March 29, 200910 points to whoever can name the song the title's from.  Actually, only 5 points.  It's not that hard.

Several months ago I was eating lunch in a restaurant in Cuenca with a teenager and her mom from Principal. The girl picked up the fork, looked concerned, turned to her mom, and whispered in her ear, “What do I do with this?” Ecuadorians, especially out in the country, make setting the table easy by using only spoons. Knifes and forks exist, but are more prevalent in the city or in restaurants. Soups are a staple of the Ecuadorian diet, so it makes sense. And it’s not rude to pick up meat by your hands to eat it, so there’s really no need for knifes or forks. But despite all that, I was a little taken aback that a 13-year-old wasn’t sure how to use a fork. Fast forward several months to one week ago, when I was eating in a restaurant in Cuenca. I reach out to pick up the fork and my mind skips like a scratched CD…“wait, how do I use this?” I think to myself. I stick it into the piece of meat on my plate, hoping that will help me remember. No good. Which hand do I use? “Ok, I learned to cut my meat with the fork in one hand and then switch hands to eat. And I know I eat with my right hand, so I must cut with the fork in my left hand.” Sweet. First step down. I pick up the fork in my left hand. Why does it feel so awkward? “How the heck do I hold this thing?” I try gripping it. No, that can’t be right. I try holding it delicately like a spoon. It slips out of my hand. Why is this so hard? I’ve used forks all my life, why should I have trouble now? I surreptitiously glance across the table to see how my boyfriend is holding his fork and try to copy him, to no avail. I don’t want to admit my struggles, so I suffer through the rest of the meal, irked at my inability to use a fork. My utensil of choice here is by far the spoon (for lack of other options), but could I really forget how to hold a fork? Apparently so. I'll try and update soon with some pictures when I have some uninterrupted, moderately fast Internet time.

November 18, 2008 - Westfield, New Jersey, United States I’m writing this update from Westfield, NJ, where I am happily enjoying fast internet service.  The occasion of my being here in the States is unfortunate, but the chance to see family and friends has been invaluable.  I have spent the last few days with my family mourning the death of my grandfather – Grandpa Nehring, and celebrating his life and time with us. Mom called me with the news Sunday night.  I bought my plane ticket home on Monday.  On Tuesday I was making my way up north to the Quito airport.  And by Wednesday I was in the air.  The whole Nehring clan was able to make it to Connecticut to be with Grammy and attend the beautiful memorial service. Coming back to the States was a bit of a culture shock for me.  I had forgotten all about water fountains, and upon my arrival at the Houston airport I was quite pleasantly surprised by the magic metal boxes that provide free water to everyone!  Also here people speak English.  I wanted to greet every “hi” or “hello” with a “buenos dias” or “buenas tardes” but remembered right before the words came out that I am now in an English-speaking country. I was welcomed back to the States by my father and uncle who came to pick me up from the airport, and had ordered me some lovely American pizza.  I had forgotten how big restaurant portions are here – not so much in the amount of food (Ecuadorians eat heaping platefuls of rice at every meal), but rather in the amount of meat.  Though the best meal by far this week was the turkey dinner Mom et al put together Friday evening.  No Nehring celebration is complete without lots of good food.  And good food there was – turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, cranberry sauce, quiche, salad, even some pomegranates. This week marked the first time I have been back to the States since I left in February 2007.  It was amazing to see how much my little siblings have grown, who should now be called my "younger siblings" cause they're not so little any more.  And my niece Lisa got to meet her Aunt Anna for the first time.  By the end of the week she was saying "Aunt Anna is my favorite aunt."  It came out more like "ba", but I knew what she meant. The weekend was concluded by sharing memories of Grandpa – vacations on Cape Cod, chess games, Olympics, walks down Stage Harbor Road, family gatherings, and of course his puns.  Katherine remembered a Grandpa classic, which I will share with everyone, cause it’s just that good...   Why did the golfer wear two pairs of pants?   …   …   …     In case he got a hole-in-one.       Ha ha ha ha etc…

