Well it´s may...At least I got out three posts in April..that´s an improvement right? I know I have said this several times but seriously time is just flying here. I mean yeah there are definetly those days where things seem to just drag on and I feel pretty useless, believe it or not, YES that still happenes...lol but in general the weeks literally are going by sooo fast!!! Im coming up to my one year anniversary here in Ecuador, and almost my half-way point of my service...although I still have a couple months for that (August). But if I think about it in semesters. I´ve already been working here at the University for practically two semesters. By August I will have only TWO LEFT! This obviously makes me reflect on what I am doing, what I plan on doing and all of the stuff in between.
In this post I would like to focus on work because there is a lot of stuff going on. Frist, a medical brigade is coming to Salasaka-an indiginous community close to Ambato, and I have been assigned, well really volunteered to help coordinate (¿how hard can coordinating a ONE-DAY brigade really be?). The Brigade will be in Santo Domingo for the majority of the time (May 19th-23rd) and then travel to the Sierra for the 25th. So my job was to go and talk to the president of the community and coordinate (really remind- because the brigade had already talked to him about where and when , etc..) with him the logistics, then talk quickly with the director of the hospital in Pelileo to let him know as well about the brigade.
I have only been to Salasaka once, when the coordinator of the brigade was here doing water samples. I only knew of the small sub-centro, so thought I would go there and ask where I could find the president . The nurse was super helpful and showed me where to go to talk to the presidente. I walked the few blocks that she indicated to me and arrived at the building that appeared to be municiple...strangely enough all the doors were closed and I heard children inside. I knocked a couple times and tried to look into the windows...nothing. Ugh...I knew this was going to happen, nothing can be as easy as it appears, ESPECIALLY here in Ecuador. A guy walked by and I asked him where exactly the Offices were, turns out I needed to walk around the building to ANOTHER building where they were doing construction. I tip toed through the mud and concrete piles, and crouched under the scaffolding to get to the door (none of this would fly in the states) and proceeded into the office of the presidente. FINALLY! He looked at me kinda weird at first- remember this is an indiginous community so Americans obviously look like complete FOREIGNERS! I explained the purpose for my visit and he welcomed me to sit down. I had all the information that the brigade had given me-places, times, etc... We started talking about the places and he began to make a list of what communities the brigade had visited and where they had not. Little did I know, the brigade has been coming to Salasaka for the past 5 YEARS! So the communities that I had written down apparently had already been seen by the brigade and the president thought it would be a good idea to be in two new communities. I told him the date and the time and that they would need space, etc. Everything seemed to be in place.
After this I needed to go talk to the director of the hospital in Pelileo just to give them the heads up that the brigade was coming etc. So I went to the internet cafe to print the oficio and e-mail the coordinator of the brigade letting her know that we changed the communities. Come to find out the brigade was planning on going to the two new communities in August and didn´t want to change plans...great.... After several e-mails were exchanged we came to the agreement that if this is what the community needed the brigade would make the changes necessary to go to these new two communities. I printed out the oficio and was on my way to Pelileo.
The hunt for the hospital took about a half an hour. Ecuadorians here don´t like to admit that they don´t know directions, so they will normally tell you to go a couple blocks and turn left...or right...pretty much making up whatever they can to make it look like they know where you need to go. I finally found the hospital and asked for the director. He was in a meeting, typical. I had some time so I decided to wait. Luckily the wait was only about 20 minutes. I went in to see him and chatted for awhile about he brigade and handed him the oficio. He had heard of the brigade and was interested in it but said that he would need authorization from the Dirección Provincial de Salud de Tungurahua, pretty much the boss of the area. This place was located in Ambato. All I had to do was change the words asking permission for this director to help facilitate the brigade. Didn´t seem too complicated...WRONG.
So I changed the oficio and went on my way to the Dirección Provincial. Here the secretary greeted me saying that the director was not in and that she could receive the oficio. She read it over and said that in fact it would have to be turned into another lady who had to look over the brigade and what not to see if they could have permission. I was getting frustrated and agreed to have her turn it in. She said there would be a response on tuesday morning, that I could come in then to see the response. I left the oficio with her and was determined to come on tuesday with results from the Dirección.
Tuesday morning I got up and went to the Dirección....the secretary looked through the list of oficios and said that there was no answer. But if I wanted I could call this lady in the afternoon, when she was in her office to see what the result was. I explained to the secretary that the brigade already had the permission, we just needed to inform the director about what was going on and get permission for the doctor in Pelileo. She asked where the permission came from and that I needed to have it in writing!!! Ahhhhh how frustrating!!! This whole affair was getting complicated by the minute. The brigade never gave me any permission number and I had no documentation. I told her that I would call the lady in the afternoon. So at around 2:30 I called this mysterious lady that was making my life wayyyy more complicated that it needed to be. She said that she had not looked over any oficios and that maybe in the next two days would have an answer.
At this point I already had a car lined up from the University to take me to the hospital in Pelileo, because supposedly I was going to have an answer by then to tell the doctor..not the case. I took the opportunity to go anyway, dropped off the oficio-the doc wasn´t in..surprise surprise...and then on the way back stopped into the municipio to talk to the presidente reminding him about everything. He remembered but said that I should call him a couple days before the brigade, just in case...ay yai yai..Ecuadorians...
Today is Wednesday. I need to go back to Pelileo and talk to the doctor but it´s practically impossible to know when he is in the office and when he is not. I do not know when they are going to have an answer for me at the Dirección Provincial but the fact is the brigade is coming regardless....I think my best options now are to go in and talk directly with the director of the dirección Provincial and explain to him, and then talk to the doctor in Pelileo...
