Hello all!
It’s been another exciting week in Santa Rosa de Ayora. I’ve gotten pretty used to living with my family. I usually play with Vicki the 8 year old when I get home. She wants me to read her a story, so I think I’m going to try to go to the library in Cayambe (the nearest city) and get Harry Potter in Spanish and read it to her (the nearest bookstore is in Quito, over an hour away). Janina the 1 year old has figured out my name and runs around the house screaming “Hola Kris!” and laughs historically. They call me Kris here, don’t know why but they like it so I just run with it. Darwin, the 16 year old, and I have also started to bond a little too. So far we’ve watched Rocky 1-5 and Rambo 1-3 together. He’s obsessed with Sylvester Stalone. He always asks me about things in the movies and about American culture (though most of his questions are about the movies and as we all know, I’m an expert in the subjects of boxing, sports betting and the weaponry of the Vietnam war). But I’ve learned a lot of Spanish talking to him and watching the movies (which are dubbed). My host dad always asks me about customs and policies in the U.S. I really like talking to him because it gives me the opportunity to explain things and thus talk in more than just one sentence at a time.
Last Saturday, I went to my host mom’s sister’s mother-in-law’s house with my host mom, sister, aunt and cousin to be part of a minga. A minga is basically a community work group. When someone needs work done (i.e. we planted a field of potatoes) they just call on their fellow community members and they all work together. There were about 20 of us working and got the whole field planted. Then they gave us lunch. It was actually pretty fun—I don’t think I’ll become a potato farmer any time soon, but it was fun to part of the community. Then on Sunday my family took me to Otavalo, a traditional open air market. It’s the largest market in Ecuador and is famous for its artisans. I bought some hand woven scarves and earrings. I also bought some delicious pan dulce (sweet bread, an Otavalan tradition). Unfortunately, that night I came down with a cold. My host dad works at a rose plantation that exports to the U.S. When I came home from class that day, he had brought me (he also brought some for his wife) a huge bouquet of red and yellow roses to help my cold. It was very sweet.
I’ve definitely started getting adjusted to rural life. I’ve mastered the art of bathing out of a bucket, washing clothes by hand with a bar of soap and going to bed at 8:30pm and waking up at 6:00am. There’s just one small thing that will need some fixing…my bed. It’s not a huge deal, but the wood slats that support my mattress fall off in the night, which wouldn’t be a big deal except my mattress is pretty thin, so when the slats fall my butt falls through the hole. I just get up and put the slat back and go back to bed—it’s just a surprise to wake up with your butt falling out from under you! Haha
I’m really hoping to get some hiking in soon since there are tons of mountains around here and it’s absolutely gorgeous. Peace Corps actually keeps us very busy though. I have class from 8-5 everyday. We’ve been learning a lot about the Ecuadorian healthcare system and the different programs that exist here. We’ve also been going over a lot of community assessment tools. The more I learn, the more excited I get about starting my service. I really like that PC emphasizes building relationships, community cooperation and opportunities for education. So many times, organizations come to a community in need and build a school or a clinic—which is wonderful—but how is the community going to benefit from these services if they aren’t educated in how to use them to their full capacity. The idea for PC volunteers is to help individuals and communities to be able to help themselves. I really believe that community development (including education, public health, technology, etc.) can only progress from within. PC volunteers bring the education to allow this to happen while still respecting the culture of the community, rather than creating a dependence on outside resources that the community does not have. It’s very much a give a man a fish, he eats for a day, but teach a man to fish and he eats for a lifetime concept. The training we get is really informative and I’m really liking it—although I have so many new books, I have no idea how I’m going to get them to my site.
I think my Spanish is slowly improving. I have about 150 flashcards so far with new words. I’m sure by the end of training in August I will have thousands.
Hope all is well back home!!
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