This week I got some of the best news I´ve received since being in La Libertad. Voted best PCV in Ecuador...no; My work down here actually showing results...not even close; Central heating being installed in my apartment...wishful thinking. No, the great news is that my family now has a BBQ pit. Carlos, my landlord/neighbor and I built it last week out of scrap metal and we cooked some chicken on it already. I had some spicy BBQ sauce that we put on it, and it was delicious. We can get some charcoal in town (the fancy "real" kind) cheap, so I plan to use the grill a lot. Next Saturday I´m going to grill some burgers for everybody (Saturday burgers is a Verhoff family tradition).
It was funny after we finished cooking, Carlos brought the grill into his kitchen to warm the room where we were eating. Not surprisingly, the house filled with smoke. The room was warm though, so I didn´t have to wear a jacket (nice because all my other clothes smelled like an ashtray afterwords).
Speaking of jackets, I got my Colegio (high school) teacher´s uniform this week. It consists of warm-up jacket and pants, shorts, a polo shirt and socks. Everything has the school crest or name on it. I actually really like the jacket, but I had to send it back to be altered. Now, the boys in the colegio are ag students, and the girls all have seamstress classes. One of the sewing teachers took my measurements, but the jacket came back HUGE. It was past my crotch! I showed them where I wanted it o go, and they have to cut off 8 inches. I wonder what it would have looked like if an ag teacher took my measurements.
Class at the Colegio was interesting this week. On Tuesdays I have three classes there (1 ag class and 2 gym classes). The kids goofed off the whole time we were working in the garden, and then when I was stretching before class with the older kids, the weren´t paying attention. I just turned around and walked home. That probably wasn´t the most professional thing to do, but I was frustrated with people (not just the kids) asking for help and then not putting any effort into whatever we were trying to do. Also, the "If you guys don´t work harder, I´m quitting" approach has worked well in the grade school. Anyway, I came back the next day and all the kids apologized and I had a talk with the teachers. They said that the next time I should just, "Pick up a stick and...". Well, I told them that I wasn't going to hit the kids (no matter how much I want to), so I´ll just have to be more forceful from now on.
NOTES:
- Went for a six mile run yesterday. Had over a 10 min/mile pace and almost coughed up a lung halfway through. I don´t think I´ll ever get used to running at this elevation.
- Happy B-Day Steph!
- Happy Wedding Chacho!
Sunday, October 21, 2007
Saturday, October 13, 2007
When it rains...
Here in La Libertad, we are no longer in "Summer". Since Sunday around 2:00PM, we have been in "Winter" full-blast. I use quotes around the seasons because they are nothing like seasons back home, Instead of temperature differences being the main change with the seasons, down here it is just changes in precipitation. That´s why I can point to an exact time for the change in seasons. It started raining on my way back from town, and has rained every afternoon since then. This is a big change because it hadn´t rained here for a couple of weeks. Apparently, the dry season this year was pretty short, so I´m hoping for a light rainy season, but if this first week is an indication, I´m not going to get my wish. Every morning has been clear and sunny, but around 1-2 o´clock, the clouds roll over the Eastern ridge of the Andes (Mts. Rumiñahui and Cotopaxi). It is pretty interesting to watch because those peaks are about 7-10 miles away and I can watch the rains move towards L.L. trough the valley between us. It has rained every afternoon for about 3 hours and then let up to cool and damp evenings. The good thing is that the rain has killed the dust bowl that was forming around here. Without rain for those weeks, everything dried up and since the soil is basically all fine volcanic dust and it has been windy as well, it was horrible to walk around. Some of the roads had 2-3 inches of dust on them, so when the wind picked up, you couldn´t keep your eyes open.
Enough of the weather report. Nothing really exciting to say, I had another computer class with the ladies at the bank, and this time some of them actually showed up. We spent 2 hours going over the basics, and I think they learned a lot. Hopefully they will be back next week for round two. My biggest challenge will be getting them to type with more than one finger.
The only thing out of the ordinary this week was that I went to my first Ecuadorian wake. A 24 year old from outside of town committed suicide on Monday and the wake was the next night. It was held at his family´s house about 15 minutes from where I live. They set up a tent outside for people to sit and had the body in the "Family Room". I went with some people I knew to pay our respects (even though I didn´t know the kid). It was obviously very sad.
