had a really good workout, then headed to the restaurant to eat. I spend some time with the fam. We talked about my dad and running marathons. A step up from the convo this morning about how they think the bible should be taught in schools..ugh.. I wonder if they realize that not everyone reads the bible, if they read anything at all.
Anyway it's clear that my host dad is getting old, especially to be running these 100 km races. I wonder if he's thought about the fact that he'll have to give up running at some point in his life. Im not trying to be a neg. Nancy Im just saying. HE's gonna have to come to terms with it soon rather than later.
Juan came in with his 5 students that are going to be working on the addictions and mental health program with us. We figured otu what our 1st steps would be. We are going to go around to the facultades and present the encuesta (surveys)..I think it should be good! Then it was lunch, so I went to this restaurant that I go to once in a while. I came back and it was still pretty early so I decided to take a nap in the sun, felt so good to be warm, lol. I got back to the office and Eulalia and her daughter came in. Eulalia and I were supposed to work on the schedule for these trainings but then some friend came in and they literally talked until i left.. As I was walking out of the building I tripped and my sandal broke!! Noooo!! My favorite sandals, yes Nat the cut one's you helped me pick out at DSW. They are/were my only nice sandals. I couldn't really walk home so I hopped in a taxi which turned out to be a good decision because it started to rain. I changed and went to the gym, had a really good workout, then headed to the restaurant to eat. I spend some time with the fam. We talked about my dad and running marathons. A step up from the convo this morning about how they think the bible should be taught in schools..ugh.. I wonder if they realize that not everyone reads the bible, if they read anything at all.
Anyway it's clear that my host dad is getting old, especially to be running these 100 km races. I wonder if he's thought about the fact that he'll have to give up running at some point in his life. Im not trying to be a neg. Nancy Im just saying. HE's gonna have to come to terms with it soon rather than later.
Monday, Sept, 5, 2011
Happy Labor Day! How did I celebrate it? Well by working, lol. Labor day in Ecuador is sometime in March I guess. I arrived into work today before 9 a.m. and Eulalia was not there. I started working on this list for the hospital of all the employees fro different facultades. Time went by. I chatted with various people on skype. Eulalia never showed. I was begining to think that maybe there was some meeting that maybe I had missed. Kim called and I went to lunch with her, Paige and this other girl that had apparently wandered into the english department looking for a teaching position. Turns out it was Emily, a girl I did MSID with back in college! Apparently she's been working with the bahai (sp?) community..We ate, then she took Paige to look at an apt. I went with Kim back to the University. She had her 1st class at 2:30 and needed to finish up the syllabus. She was a little nervous about her first class, and had no sort of list of the students that she was going to have, nor the classroom that she would be teaching in! I haven't talked to her yet but Im sure it went well.
I went back to the office, still no Eulalia. So I went to ask the nurse if she had heard of anything because her and Eulalia are close. Apparently Eulalia's mother had fallen pretty bad and needed to be taken to the hospital..good to know, lol. So I went to the office and updated my blog then left to pick up my laundry adn go to the gym. My laundry was 7 kilos! Which meant 7 dollars! I had only brought a 5..but the guy is nice and said I could bring him the other $2 tomorrow. They do such a good job with cleaning and folding my clothes I think of it as more of supporting a local family business :).
I went to the gym and had a pretty good workout, then to the restaurant to see the family and eat. I had soup and then salad and chicken. No rice, yay! ALthough Im not gonna lie I don't feel as full as I normally am with rice, but that's alright. I came home and skyped with mom and howard and then talked with mal for awhile, so that was nice to get an update on home.
I went back to the office, still no Eulalia. So I went to ask the nurse if she had heard of anything because her and Eulalia are close. Apparently Eulalia's mother had fallen pretty bad and needed to be taken to the hospital..good to know, lol. So I went to the office and updated my blog then left to pick up my laundry adn go to the gym. My laundry was 7 kilos! Which meant 7 dollars! I had only brought a 5..but the guy is nice and said I could bring him the other $2 tomorrow. They do such a good job with cleaning and folding my clothes I think of it as more of supporting a local family business :).
I went to the gym and had a pretty good workout, then to the restaurant to see the family and eat. I had soup and then salad and chicken. No rice, yay! ALthough Im not gonna lie I don't feel as full as I normally am with rice, but that's alright. I came home and skyped with mom and howard and then talked with mal for awhile, so that was nice to get an update on home.
