4/29 Photo- Wee Little Ones

They just keep getting younger and younger! Last week Eri and I worked with a lot of kids in the first grade doing some workshops/activities, and today we finally got to the youngest age- around 3 years old! I think that is about the youngest we can go trying to do origami and arts & crafts without essentially doing it ourselves.

Explaining how to make an origami dog

Yes, I am doing the "peace" sign...I am in the Peace Corps after all

But I did discover that working with kids at that age is so much fun. They are just so adorable and cute, and they enjoy making flowers and dogs out of paper. The boys don't care if they get pink paper and the girls don't care if they get black. So maybe I do like working with kids after all- just little tiny ones!

Oh, and something that was just too cute the other day was when the primary school teacher introduced Eri and I and said we were going to be their teachers. One of the kids thought his teacher was leaving for good and burst into tears. After getting comforted by his classmates and after the teacher explained she was not going anywhere, he cheered up real fast and really had a great time.

We also have been working with a school the past few days, starting with the 1st grade and working our way up to 7th grade. I am still trying to figure out if 1st grade is our equivalent to kindergarten, and 7th is like 6th grade in the U.S. because the ages seem to be more aligned with those grades because here all the 1st graders seem to be 5. Either way, we have worked our way from 1st through 4th, and will go through 5th-7th next week. It was great walking through the school today and having a bunch of 1st and 2nd graders yelling "Hola Eri! Hola Emily!!" (And to Eri's relief, no more yells of "China!").  Like I said, tiny little ones are great fun to work with!

And a happy birthday shout out to my big sister Susan!!

Free time food blog stalking

Lately I have been doing a lot of workshops in schools and different centers around town. This morning I stood out in the rain waiting for Eri so we could start our arts & crafts activity with a bunch of adorable 5 year olds. This afternoon we went to the Centro Comercial to make origami whales with the kids (some with VERY sticky hands from eating candies and taking them in and out of their mouths- needless to say after our workshops I usually have to wash my hands well with soap!).

However, in my free time, I am reading food blogs (and scrapbook blogs as well). And today I received a lovely email from our friend Jason with another blog to check out!! So here is a list of some of the blogs that I enjoy going to (to discover new recipes or just to gawk at all the yummy pictures!).

The Smitten Kitchen (as recommended by Jason)

Bakerella (I want to eat her cake pops!!)

Food People Want (this is where I got the peanut sauce recipe!)

Exclusively Food (gotta say, I am annoyed that I can't seem to figure out how to go back and forth between recipes, but there are some good ones on this website)
Laylita's Recipes (for the future when I want to make Ecuadorian food)
Simply Recipes (some great recipes on here too)


I am hoping to try out the cinnamon roll recipe on Bakerella's blog this weekend, and then Broccoli Slaw recipe from Smitten Kitchen when I get a hold of broccoli this week. 

No pictures that I have taken today because I am too lazy to upload them. But perhaps tomorrow you will see some pictures of the little 5 year olds and their paper tulips and hand drawn butterflies!

4/25 Photo- Riding the Bus

Adam and I probably ride the bus at least once a day. When we go into the center of town for work, we usually take the Sauces Norte-Argelia bus and it takes us anywhere between 10-20 minutes to get into town (depending on how slow the driver is going to get more passengers). It costs us $.25 per ride so easily in a day I will spend at least $.50 if I go in and out of town. 

On days when we start late, are only heading to town to get food at the market or to check mail, or the weather is really nice, we will walk in. That takes about 45 minutes.

We have gotten used to the "Suba-suba-suba" that gets hollered at us (it pretty much means "Get on, get on, get on!!" or "Come up!") and the "Siga-siga-siga" (which pretty much means to continue going/getting out of the bus). And we have become pretty good at yelling "Parada!" or "Gracias!" to get the bus to stop and drop us off on the street by our house. 

Inside the bus- this was on a particularly slow time of day but often in the morning and at the end of the day (when kids are getting out of classes), the busses are packed to the brim!

4/24 Photo- Exotic Pizza in an Underwhelming Food Culture

Today Jason invited us over to his house for "exotic pizza in the context of an underwhelming food culture" (as stated in his text). We went shopping at Supermaxi after having lunch with some of the new volunteers that arrived today into the province (congratulations Omn 103!!) and decided on some nice little dishes! Goat cheese and asparagus pizza, bbq chicken pizza, Thai chicken pizza, and a nice margarita pizza, along with a caprese salad and garlic knots, followed by a dessert of almond tea cake and brownies! Yum! I made the peanut sauce for the Thai pizza and it was delicious!!

Jason adding a dash of oregano

Look at that delicious caprese salad to start us off!

We also had garlic knots as an appetizer (these are before being baked)

Jason (new volunteer), Chris, Adam and Janet watching JO's Food Revolution on the laptop

Homemade pizza dough

Goat cheese and asparagus pizza (pre-oven)

Thai chicken pizza (yummy peanut sauce recipe- just ask me for it!)

Stacia drinking out of an olive jar (not enough vasos!!)

4/22-23 Photos- Earth Day and Riding in the Garbage Truck!

Yesterday was quite a long day so I crashed as soon as I got home and didn't end up posting a picture. But here are a few from our Earth Day event-

Woman reading the posters designed in part by Adam!

Stacia sharing about Earth Day and Loja Trash

Students from  one of the local schools who were totally great- I work with the student on the very far right every Tuesday at the Centro Comercial (his name sounds like Jympsom but I have no idea how it is spelled!)

Drawing pictures of things in nature that they want to protect

Not pictured is me flipping a lid because a student in the afternoon group drew a swastika on the poster. I totally lost it, ripping the swastika off and demanding to know which kid drew it and how it was a terrible symbol and on and on. Yikes. I was beyond mad. Stacia said that at least the students took something away from my flipping out because a lot of them were asking what that meant and Stacia used that as a teachable moment (way to go Stacia for looking at the positives!!). I have to say I am a little embarrassed that I totally lost my cool so fast- Adam had spotted it and asked who drew it and when I saw what he was talking about, I was going off. I kind of hope I don't do any workshops in their school in the future. Crazy enough, swastikas and "NAZIS!!" are graffitied in many places throughout the city- probably from totally clueless teenagers. 

Today was a really interesting day. We were invited to do a ride-along in the trash trucks to see how it works, take photos, and identify problematic areas and ways to improve. Stacia and I met bright and early at 6:45am and were on a truck by 7am with a driver, inspector (who was going to write fines for people who separated their trash incorrectly since Fridays are organic days), and the 4 workers in the back. After 5 hours with the guys, we learned quickly that 1) people put all their organic trash in plastic bags so it isn't just organic waste but plastic waste too, 2) the trash employees will pick up all trash on the side of the road/parks just to keep the city looking clean, even if it isn't organic waste and 3) the 4 workers in the back are in amazing shape from running and gathering the trash- they work really hard. Overall Stacia and I had a great time (and learned a lot and had a lot to share with the director of the trash program in Loja)!

Here are some photos, not sure where the video option for blogger went...:

Stacia and the inspector Cesar getting ready to jump in

The guys in the back hanging on, jumping off, and running all over

Poorly organized organic waste- as in it was definitely not organic at all (plastic bottles in the bin, etc.). I think the inspector fined them for it

Street lined with their green organic bins

One of the guys trying to manage all the excess bags

People also toss their trash wherever because they know somebody will pick it up. But it sucks for the workers because the dogs get into them (as pictured above)

Handwashing station/break for the guys at around 10am