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Published: August 20th 2010
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Family in Capulispungo
Maria and her kids. The oldest in the photo is Wilmer, he's borrowing my sunglasses looking like a hipster. Sorry I haven't updated in awhile, but you should look at that as a good sign. I'm well integrated in my community, I'm making friends and doing things. Who has time to go to the internet. Either that or I'm just strapped for cash and don't want to drop the dollar for an hour of internet to upload photos. You pick what story you want to believe.
So why do I have time all of a sudden? Because I'm in a hotel this week with free wireless. So I'm saving that dollar. Why am I at a hotel? Well its not that I want to escape my community because I really am making friends there, but this week is swear in week for the new batch of volunteers and I'm on the “student council” of Peace Corps and I'm in the country capital, here to welcome them. Can you believe it? There are already new volunteers in Ecuador. And they are asking me questions about what to do and what to expect. I'm no longer the newbie. Its a good feeling.
That's not to say that I'm suddenly so integrated into Ecuador that people mistake me as Ecuadorian. In
fact, just the other day I was in the market drinking my mora batido (delicious blackberry milk shake), looking like a gringa, when all of a sudden three large Ecuadorian women (who knew there were large Ecuadorian women in this country) surrounded me from all sides in a narrow passage between venders. And they bumped me and pushed me around, and I too busy protecting what is most valuable to me, my batido, and I allowed them to snake my change purse and run off with $10 of my money. Not that big of a deal, but I didn't have any extra cash so I had to visit one of my buddies who lives in Guamote and ask to borrow a dollar for the bus. She proceeded to give me a hour lecture on thieves and not to be so stupid. And I felt really stupid for letting that happen to me. But it's a learning experience at least. That's one way to look at it.
But what am I actually doing at my site now, you ask? I've started my Community Assessment Tools. I'm basically walking around the community, poncing on unexpected inhabitants, and asking a series of
personal questions. Its incredible awkward and people don't understand half the questions I ask, but I figure its at least an excuse for me to learn names and get out there with the people. I actually enjoy it, and when we're all done with the interviews, I give the interviewee a small bag of fresh baked cookies as a thank you. Though the cookies I make are more like rocks than cookies, but I figure its the thought that counts. I haven't had much work this month because school is out until September so its nice to feel useful again here in Quito.
Also, I've made friends with a family in the neighboring community. A bit of a dilemma because I'm suppose to be hanging out with own my people, but I figure a 20 minute walk is close enough. Plus they feed me and take me to see their animals. Really nice people.
Oh, I also had some people come visit my site for the day and we had a little bit of a cleaning party. They helped me make my house look nicer. I feel really fortunate to have so much support from the surrounding volunteers.
I don't know what I would do without them.
One more side note, I have pet worms. I use them for compost and I finally decided on a name for them. I was originally leaning towards something more like “The Borg” because I treat them like a collective unit, but I thought that might be a little too nerdy, even for me (sorry dad). So I decided to name them “Laika” after the stray dog that the Russians sent into space on the Sputnik 2 to prove that living beings can survive in outer space. She didn't survive the trip I think because of stress or food poisoning but she did make a great advancement to science. Poor girl. I think about her every time I see someone throw a rock at a street dog. Is that little tidbit more or less nerdy than The Borg?
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