Wow so I went into way more detail than I though I would...I´ll write another blog talking about the other work!
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
the quest for pudding...and other non-relevant news
So I have a english club that I´m doing with the Fulbright voluntter here at the University. We have decided to start bringing different types of traditional dishes to class. I started out with a dessert, as in, I offered to bring a dessert traditional to the United States. I thought for awhile as walking up and down the isles of the Mega Maxi of something simple but sweet. And then it hit me, DIRT DESSERT! All I would need is oreos, pudding, and worms. Oreos were easy to find, in the isle with the crackers and cookies. The gummie worms were a little bit trickier, hidden by some of the candies. The last ingrediant I needed was a simple package of pudding mix. I asked, no one knew what I was talking about....I looked, nowhere to be found...I went up and down isles. I looked in the gelatine isle and let me just say Ecuadorians must love their jello because there were tons and tons of different types of jello, even flan mixes...but NO PUDDING!!
I realized that this might be a bit trickier than I thought. So I decided to call my father, who is quite knowledgeable on baking. He was busy...So I called my friend Paige who had the internet to look up quick an easy recipe to make pudding by scratch....turns out there was a pretty simple recipe using cocoa, butter, flour and sugar..easy enough. Well as I was picking up these ingrediants I ran into yet ANOTHER problem. Baking cocoa must not be used here as much as in the states, because I got to the isle and the majority of the cocoa was for mixing with milk and water for a drink, thus had sugar in it. And I needed cocoa WITHOUT sugar...You´d think with a country that produces the cacao beans there wouldn´t be any problem with making and selling the powder...I looked at various packages and found the one that appeared to have the least amount of sugar.
That evening we had a dinner for Hannah´s birthday (argentinian friend) and then after I set out to make my concoction of pudding. My dad had called me that night to see how I was going to make it and of course had his own ideas. So at around 11 pm I started my pudding. I ended up mixing egg yolks with sugar to help with the consistancy. Boiled milk with the cocao that turned out to not have a lot of sugar, thank god! The milk took awhile to boil but once it did I added it to the egg and sugar mixture. At this point I was supposed to bring all of this back to a boil. The consistancy was still pretty watery and so (as my father recommended) I added some flour mixted with butter to the chocolaty mixture...from there it was just a waiting game. Finally the mixture came to somewhat of a boil. From there I transfered it to another cooler pot. Then realized that I forgot to ask what to do after I was all done cooking it! Should I let it sit for awhile and cool? Should I put it directly into the fridge? It was still pretty watery..what if it wasn´t going to thinken and I had chocolate soup instead of pudding?!?!
I stepped away from the kitchen for a bit and brushed my teeth and got ready for bed. The time was about 12:45. About 10 minutes later I stuck the pot in the fridge hoping that while it cooled the mixture would thicken. That night I don´t think I´ve ever had so many dreams about desserts and pudding..
In the morning I opened the fridge to find somewhat of a pudding mixture in the pot...THANK GOD! I figured I would wait until a couple minutes before the club to make the dirt dessert just in case as it warme up it melted, lol
So about 15 minutes before the club I put it all together and grabbed a taxi to the University for the club. Alas, it was a hit! The pudding was very chocolaty and had a pretty good texture. I think everyone liked it! So, below I will attach the recipe. I did a lot by guessing and tasting but this is (mas o menos) more or less how to make homemade pudding!
PUDDING!
2 tbs butter
1.5 c. sugar
3 egg yolks (I only had 3, four might be better for the consistancy)
1.5 c. cocoa
2.5 c. milk
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 c. flour mixed with 1/2 c milk (if you need to thicken it)
Mix egg yolks and sugar together. Add milk, cocoa, butter, and vanilla. Bring to slight boil stirring consistantly. Once bubbly add to yolks and sugar together and bring to fire once again until it starts to bubble. Depending on the texture you can add the flour mixture with it. You also might want a pinch of salt.
Set aside to cool a bit before putting in fridge. You will want to cover it when putting it in the fridge otherwise it will form a type of skin on top. Let set for a few hours and serve!
I also added a chocolate bar to the milk and cocoa mixture because I wasn´t sure if it would be chocolatly enough, lol
Speaking of chocolate bars, I would also like to add a shout out to my lovely family and friends who have been so gracious, sending me cards and care packages! Keep up the good work!!! love you all
I realized that this might be a bit trickier than I thought. So I decided to call my father, who is quite knowledgeable on baking. He was busy...So I called my friend Paige who had the internet to look up quick an easy recipe to make pudding by scratch....turns out there was a pretty simple recipe using cocoa, butter, flour and sugar..easy enough. Well as I was picking up these ingrediants I ran into yet ANOTHER problem. Baking cocoa must not be used here as much as in the states, because I got to the isle and the majority of the cocoa was for mixing with milk and water for a drink, thus had sugar in it. And I needed cocoa WITHOUT sugar...You´d think with a country that produces the cacao beans there wouldn´t be any problem with making and selling the powder...I looked at various packages and found the one that appeared to have the least amount of sugar.
