I’m back in Ecuador. My visit home was amazing. My mother’s surgery went really well and it looks like the cancer has not spread to the lymph nodes. I am so grateful for that. She recovered relatively rapidly. A couple bumps in the hospital—the patient care was less than stellar. But once we got her home she was up and moving about in a few days. I’m so glad that I was able to be there for my mother. She has done so much for me (beginning with the whole giving me life thing), and although I’ll never be able to come close to repaying her, it felt good to take care of her a little bit. My brother was also able to come home for the weekend. This summer he is a site director for ASP in Kentucky. At first it didn’t look like he was able to come home, but a friend of the family pulled some strings and got him a few days off. So we had the whole family together again for the first time in over a year. Although the reason behind this happy reunion was less than ideal, we were greatful for the opportunity to be together again. Returning to Ecuaodr was not fun. I booed all the way to the airport. Leaving my parents was extremely difficult. It did get easier, however, once I was about halfway between Miami and Guayaquil. It is like I have two completely separate realities: my Peace Corp reality and my US reality. Crossing between the two is difficult. It was not easy going to the US either. But once I complete the transition, I’m ok. That probably didn’t make any sense… but that is how I feel. Since the kids were on vacation this week, I took the week off two adjust to being in Ecuador again. I spent most of the past few days reading. I’ve gotten into the bad habit of not finishing books once I start them. Upon my return to Ecuador I was in the middle of about 8 books. My goal is to not start any more books until I have finished at least 5. So far I have completed 3 of those books. One great thing about Peace Corps is that we have plenty of time for reading. Here is a list of all the books that I have read (and completed) so far… or at least the ones that I remember. Friday Night Knitting Club: Oh my God! So good. Like Steel Magnolias, but set in New York. Made me want to learn how to knit.Lipstick Jihad: Just finished this book today. It is a memoir about an Iranian woman who grew up in the United States after her family was exiled by the coup in 1971. She later went back to Iran to be a reporter for Time magazine. It is very good and full of interesting insights and vivid depictions of the repression still going on in Iran. My only complaint was that the conclusion is way to drawn out. Other than that, good book! You Belong to Me: An easy read. It is a mystery book that a friend of my mother’s sent me. The ending surprised my, but then again, I’m not very good at figuring out the twists and subtle clues. Entertaining, and exactly the kind of book I needed at the time. Prisoner of Birth: Another easy read. This book was a modern day retelling of The Count of Monte Cristo, a book I read years ago and really enjoyed. I loved Monte Cristo, and similarly liked this book. Santiago’s Children: I finished this book yesterday. Actually, this book was the first one that I read straight through without moving on to another one in a while. VERY GOOD. It is a memoir of a guy who went to live and work in an orphanage in Chile in the early 1980s. For those of you who don’t know your Latin American history, the dictator Pinochet was in power during this period and there was a lot of political repression. Reading this book was very interesting for me because a lot of the author’s experiences, thoughts, and emotions are very familiar to mine; others, not at all. This book made me question a lot about what I am doing in Ecuador, and what it all means. I HIGHLY recommend this book! The Constant Princess: I am a big fan of historical fiction. This book, as well as the next two on my list, are written by my favorite historical fiction author Phillipa Gregory. This particular book is about Catherine of Aragon. Although not as entertaining as the next two, this book was pretty good. I like it!The Other Boleyn Girl: I really liked this book. This one is about Mary and Anne Boleyn. It is actually very different than the movie. Tons more scandalous!!The Boleyn Inheritance: This is the first book I read by Phillipa Gregory and my favorite. It is about two more of Henry VIII's wives: Anne of Guise and Katherine Howard. Every chapter is written from the point of view of Anne, Katherine, or Jane Boleyn. Very good and lots of juicy scandal. Mademoiselle Boleyn: This historical fiction book is written from Anne Boleyn’s point of view during her time growing up in the French court. Since there isn't a lot known about her childhood, most of it is obviously fiction. It was strange to read at times because quite a bit of what happens in this book conflicts with The Other Boleyn Girl, which is written by a different author. This book is good in that it is very sympathetic towards Anne, who is usually portrayed as a scheming, power-hungry, shrew. I liked it. The King's Daughter: This book is about Henry VIII’s mother, Elizabeth of York. It is alright, but not as good as the Tudor books written by Phillipa Gregory. I didn’t like some of the imaginative turns that the author took. Still, a decent book.The Russian Concubine: I really liked this book about a spunky Russian girl growing up in China. My only complaint was that the heroine never bothered to learn Chinese, despite having lived in that country for most of her life. She only hung out with English speakers and hence, only spoke that language. Near the end of the book, however, she began to learn Russian and that redeemed her in my eyes. Anyway, very good and I can’t wait till I get my hands on the sequel! P.S. I Love You: I read this book after seeing the movie. I loved the movie. I sobbed during it! Sobbed! I haven’t sobbed from a movie in years. This book is very different than the movie, but just as deliciously heartbreaking!Angela’s Ashes: I loved this book! So funny, and yet poignantly heartbreaking. It was interesting reading about the extreme poverty while working as a PCV. I highly recommend this book.Tis: Not as good as the first, but still really good. I liked how the author didn’t portray himself as perfect, but as human. Many of his mistakes were hugely apparent—like a marriage that we all knew was doomed from the beginning or his drinking problem, yet he never shied away from it. Even his most embarrassing moments. I can’t wait to get my hands on his third book.Bergdorf Blonds: Dumb, dumb, DUMB! I wanted something light and easy. This book was too much of that. So weird reading about rich people complaining about having to fly commercial when my biggest complaint is my constant lack of runnin water. 2001 A Space Odyssey: Bad, bad, weird, strange, bad. I read this book looking for interesting insights and allegories. After all, it is supposed to be pretty famous. I was wrong. It is just weird. Ok, at first it is interesting science fiction. But near the end it just descends into the most bizarre thing I’ve ever read. Do yourself a favor, never read this book.The Bookseller of Kabul: SO GOOD!!! During the recent War in Afghanistan, the author was sent to the country--I believe--to report. One day in Kabul, she ended up meeting this bookseller whom she quickly became fascinated with. The bookseller eventually invited her into his home so that she could observe him and his family for several months in order to write a book about them. This book, with slight alterations, is the result. It is extremely fascinating to read about these complex characters and the struggles and poverty they have had to overcome. READ IT!Sushi for Beginners: Eh. Not too great. But I needed something light and fluffy at the time, and this book filled that requirement. Don’t read this book unless it is a last resort.The Map of Love: I don’t really recommend this book. It was alright, but it dragged at many parts. This story is set in Egypt and jumps back and forth between modern day (being the 1990s) and the beginning of the 20th century as it recounts two parallel stories. I liked the historical tidbits and the occasional Arabic thrown in, but only one of the two stories was interesting and I had to pull myself through the boring parallel story. The Crystal Cave: This fantasy book is the first in a series of four that my mother recommended to me. All are written from the point of view of Merlin. The first one is about his childhood and continues until the conception of the future King Arthur. It is pretty good, but it takes a lot of concentration. Not a light, easy read. The Hollow Hills: The second book in the series. In this book, Merlin recounts Arthur’s childhood. It ends with Arthur sleeping with his half sister and then his horror when he learns what he did. The Forever King: One of my volunteer friends lent me this book, telling me that it was originally an assigned reading book in high school but she liked it so much that she’s repeatedly read it since then. It is a fantasy book about reincarnation, the Holy Grail, and King Arthur and his crew reborn in modern times. It was alright. An easy read. Beneath a Marble Sky: This is the first book that I read in Peace Corps. I loved it and lent it to a bunch of volunteers who all loved it. I no longer have any idea where this book is :(. Oh well. Anyway, this book is a love story that takes place around the building of the Taj Mahal. It definitely solidified my desire to travel to India. Beautiful Boy: This book is written by a well known author about his son’s addiction with meth. It is a good book and very poignant, but drags near the end. The author does not know when to wrap up, summarize, and say good-bye. His son’s in rehab, out of rehab, disappeared, found, in rehab, out of, disappeared, found, etc. And each time the cycle repeats, the author reintroduces his conflicted emotions. I’d say that it is good until the last 100 pages, which are mostly superfluous.

They say that distance makes the heart grow fonder. It certainly proved true for my love for the United States. I’m hoping that my upcoming trip to the States will have a similar effect on my love for Ecuador. My listlessness is deepening as I struggle to get my counterpart to follow through on his promises, as I watch a national governmental organization unexpectedly grapple with problems that anyone with an ounce of foresight could have predicted and by neighbors struggle with the repercussions, and as I prepare to say good-bye to four of the five volunteers that lived around my and provided me with a support network. Lately, I’ve been spending a lot of time studying for the GREs, picking out grad schools, and reading books. I know that this is just a phase and that I will eventually pull myself out of this slump. I just need time… and maybe of visit to the good ol’ U S of A! Complaining aside, I spent Thursday afternoon and Friday in Cayambe. On Thursday I visited with my host family. Everyone seems well, normal complaints aside. On Friday morning the Peace Corps volunteers and trainees had an early 4th of July celebration, complete with potato salad, cole slaw, fruit salad, delicious guacamole, hot dogs, hamburgers, and kabobs! A 100% American feast. No bananas. No rice! Nothing deep fried when it could be cooked to perfection on the grill. It was great!

I know I have been a deadbeat blogger. As Iimay so astutely pointed out to me, I haven’t updated my blog in over a month. Sorry. Frankly, I have been in a bit of an Ecua-funk lately and did not want to spread my negativity to around. Nothing much has changed in the past few weeks—work is actually picking up. It is just that I’ve been in Ecuador for a year (as of June 18th… whoop!) and I’m sick of dealing when the same problems: people not showing up or showing up an hour late, people canceling at the very last minute and leaving me to take the fall, and people saying things the don’t mean and me knowing they don’t mean it when they say it. I just don’t want to deal with it anymore! Why can’t anyone else be reliable!?

In addition to my Ecua-blues, I recently had my 1-year check up and learned that I have gained 10 lbs. in the last year. In the States, anyone who knows me just a little knows that I was a huge exercise/ gym fanatic. It was my way to deal with stress, boost my self-esteem, and work through whatever problem was bothering me. I don’t do that anymore. It is not safe to run around here and all the gyms in Machala are crappy. I lost a huge part of my life and I don’t know how to recover that.

To top off my 1-year blues, I recently learned that my mother is sick and needs an operation. I decided to return to the States to be there to help take care of her. And while I am so excited about going back, it is hard to be happy about the reason behind my going back. My upcoming visit also means that I won’t be able to return for my friend’s wedding in October which I was really looking forward to.

Life, of course, hasn’t stopped because I’ve got the negativity blues. I am now teaching workshops (self-esteem, body changes, what is menstruation, maternity/ paternity, HIV, STDs, contraception, values, drugs and alcohol prevention, etc.) in the elementary and high schools. It is amazing how little this kids know… no wonder they are constantly getting pregnant. We have an anonymous question bag in which all the kids have to write a question, regardless of whether they really have one or not. Most questions concern what is HIV or AIDS, what is sex (mostly from the elementary school kids), how to masturbate (high school), sexuality, abortion, and what to do when someone is pregnant. There is a ton of need for someone to talk openly and honestly to these kids. Now if only I can get my counterpart to stop flaking out on me….

A few weeks ago Peace Corps invited me to come to Cayambe to give a training session on income generation projects to the next group of Youth & Family and Health volunteers. For those of you who read my blog from the beginning, do you remember all those boring training sessions that I complained about exactly a year ago? Yeah, well I was invited to come and help be a part of that! I was really honored!!! I invited my old counterpart to accompany me and yesterday the two of us made disinfectant with the trainees and talked about the small business that we started in my community. I think it went really well. Anyway, sorry about being so delinquent. I will try to be better in the future. Just try to understand that I am going through some personal stuff right now and after a hard day, sometimes it is a lot easier to watch a movie or read a book that recount every frustrating detail that I encountered.

