I would guess about now people are wonderin g what i am doing, but before i start this let me warn you that i am using possibly the shittiest key board in exsistence, the keys dont push down, and i also have no patience for corrections so sorry in advanced. i will try my best...
Tuesday and thursdays at 4pm i teach an arobics class in the tiny village. I get between 4 to 8 women each class. On Thursdays i have my best friend here come in a do dance thearpy for half the class. the women love it, and its hilarious. My classes are a combination of rugby workout, and P90x. Those women are crying by the end, its actually very satisfying. We are on the ground, and up in seconds, high knees, boxings and doing planks. All which lasts about an hour. The women range from 25 to 50 none of whom have ever thrown a punch in their lives, nor have wanted to. So the boxing part of the session is more like fairy dancng with swingnig arms and pointed toes. I have kinda of given up on correct form and have concentreated more on trying to make a women that has lived on the equator her whole life sweat. Its like they dont have glands or something, i am there in the front with two towels and puddle around my feet and these women look like they are ready to go out for the night. Let me remind you it is the cold season still, i have no idea what i am going to do once it gets hot, bring a kiddie pool or something, and two changes of clothes. But i have succeeded, a couple times i saw a small sweat spot on the back of their shirts, i was pumped.
Then there is thursday class with jahlmar. The moves this kid has would but shakira to shame, no joke. And the new fad in south america is reaggeton. Now is the time to youtube latin reaggeton videos. In case you dont have time, girls and guys of all ages come together on the dance floor and literally have the raunchiest sex with their clothes on. I am talking doggie style, missionary, and 69. I thought the dance floor at bentlys was bad but i have never seen such blantant sexual pelvis moving as i have seen here. So why am i talking about this, well Jhalmar on thursdays for half an hour teaches mothers with 5 kids how to do these moves. We are on the ground, over chairs, face down, going in circles jirating our vaginal areas, it is so uncomfortable its hilrious. These women like most people in the world were not blessed with the possibility to forcefully ossilate the pelvis while shaking the ass and the tits. Lets just say its hard. I am one of the most advanced of the ladies and i look like i am having a seziure. Anyway if you can buy a plane ticket and see for yourself its just that ridiculous.
As for other things i am doing, i started a community bank, and am putting together a world aids day celebration with a parade and activies during the day to educate. Hopefully it will go well. i am also trying to put together a womens soccer league cant wait till they realize that i dont know how to play. I have a speed walking group, they go mid mall pace their little tiny legs just dont permit for speed walking, i am just glad they come. i also ran a ¨"marathon" for the professors of the high schools, it was like 2 to 3 miles, got second in that bitch, took home a trophy. Not gonna lie i have blood on my hands it was totally not fair, these women have never ran further than the bus, and i am not even a teacher, i never even go to the high school, it just so happened i showed up the week of the race and they coerced me into running. I am really happy i did not take home first, they probably would have jumped me.
My puppy is getting bigger still adorable, and i broke up with ecua novio but i think we are still together, it did not work out as i had planned, but hey i have clean clothes thanks to his mom (really awkward), and he is teaching me to make ceviche! There are also an ennumerable amount of rumors about us, i was told we are the number one topic on convo of people in town. I supposedly buy him new clothes, and give him money when he wants, and bother him so much he is obligated to be with me. I also apparently hand fed him bread while walking down the street and he spends every night in my house oh and we are getting married. there are probabyl more that i have not heard yet, i asked him where my ring was. This was all told to me by my host mom who heard it from my host dad who came home very upset saying, "guess what they are saying about our doughter, i cant let them say these things about her" I love them. and it sounds like nothing but this is real serious stuff, novios are not allowed to spend time together alone, let alone stay the night. The questin then arises, how do all these 14 year olds get preggers... i think i am going to give a lesson on birth control and condoms, they will probably believe me now seeings how they think i am have outrageous sex and yet still not pregnant :) Yes there is always an up side. i guess next time i break up with him i am going to have to do some translation.com look up on how to make it more clear.
anyway love you all, oh and aparently i have lost weight, people comment everyday, i put sole reasoning on the fact that i am not eating a vat of rice everyday now that i live on my own, but keep the compliments coming, its great :)
Friday, October 29, 2010
Friday, October 1, 2010
a whole new year
I am 23 now, seems crazy I remember like it was yesterday turning 21 and heading to Bently’s, miss that. But things change, people change, I have changed. For this entry I am going to do a little review of my past year and then a synopsis of what is new.
A year ago I moved home to reading Pennsylvania to spend my last couple months with my parents before I left the country for 2+ years. Well at least that’s what I told Faith and Mike. In reality I had just spent a summer at the beach with my bff Maggie renting bikes to tourist at the incredible rate of $7.50 an hour for about 25 hours a week and spending the rest of those hours at the Chincoteague inn, golfing and people watching on the best beach in history to partake in such activity. Therefore putting me into a good amount of debt that had to be paid back by the time I left, February. Best option was to live with mom and dad.
So I headed home but stopped by a rugby tournament on the way and accidentally messed up my knee once again putting me on crutches and an immobilizer. Really no surprise there. So in my great attempt to both make money and rehabilitate I got a job at the local meat head “I do roids” station called LA Fitness. I had worked at a gym before in the frat row district in college so I knew my way around the power shakes and boneless skinless grilled chicken diet but never had I encountered such beings that work in a LA Fitness, I said wtf at least 10 times a shift, that plus I was straight up awful at the job, so it was only a 2 month gig . I then moved on to bigger better positions, one as a sales attendant at Clarks shoe stores and as a waitress at the Rugby Tuesdays in a mall. I worked my ass off seeing how I was in even bigger debt.
It was about November or Decemberish that I got a call from peace corps saying that things got messed up and my departure date was not for another 6 months, but they had a position leaving in February for South America if I wanted it. Though pretty far away from my original plan of Africa working in health, I bought a bottle or two of wine, and invited my bff Beth over to decide with me. Peace Corps gave me two days to decide my fate. Well not hard to put together, I obviously decided that maybe with wine I can speak Spanish and that this was a sign of fate pulling me away from my long time goal of living in Africa. Thanks Beth, I have not regretted it yet.
By February I had pulled myself out of debt, even had some cash in the bank, could size a person’s foot by the sound of their step and knew exactly how cheap the bastards are that live in Reading PA. So yeah I was about ready to leave, plus my faithful car’s heater pooped out on me mid January in the coldest winter PA has had in decades. I packed my bags and alligator and moved far far away. From that point on I think I have it all written in the blogs before this, so if you need to catch up feel free to scroll upwards. Put in short, one of the most sweaty, and tallest Americans was put at zero altitude directly on the equator and told to try to make friends. Against all odds it worked!
Now for what is new. I turned 23, have my very own house (think jail cell) its made out of cement and has bars on the windows but I love my house. I teach aerobics classes in Spanish on Tuesdays and Thursdays . I have my very own garden with some tomatoes, peppers, lettuce, squash, and well I am not really sure. I know what compost is and I have made some. But that’s all well and good, the more important things are that on my birthday I brought home a puppy! The cutest little shit in the world. I named her Isla, that means island, yeah I know its not a name but its her name. She has no race just mutt, officially has gone outside to poop but refuses to pee anywhere but the kitchen floor. But as you sigh don’t forget that my awesome house is made completely out of cement, so who really cares how many times she pees on it, its not like it will get uglier. Isla also has a bad case of fleas and ticks, I call it a fiesta here at my house, with all the wildlife running around. But she is the most adorable little thing that pees when she gets scared/nervous which is exactly what I do so yeah we are life partners.
Second new thing in my life is my Ecua-novio. Ecua for Ecuador, novio for boyfriend. His name is Kleber, which is pronounced clever, now don’t get too excited, this is nothing big or realistic. It is though the best way to learn Spanish, and keep other cat calling men at bay. If you can remember from my other blog, Kleber is the guy I described as the tall one. He is approximately my height, is the only guy in my town with bigger feet than me and thinks I am really cool, therefore puts up with all the times I ask “what?” We will see how this goes… Also if there is a six figure income making guy reading my blog thinking I am the one for him, I want to make it clear that I am very much still on the market J
Oh and before I forget to mention, I think the purpose of Peace Corps is to make girls like me a little more domesticated, you should see what I have popped out of my kitchen. Some top notch stuff, plus that whole cleaning and putting your shit away after you use it, I had no idea I could ever be this person, well I should say, I had no idea I could ever be my mom J
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Argentinian pop god
It was my host moms birthday and i, like a good daughter made her a cake, it liteterally looked like a piece of rounded out shit but it tasted amazing. After they all laughed and took their first bites with extreme caution i got praise of how good it was and many smiles. Due to the good mood, my host mom, sister and aunt decided to go to a free concert held in a nearby city. It was tuesday night about 9 pm when we left the house. I did not exactly want to go since i thought it was folklore music and this just is not my jam. I was somewhat dragged along, not really expecting much but boy was i surprised.
We arrived at the outdoor concert wherr there were another 2000 costal ecuadorians eagerly awaiting the entrance of the main musician. While the pre show acts were still singing their hearts out at a loudly booing crowd my tiny little host family, tiny meaning short, pulled my arm through the crowd as far front as their little legs could take them. Now lets rewind. I almost 6 feet tall walk into a concert of ecuadorians, immediately i can see directly to the stage from the far back, i can even see the performers feet from my view point. I did a couple 360 circles and noticed the only thing i could see were tops of heads, i made eye contact possibly 3 times with little kids sitting on their dads shoulders. So as i march through the crowd with my tiny family the grumbles got even louder, since ever step i advanced, took away the sight of at least 50 people. Anyway i mede it through without any fights so thats positive. Meanwhile we are all waiting for this main performer named bilma palmar. At about 10 30 he arrived and the crowd went wild. Micheal jackson on his last tour wild. i was like wow this might be good after all. I saw the bass player walk on stage looking like he is right out of some awful emo band, and a tamborine/shaker player with the same getup. Then the guitarist with long curly hair that touches his shoulder blades and a swinging rag in his back pocket, a little 80s but i can deal.