That evening we had a dinner for Hannah´s birthday (argentinian friend) and then after I set out to make my concoction of pudding. My dad had called me that night to see how I was going to make it and of course had his own ideas. So at around 11 pm I started my pudding. I ended up mixing egg yolks with sugar to help with the consistancy. Boiled milk with the cocao that turned out to not have a lot of sugar, thank god! The milk took awhile to boil but once it did I added it to the egg and sugar mixture. At this point I was supposed to bring all of this back to a boil. The consistancy was still pretty watery and so (as my father recommended) I added some flour mixted with butter to the chocolaty mixture...from there it was just a waiting game. Finally the mixture came to somewhat of a boil. From there I transfered it to another cooler pot. Then realized that I forgot to ask what to do after I was all done cooking it! Should I let it sit for awhile and cool? Should I put it directly into the fridge? It was still pretty watery..what if it wasn´t going to thinken and I had chocolate soup instead of pudding?!?!
I stepped away from the kitchen for a bit and brushed my teeth and got ready for bed. The time was about 12:45. About 10 minutes later I stuck the pot in the fridge hoping that while it cooled the mixture would thicken. That night I don´t think I´ve ever had so many dreams about desserts and pudding..
In the morning I opened the fridge to find somewhat of a pudding mixture in the pot...THANK GOD! I figured I would wait until a couple minutes before the club to make the dirt dessert just in case as it warme up it melted, lol
So about 15 minutes before the club I put it all together and grabbed a taxi to the University for the club. Alas, it was a hit! The pudding was very chocolaty and had a pretty good texture. I think everyone liked it! So, below I will attach the recipe. I did a lot by guessing and tasting but this is (mas o menos) more or less how to make homemade pudding!
PUDDING!
2 tbs butter
1.5 c. sugar
3 egg yolks (I only had 3, four might be better for the consistancy)
1.5 c. cocoa
2.5 c. milk
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 c. flour mixed with 1/2 c milk (if you need to thicken it)
Mix egg yolks and sugar together. Add milk, cocoa, butter, and vanilla. Bring to slight boil stirring consistantly. Once bubbly add to yolks and sugar together and bring to fire once again until it starts to bubble. Depending on the texture you can add the flour mixture with it. You also might want a pinch of salt.
Set aside to cool a bit before putting in fridge. You will want to cover it when putting it in the fridge otherwise it will form a type of skin on top. Let set for a few hours and serve!
I also added a chocolate bar to the milk and cocoa mixture because I wasn´t sure if it would be chocolatly enough, lol
Speaking of chocolate bars, I would also like to add a shout out to my lovely family and friends who have been so gracious, sending me cards and care packages! Keep up the good work!!! love you all
Sunday, April 15, 2012
Post Vacation
As always, the days after vacation are always dreadful. But I went into work that next monday with "animo". We were scheduled to start our open houses and present the results of the survey that was given to the first semester students last semester. I arrived to the office to find it closed. With all my keys in my backpack that had disappeared I had no way to get into the office. I went to the nurse who sometimes knows where Eulalia is and she told me that she had ran out saying she had a conference in one of the facultades. So I went to Civil y Mecanica to see what exactly the conference/meeting was about.
Turns out we were starting to give the presentation on the results that day! So I was thrown into the presentation and started out with the results. I think it was better this way because I really had no idea that I was supposed to present, so there was really no way for me to get nervous. I did my schpeal and then a psychologist did a little talk on how the students should have a mission in life and that they are not just another puzzle piece in the the whole scheme of things. That they should over come the pressures to use drugs and alcohol. It was a nice little talk and I think the students understood and all put attention. Then it was Eulalia's turn. I have come to realize that she is not the best with students. She had this whole presentation that was presented to what is called Consejo Universitario. Consejo Universitario or Academico is when all of the Dean's from the different colleges meet to discuss University matters. Anyway she decided to present practically the same presentation to second semester college students that she had presented to old men...this did not go over well. Within the first 15 minutes practically all of the students were distracted with other things and we had completely lost them.
After monday's presentation we did the open house on wednesday with music and various theatre. The students that organized it and did the open house also happened to be part of a christian group here in town. This caused some problems because after awhile it seemed that the focus was mainly about being able to have a healthy lifestyle with God in it. There were many religious references and at one point they prayed with the students!! I was very surprised and upset, so I talked with Eulalia, explaining how this University is what they call LAIKA (separation of church and state) and that everyone does not have the same religion, or any religion at that! She talked to the Students and we came to agreement that it would be a good idea to keep most of the religious statements out of the presentation and focus on promoting a healthy lifestyle with out drugs and alcohol.
Being the first week of presentations I believe that it went really well. Clearly there is a lot to change and I think that with time we will be adapting different things. The students that we are working with to coordinate the open houses are great though and very energetic about helping!
Turns out we were starting to give the presentation on the results that day! So I was thrown into the presentation and started out with the results. I think it was better this way because I really had no idea that I was supposed to present, so there was really no way for me to get nervous. I did my schpeal and then a psychologist did a little talk on how the students should have a mission in life and that they are not just another puzzle piece in the the whole scheme of things. That they should over come the pressures to use drugs and alcohol. It was a nice little talk and I think the students understood and all put attention. Then it was Eulalia's turn. I have come to realize that she is not the best with students. She had this whole presentation that was presented to what is called Consejo Universitario. Consejo Universitario or Academico is when all of the Dean's from the different colleges meet to discuss University matters. Anyway she decided to present practically the same presentation to second semester college students that she had presented to old men...this did not go over well. Within the first 15 minutes practically all of the students were distracted with other things and we had completely lost them.