About 2 weeks ago, a good friend of mine from the States came to visit me. Unfortunately, a few days after his arrival, Peace Corps put all volunteers on standfast (not allowed to travel) because of the swine flu. Now seriously, I don’t see what the big scare is about. The actual flu has killed more people than this swine flu, AND every volunteer already has the cure (tamiflu) in his/her medical kit. So why is everyone so freaked out? Who knows.

So anyway, we spent most of his visit hanging out in my oh-so-exciting (NOT!) site. Then, last Wednesday my grounding was lifted and we decided to visit my volunteer friend Laney* in the Oriente (Jungle). We left Friday night for Cuenca and spent the night there. Then on Saturday morning, we prepared ourselves for a miserable bazillion-hour bus ride to the jungle. It is very small and extremely remote, but I fell in love with it immediately. Laney is pretty unhappy there (and with reason, it isn’t a good match for her on-the-move personality), but it was so gorgeous. Sunday morning my State-side friend returned to Cuenca and Laney and I went on a 2 ½ hour hike through the knee-deep mud to visit another PCV who has ‘gone-native.’ (Gone-native means PCVs that are so integrated in their community that they probably will never leave and, even if they do, will have a hard time fitting back into American society.) It was a difficult hike and extremely muddy, but so worth it. They scenery was just breath taking!

I left for Cuenca Monday morning. It was sad to say good-bye to my friend, knowing that I was leaving this pristine jungle and going back to my hot, dirty, smelly, banana-infested life on the other side of Ecuador. I know, I know I love my life here… but, sometimes it gets to be too much. I arrived in Cuenca in the afternoon, but unable to bare another bus ride… and the impending heat, I called another volunteer friend in Cuenca and asked if I could crash at her place. She agreed, and we spent a lovely evening chatting/gossiping and walking around the city.

All good things must come to and end, as so must my vacation. Forced to accept the inevitable, Tuesday morning I boarded a bus for home. As soon as I returned, I was pushed/pulled back into my normal volunteer life—kids visiting me every few minutes, people requesting my help, the librarian chattering to me about something, etc. I must say, it is nice. As much as I loved the jungle, this is where I belong; this is where I am needed.

*I changed her name. So sue me :p

My reading club started on Friday. It went alright. I'm afraid I was a bit too successful at publicizing my club and a few too many kids showed up than was desirable. As honored as I am at the large turnout, 45 kids (plus a crazy librarian) is a bit too much to handle by oneself. Especially, when "no talking while the teacher is talking" is not widely practiced. Nevertheless, I believe I did the best anyone could do in my situation. My hope is that the novelty of my club will go down after a month or so and I will (hopefully) be left with those who are actually interested. Cross your fingers for me!

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY MOM!!!! I love you!

Last week, Maria, a little girl who leave catty-corner to me, stopped by my house to inform me that she was turning 10 on Friday, May 1. She also bragged that her mother was going to buy a cake for her to pass out amongst her classmates and that she was going to save a piece for me! Several days later, Maris found it prudent to remind me her birthday was coming up. In case I had forgotten.

I kept an eye out for Maria all weekend, but she never stopped by. Then, today, I saw her mother and asked her how the birthday celebrations went. Her mother informed me that they couldn't´t afford to buy a birthday cake or presents for Maria, despite the fact that Maria had already informed all her friends that she would get one. Maria spent the whole day crying.

I felt so sad for Maria, so I asked her mother if it was ok if I baked a cake with Maria for her birthday. Her mother agreed to send Maria to my house after she had finished her homework. A few hours later, Maria arrived at my doorstep. When I informed her that we were going to bake her a cake, her whole face lit up. She told me that this would be her first birthday cake EVER!!!! Together, we made (from scratch) a chocolate cake with chocolate icing, decorated with TONS of sprinkles, and topped it with a candle. It turned out beautifully, if I do say so myself! I must say, it was pretty rewarding. Sometimes I don't always feel like I am making much of a difference, or if what I do even matters. But today I gave a little girl her first birthday cake. That must count for something!

The election finally ended. The thousands of posters disappeared overnight, people stopped shouting propaganda from bullhorns, and the money magically appeared to pay the government employee's long overdue salaries, plus a little extra for the hardship of going 2 months without pay. I even managed to get someone to finally fix the internet connection at the library. After 2 months of begging the Municipio to send someone, they finally complied. And the problem? One wire was in the wrong place. It took all of 2 minutes to fix. GRRRR!!!!

I finally met my counterpart. He seems like a nice enough guy. I'd like to give him the benefit of the doubt and convinced myself that he didn't know about the meeting his boss set up with me. I figure nagging him about being stood up would be fruitless. I am in Ecuador, after all, and not showing up is a normal occurrence. So this week I have been introducing him to many INFA families around my site. I think he will do a pretty good job.

I am not sure why, but INFA has not yet given the families the scholarships that allow their children to go to school. Since school opened back up in April, the families have had to purchase the books, uniforms, shoes, pencils, etc. with money that they do not have. They badly need to be reimbursed, but have to wait till the end of May. Why INFA would inflict such hardship on their families is beyond me. Some of the stories I've heard are truly heartbreaking. Seriously, what difference can I truly make in the face of such extreme poverty?

Yesterday I woke up extra early and actually took some time getting ready—as in I didn’t just throw on whatever appears sorta clean and run out the door. I was going to meet my new counterpart! His boss had called me a few days ago and asked me to take him around to introduce him to all the families of the children that receive INFA scholarships that he will be working with. Since my previous counterpart is gone, I am the only one who knows where most of these people live. (Addresses do not exist here.) After waiting for this person for half an hour I became quite indignant. This person is new at his job. He needs my help. I am the only one who knows where everyone lives. I am integrated into my community. I have work. I don’t need him. He needs me! How dare he not show up! I later learned that this guy hasn’t shown up to anything this past week. He just got the job on Friday! I’m not going to lie. I hope he doesn’t last. Unfortunately, he is good friends with the boss. That means a lot here—a lot more than experience and qualifications. After I got fed up with waiting for this guy I went to make copies of the flyer describing my reading club so I could pass them out around town. I then had to go to one of the schools because a teacher had a meeting with the parents of her students and had invited me to speak to them about my club. It went pretty well. The parents seemed pretty supportive and interested. Every Wednesday I tutor English at the library, so I spent the afternoon doing that. Tutoring English is extremely exhausting. I passed out almost as soon as I got home. Today the librarian and I went to another school to talk to them about our club. More interest. I just hope it doesn’t get too big! In the afternoon I went to Machala with a lady from my community to price shop for an amp and more fans for the library. I think I found the amp I want to buy. Now I just want to run it by the librarian to make sure it is what she wants. With any luck I can purchase them within the next week. I will probably buy children’s books with any remaining money.

Today was an incredibly busy, but rewarding day. It started when the librarian and I went to one of the schools to talk to the students about the reading club we are starting. We went to the 4th-6th grade classrooms and explained to the children how our club will work. Once a week our club will meet in the library to do activities related to books. At the end of each meeting, members will have the opportunity to take home a book to read during their free time—this will encourage the children to perceive reading as a fun activity and not an obligatory task. Upon completion of the book, club members will write short summaries of the books—this will improve children’s ability to think about what they have read and explain what happened in their own words. Those members who reach the monthly book goal set by the group at the beginning of each month will receive prizes—this will provide the initial incentive for them to read until they learning how wonderful reading can be. I am really excited about this club. Everyone has been extremely supportive of it. Anyway, after I discussed the club with the students, the librarian read them a story that my mother had sent me. The kids really enjoyed it! The librarian had so much fun reading the books that she went to the younger grades to read them the stories too. I do have to admit, the librarian is great at reading stories to children. By the time I finally dragged the librarian out of the school, we had to rush to the Municipal of Machala to follow up on the informe we submitted yesterday. The Municipal promised my town free internet in the library as part of an agreement with the previous volunteer. And until February, one of the computers did have internet. Then the Municipal sent someone to connect all three computers to the internet and that person ended up screwing something up so that none of the computers would connect. I have spent the past 2 months trying to get the problem resolved, with no success. Please keep your fingers crossed that this inquiry will produce results! Once we were done, the librarian and I went to several stores to see about buying an amp for the librarian. I still have a little over $400 left from the money the previous volunteer raised oh so long ago. Since it has been such a long time since the previous volunteer came up with a list of things to buy, I decided to make my own list with the remaining money. I met with several mothers and the librarian yesterday to discuss what we should buy and came to the decision to first buy an amp and two fans. Then we will see how much money is left. The librarian had great fun testing out different amps to use. It was nice to see her so happy! Once I got back to my town, I went to visit the mothers of my small visit to see how things are coming along and discuss a few money issues. Then I went to the library to write a notice about our club that I can pass out tomorrow. It turned out pretty good and didn’t have too many errors. I’m pretty proud of it! *** Note: This blog took about two hours to write because I happened to notice yet another mouse hiding around my fridge. I freaked out. Then tried to catch it. Failed. When back to writing. Freaked out some more. Tried to catch the mouse again. Failed. Called my neighbor for help. Failed to find it. Went back to writing. Saw the mouse. Trapped it in my bathroom. Armed myself with my broom and entered the battle zone. Killed the mouse!!!!!!!!!!! Finished writing this blog.

I have water!!!! … Sort of. Today I was awoken to the sound of water gushing from my taps. It was a truly wonderful sound. A few days ago, a pump broke and my entire town was left without running water. It was not fun. Since I only ever have running water in the morning, I was fortunate enough to have a bit of water on reserve but not fortunate enough to have enough to last me until the water problem was resolved. My wonderful neighbors were kind enough to give me a bucket of their precious water to shower with. I was extremely grateful… until I found worm-like creatures living in it. Not exactly something one hopes to see in their bathing water. *** The big election in Ecuador is coming up in a week and every position from the president of Ecuador to the president of my town is up for election. As a Peace Corps Volunteer, I am not allowed to get involved in politics. I will therefore only say this one thing: I wish that politicians in general (US politicians are guilty of this too) would spend a lot less money on flyers and block parties, and a lot more money on paving roads, improving schools, and making sure everyone has running water. Campaign promises start to loose their charm after decades of going unfulfilled. *** My counterpart quit this week. She got a better job in a town four hours away. I was really sad to see her go. She was my only Ecuadorian friend that was my age. However, it was a great opportunity for her. She is extremely bright and motivated, but was toiling at a job that had very little room for advancement. I’ve heard her replacement has already been chosen. I’m kind of nervous about meeting this new person. What if he (I heard it was a he) is lazy? What if he is unreliable? Fortunately, I am busy with my work in the library and integrated enough to feel comfortable starting up solo projects. The librarian and I are working on starting up a reading club that I hope to have running by June. I also went to two school this very week to talk to the principals about my teaching sex ed in the classrooms. I am supposed to go back to the schools on Tuesday. I guess it doesn’t matter too much what my new counterpart is like. Still, I am nervous.