On a lighter note, I made pickles this week (worst segue ever!). When I was home, I picked up a package of "Bread and Butter Pickle Mix". I just had to add vinegar, sugar, and of course cucumbers. I´ve tried some store bought pickles down here, and they are so bad that I threw them out after one bite, so I was glad that these turned out well. I was also pumped that when I gave some to the family members, they didn´t like them. Since I have to keep the pickles in their fridge, I was going to let them take what they wanted. Now, I get to keep them all to myself (selfish yes, but we´re talking good pickles here).
The only funny story of this week is from yesterday when I was helping my landlord do some metal work. He is a smart guy (although after this story you may doubt that) and makes all sorts of metal objects (window frames, truck bed rail, etc.)for people in town. We were working on a set of decorative window bars when it started to rain. He kept on welding, but I thought that maybe that wasn´t a good idea, so I went under an overhang by the welding machine. I was standing there waiting to have to shut if off when he dropped the stick and started cursing. He was fine, just a little shocked. He went right back working and got shocked 3-4 more times. I just shook my head. High Current + Water = Bad Idea, but he didn´t care.
P.S. - This is the same guy that blew up my septic tank!
Enough of the weather report. Nothing really exciting to say, I had another computer class with the ladies at the bank, and this time some of them actually showed up. We spent 2 hours going over the basics, and I think they learned a lot. Hopefully they will be back next week for round two. My biggest challenge will be getting them to type with more than one finger.
The only thing out of the ordinary this week was that I went to my first Ecuadorian wake. A 24 year old from outside of town committed suicide on Monday and the wake was the next night. It was held at his family´s house about 15 minutes from where I live. They set up a tent outside for people to sit and had the body in the "Family Room". I went with some people I knew to pay our respects (even though I didn´t know the kid). It was obviously very sad.
On a lighter note, I made pickles this week (worst segue ever!). When I was home, I picked up a package of "Bread and Butter Pickle Mix". I just had to add vinegar, sugar, and of course cucumbers. I´ve tried some store bought pickles down here, and they are so bad that I threw them out after one bite, so I was glad that these turned out well. I was also pumped that when I gave some to the family members, they didn´t like them. Since I have to keep the pickles in their fridge, I was going to let them take what they wanted. Now, I get to keep them all to myself (selfish yes, but we´re talking good pickles here).
The only funny story of this week is from yesterday when I was helping my landlord do some metal work. He is a smart guy (although after this story you may doubt that) and makes all sorts of metal objects (window frames, truck bed rail, etc.)for people in town. We were working on a set of decorative window bars when it started to rain. He kept on welding, but I thought that maybe that wasn´t a good idea, so I went under an overhang by the welding machine. I was standing there waiting to have to shut if off when he dropped the stick and started cursing. He was fine, just a little shocked. He went right back working and got shocked 3-4 more times. I just shook my head. High Current + Water = Bad Idea, but he didn´t care.
P.S. - This is the same guy that blew up my septic tank!
Sunday, October 7, 2007
Kissed by a man (Not what you think)
I have to apologize in advance for the sloppiness of this post. I didn´t have time to write it out before going to the Internet Café, so it is a little rougher than normal...
So, things picked up a bit this week. I had classes as usual, but on Wednesday had a visitor. The US Ambassador to Ecuador, Linda Jewell, came to see the Community bank that I help out at. I knew about the visit a couple of weeks ago, but I didn´t want to post it because I wasn´t sure that it would happen, and I wanted to give the blog a bigger sense of importance by not declaring the future plans of an important US official. I mean, there are so many people who read the blog, I didn´t want to be seen as a source of a security leak. Anyway, the visit was pretty short. She came with a bunch of body guards and some other Embassy staff. I made a Power Point presentation on the basic functions and history of the bank that was given by the bank president. After that the Ambassador and the ladies exchanged gifts and took pictures. Pretty basic, but a big deal for La Libertad. I think everything went well.