After monday's presentation we did the open house on wednesday with music and various theatre. The students that organized it and did the open house also happened to be part of a christian group here in town. This caused some problems because after awhile it seemed that the focus was mainly about being able to have a healthy lifestyle with God in it. There were many religious references and at one point they prayed with the students!! I was very surprised and upset, so I talked with Eulalia, explaining how this University is what they call LAIKA (separation of church and state) and that everyone does not have the same religion, or any religion at that! She talked to the Students and we came to agreement that it would be a good idea to keep most of the religious statements out of the presentation and focus on promoting a healthy lifestyle with out drugs and alcohol.
Being the first week of presentations I believe that it went really well. Clearly there is a lot to change and I think that with time we will be adapting different things. The students that we are working with to coordinate the open houses are great though and very energetic about helping!
The Fam comes to Ecuador
As usual the time flies by too fast for me to take some time and write in my blog..then it's so late that I have to take like HOURS in writing everything... The main reason why I've been wanting to write is to update on my Family's VISIT!!! I can't believe that it's almost been a month since they were here. We were all so excited to see each other and then they came and now they are gone.
The trip was really great. They took awhile to get here, due to flight problems but finally arrived on saturday night (instead of saturday evening). We decided to stay until sunday and went to a soccer game in the morning. Ruth of course didn't believe me when I told her that the sun was really strong so she instantly got burnt...she realized hours later. We then left on sunday afternoon for Ambato. We arrived in Ambato around 6ish, took all the luggage out of the car, only to find that my backpack was no where to be found....the weird thing is we were in Chino's car driving back and my backpack had been on my lap the entire time. It somehow was left or stolen in the TWO times that we got out of the car. My keys, Ipod, all debit cards, my Peace Corps cellphone and Id's along with some clothes and all my make-up were gone. That night we were supposed to eat over at Chino's house. I was a complete mess because I had lost practically everything that was super important to me. We luckily cancelled the cards and could really do nothing else that evening. We had dinner and my parents gave the gifts to Chino's family. I believe they all went over really well.
Monday was a day of more chaos for me because I had to run all around the city getting police reports and make phone calls to Peace Corps in regards to the robberies. On top of that my parents wanted to see Ambato. I felt so bad that I had to send them loose on their own in the city, but as good well traveled people they did just fine. Later that afternoon a friend of ours took us to Parque de la familia. It's this large park wayy up on one of the mountains, and has a great view of the city!
Tuesday morning we left for Misahualli. I was so glad to get out of Ambato and have vacation ACTUALLY start. We arrived to the same hostel that I had stayed at with some peace corps friends. It was sooo nice and relaxing. We did two different tours each of the two days we were there. One of the nights we also went into Tena and walked around. There really isn't much in the town itself, kinda hard for me to believe that I lived there years ago.
On Thursday we headed back to Quito because Ruth had to leave us to go back to school... :( :( we arrived on time and were able to go to "La Ronda" for dinner. It was Howard's birthday so we went to this nice restaurant and even had some people sing for him! The funny story of this night was when I left for FIVE minutes to go put money on my phone. I left the family with an idea of what they wanted to order. There were also menu's in english so it didn't appear that they would have any problem ordering the meals. I come back and asked how everything went and they said just fine. When the food comes, it turned out that Mom and Ruth had ordered PIG FOOT. Literally the hoof of a pig. Apparently the translation on the english menu had been wrong and said pig leg instead of foot. They had to order something else....lol
Friday early morning we said goodbye to Ruth, sad but I know that very soon I will be seeing her again. On the way to the Airport I realized that I was not feeling the best. Ya know, one of those, "what did I eat? Im going to pay for this in a couple hours" type of feeling. I was able to go to the airport and say goodbye but once we got back to the apartment I was up practically all night in the bathroom. I ended up staying back all day friday while mom and Howard did a walking tour of the city. I was able to rest and get some books read! It was a nice relaxing time that was much needed.
On Saturday we left for Ibarra/Otavalo. I had never been to Ibarra so I was excited to see what the city was like. We stayed at a hotel that Peace Corps uses and were given a reduced rate which was nice. That evening I met up with Portia and some other volunteers, it was really good to see people and hear updates on their lives. Sunday we walked around the city and went to one of the lakes nearby.
Monday we went to a really neat AfroEcuadorian community where Portia works. It was in the middle of nowhere. The weather was very very hot with desert like conditions. The woman that we talked with works at the school teaching art and also does some of her own mask and jewelry making. She also works with teen girls in the community making different dresses. Portia helps out with different Youth groups. We made our way back in the afternoon to a old famous ice cream place where they make the ice cream by HAND. They put down ice and hay and then on top have a wooden bowl where they stir ice water with whatever flavor (usually a fruit juice-all natural) into what we call a type of sorbet.
Tuesday we did Otavalo. I had been there the last time I was in Ecuador but I didn't remember it being so pretty! It is a very indigenous community, and very clean and pretty. We walked to some famous, magical tree. The map that we were given was very VERY misleading because the walk was supposed to take around an hour. Well after an hour and half of walking uphill and not finding anything we luckily ran into a taxi. He gave us directions and we decided that it might be easier to just let the guy take us. Thank god he did because it was another 15 minutes to the tree....all up hill. We finally got to the tree, that looked over a different community on another lagoon, very pretty. How we were going to get back we had no idea, walking would take hours....and we had to be back for a tour of surrounding communities... Another taxi was driving by with some people and said that he would take us on his way back down.
We arrived just in time to do a tour of surrounding smaller indigenous communities where different artesian crafts are done. Each community had something a little different. We ended up back in Ibarra around 7ish to eat.
