Lots of photos!!

Happy belated 4th of July from Adam and Emily!!


Everything is going great with Adam and I so far. This week our training was a mixture of language, security, health and technical training. During our language training, we went out to the bank and to the post office to ask questions in Spanish. We found out that it costs $2 to send out letters...so I might not be sending out too many during the next 2 years! Sorry about that! We also went with our language facilitator to the market and we made a traditional Ecuadorian almuerzo (lunch) that included tortillas (not the burrito kind, but essentially potato pancakes with cheese inthem), rice, and beef cooked with garlic.

Our facilitator Fernanda chopping up carrots with Mica and Pacha

During our technical training, we learned about giving charlas (workshops) for youth and we actually gave one! Adam and I were in a group with 3 other aspirantes and we gave a workshop about gender stereotypes. It actually went pretty smoothly. Other kinds of charlas that we might give in the future include self esteem, goal setting, nutrition, etc. Luckily there is an entire handbook that has sample workshops, so it actually isn´t too bad. Our tech training also includes different kinds of activities that we can do in our communities...so this week all of us had to carry little eggs with us (our bebe huevos) everywhere we went. Adam and I had gemelos (twins) that we had to take with us on the bus and to all the training sessions. We were lucky that we didn´t get ours eggnapped by the facilitators or squashed in our pockets (like John below).


This week we also had some volunteers who came and shared some of the community projects that they have done. Adam and I learned how to make cleaning disinfectant from a volunteer who works with local women to make and sell the disinfectant.

Mixing the disinfectants in the buckets

We ended the week with a fun 4th of July celebration. The PC staff and volunteers cooked up some burgers, hot dogs, kabobs, coleslaw, potato salad and guacamole. I think that it was a really nice change of pace for everyone! During the celebration, we also had soccer competitions between the different communities. If you can believe it...our team from Puruhantag actually made it into the final round. We didn´t win but we did play 4 games...and at this elevation, man did it make us beat. Also, all the teams made shirts this week. Our shirts said ¨Vamos a bacilar in Puruhantag.¨The story behind that is during language training last week, our facilitator was teaching us some slang. When she was explaining the phrase ¨Vamos a bacilar¨we thought it meant ¨to go hang out.¨ It turns out that it is a phrase that teenage boys say to each other when they are bored and want to cruise for some girls to make out with. Needless to say, I won´t be wearing this shirt any other time except to go to bed. Lol. We also had to have a ¨madrina¨to run for queen in the community pageant. Thankfully Tiffany was willing to be Srta Puruhantag.

Tom, Fernanda our language facilitator, Tiffany, me and Adam

Tomas and Adam enjoying the beauty pageant

Two teams playing some futbol

The winning team that kicked our butts

Yesterday Adam and I went to a chifa (chinese restaurant) with two of the older volunteers in our group, Mary and Nancy. Nancy was the woman we visited in Minnesota and we were going to visit Mary in North Carolina but didn´t get a chance to. It wasn´t bad for $3.25 per person. Also, I am able to upload pix today because Adam and I went to the Grand Aki (a large store) in Cayambe and bought a CD-RW. No viruses for us!! Also I have added more pix to the other posts as well.

Today Adam got a haircut for $2 and we made picadillo for our family. Not sure how they liked it with the black beans, rice and tostones. It was a little off because tomato sauce tastes a bit different here...but overall it wasn´t bad! Other than that, did some laundry and had a lazy Sunday!

And now for all the other pictures that I didn´t get a chance to upload before.

Our matching watches from Wal-Mart

Our current bedroom which is very comfy...we are starting to get used to the hard bed!

My arsenal of anti-itch remedies... it´s only sort of working.

Our totally cute hermanitas, Micaela and Pacha

At one of the many fiestas every weekend. People actually built bonfires out in the street and dozens of groups walk by singing and dancing and drumming along.

Beautiful view of Ecuador