Once the whole crowd was jumping and screaming bilma the bilma took the stage. In his have to jump to get them on black skinny jeans. Black printed t shirt that just fit over his 42 year old bear belly and accompaning man boobs. This was matched with a pair of three stripe white addidas and long blond hair fashioned in quintisencial 1985 bus driver mullet. Within seconds i was jumping with the crowd, who can applaud a man with that much confidence. For the next 2 hours he sang songs that everyone knew the words, and fist pumped at least every 5 minutes. He tried to sing some american rock songs like "if i stay or if i go now" but the all spanish speaking crowd was not so into it. Lets just say with his kareoke voice and lost sense of style the man knows how to get the crowd going. The alcohol was flowing like crazy and they could not get enough.
oh i love this place, but i really miss having other people from the states to share these experiences with
We arrived at the outdoor concert wherr there were another 2000 costal ecuadorians eagerly awaiting the entrance of the main musician. While the pre show acts were still singing their hearts out at a loudly booing crowd my tiny little host family, tiny meaning short, pulled my arm through the crowd as far front as their little legs could take them. Now lets rewind. I almost 6 feet tall walk into a concert of ecuadorians, immediately i can see directly to the stage from the far back, i can even see the performers feet from my view point. I did a couple 360 circles and noticed the only thing i could see were tops of heads, i made eye contact possibly 3 times with little kids sitting on their dads shoulders. So as i march through the crowd with my tiny family the grumbles got even louder, since ever step i advanced, took away the sight of at least 50 people. Anyway i mede it through without any fights so thats positive. Meanwhile we are all waiting for this main performer named bilma palmar. At about 10 30 he arrived and the crowd went wild. Micheal jackson on his last tour wild. i was like wow this might be good after all. I saw the bass player walk on stage looking like he is right out of some awful emo band, and a tamborine/shaker player with the same getup. Then the guitarist with long curly hair that touches his shoulder blades and a swinging rag in his back pocket, a little 80s but i can deal.
Once the whole crowd was jumping and screaming bilma the bilma took the stage. In his have to jump to get them on black skinny jeans. Black printed t shirt that just fit over his 42 year old bear belly and accompaning man boobs. This was matched with a pair of three stripe white addidas and long blond hair fashioned in quintisencial 1985 bus driver mullet. Within seconds i was jumping with the crowd, who can applaud a man with that much confidence. For the next 2 hours he sang songs that everyone knew the words, and fist pumped at least every 5 minutes. He tried to sing some american rock songs like "if i stay or if i go now" but the all spanish speaking crowd was not so into it. Lets just say with his kareoke voice and lost sense of style the man knows how to get the crowd going. The alcohol was flowing like crazy and they could not get enough.
oh i love this place, but i really miss having other people from the states to share these experiences with
Saturday, August 28, 2010
my poor mom
It has been a while, almost two months, so sorry kids, a lot has happened, so here is the condensed version.
I found my house, and was working everyday… now that’s a lie, my host dad Vicente worked on it everyday and I showed up for some gringo support. He was a savior. My family was coming about 3 weeks after I signed up for the house, with the plans that they were going to stay with me here for 3 nights or so. That meant we had to attach the side walls to the roof, build two doors, put a kitchen sink in and connect water, connect water to the bathroom sink, and make a drain for the shower. Also change the faucets, buy an oven and gas tank, and somehow find all those other house necessities, like a bed, dishes, pots, seats, maybe a dresser and so on. So I gave all that I could meaning money, and Vicente and my landlord got it ready. I lucked out hard core on my host family, they almost fully furnished my house and lent me three extra beds for my family that they borrowed from friends and neighbors. Oh, the biggest project of all this was to re do the bathroom, by laying tile, painting, finally buying a mirror, and I must say I cant stop looking at it :) Anyway during all this mess I found out I had an UTI, yeah I know lovely, and the same day also figured out I had head lice, it was an awesome day. I got some medications no problem, but head lice in Ecuador are like roaches, they can live through everything. I daily shampooed with the killing shampoo for like two weeks, and had my host sister pick through my hair two different times, two hours each sitting. I think they finally might be gone…
In my last two weeks at my host families house I was served guinea pig, deer, and multiple whole fish about the size of my man hand which I ate all with a spoon. Guinea pig is traditionally from the mountains of Ecuador but my host mom had two growing and one day the pet dog crunched them, so after many tears marina cooked them up, lets just say not horrible tasting but really not worth the work. There is nothing on those little shits. The deer my host brother watched die somewhere and by bringing it to a vendor he got some to take home and 30 bucks. I was not so pumped to have eaten a deer that died of an infected wound but what can you do. Then the fish, there are at least 500 bones in a fish the size of your hand, I am now an expert and probably can filet any size with my new found knowledge of their internal structures.
Highlight of the past two months was the visit of my parents. Super freaking cool. We built a roof on a gazebo in my park. Planted a garden, danced in the town square, in proto lopez we went whale watching and saw blue footed boobies, plus red footed boobies, and another not every colorful boobie. In mindo we went zip lining over the canopy of a cloud forest through a course of 8 lines, we went partners, upside down, superman style, all while I got to interpret the safety directions to my non Spanish speaking family, you can really get them to believe anything. We then went horseback riding, with my mom that is terrified of horses, my brother and matt that are about the same size of an Ecuadorian horse, and my sister and I who really have no prior experience. While the 15 year old guide was jamming out to his ipod, my brother legs were almost dragging on the ground, my mom could not get hers to move, and my sister and my horse were playing follow the leader, until they decided to race. And yes I mean full gallop race down a path with no care of who was on their back. I actually thought this was the end of my life, as I was bouncing up and down holding on for dear life and screaming, my sister was laughing while also peeing her pants a little, until finally they got tired or something and stopped. About 20 minutes later the guide caught up and brought us back to base camp. Only to find out that matts horse tried to not only brush him off on a tree but also tried to launch him off by jumping with the front two legs. I could not sit right for a couple days, but really “only in Ecuador.” We then went to the tena and got to see the jungle, with monkeys and a huge snake, and beautiful butterflies. Oh and I got to eat some really tastey filet mignons. Really awesome trip, next time any of you see my mom tell her you are proud, cause we kinda made her go through hell in Ecuador in all of our adventures. Did I mention we climbed vertically up a mountain side and repelled down the other side of shear rock wall. Mom your awesome.
So now I am back in my house, its great. One downfall, I have to learn how to cook from scratch, has not gone so well so far, but hey I will either come out of this skinny or the next Julie Childs. Tonight is potatoes, shrimp, and string beans :)
I found my house, and was working everyday… now that’s a lie, my host dad Vicente worked on it everyday and I showed up for some gringo support. He was a savior. My family was coming about 3 weeks after I signed up for the house, with the plans that they were going to stay with me here for 3 nights or so. That meant we had to attach the side walls to the roof, build two doors, put a kitchen sink in and connect water, connect water to the bathroom sink, and make a drain for the shower. Also change the faucets, buy an oven and gas tank, and somehow find all those other house necessities, like a bed, dishes, pots, seats, maybe a dresser and so on. So I gave all that I could meaning money, and Vicente and my landlord got it ready. I lucked out hard core on my host family, they almost fully furnished my house and lent me three extra beds for my family that they borrowed from friends and neighbors. Oh, the biggest project of all this was to re do the bathroom, by laying tile, painting, finally buying a mirror, and I must say I cant stop looking at it :) Anyway during all this mess I found out I had an UTI, yeah I know lovely, and the same day also figured out I had head lice, it was an awesome day. I got some medications no problem, but head lice in Ecuador are like roaches, they can live through everything. I daily shampooed with the killing shampoo for like two weeks, and had my host sister pick through my hair two different times, two hours each sitting. I think they finally might be gone…
In my last two weeks at my host families house I was served guinea pig, deer, and multiple whole fish about the size of my man hand which I ate all with a spoon. Guinea pig is traditionally from the mountains of Ecuador but my host mom had two growing and one day the pet dog crunched them, so after many tears marina cooked them up, lets just say not horrible tasting but really not worth the work. There is nothing on those little shits. The deer my host brother watched die somewhere and by bringing it to a vendor he got some to take home and 30 bucks. I was not so pumped to have eaten a deer that died of an infected wound but what can you do. Then the fish, there are at least 500 bones in a fish the size of your hand, I am now an expert and probably can filet any size with my new found knowledge of their internal structures.
Highlight of the past two months was the visit of my parents. Super freaking cool. We built a roof on a gazebo in my park. Planted a garden, danced in the town square, in proto lopez we went whale watching and saw blue footed boobies, plus red footed boobies, and another not every colorful boobie. In mindo we went zip lining over the canopy of a cloud forest through a course of 8 lines, we went partners, upside down, superman style, all while I got to interpret the safety directions to my non Spanish speaking family, you can really get them to believe anything. We then went horseback riding, with my mom that is terrified of horses, my brother and matt that are about the same size of an Ecuadorian horse, and my sister and I who really have no prior experience. While the 15 year old guide was jamming out to his ipod, my brother legs were almost dragging on the ground, my mom could not get hers to move, and my sister and my horse were playing follow the leader, until they decided to race. And yes I mean full gallop race down a path with no care of who was on their back. I actually thought this was the end of my life, as I was bouncing up and down holding on for dear life and screaming, my sister was laughing while also peeing her pants a little, until finally they got tired or something and stopped. About 20 minutes later the guide caught up and brought us back to base camp. Only to find out that matts horse tried to not only brush him off on a tree but also tried to launch him off by jumping with the front two legs. I could not sit right for a couple days, but really “only in Ecuador.” We then went to the tena and got to see the jungle, with monkeys and a huge snake, and beautiful butterflies. Oh and I got to eat some really tastey filet mignons. Really awesome trip, next time any of you see my mom tell her you are proud, cause we kinda made her go through hell in Ecuador in all of our adventures. Did I mention we climbed vertically up a mountain side and repelled down the other side of shear rock wall. Mom your awesome.
So now I am back in my house, its great. One downfall, I have to learn how to cook from scratch, has not gone so well so far, but hey I will either come out of this skinny or the next Julie Childs. Tonight is potatoes, shrimp, and string beans :)
Sunday, July 11, 2010
Boys
So don’t get too excited, my love life is anything but booming, it just that in the past couple weeks I have had some very interesting encounters with the opposite sex. Well, as you might have assumed by now, my life is a little lame when it comes to traditional North American views of having a fun night. The highlight of my weekends is normally having a movie night with my youth group. But the fiestas of my town came around, two weekends ago, and my night life took a huge upward surge. We had a beauty pageant, which I am highly considering entering for next year. There was also a burning of this large structure called the castilla, they start at the bottom lighting some small fireworks and then it progresses upward lighting of more spinning, twirling explosions for about two stories in height and at the end 4 or 5 huge fireworks get set off for the finale. Before this spectacular, they had a guy carry a fake cow resemblance on his head and called him the “vaca loco” meaning crazy cow. This was all somewhat amusing until I realized this fake cow structure was loaded with pyrotechnics that would set off at undetermined intervals as he was running through the crowd. This is where I will add no exaggeration, this vaca loco’s main purpose was to scare the shit out of everyone, make every small child cry, and grown men flinch as he seemingly tried to light the crowd on fire with his fireworks. Possibly one of the most dangerous events I have ever atteneded, not to mention there were no firefighters in sight, I just kept saying “not cool” as I watched the crowd scream in terror, but yes it was amusing. The last event of the three day fiestas is a big parade through the streets, I walked with the high school, it was definitely not very exciting.
