Our pets' heads are falling off!

Remember in Dumb and Dumber, when everything seems to be going wrong and their pet parakeet loses its cabeza,  Jim Carrey exclaims to Jeff Daniels: “We got no food, no jobs...  our PETS' HEADS ARE FALLING OFF!"?  Yeah, that’s sometimes how I feel about my Peace Corps experience.

For example, a few weeks ago, our water went out.  This isn’t unusual, in fact it goes out almost every day for a few hours.  But this time it went out for over a week.  We have a few back up tanks in the side yard that we keep full for such occasions, but within 48 hours those were also completely dry and we are NOT in the rainy season.  And hey, I enjoy a good bucket bath as much as the next PCV, but when there is nothing to put in your bucket… I start to get grumpy when I can’t shower every few days.  And then our power went out.  Sometimes I like it when the power goes out, because the town is quiet- nobody is blaring reggatone at full volume.  It just sucks that the fridge stops working.. If you could only buy groceries once a week and had to go an hour each way, you would feel my pain!  Ok, so power is off, water is off.. and I’m sick.  Fever, aches, chills, sore throat, throbbing headache..  I was just praying I didn’t have Dengue.  But what can you do except lay in the dark, ration your filtered water, and wait it out?  The power came back first, the then water several days later.  I know I shouldn’t complain since some of my friends here in country bathe in a river with dirty diapers floating past, or use a hose on the side of the road and have to shower fully clothed.. but sometimes you just hit the trifecta of power, lights, and sickness and then yeah, your pets’ heads might as well be falling off.  Most days are not like this (although I am currently 4 days into a different water outage), but then again some days are.  And then what can you do? Like I said, lay in bed with a book and a headlamp (or in my case, your kindle with a light in the case!) and wait it out.  As I wrote this, no joke, a worm fell from the rafters onto my arm… A very slimy one. Yep, it’s gonna be one of those days.  Book #27, here I come!

There's a chicken in my kitchen!

Here are a few ways I feel that I am integrating to Ecuadorian culture:

1. When I hear music, I get the urge to dance.

2. I don’t move for people on the ranchera.  I make them climb over me with their bags and kids and whatever else so that I can maintain my highly coveted outside seat.

3. After a hard day’s work at a minga, I want to roll up my shirt and walk around with my belly exposed like every coastal man (and some women) you will meet.

4.  The presence of chickens no longer surprises me… Anywhere.

The idea for this blog came to me one day when I was at a local soccer tournament with my friend Sarah, and a handful of hens and chicks wandered through the field.  It didn’t really register to either of us, and of course the teams just continued to play around them, at which point I realized that in the last 5 months, it has become completely normal to see chickens running wild and unattended.

I admit I was a little alarmed when I first arrived at site to see the number of chickens in and around our house.  My host mom has about 22 (mas o menos) chickens and roosters, but new chicks are constantly appearing.  The first time a fellow PCV (one of the city-folk) came to visit, after stumbling down to the bathroom in the dark one night, he mentioned over breakfast that he thinks he may have stepped on a chicken on his way to the sink.  Affirmative, I said, there is always at least one chicken that sneaks into the kitchen overnight.  In fact, there is one that always lives in a box next to our washing machine and just lays and warms eggs ‘round the clock.

My favorite chicky-anecdote is from the night that I was making some huevos duros to grab the next morning before a long and early bus ride.  After they had boiled, I walked them over to the fridge when I noticed there was a large rooster tied up by his foot in the corner.  He was definitely giving me the stink eye, and I realized that I may have just hard-boiled some of his kin.  I thought to myself “Oh, well this is a little awkward..” and the next morning I had every intention of avoiding eye contact when I went to retrieve them.  To my surprise, when I flipped the light on in the kitchen, a different chicken started squawking and revealed herself from her sleeping place behind the refrigerator and subsequently scared the mierda out of me.   I thought to myself “Well, well… looks like this rooster snuck in a little chick for a conjugal visit..” and then I realized that I need to stop personifying animals that may be dinner tomorrow (or whose offspring may be breakfast today).*

*Note: when I returned from this trip, there was no longer a rooster tied up in the corner… I will leave it to your imagination what might have become of him.

