Hello Friends.
I made it!! Today is the one month mark and I can´t decided if it hascame fast or slow. Time is crazy especially in Latin America. I ammissing the blazing hot Wenatchee sun (only because I am sleeping inmy sleeping bag underneath 4 covers) and then again I am constantlyamazed that I am in the middle of the world. Crazy, right?So, time is starting to fly by in training. We still have Spanishclasses Monday - Thursday 8-5 and then every Friday we have a bigmeeting with all 45 volunteers. All this week we came into the "big"town (15,000) people. haha. To listen to presentation about our futuresites. Some people I don´t think had EVER talked in front of peopleand it made for the most uncomfortable 10mins ever and then other madetheir site seem like a vacation package. About 5 sites are junglejungle (canoe involved to arrive at site) and the rest are coastal. Iam crossing my fingers for the coast!! so nice. Tuesday is the luckyday. Then next Sunday I will leave for a week long trip to visit myfuture site. woot woot.
Okay, so the last email was really technical I´ll add in some goodEcuadorian stories this time.
Good Times:
*The bus system is unreliable, dirty, and carry some funky smells but the great part of the buses here is the salsa and reggeaton tunes theyalways have rockin but this week we were heading into Cayambe 7am andwhat starts to play..."Another One Bites The Dust...." what?? So funny. But then the week prior we had experienced 2 breakdowns andother bus realated problems. First, I began to laugh and then startedto worry it was a bad premonition. ekk. (I have many transportationstories I am collecting to compile a whole email.)
*Also, involving buses so we were slowing down and I heard this reallyloud music and looked out the window to see that we were accidentallyin a parade. Just following the people walking down the highway with a
statue of the Virgin Mary. Good times.
*I went to mass this past Sunday...to find only 10 people (you reallyknow its a small town when only 10 come to church) and an Italianpriest. I guess it´s something really common in the mountains to findan Italian priest. hmm.
*Tuesday I woke up to find my mom plucking a chicken. She preceded toask how I was and I just kinda smiled and hurried to the bathroom. Howdo you digest seeing a chicken being plucked at 7am?? She probablythought I had digestional problems but I couldn´t form words while shepucked the bird feather for feather. oh well.
*My two little brothers are for some unknown reason obsessed with BobMarley and asking me daily if he lives in the states. I don´t have theheart to break the news that he´s dead, just say yes and then getasked to sing a song. "I shot the sheriff" and "Get up, Stand up" arethe faves.
*Peace Corps actually gives us free Newsweeks every two weeks to helpus "stay in touch" with American culture. Sadly, It was all aboutAngelina Jolie. So depressing. I guess I´m not missing much. ha ha.*Another weird experience, so Ecuadorian don´t eat tortillas (whichbreaks my tortilla loving heart) and we were eating soup and my mombrings out a plate of like 10 cooked potatoes and I was like that'sweird we usually gives us individual plates...when my sister picks itup and starts to eat it like an apple while sipping her soup. weirdright. Tortillas to Mexicans are potatoes to Ecuadorians (Sierran).Crazy times.
Okay, those are my random stories from the week.I´ll keep you posted on my site.
Much love to you always.
Alicia
p.s. Some people were asking questions. Yes, this is my address untilthe end of August.
Alicia O´Dell, PCT
Cuerpo de Paz
Casilla 17-08-8624
Quito, Ecuador
South America
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