Monday, September 5, 2011
Sunday August 4, 2011
Oh boy I have a lot to write about. Im going to back track though.
FRIDAY: I went into work and Eulalia and I put together what we wanted for a broshure on the training in emergenciy situations that we´re doing with the University. I worked the rest of the morning on that. I think it turned out pretty good, there´s a lot of writing but it´s the most important info. Kim and Paige came to visit me close to lunch. Paige is really cool! I think she´s going ot do great here. I finished up the broshure and told EUlalia I would be back on Monday. I wanted the afternoon to do some things, plus Kim anted me to help Paige get a phone while she did her payroll stuff for the University. We went to get lunch at the market, llapingachos-so good! Paige and I went to get her phone and then to the bank so I could deposit the money that Eulalia had paid me back. Lets just say it was def a process...
First I missed my turno because I was filling out my deposit slip and Paige wasn´t paying attention, so I had to get another one and wait. Then I get up there and he says the # I put on the slip wasn´t right. It asked for a card or bank acount #, so I put my ATM card, well that was wrong..So I had to go get a new slip. Then it turns out I only had $40, not the $60 that I originally wanted to deposit. So he made me get a whole new slip. By the third time I had it down, lol And I will never make those mistakes again!
Afterwards we went to teh post office, no packages yet..I then went home because I had to drop off my computer. We decided we were going to make tacos for dinner. I went home and then took a nap, then went to the Mega Maxi to get the food. Ran into Kim and Paige getting their food too. We ended up going back together to their place to get the food started. Chino and some of his friends ended up coming over. They had a big game the next day so we just chilled. I got home by like 11.
SATURDAY:
Woke up bright and early for the gym-to get there when it opened, in order to beat the "crowd". Well now I nkow Ecuadorians aren´t that motivated on saturday at 7:30. The gym wasn´t even open! I was kinda upset because I had woken up early and wanted to work out! So I found a place to run stairs for awhile. On my way back I checked to se if it as open...nope, so I went to get fruit adn as I was walking the owner ran up to me and was like "were you trying to workout?"..lol..well yeah..So she was like, "ok one sec, Ill be right back" and went to go buy bread, oh Ecuador. She ended up opening it up and I had the gym to myself for a solid 20 minutes. Then a cuople of people came in. I went to get soem fruit and yogurt and went home to eat. No family. They had probably already left for the restaurant. So I skyped with Hannah, which was great to catch up with her. Then I went on the search for a hair dryer. I went to the Aki to make sure the one I wanted was there, then had to walk up the the ATM at the mega maxi to get money. There Ecuador hit a new low..
As I was walking a father (no older than 30) was walking with his son (no more than 4yrs old) and the dad goes, "que linda" (how pretty) and then the toddler goes "mamacita" !!!!!!!!! I couldn´t believe it! I mean Im (for the most part) used to the catcalling and comments on the street from men and youth, but from A 3 YEAR OLD!! Sad, just sad. I got out the money, bought the secadora adn went to eat lunch at the restaurant. Host mom wasn´there but Dad and brother were. So I ate and conversed with them for a bit. The missionaries were there eating..yay..I came home and tried to watch limitless. Turns out it was not a good bootlegged version, oh well it only cost $1.50. Then I watched some Entourage, actually finished the 1st season. The I got ready and went to the guys basketball game with Kim and Paige. It was a really intense game. One of our players actually got elbowed adn sliced his eye brow opened. So much blood and of course no first aid kit!! They took him to the hospital. So after the game we all went to go see how he was. Turns out he was in this mall doctor´s office, like out of his home or something. SUch a sight to see all the players, us and various parents all crammed in the room waiting. He ended up getting 8 stitches!
By the time we left it was 7:30, I took a taxi back home to get ready...still no family. I left around 9 to go to Chinos. From there we went to this new place a little outside of the city. It was pretty cool but not a lot of people. After it closed we went back to Chinos and stayed up till wee hours of the morning.
SUNDAY:
Around 8:30 am I got a taxi back to my house and now one seemed to be home or up so I went back to sleep and slept till 3:30 in the afternoon, not sure if I´ve ever actually done that before, lol. When I got up I prepared some water for tea and as I was eating I realized that the gas tank or something was making a noise like gas leaking..I tried to go over and smell but didn´t really smell much. Iopened the door to the back just in case and started to get worried because it was clear that gas was coming out of somewhere. The nozzle on the actual tank was shut but then as I sat down to keep eating I realized one of the knobs was still turned. This little stove is so old that the knobs practically fall of when you turn them so I must have thought I turned it but really didn´t. So I went over and as soon as I gave it a wiggle the noise stopped! Thank God! No explosions or passing out of intoxication.
