Summer? Is that you?

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It is strange to be living in a place where the weather gives me no indication of the time of year. I can hardly believe it is already June. I am almost glad because without the indications, I am not constantly being reminded that my favorite time of year is occurring right now back in the states. Granted, it is ‘summer’ here. I am told that there is less rain, more sun, and more wind. It has been pleasant enough, with some exceptionally crappy, cold, rainy, miserable days mixed in.

I have been living here in Zhud for over a month now. I have been in Ecuador for just over 4 months. That is the entire time I spent studying abroad back in the day. And yet it is only 4 months, with only 23 more to go. Time gets twisted here.

I still go with Rosa most mornings to milk and move her cow. The cows are back down in the valley again. I continue to improve my milking skills, though I do not think I will ever be able to match those of Rosa. Their hands are made for milking here.

Sometimes I meet up with Manuel to attend a random meeting. Sometimes I hang around the house, go for a walk on the Pan American Highway in order to receive confused looks and lots of honks, and attempt to read Twilight in Spanish (I don’t know why I am admitting that). Sometimes I meet up with another volunteer close-by to go to Azogues to check mail and use internet. And every single day, except for Saturday, I go to craft club for a few hours. I’ve made several beaded bracelets, recently learned to knit though now I need my own supplies, and tomorrow I will start using the big weaving contraption to start making a scarf. I had no idea I had so much craftiness inside me. I am one of the star students. My beaded bracelets are the talk of the club; they say I am very good at making designs. That is because I am the only one that plans them out before I start. Maybe I will once again try to tell them this one of these days, and perhaps they will actually listen and try it themselves, though most likely not.

I witnessed my first killing of a chicken. Rosa brought one home the other day while I was doing laundry. I asked if I could watch her do the deed since I had never seen it done before. She gave me a slightly strange look but assented. I didn’t even know where she did it inside. She called me in a short while later when she was ready. To get ready, she had to boil water. Other than that, there are no special preparations. She grabbed the chicken which had been walking around the house, brought it in the kitchen, wrapped a bag around the body, grabbed a dull kitchen knife, and started sawing away at its neck. She held it over a medium-sized bowl into which she let the blood drip. When she had sawed almost all the way through the neck and most of the blood had drained out, she put the body in a large bowl and poured the boiling water over it. This allowed for the feathers to easily be plucked out. I figured at this point I had seen most of the action, so I returned to finish washing my clothes outside. I had been worried that it may be hard to watch, but it was rather painless. I could watch, though I don’t think I could actually wield the DULL kitchen knife.

I had my first weekend away. I met another volunteer and we went to a small mountain village called Salinas. It was freezing cold and dreary, though nice to get away all the same. The town is known for its chocolate and cheeses, both of which were indeed quite delicious. They had a few different types of cheeses, which was exciting, because the only type of cheese you usually run into is queso fresco. I miss delicious cheese. And Wisconsin cheese curds.

It was slightly disconcerting returning to Zhud, returning to this foreign community alone once again in which I am still uncertain of my place. I made it through the week, and was lucky to have another reprieve the following weekend. I went to Cuenca for the night on Friday to attend an anniversary party of sorts at Red Pakarinan. My counterpart couldn’t attend, so I went by myself and first met up with Heather, who is the volunteer working at Red. We went to the party together and then went out with her co-workers afterward. It was an incredibly fun evening and reminded me of friends and home.

Today I attended the town meeting. It started around 9:30. The morning session was good and I learned about some of the bigger problems and concerns of the community and some possible projects and solutions. At 1 pm we took a lunch break. I figured everyone would leave and go find some lunch. But no one moved. A few minutes later, two men started passing out spoons. A few minutes after that, women started bringing in bowls of soup. Now, there were a lot of people at this meeting. I’m incredibly bad with guessing numbers, but there were definitely more than 60 people. I still don’t know where the food came from. After the soup, there was a plated meal of rice and chicken. They resumed the meeting around 2 and it finished around 4. It could have been more productive, but that wouldn’t be very government-like now would it.

There is a big celebration of the sun coming up in a few weeks. My counterpart is going to help choreograph a traditional dance for some of the school-aged children. The fiesta is 3 days long. My community is also going to look into selling food and possibly some crafts. I am looking forward to it. They keep joking about making me their ‘reina,’ or queen. Very funny.

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[Sarah]

My family and I moved to Cuenca, Ecuador almost three years ago. It’s been an amazing experience that has giving us a wider view of the world. We put together a report on Ecuador and the many thing to see and do here. If you would like more information on this please send an e-mail to [e-mail]