Im not really sure where the idea and superstition of Friday the 13th came about but I wonder what weird things will go down tonight. Today Jalel from the programam Vele Vele Vele will be coming to our University to promote "El primer Encuentro de la Juventud Universitaria por una UTA Saludable" (1st encounter of University youth for a healthier UTA) After all the work I´ve been doing in applying the surveys with addictions and mental health, we finally have results and will be launching the program today with an actor from the television. Im not sure if he´s very famous but he is well known around Ecuador.
Yesterday I ventured to the other campus to do the last of the surveys. I was driven in a University car to the Agronomia Campus where they focus just on veterinary and agricultural studies. The campus is literaly in the middle of no where. Well not exactly nowhere no where but on the way it seemed really far away from Ambato. The whole way there I was thinking about the St. Paul Campus in Minnesota and how beautiful it is. And to be honest I was kinda surprised when we arrived. It is a very green campus and there are lots of flowers and plants. The landscape is really beautiful.
I arrived to the facultad to find the Decano. He was already on edge because I was late (totally NOT my fault) and then was surprised to see me instead of Eulalia. She was supposed to come with me but at last minute had a meeting with the Rector and other people to take a picture for the paper for the event today. Of course I couldnt be there because I had to do the survey...such as life...
So the Decano took me up to the computer labs, there were only two. I went into the first and gave them the link...it didnt work...great...There was no reason why it shouldn´t work, I had done it so many times before...I tried to log onto the account but of course the internet was really slow. So I decided to go into the other lab and see if it worked for them. As I was writing I realized that in the first classroom I had left out ONE LETTER. I quickly returned and fixed it and it worked, thank god. I have no idea what the Decano thought of me but whatever, it worked and the students were able to do the survey. Because of the internet being so slow there were some glitches but for the most part everyone completed it. I was taken back to the Huachi campus and did some more promoting for the program today.
So along with our program there is an international festival and folckor dance going on. What we decided to do is put the two together and make a big program...we´ll see how it works out. This cultural festival is free and it turns out that they posted something in the paper about it being free. In turn our program is charging 50 cents. It´s for a good cause, the 50 cents goes towards the different volunteer programs here at the University (there aren´t that many....) So students saw that the event that takes place at the same time as ours is free and started complaining about how they had to pay. Luckily the money is going for a really good cause and I hope that the majority of people realize this..
I have to go get food for 100 people so I should get going. Wish us luck!!! And then it´s the weekend, YAY!!!
abrazos para todos
Friday, January 13, 2012
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
Bienvenidos a 2012
As usual I start this blog not really knowing where to start because Im SO BEHIND....Anywho I´ll talk mainly about winter vacation. Christmas came and went. Like I said in my previous blog it wasn´t quite like home but it was Christmas. Here everyone "celebrates" on Christmas Eve and like a good integrated volunteer I waited to buy my gifts until Christmas Eve (everyone procrastinates here). Chino helped me some but it was still really hard to but things for his family. What do you buy a family that has given you everything (non-materialistic speaking)? To me, there was nothing materialistic I could buy that compared to what they have given me over the past couple months. Plus everything mediocre or nice is SUPER expensive. I did find some things without going too over my budget.
We ate dinner around midnight, Turkey with potatoes, salad, and tomales (which are not at all like the tomales in mexico....I like mexico´s better..shh..). After dinner-around 1 AM we opened presents. I had the most, haha because my lovely family from the states sent me some :) From chino´s family I got a nice alpaca sweater, earings from Cuenca and a nice bag (my other one was falling apart-literally), Paige got me a nice belt and Kim made chocolates! We all went to sleep around 2 AM. On the actual Christmas Day nothing christmasy was done. I went and hung out with some friends and we pretty much chilled all day...
On tuesday December 27th I went to Tena with Paige, Ponce, Chino, a Professor from the University and her husband. The professor has family in Tena so we had a house to stay in, which was nice. The first day it rained practically all day. We arrived to a finca (farm) of a family member and they made us fresh chicken soup. Fresh meaning that they butchered the chicken a couple minutes before our arrival. We picked fresh fruit from trees and watched the river. The Uncle also explained to us how the moon patterns have to do with when there is good weather and when there is not.