The guys had another game at 6 so I went to that, but turns out the other team didnt show up. So they played a game for fun with some of the dad´s and then we headed back to my neighborhood with Chino, Paige, and Kim. They were going to Chinos aunts who lives a couple blocks from me. We stopped to get some food and then walked there. I was going to just walk with them then leave, but he insisted I come in and say hi. Saying hi turned into a 2 hour stay with strawberries, chifles (fried banana chips) hot chocolate and bread, lol. Great converstaion, Chino´s family is really great, so welcoming and helpful. They feel most like family than the one Im actually living with.
At 9 they walked me home and my family was finally home! I said hi and we talked for a bit. They never really ask about me or what I´ve been up to...oh well..Im super tired adn am afraid that I will be even more tired tomorrow. Alright tomorrow is when classes start! Students on campus, yay
Night!
FRIDAY: I went into work and Eulalia and I put together what we wanted for a broshure on the training in emergenciy situations that we´re doing with the University. I worked the rest of the morning on that. I think it turned out pretty good, there´s a lot of writing but it´s the most important info. Kim and Paige came to visit me close to lunch. Paige is really cool! I think she´s going ot do great here. I finished up the broshure and told EUlalia I would be back on Monday. I wanted the afternoon to do some things, plus Kim anted me to help Paige get a phone while she did her payroll stuff for the University. We went to get lunch at the market, llapingachos-so good! Paige and I went to get her phone and then to the bank so I could deposit the money that Eulalia had paid me back. Lets just say it was def a process...
First I missed my turno because I was filling out my deposit slip and Paige wasn´t paying attention, so I had to get another one and wait. Then I get up there and he says the # I put on the slip wasn´t right. It asked for a card or bank acount #, so I put my ATM card, well that was wrong..So I had to go get a new slip. Then it turns out I only had $40, not the $60 that I originally wanted to deposit. So he made me get a whole new slip. By the third time I had it down, lol And I will never make those mistakes again!
Afterwards we went to teh post office, no packages yet..I then went home because I had to drop off my computer. We decided we were going to make tacos for dinner. I went home and then took a nap, then went to the Mega Maxi to get the food. Ran into Kim and Paige getting their food too. We ended up going back together to their place to get the food started. Chino and some of his friends ended up coming over. They had a big game the next day so we just chilled. I got home by like 11.
SATURDAY:
Woke up bright and early for the gym-to get there when it opened, in order to beat the "crowd". Well now I nkow Ecuadorians aren´t that motivated on saturday at 7:30. The gym wasn´t even open! I was kinda upset because I had woken up early and wanted to work out! So I found a place to run stairs for awhile. On my way back I checked to se if it as open...nope, so I went to get fruit adn as I was walking the owner ran up to me and was like "were you trying to workout?"..lol..well yeah..So she was like, "ok one sec, Ill be right back" and went to go buy bread, oh Ecuador. She ended up opening it up and I had the gym to myself for a solid 20 minutes. Then a cuople of people came in. I went to get soem fruit and yogurt and went home to eat. No family. They had probably already left for the restaurant. So I skyped with Hannah, which was great to catch up with her. Then I went on the search for a hair dryer. I went to the Aki to make sure the one I wanted was there, then had to walk up the the ATM at the mega maxi to get money. There Ecuador hit a new low..
As I was walking a father (no older than 30) was walking with his son (no more than 4yrs old) and the dad goes, "que linda" (how pretty) and then the toddler goes "mamacita" !!!!!!!!! I couldn´t believe it! I mean Im (for the most part) used to the catcalling and comments on the street from men and youth, but from A 3 YEAR OLD!! Sad, just sad. I got out the money, bought the secadora adn went to eat lunch at the restaurant. Host mom wasn´there but Dad and brother were. So I ate and conversed with them for a bit. The missionaries were there eating..yay..I came home and tried to watch limitless. Turns out it was not a good bootlegged version, oh well it only cost $1.50. Then I watched some Entourage, actually finished the 1st season. The I got ready and went to the guys basketball game with Kim and Paige. It was a really intense game. One of our players actually got elbowed adn sliced his eye brow opened. So much blood and of course no first aid kit!! They took him to the hospital. So after the game we all went to go see how he was. Turns out he was in this mall doctor´s office, like out of his home or something. SUch a sight to see all the players, us and various parents all crammed in the room waiting. He ended up getting 8 stitches!