Now for the good part, every night starting at about 10 or so there is a dance. For the more mundane music, there is a band in the street for the parents to get their groove on, and drink as much beer as possible. For the younger crowd there is this basement type cell, with all the lightings, and sounds of a night club. The cell is about the size of my parents family room that comes equipped with no windows, fans, or any type of ventilation except for the front door that is about the size of a Bilbo Baggins entry. I literally have never felt taller in my life, but across the very dark, incredibly hot space, I spotted a boy that also looked taller than everyone. Being my sometimes over conceded joking self, I told the kids I went with that I was going to make him my boyfriend. That night he had two girl counterparts so I laid off hoping I might get another chance. And I did. The next night, and last night of the fiestas, I went back to the dance cell, and tall boy was there, without girl counterparts. Within 20 minutes of my entrance he came over and asked me to dance (I guess my previous nights scope out/stare down got my point across) I danced with him until I was sweating, literally dripping, on to the ground and then took a break until he asked me to dance again. This whole process of dancing, dripping, cool down, happened about 4 or 5 times, it was then he asked me to go sit on the church steps, and talk, so I will cut to the chase. In about 20 minutes or so he told me he was looking for his soul mate and think he found it in me, and would really like to be my boyfriend. This all happened without even holding hands, nothing. I could not stop laughing and told him I would tell him in a week.
So I think I am going to lay low for a while, this was just way to much excitement.
Now for the good part, every night starting at about 10 or so there is a dance. For the more mundane music, there is a band in the street for the parents to get their groove on, and drink as much beer as possible. For the younger crowd there is this basement type cell, with all the lightings, and sounds of a night club. The cell is about the size of my parents family room that comes equipped with no windows, fans, or any type of ventilation except for the front door that is about the size of a Bilbo Baggins entry. I literally have never felt taller in my life, but across the very dark, incredibly hot space, I spotted a boy that also looked taller than everyone. Being my sometimes over conceded joking self, I told the kids I went with that I was going to make him my boyfriend. That night he had two girl counterparts so I laid off hoping I might get another chance. And I did. The next night, and last night of the fiestas, I went back to the dance cell, and tall boy was there, without girl counterparts. Within 20 minutes of my entrance he came over and asked me to dance (I guess my previous nights scope out/stare down got my point across) I danced with him until I was sweating, literally dripping, on to the ground and then took a break until he asked me to dance again. This whole process of dancing, dripping, cool down, happened about 4 or 5 times, it was then he asked me to go sit on the church steps, and talk, so I will cut to the chase. In about 20 minutes or so he told me he was looking for his soul mate and think he found it in me, and would really like to be my boyfriend. This all happened without even holding hands, nothing. I could not stop laughing and told him I would tell him in a week.
So I think I am going to lay low for a while, this was just way to much excitement.
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Hot sauce and hair cutting
Since the beginning of June I have been baptized, became a god mother, and started to feel comfortable with my new home of Ecuador. Yeah its been a good month. Now for a little explanation…
My high school, where I am still “teaching” English three times a week has a yearly celebration called the Nobatada. At said celebration the senior class baptizes the seventh graders, who are the youngest grade in the high school. The baptism is a loose interpretation of what you would see in the church. One senior dresses as the father, there are a couple nuns and other bishops. Then there are three very important devils in tight spandex red outfits sucking on lollipops continuously grinding with the father. I cannot forget to mention that the father is also drunk and smoking weed. After a lengthy presentation of how uncatholic they can be the seniors bring the small innocent seventh graders forward one by one to give them the body of the Christ, being a candy ball with an inside of something grotesque. Each poor kids face turned immediately upside down as soon as one was shoved into his/her mouth, quite hilarious to watch. This year the high school has like 6 new teachers or something crazy, so they decided to make it a full baptism by calling all of us new-bees up. I took my place in front of the father, after I shaked my ass a little for the crowd, and then got to try such wonderful body of Christ, quickly realizing why all the sour faces, because the candy ball was filled with hot sauce!!!! Not sure if you have ever witnessed me eat anything spicy before, but I am one of those kids, yeah one of those who tears up a little, sweats, and looks like she is going to barf. I cannot even explain how awful it was, then they poured water on my head while I was wearing very thin white shorts, luckily they dry quickly.
As for being a god mother, every kid in Ecuador has the pleasure of having three godmothers. One for baptism, one for the first nail clipping, and a third for the first hair cut. Yeah, I am not kidding. This week I was blessed with the opportunity to be a godmother of the first hair cut for Francesco. I will preface this by, it did not go so well and will now explain with some imagery. Take my regular sized hands of a man, put some children’s school scissors in them, and then place a small child in front of them who cannot sit in one place for longer than a second, ok, let describe the kid more accurately like a goldfish, attention span of nothing and always on the move. Not to mention the hair was completely dry and the small child is highly irritated by anything close to his ears. After one snip I told them I did not want to continue on, oh but I did. Seriously, I felt horrible after I saw what I did to this poor kids head. Not one hair was the same length as the next and there is an obvious chunk missing the middle of his head in the back. But they told me I did great and today Francesco asked me to pick him up, we are almost friends.
Why am I starting to feel comfortable? It simple and for anyone that has lived with me for any period of time over a month will fully understand. I have started to only shower twice a week. I am on a Sunday, and Thursday ritual now. I might take another shower during the week if I do any type of hard exercise but even then it all depends on how long of a time period it is between the stopping of dripping sweat and reaching my house. If the equation leads to more than two hours, I probably wont shower. But again if you have ever lived with or near me this is no surprise. I have always like to savior my showers by not taking them often so when I do they are that much better. Plus the not having a mirror thing takes away that whole idea that my hair is greasy cause really I have no idea, and having to shower in ice water also does little to promote the idea of taking them more frequently.
Few other side notes: I got the opportunity to talk to one of the local prostitutes that works illegally in my town with some visiting med students. We learned some awesome things, like she gets tested monthly for STD’s and AIDS, she makes about $5 per visit, and told us she always uses condoms with her guests. She was also very grateful that we came to visit because most people regard her as trash. It was actually a really cool experience, so if you ever find yourself with some friends passing by the local brothel, take a break from your busy lives and talk to one of the ladies, it’s great. I also have started to play basketball with the kids in my town, let just say I might as well be Michael Jordan to these kids. They have no chance with my height and that I have been taught how to dribble. To negate their downfalls they have resorted to literally jumping on my back every time I have the ball. Very soon I will be have a small info sesch on the rules.
My high school, where I am still “teaching” English three times a week has a yearly celebration called the Nobatada. At said celebration the senior class baptizes the seventh graders, who are the youngest grade in the high school. The baptism is a loose interpretation of what you would see in the church. One senior dresses as the father, there are a couple nuns and other bishops. Then there are three very important devils in tight spandex red outfits sucking on lollipops continuously grinding with the father. I cannot forget to mention that the father is also drunk and smoking weed. After a lengthy presentation of how uncatholic they can be the seniors bring the small innocent seventh graders forward one by one to give them the body of the Christ, being a candy ball with an inside of something grotesque. Each poor kids face turned immediately upside down as soon as one was shoved into his/her mouth, quite hilarious to watch. This year the high school has like 6 new teachers or something crazy, so they decided to make it a full baptism by calling all of us new-bees up. I took my place in front of the father, after I shaked my ass a little for the crowd, and then got to try such wonderful body of Christ, quickly realizing why all the sour faces, because the candy ball was filled with hot sauce!!!! Not sure if you have ever witnessed me eat anything spicy before, but I am one of those kids, yeah one of those who tears up a little, sweats, and looks like she is going to barf. I cannot even explain how awful it was, then they poured water on my head while I was wearing very thin white shorts, luckily they dry quickly.
As for being a god mother, every kid in Ecuador has the pleasure of having three godmothers. One for baptism, one for the first nail clipping, and a third for the first hair cut. Yeah, I am not kidding. This week I was blessed with the opportunity to be a godmother of the first hair cut for Francesco. I will preface this by, it did not go so well and will now explain with some imagery. Take my regular sized hands of a man, put some children’s school scissors in them, and then place a small child in front of them who cannot sit in one place for longer than a second, ok, let describe the kid more accurately like a goldfish, attention span of nothing and always on the move. Not to mention the hair was completely dry and the small child is highly irritated by anything close to his ears. After one snip I told them I did not want to continue on, oh but I did. Seriously, I felt horrible after I saw what I did to this poor kids head. Not one hair was the same length as the next and there is an obvious chunk missing the middle of his head in the back. But they told me I did great and today Francesco asked me to pick him up, we are almost friends.
Why am I starting to feel comfortable? It simple and for anyone that has lived with me for any period of time over a month will fully understand. I have started to only shower twice a week. I am on a Sunday, and Thursday ritual now. I might take another shower during the week if I do any type of hard exercise but even then it all depends on how long of a time period it is between the stopping of dripping sweat and reaching my house. If the equation leads to more than two hours, I probably wont shower. But again if you have ever lived with or near me this is no surprise. I have always like to savior my showers by not taking them often so when I do they are that much better. Plus the not having a mirror thing takes away that whole idea that my hair is greasy cause really I have no idea, and having to shower in ice water also does little to promote the idea of taking them more frequently.
Few other side notes: I got the opportunity to talk to one of the local prostitutes that works illegally in my town with some visiting med students. We learned some awesome things, like she gets tested monthly for STD’s and AIDS, she makes about $5 per visit, and told us she always uses condoms with her guests. She was also very grateful that we came to visit because most people regard her as trash. It was actually a really cool experience, so if you ever find yourself with some friends passing by the local brothel, take a break from your busy lives and talk to one of the ladies, it’s great. I also have started to play basketball with the kids in my town, let just say I might as well be Michael Jordan to these kids. They have no chance with my height and that I have been taught how to dribble. To negate their downfalls they have resorted to literally jumping on my back every time I have the ball. Very soon I will be have a small info sesch on the rules.
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Motor oil... what?
I officially have two and a half friends. They are a 17 year old, and 15 year old and a 14 year old boys in my town. The half is because i dont think the 14 year old would hang out with me if it was not for the other two. Well, I was pretty desperate one friday evening as i was planning my 10 o`clock bedtime and comtimplating whether i wanted to watch the only movie i have over agian and i heard some of the neighborhood kids outside so i went to join them. We got into conversation of bad words in english, and in this low, i have no life, i feel like a grandmom, i gave in and started to teach them the finer words in our lovely language. This of course escalated, of which i wont go into many details, but the one kid asked what you should use for lubricant, and before i could respond his friend said, well of course motor oil. Yes, he said motor oil. I almost lost my cool immediately but decided instead to use it as an awesome informal education moment. I quickly dispelled the beliefe that motor can be used, and that not only can you not use it but it might actually kill the girl. So if you were wondering what jrex was doing in Ecuador to help save the world, rest assure, that i am saving lives, dispelling one myth at a time. Oh and making some awesome friends.