On wednesday we went to visit some lagoons and walk around a bit in the jungle and then in the afternoon we did this cave hike. Probably the coolest thing I´ve ever done here in Ecuador! I wish I could take my family there when they come but I dont think we are going to the jungle..oh well. It was pitch black and all we had were head lamps. We had to wade through water, looked bats and saw all these different cave structures. At the cave place there was a pool with a water slide. I was trying to be all cool and show everyone how to go fast down the slide (on your back with it arched) and as I picked up speed going down I almost slid out!!! Kinda scary, not gonna lie, lol
Thursday morning we saw a waterfall that I had already seen the last time I was there and went to Misahualli. There were no monkeys..sad...but the food we had was REALLY GOOD. I can´t even begin to explain the heat. So hot and humid!!
Let´s jump to New Years...
New years was another experience that one can only have here in this country, if that makes sense....lol. Two important things, Año Viejos y Viudas.
Año Viejos:
These are like paper mache objects, people, animals that people make for the new year. At midnight they are burnt, representing the fact that 2011 is in the past and to start 2012 fresh and new.
Viudas: men dressed as women asking for money in the street (at least during new years that´s what it means)
So on New Years Eve Day Chino, Paige and I went to walk on the main drag (calle Cevallos) to see all the different viejos. Most people do the different movie characters of the previous year so there were the smirfs, captain america, ice age and shrek characters. Others did soccer fans. I´ll post pictures so you know what I´m talking about. There was an exposition of the viejos and a competition for the best. The winner was given 1500 dollars!
After downtown we went to Ficoa, another part of town to look at others. Here there were more viudas. They were EVERYWHERE. Like I said they are usually men, dressed as women and have a rope across the road and won´t let you pass till you give them money, usually it´s like 2 or 3 cents. They dance on the car and try to open the door to harrass whatever man is in the car. Pretty hilarious.
Around 11:30 we headed back to Chino´s to ring in the New Year. There was no countdown but we did eat grapes (you are supposed to eat 12 and make 12 wishes). There are a ton of other superstitions too. For example you are to wear red underwear to have luck in love, green or yellow for luck with money and then you are recommended to run around the block once with a suitcase for good luck in traveling in the new year. At around 12 everyone said happy new year and we all hugged. Then we went outside to watch fire works and people burn their viejos. There were fires everywhere!! We ate around 12:30. The meal was very much like the one from christmas, turkey, tomales, corn, potatoes, but very very delicious. Then at 1 AM we went out to celebrate. We went to this new club in town. It was fun, I didnt get to sleep till 7 AM the next morning. The latest I´ve ever been out on New Years.
So those were pretty much the highlights from vacation. Monday the 2nd was declared a national holiday because everyone was going to still be hungover from sunday. In reality I think people just used it as another day to drink. I´ve never seen so many inebriated people in my life!
Started back at work yesterday, trying to get in the results from the survey that we´ve (mainly ME) have been applying to the first years here at the University. Im still working on applying it to one of the biggest colleges on our campus. Other than that just living the life, enjoying everyday and counting down the days till MALLORY DARST comes to visit! (Feb 2-12) Then for my parents to come :) :) (March) Then we will almost be in April, then it will be summer and before I know it I´ll already be half way through my service, CRAZYYYYY!!!
Alright I think that´s enough for now. Apologies for the bad english, everyone knows I struggled with it in the States and now, as many of you can probably tell it´s going down hill fast, lol..
Much love <3
We ate dinner around midnight, Turkey with potatoes, salad, and tomales (which are not at all like the tomales in mexico....I like mexico´s better..shh..). After dinner-around 1 AM we opened presents. I had the most, haha because my lovely family from the states sent me some :) From chino´s family I got a nice alpaca sweater, earings from Cuenca and a nice bag (my other one was falling apart-literally), Paige got me a nice belt and Kim made chocolates! We all went to sleep around 2 AM. On the actual Christmas Day nothing christmasy was done. I went and hung out with some friends and we pretty much chilled all day...
On tuesday December 27th I went to Tena with Paige, Ponce, Chino, a Professor from the University and her husband. The professor has family in Tena so we had a house to stay in, which was nice. The first day it rained practically all day. We arrived to a finca (farm) of a family member and they made us fresh chicken soup. Fresh meaning that they butchered the chicken a couple minutes before our arrival. We picked fresh fruit from trees and watched the river. The Uncle also explained to us how the moon patterns have to do with when there is good weather and when there is not.
On wednesday we went to visit some lagoons and walk around a bit in the jungle and then in the afternoon we did this cave hike. Probably the coolest thing I´ve ever done here in Ecuador! I wish I could take my family there when they come but I dont think we are going to the jungle..oh well. It was pitch black and all we had were head lamps. We had to wade through water, looked bats and saw all these different cave structures. At the cave place there was a pool with a water slide. I was trying to be all cool and show everyone how to go fast down the slide (on your back with it arched) and as I picked up speed going down I almost slid out!!! Kinda scary, not gonna lie, lol
Thursday morning we saw a waterfall that I had already seen the last time I was there and went to Misahualli. There were no monkeys..sad...but the food we had was REALLY GOOD. I can´t even begin to explain the heat. So hot and humid!!