Wednesday we did more touring of the city and saw the different churches. Ibarra is very colonial and there were several different churches and old buildings. We then headed back to Quito that afternoon because mom and Howard were leaving on Thursday morning. We went to eat at this really good italian restaurant and then went back to the apartment to rest. We played a card game which was really nice, to "be family" (as mom would say lol) for the last hours together. We got up early again on Thursday to say goodbye....So weird to think that I won't be seeing my family again for another 9-10 months.
All in all the trip was really great!!! I had a blast showing them around and giving them a look into my life here in Ecuador.
The trip was really great. They took awhile to get here, due to flight problems but finally arrived on saturday night (instead of saturday evening). We decided to stay until sunday and went to a soccer game in the morning. Ruth of course didn't believe me when I told her that the sun was really strong so she instantly got burnt...she realized hours later. We then left on sunday afternoon for Ambato. We arrived in Ambato around 6ish, took all the luggage out of the car, only to find that my backpack was no where to be found....the weird thing is we were in Chino's car driving back and my backpack had been on my lap the entire time. It somehow was left or stolen in the TWO times that we got out of the car. My keys, Ipod, all debit cards, my Peace Corps cellphone and Id's along with some clothes and all my make-up were gone. That night we were supposed to eat over at Chino's house. I was a complete mess because I had lost practically everything that was super important to me. We luckily cancelled the cards and could really do nothing else that evening. We had dinner and my parents gave the gifts to Chino's family. I believe they all went over really well.
Monday was a day of more chaos for me because I had to run all around the city getting police reports and make phone calls to Peace Corps in regards to the robberies. On top of that my parents wanted to see Ambato. I felt so bad that I had to send them loose on their own in the city, but as good well traveled people they did just fine. Later that afternoon a friend of ours took us to Parque de la familia. It's this large park wayy up on one of the mountains, and has a great view of the city!
Tuesday morning we left for Misahualli. I was so glad to get out of Ambato and have vacation ACTUALLY start. We arrived to the same hostel that I had stayed at with some peace corps friends. It was sooo nice and relaxing. We did two different tours each of the two days we were there. One of the nights we also went into Tena and walked around. There really isn't much in the town itself, kinda hard for me to believe that I lived there years ago.
On Thursday we headed back to Quito because Ruth had to leave us to go back to school... :( :( we arrived on time and were able to go to "La Ronda" for dinner. It was Howard's birthday so we went to this nice restaurant and even had some people sing for him! The funny story of this night was when I left for FIVE minutes to go put money on my phone. I left the family with an idea of what they wanted to order. There were also menu's in english so it didn't appear that they would have any problem ordering the meals. I come back and asked how everything went and they said just fine. When the food comes, it turned out that Mom and Ruth had ordered PIG FOOT. Literally the hoof of a pig. Apparently the translation on the english menu had been wrong and said pig leg instead of foot. They had to order something else....lol
Friday early morning we said goodbye to Ruth, sad but I know that very soon I will be seeing her again. On the way to the Airport I realized that I was not feeling the best. Ya know, one of those, "what did I eat? Im going to pay for this in a couple hours" type of feeling. I was able to go to the airport and say goodbye but once we got back to the apartment I was up practically all night in the bathroom. I ended up staying back all day friday while mom and Howard did a walking tour of the city. I was able to rest and get some books read! It was a nice relaxing time that was much needed.
On Saturday we left for Ibarra/Otavalo. I had never been to Ibarra so I was excited to see what the city was like. We stayed at a hotel that Peace Corps uses and were given a reduced rate which was nice. That evening I met up with Portia and some other volunteers, it was really good to see people and hear updates on their lives. Sunday we walked around the city and went to one of the lakes nearby.
Monday we went to a really neat AfroEcuadorian community where Portia works. It was in the middle of nowhere. The weather was very very hot with desert like conditions. The woman that we talked with works at the school teaching art and also does some of her own mask and jewelry making. She also works with teen girls in the community making different dresses. Portia helps out with different Youth groups. We made our way back in the afternoon to a old famous ice cream place where they make the ice cream by HAND. They put down ice and hay and then on top have a wooden bowl where they stir ice water with whatever flavor (usually a fruit juice-all natural) into what we call a type of sorbet.
Tuesday we did Otavalo. I had been there the last time I was in Ecuador but I didn't remember it being so pretty! It is a very indigenous community, and very clean and pretty. We walked to some famous, magical tree. The map that we were given was very VERY misleading because the walk was supposed to take around an hour. Well after an hour and half of walking uphill and not finding anything we luckily ran into a taxi. He gave us directions and we decided that it might be easier to just let the guy take us. Thank god he did because it was another 15 minutes to the tree....all up hill. We finally got to the tree, that looked over a different community on another lagoon, very pretty. How we were going to get back we had no idea, walking would take hours....and we had to be back for a tour of surrounding communities... Another taxi was driving by with some people and said that he would take us on his way back down.
We arrived just in time to do a tour of surrounding smaller indigenous communities where different artesian crafts are done. Each community had something a little different. We ended up back in Ibarra around 7ish to eat.
Wednesday we did more touring of the city and saw the different churches. Ibarra is very colonial and there were several different churches and old buildings. We then headed back to Quito that afternoon because mom and Howard were leaving on Thursday morning. We went to eat at this really good italian restaurant and then went back to the apartment to rest. We played a card game which was really nice, to "be family" (as mom would say lol) for the last hours together. We got up early again on Thursday to say goodbye....So weird to think that I won't be seeing my family again for another 9-10 months.