January 17, 2008 - Quito, EcuadorI have now been in Ecuador for almost a year. What have I done in all that time? Since arriving in Principal at the end of April, I have:

Been to the jungle:

    Been stung by bees on both my feet:

    Dressed up as a clown in a children’s day program we puttogether for the preschoolers:

    Become a cholita. A chola is a typical Ecuadorian woman from Cuenca– she wears a heavy pleated skirt and an embroidered blouse and usually sportsa woven straw hat, though mine didn’t make it into this picture:

    Hosted a confirmation party in my house. I’ll tell you, the people here sure know how to celebrate. I went to bed at 2 in the morning, woke up an hour later, and went back downstairs to join in the dancing:

    Played with thousands of kids:

    Blown things up…or at least watch things blow up (no, my pyromaniac side will never change):

    Seen friends graduate:

    Revisited my old host family:

    Been to the biggest waterfall in this country:

    Run on lonely stretches of beaches:

    Helped construct an adobe house:

    Gotten myself a cute little patriotic dog:

    Eaten pig head, sheep head, cow head, fish head and guinea pig head:

    Been to the equator with my sister:

    Seen some of the most beautiful rainbows in my life:

    Been to a bullfight:

    Made a turkey dinner for my adoptive family of 12:

    Oh yeah, and I’ve done some work too. But you can’t go wrong with a job where 2/3 of their goals deal with intercultural exchange (i.e. dancing in heavy pleated skirts and eating pig heads and making turkey dinners). My primary project is working with a group of artisans who weave hats and other handicrafts from paja toquilla – a straw fiber that grows in the coast and the jungle. The hats are incorrectly known as Panama Hats, though they are only made in Ecuador. My job with them is to help them organize expositions, better their business practices, and look for new markets. I also work with the developing ecotourism business in Principal. We have a community tourism committee (of which the artisans are also part). Principal is a place of natural beauty and culture, and hasa lot of potential for tourism, and my work with them deals again withbettering their business practices (how did I end up in such a businessenvironment??), getting them organized, and getting their name out there. Cause without promotion, even a beautifulplace like Principal will rarely be visited.My most enjoyable work has been with kids. I have an ecological group of some 15hyperactive kids that come to my house twice a week to learn about theenvironment, work in the garden, pick up trash, and generally make noise. I also started teaching music for the 7thgrade, and that has been a blast. The kids are so energetic and excited to learn. And they’re patient with my Spanish! I’m very excited about a new project I’ll be starting upwith a school in Chordeleg. I’m workingwith a doctor in Chordeleg to implement a program on buen trato – proper treatment – of children. We’ll be working directly with children fromall grades, as well as their teachers and their parents (or guardians, seeingas many children live with their aunts and uncles or grandparents because theirparents have gone to the States or Spain to find work). Mistreatment of children is a grave subject,and it exists just as much here as it does anywhere else, so I’m hoping our workwill be able to at least bring some awareness to the matter, and hopefullystart to plant a seed of change. Llama, llama duck!

September 10, 2007Clearly I have either been really busy or really lazy. Probably some combo of the two. Since my last update, I have been sent to my site - Principal, Azuay - where I have been living and working for the past four months. It's in southern Ecuador, a couple hours outside of Cuenca, Ecuador's most colonial (and in my opinion, most awesome) city.

So what all have I been up to? A little bit of work, a little bit of travel, and a lot a bit of eating guinea pig! I now eat guinea pig almost every week, if not multiple times a week. During fiesta season (June, July...September...whenever they really feel like it), it becomes very popular.

I have been out to the beach and out to the jungle, but have no pictures to post cause I am lame. However, pictures should be coming soon.

I am now up in Quito, soon to go back to Cayambe (where I spent my first three months) for our first big get-together/deal with bureaucracy meeting. Should be a blast. I hear rumor that there are chocolate chips in Cayambe, something I have yet to encounter in this poor chocolate-deprived country.

Well, I'm about to go eat some non-Ecua food cause I'm in Quito. Just wanted to let everyone know I'm still alive and will give a more substantial update when I have some photos to share.

