A Week of Firsts

Whew, it has been a crazy week (wonderful, but so busy)! Peace Corps has every Monday through Friday planned out from 8-5, then I spend about an hour and fifteen minutes walking home, and, sometimes, I have homework to do afterwards. On weekends, I have host family obligations--more on that in a bit. So, I've decided during PST (Pre-Service Training, there are a million acronyms in the Peace Corps) I'll try to update my blog every Sunday.


So here's the update...


This week has been a blur of training and absorbing Ecuadorian culture. I've been spending most of my time at the Peace Corps training center. Each day begins with a chaotic bus ride at 7:20 in the morning; when I say chaotic, I mean no maximum capacity, landscapes rushing by, a serious core and forearm workout in order to remain upright, and continued movement while trying to get off the bus. It's definitely an experience in itself. After the enthralling bus ride, the rest of the day seems rather dull. I've been attending lectures about culture, health, safety, Spanish, and technical training about environmental education and natural resources management. The two most interesting training sessions: the security briefing by a special agent from the U.S. Embassy and the intestinal illnesses talk from the extremely enthusiastic Peace Corps nurse. I'll let your imaginations dream up the contents of those chats.

My second home: the Peace Corps Training Center.

Besides training, I've been spending a lot of time with my host family. And by spending time, I basically mean eating copious amounts of food. And, I have to say, the food here is so good! I could write paragraphs about the food, but I'll limit it to just one for the first week. My favorite dish so far has been humitas--ground choclo (the type of corn here) mixed with butter, sugar and egg wrapped in a corn husk and steamed. Then, wait for it, fried in butter. Think: fried, sweet tamale. Delicious. My host mom, Rosa, and I go to the market every Sunday and stock up on fresh fruits and vegetables. The markets are incredible here! For breakfast, I have fresh juice (pineapple, melon, naranjilla, mandarin, or tomate de arbol), a roll, and tea. Lunch and dinner usually consist of a combination of white rice, fried eggs, soup, vegetables, beans, lentils, and/or noodles. There's definitely an abundance of starch. On weekends, the day is basically centered around food, with lunch being the main meal of the day. Yesterday, my host family and I ate a huge lunch of soup, rice, vegetables, and beans. So, for dinner, we had tea and chocolate cake. Chocolate cake for dinner!

A fruit stand at the central market in town=delicious!

Yesterday, I had to tackle the task of washing my clothes on la piedra. (La piedra is the stone that people wash their clothes on here.) Basically, you take one piece of clothing at a time, lather it with soap and water, scrub it on the rock, let it sit for half an hour, then take that piece of clothing, douse it with water, and squeeze it until all of the water comes up. So, Rosa taught me how to wash my clothes, and two and a half hours later, I finished washing 6 shirts, 3 pairs of pants, one skirt, a handful of underwear, and a set of sheets. Where's the washing machine at? No, not really, it was actually kind of pleasant washing my clothes in the morning sunlight. I think the best part though was that my bright purple underwear was splayed out on the clothesline in front of the dining room window while we ate lunch. Not embarrassing at all, nope.

La Piedra

Success!

My host family has a garden, actually more like a small farm, in a neighboring town. Rosa and I went to see the farm and to feed the pigs yesterday. She goes to the farm everyday in the mornings. The garden is very beautiful; there's corn, potatoes, lettuce, beets, beans, and three pigs! Los chancos, pigs, are gigantic and crazy. There's also a ton of alfalfa that Rosa grows to bring back to the house to feed the cuy, guinea pigs, several of which will be eaten in a couple of weeks for her son's birthday. I've tried lots of new things this week--food and experiences--I can't wait to try more, but maybe not any cuy!

Rosa and her chanchos!

The view from my host family's garden

One of the many beautiful flowers blooming here!