All in all the trip was really great!!! I had a blast showing them around and giving them a look into my life here in Ecuador.
Friday, March 9, 2012
Dia Internacional de la Mujer...and a robbery..well sort of
Let me start of with saying FELIZ DIA INTERNACIONAL DE LA MUJER..a day late, hehe...Normally in the States I feel that this day isn´t exactly celebrated or even recognized by people. I have to confess I´ve never actually "celebrated" or worked towards any kind of activism on International Women´s day, but this all changed yesterday. It´s been about a week long process. Kim and I put together a few ideas and thought it would be good not only to celebrate women, on their day but promote the equalness of gender as well. As many of you might know people can be a bit machista here and so we decided to stir up tradition a bit.
To be honest I really didn´t think that Int. Women´s day would be that recognized her in Ecuador either. Boy was I wrong. Let´s just say that I received more flowers yesterday than I did on Valentine´s Day. Apparently they use IWD (shortening the words..)to thank all mothers, daughters, tias, abuelas, etc...for having them in their life. They give out flowers and chocolates and say happy day to you...I mean I guess that´s alright, but it seemed to be more a day for the men to use their machista ways to identify women as women-the roles they play in the FAMILY SETTING..what about strong independent women students, single women, lesbians, trans-gender..etc?? this was not at all recognized...
I understand that Ecuador does not have a women´s history like the United States but still I was surprised at how much attention it got...for all of the wrong reasons...you get where I´m going?
Anywho Kim, Paige and I decided that we were going to do a little something and hand made posters, t-shirts and statistics about the inequality (mainly in the work force) to put on suckers. We then passed out differnet flyers and the suckers to ALL of the students. And you won´t believe how many laughs we got, when men, yes MEN too where getting something for IWD. We explained that men can be feminists too, as a way to support equal opportunity in all aspects of life (work, home, social, educational, etc) And that they need to be advocates for change. After some explaining to like EVERY SINGLE MAN I think some of the people got it, and appreciated the gesture.
Because classes just started there aren´t a ton of students on campus. So because March is Women´s History month we are going to do an activity on Monday with students in Kim and Paige´s facultad. We are going to put up a table and have cards that say "Una mujer fuerte es una mujer que...." ( a strong women is a women that...) and then have the kids fill out what they think a strong women is. Hopefully we can get some good ideas, and will post these up around the facultad. Im about to head over and see if we can even get permission. The decano seems pretty conservative about the things that we do, so we´ll see..
Alright on to the next topic. Robberies. So here´s the story. I was waiting for the bus to go to work this afternoon and as the bus pulled up I let two students go ahead of me. I then tried to get on the bus and realized that a man was trying to weazle his way on pushing me as he was going. Then a guy on my right came up from behind and started grabbing my pockets and bag. I started to yell and followed the guy off the bus. He had my bad and I had his arm.. All the while I was screaming and ended up chasing him about a block down. Some stand byers tried to chase them but didn´t succeed. Thank god nothing was stolen. I think my hysterical screaming and running might have spooked them a bit. Who thought a little gringa could be so powerful. Tons of people pulled over to ask if I was ok and came out of their shops. A guy on a motorcycle even offered to take me to the police station or to work. At least there are some good people out there! So Im a little shooken up but besides if anything it´s just a good wake up call that you have to be on your guard 100% of the time here in this lovely pais.. :)
To be honest I really didn´t think that Int. Women´s day would be that recognized her in Ecuador either. Boy was I wrong. Let´s just say that I received more flowers yesterday than I did on Valentine´s Day. Apparently they use IWD (shortening the words..)to thank all mothers, daughters, tias, abuelas, etc...for having them in their life. They give out flowers and chocolates and say happy day to you...I mean I guess that´s alright, but it seemed to be more a day for the men to use their machista ways to identify women as women-the roles they play in the FAMILY SETTING..what about strong independent women students, single women, lesbians, trans-gender..etc?? this was not at all recognized...
I understand that Ecuador does not have a women´s history like the United States but still I was surprised at how much attention it got...for all of the wrong reasons...you get where I´m going?
Anywho Kim, Paige and I decided that we were going to do a little something and hand made posters, t-shirts and statistics about the inequality (mainly in the work force) to put on suckers. We then passed out differnet flyers and the suckers to ALL of the students. And you won´t believe how many laughs we got, when men, yes MEN too where getting something for IWD. We explained that men can be feminists too, as a way to support equal opportunity in all aspects of life (work, home, social, educational, etc) And that they need to be advocates for change. After some explaining to like EVERY SINGLE MAN I think some of the people got it, and appreciated the gesture.
Because classes just started there aren´t a ton of students on campus. So because March is Women´s History month we are going to do an activity on Monday with students in Kim and Paige´s facultad. We are going to put up a table and have cards that say "Una mujer fuerte es una mujer que...." ( a strong women is a women that...) and then have the kids fill out what they think a strong women is. Hopefully we can get some good ideas, and will post these up around the facultad. Im about to head over and see if we can even get permission. The decano seems pretty conservative about the things that we do, so we´ll see..