June 14, 2007 - Quito, EcuadorSince my last update, I am now officially a voluntaria, instead of just an aspirante – a trainee. We had our swearing-in ceremony on April 20th, after spending a week in Quito, recuperating from the cold campo Cayambe climate (pretty nice alliteration, huh). But pictures are more fun than words, so here we go:

For the first time since leaving the States for most of us, we all bathed and actually put some effort into our looks that morning and piled onto a bus to take us to the ambassador’s house.

After singing both the US and Ecuadorian national anthem, we listened to an introduction by our Habitat Conservation boss, Kerry.

Then the big boss gave us a final talking to, reminding us to be good little volunteers and stay under his radar.

Then the ambassador gave a heartfelt speech, bringing even herself to tears.

Enter John Wilson, with the translation help of Jason K and Vargas, giving his fellow volunteers a few words of wisdom.

Then Steve, with grace and poise, looking like an eyeglasses model, addressed his fellow volunteers as well.

And then yours truly, on my lovely ebay violin, played some good ol Bach.

And wrapping up the musical section, Jeremy plucked out an amazing piece on the guitar.

Then, after swearing our lives away to who knows what for the next two years, we each got little certificates reminding us of what we just signed up for. And we got to shake hands with the ambassador. Look there’s me!

And that was pretty much all of the formalities. Here’s the whole group… 39 of us in all, at the time.

As beautiful and touching as the ceremony was, the best part, by far, was the bagels. You don’t realize what three months without bagels will do to you until it actually happens. Boy those bagels came just in time.

Here’s the Cariacu gang one last time before parting.

Before changing to head over to a BBQ at the big boss’s house, Laura, Stephanie, and I went up on the roof for our own little photo shoot with a Quito backdrop.

Then we took another bus over the well fenced-in house of our Country Director, Cisco, for a BBQ and some football (American style) in his lawn.

With complementary Pilsener…Ecuador’s finest, not to mention only, beer.

Some more flowery words from the jefe

and off we were to celebrate the night, dancing our hearts out in some club in the middle of Quito.

April 26, 2007 - Cuenca, EcuadorSo what have I been doing for the past month that I haven’t possibly been able to update my blog? Well I went on a technical trip, which more correctly should be called a sickness trip.

So on this trip, there were 6 of us trainees, 2 Spanish facilitators, and our boss – more or less. And everything was going grand until this one morning after a dinner of mystery meat. It went pretty much like this: So there we were… in Cajas National Park in southern Ecuador near Cuenca. 9 of us plus a current volunteer who will be working at Cajas. We were staying in a cabin in the woods, so we had a catering company come in to make us lunch, which was amazing. Then they left us dinner to heat up that evening. After a long, vigorous hike in the park, and a trip into town to get materials to make s’mores, we sat down to dinner. If lunch was delicious, dinner was anything but. It consisted of rice, a bland vegetable salad, and this mystery meat – thin slabs of gray meat in gray meat sauce. "Hmm, this meat looks strange." "It smells strange too" "And it tastes strange too." "It’s tongue," remarked one of the facilitators – one of the 2.5 Ecuadorians in the room. So of course we all kept eating it. Some even went back for seconds. I guess we were hungry.

Did I mention that of all the six different places we stayed on our trip, this cabin was the only lodging without bathrooms? Mmm, mystery meat plus lack of bathroom…good combo, that one. So the next morning we wake up, moaning and groaning. Everybody has stomach pains, and without going into too much detail, there was a constant line of people running to and from the cabin and the woods, which became our makeshift bathroom. Needless to say, if you ever visit Cajas National Park, there is one trail which you won’t want to hike cause the smell on the first 10 minutes of your walk will make you want to puke.

But even though we were all a pretty miserable bunch that day, it didn’t take away from the beauty of the park:

On this trip we visited a number of parks and reserves, as well as some organic farms. I finally got to see some llamas up close and personal:

And I can now tell the difference between llamas and alpacas. This is an alpaca…I think.

At one more touristy reserve, I got a chocolate massage. It sounds better than it actually felt…or tasted.

And I looked like a monster afterwards.