I finally know a little more info on the results of last week´s election. So, the President of Ecuador, Rafael Correa, is not a fan of the US. He was elected last year on a socialist/anti-America platform. He is buddy buddy with Hugo Chavez as well. The thing that was hampering him is that his party has no representation in the congress. Congress is run by more conservative and business friendly parties. So they had the election to select members for the assembly that will write the new constitution. Out of the 150 parties that were on the ballot, Correa´s party, "Lista 35", ended up winning 71 of the 130 assembly seats. They basically will be able to write the new constitution on their own. The only thing holding them back from giving Correa total power (which is what I think he wants) is that there will be another election to ratify the new constitution. The way that people voted last week though, I wouldn´t be surprised if whatever constitution they come up with will get the people´s OK.
Also this week I had computer classes with some women from the bank. I talked about it last week and 10 women singed up for classes on Tuesday and Thursday. Unfortunately, but not surprisingly, only one lady showed up. We went over a couple of things, but it pretty much was a waste of time. The good thing was that while I was waiting, I watched a DVD of a Cardinals game that I got from Andy B. on one of the bank´s computers. Cardinals won! (Side note: Way to go Cubs. $400 million sure did a lot for ya!)
I was in Quito on Friday to pick up the shirts (53 of them) that I ordered for my training group. They turned out well and the trip gave me an opportunity to go to the nice grocery store. My impulse purchase for this trip was a can of Old El Paso refried beans.
Last night I went to a wedding and then a reception in my town afterwords. It was a good time (the food was great and I lucked out and got served a chicken breast) and we stayed out ´til 3:00AM. One funny thing was that I was talking to a guy who helps out at the High School. He was pretty drunk and kept telling me how nice I was for helping at the high school too. He shook my hand and said that we were great friends, and then he kissed the back of my hand. I asked why he did that and he said that it meant that were were like brothers. I explained that a man kissing another man´s hand in the US meant something else. He was surprised and for the rest of the night when he saw me he would shake my hand, kiss it, and then wave his index finger and say, "No gay, no gay!".
Ecuadorian News... Found out this week that another member of my training group is engaged to an Ecuadorian. This time it is a guy, so I feel even worse for my integration skills.
I also found out that the "Niña Santa" that I went to see and wrote about a while ago is now being banned by the Ecuadorian government. Apparently a few weeks ago there was a big mass like the one I saw and during the ceremony there was a rush to touch the niña and four people were trampled to death. When I went, I stayed far away from the stage, but still pretty scary. I don´t know what is going to happen because a lot of people are pissed that they can´t get cured now. I´ll keep you posted.
So, things picked up a bit this week. I had classes as usual, but on Wednesday had a visitor. The US Ambassador to Ecuador, Linda Jewell, came to see the Community bank that I help out at. I knew about the visit a couple of weeks ago, but I didn´t want to post it because I wasn´t sure that it would happen, and I wanted to give the blog a bigger sense of importance by not declaring the future plans of an important US official. I mean, there are so many people who read the blog, I didn´t want to be seen as a source of a security leak. Anyway, the visit was pretty short. She came with a bunch of body guards and some other Embassy staff. I made a Power Point presentation on the basic functions and history of the bank that was given by the bank president. After that the Ambassador and the ladies exchanged gifts and took pictures. Pretty basic, but a big deal for La Libertad. I think everything went well.
I finally know a little more info on the results of last week´s election. So, the President of Ecuador, Rafael Correa, is not a fan of the US. He was elected last year on a socialist/anti-America platform. He is buddy buddy with Hugo Chavez as well. The thing that was hampering him is that his party has no representation in the congress. Congress is run by more conservative and business friendly parties. So they had the election to select members for the assembly that will write the new constitution. Out of the 150 parties that were on the ballot, Correa´s party, "Lista 35", ended up winning 71 of the 130 assembly seats. They basically will be able to write the new constitution on their own. The only thing holding them back from giving Correa total power (which is what I think he wants) is that there will be another election to ratify the new constitution. The way that people voted last week though, I wouldn´t be surprised if whatever constitution they come up with will get the people´s OK.
Also this week I had computer classes with some women from the bank. I talked about it last week and 10 women singed up for classes on Tuesday and Thursday. Unfortunately, but not surprisingly, only one lady showed up. We went over a couple of things, but it pretty much was a waste of time. The good thing was that while I was waiting, I watched a DVD of a Cardinals game that I got from Andy B. on one of the bank´s computers. Cardinals won! (Side note: Way to go Cubs. $400 million sure did a lot for ya!)
I was in Quito on Friday to pick up the shirts (53 of them) that I ordered for my training group. They turned out well and the trip gave me an opportunity to go to the nice grocery store. My impulse purchase for this trip was a can of Old El Paso refried beans.