Exchanging Tech, Part 2

One of the few things I actually have been able to do here in Galera since I arrived is to help with English classes.  Unfortunately, the English teacher thinks that because I am a native English speaker, I must know how to teach foreign language acquisition at the high school level… Nope.  Luckily, PC Ecuador has a TEFL program with people equipped to do just that.  So, I asked a TEFL volunteer, Peter, to come help me out for a week.  We tried to coordinate with the English teacher about how she can plan and do some co-teaching with me in the future, but she is still somewhat resistant to put in the extra work to become a more effective teacher.  So Peter took over the class.  He worked on personal presentations (my name is…, I live in…, I am… years old, etc.), then reviewed colors in English using a tic-tac-toe game, and played hangman with the kids to review the alphabet.   Because listening is not emphasized in the classroom, Peter used songs to work on the kids’ listening skills.   For example, he provided the kids with the lyrics with some words omitted from Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star with an accompanying wordbank then had them fill in the blanks to the best of their abilities.  We did a similar activity with Miley Cyrus’ Party in the USA, followed by teaching them a little dance for the chorus that we stole from a TEFL activity done by some other PCVs during training.  After they listened to the song a few times and attempted to fill in the blanks, they all got up and danced it out.  This is where Ecua kids and American kids differ:  Ask a group of 9^th grade Americans- 8 girls and 15 boys- to dance, in front of their peers, to a Miley Cyrus song.. They probably won’t.  Ask a group of 9^th grade Ecuas to do the same thing…  They absolutely will.  A number of the boys really seemed to enjoy “moving their hips like, yeah;” they could show Ms. Mi-Cy a thing or two.

The 9vo class being unusually attentive

"Profe Peter" in action

The tech exchange was a success, or at least the kids had fun and learned some new words.  I saw a few of the octavo girls at the town fiesta the following weekend, and when I quizzed them on their colors in English, they seemed to remember a lot.  Peter was a hit with the kids too, since he was actually able to show them that there are fun ways to learn a language besides repeating phrases from a book that is beyond their skill level.  I joked that the kids would have preferred for him to stay and me to leave.  Sure enough, when I returned to the colegio alone the following week, all the kids were asking where “Profe Peter” was and if he was coming back.  Following the tech exchange, the kids had exams and now vacation, but hopefully when their schedule is back to normal I can start going again regularly to plan activities and who knows, maybe have a follow-up Miley Cyrus dance party.

7 month superblog!

Ok, so I realize it’s been awhile since my last update.. Deep apologies to the 5 people who aren't related to me that are following my blog.. This isn’t necessarily because nothing blogworthy has been happening, but more because I have been under the illusion that time is moving slower than it really is.  And then I realize that I have been in Ecuador for over 7 months, and at site for almost 5.  I feel like I have been living here such a long time, but at the same time, feel like I don’t have many accomplishments to show.  Here are a few things I have been up to:

 

Mompiche, Esmeraldas

1.  Beach bumming.  Well, not really bumming. But I have checked out several local beaches here in Esmeraldas- Mompiche, Súa, Same, and of course those I am already familiar with- Galera, Atacames, Tonchigue, Caimito, and Estero de Plátano.  All are unique- rocks or sand, big waves or calm, surfers or fishermen, and the tourists/backpackers that they attract.  According to Ecuadorians, Esmeraldas province has the best beaches in the country (just in case this helps sway any potential visitors).  I think I’ll come up with a rating system (scientific and objective of course!) and publish in a future blog.  I’ll have to see if this can fall under the “secondary project: tourism” umbrella…

2.  Tech exchange!  I lured a TEFL volunteer with the promise of beautiful beaches (see above) to come help me with English classes for a week.  For details, see “exchanging tech, part 2”.

Feliz cumple a mi!

3.  I turned 25!  I can now rent a car.. too bad I likely won’t be driving a car for another year and a half or so…   I celebrated with my host family, who made me a cake on the stove (we don’t have an oven) and sang to me.  I also got to celebrate with friends from training, which brings me to #4…



Celebrating July Birthdays!



 4.  Seeing friends!  A few friends got to come up to Esmeraldas to celebrate the July birthdays of myself and three other volunteers.  We stayed in Súa right on the beach, did a fair amount of beach bumming and hanging out in hammocks, and got up close and personal with a pod of whales and a colony of blue-footed boobies.  The majority of the group hadn’t seen the coast yet, so it was nice to show off our beach and the coastal food.

 

 

Blue-footed boobies!