Me and said friends are going tomorrow to buy seeds for the garden we are growing with the youth group, also buying movies and baking ingredients because this saturday we are playing movies for the town to raise some money and selling COOKIES!!! Not sure if i can describe how pumped i am for cookies its been a while.
My counterparts Aleida and Gonzalo gave me a bike so that i dont have to walk 25 minutes to school everyday, i rode it one day and now i cant sit down because my butt is so bruised from the bumpy dirt road and the bad positioning of my bones, I walked the bike back, my town laughed at me. I am going to see what i can do about a new more comfortable seat. Also i was invited to be apart of the high school baptism that they do every year where the seniors baptize the seventh graders. I asked what they wanted me to do and was told that i should be the devil. Beside the initial hurt i asked what the job of the devil was and it is to wear a very small red outfit with a tail and grind with the priest. I think i am going to dodge this one with all my effort. Not really in my plans to get down to reaggeton with a 17 year old student of mine.
Besides that i am eating a lot of fish, still dont think i like fish, but it goes down, and they are starting to give me smaller portions. not much smaller but anything helps.
Me and said friends are going tomorrow to buy seeds for the garden we are growing with the youth group, also buying movies and baking ingredients because this saturday we are playing movies for the town to raise some money and selling COOKIES!!! Not sure if i can describe how pumped i am for cookies its been a while.
My counterparts Aleida and Gonzalo gave me a bike so that i dont have to walk 25 minutes to school everyday, i rode it one day and now i cant sit down because my butt is so bruised from the bumpy dirt road and the bad positioning of my bones, I walked the bike back, my town laughed at me. I am going to see what i can do about a new more comfortable seat. Also i was invited to be apart of the high school baptism that they do every year where the seniors baptize the seventh graders. I asked what they wanted me to do and was told that i should be the devil. Beside the initial hurt i asked what the job of the devil was and it is to wear a very small red outfit with a tail and grind with the priest. I think i am going to dodge this one with all my effort. Not really in my plans to get down to reaggeton with a 17 year old student of mine.
Besides that i am eating a lot of fish, still dont think i like fish, but it goes down, and they are starting to give me smaller portions. not much smaller but anything helps.
Monday, May 17, 2010
Baby´s dont like mustard
I have mentioned before that i live with a family that has a one and a half year old little boy running around being a tyrant at all times. Me and him are not what you would call good friends, but we have this special pact. He loves food, and i always have extra, i also eat by myself inside cause my mom says i will get eaten by mosquitos if i eat outside sooo... little baby is always at my lap smiling to be fed, and what does he get? He gets rice, white lovely rice, and i get to bring my plate back with a little less food on it, could not have created a better solution if i tried.
So little baby boy, named Franchesco, is being weened off of breast feeding. But Franchesco really likes breast milk and i think just the whole aroma around the feeding time. Anyway, to get him to not appreciate his moms boob, she smears mustard on it and when he asks/cries for some milk, him mom pulls out her mustard covered tit and chases him around with it. Yes chases him around cause the whole family is there cracking up thinking this is soo funny and completely normal. I have to agree it is hilarious cause Franchesco really does not like mustard and just seeing the family laugh while my sister has her boob hanging out makes me appreciate my surroundings so miuch.
My family here on the coast has a washing machine, i was sooo pumped! Sunday morning i went to use the washing maching thinking, i have it made in the shade (aka not having to scrub my clothes by hand in the sun) After the cycle was over, my mom told me to bring my clothes over to the washing tubs and proceeded to have me scrub my clothes by hand. Four different times. and then a rinse out cycle. WHY THE HELL DO THEY USE THE WASHING MACHINE??? have not figured it out yet either :( quickly became not so pumped, oh and of course they find me completely amusing laughing at the sweat rolling down my face.
I was also taught how to clean a fish, and brought to the lovely sardine "factory" The main reason i never liked/ate fish is that horrible smell before it gets cooked, not sure the sardine factory helped, and when i say factory i mean a tin roof about 100 feet long with tables of fish under it and men and women descaleing, then chopping off their head, tail, and intestines, in such a rythmic fashion you cant peel your eyes away. They get 30 cents a bucket and can make like $15 a day which is awesome since monthly family income is around $180 per month.
Me and my family are bonding and in a couple weeks i think i am going to start teaching an areobics class... yeah call me bo banks i am going to put these ladies through some serious cardio hahahahaha
So little baby boy, named Franchesco, is being weened off of breast feeding. But Franchesco really likes breast milk and i think just the whole aroma around the feeding time. Anyway, to get him to not appreciate his moms boob, she smears mustard on it and when he asks/cries for some milk, him mom pulls out her mustard covered tit and chases him around with it. Yes chases him around cause the whole family is there cracking up thinking this is soo funny and completely normal. I have to agree it is hilarious cause Franchesco really does not like mustard and just seeing the family laugh while my sister has her boob hanging out makes me appreciate my surroundings so miuch.
My family here on the coast has a washing machine, i was sooo pumped! Sunday morning i went to use the washing maching thinking, i have it made in the shade (aka not having to scrub my clothes by hand in the sun) After the cycle was over, my mom told me to bring my clothes over to the washing tubs and proceeded to have me scrub my clothes by hand. Four different times. and then a rinse out cycle. WHY THE HELL DO THEY USE THE WASHING MACHINE??? have not figured it out yet either :( quickly became not so pumped, oh and of course they find me completely amusing laughing at the sweat rolling down my face.
I was also taught how to clean a fish, and brought to the lovely sardine "factory" The main reason i never liked/ate fish is that horrible smell before it gets cooked, not sure the sardine factory helped, and when i say factory i mean a tin roof about 100 feet long with tables of fish under it and men and women descaleing, then chopping off their head, tail, and intestines, in such a rythmic fashion you cant peel your eyes away. They get 30 cents a bucket and can make like $15 a day which is awesome since monthly family income is around $180 per month.
Me and my family are bonding and in a couple weeks i think i am going to start teaching an areobics class... yeah call me bo banks i am going to put these ladies through some serious cardio hahahahaha
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
of course it still runs
I am going to concentrate this post on my daily surroundings so whoever decides to read it has a better understanding on what i see everyday. I might get off track, sorry.
My little neighborhood is made up of 44 houses, not all of them are occupied, but there are 44 houses. They were placed in perfect order, 5 rows, with 10 plots in each, one is occcpied by a "park", another by a communuty center, another by a day care center, and a few others that have nothing on them. In two months i will be moving into the aforementioned day car center, fully painted with pooh bear, tigger, rainbows, and butterflies, but not gonna lie i am PUMPED! Why you ask... well the house i live in now is probably one of the more luxureous of the neighborhood. In total it is about the size of my family room including the bathroom in pennsylvania. It is cement blocks put together in a rectangle with a wall down the center splitting off the bedrooms. One side of the wall has a plastic couch, and a tv, also a bathroom with running water and huge shower, the other side was split into three rooms, mine is the middle. I originally thought that cement walls would be good sound barriers, but alas nope. They hear me every time i have explosive diahrrea, and i hear my dad snoring at night, though that just reminds me of home. What does not remind me of home, is a 1 and 1/2 year old nephew that i have. he is absolutely adorable and then he starts crying at 3 am. Still love him though, but i think i will love him even more from my own house. Hot water does not exsist, only water that was sitting in the pipes and the sun heated it up, but that ends in about t minus 10 seconds, never knew i would thouroughly enjoy a cold shower, but i do, i do a lot.
Other point. i would really really like to sleep until 9 am, and watch a movie in the middle of the day, or lay in a hammock reading my book. BUT (big but) my family is expecting so much of me, every day i wake up and they ask me what i am going to do, when i lack and awesome answer i see their dissapointment. I am living there for no rent and they feed me like crazy, so i really do need to prove my worth, but i cant wait to live in my own place. Oh and once i move i am buying a dog so i have an obligatory friend. Oh and i then get to cook for myself and maybe never eat rice again.
To get away from my town, that is to go to school, to get lunch, to get the internet, to see life, i have to either walk for 25 minutes and arrive soaked or take a truck. Obviously taking a truck is preferable, but they never come around, i end up waiting for an hour or more until a car comes so i can get on with my day. The cars here ligitametly look like they were found in a junk yard and with some gas and a high spirit they run. The other day i got a ride with my family in a short bus. Imagine, outside colored the brillant array of lime green, blue, and orange fringes. Driver sits on a lawn chair rigged to the floor, i sit on a metal bench. There are 5 full cracks going from top to bottom of the windsheild rigt infront of the dirvers face. The stick shift is just barely in reach of the driver if he stays in the low gears, reverse is out of the question, and obviously none of the meters on his dash have worked in years. Astonishingly enough I am comfortable.
Mothers day is a HUGE deal here. the school has a big program for all the moms to come, and as i witnessed, embarress themselves full time. The different grades make recycles outfits that the moms wear for a fashion show. They make them do potato sack races, and carry a lemon on a spoon in your mouth. Its two hours of making moms do ridiculous things, but they get presents for it. Then the whole weekend everyone gets wasted in celebration of their moms. I think i might try to bring this tradition back with me. They stay up drinking in the streets playing music, and dancing till around 4 or later. It was pretty incridible, as an outsider i kept having to remind myself that this is for mothers day. So i definietly drank one for you mom :)
Also if you read my last blog, i will let you know that i am not gaining weight. Not sure how it is possible but i recently saw a mirror, and got to see what i looked like. Havent really changed much, fit into my tight clothes a little better, and got somewhat of a tan going on. I can only attribute the lack of extra poundage on the extreme loss of daily water weight. but i am not complaining. I also went for a run yesterday and got chased for 10 minutes by a pack (10+) dogs, barking biting at me. I definetly peed a little bit as snapping mouths were only centimeters from my ankles, it was like i could already see the blood spewing. Made me run faster though, but probably not going to take that path again.
also i saw a real city, with life, and people, and restaurants of more than one food choice, it was incredible.
