Our week in review

Brrr, Loja has been cold this week! Sun has peeked out a few times but all I can remember is the rain and making hot tea each night to stay warm. We had a fairly busy week- Adam wrapped up summer camp (and even got to watch Shrek 4 at the movie theater!), I had a couple workshops with the girls at Dorotea Carrion, we had some PCVs visiting in town, and then just the random day to day stuff like grocery shopping and skype-ing the family!

Checking our mailbox (#216) for magazines, postcards and letters. This week we got a postcard from Susan and Paul from the French Alps and a birthday card for Adam from my mom and dad!

On Tuesday, fellow PCV from Guaranda Deanna came to visit with her counterpart, Teresa. They had gone to San Pedro de Vilcabamba on a tech trip to visit the women's group that Janet works with. They learned about their recycled paper products and checked out some of the other things Janet was working on. Then they stopped in Loja to learn some origami with Eri and I in the morning, along with PCV Allison who lives out in Zapotepamba. Later in the afternoon, Eri and I did our normal Tuesday afternoon activity with the kids at the Centro Comercial, and Deanna and Teresa went with us. In the evening we had dinner at Chabaquitos (the yummy taco place on Olmedo and Catacocha)- it became a full house because Liz and her friend Katie, Justin, Adam, and Allison joined Deanna, Teresa and I. Teresa and Deanna had to jet off on their 7pm bus, but Liz, Katie and Allison didn't have buses to catch until 10pm so we headed to Cafe Sendero to get dessert and something hot to drink. It's nice to have friends around to chat with!

Deanna and Teresa getting their origami on

$1.50 for apple pie and ice cream

My workshop with the girls on Wednesday was awful. Let's just say that it was super awkward and I am pretty sure that the girls hate having to share their personal opinions to the group...plus 7 year old Anghy who on Monday had given me bear hugs and kisses was hollering "Fea! Mala! Estupida!" (ugly! bad! stupid!) in my face because I asked her to be quiet during the workshop or she could go outside and play. Awesome. Afterwards, Julisa talked with me about maybe changing the theme or activities that we do...AGREED! I think it is challenging getting the girls to reflect on their experiences and share them with the group...so I am going to propose "Cooking Americanized Chinese Cuisine" or "Baking Yummy Deliciousness" as alternatives to continuing our classes on discovering your inner beauty. Origami days on Mondays always go smoothly because it is not personal...I think maybe I have to meet the girls where they are at.

Photo from Monday because there was no way they were going to take a picture with me on Wednesday. =( On Monday we made Christmas trees. Tad early? Sure!

Wednesday afternoon I talked with Cris (my program manager) over the phone about how I have been feeling overall about my past year of service and my apprehension about the upcoming year without Eri as a colleague to work with. As well as about my horrible morning! Then Eri and I went out to coffee because she had been having a terrible past couple days too. She is wrapping up her service here in Ecuador and preparing to go back to Japan, but still struggles with the culture here that we often experience- people no-showing lunch dates or coffee meetings, people canceling workshops at the last minute (but you have to ask if it is going to be canceled, they won't give you the heads up), and random people hollering "Chinita" at her. I do hope that her last week in Loja will be a better one, so that she doesn't leave with a bitter taste in her mouth.

Eri and I chatted over humitas, quimbolitos and coffee. Nothing makes you feel better than a coffee break with a good friend. And yes, we talk completely in Spanish because that is our common language!

Thursday and Friday were slower days. Friday was a holiday (10 de Agosto is Ecuadorian Independence Day but the president declared that the day off would be Friday) so all the offices were closed. Thursday night I made some kung pao chicken and invited Jason over to be "kung pao'd" (i.e. when I heat up the dried red chilis, it starts to smoke, causing everyone in the room to cough and gasp for air). He brought over this movie that we had high hopes for and sounded pretty funny. It is called Volunteers and features Tom Hanks as a pompous, rich Yale grad who is running away from a gambling debt and decides to take his roommate's place as a Peace Corps Volunteer going to Thailand. He ends up in this town with two idealistic do-gooder volunteers. Sounds all right, right? Wrong! The movie was...AWFUL! It was so appalling, but we watched it all the way through and did laugh at the ridiculousness. It wasn't the worst movie ever, but it was pretty bad. Like the part where Tom Hanks says to a Thai villager friend (played by Gedde Watanabe of Sixteen Candle's Long Duk Dong fame), "I know you're lying because your eyes are getting round." Nice. 

Yesterday Adam and I cleaned the house- every week we sweep and mop because SOOO much dirt and dust get in the house since there are no thresholds under our front door and the windows are poorly sealed. We did laundry, read some books (I just finished Three Cups of Tea, which was good, and reread Joy Luck Club, along with a couple John Grisham legal thrillers), and then went to Supermaxi for groceries. In the evening I decided to make a recipe I found for "General Tso's Chicken." For those of you in California, you probably haven't heard of this, but in the midwest it is a super popular American Chinese dish so I figured, what the heck! It turned out ok and we ended up  having to eat by candlelight because for some reason the power went out in the whole city (twice!). 

Definitely worth a read. And the tube on the cover is my anti itch cream. As always, I am covered in hives from an allergic reaction. I am going to go home with so many scars, ugh!

Recipe was found on a blog called Appetite for China

We also experienced our second earthquake in Ecuador. This one was a 6.9 just outside of Ambato but because it was far underground, the impact wasn't bad. We were both still in bed when it happened and out of California instinct I woke up and announced "Earthquake." Then I proceeded to walk to the doorway, debating whether a doorway really would be useful to stand under in a building that was built with no codes and that probably didn't have any support around the doorframe. As the ground rolled, I debated whether, really, running outside would be better than potentially getting crushed by brick and cement that is being supported by rusted rebar. But then decided that it would be a waste of time because we are on the second floor and the stairs would probably fall apart before I even got to them. While all this is running through my head, Adam walks past me at the doorway and goes to the bathroom. He figured it didn't really make a difference, and plus the earthquake at that point was over. In any case, we are ok, there are no injuries, and we knew it was an earthquake the second it started shaking. Not like the one time when Renee was visiting and we were in the hotel in Guayaquil- I woke up and hollered "Earthquake!" and it turned out Adam was just rolling around in the bed. 

Tonight I am off to Liz's site for a girls' night slumber party! Not sure what Adam will do at the house, but I think he will survive.

P.S. Funny thing Adam saw during camp. An 8 year old boy was wearing a t-shirt that said "No tengo 40 años. Tengo 18 años con 22 años de experiencia" or "I'm not 40 years old. I'm 18 with 22 years of experience." The thing we don't get is that the shirt was in Spanish...so how could the 8 year old's parents not understand that it doesn't make sense on a child? Slogan shirts here make me laugh.