By the time we left it was 7:30, I took a taxi back home to get ready...still no family. I left around 9 to go to Chinos. From there we went to this new place a little outside of the city. It was pretty cool but not a lot of people. After it closed we went back to Chinos and stayed up till wee hours of the morning.
SUNDAY:
Around 8:30 am I got a taxi back to my house and now one seemed to be home or up so I went back to sleep and slept till 3:30 in the afternoon, not sure if I´ve ever actually done that before, lol. When I got up I prepared some water for tea and as I was eating I realized that the gas tank or something was making a noise like gas leaking..I tried to go over and smell but didn´t really smell much. Iopened the door to the back just in case and started to get worried because it was clear that gas was coming out of somewhere. The nozzle on the actual tank was shut but then as I sat down to keep eating I realized one of the knobs was still turned. This little stove is so old that the knobs practically fall of when you turn them so I must have thought I turned it but really didn´t. So I went over and as soon as I gave it a wiggle the noise stopped! Thank God! No explosions or passing out of intoxication.
The guys had another game at 6 so I went to that, but turns out the other team didnt show up. So they played a game for fun with some of the dad´s and then we headed back to my neighborhood with Chino, Paige, and Kim. They were going to Chinos aunts who lives a couple blocks from me. We stopped to get some food and then walked there. I was going to just walk with them then leave, but he insisted I come in and say hi. Saying hi turned into a 2 hour stay with strawberries, chifles (fried banana chips) hot chocolate and bread, lol. Great converstaion, Chino´s family is really great, so welcoming and helpful. They feel most like family than the one Im actually living with.
At 9 they walked me home and my family was finally home! I said hi and we talked for a bit. They never really ask about me or what I´ve been up to...oh well..Im super tired adn am afraid that I will be even more tired tomorrow. Alright tomorrow is when classes start! Students on campus, yay
Night!
Sept 1, 2011
A brand new month, how exciting! I arrived at the office this morning around 9 because the meeting went so late last night and I didn´t feel like coming in super early. So to finish up yesterday, I went downtown to meet Sharon and Julie for lunch. Crappy day, cold, cloudy adn rainy. Julie never showed up. So Sharon and I went to get copies for the mailbox key and to scan and send my site locator form. The internet cafe was really nice and the owner even recommended a place for us to eat next door!
It was the cutest little place in one of the old colonial buildings. $2 for soup, plato fuerte, drink and dessert, such a deal!! WE then went to the casa de cultura to see if we could find a list of events, which obviously there wasn´t one..I then headed back up to the office.
Surprise surprise there was water all over the floor. So I cleaned it up but as I mentioned before the mops here suck, so I had to sit by Eulalia´s desk for like 2 hours, lol. Which was really fine by me because there wasn´t any work for me to do. She then told me about OAE-Organización de Estados Americanos. This program that essentially gives grants to institutions looking to train their peers. Sounds like the project we are doing at the University would qualify, along with the volunteer group that meets every Wed. She had me research it so I could preent a litel bit about it at the meeting tonight. I looked at it, checked e-mail and was able to get on facebook (which is usually blocked here at the Univ). We had bread and tea AGAIN at like 5, which was probably a good thing because I wasn´t going ot get dinner since we were going to the meeting right from work and it ended up going till 9 pm.
The meeting was very productive but also long. The gruop´s name is Red de Voluntarios para la prevención y atención de emergencias. WE also elected a "coordinator", secretary and financial person adn someone in charge of training facilities (or something like that). Each org was represented to do each of the tasks. Eulalia wanted me to do one of them but to be hoest I don´t think it´s a good idea. Even though Im here for 2 years, it´s tech not sustainable and quite frankly I don´t want that kind of responsibility. I told her I would still go to the meetings and be as involved as possible.
Lets see 10 Am. Floor is just about dry and it´s starting to rain..great..the weather is so strange here..so sunny this morning and now it´s raining. I really have no idea what i´m going to do the rest of the morning.lol
8:30pm (later that day)
So the rest of the day it rained. Water came back into the office. I went outside to investigate. Problem 1-the building has no gutter system, problem 2- the overhand attached is not tight against the outside wall, so when the rain runs down the side of the building it also runs down the door and into the office, problem 3- 1/4" of space at the bottom of the door, problem #4 the floor is slanted INTO the office. Apparently they sent some kind of "oficio" to have them fix it but obviously no one has done anything about it.