My little neighborhood is made up of 44 houses, not all of them are occupied, but there are 44 houses. They were placed in perfect order, 5 rows, with 10 plots in each, one is occcpied by a "park", another by a communuty center, another by a day care center, and a few others that have nothing on them. In two months i will be moving into the aforementioned day car center, fully painted with pooh bear, tigger, rainbows, and butterflies, but not gonna lie i am PUMPED! Why you ask... well the house i live in now is probably one of the more luxureous of the neighborhood. In total it is about the size of my family room including the bathroom in pennsylvania. It is cement blocks put together in a rectangle with a wall down the center splitting off the bedrooms. One side of the wall has a plastic couch, and a tv, also a bathroom with running water and huge shower, the other side was split into three rooms, mine is the middle. I originally thought that cement walls would be good sound barriers, but alas nope. They hear me every time i have explosive diahrrea, and i hear my dad snoring at night, though that just reminds me of home. What does not remind me of home, is a 1 and 1/2 year old nephew that i have. he is absolutely adorable and then he starts crying at 3 am. Still love him though, but i think i will love him even more from my own house. Hot water does not exsist, only water that was sitting in the pipes and the sun heated it up, but that ends in about t minus 10 seconds, never knew i would thouroughly enjoy a cold shower, but i do, i do a lot.
Other point. i would really really like to sleep until 9 am, and watch a movie in the middle of the day, or lay in a hammock reading my book. BUT (big but) my family is expecting so much of me, every day i wake up and they ask me what i am going to do, when i lack and awesome answer i see their dissapointment. I am living there for no rent and they feed me like crazy, so i really do need to prove my worth, but i cant wait to live in my own place. Oh and once i move i am buying a dog so i have an obligatory friend. Oh and i then get to cook for myself and maybe never eat rice again.
To get away from my town, that is to go to school, to get lunch, to get the internet, to see life, i have to either walk for 25 minutes and arrive soaked or take a truck. Obviously taking a truck is preferable, but they never come around, i end up waiting for an hour or more until a car comes so i can get on with my day. The cars here ligitametly look like they were found in a junk yard and with some gas and a high spirit they run. The other day i got a ride with my family in a short bus. Imagine, outside colored the brillant array of lime green, blue, and orange fringes. Driver sits on a lawn chair rigged to the floor, i sit on a metal bench. There are 5 full cracks going from top to bottom of the windsheild rigt infront of the dirvers face. The stick shift is just barely in reach of the driver if he stays in the low gears, reverse is out of the question, and obviously none of the meters on his dash have worked in years. Astonishingly enough I am comfortable.
Mothers day is a HUGE deal here. the school has a big program for all the moms to come, and as i witnessed, embarress themselves full time. The different grades make recycles outfits that the moms wear for a fashion show. They make them do potato sack races, and carry a lemon on a spoon in your mouth. Its two hours of making moms do ridiculous things, but they get presents for it. Then the whole weekend everyone gets wasted in celebration of their moms. I think i might try to bring this tradition back with me. They stay up drinking in the streets playing music, and dancing till around 4 or later. It was pretty incridible, as an outsider i kept having to remind myself that this is for mothers day. So i definietly drank one for you mom :)
Also if you read my last blog, i will let you know that i am not gaining weight. Not sure how it is possible but i recently saw a mirror, and got to see what i looked like. Havent really changed much, fit into my tight clothes a little better, and got somewhat of a tan going on. I can only attribute the lack of extra poundage on the extreme loss of daily water weight. but i am not complaining. I also went for a run yesterday and got chased for 10 minutes by a pack (10+) dogs, barking biting at me. I definetly peed a little bit as snapping mouths were only centimeters from my ankles, it was like i could already see the blood spewing. Made me run faster though, but probably not going to take that path again.
also i saw a real city, with life, and people, and restaurants of more than one food choice, it was incredible.
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
i would like some white rice, with some more white rice thanks
they feed me a lot.
they feed me alot for breakfast (three scrambled eggs, 5pieces of toast, and a block of cheese)
they feed me even more for lunch (hot bowl of soup, heaping plate of white rice with a cut of meat and potatoes)
then they feed me dinner (mountain of pasta with meat, with another half a plate of white rice)
there are some types of food you can shove down your throat, white rice would not be one of them. oh yeah neither is hot soup when it is 90+ degrees. Never knew, imagined, dreamed it was possible that activating my metabolism when i eat makes my body work hard enough to start sweating. yeah i am that obese single guy in the corner of denny´s gulping down his grand slam while dripping through his shirt.
I started my english classes, i teach about 6 classes a day three times a week. The one teacher just has me aid her in pronunciation, and grammer while she leads, the other teacher leaves. yep, just walks out right after he gives me a theme like the seasons or time. Cant lie though it is high entertaining. The kids, and when i say kids i mean high school, i teach a 19 year old, well the kids just stare at me waiting on my ever move, and they know almost zero english so i conduct the class is spanish, which is the enteraining part. a back a forth convo i can do, but a lecture for 45 minutes is totally another ball game. So i just start talking, and they are way too afraid to laugh at me so instead i just start cracking up cause i know i soud ridiculous, and i also make jokes that no one gets so laugh a little more. All in all they love me.
I had a class for 2 hours yesterday, 2 straight hours. after the first i asked them what they wanted to do. they replied SING!!! meaing me sing. so i did. i wrote down the lyrics and sang the second hour away. The one teacher returned to class... and took up a seat with the students to listen. maybe next week we will learn how to dance. Life in general is just ridiculous
i am starting a vegetable garden so i can one day eat a salad instead of more rice, and i went to a huge mall with a costco type store about 30 min from my site, and found snack packs!!! After a day of barely understanding what is going on, and constently looking like an invalid, the sweet taste of something familiarjust fills your soul with joy. Not sure how else to explain it, but the sight of a snack pack was like seeing the fountain of youth. I eat doritos, a lot of doritos, because i can relate the taste to something before 3 months ago. So sad and yet sooo satisfying.
and after rereading this we can all probably assume that i am getting fat...
Yes its an assumption cause i have not seen a mirror in weeks, i am now starting to understand why.
they feed me alot for breakfast (three scrambled eggs, 5pieces of toast, and a block of cheese)
they feed me even more for lunch (hot bowl of soup, heaping plate of white rice with a cut of meat and potatoes)
then they feed me dinner (mountain of pasta with meat, with another half a plate of white rice)
there are some types of food you can shove down your throat, white rice would not be one of them. oh yeah neither is hot soup when it is 90+ degrees. Never knew, imagined, dreamed it was possible that activating my metabolism when i eat makes my body work hard enough to start sweating. yeah i am that obese single guy in the corner of denny´s gulping down his grand slam while dripping through his shirt.
I started my english classes, i teach about 6 classes a day three times a week. The one teacher just has me aid her in pronunciation, and grammer while she leads, the other teacher leaves. yep, just walks out right after he gives me a theme like the seasons or time. Cant lie though it is high entertaining. The kids, and when i say kids i mean high school, i teach a 19 year old, well the kids just stare at me waiting on my ever move, and they know almost zero english so i conduct the class is spanish, which is the enteraining part. a back a forth convo i can do, but a lecture for 45 minutes is totally another ball game. So i just start talking, and they are way too afraid to laugh at me so instead i just start cracking up cause i know i soud ridiculous, and i also make jokes that no one gets so laugh a little more. All in all they love me.
I had a class for 2 hours yesterday, 2 straight hours. after the first i asked them what they wanted to do. they replied SING!!! meaing me sing. so i did. i wrote down the lyrics and sang the second hour away. The one teacher returned to class... and took up a seat with the students to listen. maybe next week we will learn how to dance. Life in general is just ridiculous
i am starting a vegetable garden so i can one day eat a salad instead of more rice, and i went to a huge mall with a costco type store about 30 min from my site, and found snack packs!!! After a day of barely understanding what is going on, and constently looking like an invalid, the sweet taste of something familiarjust fills your soul with joy. Not sure how else to explain it, but the sight of a snack pack was like seeing the fountain of youth. I eat doritos, a lot of doritos, because i can relate the taste to something before 3 months ago. So sad and yet sooo satisfying.
and after rereading this we can all probably assume that i am getting fat...
Yes its an assumption cause i have not seen a mirror in weeks, i am now starting to understand why.
Monday, April 19, 2010
Shits and Swearing in the Jungle
Two weeks ago i left my security town of Cayambe, and my mom Anita, and everything i knew to go on a technical trip with 8 other natural resource volunteers around the interworkings of humidity and mosquitos! Before i left i gave my family an easter basket since i left them on easter and they absolutely loved it! I went out and bought a basket and put in it a bunch of stuff my mom sent me from the US including a blanket, a bunny, cadbury eggs, hot chocolate, and isntant coffee. I added some movies and popcorn and i think i entered their family immediately. Oh i also made them my moms famous baked ziti before i left as well. I think they enjoyed it but i added way too much cheese (and for me too much cheese i thought was impossible, i regularly eat a mound of mozzarella as a mid afternoon snack but that was until i tried some of my baked ziti) Nonetheless they ate it and had seconds. I was also able to watch the holy week parade which i was there for about an hour and saw the original design for the KKK outfit which was stolen from this parade by some white americans a bunch of years ago. Quite difficult to look at with feelings of easter in mind but made for some awesome pictures. A man had an eplieptic seizure at my feet, we hurdled my 9 year old sister dresssed in a very cute pink outfit over our fence about 10 feet high. But my sister is about 4 feet tall and her mom is like 5 feet so you do the math and pictured how that worked out... i sat back and watched in fits of laughter, this was all because we forgot out keys opps! I then followed the first dramitacally hot ecuadorian that i have seen around a church and down a couple blocks and then took a ride on a large motorized worm through the streets of the town with my mom and sister. All in all a very eventful good friday!
Another feat that i accomplished was hiking ( it will be my first and last time) It took about 3 hours to summit what i thought was going to be ahill but ended up being a mountain. Pretty much did it on my own becasue i was soooo slow and dieing slowly, stopped half way up bymyself and had a nutter butter snack break (best idea ever, also biggest fat kid move i have done in a while) made it to the top not wanting to move any more and ate two sandwhiches only to descend by sliding on my but a good 1000 feet cause it was just soo much easier that way and at the bottom deciding that hiking really is just not for me but nutter butters are.
I then left for my technical trip. and on the second day when we learned about watershed management i witnessed three 8 year old boys crucify (without the nails and blood) one of their friends on a cross they constructed out of two 3by4s held together by wire in the middle of a park. Possibly one of the most hilarious events i have ever witnessed. He was too heavy to actually lift him in the upright standing position on the cross so they kept dropping him and using very innovative ways to make the structure more secure. Little boys all over the world do the craziest things. Oh and about this time i got my first bought of diarrhea. Started slow and manageable until i entered the jungle...
