Never putting curtains up in Ecuador AGAIN.....

So I had curtains made by Hannah (argentina).  The curtains that have been in my apartment for the last oh, year were just to big and drape like...AND you could most def see through them.  I went on the quest for tela (fabric) and found this really nice color (olive green color) .  My friend Hannah studied design in school and made her own curtains that turned out pretty cool so I asked her to make mine.  After waiting about 2 weeks (this girl is super busy with work) she finally sat down and did them, so tonight I put them up!  They turned out pretty cool, the only problem with curtains here is they have these needle/clip like things that you have to put into the fabric in order to hang them up.  So it took me almost an HOUR to put up THREE curtains, haha but quite the experience of finger pricking and trying to line up these clips into the curtains.  All in all I have the new curtains up and they are better than the old lady ones that I had before!

This past weekend was thanksgiving and I decided to stay here in Ambato.  We had an inauguration for the new gym classes and other health fitness classes that Bienestar will be giving to students in the morning.  It was a great time, dancing bailoterapia, and seeing so many students turn out for the event.  I hope as many AND MORE turn out for our event next week!

Then later that afternoon, about 8 of us got together at the Economista's house to cook an Argentinian/American Thanksgiving.  We grilled all the meat and then had green bean casserole, mashed potatoes and deviled eggs.  It was such nice time to be with "family" and friends here in Ecuador.  I said the "prayer" (yup that's right mom) and got teary eyed thinking about my family all together at home, enjoying their meals.  Next year I will be celebrating with them :)

Lets see what else has been going on.  We are finishing up all the planning that we need for the event December 6th at the University.  We have all of the institutions confirmed and now need to figure out a way to get certificates printed for all 100 participants...there is no budget whatsoever for this event, well I mean there was but all the money was used up to print out the materials for our sexual health campaign "Por mil motivos"...sooo we have to figure out how we are going to do it..

The girls group is coming along nicely and they look like they will be ready to present next friday.  Crazy to think all of this planning and hard work, both by us as leaders and by the girls, all comes down to a half an hour presentation!!! But none the less it will be a blast to have the parents see what we have been working on.

On another not so positive note, there was a suicide this last week, a student of the University.  The student was the son of a secretary at the University and, because Ambato is such a small city, Chino's family knew the guy pretty well. His youngest brother is Mayra's age and the oldest was a compañero of Chino in school. Apparently he was a very very intelligent  guy, had written 3 books, all containing material about suicides, etc and in the last one, had reached out for help.  He only sent it through e-mail to three close friends, none of whom took the time to read it over before he decided to take his own life.

Chino and I went to the wake.  The saddest thing I have ever seen.  I had had interactions with the mother because of her connection at the University.  I just can't imagine what it would be like to lose your own child.  Makes you really think about the important things in life, and how we dwell on such little things, that in retrospect do not have as much impact on us in the long run...

Gotta live each day and be happy for what we have!!!

Alright hope Thanksgiving was splended for all of you who are reading my blog...there are people out there reading besides my mom and howard right??  haha

buenas noches!

Christmas is just around the corner...wait, but what about THANKSGIVING?!?!

So here in Ecuador, as Im sure in the states, everyone is getting ready for Christmas.  Stores have their santas and trees for sale.  The only difference I think, is that here, families have already begun putting up their christmas trees!!!! Chino´s family put their tree up this weekend.  Last year I helped, but this year had some other things to do.  So Chino´s mom and grandma put up the tree, just the two of them.  They decorated it very nice with bows, and different muñecos.  No homemade ornaments, and no lights (i think those were too old).  Makes me miss decorating the christmas tree at home.   Every year we put up the tree together.  My sister and I would usually complain about having to find and bring the heavy tubs but once we got going it was so fun to see the different ornaments that we had and talk about where they were made, bought, or who had given us as a gift. In a way it makes me excited to think about that fact that next year I will be sure to be home and help put up BOTH trees (mom and dad´s)

Well the most anticipated event of the fall is over.  I took the GRE on saturday November 17th.  It was hard.  That´s pretty much all I can say, haha.  I started studying around August, and by the end had done several practice exams and was feeling, for the most part, pretty confident.  The test was at the Fullbright Office in Quito.  Chino went with me, bless his heart, on friday and we stayed at his aunts house.  We arrived and did a test run to Fullbright, then had dinner.  I got a good nights rest, and ate a good breakfast.  Everything was in order.  I arrived at the testing center on time to check in and find my seat.  The writing section wasn´t that hard.  The reading comprhension had it´s challenging parts and the math was ok.  Luckily the scores are based on the number of questions you answer right, so lets hope I guessed well!