Before lunch I met Juan-he´s one fo the professors at Ingahurco (campus down by the bus terminal). He´s going to be working with us on addictions adn mental health. What they want to do is have a survey on Survey Monkey and make all the students take it. From there we wil analyze the results and hopefuly can hire a psychologist to help with seeing students that need help. The proposal was approved, even for the University to pay the 300 dollars a year for the account. We went to go talk to Dr. Pullas, head of our dept. so he could sign some things, had lunch then headed downtown.
First we went to IESS Hospital. They are doing this program where every employee fo an institution in all Ambato are to get medically checked up. So we´ve got to put together a list of each facultad- which we (I) already did, some 1200 employees. Then they also want to do the children of the employees! The nurse that we met was really nice. She invited me over on saturday and has an apt she want to rent out! I might stop by just to develop a good relationship with her. I then met the doctor that is working on the project. She was also super nice adn welcoming.
By the time we left it was almost 4. The time I had wanted to be at the gym. WE had to still go down to the Ingahurco campus. Irealy wanted to go to meet people! So we heded over, went to the financial people to talk about the survey monkey thing. They said they couldn´t do anything until we had a receipt, so they sent us to another department. The guy ther sent us to another guy who pretty much told us it was impossible because it was over the internet and someone would need to sue a credit card to pay. He told us to go back to the finance people and see if that was possible. So we went back and they seemed skeptical. They said it would have to be someone high up in the University so they could deposit the money into their acount.
After that I was so ready to go but we still had to go to the medical facultad to talk to them about forming the brigade for Prev and Atention de emergancias. Imet a bunch of important people, all really warm and welcoming. That´s one of the cool things here, everyone is so nice! The neat thing is they will remember me even if I don´t exactly remember them because Im the gringa, lol Finally around 5 we headed back. WE got a taxi and Eulalia got out early to grab a bus and I took the taxi all the way to the gym. I thought it would be packed but it was dead, prob because it was such a gross day out. This whole week has been awful. Cold, rainy, windy. I sleep in Underarmor..wish I would´ve brought Ruth´s pants but Im sure she will need them more than me once winter weather hits the midwest..hehe..
Had a good workout. Walked to the restaurand to hang out with the fam. That was nice, Tere (Raul´s fiancee) and her 2 kids were there. The girl must find some interst in me because seh warmed up to mer eally fast. Tey headed off to church and I came home. I took a shower, heated up some water and ate apple with peanut butter adn some yummy multi-grain bread. There was only soup for dinner. Seems that there won´t be a lot of food at night, lol
Speaking of food, I did the unthinkable..I weighed myself the other day. I´ve gained weight, surprise surprise...Im not revealing how much but it´s enought to be more conscious of the amount of bread and rice i eat! I think those will be my 2 e3nemies..the rice won´t be too hard to control, but the bread! Uh the bread is so good and fresh here! So I´ll just have to eat healthy bread. Tomorrow is friday! The new FullBright gets here so hopefully I´ll get to meet her!
It was the cutest little place in one of the old colonial buildings. $2 for soup, plato fuerte, drink and dessert, such a deal!! WE then went to the casa de cultura to see if we could find a list of events, which obviously there wasn´t one..I then headed back up to the office.
Surprise surprise there was water all over the floor. So I cleaned it up but as I mentioned before the mops here suck, so I had to sit by Eulalia´s desk for like 2 hours, lol. Which was really fine by me because there wasn´t any work for me to do. She then told me about OAE-Organización de Estados Americanos. This program that essentially gives grants to institutions looking to train their peers. Sounds like the project we are doing at the University would qualify, along with the volunteer group that meets every Wed. She had me research it so I could preent a litel bit about it at the meeting tonight. I looked at it, checked e-mail and was able to get on facebook (which is usually blocked here at the Univ). We had bread and tea AGAIN at like 5, which was probably a good thing because I wasn´t going ot get dinner since we were going to the meeting right from work and it ended up going till 9 pm.
