Well it's monday. I am anxiously awaiting wednesday, when I will begin to prepare for my trip to Quito to get my parents on thursday and then leave for los galapagos!!!
So yesterday was an exciting day. I woke up to a text from Chino, who left for the states last week, asking me if I had been outside yet, and to be careful when I did. What had my boyfriend heard, thousands of miles away that I hadn't??? Turns out the Volcano Tungurahua started erupting on Friday. Instead of a light dusting of snow, I woke up to a dusting of Volcanic ash!! Yeah not that exciting.
From what Peace Corps had told us, if this happens it is vital to take necessary measures to protect not only your nose, but eyes, skin and hair from this fine element, that looks like fine fine black sand. My landlord came out and swept it up like it was nothing. Later in the afternoon I went to Chino's to hang out with his family, and it honestly didn't look like anything had happened, just seemed as though the city was kinda dusty. The air seemed clear, and as usual IT WAS HOT!!
This morning it didn't seem to have changed much until after lunch. Here at the office of DIBESAU we are up kinda on a hill and there is a lot of wind. On a clear day you can see the volcano Tungurahua pretty clear. This afternoon has turned into a haze, the air is kinda thick and started to smell funny. All around the mountains are blurry with the invasion of this ash. I can't imagine how they got over 6 inches back in 2006...!!
So I've decided that if it stays like this until tomorrow I will have to get out the face mask and...well I don't have sunglasses but maybe a hat, because apparently it's really harmful to hair...It's so funny how ecuadorians just go about their daily business like nothing is happening..!
I just hope nothing interferes with my travel to Quito on Thursday!
Alright I'll keep updating on the volcano, here is a post form the BBC today, enjoy!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-20763495
Monday, December 17, 2012
Friday, December 14, 2012
Girls Presentation Recap-Friday 7th
So Friday was also a big day. Early morning Sharon, Bianca and I met at the school to get things in order for the Theater groups presentation. I brought Chino who ended up being a life savor, moving big furniture and cleaning up odds and ends for the auditorio. We moved desks, cleaned floors and decorated for the big night.
We hung up stars and snowflakes that the girls had made, and taped up the scenery that they painted. At the end it finally looked like this magical place, with lights and all! The Director came in at about 12:30 and said that there would be a class coming in to watch a movie...great...Sharon refused to leave, knowing that if she was no there to keep the students in line they would not leave the auditorium how they had found it. I went back home to get ready and then headed to the school around 5.
This girls arrived all nervous and excited for their big performance at 5:30. We gave them bread, a banana and water so that they would have some food in their stomach's. I guess on the invitation we had put that the show would start at 6:30. We did this because almost everyone is late here, so we thought if we put 6:30 everyone would arrive at 7. Well let's just, for the first time EVER here in Ecuador, people showed up ON TIME!!
Everyone was in the auditorium by 6:45 so we decided to start early. Everything went great. It was so much fun seeing the girls perform and I think they had a blast! At the end we gave each of the girls their certificates and said something special about each one.
All in all it was a great closing to an amazing semester, working with these girls! We are going to continue with this group and maybe add a couple new girls if they are interested. It just seems so hard to have to start over a brand new group, and these girls have grown so much!
We hung up stars and snowflakes that the girls had made, and taped up the scenery that they painted. At the end it finally looked like this magical place, with lights and all! The Director came in at about 12:30 and said that there would be a class coming in to watch a movie...great...Sharon refused to leave, knowing that if she was no there to keep the students in line they would not leave the auditorium how they had found it. I went back home to get ready and then headed to the school around 5.
This girls arrived all nervous and excited for their big performance at 5:30. We gave them bread, a banana and water so that they would have some food in their stomach's. I guess on the invitation we had put that the show would start at 6:30. We did this because almost everyone is late here, so we thought if we put 6:30 everyone would arrive at 7. Well let's just, for the first time EVER here in Ecuador, people showed up ON TIME!!
Everyone was in the auditorium by 6:45 so we decided to start early. Everything went great. It was so much fun seeing the girls perform and I think they had a blast! At the end we gave each of the girls their certificates and said something special about each one.
All in all it was a great closing to an amazing semester, working with these girls! We are going to continue with this group and maybe add a couple new girls if they are interested. It just seems so hard to have to start over a brand new group, and these girls have grown so much!
Thursday, December 6, 2012
Quite a successful day if I do say so myself :) :)
Let me set the stage for what we were dealing with just about 24 hours ago...It was around 2:30 in the afternoon. Everyone that was invited to the event had confirmed, tents were being put up and everything seemed to be somewhat in order, (as much in order as it could be because really ANYTHING can happen at the last minute). The only thing that we were missing were the 200 certificates to be signed by Sonia, the director.