Let´s jump to New Years...
New years was another experience that one can only have here in this country, if that makes sense....lol. Two important things, Año Viejos y Viudas.
Año Viejos:
These are like paper mache objects, people, animals that people make for the new year. At midnight they are burnt, representing the fact that 2011 is in the past and to start 2012 fresh and new.
Viudas: men dressed as women asking for money in the street (at least during new years that´s what it means)
So on New Years Eve Day Chino, Paige and I went to walk on the main drag (calle Cevallos) to see all the different viejos. Most people do the different movie characters of the previous year so there were the smirfs, captain america, ice age and shrek characters. Others did soccer fans. I´ll post pictures so you know what I´m talking about. There was an exposition of the viejos and a competition for the best. The winner was given 1500 dollars!
After downtown we went to Ficoa, another part of town to look at others. Here there were more viudas. They were EVERYWHERE. Like I said they are usually men, dressed as women and have a rope across the road and won´t let you pass till you give them money, usually it´s like 2 or 3 cents. They dance on the car and try to open the door to harrass whatever man is in the car. Pretty hilarious.
Around 11:30 we headed back to Chino´s to ring in the New Year. There was no countdown but we did eat grapes (you are supposed to eat 12 and make 12 wishes). There are a ton of other superstitions too. For example you are to wear red underwear to have luck in love, green or yellow for luck with money and then you are recommended to run around the block once with a suitcase for good luck in traveling in the new year. At around 12 everyone said happy new year and we all hugged. Then we went outside to watch fire works and people burn their viejos. There were fires everywhere!! We ate around 12:30. The meal was very much like the one from christmas, turkey, tomales, corn, potatoes, but very very delicious. Then at 1 AM we went out to celebrate. We went to this new club in town. It was fun, I didnt get to sleep till 7 AM the next morning. The latest I´ve ever been out on New Years.
So those were pretty much the highlights from vacation. Monday the 2nd was declared a national holiday because everyone was going to still be hungover from sunday. In reality I think people just used it as another day to drink. I´ve never seen so many inebriated people in my life!
Started back at work yesterday, trying to get in the results from the survey that we´ve (mainly ME) have been applying to the first years here at the University. Im still working on applying it to one of the biggest colleges on our campus. Other than that just living the life, enjoying everyday and counting down the days till MALLORY DARST comes to visit! (Feb 2-12) Then for my parents to come :) :) (March) Then we will almost be in April, then it will be summer and before I know it I´ll already be half way through my service, CRAZYYYYY!!!
Alright I think that´s enough for now. Apologies for the bad english, everyone knows I struggled with it in the States and now, as many of you can probably tell it´s going down hill fast, lol..
Much love <3
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
13 de Diciembre, ho ho ho
Well it appears that I have gotten into the habbit of only writing once a month. Bad, I know. It´s not as if I don´t have time, because I think if I truly made time I could sit down every couple days and update everyone, it´s just that I don´t make that time to do so. Well, I guess I have new years resolution #1, lol. Dicember has started and is coming to an end quite quickly. Next weekend will be christmas and I have done NO shopping whatsoever..gahhh. Thanksgiving with the volunteers turned out to be a success. I can officially contribute to family gatherings now, as I have learned to make stuffing and greenbean casserole, yay! We ate A TON and then went out caroling, too much fun. Tom´s host mom was really into it too! We ended up sleeping at like 10 that night.
Other news worth sharing, I have officially moved into my new apartment!!! It is located in the neighborhood of Ciudadela España, a quiet neighborhood with a great panaderia less than a block away. The apartment is owned by a nice old couple that live with their one daughter and two grandkids. Im in the back of the house with the dog, mora. She´s a barker but has warmed up to me and we´ve become good friends although I think I need to teach her not to jump!! The apartment is cute, one bedroom in a half, a bathroom, kitchen and living room. I dont really have furniture so the living room is pretty bare but I have a bed and that´s what is important. Chino´s family has been so great, donating practically everything that I have, helping me move, purchase things and what not. I really don´t knonw what I would do without them! The apartment is about 35 min walk to the Univ. and close to a main street where I can walk downtown or get on the bus!