Humpback whale of the coast of Súa







 


5.  Celebrated the Virgen Carmen with the town of Galera.  Carmen’s a pretty big deal around here, as she is the protector of fisherman and I live in a fishing village.  Her feast day is July 16^th, so just after celebrating my own big day, I continued celebrating the Virgin in typical Ecua-style: All-night music, dancing, libations, and fireworks followed the next day by the election of a new Niña de 16 de Julio, the child queen of the festival (think “toddlers in tiaras: Ecuador).  Then games, more music, dancing, and libations.  

Fireworks in Galera



  

The little reinas





Some tough Tefleros



6.  Saw more friends!  I am the alternative representative from my program to the Volunteer Advisory Council, or VAC which is kind of like student council for Peace Corps Ecuador.  Our actual rep, Sarah, is a fellow esmeraldeña and when she was invited to participate in a panel for the newest training group in Tumbaco, I latched on for a weekend in Quito and a chance to see old PCV friends and meet new ones too.  We were there for mañana deportiva for the new group, and one the teams from our training group was invited back to play soccer, so I got to see a handful of people I haven’t seen since we swore in 4 months ago.  While in Quito, I got to eat good food and drink good coffee, almost got to see Batman (alas, it was sold out), and even caught some of the opening ceremonies of the Olympics from a Scottish pub.  Even though I am really not used to Sierra weather anymore, it was still a definite morale boost to get out of site for a few days and see everyone. 

7.  I explored one of South America’s largest open-air markets.  While in Quito, we made a quick detour up to Otavalo (province of Imbabura).  Although we missed the market’s biggest day, Saturday, we went to the crafts market and bargained for scarves, jewelry, alpaca blankets, and other recuerdos of Ecuador.  There were plenty of Gringos there, including some fellow PCVs we ran into, which is why the local vendors ask ridiculous prices for some of their goods.  Not to say I am an excellent bargainer, but I am proud of a few deals I got.  After our wallets had been exhausted, we ate pie at a local pie shop and went to nearby Peguche to see some waterfalls and get a good spray.



Eating pie in Otavalo



Visiting cascadas at Peguche

8.  I continued work with the brigada del medioambiente at a local high school.  Sarah and I are trying to help out with different projects and activities, and I think we might be on a roll.  We are starting a recycling program and talked to a guy about buying plastic bottles from the school.  The kids built wire receptacles to collect bottles and next week we are making a little presentation to the school about using the new bins.  Hopefully, we can use some of the recycling money to buy seeds for a garden and/or reusuable dishes for the school so they don’t use (and subsequently, discard) thousands of plastic cups and Styrofoam plates.  We also built a compostera, or a place to make a compost pile and we’re hoping the kids will start to discard their organic waste from the kitchen here and reduce what they throw into landfills, or on the ground, or at each other, or wherever.  ¡Poco a poco!



The Brigada



Our recylcing can

Our newly built compostera

Exchanging Tech, Part 1

One nice thing that Peace Corps does for its volunteers is supporting what are called technical exchanges.  It’s a way for us to share our knowledge, experience, and expertise with other volunteers while Peace Corps pays for our travel.  It’s also a great way to see the country without using vacation days, a motive which I’m sure is not lost on Peace Corps.  I did my first tech exchange last week, and am calling this entry “Exchanging Tech, Part 1” because even though I don’t have any other tech exchanges planned at the moment, I have a feeling there will be more in the future.  So stay tuned for Parts 2, 3, 4, and hopefully more!

Some of the fantastic scenery  in Chimborazo province!

So for my first tech exchange, I went to visit a fellow NRC volunteer, Jhonny, in Riobamba (Chimborazo Province).  Jhonny works with a non-profit group that does a number of things from water monitoring and waste management, environmental education, and after-school eco-clubs in several communities around Riobamba, which is located in the Sierra- basically in the middle of the country- and only 8 hours away by bus!  While I was there, I attended an eco-fair at a school in a rural community nearby, discussed logistics of running an eco-club with an Ecuadorian who runs several successful brigadas in the area, and attended a talk that Jhonny gave for university students about the current state of water and other envrionmental issues in the province.

Water conservation according to 1st graders

At the school fair, we attended different sessions put on by kids of all grades about topics like water conservation, recycling, nutrition, waste management, and even got to sample some veggies from their organic school garden.  The kids were adorable, even if you couldn't hear or understand anything they were saying.  For the most part, they had clearly memorized lines to recite in front of their teachers and peers.  This is an unfortunately common but not-so-surprising reality in the Ecua-education system: rote memorization above real comprehension.  They were cute and informative nonetheless!