These next weeks are going to fly because Im working both at the University and with the girls group on semi-big events.  At the University we are prepping for our WAD (World Aids Day) event Dec. 6th.  For the girls group we are doing our final presentation Dec. 7th.  After that I can wait tranquila for the 20th to role around to see my rents and go to THE GALAPAGOS!!!!! Wahooooo

Not sure what to do for Thanksgiving....PCV´s are meeting in Guaranda, I went last year which was pretty fun.  I also think that we will do something here in Ambato, so it´s probably going to be a matter of choosing one over the other...Plus we have the lanzamiento of the rumbaterapia, pilates, and yoga on that saturday that I would really like to be at.

Alright, enough of an update for now. Until next time, Happy Turkey Day and Black Friday, Madrugan temprano y compran muchooooo (get up early and buy lots!)

November starts out with a bang!

Well Im happy to say that I can start this blog saying that we have Obama for another four years!!  I had a great time at another PCV's house, where we streamed the results live on her computer and used a projector from work to watch it like on the big screen..ahh the peace corps life.  Sadly Romney took too long to admit his loss and so I couldn't stay awake to see Obama, but I watched the next day!

It's so funny because everyone here asks who people vote for.  Im pretty used to it by now, talking super open about my political views, and even getting weird looks when I talk about how yes homosexuals SHOULD have the right to get married...lol hopefully I don't get back to the states and start asking people who they are going to vote for.. :-/

I arrived from Cuenca this last sunday.  We had a three day weekend, partly because of the Cuenca fiestas (and also because of the Guayaquil ones..what can i say, they love their fiestas).  Chino and I drove down to Cuenca on friday morning (let me be specific we left at 4:30 AM!!!!!) thinking there would be traffic.  Well there was like no traffic because we arrived in Cuenca around10:30 AM, only took us 5 hours, which was pretty good.  We checked into a hostel recommended to us by some other volunteers, super lindo :)  We dropped off the car and walked to the Centro.

The military were preparing for a welcome ceremony for the President.  We then walked around the center and in the evening took a tour of the city in one of those double decker buses.  Yeah, not such a good idea because the cables that they do have hanging around in Cuenca were super low and would've clotheslined us if we hadn't ducked, haha.  But all in all it was a nice tour.  We traveled up the top of one of the mountains and were able to look over the whole city!

We went to eat at one of the restaurants down by the river, and then walked around the area that has different bars, restaurants and discotecas.  We were too tired to go out out and decided to walk back to the hostel around 11.  We stopped by the main park to watch a "teatro de la calle" (street theater).  It was pretty funny!

The next morning we tried to wake up to go to the park and see the program for the president.  It was supposed to start at 9 and we arrived around 9:25, thinking it wouldn't really start on time (because NOTHING starts on time here).  Well turns out they had started and ENDED, haha.  BUT-we saw the presidents party flags and a bunch of people along the street, so we crossed and realized that the president was in one of the buildings talking.  We waited right outside the building where he was and were able to see him and many other political figures come out!!! It was so neat the passion that the people have for their president.  We got some pretty good fotos, I'll try to put them up on facebook. The closest I've ever been to a president!

In the afternoon we went to the National Park close to Cuenca.  Really gorgeous countryside and such fresh air.  We stopped by a little family restaurant in this ANCIENT house and had habas, choclo con queso and caldo de gallo, y locro de papa...YUM!!

We came back to the hostel and slept, completely exhausted from all the walking we had done in the past two days!  We didn't end up waking up till 10 PM and went out to eat at this middle eastern estaurant.  I had Ginger chicken, so good!  Then since we had taken like a 3 hour nap we decided to see what night life there was.  We ended up going into the first clubs that looked like it had people.  It was really inside was a pretty good size, with different rooms decorated, and really good music! 

Cuenca is absolutely beautiful. It is very clean and organized.  Even though they were in their fiestas and every night there were a lot of people, it wasn't like partying out of control and seemed really safe to walk back to the hostal at night.