Dear Mom’s Book Club Ladies, In the last several weeks I have become the most popular person on the block. All the children know me and visit me regularly. And when I say regularly, I mean almost every hour. Now while I would like to think my recent heightened popularity is a result of my winning personality, good looks, or intelligence, deep down I know there is another reason. I have games! I want to thank you all for your generous monetary contributions. With the money you raised, my mother was able to bring me down lots of games—Checkers, Trouble, Chutes and Ladders, Slinkys, Frisbees, Magnadoodles, Memory, Dominoes… I could go on and on. Most of my neighbors live hand to mouth. Few children have toys other than the occasional soccer ball. My horde of games is extremely exciting for them. I have been slowly introducing the games into my community. First, I brought out the board games. The kids loved them. They were constantly hounding me for the games. Scared that the kids would lose pieces of the games, I donated them to the library. That way the kids could play them there and the pieces wouldn’t get lost. Then a few days ago, a couple kids came over to color with me. Soon another came, and then another. Before long I had about ten kids in my house. To get them outside, I broke out the rest of my games—the Frisbees, jump ropes, slinkys, magnadoodles, balls, etc. My only condition was they return all the games in the afternoon. To my surprise, they brought them all back. We have continued this pattern every day since: I lend out the games in the morning and they bring them all back in the afternoon. Today, I was awaken at 8:30 by a group of children calling out “Señorita Katalina!” (I go by Katalina because they can’t say Kaitlyn.) As I tried to not make any noise in the hopes they would leave, I heard them say, “Has she left?” “I haven’t seen her leave.” “Where is she?” “Señorita Katalina!” I really am very popular. So on behalf of ‘my kids,’ thank you very much! You have brought a huge amount of joy to some incredible children. As they say, Dios le paga—May God repay you. Sincerely, Kaitlyn

The creature turned out to be a mouse. I managed to trap it, but when I tried to let it go free outside my house, I ended up killing it. Whoops! Needless to say, I was completely 100% freaked out. On Thursday, one of the girls who had visited me the day before came again. I invited her cousins and her to come and color. Soon another kid came, then another, and another. Before long my house was filled with kids. I then gave them some games my parents brought me and sent them outside, making them promise me that they would bring them back in the afternoon. I actually did get them all back! I am grateful to my parents for bring all these games. I really am! I am currently the most popular person on the block. But as the most popular person, I rarely get left alone. Sigh. The price of popularity! Then I went with one of the mothers of my small business to Machala to buy ingredients for making another batch of disinfectant. We picked out four new scents for our next batch: pine, strawberry, sea breeze, and green apple. Hopefully they will be a success. I spent most of Good Friday with the same neighbor I spent Carnival with and her family. I got to try fanesca—a soup filled with fish and many different types of beans that Ecuadorians make on Good Friday. It was pretty good. Then they made humitas, another typical food made with ground corn and cooked in the leaves. It was a lot of work, and I wasn’t very good at it. Especially, at folding the dough into the leaves. I guess the humita business they wanted me to start up when I return to the States isn’t going to happen. I spent this morning pulling weeds and removing rocks in my ‘garden.’ Right now it is pretty ugly, but I want to eventually plant some flowers. I bunch of neighborhood kids came to help me. I like to think that they simply wanted to help me—and I am sure a few of them really did—but I got a lot more help when I promised to lend out my games. It is about time I took advantage of my popularity! This afternoon the mothers and I made the disinfectant. It turned out well. I am proud to report that we have 37 more bottles to sell! Yay!

This morning I went to Machala to donate the few clothing items that I did not give away yesterday to a shelter for victims of human trafficking. When I returned, two of the girls that received clothing came over to my house to hang out. They both live in a really remote barrio that is pretty far from town and very poor. So it was a special treat for them to come over. We baked sugar cookies and colored. I sent them home with a container full of fresh cookie and a toy each to play with. I told them they could bring back the toys and Tupperware when they visited me again, which we planned for next Tuesday afternoon. After the girls left, I had another meeting with the mothers of the small business my counterpart started. (We are making and selling disinfectant for the bathroom and kitchen,) We decided to make another batch of disinfectant for Monday because there are two reunions of women to whom we can sell our product to. *** The worst part about living alone is that when I discover that I am not quite as alone as I had thought (as in certain insects are living with me), there is no one to kill them but myself. As I write this, something is living under my fridge. I am afraid. Very afraid.

For those of you who don’t know me, my name is Kaitlyn. I was once an active member of the Kirk of Kildaire—a regular at Youth Group and Sunday school, a member of Covenant Ringers, and a helper in the nursery. But God has called me elsewhere, and I now reside as a Peace Corps Volunteer in a small community in coastal Ecuador. It is hot, dusty, dirty, poor, and as my mother called it during her recent visit—depressing. But, I love it. It has become my home. The purpose of this letter is to thank you all for your generous clothing donations and to tell you all about a bit the people that they went to. A few weeks ago, my mother and my father came to visit me. We hadn’t seen each other in nine months, the longest we have ever gone with out seeing each other. As you can imagine, it was an emotional reunion. They brought with them, in addition to their own belongings, two large fifty pound suitcases full of clothes. Today, one of my Ecuadorian friends and I went to the poorest sections of my town to give beautiful, new or lightly used clothing to families without floors, running water, four solid walls. Gisella is a bright and friendly girl who I have taught to read. She used to not be able to read her homework instructions. We are now reading Charlotte’s Web together. She lives with her mother, stepfather, and four of her brother and sisters in a small cement room. A curtain separates the ‘bedroom’ where they all sleep together from the kitchen. They don’t have running water or there own bathroom. They have to share a communal sink and bathroom with their neighbors. Every child received several shirts and pairs of shorts. Three of them received shoes. Jocelin is an 11-year old friend of mine to whom I taught swimming lessons. When she began she was afraid to leave the shallow end. When I finished with her, she was swimming laps. Jocelin lives with her parents and younger brother in a small house made of sticks. They don’t have a floor and when they want to enter the house after they’ve locked the door, Jocelin has to crawl threw the window and open it from the inside. Jocelin and her brother each received two new outfits which they proudly modeled for me. Wilson is an energetic, twelve-year old sweetheart. He loves to play soccer and brings a soccer ball wherever he goes. Sadly, his parents are separated and his father does not send his mother child support. His mother can’t afford to support Wilson and his brother and sister. She wants to take Wilson out of school and send him to work on the banana plantations. He is going to end up working there anyway, so what does it matter if he can read or write? Wilson, his siblings, his two cousins that live with him all received new clothes. Marina is a kind and generous woman who has five children. She used to be a runner, and won several trophies in her youth that she proudly showed us. She stays at home to care for the house and children. She doesn’t have very much, but kindly offered my friend and I breakfast. Since I hadn’t eaten and it is rude to decline food, I accepted. I was treated to a huge breakfast that I couldn’t finish. Each of her children received several clothing items. Her youngest, who had been wearing shoes that he complained “hurt his bones” because they were too small, received shoes.Elena is a young mother that I met while chatting outside with my neighbor a few days ago. She is a refugee from Colombia who recently moved to El Cambio. She fled her country with barely anything but her three children in tow. She has no friends and family here to help her, nor has she been able to find a job yet. All her children received new clothing. Maria is nineteen years old and recently gave birth to a baby girl. When she found out she was pregnant, she married the baby’s father. Neither her family nor her new in-laws have the space or the money to welcome a new into their family, so the two newlyweds live separately. A month before her baby was born, her husband was in a terrible motorcycle and had to be taken to Guayaquil, the largest city it Ecuador and about 3 hours away, for treatment. He has not yet seen his month-old baby daughter. They new mother gratefully accepted several clothing items and a pretty baby blanket for her daughter. In total, seventeen families where helped with the clothes that I have received so-far. More clothes are on their way. On behalf of the people of my community, thank you so very much! You have relieved many parents’ burden to clothe their children and you have given many children new clothes to be proud of. As they say in Ecuador Dios le paga- God pays you.

Yours in Christ,

Kaitlyn

My parents left on Thursday. I was really sad to see them go, but we had a wonderful visit. When they came, they flew into Guayaquil, which is the largest city of Ecuador and about 3 hours north of me. They didn’t arrive until the evening, but I went up early to test out the hotel—make sure the bed was soft enough, the water hot enough, and the cable sufficient enough…. Solely, of course, for my parents’ benefit. In the evening I went to the airport with the hotel shuttle to pick them up. Our reunion, as you could imagine, was very emotional. We spent our first few days together happily wondering around downtown Guayaquil. We ate out at nice restaurants, bought a few souvenirs, and visited some museums and landmarks. My favorite spot was the iguana park—a one square block park that was full of iguanas. It also had several squirrels, which were a lot more exciting for the Ecuadorians and me. Iguanas are fairly common on the coast of Ecuador, but squirrels are not native to South America. I hadn’t seen one since I left the States. Shockingly enough, my mother wasn’t so impressed with the squirrels. She preferred the giant iguanas. Go figure. The next stop on our agenda was the Galapagos. I must say that it was the highlight of our trip. If you ever have the opportunity to go, I highly recommend it. It was gorgeous—crystal clear waters, breathtaking landscapes, and tons of interesting wildlife. We stayed on a luxurious yacht and every morning we woke up at a new island. The guide and crew were amazing. Every time we left the boat, someone would make our beds and every time we got back on there would be food waiting for us. Besides my parents and I, there were twelve other passengers on the boat. It was a good size, very intimate. Everyone was very friendly and we got along great. My favorite part of the trip was seeing all the sea lions and snorkeling. By the way, I've decided that I want to be a sea lion in my next life. They've got it pretty good there. The snorkeling was incredible. We were able to see all sorts of colorful fish, sea turtles, starfish, and even some sharks. My only regret was not bringing an underwater camera. You’ll have to take my word for it when I say it was incredible. After the Galapagos, we returned to my site. Let's just say it was a bit of a shock for my parents to go from these incredibly pristine islands to a town that is... well... not so pristine. I think my mom was in shock the first day. She described my site as 'depressing.' Awww :(

The next few days were better. After they got over the initial shock, I introduced them to a few friends and my host family. Although constantly translating (my parents don't speak Spanish and no one in my site speaks English) was a bit tiring, my parents really appreciated meeting some people who have been looking out for me. They were really impressed with the generosity of some of the Ecuadorians. One of my neighbors took a whole day of his time to drive us 2 hours there and back on the worst roads EVER to see a petrified forest. The forest was interesting, but definitely not worth the drive. My parents were so impressed that anyone would willingly offer to do that for some strangers. Afterwards, he took us to see his shrimp farm. Since shrimp is a major export where I live, it was definitely interesting to see the process of raising shrimp.

Overall, I think my parents had a wonderful time and got to see a lot of Ecuador. They day before they were to leave we returned to Guayaquil. Then on Thursday morning we piled into a cab. They dropped me off at the bus stop and then went to the airport. It was really hard to say goodbye knowing I won’t see them until Christmas. I think the first time was easier—I had Peace Corps, Ecuador, and a new life to look forward to. Now it is all routine and I know it will be another 9 months till I see the. Still, I am happy here and no there is no where else that I would rather be.

My parents are coming soon and I can’t wait!!! In the meantime I’ve been trying to think of common sites/habits of Ecuadorians that they might find odd. Here is what I have come up with so far:

Motorcycles and bicycles are not necessarily one-person modes of transportation. It is common to see entire families (including small children) precariously perched on them as they race through town.Helmets… what are those?Mothers have no problems about breast-feeding in public. I think that it is great that women don’t feel like they have to hide this perfectly natural act. Still, it is kinda odd when the child can walk and talk…Most people only use spoons to eat all their meals. Forks and knives are not very common eating utensils.It is best to accept your flaws because Ecuadorians love to continuously point them out to you… in case you hadn’t noticed. Perfect strangers will tell you that you have a new zit, that you are fat/gaining weight, that you look pregnant, etc. This is not considered rude. Ridiculous statements are often put forth as absolute fact. The following list has a few examples of statements that people have told me or my friends. It is rarely worthwhile to dispute this ‘facts.’ a.) Do not put money in your bra because you will get breast cancer. b.) Do not sleep with the fan on you because it will dry out your blood. c.) Don’t drink cold water because it will give you a heart attack. d.)You must be pregnant because you don’t eat hot soup when it is 100˚/ don’t feel well/ did not go running when you have diarrhea. A family can be very poor and live in a house made of reeds, but I guarantee you that it will have a state-of-the art entertainment center. Rice is served with every meal. And I do mean every meal. Why cook/bake/sauté/boil things when you could fry it? So much healthier… There is no real concept of dressing to your body. Nor is there an age limit for certain types of clothing. It is quite common to see girls, teenagers, mothers, and grandmothers wearing the same type of clothing. It is rarely pretty… Lines don’t exist. Neither does the concept of waiting your turn. Most females get pregnant and then married when they are teenagers. At 23, most people find that it strange that I am not married with at least three kids. Ecuadorians always arrive at least an hour late. It is to be expected and one should plan accordingly. Ecuadorians call it ‘la hora ecuadoriana’ (the Ecuadorian hour). The men cheat. Women should expect it and put up with it. Some of the most prominent men even have two entire families. Most people don’t believe it is even biologically possible for a man to be faithful. Women however… well that goes without saying that they are faithful. The men will hoot and holler at passing women… especially if she is a gringa. At parties, instead of giving a person his/her own beer, it is customary for one person to go from guest to guest pouring ‘shots’ of beer into the same glass. The alcohol will kill the germs, right? FYI... By no means am I trying to Ecua-bash. I love Ecuador and all its idiosyncrasies. These are just differences that I’ve observed.