Alright on to the next topic. Robberies. So here´s the story. I was waiting for the bus to go to work this afternoon and as the bus pulled up I let two students go ahead of me. I then tried to get on the bus and realized that a man was trying to weazle his way on pushing me as he was going. Then a guy on my right came up from behind and started grabbing my pockets and bag. I started to yell and followed the guy off the bus. He had my bad and I had his arm.. All the while I was screaming and ended up chasing him about a block down. Some stand byers tried to chase them but didn´t succeed. Thank god nothing was stolen. I think my hysterical screaming and running might have spooked them a bit. Who thought a little gringa could be so powerful. Tons of people pulled over to ask if I was ok and came out of their shops. A guy on a motorcycle even offered to take me to the police station or to work. At least there are some good people out there! So Im a little shooken up but besides if anything it´s just a good wake up call that you have to be on your guard 100% of the time here in this lovely pais.. :)
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
2 in a month, not too shabby
Well for those of you who were used to reading my blog like every week and seeing something new, Im sure you have realized that I am not the best at keeping it updated anymore. But as I have said in many other posts I am determined to change that and to start writing more frequently. So here goes the SECOND post for Febrero, wahhooo (baby steps people, baby steps)
Life as an Ambateña: Febuary came and went like every single month has here: FAST. Mal was here, which now, seems like FOREVER AGO....I went to quito with my counterpart on HIV/AIDS. Apparently the Univesity Tecnica de Ambato is part of 8 or 9 Univesities around the country that are collaborating on how to face the HIV/AIDS issue here in Ecuador. Obviously the Universities on the coast have a much higher population of people living with HIV/AIDS but it was neat to meet up, share ideas and have the Ministerio de Salud come talk to us. We had the meeting in the United Nations building, which automatically makes you feel kinda special..hehe
That same day was Chino´s birthday so I rushed back just in time to be part of the party that his family threw for him at his house. It was nice to be surrounded by friends and family (all ecuadorian). I gave him his shirt. For those of you who do not know, Chino is a huge fan of Roger Federer (tennis player) so for his birthday I bought him a very nice (and pricy) Roger Federer shirt. The only reason why I agreed to spend so much was because all of the proceeds go towards his foundation that focuses on supporting children in the "New Brighton" township in Port Elizabeth (South Africa)as well as the "Sululta District" in Ethiopiat So I was able to give a great gift and donate money at the same time! The shirt is red with two white letters "RF". Chino opened the present and as his dad passed by and said, "Raquel Freire?" !!!!!! (Freire is Chino´s last name) luckily it was taken lightly and everyone just laughed...
After Chino´s birthday was the start of CARNIVAL!!! One of the most craziest times here in Ecuador. Ambato´s festivities are called "la fiesta de la flor y la fruta" because we are known for flowers and fruit I guess...lol..anyway carnival started on friday the 17th and ended on tuesday the 21st. During these 5 days there were tons of different musical performances, cultural events, and really fun parties at night. We went out every single night(except monday) to a differnt discoteca that had been created, just for fiestas.
I had some PC friends come visit me from the coast which was really great. My camera was also stolen, which is quite unfortunate because I had so many pictures from carnival, along with pics from when Mal was in Ecuador. So frustrating. Then about 20 minutes later my phone was almost stolen. Pretty ridiculous. The next day we were out to eat with some friends and one of my male ecuadorian friends blackberry was stolen literally right off the table from where we were eating!!! People weren´t joking when they said that the robbers come out to play.
But needless to say it was a great experience, people played with foam, flour, and of course consumed a ton of alcohol. The parade was really neat. The theme was of different countries around the world. Interestingly enough some of these countries were, "Africa", "Hawaii" and "Arabia"...that has got to say something about Ambato´s knowledge/interpretation on what different "countries" and/or cultures around the world means. But there was lots of good music and dancing. Chino´s sister presented in the Colombian group. She did a great job, and looked amazing...too bad I don´t have fotos to post so that you can see...oh well..
Work wise, I feel as though I am at a transition stage. Eulalia and I threw around some ideas today and it looks like we will be doing the "lavado de manos" program with students who are studying to be teachers in schools. This way they can be trained to go out and replicate what they learn (hopefully). I also want to do the world map with some tourism students that Paige (fullbright volunteer) and I have been working with. On top of that we are looking at doing more promotion of the addictions and mental health program and combining safe sex practices with that. I am also in contact with Adam, another PCV living in Patate (community outside of Ambato) on possibly doing something together. It seems as though these PC goals will be met sooner or later, lol...just gotta remember that everything takes time!!!
Alright, enough for now. Counting down the days till I see the lovely faces of Rut Rut, Sally Bowers, and Howard Fenton....
18 DAYSSSSS!!!!!
chau :)
Life as an Ambateña: Febuary came and went like every single month has here: FAST. Mal was here, which now, seems like FOREVER AGO....I went to quito with my counterpart on HIV/AIDS. Apparently the Univesity Tecnica de Ambato is part of 8 or 9 Univesities around the country that are collaborating on how to face the HIV/AIDS issue here in Ecuador. Obviously the Universities on the coast have a much higher population of people living with HIV/AIDS but it was neat to meet up, share ideas and have the Ministerio de Salud come talk to us. We had the meeting in the United Nations building, which automatically makes you feel kinda special..hehe
That same day was Chino´s birthday so I rushed back just in time to be part of the party that his family threw for him at his house. It was nice to be surrounded by friends and family (all ecuadorian). I gave him his shirt. For those of you who do not know, Chino is a huge fan of Roger Federer (tennis player) so for his birthday I bought him a very nice (and pricy) Roger Federer shirt. The only reason why I agreed to spend so much was because all of the proceeds go towards his foundation that focuses on supporting children in the "New Brighton" township in Port Elizabeth (South Africa)as well as the "Sululta District" in Ethiopiat So I was able to give a great gift and donate money at the same time! The shirt is red with two white letters "RF". Chino opened the present and as his dad passed by and said, "Raquel Freire?" !!!!!! (Freire is Chino´s last name) luckily it was taken lightly and everyone just laughed...
