An Interesting Day

July 12 2009, Sunday

Today was an interesting day, or at least I thought it was for me! I started off the day at 8 am when my host mom knocked on my door for desayuno (breakfast). I was already awake, like I tend to be these days anyhow as I really don’t think it’s possible to sleep in around here between the rosters, the fact that the cows need to be milked at 5am, and of course the dogs. And yet when I don’t have to get up to go to classes, I tend to just lie in bed until breakfast is ready at around 8, sometimes 9 if I’m lucky. So anyways, I get up and eat my breakfast of potato and onion soup…yes that’s right folks; potato and onion soup for breakfast. For some reason my family has soup with or for every meal (tonight was chicken soup…the Ecuadorean style, slightly different than at home). I even talked to the main language and culture guy about the soup at every meal and he was a little surprised as well. I mean, it does make sense though since it is almost always cold up here to have soup a lot. So I got up and ate my soup for breakfast.

Next I worked on some competency stuff that I have to do every week for the PC (competencies are their way of saying this is some form of a test to show that you are learning something during training). Once that fun stuff was done I walked down to the soccer field in La Chimba where three of the other PCTs from La Chimba where. There are always soccer games in La Chimba on Sunday and today there were a lot more because the women were playing too. They play on a lot smaller field though than the men and they always play with less people…I think it was 7 on the field plus the goalie for the women’s where as the men’s game is normal. So anyhow, some of our host mom’s and/or sisters were playing in some of the games so we stayed around and watched (neither my host mom nor sisters played).

Since the games were taking so long and we needed lunch, we went and bought some bread and made cheese and tomato sandwiches. We also made some guacamole dip that we put on top of the sandwiches, Sprit to drink, and some yogurt. All in all, it made for a pretty good lunch. So we made the food and then took it back to the soccer pitch were everyone looked at us with funny faces because a, we are the gringas, and b, because we were bring in a packed lunch of sandwiches. However, it didn’t face us and nor did the group of dogs that ended up circling us as we ate. All in all, the lunch was definitely a success.

The games kept on going for the most of the day so one of the girls and I decided to go on a walk up towards the mountains instead. And MAN what a view from up top. And MAN what a work out. I am definitely going to be sore tomorrow. I will be sure to get one of those pictures up because it was completely worth it for the view. Not to mention that I can now say I have climbed up one of the Andes Mountains, oh yeah! All in all it took us about three hours, two hours up and one hour down. Coming down is a lot easier, but it still takes quiet the effort. And we could even see the whole town of La Chimba from where we were. It was pretty amazing really.

Then we got home around five and I decided I should really do the laundry that I needed to get done. So I started out scrubbing away at my clothes on my rock pedestal and I thought, well hey, my shoes need a little rub off to after the day. So I went and got them and just brushed them off with a little water knowing that I would have to wear them tomorrow too because they are my only pair of tennis shoes. So I see my host brother”s shoes on the stairs drying off some too and I figure, okay, I’ll just set my right next to his. Then I go back to scrubbing away at my laundry. About five minutes later I see one of the dogs run out into the yard and he has something in his mouth but I can’t quite tell what it is. Then I look again and a little closer and I realize that it is my shoe. Not only is it my shoe in his mouth, but I then realize that my other shoe is not on the stairs anymore either.

So I run out into the yard where the dog thinks it’s a game and I grab my shoe back from him. Thankfully, it was all still in tack…but there’s still one big problem; I only have one shoe. My host brother comes out and asks me what is going on and I told him that dog took my shoe and now I only have one! So he starts to look around the three possible lots where this dog might have put my shoe. About an hour later we are still looking for me shoe. It was like it had up and vanished. So it gets to the point where I am about to start crying because I am starting to have to try and accept that I might not find my other shoe and that means that I was going to have to go shopping in a country where the average female height has got to be about 5’2” for a pair of size 11 tennis shoes. I was not amused by this thought at all. So I figured to look one more place, up on the roof. And sure enough, that’s where the little thing had stashed my shoe. Some of the laces were pulled apart, but it was all still intact. At one point though, I really thought I was going to have to slap that dog for stealing my shoes. Not amused; not amused at all. What I don’t get is that my host brother’s shoes did not get touched at all…and they were right next to mine. It’s almost like the dog knew better than to take the one pair, so he just took mine instead.

So after that I quickly finished up my laundry before it got too dark (7pm here it gets dark) and then I jumped into the shower because our walk really made me stinky and we also have the U.S. Ambassador visiting us tomorrow and our one requirement was that we were all too shower…this was a half joke and half serious I think! So I was kind of starting to dread this shower because it was already dark and cold outside but I forced myself to do it. And man was I every glad that I did because it was the BEST shower that I have had here in Ecuador. It was steaming HOT water that I loved every minute of. I really do think it was the best shower that I have had here in the country yet.

Then I got out and had my chicken noodle soup for dinner, washed the dishes from dinner, and then had some type of fresh herbal tea that my mom had picked the herbs during the day in the area she was at (it was fresh from the fields) and it was really good and enjoyable.

Now I am warm in bed and the dog that isn’t really ours, Martin (our one dog, not my best friend dog but the other one who isn’t a puppy is the shoe theft though), is moaning really loudly which means I get to try and out there and have him shut up….oh dogs. I definitely still like dogs…but I also have to say there are definitely a couple of them I wouldn’t care to ever see again. This really makes me lean toward getting a cat for sure! Goodnight…hopefully!!!