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Published: December 31st 2008
Christmas Party 1
Checha drinking contestAhoy! Things are going really well here still. For the New Year, a bunch of us volunteers have gone to Baños again. We took a Taxi truck on the way there and my, my roommate, and an Ecuadorian- Flavio, all rode in the back pick-up while it rained a bit and played silly games while everyone else rode inside the truck and was boring. The ride to Baños is prettier when you can see all around and aren´t blocked by the bus. Glen (my roommate) was giving a ¨tour¨which was complete crap and teaching me dirty words in Spanish. When we went through tunnels, us 3 swapped shirts with eachother since it was dark and when the others turned around they got a good laugh. Then when we were switching back, Glen stole my shirt until after we left the tunnel so they got a laugh at my expense while i was shirtless and laughing hysterically. We got to a hostel that is illegally keeping wild parrots so we gave false information so we can take them when we leave.
Since my last journal, not much happened, except i befriended our 2 coatis (raccoon like animals) who are ferocious to
Christmas Party 2
Kids playing musical chairs everyone else but very friendly to me. Then i take them out for afternoon walks on a lead so they can catch insects, since no one else can or wants to handle them or they don´t like the people, but while i had the bigger one out, he got us stuck in a tree and when i tried to help him, he saw my fingers, quickly snapped at my hand and was back to eating insects before i even noticed what happened. i looked down and blood was pouring from my hand so i called for someone to take him while i got washed up. He ended up giving me a good gash in my hand, a pretty deep hole, and a few scratches. It got really infected and i had to go to the hospital to get antibiotics, but when i got to Puyo everything was closed from the holidays so i went to the ER which was crazy, they only have a major room for most people unless you are long term stay, and it didn´t seem very sanitary. They had to squeeze pus from my hand and clean it. Pretty gross stuff. Then for the days following
Christmas Party 3
Kids climbing each other to the top of the pole to get gifts tied to strings that, i couldn´t work very well or use that hand even to hold a toothbrush, and Gary had to ¨milk my hand¨daily and put cream on it. i have some pics when i get back to show the enormous swelling. It´s so much better now and i can use it for most things, including typing, and i don´t have to be milked anymore! i still walk the coatis every few days!
We have finished a larger enclosure for the tayas (otter like animals) and released them into that. They are so much happier and it´s better to see them in it because it´s more natural looking, they have lots of room to play and run and they aren´t so close to people. They want to release them when they get full grown (they are about half size now). We have also released an owl who we gotten from Puyo and have taught to catch mice and insects (thanks to my knowledge from the other rehab place!) and he was too scared to fly so they left him in a tree and hope he takes to the release.
We are supposed to be getting 7 more volunteers on Monday
Christmas Party 4
He climbed the kids to the top to the gifts and the Welsh couple leave this Friday to go to New Zealand.
Each week, on either Tuesday or Thursdays, Gary and two volunteers from another project (Kim and Beth) and any of us from the centre do an english club where the kids from the community (aged 5 to 20) come in and we try to help them learn and pronounce English. It´s really funny when Gary is working with them as he has a Scottish accent and i imagine is difficult to understand. I have gone this week and 2 weeks ago, and i am completely rubbish at it. The kids laugh when i try to explain to them something in Spanish, then get confused when i try English, because i am horrible at English as well! We read things off paper, play games, answer questions, like if they ask, ¨how do you say this is English¨and i try to tell them. I have thought of telling them the wrong things, like if they ask "how do you say ´what time is it´" i would like to tell them "oh, you say ´my pants are on the floor´" hehe... but i don´t. Last week, i had several boys
Christmas Party 5
Blow dart competition in my group and i didn´t know what to do so i felt stupid, then when they ask how to say something or to write all the tenses of a verb (like for "to dance" you would say "i dance, i danced, and i will dance" for present, past, and future tense) and when i would give them a translation, Flavio (from the taxi) would say, "but isn´t it this" and was right, so it looked like i didn´t even know English because an Ecuadorian with only a little English knew more than i did!! Then the boys (aged 7-15 i think) were asking me my favorite color, favorite singer, when my birthday was, all sitting very close and leaning in and smiling at me shyly. Then one asked "tengo un novio?" (do you have boyfriend?) and i answered "...um.... yes...." to avoid any more hitting on by Ecuadorian boys, and they all simutaneously sighed in sadness (ooooh....) and leaned back. It was so cute. But damn i broke about 5 little boy´s hearts in one night. How many people can say that?
Most everything else is going great. People at the centre were giving me grief for not
Christmas Party 6
The Local's Christmas tree from the party at the school showering daily but then understood as i am friends with Steve, Adam, and Fraser who were there before me and never showered, but rather bragged about the length of time since their last shower. I do manage to get at least one in a week which is pretty good, i think, for being at a centre. I don´t see the point in showering if i am just going to be covered in animal poo, dirt, and sweat the next day, but no one else sees my logic. What suckers....
So, my internet hour is almost up, and so i will have to catch everyone up later (maybe Saturday, when i go to Puyo for my day off).
Feliz Año Nuevo to all and hopefully you get as wasted as we all plan on doing here in Baños.
And i would like to take this line of my blog to give a shout-out to my peep, Bobby, in AZ who claims we are getting married when i get back and i say we have the reception at Pizza Hut! love you!
Hugs to all,
Brosandi, Út Í Óvissuna...
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Dad
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My big girl.
How many times did I tell you "dont stick your hand in the animals dish when they are eating"? How many times did I tell you "its a trick, keep your shirt on"? Not enough I guess. DUH. If you ask me its ok that you are not good at english; because you did take spanish in collage not english. It's good to see you want to see everything; even an emergency room but come on you have to have limits. I'm so proud of you and have fun. ps. congradulations to Bobbie for having a dream. pss. Get in the shower!!!