The meeting was very productive but also long. The gruop´s name is Red de Voluntarios para la prevención y atención de emergencias. WE also elected a "coordinator", secretary and financial person adn someone in charge of training facilities (or something like that). Each org was represented to do each of the tasks. Eulalia wanted me to do one of them but to be hoest I don´t think it´s a good idea. Even though Im here for 2 years, it´s tech not sustainable and quite frankly I don´t want that kind of responsibility. I told her I would still go to the meetings and be as involved as possible.
Lets see 10 Am. Floor is just about dry and it´s starting to rain..great..the weather is so strange here..so sunny this morning and now it´s raining. I really have no idea what i´m going to do the rest of the morning.lol
8:30pm (later that day)
So the rest of the day it rained. Water came back into the office. I went outside to investigate. Problem 1-the building has no gutter system, problem 2- the overhand attached is not tight against the outside wall, so when the rain runs down the side of the building it also runs down the door and into the office, problem 3- 1/4" of space at the bottom of the door, problem #4 the floor is slanted INTO the office. Apparently they sent some kind of "oficio" to have them fix it but obviously no one has done anything about it.
Before lunch I met Juan-he´s one fo the professors at Ingahurco (campus down by the bus terminal). He´s going to be working with us on addictions adn mental health. What they want to do is have a survey on Survey Monkey and make all the students take it. From there we wil analyze the results and hopefuly can hire a psychologist to help with seeing students that need help. The proposal was approved, even for the University to pay the 300 dollars a year for the account. We went to go talk to Dr. Pullas, head of our dept. so he could sign some things, had lunch then headed downtown.
First we went to IESS Hospital. They are doing this program where every employee fo an institution in all Ambato are to get medically checked up. So we´ve got to put together a list of each facultad- which we (I) already did, some 1200 employees. Then they also want to do the children of the employees! The nurse that we met was really nice. She invited me over on saturday and has an apt she want to rent out! I might stop by just to develop a good relationship with her. I then met the doctor that is working on the project. She was also super nice adn welcoming.
By the time we left it was almost 4. The time I had wanted to be at the gym. WE had to still go down to the Ingahurco campus. Irealy wanted to go to meet people! So we heded over, went to the financial people to talk about the survey monkey thing. They said they couldn´t do anything until we had a receipt, so they sent us to another department. The guy ther sent us to another guy who pretty much told us it was impossible because it was over the internet and someone would need to sue a credit card to pay. He told us to go back to the finance people and see if that was possible. So we went back and they seemed skeptical. They said it would have to be someone high up in the University so they could deposit the money into their acount.
After that I was so ready to go but we still had to go to the medical facultad to talk to them about forming the brigade for Prev and Atention de emergancias. Imet a bunch of important people, all really warm and welcoming. That´s one of the cool things here, everyone is so nice! The neat thing is they will remember me even if I don´t exactly remember them because Im the gringa, lol Finally around 5 we headed back. WE got a taxi and Eulalia got out early to grab a bus and I took the taxi all the way to the gym. I thought it would be packed but it was dead, prob because it was such a gross day out. This whole week has been awful. Cold, rainy, windy. I sleep in Underarmor..wish I would´ve brought Ruth´s pants but Im sure she will need them more than me once winter weather hits the midwest..hehe..
Had a good workout. Walked to the restaurand to hang out with the fam. That was nice, Tere (Raul´s fiancee) and her 2 kids were there. The girl must find some interst in me because seh warmed up to mer eally fast. Tey headed off to church and I came home. I took a shower, heated up some water and ate apple with peanut butter adn some yummy multi-grain bread. There was only soup for dinner. Seems that there won´t be a lot of food at night, lol
Speaking of food, I did the unthinkable..I weighed myself the other day. I´ve gained weight, surprise surprise...Im not revealing how much but it´s enought to be more conscious of the amount of bread and rice i eat! I think those will be my 2 e3nemies..the rice won´t be too hard to control, but the bread! Uh the bread is so good and fresh here! So I´ll just have to eat healthy bread. Tomorrow is friday! The new FullBright gets here so hopefully I´ll get to meet her!
August 31, 2011
And so starts the ecuadorian journal. We´ll see how I like these grids. Most of the notebooks here are like graph paper rather than regular lined paper. I guess I could have found a regular notebook but this is normal for Ecuador and Im trying to integrate right?
Well it´s Wed. Almost the weekend, kinda, lol. So yesterday I stayed at the office to skype with Dad, Ruth and Tracy. I hadn´t seen them since May (well minus Ruth)! I then went downtownto meet Sharon and Julie. We went to grab our stuff, which I thought would take like an hour max. Then we found out the public transit throughout all of Ecuador was going on strike the next day. Apparently roads were going to be shut down. Julie was supposed to leave for Chile today, Wed. BUt with the strike she wasn´t going ot be able to get out! She still had to wait on Eulalia to pick up stuff but the last buseta leaving that night was at 6.