We had talked with her about doing a certificate with the name written by hand because not all of the institutions had turned in their lists of who would be participating. She gave us the ok, so wednesday I WROTE OUT 200 NAMES BY HAND on the certificates!!!!! They looked great, on this nice certificate paper, printed in color and all that jazz.
Then at 2:30 we got the message that literally made all of the work seem to come crashing down. Sonia wrote to Fernanda, saying that the certificates looked awful and that they needed to be done with the names typed on the computer because there was no way that we could hand out the certificates with names written out by hand.....mmmm WHAT!?!?
I told Fernanda it was ridiculous and of course she agreed, so we went to talk to Sonia in person. I explained to her that usually when you get something hand written it is more personal than just typed up on the computer and that it would be really hard to do all of them over because it had taken over a day to get them signed and what not....after all the event was in LESS THAN 24 HOURS!!!!
She responded by telling me that this was my point of view and that the University does everything of great quality blah blah blah and that people will take the certificate and remember the event and if it's written by hand they will think less of the University...Have you started to think she is crazy...?? ok good :)
There was no way around it, either we changed them, or she would not turn in the certificates. And because this country IS SO OBSESSED with their certificates, it would have not been fair to tell these professional institutions that we were no longer going to give the certificates..so we went back to the office and printed out new certificates....
Were they of better quality, ABSOLUTELY NOT...sadly they were printed out in this shiny blue paper, in black because all the color tinta had been used up....but Im sure everyone was happier because their names were typed...right??
So I left work on Thursday around 7 pm...completely exhausted from the day, but hopeful that friday would turn out well..
So today was one of the most important days that I've had here in Ecuador in terms of work. After planning for over 2.5 months we finally had our event for World Aid's Day, at the University. Everyone but one group showed up to present in their stands. There were University kids and high school kids that came to see the different tents!! I am proud to say that Fernanda and I did a superb job with carefully planning and executing our goal of a Mass Event on Campus, along with launching our sexual health program "Por Mil Motivos". The two of us really could not have done it without each other, lol. Seeing as we were really the only two behind the project and MINIMAL from our co-workers at the University. I think we really did surprise them, see young people can do great things!! Although I do have to say this will be the FIRST and LAST time that I do an event like this at the University.
Ecuadorian behaviors and culture were highly reflected in this whole process. From the very beginning I learned that you have to be 100% behind people making sure that they get done what has to get done. You can't trust people to take responsibility for their part, as small as it may be. Anything that the authority says goes, no matter how much blood and sweat you've put into the work, and there is no room for discussion. Sadly people do not seem to rebel..haha Those would be the negatives. The positive of this experience is Fernanda, the girl that I worked on with the project. She truly is the hope for the behavior change that needs to happen. In Peace Corps we talk about change at a local small level and I am glad to know and see that Fernanda is on that path to being a positive influence in what at times seems like the scum of it all. My job here is to support her and empower her to be more affirmative and push for what she believes...Times ticking, only 8 months left!!!
We had talked with her about doing a certificate with the name written by hand because not all of the institutions had turned in their lists of who would be participating. She gave us the ok, so wednesday I WROTE OUT 200 NAMES BY HAND on the certificates!!!!! They looked great, on this nice certificate paper, printed in color and all that jazz.
Then at 2:30 we got the message that literally made all of the work seem to come crashing down. Sonia wrote to Fernanda, saying that the certificates looked awful and that they needed to be done with the names typed on the computer because there was no way that we could hand out the certificates with names written out by hand.....mmmm WHAT!?!?
I told Fernanda it was ridiculous and of course she agreed, so we went to talk to Sonia in person. I explained to her that usually when you get something hand written it is more personal than just typed up on the computer and that it would be really hard to do all of them over because it had taken over a day to get them signed and what not....after all the event was in LESS THAN 24 HOURS!!!!
She responded by telling me that this was my point of view and that the University does everything of great quality blah blah blah and that people will take the certificate and remember the event and if it's written by hand they will think less of the University...Have you started to think she is crazy...?? ok good :)
There was no way around it, either we changed them, or she would not turn in the certificates. And because this country IS SO OBSESSED with their certificates, it would have not been fair to tell these professional institutions that we were no longer going to give the certificates..so we went back to the office and printed out new certificates....
Were they of better quality, ABSOLUTELY NOT...sadly they were printed out in this shiny blue paper, in black because all the color tinta had been used up....but Im sure everyone was happier because their names were typed...right??
So I left work on Thursday around 7 pm...completely exhausted from the day, but hopeful that friday would turn out well..
So today was one of the most important days that I've had here in Ecuador in terms of work. After planning for over 2.5 months we finally had our event for World Aid's Day, at the University. Everyone but one group showed up to present in their stands. There were University kids and high school kids that came to see the different tents!! I am proud to say that Fernanda and I did a superb job with carefully planning and executing our goal of a Mass Event on Campus, along with launching our sexual health program "Por Mil Motivos". The two of us really could not have done it without each other, lol. Seeing as we were really the only two behind the project and MINIMAL from our co-workers at the University. I think we really did surprise them, see young people can do great things!! Although I do have to say this will be the FIRST and LAST time that I do an event like this at the University.