Cooking with veggies from the garden!

I got to see a very successful environmental education program in a rural community, and got some great ideas of things to do with the kids up here in Esmeraldas, although we do not have the funding that Jhonny's organization provides to these programs.  I know that will still be a major challenge, as well as getting kids interested enough to show up to activities and meetings. But as they say here, poco a poco.

The garden

One of many uses for plastic bottles

Kids with pointers are cute!

The next day I watched Jhonny give his talk, then we explored the town of Guano nearby and hiked to the top of town for an amazing view of the valley below and the mountains/volcanoes beyond.  

View from above Guano

Hikin'

That marked the end of real tech exchanging, but the following day we were able to squeeze in a hike up in the nearby cloud forest.  Everything was so green, the air was clean, and there were gorgeous waterfalls all around.  Despite the fact that I am no longer acclimated to living at high altitude, my lungs survived the day! As did my feet- I had left any decent hiking shoes at home and had to wear Jhonny's running shoes for the hike.  A little tough on the downhill, but it was worth it!

One of many gorgeous waterfalls

And of course, I took advantage of being in a real city! I dragged Jhonny around so that I could eat pizza, pasta, and a cheeseburger- we went to a Chili's and ordered off of American menus! A real treat for us both.. and there was no rice to be found! I also went to a yoga class, took advantage of Jhonny's oven by whipping up some banana bread (rather, watching while he whipped it up), and used hisWiFi to check my email multiple days IN A ROW and also skype with fellow volunteers around the country.  Needless to say, it was hard to leave the modern world and head back out to the campo, but in a way I also missed my cement house and my toldo and knowing everyone I pass on the street (literally, Galera has one paved road..) And of course I missed the warm weather! When I returned to my site, I got off the bus and a bunch of kids playing soccer out on the cancha starting yelling "Daniela! ¿Dónde estaba?" and asked me if I would be back up at the school on Monday.  I love my site, and I'm happy to be back, but it's also good to know that my friends (and civilization) will be there when I need it! Now... to find someone to "exchange tech" with out in the Amazon...

Independence Day

This year, July 4^th has a new meaning.  True, it has always been Independence Day in my mind, but it is especially important to me this year.  Although it won’t be celebrated here in Ecuador, July 4, 2012 marks exactly 3 months since I swore in as a volunteer and I will be allowed to have a few more “PCV freedoms”.  In the first three months, you can’t have visitors (like from the US), you can’t take vacation days even though they are accumulating, can’t leave the country, and a lot of other random things.  Peace Corps has arbitrarily set the 3 month mark as the end of your settling-in period, an end to the days where you can sit around and do nothing all day and legitimately say “But PC wants me to be adjusting! I don’t have to be doing anything except acclimating!”  And while I am happy for a little extra freedom (and knowing that maybe PC won’t be keeping such a close eye on me!) I guess this also means I have to start doing some real work!  Although I finished my 18^th book yesterday (only my 11^th since I arrived in site.. looking to finish at least 1 more before the 3 month mark!), I also am itching to get some projects started.

I have been going to the colegio here in Galera three times a week to help with English classes, but this hardly constitutes a full schedule.  Classes end at 12:30 every day, so I still have most of the day to myself to read, watch movies, hunt octopus with my host mom at the beach, or take an “internet day” in Atacames.  When I am at the colegio, I mostly just sit in on English classes until the teacher (who speaks very little English herself) asks me to pronounce something, or I have the kids repeat the alphabet or phrases like “What is your name?”   Lately, I have been trying to do more with the kids.  On Monday, I played 7 very successful rounds of hangman with the octavo (eighth grade) class.  Tomorrow, I am planning some sort of team competition with the decimo (tenth grade) class that involves reviewing the body parts… Simon says, perhaps?  The colegio here only has octavo, noveno, and decimo grades which is equivalent to seventh, eighth, and ninth grades in the US.  It’s technically more like a junior high school, but the kids’ ages range so much that there are 11-14 year olds in octavo, and 13-16 year olds in decimo.  The highest grade has the fewest number of students and the highest male to female ratio- only 4 girls and 14 boys!  These are things to keep in mind when planning activities, as the boys in decimo are too old (and therefore, too cool) to participate in many games.