Sunday we woke up and ate breakfast then got the car and headed to some ruinas de Ingapirca that were supposed to be on the way back.  Well lets just say that they were a bit farther than we thought..haha We did about a hour guided tour and then walked down to this inca face that is on the side of the mountain.  They aren't sure if is natural of man made, but pretty incredible-looks like an Incan....it started to rain towards the end of the tour, so by the time we got to the car we were completely empapados!!

We then made our 5 hour drive back through the mountains to the querido Ambato.  We hit really bad rain and hail getting into Riobamba but were in Ambato by about 9-10 PM.

Monday was back to work.  We are doing a lot of preparing for our World Aids Event on December 6th.  I also did a nutrition conference for some 500 students on tuesday!!  I think they really liked my presentation..pretty interactive, well as interactive as a presentation can be for 250 students (one group in the morning, one in the afternoon)!!!

Sharon, Bianca and I are preparing with our girls group for our final presentation that will be on December 6th or 7th as well!  So many good things going on this semester, it makes it harder to image how I will ever leave this place.  I've completely lost count on how long I've been here.  People ask me and I tell them over a year...Over a year, wow!

Monday is another feriado, Ambato's independence day.  So there will be a parade of some sort and it looks like PC will be visiting me....so we'll see!!

Chauuuuuu

Hannie visits ECUADORRRR

So the most exciting news for this month besides the 5000 condoms (in the blog after this) was the lovely visit from my BFA Hannah Bazur-Leidy!  She arrived on tuesday evening (Oct.9).  Chino and I had quite the adventure getting to the airport, but we made it in time and were able to recibirla a tiempo! We traveled back to Ambato the same night and spend wedesday and thursday in Ambato.  Wednesday we went to the parque de la familia, which is this park located practically on top of one of the mountains near Ambato. In the afternoon we enjoyed Cevichochos and bought fruit from my fruit lady.

Thursday she went with me to our girls group that Sharon, I and another Ecuadorian started with some 11-12 year old girls.  Hannah was put to work, being a leader of one of the groups, and did AMAZING! Thursday afternoon we went to get pedicures, which pretty much turned into a nightmare for poor hannie...here what they do is cut out the dead skin that grows inbetween your nail and your toe, and hannah apparently had a lot of these because her two big toes, bled and then became infected.  It ended up being quite a painful but hilarious experience, i didn´t laugh at her, i laughed with her..  Not to worry though, I had my handy dandy Med Kit from peace corps that saved the day!

 Friday we headed to Quilatoa, sadly it was very very cloudy and the laguna could not be seen.  But we had a fantastic time taking pictures by the Ecuadorian Grand Canyon, hannah in flip flops and all because of her poor swollen toes!  We passed through Latacunga to eat Chugchucaras and watch the soccer game, Ecuador vs. Chile (They won, YAY)

Saturday we went to Sharon´s to do some planning for the next week of the girls group and then the three of us went to Chino´s basketball game, the guys won, and Sharon and Hannah had a great time bonding over their love for Loyola (Sharon did her masters there the same time Hannah was doing her Undergrad..what a small world!)

Sunday early morning we left for the Beach!  We were at the beach through tuesday afternoon and were able to soak up some sun....not enough but it did come out for a bit.  But we did have the opportunity to sit in swings and have a drink in a grass hut type thing.  Tuesday evening we were back in quito and wednesday walked around to see some churches and the presidents palace.

Thursday was the sad day that we said goodbye...it was so amazing having her here.  I think she did quite well seeing as she couldn´t eat any gluten, being a celiac and all..but did just fine with all the variety of corn and banana products that we have here!  It was such a joy to spend time with her!!! Love you han :)

And october comes to an quite a positive end!

Hmm where to begin.....So I´ve been working with a student from another University, Fernanda, I can´t remember if I already mentioned this...we are currently working on a Programa de sexualidad.  December 1st is World AIDS day, and so we are planning this huge event.  We will have the kick off for our new program POR MIL MOTIVOS PIENSO EN TI (for 1000 motives I think of you..)

The event consists of several different organizations having different stands of various topics about Sex, ITS, HIV-AIDS...etc.  It is a concurso, (competition), the top three stands get a prize! Along with the kick off to this new program we are also doing the distribution of condom dispensors in the colleges.  For this we need TONS  AND TONS of condoms, as well as the dispensors.  With all of the designs and materials for the program our budget doesnt really cover the condom dispensor part nor the condoms, which means we needed to turn to sponsors.

