That was a quick week

July 03 2009, Friday

Holy moly did this week ever go by quickly! I’m still trying to decide whether that is a good thing or not though! Monday we just had our language/culture classes here in the lovely community of La Chimba and went to Olmendo for lunch I do believe if I remember correctly; Tuesday we had technical classes where we prepared our first “charla” (workshop); Wednesday we were all back together in Ayora for a couple more health and security lectures with no vaccinations, yippee skippee; Thursday we gave our first “charla” to some of the family members of the communities we live in (our topic was good communication) in Pesillo, a town about a 40 minute walk from my house; and then today we had a sports day in Cayambe where current volunteers came from around as well to enjoy the day and have a BBQ lunch in celebration of the Fourth of July.

In a nut shell, that was my week and man did it ever go by quickly. The charla that we gave was in groups so that much it a lot easier than what they will actually be when we get to our site and have to put on charlas by ourselves. But it was definitely a great eye opener to the idea of them as I am sure that there are plenty of charlas in my future. We did the human knot activity, and then we had a small activity on answering some questions about yourself personally and how honest you are within yourself and your emotions and we ended with some skits that we put on to demonstrate good and poor communication. Our yeah, the trip to Pesillo was an interesting one though as the “road” that we went down was way under construction and had literally holes and trenches all the way along it. So much so to the point where we had to jump from spot to spot to keep going (although some places had boards you could walk over from point A to point B I felt the jumping methods was a little more secure). Either way, it was quite the adventure just to get to Pesillo! After that route we realized that there is another route to Pesillo, it just takes a little longer. However, if you are in the mood for an adventurous walk, the way we went was the way to go.

Today was actually a lot of fun as we had a soccer tournament between all of the communities (we lost the first game, but it was still a lot of fun!). And you know what I learned from this soccer game…the altitude here is a K-I-L-L-E-R. The games only lasted 12 minutes…but then it took you about the next two following games to actually gain your breath back. At one point during the game my hands actually became all tingly and I guess that is because my body wasn’t getting enough oxygen, or at least that is what I got told! Man is that altitude every a killer. It was rather funny though watching everyone feel like they were extremely out of shape regardless as to if they actually are or not! I guess when you do go up like 8,000 feet above sea level it makes quite the difference. This is what we all learned today here at the PCT.

After the games we had the BBQ with burgers, hot dogs, chips, salad, guacamole, chips, soda, and best of all…wait for it…NO rice!!! It was definitely a good old American meal which was nice to have for a change. We also got to meet and talk with some of the current volunteers here in Ecuador that had come from all around for the event. I also got to meet my “big brother” Garret, who seemed really nice and friendly. It was really nice to be able to talk to other PCV’s and I think that they enjoyed looking back at all of us and remembering for themselves when they were in our very own shoes not too long ago really. There were PCV’s from all of the groups as well here in Ecuador; Youth & Families, Health, Agriculture, and Natural Resources (probably 15 or so PCVs). All in all, it made for a really nice day and the sun even came out for the later part of the day.

Once all of the activities were done for the day we got to spend the rest of the day in Cayambe hanging out, which was really nice to actually have some down time. So most of us went out and had a drink or two and then went shopping for whatever necessities we needed to get from a larger town while we were there.

That was my week. I think that for the most part we are starting to get into a pretty solid routine here. I am really looking forward to having this weekend off though. Both Saturday AND Sunday! I think that tomorrow I am going to go into Cayambe during the day and meet up with some other PCTs and eat lunch and hang out for the day…actually during the day instead of during the afternoon where I don’t get back to La Chimba until 730/8 like during the weeks. Then Sunday I think I am just going to stay here in the wonderful community of La Chimba and go to the weekly soccer game. It will be really nice to stay here in the community for a day and be able to read over some Spanish information and maybe even some of the other many books the PC has given us thus far!

I also think that I made a new best friend this week….one of my dogs here. He is the biggest dog that the family has, I would say medium-large size, and he ended up walking all the way with me to where we all meet up in La Chimba to then make the walk to Olmedo so we can then take the bus to Ayora. The dog decided to walk all the way to the centro of La Chimba (about 15 minutes) with me and he then continued walking with all of us to Olmeado (about 20 minutes). Thank goodness he found the way back home! He then decided to walk with me again the next day the whole way. Therefore, I do believe that I have my first best friend here in Ecuador…go figure it would be an animal!

I definitely feel like we are getting into a grove with things here…I’m just not sure yet if that is a good thing or not. PCT is very different than what being an actual volunteer will be like. Here we see another Gringo daily and are able to speak English to one another and understand where the other is coming from. At our site, we might not see another Gringo for weeks. As they told us at one point, CBT (community based training) can be a lot like high school. That is in many ways a great way to describe it. It is definitely a lot of fun though, and as many of the volunteers told us today, just enjoy it basically because it will never be like this again.

My family I am still really enjoying and having the baby here is really bringing a lot of other people around to our house. It is definitely an important time for this family and I feel a little bad at times that they have to worry about this Gringa as well. I know though that the family is glad in general that I am here and I know that I am really lucky to be here as well. The Lechon family is definitely a very loving one.

That’s it for now folks…now it’s time to finish this glass of wine that I’ve got here and then go to bed WITHOUT setting an alarm (even though I’ll walk up tomorrow way to early either by the car getting ready to go and milk the cows at about 430, the roasters whenever they decided to start making noise, the dogs barking at goodness knows what, or a family member when they tell me breakfast is ready at about 8 or 9). Either way, just knowing that I don’t have to set an alarm is good enough for this girl.