Fighting with barbed wire to release some trash!

Machete-ing the weeds

The Brigada de Medioambiente

My other regular activity has been going to the colegio in Tonchigue with a fellow PCV to help out with their Brigada de Medioambiente, which is their eco-club.  These kids are in their last three years of high school (called bachillerato), or like 11^th-13^th grades.  Most of them are in it to get their required community service hours to graduate from high school, but I’d like to think a few of them actually enjoy it too.  So far, they have worked very hard to clean up the area behind their school- weeding the yard by hand or machete, cleaning up trash, etc.  The hope is to eventually plant some trees and possibly a garden back there.  Last week, we took a survey to see what other activities the kids would be interested in doing and after running a quick rank-sum test (thanks, grad stats!) it appears that cleaning the beach and planting trees are a priority.  They also want to learn about water conservation, deforestation, and pollution among other things.  Hopefully, even when things become “busy” for me here (whatever that looks like!) I will still have time to come to the Brigada every week.  My ultimate goal is to start a similar club at the colegio here in Galera.

Ya mismo

One of the three goals of the Peace Corps is “helping promote a better understanding of other peoples on the part of Americans.”  This means that I should introduce my family and friends in the US to Ecuadorian culture, like by writing a blog (check!), having people come visit me here (hopefully check!) and of course, bringing some Ecua culture back to the states with me.  Some volunteers go all out and bring back a real live host country national as a spouse.  I’m not willing to commit to that kind of cultural exchange, but there are definitely some things I plan to implement back in the States.

 

First, I am a big fan of the hammocks.  Everybody in my town has hammocks.  Inside, outside, in place of furniture in the living room.. There are even several hammocks for public use near the cancha.  They are cheap (only about $7!) and so comfortable.  Plus, you can just put a baby in the hammock with some pillows around it and leave it there all day! Ok, well that part might not fly in the US.  But the kids seem happy enough, and why wouldn’t they be? They get to hang in a hammock all day!

Another thing I would like to popularize in the US is the batido.  This deliciously refreshing smoothie is just fresh fruit, milk, ice and sugar blended into a frothy goodness and sometimes accompanied by some fresh fruit on top.  Of course, Ecuador does have better fresh fruit than the US does, but I still believe the batido would be a hit and a cheaper alternative to Jamba Juice.

There are also certain phrases I plan on using when I end my service.  I’m looking forward to being fluent (or close-to) in Spanish, and I obviously want to use all of the fun Ecua-lingo I’ve been picking up.  A few favorites include chévere (cool), no hay (there isn’t any/we’re out/you are S.O.L.), and my favorite, ya mismo.  Ya mismo is a great general term used when you are talking about an indefinite amount of time.  It means not right now, but soon. Or at some point, but I can’t tell you when.  It also usually comes with a “don’t worry about it” tone built-in.  Some favorite usages:

Me: “Excuse me, when is the ranchera coming?”

The ranchera will always arrive ya mismo.

Response: [Shrug] “Ya mismo.”

This means it could be between 5 minutes and 2 hours, so just have a seat and enjoy a batido while you wait.

Me, to a cashier at the banco de barrio: “Oh, you are out of money… When might you get some money so that I can make a withdrawl?”

Response: “Ya mismo.”

This could be between several hours and a few days, so go find another ATM.

My host sister, Monica: “Daniela, why don’t you ever play soccer with us?”

Me: “I will, you just have to tell me when.  So... When do you think you ladies will play again?”

Monica: “Ya mismo.”

This could mean today, this weekend, or several weeks from now.  So just be ready.

My host mom in Tumbaco, to my host brother: “Miguel! Come eat dinner!”

Miguel: “Ya mismo!”

This usually meant “I’ll come eat just as soon as everyone else is done, so that I don’t have to talk to anyone else.”  Methinks the language of teenage boys translates pretty directly across most cultures.

So I really can’t wait to put this phrase into use in the US.  I fully encourage my readers to start now.  Your boss asks you for that report.. Ya mismo! Your students ask when their lab reports will be graded.. Ya mismo! Your landlord asks for your rent.. Ok, maybe you shouldn’t “ya mismo” your landlord, but I think you get my meaning here.  If anyone gets upset at this response, just throw in a “tranquilo!” to calm them down.