Yeah we went to a "dry jungle" where it rains every day half of the year, rains so much it is requitred to wear big rubber boots to wade through the 6 inches of mud laying everywhere. The humidity was about 100% and i quickly realized that living in a dessert has huge perks and also impressed myself with the amount of sweat one person can produce when not moving. At various moments i would stop and just shake my head for about a minute (like a dog would his body) to splash the sweat off of my face. I officially got my entire fabric of shorts soaked without going into any body of water, meaning the previous "look like i peed my pants" actually connected on the sides all the way to the seems at the bottom. I know i know impressive. BUT i got to see gigantic turantulas, wild howler and onther type of monkey in the trees, a cute white fuzzy caterpillar that if you touch it that entire body part goes numb for about an hour and tones of gigantic trees you could probably sleep in if it was not for the aforementioned dangers. Oh and i saw a huge gigantic one of those famous turtles and fed it bananas! In this jungle we stayed at a volunteer house with no electricty and a dry toilet. which is an outhouse without the water or the nice smell.. and in about a year after some good use the human shit turns into really good compost. who would have thought. Sounds like a great idea, you get rid of water pollution and put nutirents in your soil for free. yeah very cool until you consider a statement i made before... Diarrhea, all of a sudden not soo cool audibly shitting into a trench on an uncleaned toilet by candlelight. Hence the title shitting and swearing in the jungle. But hey i just made the decomposition that much faster for some awesome organic compost.
After the jungle we spent 5 days at a beach resort in the esmeraldas which i am now certain has the most beautiful people in ecudor, like abercrombi modle ready. I swam in the ocean everyday, but bit and sweated some more. got to use water running toilets for my digestion problems and ate shirmp for about 3 meals a day. really good fresh shirmp. We returned to meet up with everyone for our final week this past friday and take our final tests before coming a volunteer. I think i passed but my number twos have now become fully number 1s just coming out of the other hole... if you can believe it, kinda of amusing cause at all times it just sounds like i am peeing to outsiders but little do they know, i am not! They want me to give a stool sample which will also be quite humerous cause i have not seen anything solid come back out of me in a while but i am going to give it a go. Luckly i feel fine so no worries there but i will let you all know if i got some sort of cool worm.
This thursday is the official swearing in day, when i get to be an official Peace Corps volunteer and my 2 years commence! Pretty pumped to take my oath and see what other crazy adventures lay ahead for me :)
Another feat that i accomplished was hiking ( it will be my first and last time) It took about 3 hours to summit what i thought was going to be ahill but ended up being a mountain. Pretty much did it on my own becasue i was soooo slow and dieing slowly, stopped half way up bymyself and had a nutter butter snack break (best idea ever, also biggest fat kid move i have done in a while) made it to the top not wanting to move any more and ate two sandwhiches only to descend by sliding on my but a good 1000 feet cause it was just soo much easier that way and at the bottom deciding that hiking really is just not for me but nutter butters are.
I then left for my technical trip. and on the second day when we learned about watershed management i witnessed three 8 year old boys crucify (without the nails and blood) one of their friends on a cross they constructed out of two 3by4s held together by wire in the middle of a park. Possibly one of the most hilarious events i have ever witnessed. He was too heavy to actually lift him in the upright standing position on the cross so they kept dropping him and using very innovative ways to make the structure more secure. Little boys all over the world do the craziest things. Oh and about this time i got my first bought of diarrhea. Started slow and manageable until i entered the jungle...
Yeah we went to a "dry jungle" where it rains every day half of the year, rains so much it is requitred to wear big rubber boots to wade through the 6 inches of mud laying everywhere. The humidity was about 100% and i quickly realized that living in a dessert has huge perks and also impressed myself with the amount of sweat one person can produce when not moving. At various moments i would stop and just shake my head for about a minute (like a dog would his body) to splash the sweat off of my face. I officially got my entire fabric of shorts soaked without going into any body of water, meaning the previous "look like i peed my pants" actually connected on the sides all the way to the seems at the bottom. I know i know impressive. BUT i got to see gigantic turantulas, wild howler and onther type of monkey in the trees, a cute white fuzzy caterpillar that if you touch it that entire body part goes numb for about an hour and tones of gigantic trees you could probably sleep in if it was not for the aforementioned dangers. Oh and i saw a huge gigantic one of those famous turtles and fed it bananas! In this jungle we stayed at a volunteer house with no electricty and a dry toilet. which is an outhouse without the water or the nice smell.. and in about a year after some good use the human shit turns into really good compost. who would have thought. Sounds like a great idea, you get rid of water pollution and put nutirents in your soil for free. yeah very cool until you consider a statement i made before... Diarrhea, all of a sudden not soo cool audibly shitting into a trench on an uncleaned toilet by candlelight. Hence the title shitting and swearing in the jungle. But hey i just made the decomposition that much faster for some awesome organic compost.
After the jungle we spent 5 days at a beach resort in the esmeraldas which i am now certain has the most beautiful people in ecudor, like abercrombi modle ready. I swam in the ocean everyday, but bit and sweated some more. got to use water running toilets for my digestion problems and ate shirmp for about 3 meals a day. really good fresh shirmp. We returned to meet up with everyone for our final week this past friday and take our final tests before coming a volunteer. I think i passed but my number twos have now become fully number 1s just coming out of the other hole... if you can believe it, kinda of amusing cause at all times it just sounds like i am peeing to outsiders but little do they know, i am not! They want me to give a stool sample which will also be quite humerous cause i have not seen anything solid come back out of me in a while but i am going to give it a go. Luckly i feel fine so no worries there but i will let you all know if i got some sort of cool worm.
This thursday is the official swearing in day, when i get to be an official Peace Corps volunteer and my 2 years commence! Pretty pumped to take my oath and see what other crazy adventures lay ahead for me :)
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Not Just Boob Sweat
Big news! For the next 2 years i am going to be living next to the beach! Sweating! Last sunday i got on my first bus and then a taxi and then another bus and then another bus and then in a truck and i arrived at my new site, 12 hours later and boy it was hot. Apparently it is the hotest months right now, what i good time to meet new people. I felt so bad as i introduced myself as this eager new volunteer with beads of sweat rolling down my face, pools of wet spots creating themselves underneath my boobs aparent from the outside and whats even worse is pools of sweat between my legs and my butt giving me the apperance that i had just wet my pants.
i wish i was exaggerating but i am not :(
I cant even imagine what they thought of me, not only am i sasquatch height but an extensivley sweating sasquatch at that. And then they started to talk to me which made me even more nervous and if you can believe it i starting sweating more. I pretty much was a human slip and slide, but its ok, take a sigh of relief becuase aparently i am cool enough to make friends even when dripping on people! SO yeah my town is hot.
Now less about me and more about this new town. I have two counterparts who requested me they are a married couple, the wife Aleida is 61 and the becon of femonizim i have always wanted to be. She says that there are only 2 things men have advantage over women, that is one, they can physically lift heavier things and secondly they can pee wherever they want (which really comes in handy in a third world country) i love her! Anyway her husband, Gonzalo, is 71 and originally from ecuador but spent many years in NYC where he met Alieda. Alieda is Cuban American and escaped the Castro situation with her parents when she was 12. She has probably the coolest story, which i can understand, becuase she speaks ENGLISH!!! BUt yeah so fast forward a bunch of years after college and kids and careers, Gonzalo and Alieda end up on the coast of ecuador having very successful lives and wanting to do more. They realized the nearby town has like 3 families for every single unit house so they decided, with the help of a rotary club and volunteers, to build a community of 50 houses. Now they help run this little town with no name of 250 people by setting up a sponshership program in the US to give the `kids school shoes, uniforms, materials, and breakfast. They also remade a local high school that was in shambles and really outstreach everything they can to help. They asked for me to come and aid them in this by living in the community and educating in hygiene, nutrition, environment and sexual health.
Here comes the pit fall.... this ridiculously poor little community was built in the desert about 2 km from the beach. With no resorces and ground that feels like cement. I am a natural resource volunteer and am supposed to be helping in such areas but this town has NOTHING!!! So if anyone knows anything about the dessert and what can be grown or how to make compost in a hot dry environment my ears are open. I was sure handed an awesome town, with the nicest people and the cutest kids who hug and kiss sweaty old me, but i dont know how to help with the lack of resources.
i have hope though. At least i can start with the sex ed and hygiene while i am trying to conjur a way for this town to make more money. But anywho i am at the BEACH!!! And i get to play Oprah, like give kids new shoes, Oprah. Pretty sweet.
So while i was at this town,which they call the village, i made some friends between the ages of 13 and 19. We played volleyball, soccer, went swimming and DANCED! Well actually, they brought me into the community center and put on rhianna "Umbrella" and as i started to sing to the tune they all looked at me, stared at me.. i was like yeah lets dance, but their idea was more like, let watch the gringa dance.... so i did. I just started to bust my moves with rhianna as my inspiration as i whaled my arms and snapped and grooved all by myself. Surprisingly THEY LOVED IT! They think i am a great dancer and told me all the other americans just jump and its silly. I was kinda hoping to give the other impression so i would not have to dance again but i dont think i will be in luck. SO then they next night they wanted to hear me sing some more and sat in a circle around me, gave me an ipod, put on umbrella again, and just waited for me to start belting it out.... so i did. Surprised once again they LOVED IT, gave me an ovation and just wanted to hear more. so pretty much i am brittany spears.
I would just like all of you right now and try to imagine yourself on a pourch, surrounded by 10 kids ranging in ages, a mom and a dad in the house who dont know you and then singing, as loud and stupid as you can, and them appreciating it.... i really do like this country, if only as a way to raise my self esteem hahaha. I was laughing so hard and of course sweating.
Thats my town, in all it glory, and maybe one day if you visit i will have them all sing you umbrella with a coreographed dance by me!
i wish i was exaggerating but i am not :(
I cant even imagine what they thought of me, not only am i sasquatch height but an extensivley sweating sasquatch at that. And then they started to talk to me which made me even more nervous and if you can believe it i starting sweating more. I pretty much was a human slip and slide, but its ok, take a sigh of relief becuase aparently i am cool enough to make friends even when dripping on people! SO yeah my town is hot.
Now less about me and more about this new town. I have two counterparts who requested me they are a married couple, the wife Aleida is 61 and the becon of femonizim i have always wanted to be. She says that there are only 2 things men have advantage over women, that is one, they can physically lift heavier things and secondly they can pee wherever they want (which really comes in handy in a third world country) i love her! Anyway her husband, Gonzalo, is 71 and originally from ecuador but spent many years in NYC where he met Alieda. Alieda is Cuban American and escaped the Castro situation with her parents when she was 12. She has probably the coolest story, which i can understand, becuase she speaks ENGLISH!!! BUt yeah so fast forward a bunch of years after college and kids and careers, Gonzalo and Alieda end up on the coast of ecuador having very successful lives and wanting to do more. They realized the nearby town has like 3 families for every single unit house so they decided, with the help of a rotary club and volunteers, to build a community of 50 houses. Now they help run this little town with no name of 250 people by setting up a sponshership program in the US to give the `kids school shoes, uniforms, materials, and breakfast. They also remade a local high school that was in shambles and really outstreach everything they can to help. They asked for me to come and aid them in this by living in the community and educating in hygiene, nutrition, environment and sexual health.