Work is going well. As of right now I am super busy with the application of a survey we are doing with all of the first years on addictions and mental health. So far we have done about three colleges and have collected 400 responses. Im trying to think of ways to incorporate the goals of Peace Corps, which have to do with water usage, nutrition, and HIV/AIDS/Sex Ed. There are a ton of students around (im in a college haha)..but the hard part is getting a group of students together because people don't do extra curricular activities here. So that's my goal for the next couple months.
Alright that's enough for now. I'll write later, probably after christmas :) Hope holidays are jolly and everyone gets what they want from Santa!
Other news worth sharing, I have officially moved into my new apartment!!! It is located in the neighborhood of Ciudadela España, a quiet neighborhood with a great panaderia less than a block away. The apartment is owned by a nice old couple that live with their one daughter and two grandkids. Im in the back of the house with the dog, mora. She´s a barker but has warmed up to me and we´ve become good friends although I think I need to teach her not to jump!! The apartment is cute, one bedroom in a half, a bathroom, kitchen and living room. I dont really have furniture so the living room is pretty bare but I have a bed and that´s what is important. Chino´s family has been so great, donating practically everything that I have, helping me move, purchase things and what not. I really don´t knonw what I would do without them! The apartment is about 35 min walk to the Univ. and close to a main street where I can walk downtown or get on the bus!
Work is going well. As of right now I am super busy with the application of a survey we are doing with all of the first years on addictions and mental health. So far we have done about three colleges and have collected 400 responses. Im trying to think of ways to incorporate the goals of Peace Corps, which have to do with water usage, nutrition, and HIV/AIDS/Sex Ed. There are a ton of students around (im in a college haha)..but the hard part is getting a group of students together because people don't do extra curricular activities here. So that's my goal for the next couple months.
Alright that's enough for now. I'll write later, probably after christmas :) Hope holidays are jolly and everyone gets what they want from Santa!
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
HAPPY TURKEY DAY!
Well seeing as tomorrow is probably one of the important days of the year I thought I would write a little thanksgiving passage. I won't list all the things that I'm thankful for because that will put people to sleep, that is if anyone really reads this anymore, lol. I think this Thanksgiving will be different, for one reason because I am in another country, but for that reason I am not going to be surrounded by family or friends that I am normally with. Rather I will be with my new Ecua family/friends-along with volunteer family/friends. And just being with them makes me realize how fortunate I am to have such amazing people in my life. It also makes me think of the people back at home that I will not be sharing this holiday with but that will definitely be on my mind!
We had our "Ecua-Thanksgiving" last Sunday. It turned out pretty darn good for having limited food (pumpkins dont exist and neither do cranberries really) ovens, silverware and furniture. We had it at Kim's house and brought a bunch of stuff from Chino's place (thank god they live so close). Paige, Kim, Hannah and I were in charge of the cooking. I made stuffing, Kim made sweet potato casserole and apple pie, Paige made green bean casserole and Hannah made mashed potatoes and deviled eggs. Hannah is from argentina and so the deviled eggs were like your normal deviled eggs except with tuna, actually really good. The turkey we had prepared for us. So after spending a whopping 30 dollars just to buy the bird we ended up spending another 35 to have it prepared...the sacrifices we choose to make...lol Anyway everything turned out just lovely there were about 10 of us in total, americans and ecuadorians and we were all so full at the end! Afterwards we went to Ponce's birthday get together where we stuffed our faces with more sweets, and birthday cake. What a day!
Tomorrow I will be traveling to Guaranda for yet another Thanksgiving, this time with PCV's. The menu will be about the same. I think everyone's expectations are high because we all grew up with a great thanksgiving feast and now it's our turn to cook everything...lets hope all goes well!!!
The rest of my life continues as usual. Last week we had re-connect with our Omnibus. It was great to see everyone. Not really that great to be back at the training center and sit through long sessions but there were some good discussions and we did get some useful information and materials. Our PCVL's (peace corps volunteer leaders-those in their 3rd year) were more interactive with us and so it was great to get to know them a little bit better. My site visit is scheduled for December 1st. Bibi and Lila will be coming to check out a possible apartment (please put out good thoughts that it will pass!!!) and also to come to my work and talk about what things we are working on, challenges, etc.
I feel as though I have become more and more distant with my host family here. As some of you may know I am dating an Ecuadorian here and his family has really taken me in. I spend practically all the weekends with them and most weekday afternoons/evenings. They are so friendly and treat me like my host family should. They take me to different places on the weekend, feed me, and just love to chat and here about how my time here is going. I'll be glad when December 1st comes so that I can move out of the house that I am at and finally be on my own!