Last night I went to a wedding and then a reception in my town afterwords. It was a good time (the food was great and I lucked out and got served a chicken breast) and we stayed out ´til 3:00AM. One funny thing was that I was talking to a guy who helps out at the High School. He was pretty drunk and kept telling me how nice I was for helping at the high school too. He shook my hand and said that we were great friends, and then he kissed the back of my hand. I asked why he did that and he said that it meant that were were like brothers. I explained that a man kissing another man´s hand in the US meant something else. He was surprised and for the rest of the night when he saw me he would shake my hand, kiss it, and then wave his index finger and say, "No gay, no gay!".
Ecuadorian News... Found out this week that another member of my training group is engaged to an Ecuadorian. This time it is a guy, so I feel even worse for my integration skills.
I also found out that the "Niña Santa" that I went to see and wrote about a while ago is now being banned by the Ecuadorian government. Apparently a few weeks ago there was a big mass like the one I saw and during the ceremony there was a rush to touch the niña and four people were trampled to death. When I went, I stayed far away from the stage, but still pretty scary. I don´t know what is going to happen because a lot of people are pissed that they can´t get cured now. I´ll keep you posted.
Monday, October 1, 2007
Stinky Jay
This has been a pretty dead week. I had all my classes at the schools and also a 5 hr meeting at the community bank (After 3 hours I "zoned out" because they were just arguing about the same things over and over). I did go down to Latacunga (1 1/2 hours south of La Libertad) to hang out with two PC friends and one of the guys´buddies from the States. We met up and went out to dinner. By the time we were done, it was too late for me to get back to L.L. I decided to spend the night at the same hotel the rest of the group was at. We went to the hotel to check in. Roger´s friends were married, so they wanted a room to themselves. Roger then said that we needed two more rooms. I said that I didn´t mind sharing a room with two beds if it was cheaper. Roger just looked at me and in front of everybody he said, "We had to share rooms twice during training, and I´m sorry Jay, but, you stink!". Wow! I guess I really can´t argue with that because Ecuadorian food, although it hasn´t gotten me really sick, doesn´t agree with me all the time. Anyway, it was good to see some friends, we had a good time, and I did´´t keep anyone up with my nocturnal funk.
When I was talking to Roger, I got some PC gossip that I missed during the days I was gone from our meetings the other week. Apparently, one of the girls in our training group is engaged to an Ecuadorian guy that she just met. I really don´t know (or care about) the details, but man, I can´t even get the people in my town to remember my name, and she´s getting life time commitments. Speaking of marriage, the big news in my family is that the 15 year old daughter of one of the Sisters wants to get married to an 18 year old guy. I don´t know the guy, but he has been hanging around trying to get the Mom to agree. Kids under 18 cant get married without parental approval, but I don´t think the Mom is keen to the idea. I´m staying out of it, but I think that no matter what happens, it is going to be messy.
Like I said, it was a dull week. The most interesting thing I saw was a huge brush fire in the hills over the town. It must have been 10-15 acres and with the re3d/purple sunset over the mountains and this massive ball of orange flames hovering in the distance, it actually was kind of beautiful. Luckily it burned out after about an hour and no farms or houses were destroyed.
It looks like things went OK with the election yesterday. The final results aren´t in, but the presidents party seems to have kicked major butt. I´ll give my thoughts on everything next week.
Note: I heard from a friend in St. Louis that the Discovery Channel series "Man vs. Wild" has a new episode based out of Ecuador. Check it out!
Since I don´t have a lot of stuff to write this week, I thought it would be a good idea to let you guys know what my normal diet is. So here (I know you are all excited) is what I´ve had to eat since my last post...