After Chino´s birthday was the start of CARNIVAL!!! One of the most craziest times here in Ecuador. Ambato´s festivities are called "la fiesta de la flor y la fruta" because we are known for flowers and fruit I guess...lol..anyway carnival started on friday the 17th and ended on tuesday the 21st. During these 5 days there were tons of different musical performances, cultural events, and really fun parties at night. We went out every single night(except monday) to a differnt discoteca that had been created, just for fiestas.
I had some PC friends come visit me from the coast which was really great. My camera was also stolen, which is quite unfortunate because I had so many pictures from carnival, along with pics from when Mal was in Ecuador. So frustrating. Then about 20 minutes later my phone was almost stolen. Pretty ridiculous. The next day we were out to eat with some friends and one of my male ecuadorian friends blackberry was stolen literally right off the table from where we were eating!!! People weren´t joking when they said that the robbers come out to play.
But needless to say it was a great experience, people played with foam, flour, and of course consumed a ton of alcohol. The parade was really neat. The theme was of different countries around the world. Interestingly enough some of these countries were, "Africa", "Hawaii" and "Arabia"...that has got to say something about Ambato´s knowledge/interpretation on what different "countries" and/or cultures around the world means. But there was lots of good music and dancing. Chino´s sister presented in the Colombian group. She did a great job, and looked amazing...too bad I don´t have fotos to post so that you can see...oh well..
Work wise, I feel as though I am at a transition stage. Eulalia and I threw around some ideas today and it looks like we will be doing the "lavado de manos" program with students who are studying to be teachers in schools. This way they can be trained to go out and replicate what they learn (hopefully). I also want to do the world map with some tourism students that Paige (fullbright volunteer) and I have been working with. On top of that we are looking at doing more promotion of the addictions and mental health program and combining safe sex practices with that. I am also in contact with Adam, another PCV living in Patate (community outside of Ambato) on possibly doing something together. It seems as though these PC goals will be met sooner or later, lol...just gotta remember that everything takes time!!!
Alright, enough for now. Counting down the days till I see the lovely faces of Rut Rut, Sally Bowers, and Howard Fenton....
18 DAYSSSSS!!!!!
chau :)
Monday, February 13, 2012
Feb. 13th
Exactly a month ago I wrote an entry, what happens to the time?!? seriously....Back at work today after having a great 10 days with one of my good friends from college. It was really interesting to realize that many of the things I see as day to day activities are considered very different back in the states. I guess that means that I´ve become some what integrated. Reflecting on these past 8 months there have been very many ups and downs...mainly ups to be honest, but also lots of "getting used to" cultural differences.
My new goal for this next semester is to get more active within the student body. I want to work first hand with students and hopefully get different groups on campus started. I haven´t done any charlas on my own yet and I feel that after all that training we received back in the summer I should put some of it to work, right? I have an opportunity to go into a school and do handwashing workshops with kids so hopefully I can schedule a meeting with the rector of the school to get that started!
My family comes will be here in about a month. It seems like forever ago that we were planning for them to come down and now I am actually going to be seeing them :) Im hoping they will enjoy their time here and can put their spanish skills to work because translating really does get tiring after awhile.
My apartment is doing well and I´ve developed a schedule for coming home every day for lunch and then walking or taking the bus back to work in the afternoon. It prooves to be much more cost affective than eating out every day. I´m trying to get a running schedule down after work and then going to spend time with Chino and his family. I usually end up eating dinner with them at their house.
The weather has been mild. Technically we are in winter, which means lots of rain, but really here in Ambato it doesnt rain a ton. It will rain every day but either in the morning or in the afternoon. So you know if you wake up with rain, the afternoon will be sunny or vice versa. Im hoping as we move into March the weather will get better for when my fam comes. When my friend was here she was really surprised at how cold Ecuador was, haha.
Alright, they just cleaned the floors in my office and Im about to pass out from the fumes so Im gonna go get some fresh air!!
Sending love to whoever reads these posts, lol
My new goal for this next semester is to get more active within the student body. I want to work first hand with students and hopefully get different groups on campus started. I haven´t done any charlas on my own yet and I feel that after all that training we received back in the summer I should put some of it to work, right? I have an opportunity to go into a school and do handwashing workshops with kids so hopefully I can schedule a meeting with the rector of the school to get that started!
My family comes will be here in about a month. It seems like forever ago that we were planning for them to come down and now I am actually going to be seeing them :) Im hoping they will enjoy their time here and can put their spanish skills to work because translating really does get tiring after awhile.
My apartment is doing well and I´ve developed a schedule for coming home every day for lunch and then walking or taking the bus back to work in the afternoon. It prooves to be much more cost affective than eating out every day. I´m trying to get a running schedule down after work and then going to spend time with Chino and his family. I usually end up eating dinner with them at their house.
The weather has been mild. Technically we are in winter, which means lots of rain, but really here in Ambato it doesnt rain a ton. It will rain every day but either in the morning or in the afternoon. So you know if you wake up with rain, the afternoon will be sunny or vice versa. Im hoping as we move into March the weather will get better for when my fam comes. When my friend was here she was really surprised at how cold Ecuador was, haha.
Alright, they just cleaned the floors in my office and Im about to pass out from the fumes so Im gonna go get some fresh air!!
Sending love to whoever reads these posts, lol
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