A few weeks ago, two of my fellow volunteers met this American guy who lives in Machala. He is my parents’ age, single with grown kids living in the States, really nice, and very well off. He has been extremely generous to us volunteers and has invited us over to his house several times to hang out and swim in his pool. He has even allowed us the throw a St. Patrick’s Day-themed party this Saturday and invite other volunteers all around the country.

Today we went to his place to make brunch, hang out by the pool and take a few pictures to send to all the volunteers in order to entice them to come to our party on Saturday. I can’t even begin to explain to you how cathartic it is to go to a really nice house and enjoy a few luxuries. Please don’t take this the wrong way, but by joining the Peace Corps I left a lot—family, friends, job, language, culture—but I left my social class too. As much as I love my little house with bucket baths, running water only in the mornings, and an aluminum roof that turns my house into an oven mid-day, I miss the luxuries that came with growing up middle class. I miss things like cable TV, AC, nicely decorated houses, manicured lawns, and WiFi. Every visit there is like a quick trip to the States.

The only downside is that I got really burned by the pool today… but I think I’ll survive!

A few days ago I went to visit my host family and my host mother started complaining that her daughter, Michelle, spends all her time in the house watching TV and playing on the computer. I offered to take Michelle to try out a dance class that I used to take. My host mom thought that that was a great idea, so today Michelle, her neighbor, and I went to try out a dance class. I was a great workout and I think they really like it.

On the way home, I, being an idiot, left my wallet on the bus. Idiot, idiot, IDIOT!!! Fortunately, I realized it about 2 minutes after I got off the busy and even more fortunately, I live not too far from the end of the line and was dressed in my workout clothes. I began to chase after the bus and managed to catch it as it was returning. I hopped on the bus and began to search for my wallet. The guy who collects the money for the passage found it! Of course, all the money was gone, but I got my cards back. I lost a little over $20, but the cards were the most valuable…. At least that is what I keep reminding myself. Idiot.

To make myself feel better I watched a movie my friend had lent me. American History X. It was a good movie, but let’s just say I didn’t feel any better. It was depressing!

Teaching English

I teach English 2-3 times a week in the summer camp that the Municipio is doing. Today my kids learned the names of the parts of the body. Well, I taught the names of the parts of the body. Who knows what they actually learned.... But they did seem to enjoy it!

Here are the highlights of the past few days:

Wednesday: As I entered my bathroom Wednesday morning, about 10 large mosquitoes began to swarm around me, angry that I had dared to enter territory that they so clearly marked as their own. Fed up with my unwanted houseguests, I cleared my morning schedule to subject my bathroom to a rigorous cleaning and eviction. I mixed a good portion of Raid into my soapy water in the hopes of killing any remaining tenants. But unfortunately the mosquitoes weren’t the only ones affected by the fumes. By the time I finished, I was so light-headed that I had to lie down—far away from my bathroom. In the afternoon, however, my efforts were rewarded with a mosquito-free bathroom. My next concern: cancer…

Thursday: Mosquitoes returned. Damn!

In the afternoon, my counterpart and I resumed our meetings with the mothers in the community that with whom we want to form a microempresa (small business). The numbers had dwindled to only four. While my counterpart was disappointed with the turn out, it is always better to have a few participants that are committed, to many that are not. The charla went really well and the mothers left excited and optimistic.

Friday: In the morning I taught English. We learned parts of the body and then played a modified version of ‘Simon Says.’ I then baked muffins as a ‘thank you’ to my counterpart who had agreed to drive me to Machala to pick up some things that are to big and heavy for me to carry on the bus. My counterpart then got caught up at INFA and postponed our trip. I ended up giving the muffins to a neighbor who lets me use her washing machine whenever I want. To that lady I am forever grateful!

Saturday: Saturday was a regular work day to make up for the work missed during Carnival. The librarian and I took a group of kids to the puerto (port) for a boat trip around the Isla de Amor (Island of Love). There wasn’t much to see at all. The kids couldn’t even get off the boat. But it was relaxing and the kids did seem to enjoy it. When I finally got home, I was surprised to realize that I was sunburned for the first time in a long time.

While I was curled up reading in my bedroom yesterday afternoon, I head a large THUD followed by rattling sounds and a secondary THUD as something landed on my roof, rolled off it, and then landed on the ground. This has been happening a lot recently, but I never previously paid attention to what was landing on my roof, always preoccupied by the dirt from my aluminum ceiling that would land on my bed whenever this happened. This time I saw something clearly drop into my ‘garden’ and ran outside to see what it was. My neighbor/ land lady had appeared a few moments before me and was collecting a large green and reddish object. I suddenly realized that HUGE mangos (bigger than I have ever seen in my life) from the tree in my neighbor’s garden that were landing in my roof and causing the racquet. I inquired if I could please have the mango and she promised that I could have any mango that falls in my garden. I think she is now beginning to regret her promise as my refrigerator if rapidly filling with mangos.

For those of you who actually read my blog, sorry I haven't written in awhile. My life got really busy... and then very frustrating... and then I got sick... and then I got engrossed in a really good book... but now I am better and contentedly sitting in an air-conditioned room with nothing better to do then update you on all the fascinating details of mi vida loca.

The past three days have been Carnival. Coastal Ecuadorians celebrate this holiday by throwing water at each other, eating, spending time with family, and going to nearby rivers. Since I am currently 'familyless' my neighbor kindly invited me to celebrate Carnival with her. On Sunday we went to her in-laws house, which is located a short drive from my site, in the middle of a banana finca. It was an unusually rainy and chilly day, but no importa, the children happily attacked each other with water guns and splashed around in a kiddy pool that the dads had filled up. Then we went inside to eat. I changed my clothes, figuring I had been sufficiently doused for the day and, once dry, happily sat around and did my best to not make a nuisance of myself. After lunch, my neighbor told me the adults were going outside and insisted that I join her. Since I was warm and in my dry clothes, she promised me that I would not get wet. HA!!!! As soon as I got outside my neighbor's brother-in-law insisted the we let him pour a bucket of water on each of our heads. "For luck," he said. Once we had all been 'baptized,' the party got started. Someone started to blast music and we all got up and danced. The men broke out a cooler of beer, and after several rounds of drinks started throwing each other into a nearby pool. The purpose of that pool was to wash the recently harvested bananas and then box them, but it served well enough as a pool for dunking unlucky Carnival celebrators. At first the men were content throwing each other into the pool, but soon enough they moved onto the women. Wanting to be a good sport, I was forced to dunk myself in the pool and let them splash water on me. Soon after, someone brought out several bottles of shaving cream and we sprayed each other until we looked like we were a bunch of rowdy snowmen/women dancing in the snow.After about an hour, the formidable mother-in-law came out. We were not allowed to intentionally get her wet, but for some reason, we had to passively let her sprinkle flour and confetti on our heads. More dunking followed....Near the end of the celebrations, one of my neighbor's brother-in-laws insisted on having a reina(beauty queen) contest. All of us women were forced to parade in a circle and then the men decided who would be crowned the reina and winner of some fabulous prize (the prize has yet to be revealed and probably never will be). As the guest, I was crowned reina de Carnival. Woo, hoo!! A rey (beauty king) contest followed, and my neighbor's elderly father-in-law was crowned king. His prize has also yet to be revealed. On Monday, the same neighbor invited me to go with her side of the family to a river. Around midday, a large group of us piled into one large truck and a camioneta (pickup truck). I live for riding in camionetas-- it is so much fun-- and asked to be allowed to ride in the camioneta. My request was granted and I jumped in the back, along with several kids and two buckets filled with water balloons. We happily spent the 1 1/2 hour drive throwing water balloons at passing groups of people, having water balloons thrown at us, and dousing each other with water. I was completely soaked before we even arrived at the river. We spent the next several hours soaking each other, eating, and talking. Before I knew it, it was time to load back into the camioneta for the return trip. By the time I got to my house, I was thoroughly exhausted. Today, my neighbor once again invited to spent the day with her family. They brought me to her sister's house and we had a nice lunch, followed my conversation. I only stayed a few hours-- quickly exhausted by all the Spanish-- and caught a ride home with her aunt. I've decided that I love Carnival, but it is quite exhausting. I need a vacation...

I am sorry to report that Ecuador has recently become a very dangerous place to live. A silent war has been declared and no one is safe. There are no sides and no rules. Neighbors have turned against each other. Families too. It is every woman (and man) for herself (himself). Children are being senselessly attracted and many have stricken back, becoming perpetrators of some of the most heinous crimes. Even worse, the war has not yet reached its peak. A great battle looms before me and there is nothing that anyone can do to stop it. Because I look foreign, I am even more at risk than most people. I have already been attacked several times. The US embassy has issued warnings, but is incapable of protecting its citizens. Tired of living in fear every time I step foot outside, I recently bought I small hand pistol. Something small that I carry in my purse and that will make people think twice before attacking me. Now that I travel armed, I have begun to launch my own attack. My neighbors must know that I will defend my honor. Children are my target of choice. I will no longer tolerate their attacks without retaliation. Yes, Carnival is indeed upon us.

For those of you who have never experienced Carnival, it is basically a 2 week free-for-all water fight. It is not uncommon to find yourself randomly drenched from a water balloon or a bucket of water that has been dropped on you head. The big Carnival celebration, however, begins this weekend. That is when it will really get dangerous. Right now people are only throwing water. Soon they will start adding flour and eggs to the equation. I fully intend to arm myself appropriately. My little water pistol is sufficient for now, soon it won’t be enough. I will hold my own.

Today is an extremely hot day and my friends and I are taking refuge from the heat at the nearby air-conditioned shopping mall. We are going to go see Blindness in about 1 ½ hours and I am killing time by writing letters and (obviously) updating my blog.

The past few days have been filled with lots of little highs and lows. First, I little background: starting next week, the librarians of Machala and the surrounding parroquias are throwing a free summer camp for the children. The other volunteers and I have been asked to help the librarians out and to teach English classes as part of the camp. My counterpart (who works for INFA) agreed to teach a puppet class at the camp in my site. However, when her boss found out, the boss forbade my counterpart from participating in the camp because, she claimed, the Municipal would receive the credit and not INFA. Stupid politics!

After my counterpart told me the bad news, I went to talk to the librarian about finding a replacement and following up on a few other issues. I suggested to her that we should go to the Municipal on Wednesday to talk to her bosses and she agreed. When I arrived at the Municipal that day I realized to my horror that a meeting was about to start and I was expected to attend. I flipped out! I hate those meetings because they take FOREVER!!! I always have to mentally prepare myself to sit through them and this one was completely unexpected. I turned on the librarian and demanded to know why she didn’t tell me there would be a meeting. She said she did and I retorted that she most defiantly did not!!!! We argued back and forth for a few minutes, but both of us adamantly refused to be persuaded to the other’s side… because she really did not tell me, but is too scatterbrained to realize it. I thought about walking out, but I had already pitched too much of a hissy fit and I really did need to talk to the librarian’s boss. Finding myself condemned to sit through a 4 hour meeting, I sat in the back and texted evil messages about the librarian to whoever I though might be sympathetic to my plight.

When I finally got to talk to the librarian’s boss, I told her about the lack of instructor for the puppets class and she promised to send someone to teach it. I then questioned her about the logistics of the camp. According to the schedule that the librarian had drawn up, there was one activity every hour and the children would go from activity to activity as a large group. Since 90 kids were signed up to attend by that time, I was obviously concerned about controlling all of them. I repeatedly talked to the librarian about dividing the children into group and have the groups rotate through the activities. She responded by saying that not everyone would show up, to which I shot back that even if half showed up, it would be impossible to manage them all. And I was expected to teach a foreign language! Another impasse… to which I turned to the librarian’s boss for some voice of reason. When I explained my problem the boss, she told me that I was confused and that the children would not go to every class, only the ones that they chose. The children should have chosen the classes when they registered. Relieved, I went back to talk to explain to the librarian that I had realized that I was confused. After talking to her for several minutes, however, I realized that I was not the only one confused. In fact, I was the only one who understood that there was a miscommunication. I sent the librarian to talk to her boss and work things out. (Since the librarian was the one confused about the registration and I was the one to decipher the problem, can you see why it is more probable that she did not tell me about the meeting than I did not understand her when she told me?)

