Its beginning to look a lot like Navidad

Things are really starting o get busy around here. Since I didn´t give an update last week, I´ll try to fit it all in. Another Volunteer came to visit a couple of days last week. She was in Quito for some meetings and had some time between them to kill, so she stayed here to save money on Hotels. There wasn´t a lot going on here, but we had a good time hiking around. The weather was clear her last day here, so she got to see all the mountains and was blown away by the view. Her site is one of the cold ones too, but she said it wasn´t nearly as cold as in La Libertad.

The rest of last week wasn´t too hectic, but we were planning a lot of stuff for this week and the time up to Christmas (Navidad). On Thursday we moved the Community Bank to a new building in the center of town. Hopefully this will increase the bank´s profile, but it also means that we will be keeping the bank open a lot more during the week so people can use the computers and copier. I´ve already been there a couple of days waiting for people to come, but I´ve used that time to give some impromptu computer classes to some of the ladies.

On Saturday last week I went to Latacunga with some of the kids from the High School for World AIDS Day to give out red ribbons. The Latacunga PCV had set it all up, so all I really had to do was watch. It was a good chance for the kids to get to hang out with some kids from the city, and they all had a good time. This week I´m going back to Latacunga with some other kids to talk on the local AM radio station. I´ll let you know how my first Spanish radio interview goes.

This week had the first (I believe) celebration of St. Nick´s Day in La Libertad. I had the neighbor kids put their shoes out the night before so that San Nicholas could put some candy in them while they were sleeping (This is a December 5th tradition for those Non Saint Louis Catholics out there). Unfortunately the kids weren´t sleeping while St. Nick was working, so they called me out the next day. I told them it wasn´t me and that if they didn´t believe then San Nicholas wouldn´t come next year. This got them to change their tune. I´ll have to work on my sneaking skills before the next time.

Next week is Finals at the High School and Grade School and the bank is having their charge day and the town is having the pageant and election of the "Star of Christmas", so I will be running around a lot.

Since the weather is pretty much the same as it was when I first got here, it doesn´t seem like Christmas. I did put up some lights in my room and a star on my door, so there is a little festiveness. The High School teachers and I exchanged names for Secret Santa this week. It was funny, because right after we switched names, one of the teachers came up to ma and asked what I wanted. It´not going to be much of a surprise what I get. They also had the kids switch names (during one of my classes of course). It took 45 minutes and the teachers were constantly yelling at the kids to be quiet and pay attention. It felt good to see that they were having as much problems as I do.

ECUADOR NOTES:
- The national Congress just passed two laws creating the 23rd and 24th provinces in Ecuador. I don´t know why they think they need more bureaucracy, but things work so smoothly right now, why not add some more?

- The assembly for writing the new Constitution just convened. I was watching the opening ceremony with the teachers and asked one how long she thought it would take to finish. She told me, "One or two weeks". Later I asked another teacher the same question and she said, "Six months". I guess we´ll see.

FUNNY STUFF (KIND OF):
- I ate dinner at the little stand in the center of town the other day (French Fries and Chicken). When I came home, my neighbor asked where I was. After I told her , she said that I shouldn´t eat there because the food was "dirty". This is the same woman who loves sucking on boiled Cuy heads and uses water to make soup from the tank outside her house that has rotting potatoes on the bottom. If she says the food is dirty, I have to re-think eating there.

- I was listening to a radio morning show the other day and they asked a trivia question like they do in the States. The question was, "Which finger on the hand is longest and which is shortest?". The people I was with started arguing about it. I said hat it was too easy and mus be a trick question, but later they announced the answer was," The pinkie and the index finger". God I wish there was Ecuadorian Jeopardy. I´d be a millionaire.