Technically the Ministerio de salud here in Tungurahua is supposed to support us in our efforts for salud, but they have decided to be VERY DIFFICULT. First telling us that they would happily give us condoms, even the dispensors, and then turning around to say it was impossible because their program only covers youth.... ( over 65% of our students are from ages 17-19..HELLOOOOO) and that they couldn´t help us because we were part of the University-which apparently they weren´t aware of (complete bs)...So we had to turn to other organizations like the Red Cross,  and CEMOPLAF (kinda like planned parenthood).  Everyone told us that it would be very difficult to get these resources because the country has cut down on purchasing and therefore doesn´t have the ability to give away as many condoms as they used to.

So last friday we turned to our last resort, QUITO. The big guys.  We went to CEMOPLAF and had a very encouraging conversation with the doctor there who told us that they have about 10 dispensors in storage and that they can probably donate, BUT she has to run it by her boss first.  On the condom issue she didn´t think that they would be able to give condoms because they were short and wouldn´t be getting another supply for months.  She was appauled (as everyone else that we had talked to) that the Ministerio de salud de Tungurahua hadn´t even lifted a finger to help us.

Then we went to our last hope, which was the ministerio de salud en Quito.  We were told to go to a hospital (one of like 100´s in the city, lol) and find a specific director/doctor.  Well this hospital (Eugenio Espejo) is one of the largest public hospitals in Quito, and lets just say it was quite the trip trying to find this doctor/director.  A part from being a HUGE hospital, it has the "new" hospital (which is this hideous 80´s run down looking building) and the "old" hosptial (this gorgeous restored historic hospital).  So we went into the new hospital, asked at the front desk and were sent to Human Services...who then sent us to the old hospital...

Luckily the old hospital is next door because we arrived and saw that the front door was closed.  There was a doctor outside and we asked if there was another entrance and if she new of the doctor we were looking for.  She said that he was in the old hospital on the first floor....So we went back to the new hospital looking for this mysterious doc.  We arrived in the area of HIV-AIDS on the national level is covered and talked to a  doctor who said that he couldn´t help us, but that we should talk to the director, (who was the guy we originally had been looking for)...and guess where he was...yes, you guessed it, in the NEW hospital.  

At this point we were exhausted from being thrown around like ping pong balls.  Fernanda had given up and said that we should just go, because it was almost certain that they would, for whatever silly reason, send us BACK to the old hospital.  I told her no no, this will be the last try and if not, we will have to retire....

So we figured out how to enter the old hospital, walked to the first floor and asked for the doctor.  The secretary looked at us and said, he isn´t in.  My heart dropped...then she added, but let me see if you can talk to someone else.  So she showed us into the office of another man.  We entered, explained our situation, all the problems with ministerio de salud de tungurahua and the desperate need for these condoms...his response..."how many do you need"...we were both speechless, and had no idea....we mentioned the number 500 and asked "well how many do you have"..he went to the computer and looked up some numbers and said "I have 500,000, how many do you need".  I  was overwhelmed with relief.  We asked for 5000 and to make this long story a little bit shorter, he called down to storage and said that we would be picking up 5000 condoms.  Just like that!!  He told us that because we were from Tungurahua we should have asked the ministerio but because they were being so difficult the ministerio en quito would be happy to help!

So we went and picked up the condoms.  Ah yes I forgot to mention, we ended up getting a ride to Quito in the Universtiy car because there was a lawyer going to Quito so they decided to take us too!

We arrived back at the University with 5000 condoms and the hopes that within this next week CEMOPLAF will call and give us the ok to go and pick up the dispensors.

So it is true that there is a clearing after the storm...or however that phrase works...and on top of all of that, the man that helped us out called and said that whenever we need more condoms to just come to the ministerio de salud de Pichinicha.   Literallly the best news EVER!!!