Here comes the pit fall.... this ridiculously poor little community was built in the desert about 2 km from the beach. With no resorces and ground that feels like cement. I am a natural resource volunteer and am supposed to be helping in such areas but this town has NOTHING!!! So if anyone knows anything about the dessert and what can be grown or how to make compost in a hot dry environment my ears are open. I was sure handed an awesome town, with the nicest people and the cutest kids who hug and kiss sweaty old me, but i dont know how to help with the lack of resources.
i have hope though. At least i can start with the sex ed and hygiene while i am trying to conjur a way for this town to make more money. But anywho i am at the BEACH!!! And i get to play Oprah, like give kids new shoes, Oprah. Pretty sweet.
So while i was at this town,which they call the village, i made some friends between the ages of 13 and 19. We played volleyball, soccer, went swimming and DANCED! Well actually, they brought me into the community center and put on rhianna "Umbrella" and as i started to sing to the tune they all looked at me, stared at me.. i was like yeah lets dance, but their idea was more like, let watch the gringa dance.... so i did. I just started to bust my moves with rhianna as my inspiration as i whaled my arms and snapped and grooved all by myself. Surprisingly THEY LOVED IT! They think i am a great dancer and told me all the other americans just jump and its silly. I was kinda hoping to give the other impression so i would not have to dance again but i dont think i will be in luck. SO then they next night they wanted to hear me sing some more and sat in a circle around me, gave me an ipod, put on umbrella again, and just waited for me to start belting it out.... so i did. Surprised once again they LOVED IT, gave me an ovation and just wanted to hear more. so pretty much i am brittany spears.
I would just like all of you right now and try to imagine yourself on a pourch, surrounded by 10 kids ranging in ages, a mom and a dad in the house who dont know you and then singing, as loud and stupid as you can, and them appreciating it.... i really do like this country, if only as a way to raise my self esteem hahaha. I was laughing so hard and of course sweating.
Thats my town, in all it glory, and maybe one day if you visit i will have them all sing you umbrella with a coreographed dance by me!
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Mono the "Latin King"
This past sunday i tried my hand at washing my clothes again. That week my mom made me change my sheets and i really tried to get away with not washing them but let just say Anita is on her toes. Yeah, i washed sheets, whole sheets that are bigger than me and not just one but two and a pillow case. i thought that my jeans were bad... not even close those suckers hold soo much soap that my shoulders were hurting for at least 2 days after. Though due to my hard work Anita was so impressed that she told me that i am ready to get married now, i only lack the ability to cook. I will take any compliment where i can get it.
After my sweaty two hours of kneading clothing we took a field trip to some really cool places but the thing that changed my day the most was a picutre that was taken of my mom and me. Anita is without any exageration a foot smaller than me. This picture literally looks like she found Sasquatch. I am going to post it soon hopefully.
Today i learned how to ride a bus by hanging from the outside after getting on it while it was moving and i also learned how to do a traditional dance which i am performing with 17 others in front of our families during an appreciation day. It was a highly successful day.
Last but not least, Conner was woken up at 2:30 in the morning wednesday by a knock from his mom telling him to help with the chickens. He went to the roof of their apartment and found his family taking all 50 chickens downstairs to be slaughtered... yes at 2:30 in the morning. He called it a Chicken masacar which occured in his kitchen, that by the end there was chicken shit, blood, and feathers all over the walls and family. What a wake up call and family bonding experience.
Oh and you can comment now! and if you would ever like to call me or send me a text i have a number it is
593 9 440 4870
tomorrow i find out where i will be living for the next two years! think good thoughts of either the beach or the rain forest for me
After my sweaty two hours of kneading clothing we took a field trip to some really cool places but the thing that changed my day the most was a picutre that was taken of my mom and me. Anita is without any exageration a foot smaller than me. This picture literally looks like she found Sasquatch. I am going to post it soon hopefully.
Today i learned how to ride a bus by hanging from the outside after getting on it while it was moving and i also learned how to do a traditional dance which i am performing with 17 others in front of our families during an appreciation day. It was a highly successful day.
Last but not least, Conner was woken up at 2:30 in the morning wednesday by a knock from his mom telling him to help with the chickens. He went to the roof of their apartment and found his family taking all 50 chickens downstairs to be slaughtered... yes at 2:30 in the morning. He called it a Chicken masacar which occured in his kitchen, that by the end there was chicken shit, blood, and feathers all over the walls and family. What a wake up call and family bonding experience.
Oh and you can comment now! and if you would ever like to call me or send me a text i have a number it is
593 9 440 4870
tomorrow i find out where i will be living for the next two years! think good thoughts of either the beach or the rain forest for me
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
I milked a cow
Yeah i really did, i put my hands beneath the cows hind legs and pulled on its nipples in a massaging type stroke until milk came out! WOW! It was frothy and warm and very white... people drink this. The only thing i could think of was who was the first to milk a cow and then consume such frothy white warm liquid. I am betting he was kinda like van gough, not so popular until after he was dead. After this experience we learned how to make fresh cheese and then found out you can also milk a dog. Yeah i actually mean that there was a dog who recently had babies and one of the other volunteers, as a joke, pulled one, of her nipples and milk came out. I guess you can milk anything with nipples.
Before this day filled with milk, three of the ten groups including mine, drove to this small town about 15 km outside of quito called Nono. We went to the local school and talked to some kids, 4 boys asked for my autograph, they were pumped i was in a plane. We then walked around a pretty large farm and then around 7 the town of about 100 houses had this huge parade for us. There was a band that played for 3 straight hours in which we were required to dance the whole time, and when i say band i mean like high school band coinciding with that type of music, kinda of difficult to finda good rythm. They had little kids dressed up in cotumes as potato heads and yoda and militia. While they also passed around spiked tea, quite amusing.
In the past three weeks i have learned to milk a cow, make organic compost, make worm compost, and make manure tea! When i thought i knew a lot i realized people make tea with cow shit to use as a pesticide. Just goes to show you never know enough. I cant wait to see what is next.
On the homefront, my spanish is getting better to the point i have conversations where i ask questions and my family in convinced i am pretty good. I was finally able to take a pretty satisfying poop, small accomplishments are the best. I think from the increase of cheese and stress i was a little blocked up for a few weeks but that has "passed" :) Oh and i think i saw a good looking ecudorian, not tall enough but it is a step. And my sister gives me a big hug every night before i go to sleep.
Finally my language group one first place amungst the others in our level with a presentation where we sang our own rendition of if you are happy and you know it with phrases in spanish about our town and i did the price is right making a complete fool of myself but hey we got free chocolate.
I almost forgot to mention i told a bunch of the other volunteers here after we had milked a cow that i want breast augmentation one day to keep them perky. And if there is a sterotype for volunteers of the peace corps put that in your head right now... i am talking dont shave, only wear REI and worked at a co-op in college. hahahaha i guess i am ok with being jugded and really when have i ever been normal, but it does not matter cause i seem to always fit in.
mucho amor
Before this day filled with milk, three of the ten groups including mine, drove to this small town about 15 km outside of quito called Nono. We went to the local school and talked to some kids, 4 boys asked for my autograph, they were pumped i was in a plane. We then walked around a pretty large farm and then around 7 the town of about 100 houses had this huge parade for us. There was a band that played for 3 straight hours in which we were required to dance the whole time, and when i say band i mean like high school band coinciding with that type of music, kinda of difficult to finda good rythm. They had little kids dressed up in cotumes as potato heads and yoda and militia. While they also passed around spiked tea, quite amusing.
In the past three weeks i have learned to milk a cow, make organic compost, make worm compost, and make manure tea! When i thought i knew a lot i realized people make tea with cow shit to use as a pesticide. Just goes to show you never know enough. I cant wait to see what is next.
On the homefront, my spanish is getting better to the point i have conversations where i ask questions and my family in convinced i am pretty good. I was finally able to take a pretty satisfying poop, small accomplishments are the best. I think from the increase of cheese and stress i was a little blocked up for a few weeks but that has "passed" :) Oh and i think i saw a good looking ecudorian, not tall enough but it is a step. And my sister gives me a big hug every night before i go to sleep.
Finally my language group one first place amungst the others in our level with a presentation where we sang our own rendition of if you are happy and you know it with phrases in spanish about our town and i did the price is right making a complete fool of myself but hey we got free chocolate.
I almost forgot to mention i told a bunch of the other volunteers here after we had milked a cow that i want breast augmentation one day to keep them perky. And if there is a sterotype for volunteers of the peace corps put that in your head right now... i am talking dont shave, only wear REI and worked at a co-op in college. hahahaha i guess i am ok with being jugded and really when have i ever been normal, but it does not matter cause i seem to always fit in.
mucho amor
Monday, March 1, 2010
Double Meanings
I have officially been in Ecuador for 11 days but it feels more like a month. This past friday i moved into my host family´s house and therefore entered a world with NO ENGLISH! I thought i knew some stuff, you know afer tutoring it and living in spain but i am just awful. I never saw the movie, Yes Man, but the title has become my life, since i have no idea what they are saying i just respond with yes and a smile, it seems to be working so far.
Anyway in my host family i have a madre that stands about 5 feet tall and loves hugs (in the morning, in the night, after dinner, before watching tv...) so she gets big helpings of my breasts multiple times a day. Then there is the padre that works making fences, doors, and windows for houses. He does not talk much but is quite nice. I have three siblings, but only one that lives with me. The other two are in college in the main city about an hour and half away but they come home for some weekends. The son is 18 years old and talks to me like i am an old grandpa. Meaning he shouts like literally in a really loud voice and extrememly slowly everything he says to me. It makes me feel really bad for my grandpa when i do the same thing, but hey i understand everything he says :) Then there is the sister that is 22 but she just doesnt talk so that works for me too. Finally is my hermanita. I think she is 10 and i can see behind her eyes that she wants to be best friends but having me as a bff right now is like talking to a happy door (I have no idea most the time what she says so i just smile). Anyway the way i see it is i can only go up from here. pumped!
Oh i almost forgot i have three dogs... boxers... and if you have never been to a south american country you cant get the full meaning of how scary the dogs are here. It is like they all really want to eat you... maybe because they are blood hungry but probably because it is custom to keep your dogs at the level of hunger just above death. Like if you cant clearly count their ribs from a block away they are fat. Its kinda sad but then again to have cats and dogs in america that cant even stand because of the sand bag of a stomache they carry around is also not so awesome.