After we resolved that problem, I then brought up the issue of the missing receipts. Back in November, I hired an artist that worked for the library to paint murals using money that the previous volunteer had left me. Everyone told me that he was great friend with the previous volunteer and buena gente (good people). I gave him $80 for paint. He painted about half the library and then stopped coming. I called him several times, and he always told me that he would come ‘tomorrow.’ Somehow ‘tomorrow’ has not come. Well, I gave up trying to get him to finish painting, and focused on getting the receipts for the money I gave him. Now it is February and I still have not gotten them. After failing to get them myself, I have started to get the Municipal involved. I’ve tried to motivate them by saying that Peace Corps won’t let me make any more purchases with the remaining money until I get those receipts. I am currently sitting on a little over $400. Anyway, the Municipal has tried to help me, but so far no luck. The librarian’s boss did tell us to go talk to one lady. As soon as that lady realized who we came to talk to her about, she looked at us a flatly stated, “he didn’t finish the painting, did he?” Why no, he did not!!! Apparently, he has a history of not finishing his paintings and has recently stopped showing up to work. Buena gente my foot! I am beginning to realize that I will never see those receipts and that I probably will need to get his boss to sign some sort of paper accounting for the money. Unfortunately, his boss happens to be a lady that I don’t get along with and that I have refused to work with. Crap!!!

Moving away from my issues with the Municipal, my swimming lessons began on Tuesday. The first day went really well. All the kids showed up and we had a lot of fun playing and getting used to the water. A few other kids that I did not know were there, but I thought they were military kids and, not wanting to tread on any military shoes, allowed them to play with us. When our hour ended, I rounded all my kids up and we left together. Well, on Tuesday one of the volunteers who teaches swimming at the earlier hour pulled me aside and told me that I need to be sure to leave with all my kids. Apparently some kids had stayed until about 5:30. Confused, I replied that I had most definitely left with all my kids. When our lesson started, I noticed that several of the same kids were back, plus a few more. I asked them who they were with and they told me that they were with me. I replied that they were most definitely not. One of the mothers came up to me and told me that her kids had told her they had registered for the class. I responded that her kids had lied and that I was only going to teach the 5 kids I came with. She tried to convince me to slide her kids in, but the day had turned hectic with so many children, and I was not inclined to take advantage of the military’s generosity, especially for kids that had lied. I let the extra children stay that day, but at the end of the hour I explained to the military men watching the pool that the remaining children were not with me and that I was leaving with the children that I had come with. After I had walked the children out, I went to both doors and gave them a list of names of the children that would be permitted to enter. No more!!!

On a brighter (less ranting) note, the little girl with a learning disability that I had written about in earlier blogs, has continued to come to my house to read. I am immensely proud to report that I have noticed a significant improvement in her reading ability. On Wednesday she managed to read an entire book with only some help from me. And this is a girl who could not read the instructions on her homework assignments a few months ago! We celebrated her accomplishment by baking sugar cookies that she could take home to her family. Despite all my frustrations, I know that I have made a small difference in at least one person’s life!

After the first 3 or 4 months of service, every new group of Peace Corps volunteers (called an omnibus in Ecuador) gets together for a meeting called ´Reconnect.´The purpose of Reconnect is to discuss how the volunteers' lives are going and what they are doing, and to receive a bit more training. My omnibus’s Reconnect was last week. Last Saturday night I traveled to Quito with the two other volunteers from my omnibus that live near/ in Machala and our counterparts, who were to join us for the first two days of Reconnect. We were put up in a pretty nice hotel. It had hot water and cable. I loved it and spent a lot of my evenings watching TV. The first few days of Reconnect the counterparts and us volunteers spent a lot of time discussing how to plan projects. It was pretty useful because my counterpart has a tendency to not plan projects thoroughly. After the counterparts left, we discussed how to do our upcoming work reports, how to work/deal with our counterparts, issues/frustrations we face, how to apply for project funding, and lots of other stuff. Although the days were long and I have become used to spending my days as I please, it was overall pretty useful. Reconnect ended mid-day on Friday. I spent the afternoon running a few errands for my parents (we finally booked our trip to the Galapagos!!!) and then a group of us went to Latacunga—a good-sized city about 1 ½ hours south of Quito. We spent the night at a volunteer’s house and then on Saturday eight of us volunteers got ready to climb Mt. Cotopaxi—a really freakin’ high volcano!!!The volunteer from Latacunga had arranged our excursion with a local tour agency. They agency provided all the special gear, food, transportation, and the guides. After receiving all the gear we would need in the morning, we left for the mountain’s refuge. It was extremely high and I got a little altitude sickness (not a good sign for the upcoming climb). We spent the evening resting and becoming acclimated to the altitude. At 1:00 am we began the ascent. We had to begin when it was dark because the sun melts the glacier during the day and it can be dangerous. We were divided into groups of two people per guide and roped together. It was an extremely difficult vertical climb and VERY cold. I’m sad to say that I did not manage to reach the peak. I got about halfway up—about 5,300 meters—when the cold and altitude began to make me sick Apparently, I’m too much of a costeña. I didn’t want to push myself too much and then be unable to descend... and die. The other person in my group was very understanding. She lives on the coast as well, and she too was suffering terribly from the altitude. Of the eight of us, four people managed to reach the top. Oh well. I had a blast and I am pleased to say that I did not die! Once we all returned to the refuge, we ate and then returned Latacunga. Upon arrival there, I showered quickly at the volunteer’s house, said my good-byes and thank-yous, and then caught a bus for Machala. It was about midnight when I finally arrived in my site and good lord was I exhausted and sore!I spent most of today visiting people. I was pleased to note that lots of people noticed my absence. That definitely made me feel good. I got my hair cut (about 6 inches). My counterpart and I had a charla planned, but the people forgot to come so we are going to reschedule it for Friday. I also bought food, cleaned my house, washed my clothes, and prepared an English pre-test to evaluate the levels of the students that I am going to teach. Overall, it was a pretty busy day.

This past week I spent the majority of my days working with my counterpart. On Monday we gave a small business charla to ten mothers in the community. We proposed that they think of a product that they could make and try selling it around the community. I have a Peace Corps small business manuals that has the recipes to products that can be made to sell such as shampoo, conditioner, disinfectant, soap, etc. One interesting thing about Ecuador is that it is extremely easy to buy all sorts of chemicals over the counter. (My brother is determined to buy a big chunk of potassium to blow things up when he comes to visit me.) The mothers chose to try making disinfectant. We then agreed to meet again on Friday (this afternoon) to further discuss the development of a small business.

That day two other volunteers and I also gave a charla to the librarians in Machala about animación de la lectura (literally translates to animation of the reading, a.k.a. “How to make reading exciting”). We talked about informal education, games, how to read to children, and finally ideas of follow-up activities to do after reading. Overall, I think it went pretty well.

On Tuesday, my counterpart and I invited children to my swimming class that starts in February. And yes, I did get to see the inauguration. Five of us PC volunteers and one World Teach volunteer met up at a pizza restaurant and watched Obama be sworn in. Unfortunately, his speech was really hard to understand because there was a voice over in Spanish and I kept switching between listening to him speak and the Spanish translator.

I spent Wednesday prepping for a presentation that I have to give when I go to Quito and teaching English in the afternoon.

On Thursday I finished inviting children to my swimming class. Then my counterpart and I discussed the second small business charla that we are to give this afternoon. Since Monday my counterpart’s parents priced the ingredients for the disinfectant. The total came out to be about $10. Yesterday, my counterpart and I went to each house and requested $1. We then went to buy the ingredients and today we are going to try making it with mothers. Hopefully it will work out!

Yesterday morning us volunteers met up in my site to talk to the captain of the cuartel (small military base) about the details of the swimming lessons. When I originally discussed the idea of the swimming lessons with him it was going to be me and one other volunteer and we would each bring 5 children from our respective sites. Then another volunteer asked to participate. I was a bit hesitant because that was not the original idea, but ok… 3 volunteers and 15 kids. Then one of the other volunteers invited a fourth volunteer to join our project without consulting me. 4 volunteers and 20 kids. No. I was not having it. The pool isn’t exactly huge and we are teaching beginner lessons. I know the ratio of volunteer to child would remain the same, but I simply did not feel comfortable with 20 kids in the pool at once. When the fourth volunteer showed up yesterday I was put in the awkward situation of saying something like “ummmm…. I don’t want you to participate.” I felt like a total bitch and was pissed that I was the only one who saw the potential danger. Well, the captain ended up not being there (emergency trip to Guayaquil), so I told the guard to give him my number and call me when he returned. In the afternoon I visited families with my counterpart, tutored a child in English, and then went to the shopping mall to use the wifi to talk to my Mom. She never showed online and I was pretty disappointed. I really wanted her advice/support on my swimming problem and I think I sent her some not-so-nice emails. Sorry Mom!!!!! Today was much better. The captain returned early and called me to request that we meet today. I went to the cuartel and somehow managed to negotiate two hours of pool time so that we could have two classes of 10 children each. I was pretty proud of myself! Those volunteers better appreciate what I did!!! In the afternoon I met up with my counterpart to plan a small business charla (talk) that we are going to give on Monday. We are hoping to start up a small business with some mothers in the community. I then tutored a little girl in English for an hour. Afterwards, I sat down with the librarian to plan out what we were going to talk about at a meeting that she was having later that afternoon. She has a HUGE tendency to go off topic, which makes her meetings last forever, which causes parents to not want to show up. I am trying to change that. The meeting actually went pretty well. She sorta stuck to the list. I sat next to her so that I could whisper to her when she was getting off topic, nudge her when she was interrupting people, and tell her when to rap it up. I think some of the mothers noticed and appreciated my efforts. Overall, I was quite pleased with my accomplishments today. And in addition to all that… I had my clothes washed!

It’s the rainy season (I think). The mosquitoes are multiplying like crazy. NOT FUN!

This week is shaping up to be pretty eventful. On Monday, the little girl that I tutor who I believe has a learning disability returned from Guayaquil. Her mother had sent her and her brother from the same father there in order to spend Christmas with their father.

Unfortunately, the father didn’t want to send them back and was threatening to move so their mother wouldn’t be able to find them. I am not exactly certain of the dirty details, but somehow it worked out and the two children are back! I was very happy to see her again and promptly told her to come over to my place to catch up on all the classes she missed. When she came over she told be she didn’t have any homework, so I broke out my book collection and we practiced reading. After we read my requirement of two books, we invited another neighborhood girl over and the three of us played Uno.

Yesterday, I went with my counterpart to visit families in my site. We went to two barrios that are located in the heart of the banana plantations and have only dirt roads. Since it has been raining the roads were mud and walking was pretty difficult. Thank goodness I didn’t slip!

Then in the afternoon I went to visit one of the volunteers in Machala that has been here a year more than me. She was to give a charla (talk) to her barrio and I wanted to observe her. Afterwards we (ok… I) made bagels. The yeast we bought was dead, but the bagels were still delicious!!!

This morning I went to the Municipal with two other volunteers to discuss a summer camp that the libraries want to do with the children of Machala and my site. (Summer vacation is February and March.) The librarians requested our help. I think I am supposed to teach English, drawing, reading, basketball (I haven’t played basketball in years minus my few games of hoops with the kids in Cayambe), and about a bazillion other activities. I don’t know how it is supposed to work out logistically, but that is their problem to figure out and let me know. The librarians asked us to come back on Monday to teach them animación de la lectura. Basically they want to know how to make reading fun and activities that they can do with the books. This I think I can do!

Afterwards I friend of my counterpart (and my friend too) was going to get married at civil marriage downtown today. My counterpart was to be one of the witnesses and she invited me to come along. It was pretty quick and simple. I was given a camera and told to take photos. I went nuts! Apparently, the new couple is going to get remarried in a church in a month. Until then they will continue to live in their separate homes. I didn’t really get why they have to get married twice. My counterpart explained to me that the bride wanted to be married in a church, but the marriages there are not legal. So couples that marry there have to get civilly married as well. I then asked why the couple is getting civilly married a month before the church wedding (February 14… gag me!). She had no idea either.