Sunday
Breakfast
- Nothing
Lunch
- Roast Pork with potato pancakes and salad at a restaurant in Machachi
Dinner
- 1/4 of a guinea pig with rice and boiled potatoes
Monday
Breakfast
- Nothing
Lunch
- 1/2 of a guinea pig with boiled potatoes
Dinner
- Minestrone (from a mix) with Rice, noodles, and boiled potatoes
Tuesday
Breakfast
- Nothing
Lunch
- Tuna salad sandwiches with sour cream and onion chips
Snack
- Chocolate chip muffins from a mix I brought from the States
Dinner
- Poached Tilapia with rice, sauteed vegetables, and tereyaki sauce
Wednesday
Breakfast
- Bread with blackberry jelly that I made
Lunch
- Leftover tuna
Snack
- Chocolate chip muffins from a mix I brought from the States
Dinner
- Pizza and lasagna in Latacunga
Thursday
Breakfast
- Rolls and a bottle of water in Latacunga
Lunch
- PBJ sandwiches (homemade jelly and Jiff PB from Quito)
Dinner
- Chunky Potato Soup(from scratch)
Friday
Breakfast
- An Apple
Lunch
- Leftover potato soup
Dinner
- Pasta with Vodka Sauce (from scratch)
Saturday
Breakfast
- Coffee and bread
Lunch
- Leftover pasta
Dinner
- Mushroom soup (from a mix)
Sunday
Breakfast
- Nothing
Lunch
- Salad (lettuce I grew, tomato, onion, carrot, hard-boiled egg, ranch dressing from Quito)
Diner
- Lentils, rice, and boiled potatoes
Note: Anything in italics is something I got from someone in my town or food the had at a meeting
When I was talking to Roger, I got some PC gossip that I missed during the days I was gone from our meetings the other week. Apparently, one of the girls in our training group is engaged to an Ecuadorian guy that she just met. I really don´t know (or care about) the details, but man, I can´t even get the people in my town to remember my name, and she´s getting life time commitments. Speaking of marriage, the big news in my family is that the 15 year old daughter of one of the Sisters wants to get married to an 18 year old guy. I don´t know the guy, but he has been hanging around trying to get the Mom to agree. Kids under 18 cant get married without parental approval, but I don´t think the Mom is keen to the idea. I´m staying out of it, but I think that no matter what happens, it is going to be messy.
Like I said, it was a dull week. The most interesting thing I saw was a huge brush fire in the hills over the town. It must have been 10-15 acres and with the re3d/purple sunset over the mountains and this massive ball of orange flames hovering in the distance, it actually was kind of beautiful. Luckily it burned out after about an hour and no farms or houses were destroyed.
It looks like things went OK with the election yesterday. The final results aren´t in, but the presidents party seems to have kicked major butt. I´ll give my thoughts on everything next week.
Note: I heard from a friend in St. Louis that the Discovery Channel series "Man vs. Wild" has a new episode based out of Ecuador. Check it out!
Since I don´t have a lot of stuff to write this week, I thought it would be a good idea to let you guys know what my normal diet is. So here (I know you are all excited) is what I´ve had to eat since my last post...
Sunday
Breakfast
- Nothing
Lunch
- Roast Pork with potato pancakes and salad at a restaurant in Machachi
Dinner
- 1/4 of a guinea pig with rice and boiled potatoes
Monday
Breakfast
- Nothing
Lunch
- 1/2 of a guinea pig with boiled potatoes
Dinner
- Minestrone (from a mix) with Rice, noodles, and boiled potatoes
Tuesday
Breakfast
- Nothing
Lunch
- Tuna salad sandwiches with sour cream and onion chips
Snack
- Chocolate chip muffins from a mix I brought from the States
Dinner
- Poached Tilapia with rice, sauteed vegetables, and tereyaki sauce
Wednesday
Breakfast
- Bread with blackberry jelly that I made
Lunch
- Leftover tuna
Snack
- Chocolate chip muffins from a mix I brought from the States
Dinner
- Pizza and lasagna in Latacunga
Thursday
Breakfast
- Rolls and a bottle of water in Latacunga
Lunch
- PBJ sandwiches (homemade jelly and Jiff PB from Quito)
Dinner
- Chunky Potato Soup(from scratch)
Friday
Breakfast
- An Apple
Lunch
- Leftover potato soup
Dinner
- Pasta with Vodka Sauce (from scratch)
Saturday
Breakfast
- Coffee and bread
Lunch
- Leftover pasta
Dinner
- Mushroom soup (from a mix)
Sunday
Breakfast
- Nothing
Lunch
- Salad (lettuce I grew, tomato, onion, carrot, hard-boiled egg, ranch dressing from Quito)
Diner
- Lentils, rice, and boiled potatoes
Note: Anything in italics is something I got from someone in my town or food the had at a meeting
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