Ecua-weekend

So this past weekend was full of two events, one very ecuadorian and the other semi ecuadorian.  The first was the Fiesta de la Quinceaños of a cousin of Chino.  They don´t lie when they say that 15 is a big deal here.  The party was quite fancy and I have yet to figure out if everyone does 15 yr old birthday parties or just those who have money.  The party took place in one of the nicest hotels here in Ambato.  We arrived around 7:30 and at about 8 the birthday girl entered.  Before her entered 6 girls and then 6 guys.  She then entered with her boyfriend....kinda like a wedding to be honest.  She wore this huge, fancy, very girly, pink dress.  She entered, there were a few words said and then there was like a father, daughter dance.  During the dance each of the friends that entered had a candle and as she danced she blew out the candles one by one.  

The father sang a song and then each table was asked to come up and congratulate the parents and the daughter for turning 15....We were FINALLY served dinner at like 10 p.m. She went around and they gave out the table decorations to one person at the table.  Then there was desert and dancing till like 2 in the morning.

I was really at aw at the whole thing.  Back in the day they did these fiestas to present the daughters to the community as women ready to be married!!! To be honest I thought a lot of it was a little ridiculous but at the same time it was a nice time to have everyone together and celebrate this girls birthday.  It´s kinda like the importance of turning 16 in the states.  I just couldn´t believe at how much money was probably spent on a girl that was turning 15....Interesting though that the tradition from years and years ago is still present in the Ecuadorian culture.

So the day after, Sunday, (yesterday) was the 65th anniversary of the the grandparents of the girl that turned 15 the night before!!!  The couple is 96 and 99 and have 6 children, tons of grandchildren and several great grand children.  We traveled out of the city to the countryside where one of the son-in-laws has a house.  It was a beautiful but simple house, with lovely gardens (of flowers and fruits).  We ate and then sat around for over an hour, listening to jokes.   How these men think of and remember all these jokes I have no idea, but it was a fun time getting to know more of Chino´s family.  Then we walked around the grounds a bit to take photos. (I´ll try to post them later) and walked in the house because it was getting cold.  

After a bit the Karaokee started, oh how ecuadorians love their Karaokee, haha...then we were served "cafe and pan", which was really te/coffee, bread, cheese and cake, along with other nuts and stuff.  We sat at the table and conversed for awhile.  It was a really great time to be with extended family, reminded me of the family gatherings that I used to have back at the states.  Nothing too out of the ordinary, just a whole bunch of family together to celebrate the 65 years of marriage of the parents (grand parents, great grand parents).  It´s amazing to see how well the husband gets around at his old age of 99!!

Back in Ambato

Well Im back in Ambato after a nice week away in warm Tumbaco.  I was super excited to get back to work and start some of the new things that I have in mind for the University and start my secondary project!! When I first arrived back at UTA I had a pretty good idea of what I was going to be doing...but as always those perspectives change....Turns out there is a student here from another Univ. in Riobamba doing an internship helping us implement the program of Educación Sexual (Sex education).  They had a very successful program started in their University and the Director wanted to implement something similiar here at the UTA.  So we will be doing yet another survey and then from there create and program and start trainings.  Im really excited to work with this girl because, one, she is my age, young and smart, lol and two, I can count on the fact that she is actually going to follow through with what she needs to do..

I brought back some material to work with the parents of the kids of the Day Care Center here on campus too! So my counterpart, the clinical psychologist sat down and made up a project to talk to the parents once a month on a different topic.  Im excited to be a part of that too!  The other project that is kinda in the making is working on nutrition with the kids in the Day Care Center...I still have to do some planning for that because I was really given no guidance on what is needed or anything, haha but we´ll see what I can do there...

Now onto the secondary project!  Sharon (the TEFL volunteer here in Ambato) and I are starting a girls group at one of the schools in Ambato.  I am very impressed with how fast we have put it all together.  In a week we were able to talk to the girls (we are doing seventh level), talk to the parents, and get a list of interested parents/girls...Now the only problem is that we have wayyy too many for the amount that we want to work with...we are trying to figure out exactly how to address this issue...It´s obvious that a lot want to do it but all won´t be able to.  We might end up picking half and leaving the other half for the next semester.

The goup is going to be working on self-esteem and leadership skills through art and theatre.  After mid service we were able to get several ideas of arts and crafts to do with the girls and I hope we can have some of those volunteers come and actually show the girls how to do it!

Im really excited about this project because it is something completely apart from the University, which is exactly what a secondary project should be.  We´ve already put a lot of work into it and I hope that we get some positive results with the girls!!