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.
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
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!
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