At this same reserve we took a hike to learn about orchids, and encountered a plant that the natives use to dye their hair.

You probably can’t tell, but I have red achoite in my hair. Don’t worry Mom, it washes out.

Here Stephanie made herself a tattoo:

All in all, it was a great trip. We found out that we all got ghiardia, so we got the necessary medication, and most of us got significantly better within 24 hours. In the 9 days of our trip, we got to see a lot of Ecuador, both cities and countryside. We stayed two nights in a convent in Ambato, where we had a 9 pm curfew. I learned how to whistle through my fingers. I learned how to play Dominos. I saw a toucan. I went to a frog concert. That’s right, a frog concert. I watched cable TV. And I don’t think I ate rice more than twice during the entire trip!

February 27, 2007I have now:

- seen 3 llamas

- eaten 2 guinea pigs

- helped skin and gut 1 fish to eat

Our group of trainees just came back from a 4-day technical trip to learn more about gardens and soil conservation and environmental education and other exciting save-the-rainforest activities! I can now make some pretty mean topsoil.

I taught my host brother how to play slapjack last night. He´s getting pretty good at it. Next I´ll have to try spoons... Good thing it isn´t forks, cause Ecuador doesn´t believe in forks or knives. Everything is eaten with spoons. Salad, potatoes, pasta, even meat. I´m getting pretty good at cutting my beef with a spoon.

So, you remember those days back in the early part of this century, when post offices and WalMarts across the country started handing out those funny gold coins with some lady on them, and you could exchange them for something that cost a dollar. And everyone thought they were so cool. For about a month. And then they disappeared off the face off the earth. Well I have exciting news for everyone!!! They did not quite make it all the way off the earth, they simply migrated to the equator. Yes, it´s true, when you come visit me in Ecuador, you will see that the Sacagewea dollars are quite abundant down here. I don´t know if the Ecuadorians know who Sacagewea is, but I do know that she can buy me a bus ride into the city, a candy bar, and a bus ride back. Or 2 hours worth of Internet. Which I´m just about to use up...

February 14, 2007 - Cayambe, EcuadorValentine´s Day here is not just for lovers, but also for friends. So I bought my family some chocolates and I hope to buy them some flowers as well. Cayambe is known for selling flowers, so this is not only a great day for lovers and friends, but also for the many flower vendors here.

So far in Ecuador, I have:

- Stayed up till 2:30 am at a concert with my family

- Thrown up in a field in the presence of another volunteer and her host brother and several by-standing cows

- Drunk more types of fruit juice (fresh fruit!) than I ever have in the US

- Eaten rice and chicken for breakfast

- Met the president of my community

- Thrown water balloons at my brother

- Had water balloons thrown at me by total strangers

- Seen a mountain on fire

- Sent three letters (with 3 more in the making)

- Learned 6 pages worth of new Spanish words

- Taken 4 showers

- Eaten 0 guinea pigs (sorry Erik..but I´ll be sure to save one for you)

- Played Frisbee, leap frog, cards, and lots of soccer

- Walked outside while it was hailing...at the equator (figure that one out)

- Fallen in love with my host family and Ecuador (don´t worry, family at home, I still love you guys!)

I have Spanish classes for about 6 hours a day, which may sound terribly tedious, but is actually incredibly helpful and interesting. My group of four trainees has an absolutely amazing facilitator who always makes our classes interesting.

I´m happy to say my life is pretty stress-free as of now. I have Spanish classes in the morning and afternoon, then hang out with my family or walk around the community in the evening, have dinner, write some letters, do some homework, and then head to bed! Next week we start habitat conservation training, so things will be a little more intense. But everything here is tranquilo!

February 14, 2007 - Cayambe, EcuadorValentine´s Day here is not just for lovers, but also for friends. So I bought my family some chocolates and I hope to buy them some flowers as well. Cayambe is known for selling flowers, so this is not only a great day for lovers and friends, but also for the many flower vendors here.