What we figured out was that she would leave her keys with the lanlord and Eulalia could pick up her stuff when she could. I gave her hte money Eulalia owed her and Eualalia would pay me today. The lanlord was really nice and got this guy with a truck to drop us off with our stuff at our homes. I got a really nice teapot, broom, hangers, and gas tank. I dropped off the stuff and then headed to the restaurant to eat before going to the basketball game. The soup was really good and she gave me the perfect amount of rice. I was still super full so decided to walk it off instead of taking the bus to meet up with Kim.
Kim and I then took a taxi to the game. It was a "professional" game. I put that in quotes because it was by no means professional for U.S. standards, haha. Ambato was playing Quevedo. I had actually met 2 players from the Quevedo team one night in Quito so it was cool to see them play. One of the guys was actually really good. Everyone was really really tall. I met some omre people form Chino´s "group". Everyone is so nice. It´s really interesting how touchy the guys are with each other. Latinos are generally really touchy feely, for example the PDA that´s out of control, lol, but even between male friends they are way more affectionate than what guys would be in the states, lol. Chino´s dad gave me a ride home, so that was good.
TODAY
I woke up early to go to what I thought was going to be an aerobics class at the gym, but ended up being a dance workout class! It was pretty good. I wouldn´ve rather done aerobics because I dont know it didn´t feel like I got a good workout. It was pretty much the same thing as saturday night when we went out dancing, lol I then went to Sharon´s to finish up our site locator form. SUch a pain in the butt with all these maps they have us draw. But I got it finished and now I just need to find a place to Fax or scan/send it. We are supposed to be meeting another Julie (3rd yr. PCV) for lunch downtown then I´ll go into work this afternoon till the meeting tonight. It was realy nice having the morning off! I´ll have to do this more, lol.
Well it´s Wed. Almost the weekend, kinda, lol. So yesterday I stayed at the office to skype with Dad, Ruth and Tracy. I hadn´t seen them since May (well minus Ruth)! I then went downtownto meet Sharon and Julie. We went to grab our stuff, which I thought would take like an hour max. Then we found out the public transit throughout all of Ecuador was going on strike the next day. Apparently roads were going to be shut down. Julie was supposed to leave for Chile today, Wed. BUt with the strike she wasn´t going ot be able to get out! She still had to wait on Eulalia to pick up stuff but the last buseta leaving that night was at 6.
What we figured out was that she would leave her keys with the lanlord and Eulalia could pick up her stuff when she could. I gave her hte money Eulalia owed her and Eualalia would pay me today. The lanlord was really nice and got this guy with a truck to drop us off with our stuff at our homes. I got a really nice teapot, broom, hangers, and gas tank. I dropped off the stuff and then headed to the restaurant to eat before going to the basketball game. The soup was really good and she gave me the perfect amount of rice. I was still super full so decided to walk it off instead of taking the bus to meet up with Kim.
Kim and I then took a taxi to the game. It was a "professional" game. I put that in quotes because it was by no means professional for U.S. standards, haha. Ambato was playing Quevedo. I had actually met 2 players from the Quevedo team one night in Quito so it was cool to see them play. One of the guys was actually really good. Everyone was really really tall. I met some omre people form Chino´s "group". Everyone is so nice. It´s really interesting how touchy the guys are with each other. Latinos are generally really touchy feely, for example the PDA that´s out of control, lol, but even between male friends they are way more affectionate than what guys would be in the states, lol. Chino´s dad gave me a ride home, so that was good.
TODAY
I woke up early to go to what I thought was going to be an aerobics class at the gym, but ended up being a dance workout class! It was pretty good. I wouldn´ve rather done aerobics because I dont know it didn´t feel like I got a good workout. It was pretty much the same thing as saturday night when we went out dancing, lol I then went to Sharon´s to finish up our site locator form. SUch a pain in the butt with all these maps they have us draw. But I got it finished and now I just need to find a place to Fax or scan/send it. We are supposed to be meeting another Julie (3rd yr. PCV) for lunch downtown then I´ll go into work this afternoon till the meeting tonight. It was realy nice having the morning off! I´ll have to do this more, lol.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)