Christmas is just around the corner and for Ecuador it's practically here. Apparently people start to decorate and "get into the mood" (which quite frankly I have no idea how they can when there is NO SNOW!!) starting in November. I decorated with Chino's mom and sister the other weekend. It was so nice to be a part of decorating, kinda made me miss home a little. Still so strange for it to be sunny and warm and see christmas lights and christmas trees but Im sure by the second time around (a.k.a year two) it'll feel normal.
Alright, as always I will try and write more frequently!! The 6 month mark is rapidly approaching, I really can't believe I've been here for almost half a year! Long way to go though but Im excited for what the coming months may bring.
Hope everyone has a safe and happy thanksgiving!!!
We had our "Ecua-Thanksgiving" last Sunday. It turned out pretty darn good for having limited food (pumpkins dont exist and neither do cranberries really) ovens, silverware and furniture. We had it at Kim's house and brought a bunch of stuff from Chino's place (thank god they live so close). Paige, Kim, Hannah and I were in charge of the cooking. I made stuffing, Kim made sweet potato casserole and apple pie, Paige made green bean casserole and Hannah made mashed potatoes and deviled eggs. Hannah is from argentina and so the deviled eggs were like your normal deviled eggs except with tuna, actually really good. The turkey we had prepared for us. So after spending a whopping 30 dollars just to buy the bird we ended up spending another 35 to have it prepared...the sacrifices we choose to make...lol Anyway everything turned out just lovely there were about 10 of us in total, americans and ecuadorians and we were all so full at the end! Afterwards we went to Ponce's birthday get together where we stuffed our faces with more sweets, and birthday cake. What a day!
Tomorrow I will be traveling to Guaranda for yet another Thanksgiving, this time with PCV's. The menu will be about the same. I think everyone's expectations are high because we all grew up with a great thanksgiving feast and now it's our turn to cook everything...lets hope all goes well!!!
The rest of my life continues as usual. Last week we had re-connect with our Omnibus. It was great to see everyone. Not really that great to be back at the training center and sit through long sessions but there were some good discussions and we did get some useful information and materials. Our PCVL's (peace corps volunteer leaders-those in their 3rd year) were more interactive with us and so it was great to get to know them a little bit better. My site visit is scheduled for December 1st. Bibi and Lila will be coming to check out a possible apartment (please put out good thoughts that it will pass!!!) and also to come to my work and talk about what things we are working on, challenges, etc.
I feel as though I have become more and more distant with my host family here. As some of you may know I am dating an Ecuadorian here and his family has really taken me in. I spend practically all the weekends with them and most weekday afternoons/evenings. They are so friendly and treat me like my host family should. They take me to different places on the weekend, feed me, and just love to chat and here about how my time here is going. I'll be glad when December 1st comes so that I can move out of the house that I am at and finally be on my own!
Christmas is just around the corner and for Ecuador it's practically here. Apparently people start to decorate and "get into the mood" (which quite frankly I have no idea how they can when there is NO SNOW!!) starting in November. I decorated with Chino's mom and sister the other weekend. It was so nice to be a part of decorating, kinda made me miss home a little. Still so strange for it to be sunny and warm and see christmas lights and christmas trees but Im sure by the second time around (a.k.a year two) it'll feel normal.
Alright, as always I will try and write more frequently!! The 6 month mark is rapidly approaching, I really can't believe I've been here for almost half a year! Long way to go though but Im excited for what the coming months may bring.
Hope everyone has a safe and happy thanksgiving!!!
Monday, October 31, 2011
Happy Halloween
Woke up this morning to no breakfast. Not really sure where my host mother was..but that was fine, the more I can avoid the usual boring breakfast the better. Instead I had yogurt with cereal and orange juice, yum!
So some how the summer and fall have ended and now begins the chillyness of winter...well for those of you in the northern hemisphere that is...sorry. hehe. I on the other hand will be headed to the beach in two days! I can´t say we are starting summer here as you all begin winter because some days it can feel as though Im in winter. I really do believe that it´s possible to feel all different climates in just one day here in Ambato.
This past weekend in Ambato was tranquilo, no festivities regarding halloween which felt weird at times but then again not at others because it´s just not practiced here. So for everyone it was normal to do their reg. thing and since no one was celebrating it, there really wasnt anything to miss. What they do celebrate, or traditionally what is celebrated is something like "dia de los muertos" but here is called "dia de los difuntos". On november 2nd families go to the graves of families and loved ones bringing them a special drink called colada morada y guaguas de pan.