These past few days have actually been pretty productive. Ever since I resolved to stop being cautious and waiting for my Spanish to improve, I’ve been a lot happier with my work.

On Wednesday the librarian called a meeting in order to form a support network of parents of children who go to the librarian. It sounded to be sort of like a PTA for the library. Unfortunately, only three mothers showed up. Apparently there is a lot of apathy amongst parents. They just don’t want to get involved. The librarian apologetically told me that this is normal in Ecuador, and I responded that some things are universal. During the meeting (which lasted FOREVER) we talked about many different topics (most of which did not pertain to why the meeting was called… I swear, these Ecuadorians love to hear themselves talk). Fortunately, however, we did manage to discuss the reading program that I want to start. The mothers really liked the idea, but told me that now would not be a good time to start the program. Exams are coming up and then summer holidays are from February to March. The mothers told me that the program has the best chance of being successful if I wait until April. I don’t exactly want to wait, but I do want it to be successful, so I’m going to take there advice.

This meant, however, that I needed to think of a new project to keep myself busy. So, I decided that I want to teach swimming lessons. I called one of my nearby volunteer friends and asked her if she wanted to collaborate with me. She was down, so today the librarian (I wanted Ecua support and my counterpart bailed), my volunteer friend and I went to the military barracks that border my site and asked a captain if we could use the pool for swimming lessons. He responded that they give swimming lessons four days a week and the cost is $20 a month. I told him that as volunteers we can’t afford to pay that and that we want to provide lessons for the poor children who would not be able to afford the cost either. (Then the librarian had to go and mention how the previous volunteer raised a bunch of money to buy computers for the library… honestly, NOT HELPFUL!!!) So after a bit of negotiating, he agreed to let us use the pool for free if we would teach English classes there. Apparently, he has been trying to pass the TOEFL exam so that he could be transferred to Quito and has kept failing. My friend and I jumped at this offer. DONE-Z!!!

Other exciting news: I was able to get my webcam working, I talked to my mom, Grandpa, and three friends yesterday, and I made some delicious Szechwan Shrimp and I am not ashamed to say that I literary licked my plate clean. 1 lb. fresh shrimp for $1… can you guess what I’ll be eating a lot of for the next 20 months?

Today I went to the post office and was completely inundated with packages. I had been going everyday only to be constantly greeted with an empty mailbox. I finally was notified that I had one package waiting for me. Well, that one turned out to be four! YIPPEE!!!! Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!!! Since I received a lot of books and one or two repeats, here is a list of books that I currently have. 1. Cinco Pequeñas Mariquitas

2. Siempre Te Querré

3. ¡Salta, Ranita, Salta!

4. Mis Cinco Sentidos

5. Buenas Noches Luna

6. El Árbol Generoso

7. Cuentos de Dora y Sus Amigos

8. El Pez Arco Iris

9. Encuentro

10. Un Beso en Mi Mano

11. ¿Tu mamá es una llama?

12. ¡Cómo el Grinch Robó la Navidad

13. ¡Un Día Una Señora Se Tragó una Campana!

14. Conejito No Puede Dormir

15. La Isla

16. Dubi Dubi Muu

17. El Regalo de Navidad

18. Para Eso Son Los AmigosLooks like my library is beginning to rival that of my site’s. Thanks everyone!

I apologize for not writing for some time. I don’t have any excuse except that I simply haven’t felt like writing. It is not like I have been very busy. These past few weeks have been quite boring actually. Since work slowed down for the holidays I haven’t had much to do except hang out with my fellow bored volunteers and read books. I read A LOT of books. My birthday (December 21st) was pretty good. I am now 23 or, as I prefer to call it, on my second victory lap of 21. The night before my birthday, my fellow volunteers and I met up at a good seafood restaurant by the pier to hang out and speak English. We then stopped by a few bars before going to our favorite club in Machala where we met up with some Ecuadorian friends. The next morning my boyfriend (now ex…yeah, I know that was quick) took me to a nice lunch and then dropped me off to visit with a volunteer friend. We chatted for awhile and, not wanting to spend my birthday dinner by myself, I invited her over for fajitas and a movie. She accepted and we happily pigged out on fajitas and watched Forgetting Sarah Marshal. Christmas was a bit more difficult to get through. My opinion is that birthdays are supposed to be celebrated with friends, but Christmas is always a family occasion. I have always loved everything about Christmas and it was difficult to think about how I was missing out on all my favorite Christmas traditions back at home. Fortunately, however, I did manage to keep some traditions alive. For example, I love Christmas baking. Every year I enjoy making about 16 different types of Christmas bars and cookies at once and (to my parents’ chagrin) absolutely destroying the kitchen in the process. I will then make little assorted plates of the cookies to pass out to my friends. One volunteer was kind enough to let me use her stove for my cookie extravaganza since my campo oven (big pot with a rock in it on top of a stove) takes a lot long than normal to bake things. I then passed out plates of cookies to people in my site that have helped me throughout the past four months. Everyone was very pleased. On Christmas Eve Day the same volunteer that lent me her stove wanted to throw a party for the disabled children in her neighborhood. She was hoping to make cookies with them and I offered to help her out. I recommended she make my Mom’s shortbread cookies because it is extremely simple, inexpensive, and I had plenty of cookie cutters and sprinkles sent to me from the States that she could use. In the end only one child showed up, but we still had lots of fun eating cookie dough, chatting with her old host family (the party was being held at their place because her place was too small), and trying to tolerate her 5-year old host sister (who is the biggest pain in the you-know-where that I have ever met!). In the evening, all the volunteers met up at one of our houses for a Christmas Eve dinner. We ate, drank wine, talked, commiserated, and ate some more. It was nice to know that I wasn’t the only one desperately missing home. It was a lot of fun, and since none of us had plans for Christmas Day, we decided to meet up again the next day. I woke up Christmas morning and opened the presents that my family had sent me a few weeks ago and I somehow had managed to resist opening. I then decided to make the Christmas muffins that my family and I eat every Christmas Day. They turned out really good and baked relatively quickly in my campo oven. I then went to visit my old host family. I chatted with them for awhile and then hopped a bus to go to the same volunteer’s house that we had met at before. I then spent the rest of the day eating, drinking, watching movies, and basically being completely lazy. I spent the next several days doing little besides reading and trying to escape the oppressive heat. Then on December 30, I took a 3 hour bus ride to Cuenca where I met up with the two women from my Spanish training class. One of them lives in Cuenca and the other lives in a remote town about 5 hours from Cuenca but goes there frequently to get her mail. It was great fun to hang out with them. We are so very different in both personality and age that it I would be hard-pressed to think of a situation in which we would have the opportunity to become friends besides Peace Corps, but we got along great and had a lovely time visiting with each other. The one that lives in Cuenca was a beautiful apartment and hot running water. I definitely took advantage of that perk!New Years Eve wasn’t too exciting. We met up with another volunteer and went to the center of Cuenca to see what could be seen. We were kinda disappointed with the celebrations. It is an Ecuadorian New Years tradition to burn effigies that are supposed to represent the old year. But after seeing a few effigies burn, it got dull pretty fast. Since two of the volunteers that I was with were older than my parents, we didn’t exactly want to go to some club (besides… we were broke), so we ended up returning home right after midnight. I wasn’t too disappointed. It was really cold outside and the change in altitude was making me sleepy. On New Years Day, the volunteer that lives 5 hours outside of Cuenca returned to my site with me. She stayed here for a few days. I showed her around my site and Machala, introduced her to my old host family and some other Ecuadorian friends, and cooked us healthy food (we both resolved to be healthier/eat better). She like my site a lot, but did not handle the heat very well. That does take some getting used to. Today was the first day back to work. Determined to actually do something in my two years here, I went to the librarian and told her that I want to start a reading program in the library. I have some great manuals about staring such a program that a previous volunteer had written after starting a very successful reading program a few years ago. I showed the manuals to the librarian and tried to start actually planning how to begin the program. It was difficult because the libraian got side-tracked very easily and I kept trying to get her to focus on the task at hand. We ended up deciding to have a meeting with the leaders of the community next week to discuss such a program. I then had us plan of what we will discuss at the meeting in an effort to focus her and ensure that we accomplish something. I hope this is successful. Kids don’t read here so there is every probability that this reading program will fail. Still, I’m bored and am tired a not doing anything. This should, at least, keep me occupied.

Today is the 6 month anniversary of my arrival in Ecuador. I celebrated it by washing my clothes in an actual washing machine. A neighbor introduced my to a friend of hers that has a washing machine. I am very happy!

So I have a dog… Sort of… Actually, not really… I have no idea.

Ok. So what happened is that I was walking through my site on Monday to invite children to a course of ‘Libros y Arte’ at the library on Tuesday. A few girls happened to run up to me and told me that they found this tiny stray dog and asked me if I wanted to see it. I agreed and they showed me this ratty little dog that fit in the palm of my hand. They told me that their parents wouldn’t let them keep it and asked me if I would. Now I love dogs and have been contemplating getting one. I had a temporary moment of weakness and agreed. As I walked home with this tiny dog in my hand I realized what a big responsibility it was and that I couldn’t possibly handle a dog right now. However, I also knew that I couldn’t abandon the dog. So after a long night caring for the puppy and much chastising from the bf, I decided that the dog could live in my garden and I would care for it as long as it stayed. If it left… so be it.

Unfortunately, the entire neighborhood decided that the dog was definitely mine. Every time the dog ventures out of my yard, practically the entire neighborhood comes running to tell me. I keep telling them that if the dog leaves, fine. I’m not going to chase it down every 5 seconds. They don’t listen! I don’t get it. There are a bazillion stray dogs here, and the dogs that do have homes never actually live there. One old dog constantly sleeps in my yard. No one cares. But every time this dog leaves the vicinity of my yard it is a neighborhood catastrophe. I almost shouted at my neighbor to leave the dog alone.

This is what I get for trying to help a stray pup.

Another busy week. My casi-boyfriend (I hate the word boyfriend, but there is really no other word to describe him in the English language) and I got into this ridiculous fight and then made up, I helped paint a mural on a wall outside one of the elementary schools, I made gingerbread without ginger, help another ‘Libros y Arte’ course with the children at the library (we made candle ornaments), and I received two amazing packages from complete strangers (plus the regular amazing packages from my mother).

This past weekend I went to Cayambe to visit my host family for training. I left my site Friday night and took a bus to Quito. Once in Quito, I got lost riding the trolleys for an hour or so (anyone who knows me shouldn’t be surprised). After two trolleys and a bus ride, I finally got myself to the right bus terminal to go to Cayambe. I call it a learning experience. I won’t make that mistake twice!

Once I arrived in Cayambe, the kids immediately wanted to play with me. I was exhausted from such a long trip, but didn’t want to disappoint. We went to the park for a bit and then returned for lunch. After lunch, the kids showed my around some of the stores that had been built since I had left. Then we spend the rest of the afternoon relaxing and trying to keep warm (I was missing the Coast).

The next day, Marcos, Pata, Monica and I drove around the countryside. It was really beautiful, but I would constantly fall asleep and then we would stop at another destination. We stopped by Otavalo—which has this really touristy market—and I bought myself a hammock for my house and several gifts to send to the States. When we finally got back, it was almost time for me to catch a bus to Quito.

Once I arrived in Quito, I—once again—got lost riding the buses (another learning experience) on my way to the PC office. I finally got to the office and spent an hour or so using the ridiculously slow internet and chatting with other PC volunteers who happened to be there. Then it was time to catch another 10-hour bus ride back to Machala. Yippee!!!

On Friday one of my Peace Corps friends from training came to visit me for the weekend. It was so wonderful to see her. We spent Friday afternoon walking around my town and visiting the mall. It was great fun to show off my town. Her sight is very rural so it was a shock to her to see how many nearby conveniences I have. It really made me appreciate my site. It also made me realize how drastically different Peace Corps experiences can be. No one can ever foresee what his or her Peace Corps experience will be like. There is so much variety.