So far in Ecuador, I have:

- Stayed up till 2:30 am at a concert with my family

- Thrown up in a field in the presence of another volunteer and her host brother and several by-standing cows

- Drunk more types of fruit juice (fresh fruit!) than I ever have in the US

- Eaten rice and chicken for breakfast

- Met the president of my community

- Thrown water balloons at my brother

- Had water balloons thrown at me by total strangers

- Seen a mountain on fire

- Sent three letters (with 3 more in the making)

- Learned 6 pages worth of new Spanish words

- Taken 4 showers

- Eaten 0 guinea pigs (sorry Erik..but I´ll be sure to save one for you)

- Played Frisbee, leap frog, cards, and lots of soccer

- Walked outside while it was hailing...at the equator (figure that one out)

- Fallen in love with my host family and Ecuador (don´t worry, family at home, I still love you guys!)

I have Spanish classes for about 6 hours a day, which may sound terribly tedious, but is actually incredibly helpful and interesting. My group of four trainees has an absolutely amazing facilitator who always makes our classes interesting.

I´m happy to say my life is pretty stress-free as of now. I have Spanish classes in the morning and afternoon, then hang out with my family or walk around the community in the evening, have dinner, write some letters, do some homework, and then head to bed! Next week we start habitat conservation training, so things will be a little more intense. But everything here is tranquilo!

February 7, 2007 - Washington, District of Columbia, United StatesThat's what one girl said last night at dinner, and it definitely describes the sentiment I think a lot of us are feeling - that it's nice to finally be around people who are all in the same boat. We've gone through the same application process and agonizing waiting, the endless forms and medical checkups, and the same questions from our friends to which the answer is almost always, "I don't know!"

Orientation - or staging, as the Peace Corps people like to call it, cause they like to make up fancy names - has been intense, but surpisingly informative and interesting and not too draining.

We've discussed pretty predictable topics - safety and security, dealing with unwanted attention, Peace Corps policies. We had a capstone activity to prove that we actually learned something in the staging, in which we got to choose a category - writers, dancers, symbologists, or musicians and poets. I chose to join the dancers, and we got to do an interpretive dance of sorts to represent fundamental components to grassroots development. It was pretty sweet.

Tomorrow we have to be up by 5 am to make our flight, though we won't get to Ecuador till the evening. The next stage, training, is 8-10 weeks, and apparently quite intensive, so I'm not sure how much free time I'll have, but I'll definitely find some time to update, hopefully with pictures, and maybe even video!

So, here's a current emotional update from Anna:

I am:

excited to finally be leaving the country

nervous about speaking Spanish all the time

satisfied from my sushi dinner

worried about carrying my baggage all over the airport tomorrow

eager to meet my host family

sad about all the goodbyes I've had to say these past few days

happy to be going to nicer weather

and overall very optimistic and pumped!!!

Next time you hear from me, I'll be in Ecuador!

January 21, 2007 - Berlin, Connecticut, United StatesTwo weeks, 5 hours, 45 minutes, 14 seconds and counting till I’m out of here! Not that I’m keeping track.

Back in October I accepted an invitation from the Peace Corps to go to Ecuador as a Habitat Conservation Volunteer. Now my date of departure is quickly approaching, and I’m hoping that I haven’t forgotten to take care of any matters that will take more than two weeks to complete.

My desk is filling up with lists – “to do,” “to buy,” “to enjoy before I leave for 2 years,” my bed is strewn with clothes awaiting my executive decision on whether they get to come with me for the next two years or whether they will be exiled to the attic, my computer is filled with websites detailing “what to bring” and “what not to bring,” my brain is filled with the impending necessity to sort the stack of papers sitting on my filing cabinet that will certainly not sort themselves, and my body is filled with anticipation to leave this cold, windy Connecticut weather and bask in the lovely Ecuadorian summer.

I leave for DC on the 5th, where I’ll meet the other Peace Corps Volunteers who are also going to Ecuador. And then we all leave for Ecuador on the 7th, stay in Quito for a night or so, and then head north to Cayambe to begin our training. Fun fact: Mt. Cayambe, an extinct volcano, is the only place on the equator that has snow cover. I’m beginning to think I’ll see more snow in Ecuador than in Connecticut.