The colada morada is a drink made out of a black cornmeal. I think the corn is originally just a darker color, im not sure if it is actually black but that´s what they call it (harina de maiz negro). All types of fruit are added. Really anything you can think of, strawberry, piña, mora, canela..the drink ends up being a thick purple and very sweet. With this are guaguas de pan. Guagua means child in kichwa (one of the indiginous languages spoken in ecuador). The bread is in the shape of a child with an X on the belly. Traditionally these things would be brought to the graves of family members but in modern ecuadorian day people just prepare the drink and eat the pan.
Another interesting part is that both Catholics and Indiginous practice this religious holiday. For the indiginous it seems to be a bit more serious because they still have the belief that family members who have passed away are not dead but rather in another transformation, so they bring all types of food to share with the family members.
So Ecuador will have wednesday off for Dia de los difuntos and then have thursday and friday off kind of as floating holidays because Cuenca has their independence day. Cuenca is a very well known city to turists and for some reason the whole country decides to take off for their independence festivities.
On another note, the director of our office will be going on sabatical..to his house..lol I guess he´s taking off the next year to do some type of research but will be doing it from his home..not sure if that´s just an ecuadorian thing, lol. We are going to have a going away dinner for him tomorrow downtown. Should be a good time, also fun to see people outside of the office. We aren´t sure who will be replacing him but they better make up their decision fast because tomorrow is his last day.
Nothing really going on in the office these next couple days so I will probably take tomorrow afternoon off to get things in order for the trip! YAY! the beach! Hope everyone has a great start to the week :)
So some how the summer and fall have ended and now begins the chillyness of winter...well for those of you in the northern hemisphere that is...sorry. hehe. I on the other hand will be headed to the beach in two days! I can´t say we are starting summer here as you all begin winter because some days it can feel as though Im in winter. I really do believe that it´s possible to feel all different climates in just one day here in Ambato.
This past weekend in Ambato was tranquilo, no festivities regarding halloween which felt weird at times but then again not at others because it´s just not practiced here. So for everyone it was normal to do their reg. thing and since no one was celebrating it, there really wasnt anything to miss. What they do celebrate, or traditionally what is celebrated is something like "dia de los muertos" but here is called "dia de los difuntos". On november 2nd families go to the graves of families and loved ones bringing them a special drink called colada morada y guaguas de pan.
The colada morada is a drink made out of a black cornmeal. I think the corn is originally just a darker color, im not sure if it is actually black but that´s what they call it (harina de maiz negro). All types of fruit are added. Really anything you can think of, strawberry, piña, mora, canela..the drink ends up being a thick purple and very sweet. With this are guaguas de pan. Guagua means child in kichwa (one of the indiginous languages spoken in ecuador). The bread is in the shape of a child with an X on the belly. Traditionally these things would be brought to the graves of family members but in modern ecuadorian day people just prepare the drink and eat the pan.
Another interesting part is that both Catholics and Indiginous practice this religious holiday. For the indiginous it seems to be a bit more serious because they still have the belief that family members who have passed away are not dead but rather in another transformation, so they bring all types of food to share with the family members.
So Ecuador will have wednesday off for Dia de los difuntos and then have thursday and friday off kind of as floating holidays because Cuenca has their independence day. Cuenca is a very well known city to turists and for some reason the whole country decides to take off for their independence festivities.
On another note, the director of our office will be going on sabatical..to his house..lol I guess he´s taking off the next year to do some type of research but will be doing it from his home..not sure if that´s just an ecuadorian thing, lol. We are going to have a going away dinner for him tomorrow downtown. Should be a good time, also fun to see people outside of the office. We aren´t sure who will be replacing him but they better make up their decision fast because tomorrow is his last day.
Nothing really going on in the office these next couple days so I will probably take tomorrow afternoon off to get things in order for the trip! YAY! the beach! Hope everyone has a great start to the week :)
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Time Flies When You´re Having Fun....
The date today is Thursday October 27. It´s been practically a month, A MONTH since I´ve written in my blog. Things have been happening I guess you could say. Im not sure why I haven´t been writing. I guess it´s because I haven´t exactly dedicated time to write. Where to begin, where to begin...All at home are enjoying the lovely colors of fall, probably even getting ready to hibernate for winter. Here in Ambato it´s been hotter than ever. No color change, just hot sun, with various rain showers here and there. The sun is nice, but I already know that I am going to miss the season change throught these next two years that I´m here.
