It has been a fun and interesting week to say the least. Tuesday I had gym class with the "brats" again and we went for a run. We only ran about 3/4 of a mile, but the kids acted like it was a double marathon. Most stopped and walked about 2 minutes after starting. It took almost 20 minutes to finish and they complained the rest of the week about sore legs, feet, hearts, etc.
Thursday I went into Quito to run some errands and watch the World Series. It was nice to see a live game and I watched most of it at a friend´s house who got the feed in English.
On Friday I met up with two friends who live in the jungle.. It was interesting to hear what they have to deal with (poor water supply, bugs, poisonous snakes, a different language). It made me appreciate how easy I have it compared to them.
While in Quito I picked up some stuff for hamburgers. I cooked out on Saturday night, and everyone loved it. Of course, before I grilled, they BBQ´d 2 rabbits and 11 or 13 (depending on your political views) guinea pigs that they had killed. I knew that they wouldn´t be satisfied with just burgers, so I wasn´t surprised to see them cleaning the animals. I was surprised when I saw them put on the second batch of guinea pigs. (The picture is of the first batch, because it was too dark to take a picture of the second batch) There was five big guinea pigs on the grill and two little thing by them. I looked closer and saw that they were tiny guinea pigs that looked just like mice. I asked if one of the guinea pigs was pregnant, and they said yes. Grilled rodent fetus...delicious! I don´t know where all my readers stand on the argument about whether guinea pig life beings at conception o birth, so I´ll say that they killed 11 or 13. I didn´t get to eat any of the fetus, but I didn´t have guinea pig intestine soup for the first time.
I had class at the grade school all week, but nothing really exciting happened there. At the bank I had two more computer classes, but no one showed up, so I watched to DVDs of Cardinals games instead. On Saturday I spent a couple of hours putting the community bank´s hard copy by-laws in the computer. It was boring work, but good Spanish practice (I even had to correct their spelling mistakes). While I was there, one of my counter-parts sisters came in and asked for a favor. She needed a reference letter for another sister who is looking for work in the South of Ecuador. She wrote it out on paper and asked me to type it up. It started, "I __________ have had Maria Rosa Iza Sánchez in my employment for 4 years and she has been...". The first name was blank, so I asked her whose name I needed to put in. She said, "Su nombre" which means his/her name. I asked again, and she repeated. After four times, I realized that she meant my name (Su also means your in the formal tense). I was confused because to the best of my recollection I haven´t had anyone in my employment, ever. I explained that I couldn´t put all my information down her because it would be a lie. She said it wouldn´t be a problem because they wouldn´t call me. I then asked why she wanted my information instead of another persons. She then said that she didn´t know anyone else with a phone and the people may call. This was turning rapidly into a Abbott and Costello act. Finally I convinced her that I wouldn´t be a good person to explain on the phone her sister´s work habits, so she blurted out another name to put down.
Then she asked me if I could get someone from the USA to write her a work contract so she could show it to the Embassy and move to the US. I explained that I didn´t think my family had any work, but she said that it didn´t matter. She just needed the contract and then when she got to the US she´d find something else. I told her I´d think about it. So if any of you would like to add to the illegal alien problem, let me know.
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