In the evening, my friend and I got ready to prepare fajitas when the electricity went out. Hungry and determined, we ended up preparing and eating an amazing meal over candlelight. Very romantic!

The next day we hang around my house until it was time to go to the Machala girl’s photo shoot. One of the Machala volunteers thought it would be hilarious if we took a Christmas photo of all the volunteers in the Machala area hanging off of a motorcycle (since riding on a motorcycle is very forbidden by Peace Corps) to send to the PC office in Quito. It was ridiculously hot out and, of course, only half of the volunteers arrived on time. By the time we were done I halfway melted. Fortunately, immediately after a few of us went to the beach. It’s times like these that I love living in Ecuador. I don’t miss the cold!

In the evening a few people came over to my place and we had a lovely dinner party. I cooked fresh shrimp that I had bought at the beach and then baked cookies in my campo oven. Since I can only make a dozen or so cookies at a time in the campo oven and they take a lot longer to bake, I decided to save the gas needed to cook all the dough and forked over the remainder cookie dough to my guests. Since, after all, the raw dough it the best part anyway, right? Everyone was very appreciative!

My friend left early this morning. It was sad to see her go. I can’t wait till I see everyone from training at reconnect!

Some photos of my new house:

I finally officially moved into my new house on Saturday. I can’t describe to you all how much I LOVE IT!!! It is my home, the sanctuary that I dreamt about. It is a place where I can be me: where I can prepare my own food, walk around in my underwear if I so desire (and I desire to do that a lot… it is getting really hot), and… well… be me. It isn’t prefect. There is only water in the morning, my place shares a wall with the owner and I can often hear them when I want to sleep, and the children apparently believe that my house is the latest playground… or a zoo. I friend came over yesterday and a group of children just watched us through the screen door for half an hour. They didn’t say anything. Just watched. I keep reminding myself that the novelty of my living here will quickly wear off. I hope.

Today I spent the morning enjoying my new house. My counterpart then came over and I showed off my new place. We discussed what we would do this month. She wants me to write another 3-week ‘Libros y Arte’ (Books and Art) class. This time with a Christmas theme. The only problem is that there are no children Christmas books or stories written in Spanish. I spent several hours surfing the internet for Christmas stories posted online, but none of them were any good. I know Christmas isn’t a big deal here… but seriously! I desperately searched the libraries close to my parents in hopes that my mother could scan some books for me. No luck. After several hours I found ‘The Gift of the Magi’ in Spanish and another story that looks passably interesting. Hopefully I can start with them and therefore buy myself a little more time before I have to write the lesson plan for the third and final week. Wish me luck!!!

In the afternoon I baked banana muffins in my new campo oven… which is basically a big pot with a rock in the bottom that I place over the stove to bake. I’m happy to say that it worked! Then later this evening the little girl I’ve been tutoring came over and I helped her with her homework. She can barely subtract but is ‘learning’ long division in school. (I put quotes around learning because I know she isn’t learning anything in her classes.) I broke out the large lima-bean shaped beans that I have and we counted and grouped the beans for several hours. In the end she managed to do all the math herself with me only prompting her with phrases such as “Where do we write the 7?” “What number do we bring down now?” and, my favorite, “Are you sure 7 x 7 = 1? I think you better count how many beans there are.” She eventually got the hang of the concept of division and while she solved the problems I cleaned my house and shaved my legs. All in all, it was a very productive evening!

My Thanksgiving was productive to say the least. I spent the entire day working on my house. It is almost finished and looks really nice. Livable even. All I have to do is paint the trim of the bathroom and move everything in. My goal is to move in tomorrow. I don’t think that it should be a problem. After I finish writing this blog I am going to go to Machala to make more purchases. It is costing me a small Peace Corps fortune (which is significantly less than a regular fortune), but it is worth it to turn this place into a home.

In the evening I went to Machala to eat dinner with my fellow volunteers. One of them had cooked a lovely dinner of chicken stuffed with ham, cheese, and spinach, mashed potatoes, and for dessert, apple pie. It was a lot of fun. I must admit, I wasn’t exactly the life of the party. I was so tired that I spent most of the evening sitting there like a zombie. Still, it was fun and nice to do something special for the holiday.

I am completely exhausted. Every muscle in my body aches. Even my bones ache. I would kill for a hot bath and a massage. Here is why:

Over the weekend one of my volunteer friends wanted to start painting her apartment. Being the wonderful person that I am ;-) I agreed to help her. 7 hour on Saturday and 6 on Sunday. That’s love! We got a lot done, but I was so tired on Saturday that I decided to bail on my friends who were planning to go dancing. I really wanted to go out, but I was so physically exhausted that I knew I would be 0 fun. Oh… and then on Sunday night the neighbors BLASTED their music until after midnight. I was seriously in tears!

Monday my Peace Corps boss came to check in on us volunteers and approve our housing. She didn’t have very much time; just long enough to peak into the library, approve my house (YAY!!!!!!!!!!!), and take me and another volunteer out for an amazing seafood dinner. It was really great to see her.

So since my house has officially been Okayed, I started to fix it up Tuesday morning. I got there at 9:30 in the morning and didn’t stop until about the same time at night. In the afternoon the same volunteer I helped out stopped by and eventually a group of children discovered where I was living and piled into the house to ‘help’ and hang out. I seriously blinked and my house was suddenly filled with about 10 children. I really hope this is not a sign to come. I would love visitors, but no more than a few at a time. Oh… and not in my room. I girl has to have some privacy!

Today I spent tutoring English, aching all over, and continuing to fix up my place. I am almost done painting it all. Now I just have to scrub/bleach/disinfect EVERYTHING!! Tomorrow I plan on going to the mall and buying just about every disinfected that I can get my hands on. I also need to wash my clothes… God I hurt so much!

Oh… and Happy Thanksgiving everyone. I decided to skip Thanksgiving this year on the basis that I will not be eating my mother’s turkey stuffing—which is the best stuffing EVER—so why even bother celebrating at all? I am fine with it. Thanksgiving has never been a very important holiday to my family. After all, I did spend the last four Thanksgivings working. I did have the opportunity to go to Quito to eat dinner with an embassy family, but Quito is so far away and I am currently concentrating all my energies on fixing up my new home. My goal is to officially move in on Saturday. At this rate, I will make it… but what condition will my body be in?

Life has been busy and since I recently lost my flash drive and haven´t been motivated to buy another, my blog writing has slowed.

On Friday I had another ´Libros and Arte´ (Books and Art class). This time seven children showed up. I was very pleased. For the occasion I busted out a witch wig my mother had sent me in one of her random packages for the librarian to wear while she read the story. (Btw… the story is about a witch). The wig was a huge success!!!The children loved it! However… so did the town police officer. He happened to walk into the library while we were reading the story and thought it was so cool that he insisted on wearing the wig around town. Eventually, I got it back. I was so impressed with my mother for thinking of sending the wig to me. I really do get all my creativity from her (cause it definitely doesn´t come from my dad!)

On Saturday I spent the morning helping set up for the library celebration that was to be held that evening. However I was feeling pretty depressed and wasn´t of much use to anyone. I don´t know if it was that I was hitting the five month mark or because Christmas (my absolutely favorite time of year) is coming and I´m not at home, but I was really mopey. I sent a text to one of my Peace Corps friends and she called me up and really made me feel a lot better. It is amazing how fast Peace Corps Volunteers bond. We are each others´ lifelines.

Anyway, after my friend cheered me up it was time to get ready for the town celebration. I got all dressed up because the mayor of Machala was supposedly coming (he ended up sending his second in command) and I had to make a speech. The speech went ok. I didn´t shake as much as I did the first time, but I was still really nervous and struggled with a few words. All in all, I think it went fine. Then two PC friends showed up (although not in time to hear me speak) and I was able to show off my library and introduce them to all the people I have been working with. Unfortunately, some apparently important lady started questioning me why my fellow PCVs haven´t been working in the libraries and raising money in their sites. I was pretty offended on my friends´ behalf. Especially because she had proceeded this interrogation by demanding to know why I hadn´t yet started a theater group (she knows I used to do theater). “I´m sorry lady,” I felt like saying, “I have been busy building this lovely library.” Needless to say, she didn´t really make a good impression on me.

Sunday morning I met up with the previous volunteer´s ex boyfriend who is a really nice guy and teaches English. For Christmas he is required to teach his students five English Christmas songs. Since I love Christmas music, he called exactly the right person. I brought him to the library and played a bunch of Christmas songs for him. He really liked ‘Frosty the Snowman’ and ‘Rudolph’ because they have stories behind them. Apparently no one knows who Rudolph is in Ecuador. I think this is a huge shame.

In the afternoon I had promised a little girl in my site that I would help her with her homework. She is in fifth grade and really struggling because she doesn’t know how to read. I brought her to the library so we could have some privacy (thank goodness I have a key) and proceeded to help her. At first I thought she couldn’t read because she had fallen behind on the fundamentals long ago and no one was available to help her catch up. Soon, however, I realized her problem was a lot more serious. She struggles with letters, had no idea what sound each letter makes, and had a difficult time naming numbers higher than 10. Furthermore, she struggles with recalling information that we went over only a few minutes ago. Homework that should have taken a student 30 minutes to complete took us SIX HOURS!!!! I was really impressed that kept at it. I was ready to quit, but she want to complete it all. Of course I could have made things easier but telling her how to spell words or giving her answers, but that would not have helped her. Near the end, her mother came searching for her (it was really late after all). We talked for a few minutes and I agreed to tutor her daughter as often as she needed it. Our next session in tomorrow, but I’m calling it quits after an hour.

This morning I tutored another girl in English and then helped out my counterpart with a self esteem charla. In the afternoon, during another charla, I got the brilliant idea of starting a ‘Question of the Week’ contest and giving out prizes that my mother has sent me. I spent the majority of the afternoon decorating the box making signs, writing out the instructions, and decorating the box that people will drop their answers into. Winners will be announced this Friday!

I am writing this letter from the library in my site. The Municipal finally followed through with their promise and installed internet. Now I have free internet. YAY!!!!

Life is going well. On Tuesday I met with this painter who works for the Municipal of Machala and he agreed to paint the library if I paid for the materials. I requested that he paint it blue with a few murals. The librarian and I (ok… mostly, the librarian… I didn´t know) forgot to run it by the right people and I ended up pissing off the librarian´s boss´s boss. Fortunately, I ran into him and the grocery store and was able (I think) to smooth it over. He agreed to come by the library Wednesday morning (interrupting my English tutoring schedule) to see what the painter had in mind.

Wednesday morning was spent tutoring children in English and sucking up to the librarian´s bosses to make up for my earlier faux pas. Barely any of them brought their English books or homework (why am I not surprised) so I spent the time going over numbers, letters, and the ever important verb: to be. One girl asked me to help her with her long division homework and, to me horror, I find myself trying to teach a girl long division who didn´t even know what 6-5 was. Seriously! Why do teachers let some children get so far behind? It was impossible to do because she didn´t even understand the concept of division. I asked her to divide six pencils into 2 groups and even that was a challenge. Sigh…

Today was spent washing my clothes, tutoring more children, shopping for my new house, and hanging out at the library. The library is currently in chaos. Everyone is getting ready for Saturday. The Municipal is throwing a big celebration to officially present the computers and pianos to my town. The painting is going well. My original vision of a light blue library has gone down the drain. The artist´s creative vision, has taken him over and now it is only murals. Everyone seems happy, though, so I´m letting him go at it. The librarian is ecstatic and won´t stop hitting people—her way of expressing joy… I’m beginning to get bruises. My only request is that there is at least one mural of computers and one of pianos. The artist seems to understand this (although the murals are yet to appear).

Tomorrow I hope to start painting my future home. My host dad and the artist painting the library have agreed to help me. I hope it turns out!!!! Right now about three children are learning over my shoulders and trying to understand this letter (I´m not worried). They are amazed that I can type without looking. Must go now because it is getting kind of distracting.

