Turkey Day Courtesy of Uncle Sam

This week has gone by very fast with Thanksgiving right in the middle. It seems like yesterday that I was writing the last post. Sunday, I went down to Latacunga to play basketball with the guys I met at Mamá Negra. They play every Sunday at a local park and are very good. I didn´t think I´d go there and dominate, but I did think the Ecuadorians wouldn´t have been as good as they were. The courts were in pretty bad shape (bent rims without nets that were about 5 or 6 inches too tall), but it was fun to get out there and play. I`m not used to jumping around, so for the next couple of days, my calves were killing me. I´m planning on trying to get down there once a month to get some exercise.

Things were pretty standard in La Libertad this week. Class, a little work at the community bank, and trying to get the teachers at the high school to start working on our Guinea Pig project. One project that I did get finished this week was another book (well, actually three) that I´ve been with for a while. I finally ended Shelby Foote´s "The Civil War: A Narrative". I started this three volume history when I was in college and read the second volume after graduation. Each book is around 1000 pages, so it took some time. It is an interesting historical account, and I have to admit that I didn´t see the ending coming.

Also, I found out this week that 4 more PCVs from my group ended their service early (Two for health reasons, one for personal reasons, and one had issues with PC upper management). That takes us down to 32 of the original 46 after only 7 months in site.

I hope had a fantastic Thanksgiving! Mine was great. Thirteen other PCVs and myself had dinner at the Ambassador´s house with her family. We all got there at 1:00 for appetizers, wine, and Dr. Pepper (not a big deal to you guys, but you can´t get Dr. Pepper down here, so the Ambassador had it sent especially for us. I actually took the last one as we were leaving and am keeping it in my house for a special occasion.) After talking for a while, we piled on the food (Turkey, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, salads, vegetable casseroles, stuffing, cranberry sauce, and gravy) buffet style and sat in the dinning room around the biggest table I´ve ever been at. I sat across from the Ambassador and her husband. The conversation was very interesting because they have been all over the world. I also got to see the Ambassador´s husband´s Stan Musial signed baseball that he got while working in Poland (The Man was dedicating a ball field). After dinner we had coffee and pie. I barely got the last bite down because this was about twice as much food as I´ve ever eaten in Ecuador.

It was a wonderful Thanksgiving, but I wish I could have been back home with friends and family (Including my Uncle Sam), but it was neat to have Thanksgiving dinner served plates with the National Coat of Arms on it (I forgot to take a napkin with the Coat of Arms on it) and know that it was all on my other Uncle Sam´s tab.

Some of my other friends had dinner at the USAID Director´s house, the Peace Corps Director´s house, and other PCV´s houses. One of my good friends had people over (I think I´ll be there next year). He bought a Turkey for $40 (that was a good deal for Ecuador, but almost a week´s pay for us). Now I know why Ecuadorians only have Turkey on Christmas. Maybe some Turkey farmers I know should start exporting down here.

While in Quito I picked up some packages (thanks for the candy and book Mom/Dad). I also got two envelopes from my Sister and Brother-In-Law with old Post Dispatches. I just finished reading the Pro and College Football previews. Quote, "How can the Rams NOT make the playoffs in 2007?". Um, let´s see...not winning any games for the first half of the season would be one way. Also, here is a quote from their game by game preview of the Mizzou schedule, "The Jayhawks will be average, so a win could make their season". Now I´ll admit that a win versus Mizzou would have made Kansas´season, but I wouldn´t call the Jayhawks "average".