Work has been progressing. We are sooo close to getting our addiction and mental health survey up online for the first semester students to take. In doing my CAT tools with students it is obvious that there is a lot of alcohol consumption around the University. Yesterday a student came into the office and wanted to talk to Eulalia (my counterpar) in private. Come to find she was considering suicide. That being said I believe that there needs to be more research on the mental health of students and further support for them. Hopefully this encuesta (survey) that we do will help tackle or at least begin to tackle the problems of mental health and drug abuse here in the University.
Our plan for the prevention and attention of emergencies has slowly come to a hault..not really sure why. We went around to each of the facultades that we will be working with, presented our ideas of the formation of brigades and had to leave it up to them to form their own groups. I think some have but the next step would be to start the capacitaciones (trainings) and it doesnt look like that will be happening any time soon..?
The newest project that I´ve formed a part of is ´Charlas de Motivación´. Eulalia, Juan (clinical psychologist), Alvaro (motivational speaker, professor) and I are going around every facultad and doing what we call charlas of motivacion. We do an ice breaker, talk about what it is to be resilient, work as a team, etc...It seems like a very simple subject but as many of the people have mentioned in the reflection we do at the end, most come to work, do their work and dont really interact with people outside of their work atmosphere. For example, there are the people that work in the office. Those in the office tend to be in the office and interact only with office personal and not with persay the janitors or the tech people. So far the reviews have been pretty good. It´s the first time that the University has done any type of "togetherness" with faculty in the University and personally I think that´s something really important for an institution like this.
In a couple weeks my counterpart and I will be traveling back to the beloved Tumbaco for Re-Connect. Im excited to see everyone and hear how things are going in the different sites. I think the presentations of our CAT tools will be boring and I dont have high hopes for what they will have us do in terms of project planning. Regardless I will go into it with a positive attitude and do my best to learn what I can! Im not gonna lie, I will miss Ambato...oh how I will miss my lovely mormon family..NOT.
Speaking of family, starting tomorrow I will actively starting to look for apartments. I told Eulalia this morning about my plans and she goes, "well I should call my friend in Ciudadela España (one of the barrios that Im interested in living in) and see if her apartment is available. With one phone call I already have a possible place. It sounds nice...now lets just hope the price isnt too steep! The lady of course, has to check with her husband and get back to me but I think there is hope! There are also other places around my neighborhood that might be possibilities but I have to physically go to the houses, knock on doors and talk to people...que pereza..I´ve got a couple weeks so I think that should be enough time. SO EXCITED tho to get out on my own!!! Just the thought of cooking my own food and not eating the SAME THING every morning for breakfast makes me feliz :)
Friends are good. I´ve become very close with one of the guys in our friend group. It´s getting to the point where he would be my "enamorado" but Im not sure if I want to claim that title yet...We went to parque de la familia yesterday. Gorgeous views of the city and of the volcanos!! Whoever comes to visit I will take you there :) The guys have started a tournament in Pillaro, about 30 minutes away. There are some more challenging teams which is good. Last weekend they lost by 3 points..sad, but they played a really good game. It´s still early on in the tournament and hopefully when they play them again they will win! They have contracted a Cuban to play on the team with them. He´s crazy tall and plays for one of the professional teams here in Ecuador. He came out with us last weekend which was fun. Very very difficult to understand him, def puts my spanish to the test! I´ve had this ongoing battle with Chino about whether or not I´m "Rubia". If you were to look up the definition Im pretty sure it means blonde, and I am most definetly NOT BLOND! But Chino says that because my hair is lighter and my skin is lighter I am considered a Rubia. I still dont agree. So the other night I asked the Cuban what he thought, if I was blonde. His answer, regardless of your skin or hair color your sangre is white...to say that in a way I´m "white blooded" that I come from a place that is considered white, rubia..etc..
The answer kinda surprised me. I guess, maybe because the way I´ve been raised, skin or hair color, any physical feature doesnt seem to have an impact on who the person is. Here physical appearance has a lot to do with background. And to a deeper extent it seems that down to the blood people are different...Even after different travels to LA countries and being here four months it still amazes me as to how White, American Women are perceived. It´s like we are these mystical, exotic people. And not because we come from a completely different culture, you dont even have to go that deep. It starts simply with our appearance. No matter if the person is ugly or not, people seemed to be obsessed with this idea of Americans. Not to say that all Ecuadorians are shallow and creepy...which some most def are, but it´s just interesting to hear how we are perceived in this country and then to actually live it....