Thursday morning I went, as always, to the library to help with tutoring when I learned: My counterpart didn’t receive my frantic phone calls and texts saying that I wouldn’t be able to tutor on Wednesday like I promised because I was trapped in a protestThe librarian didn’t invite the children to my reading course like we had planned because I never showed up to go with herThe two men actually did die (the other volunteer saw it on the news and texted me)Some mother in my site savagely beat her 8-year old son and my counterpart had to go take photos of the child to show the policeI was to give a computer lesson that day

Needless to say, I was a little overwhelmed. It all turned out ok… I guess. I got through it. In the afternoon, I decided to make a sign up sheet for English help. I refuse to teach English—I am not equipped to do that nor is it my job, but I have no problem helping children with their homework. The deal is that I will help children one-on-one for half and hour each on Wednesdays in the library. We’ll see how it goes. The librarian and I then went to invite children for my ‘Libros y Arte’ (Books and Art) class. Everyone seemed pretty keen on coming.

Friday morning was my first ‘Libros y Arte’ class. I was really nervous. In the end, only three kids showed up. I was kinda disappointed, but I know that it is normal for people to not show up. I should be happy that three came. Hopefully more will come next week. We’ll see.

This morning I went to a meet my friend online. We hadn’t talked in awhile and it was great to hear her voice. She has recently moved to the D.C. and mentioned to me how hard it was to move to a new city and not have friends nearby that know her with the intimacy that comes with time. I replied that I definitely knew how she felt—only I’m in a country where no one has known me for longer than several months and most people don’t speak my language. She asked me how I deal with it. I responded, “I write a lot of e-mails.”

When I returned to the house today I realized that the people next door are hosting another cockfight tournament. I have to listen to drunken men cheer on roosters ripping each other to bloody shreds for the next two days. Crap!

Today sucked. Sorry about the language Mom… but it did.

Yesterday was amazing. In the afternoon I went to Guayaquil for an election party thrown by the US Consulate. It was very fancy. I hadn’t seen such finery in a long time. A lot of really important people were there (besides me, of course)—both Ecuadorian and American. I met the only Ecuadorian gold medal winner, started a big-shot club with the president of channel 8 (his idea, not mine), exchanged phone numbers with the head of the US Embassy security in Ecuador and made him promise to come to Machala and hang out with us, and got invited to go to the Consulate General’s house for Thanksgiving.

The best part of it all, however, was when CNN announced Obama’s victory. YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! After the party ended the remaining PCVs and I went to McDonalds to celebrate. We then returned to the hotel where we watched the CNN until we passed out from exhaustion.

Today I woke up and had my first hot shower in over two months. It was amazing!!! Another PCV who is near my site and I then decided to return to Machala together because we both needed to be back in our sites in the afternoon. We paid a little extra and hopped a direct bus so we would get home quicker.

Well… about forty minutes outside of Guayaquil I saw a camioneta (sort of like a pick-up truck) pulled out in front of our bus and … CRASH!!! Everyone in the bus was fine, but the camioneta was not so fortunate. Three people were in the car, including a little girl. I saw the girl and she survived but was pretty banged up. The front passenger and the driver were not so fortunate. I am pretty sure they both died. I didn’t get a good look at them (nor did I want one), they were rushed off pretty quickly.

Eventually all us passengers got off the bus and began to wait for another bus to come for us. That is when things got worse. Apparently this was the second fatal accident in the same week and people living around there got really angry. They decided to start a protest. They refused to let traffic pass and two dump trucks came out of nowhere and dumped piles of dirt on the road. The army suddenly arrived but didn’t do anything and left just as quickly. We ended up being stuck there for hours!

When I finally got back to Machala, I went straight to my dance class. After doing nothing but sitting around all day I needed some exercise. After about an hour I happened to glance out the window when I saw… ANOTHER CRASH! Fortunately this one was only minor… but seriously! I feel a little shell shocked.

I just returned from an amazing trip to a small town about four hours northeast of Quito. A large group of us volunteers all got together there for a Halloween bash and a white water rafting competition. On Thursday evening, two other volunteer’s, one of the volunteer’s Ecuadorian ‘man-friend,’ and I took a long (and uncomfortable) overnight bus to Quito. Once we arrived, we met up with two more Ecuadorian friends of the other volunteers, spent a lot of time waiting around for them (I was not impressed), grabbed a bite to eat, bought some drinks for the party, and took an afternoon bus to the site.

It was evening when the six of us finally arrived. After we said our hellos to everyone, us girls piled into the room where the other two Machala girls were staying and started getting ready for the party. Since my costume was so simple, I spent a lot of time helping out the other girls. It turns out that I am very good at putting on fake eyelashes. Who knew? Once the five of us were ready, we made another volunteer run ahead of us and make them play a Spice Girls song for our grand entrance. We were definitely a hit!!!

The next morning, we all struggled out of bed and down to the river where we waited forever for the competition to start. There were eighteen teams in total. The run was only about 2 minutes long with two teams going at a time. Each team was to raft twice. The fifteen teams with the best times would raft a long route the next day. Our team (composed of five girls, the Ecuadorian ‘man-friend,’ and the guide) won both heats. We were really proud of ourselves, especially since we were up against teams full of really strong guys. I guess it turns out being light is an advantage!

Sunday morning we all went back to the river where we, once again, waited forever for the competition to start. This time there were only three heats of five teams. My team was the last heat to go. When our heat was on deck, all the volunteers that were going to race piled into the back of a garbage truck (yes, that is right… and no, I don’t want to think of what was in the truck before us) and drove to where the race was to begin. It was a really beautiful ride through the Amazon until we turned onto a dirt path and had to duck down every five seconds to prevent being whacked by branches. When we arrived at our destination in started to pour. Since there was no shelter, we found some banana leaves and huddled under them together for warmth. It definitely was one of those moments when you wonder ‘How did I get here?’ Fortunately, the torrential rain didn’t last longer than 15 minutes. Eventually, the boats arrived and we all carried them to the starting line.

Well, I am extremely proud that our mostly-female team kicked every other male-dominated team’s ass. We won first place in our heat!!! We screamed ourselves hoarse celebrating. When the winners finally announced the overall winners, we won THIRD PLACE!!! The prize was six t-shirts and $100 between us. YAY!!!

Once we divided up the prize money and said our goodbyes we raced back to the hostel to shower, change, pack and catch bus to Quito. Once we arrived in Quito we had enough time to stuff our faces with Mongolian BBQ before we had to catch another long (and uncomfortable) overnight bus ride back to our sites.

Yesterday I spent the morning washing my clothes (not fun!!). After I finished, I went to the internet for awhile until I received a text message from a woman in the community saying she had found me a house. I went to check it out. It is a fixer-up, but I like it. It desperately needs to be scrubbed and painted, but I think it could be livable. It has a little garden, which I like. And I already know some of the neighbors. It is also attached to the owners’ house, but is completely separate. I like this because I can have my privacy, but also be close by people if I need anyone. A quick bang on the wall and people will come running to help me. I’m going to go talk to the owner again today to discuss the details. Keep you fingers crossed for me!

In the afternoon, I walked through Machala looking for paint stores and a small little table for the library. I want to paint the library with some of the leftover money that the previous volunteer raised. I am thinking of having it painted light blue with Carolina blue accents. Gotta bring a little UNC to Ecuador!!

After dance class, a few of us volunteers in the area met up at one of the house and we made cupcakes and brownies, watched a Spice Girls DVD (to get inspired for Halloween), and had a dance party. I felt like a teenager at a slumber party again. It was sooo much fun!!

This past week has blown by so quickly that I think I have whiplash. I will do my best to recap. Wednesday I spent the afternoon with a friend who had offered to help me write out and practice exactly what I was going to say for the speech I had to deliver in front of my site on Friday. After we finished, he offered to show me around Machala a bit. He took me to the best (and only) bookstore is in Machala (people seriously don’t read here), and then to the pier. I had a lot of fun until I got a phone call saying that the computers were being delivered to my site’s library and I had to be there immediately with the other half of the payment. I made him drive me straight to the bank and then my site where I hit the ground running as soon as I was in view of my house. I felt bad for being rude, but I didn’t really have a choice.

That evening, after dance class I went to another volunteer’s house where we gossiped and she taught me the Soulja Boy dance. She and another volunteer know a choreographed dance that includes those steps and I was thinking of performing it with them for the cultural night. I wanted to share a little of American culture and we all know that it doesn’t get more authentic than Soulja Boy!!!

Thursday was spent getting ready for and carrying out the final dance rehearsal with the children. The rehearsal went alright, but I got a little frustrated because we had to take a five minute break after every run-through of the three minute song. The children were ‘tired.’ Sigh.

I spent Friday morning shopping in Machala with a fellow volunteer. We wandered around the market looking for things for our Halloween costumes. Five of us girls in the Machala area are going to be the Spice Girls. I am going to be Sporty Spice. I love this because it means I get to wear athletic clothes and tennis shoes. Eas-z!

In the afternoon, I returned to my site to help set up for our big cultural night. The entire shindig went down pretty well. I was really nervous when I had to speak and my hands wouldn’t stop shaking. Everyone says I did great. The children danced pretty well. I had to sit in front of them giving them directions, but overall, I’m really proud of them. They really are great kids! I decided not to dance with the other volunteers. We didn’t have time to practice much and… I admit… I chickened out. I would like to preserve a bit of dignity.

My friend and I then went out for drinks and a burger. It was great fun to complain about our frustrations, gossip about our lives, and celebrate our successes over rounds of strawberry daiquiris and beer.

Saturday morning was spent apartment searching (not much luck) and belt-buying (success!). In the afternoon I met up with my Ecuadorian friend and he introduced me to a friend of his who lives in my site and knows everything. She took us around to see a few more apartments. Nothing seemed like home, but at least I have a few more options.

My friend and I then decided to go see some nearby waterfalls. They were pretty remote and it took about an hour of off-roading to get there. Once we finally arrived, we spent about an hour wandering around the falls until we realized that it was really dark and raining. There was no way we could get back to the main road. Too risky. For the second time since I’ve arrived in Ecuador I found myself stranded in the middle of nowhere. Fortunately (or unfortunately… you decide), the two of us managed to rent a cabin. It had no electricity, running water, and one flee infested bed (I’ve got the marks to prove it). It was kinda awkward at first… neither of us intended to wind up there! Luckily, he was a perfect gentleman and we ended up talking for hours.

We returned home the next afternoon. As soon as I got home I showered and assessed my body for damage. It didn’t look great. After a quick phone call to the nurses and pit stop at the pharmacy, I went to the shopping mall to meet up with my PC friends and use the internet. We had a blast together. Finally, I’m starting to get close to them!!!

Can’t sleep again so I will write about what I did yesterday. It was a day very full and exhausting. In the morning, my counterpart and I had another dance practice with the kids for the cultural night. It went… alright. I’m still nervous about it. The girls are pretty good… the boys need work. After practice, my counterpart and I went around to find the children who failed to show up and make sure that they will come on Thursday for the final rehearsal. It didn’t take long, and once we finished I begged my counterpart to take me to find the owner of the house I want to rent. We failed to find her, but we did find out that another family has already agreed to rent it. I was (and still am) devastated. It was my home (to be)!!! I have a month to find a home. Cross your fingers for me!!!My counterpart and I then went to Machala to find outfits for the girls to wear for the dance. We walked around the market but didn’t have much luck. My counterpart is stuck in the office all of today, so it is up to me to go back and see what I can find. Once I returned to my site, I wandered around and questioned people about available apartments/houses. I didn’t have much time, but several people gave me some suggestions that I will try to follow up on today. In the afternoon, instead of Adventura de la Vida, my counterpart, the other volunteers in the area, the other people who work for INNFA, and about fifty kids went to a nearby river to go swimming. We took four vehicles and somehow managed to fit about 20 kids in each vehicle. Let’s just say that it wasn’t exactly the safest way to travel. Once we got to the river I was dragged into the water where I spent the next two hours splashing about in the river with at least 10 kids hanging off my neck and another 10 shouting for my attention. It was exhausting. I didn’t have much time to rest, however. By the time I finally returned to my site, it was time to go to Machala for my aerobic dance class. My friends and I stayed for two classes because we hadn’t gone yesterday. By the time it ended I was about ready to fall asleep standing up. I have no idea why I can’t sleep now.