Which brings me to the next culture shock i got, being called fat is a term of endearment... not sure if i will ever like that one, but luckily they have not said it too me yet... but then thats probably why they feed me sooo much. Yesterday for breakfast we got boiled corn under potato cakes, under freshly cooked pig. Meaning while i ate such a generous portion of breakfast i was staring at the whole pig cut and flattened on a grill, ears nose and all. Quite apeitizing i cant lie. After this awesome pig filled breakfast i was taught how to wash my clothes by hand on a stone. wearing gloves to my elbows and boots to my knees cause its also kinda a shower time. Anyway i realized the importance of being short here in ecuador, because your clothes are smaller and thus much easier to hand wash. The stone stands about counter height to an ecuadorian, about table height for me. So you put your clothes in a soap bath and then proceed to kneed them almost like dough until your madre thinks its sufficient, and then you must kneed water through the article of clothing until the water comes out clear. Which was not so difficult at first but since it took me like 2 hours to do 20 peices by the end the clothes that had been soaking were completely saturated in soap, getting clean water to run through that would be like finding an ecuadorian that is taller than me (almost imposible). so lets just cross our fingers that i dont sweat much in the coming days or else bubbles of soap will be coming out of my armpits.
And the purpose of my title, "double meanings" is because almost everything that i say actually means something sexual here... oh boy has it been fun! They just laugh and laugh at you and then think you like to have alot of sex.
so for those who are interested in sending me love notes, my address is as follows
My name (if you dont know it then please dont send me love notes)
Casilla 17-08-8624
Quito, Ecuador
i have a different one on my Facebook, i think they both work. keep these love messages to a max of 2kg or i think 5 pounds, and dont delcare any monetary amount.
I am not sure why you cant post if you have tried, i have my settings so anyone can comment, if someone is more knowledgeable than me i am going through a series of learning processes. and please nevermind my spelling there is no spell check here ugh
Finally my madre here makes hand croched (sp?) bags of any color and i think she is going to teach me how. She charges 30$ for one which i guess is not so bad but i would rather try to mess something else up
Anyway in my host family i have a madre that stands about 5 feet tall and loves hugs (in the morning, in the night, after dinner, before watching tv...) so she gets big helpings of my breasts multiple times a day. Then there is the padre that works making fences, doors, and windows for houses. He does not talk much but is quite nice. I have three siblings, but only one that lives with me. The other two are in college in the main city about an hour and half away but they come home for some weekends. The son is 18 years old and talks to me like i am an old grandpa. Meaning he shouts like literally in a really loud voice and extrememly slowly everything he says to me. It makes me feel really bad for my grandpa when i do the same thing, but hey i understand everything he says :) Then there is the sister that is 22 but she just doesnt talk so that works for me too. Finally is my hermanita. I think she is 10 and i can see behind her eyes that she wants to be best friends but having me as a bff right now is like talking to a happy door (I have no idea most the time what she says so i just smile). Anyway the way i see it is i can only go up from here. pumped!
Oh i almost forgot i have three dogs... boxers... and if you have never been to a south american country you cant get the full meaning of how scary the dogs are here. It is like they all really want to eat you... maybe because they are blood hungry but probably because it is custom to keep your dogs at the level of hunger just above death. Like if you cant clearly count their ribs from a block away they are fat. Its kinda sad but then again to have cats and dogs in america that cant even stand because of the sand bag of a stomache they carry around is also not so awesome.
Which brings me to the next culture shock i got, being called fat is a term of endearment... not sure if i will ever like that one, but luckily they have not said it too me yet... but then thats probably why they feed me sooo much. Yesterday for breakfast we got boiled corn under potato cakes, under freshly cooked pig. Meaning while i ate such a generous portion of breakfast i was staring at the whole pig cut and flattened on a grill, ears nose and all. Quite apeitizing i cant lie. After this awesome pig filled breakfast i was taught how to wash my clothes by hand on a stone. wearing gloves to my elbows and boots to my knees cause its also kinda a shower time. Anyway i realized the importance of being short here in ecuador, because your clothes are smaller and thus much easier to hand wash. The stone stands about counter height to an ecuadorian, about table height for me. So you put your clothes in a soap bath and then proceed to kneed them almost like dough until your madre thinks its sufficient, and then you must kneed water through the article of clothing until the water comes out clear. Which was not so difficult at first but since it took me like 2 hours to do 20 peices by the end the clothes that had been soaking were completely saturated in soap, getting clean water to run through that would be like finding an ecuadorian that is taller than me (almost imposible). so lets just cross our fingers that i dont sweat much in the coming days or else bubbles of soap will be coming out of my armpits.
And the purpose of my title, "double meanings" is because almost everything that i say actually means something sexual here... oh boy has it been fun! They just laugh and laugh at you and then think you like to have alot of sex.
so for those who are interested in sending me love notes, my address is as follows
My name (if you dont know it then please dont send me love notes)
Casilla 17-08-8624
Quito, Ecuador
i have a different one on my Facebook, i think they both work. keep these love messages to a max of 2kg or i think 5 pounds, and dont delcare any monetary amount.
I am not sure why you cant post if you have tried, i have my settings so anyone can comment, if someone is more knowledgeable than me i am going through a series of learning processes. and please nevermind my spelling there is no spell check here ugh
Finally my madre here makes hand croched (sp?) bags of any color and i think she is going to teach me how. She charges 30$ for one which i guess is not so bad but i would rather try to mess something else up
Monday, February 22, 2010
mitad del mundo
So i am offically in Ecuador. and first observations are... americans are not the only ones that have an overweight problem, they eat 5 times a day here ugh... and my spanish sucks. Oh and its cheap. They eat a lot of rice and potatoes, meaning every meal, and its okay to down a worm when it is in your fruit cause that means there is no pesticides and you cant see them anyway.. I have hit my head on low ceilings about 5 times already they are short, and i think i am going to like it here.
love you all, miss you all and there will be a lot more to come, just short on time
love you all, miss you all and there will be a lot more to come, just short on time
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
This Is It...
Today my mother drove me to Georgetown for the pre-departure orientation after many tissues and sad goodbyes, i made it with a smile on my face since i realized that i had packed two suitcases full that i can fit into (all 6 feet of me) plus another hiking backpack full. I personally am pumped to see how much overages i have to pay to get it all on the plane... oh wait actually i am personally pumped to drag all three bags through the airport when all my counterparts have half as much. but its because i am big and scary so my clothes are naturally more voluminous so i need more space, maybe.
Anyway i have been asked in wonder how to pack for over two years and the answer is simple. Live at home, and on packing day lay helpless on the ground while you convince your mother that this is the last thing she will help you with and that she is obviously your mougle of support. So in short, get your mom to do it. (Mom i love you and really could not have done it with out you) Oh and side note, with the use of the great compression bags i was able to suck the air out of Mr Alligator and he is on his way with me to ecuador :) looking really sad and shriveled right now but on his way.
I met some really cool kids and a girl that is as obsessed with research on HIV/AIDS as i am so its a good start. well i have an early morning so i am going to try to do that sleep thing. love you all, still scared shitless, but constipation is overrated :) oh and if you ever want to get out of the H1N1 vaccine tell them you are allergic to eggs
Anyway i have been asked in wonder how to pack for over two years and the answer is simple. Live at home, and on packing day lay helpless on the ground while you convince your mother that this is the last thing she will help you with and that she is obviously your mougle of support. So in short, get your mom to do it. (Mom i love you and really could not have done it with out you) Oh and side note, with the use of the great compression bags i was able to suck the air out of Mr Alligator and he is on his way with me to ecuador :) looking really sad and shriveled right now but on his way.
I met some really cool kids and a girl that is as obsessed with research on HIV/AIDS as i am so its a good start. well i have an early morning so i am going to try to do that sleep thing. love you all, still scared shitless, but constipation is overrated :) oh and if you ever want to get out of the H1N1 vaccine tell them you are allergic to eggs
the toughest part about leaving; is not leaving, but leaving everything you know and love behind; that is the tough part
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
A week till unextinction
So, i have decided to create a blog while i am in Ecuador. Here is to hoping that there will be an internet connection that this wont be a once a year habit (crossed-fingers)
As you can tell i have taken the leadership role and gave myself a nickname. I think it is quite symbolic and simply, a perfect fit for me... JRex. The J is stemming from the first initial in my name Jessica, and the Rex is born from my love and adoration of dinosaurs mixed with the well known fact that i am pretty big and kinda scary. So wha-la JRex.
Now for the reason i am writing this blog.... I am moving to Ecuador in one week and one day for the next 27 months. That means that when i return i will be almost 25 and in the middle of the peak baby-making years of any females life. So in short i am going to find a husband.... just kidding. But really i am leaving in 8 days and i have absolutely no idea what i am getting myself into. My dad keeps saying that i am going to change and learn so much while i am there, come back a better person.... My mom keeps saying that i am going to do great, and everyone else asks why? Oh well actually thats a lie, my Grandpa D cant stop saying how much he despises my decision and that i am wasting my life (not surprising if you know him). So far what i do know is i will be in training for the first three months i am there learning the language and other important job related information. After training i have to pass some adequacy tests so i can be assigned a location and be set on my way to start changing the world.
They say this is the hardest job i will ever love, but have any of those kids tried to tutor college football players in Econ.
I cant say that i am scared to go, but more worried that by leaving i will be missing many opportunities and priceless memories with the people i love the most. Really what have i got myself into? We will soon find out.
~ Being scared of the unknown is only wasted effort holding yourself back
As you can tell i have taken the leadership role and gave myself a nickname. I think it is quite symbolic and simply, a perfect fit for me... JRex. The J is stemming from the first initial in my name Jessica, and the Rex is born from my love and adoration of dinosaurs mixed with the well known fact that i am pretty big and kinda scary. So wha-la JRex.
Now for the reason i am writing this blog.... I am moving to Ecuador in one week and one day for the next 27 months. That means that when i return i will be almost 25 and in the middle of the peak baby-making years of any females life. So in short i am going to find a husband.... just kidding. But really i am leaving in 8 days and i have absolutely no idea what i am getting myself into. My dad keeps saying that i am going to change and learn so much while i am there, come back a better person.... My mom keeps saying that i am going to do great, and everyone else asks why? Oh well actually thats a lie, my Grandpa D cant stop saying how much he despises my decision and that i am wasting my life (not surprising if you know him). So far what i do know is i will be in training for the first three months i am there learning the language and other important job related information. After training i have to pass some adequacy tests so i can be assigned a location and be set on my way to start changing the world.
They say this is the hardest job i will ever love, but have any of those kids tried to tutor college football players in Econ.
I cant say that i am scared to go, but more worried that by leaving i will be missing many opportunities and priceless memories with the people i love the most. Really what have i got myself into? We will soon find out.
~ Being scared of the unknown is only wasted effort holding yourself back
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