Ecuadorian behaviors and culture were highly reflected in this whole process. From the very beginning I learned that you have to be 100% behind people making sure that they get done what has to get done. You can't trust people to take responsibility for their part, as small as it may be. Anything that the authority says goes, no matter how much blood and sweat you've put into the work, and there is no room for discussion. Sadly people do not seem to rebel..haha Those would be the negatives. The positive of this experience is Fernanda, the girl that I worked on with the project. She truly is the hope for the behavior change that needs to happen. In Peace Corps we talk about change at a local small level and I am glad to know and see that Fernanda is on that path to being a positive influence in what at times seems like the scum of it all. My job here is to support her and empower her to be more affirmative and push for what she believes...Times ticking, only 8 months left!!!
Tuesday, December 4, 2012
There was a gusano in my refri....what?!?!
Happy December to Everyone!
I was cooking stir fry today for lunch and opened my fridge to grab the soy sauce, and as I lifted the bottle, this goopy thing was stuck to the bottom of it. As I looked closer it was one of those gross, fat worms that I think live in your vegetables when you don't wash them well....and let me tell you I DO wash my vegetables very well before putting them away. Needless to say it was disgusting and made me wonder how long it had been in there!!
In other news, the countdown has started for the arrival of my rents, (mom, howard and ruthie). They come on the 19th, or 20th..hmm I guess I'll have to check on those dates. I've been trying to play christmas music, but it's just not the same without cold weather and snow, lol
This week is quickly coming to an end!!! Which is a good thing and a bad thing. We have an event on Thursday at the University for World Aids Day. There will be about 200 people just participating, and then a ton (hopefully) attending...gulp. There are still oficios to be turned in and certificados to be made..ahhhhh!!! Why do Ecuadorians do EVERYTHING at the last minute....ugh..
Then Friday, Sharon and I have our final presentation with the girls group that we have been working with. I think Im more excited for this presentation than the one at the University. We are trying do something really special, both for the girls and their parents. With the girls, we've made snowflakes, and stars that we are going to hang from the ceiling. We are making gingerbread cookies to give the parents afterwards and are making luminaries going up the stairs to the Auditorio...although turns out paper bags with square bottoms are harder to find here than you would think!
On top of it all, Peace Corps has decided to be a complete pain in the butt and do visits. The one visit will be combined with assisting the event at the University, which will be fun to have some volunteers come. The other one will be tomorrow with one of the Doctors...what more do they need to talk about!??!?! Just seems so silly that now, a YEAR AND FOUR MONTHS of being in site they now decide to do all of these visits, instead of, oh ya know, the first 9 months, lol...hopefully they will take our feedback and fix this for future groups.
Alright time to run to the University! I'll write hopefully at the end of the week to update on how the events went!
I was cooking stir fry today for lunch and opened my fridge to grab the soy sauce, and as I lifted the bottle, this goopy thing was stuck to the bottom of it. As I looked closer it was one of those gross, fat worms that I think live in your vegetables when you don't wash them well....and let me tell you I DO wash my vegetables very well before putting them away. Needless to say it was disgusting and made me wonder how long it had been in there!!
In other news, the countdown has started for the arrival of my rents, (mom, howard and ruthie). They come on the 19th, or 20th..hmm I guess I'll have to check on those dates. I've been trying to play christmas music, but it's just not the same without cold weather and snow, lol
This week is quickly coming to an end!!! Which is a good thing and a bad thing. We have an event on Thursday at the University for World Aids Day. There will be about 200 people just participating, and then a ton (hopefully) attending...gulp. There are still oficios to be turned in and certificados to be made..ahhhhh!!! Why do Ecuadorians do EVERYTHING at the last minute....ugh..
Then Friday, Sharon and I have our final presentation with the girls group that we have been working with. I think Im more excited for this presentation than the one at the University. We are trying do something really special, both for the girls and their parents. With the girls, we've made snowflakes, and stars that we are going to hang from the ceiling. We are making gingerbread cookies to give the parents afterwards and are making luminaries going up the stairs to the Auditorio...although turns out paper bags with square bottoms are harder to find here than you would think!
On top of it all, Peace Corps has decided to be a complete pain in the butt and do visits. The one visit will be combined with assisting the event at the University, which will be fun to have some volunteers come. The other one will be tomorrow with one of the Doctors...what more do they need to talk about!??!?! Just seems so silly that now, a YEAR AND FOUR MONTHS of being in site they now decide to do all of these visits, instead of, oh ya know, the first 9 months, lol...hopefully they will take our feedback and fix this for future groups.
Alright time to run to the University! I'll write hopefully at the end of the week to update on how the events went!
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