Alright time for lunch...i´ll write some later
Work has been progressing. We are sooo close to getting our addiction and mental health survey up online for the first semester students to take. In doing my CAT tools with students it is obvious that there is a lot of alcohol consumption around the University. Yesterday a student came into the office and wanted to talk to Eulalia (my counterpar) in private. Come to find she was considering suicide. That being said I believe that there needs to be more research on the mental health of students and further support for them. Hopefully this encuesta (survey) that we do will help tackle or at least begin to tackle the problems of mental health and drug abuse here in the University.
Our plan for the prevention and attention of emergencies has slowly come to a hault..not really sure why. We went around to each of the facultades that we will be working with, presented our ideas of the formation of brigades and had to leave it up to them to form their own groups. I think some have but the next step would be to start the capacitaciones (trainings) and it doesnt look like that will be happening any time soon..?
The newest project that I´ve formed a part of is ´Charlas de Motivación´. Eulalia, Juan (clinical psychologist), Alvaro (motivational speaker, professor) and I are going around every facultad and doing what we call charlas of motivacion. We do an ice breaker, talk about what it is to be resilient, work as a team, etc...It seems like a very simple subject but as many of the people have mentioned in the reflection we do at the end, most come to work, do their work and dont really interact with people outside of their work atmosphere. For example, there are the people that work in the office. Those in the office tend to be in the office and interact only with office personal and not with persay the janitors or the tech people. So far the reviews have been pretty good. It´s the first time that the University has done any type of "togetherness" with faculty in the University and personally I think that´s something really important for an institution like this.
In a couple weeks my counterpart and I will be traveling back to the beloved Tumbaco for Re-Connect. Im excited to see everyone and hear how things are going in the different sites. I think the presentations of our CAT tools will be boring and I dont have high hopes for what they will have us do in terms of project planning. Regardless I will go into it with a positive attitude and do my best to learn what I can! Im not gonna lie, I will miss Ambato...oh how I will miss my lovely mormon family..NOT.
Speaking of family, starting tomorrow I will actively starting to look for apartments. I told Eulalia this morning about my plans and she goes, "well I should call my friend in Ciudadela España (one of the barrios that Im interested in living in) and see if her apartment is available. With one phone call I already have a possible place. It sounds nice...now lets just hope the price isnt too steep! The lady of course, has to check with her husband and get back to me but I think there is hope! There are also other places around my neighborhood that might be possibilities but I have to physically go to the houses, knock on doors and talk to people...que pereza..I´ve got a couple weeks so I think that should be enough time. SO EXCITED tho to get out on my own!!! Just the thought of cooking my own food and not eating the SAME THING every morning for breakfast makes me feliz :)
Friends are good. I´ve become very close with one of the guys in our friend group. It´s getting to the point where he would be my "enamorado" but Im not sure if I want to claim that title yet...We went to parque de la familia yesterday. Gorgeous views of the city and of the volcanos!! Whoever comes to visit I will take you there :) The guys have started a tournament in Pillaro, about 30 minutes away. There are some more challenging teams which is good. Last weekend they lost by 3 points..sad, but they played a really good game. It´s still early on in the tournament and hopefully when they play them again they will win! They have contracted a Cuban to play on the team with them. He´s crazy tall and plays for one of the professional teams here in Ecuador. He came out with us last weekend which was fun. Very very difficult to understand him, def puts my spanish to the test! I´ve had this ongoing battle with Chino about whether or not I´m "Rubia". If you were to look up the definition Im pretty sure it means blonde, and I am most definetly NOT BLOND! But Chino says that because my hair is lighter and my skin is lighter I am considered a Rubia. I still dont agree. So the other night I asked the Cuban what he thought, if I was blonde. His answer, regardless of your skin or hair color your sangre is white...to say that in a way I´m "white blooded" that I come from a place that is considered white, rubia..etc..
The answer kinda surprised me. I guess, maybe because the way I´ve been raised, skin or hair color, any physical feature doesnt seem to have an impact on who the person is. Here physical appearance has a lot to do with background. And to a deeper extent it seems that down to the blood people are different...Even after different travels to LA countries and being here four months it still amazes me as to how White, American Women are perceived. It´s like we are these mystical, exotic people. And not because we come from a completely different culture, you dont even have to go that deep. It starts simply with our appearance. No matter if the person is ugly or not, people seemed to be obsessed with this idea of Americans. Not to say that all Ecuadorians are shallow and creepy...which some most def are, but it´s just interesting to hear how we are perceived in this country and then to actually live it....
Alright time for lunch...i´ll write some later
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
wednesday sept. 28 2011
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!
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!
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