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.

Little surprises in the Ecuadorian supermarkets

Who would have thought that on a random trip to Hipervalle (another supermarket in Loja), I would find their noodle section stocked with maifun noodles (aka vermicelli noodles, rice stick noodles, or mei fun)? Needless to say, I picked up several packages in the event that they would not restock them. It seems that Supermaxi and Hipervalle have a tendency of having something one week and then never carrying it again (sesame oil, hoisin sauce, wonton wrappers, tahini sauce, coconut milk...the kind of ingredients that are not used in Ecuadorian cooking). We have learned to stock up things that make their one time showing at the store...but lucky for me, suddenly this week Supermaxi also started carrying the maifun noodles, right next to their flat rice noodles that we have been using to make pad kee mao and chow hor fun. Lucky lucky us!

So with my new arsenal of maifun noodles (because we depleted the packages that we brought from home in February), I made some of my mom's simple bacon, chicken and veggie maifun. Quick, easy, and just a little taste of home!

More fotos!

The other day Betty asked me why I do so much origami in the Cuerpo de Paz, and aside from it being something that I was able to easily assist in teaching when my Spanish was still in its formative stages (my Spanish is still improving, but after a year in, it is much better than what it was...I can actually say more than "Doble aca."), really one of the big reasons is that it is an inexpensive activity that can be done to help improve creativity and motor skills in the young & the old alike.

Each time that Eri and I are in front of a new group, we share a little blip about the ancient Japanese art of origami and how it can be shared between the young and the old and that origami can be done regardless of gender, race or age. We share this in Spanish, followed by Japanese and then in English (which everyone gets a kick out of). For only $.15 for a pack of 10 sheets of papel brillante (or using recycled paper or newspaper), we are able to create amazing things...and help all the kids (and occasionally adults) who have no idea how to fold a triangle out of a square sheet of paper.

So it is no surprise that with the amount of origami I have done this year, that I would start having dreams about it. Last night, I dreamt that I was teaching origami to American teachers. I couldn't remember how to fold anything and I didn't have an origami book to assist me (sometimes even after a having done the same things over and over for a year, Eri and I forget some of the steps and reference the book). Needless to say, I woke up in a panic. Ha!

And although I don't just do origami, it does seem to be the majority of my activities (again, inexpensive and easy to do with kids...and it isn't messy! And I don't have to watch out for the little ones eating the crayons or the paste!). However, I have been working with the girls at Dorotea Carrion and it is nice to have a change of pace. Last week we took out a few of the girls and headed out to a park close to my house where we had a nice stroll (it was amazing weather) and did some activities with them.

It was actually a sun shiney day- I can't take those for granted here!

One of the stinky but pretty rivers that runs through Loja

This was Eri's first time at the Parque Lineal de Tebaida even though she has passed it dozens of times in the past

A good game of Rock, Paper, Scissors

The "lower the hula hoop" activity. Less yelling than when I've done it before with college students, haha.

Unfortunately, we don't have any pictures from the work Adam has been doing but he has been pretty busy with the little ones as well. This week with summer camp, Adam and the kids went up to the Parque Nacional Podocarpus and then spent the rest of the week swimming at the pool (followed by an hour long snack break that leads to the kids going crazy, and then arts, crafts, painting, etc.). Adam's learning new vocab like "grab the floaty device!" and "hang on to the fun noodle!"

In other news, we had our friend Jessica come visit us from the coast last weekend and we also bid farewell to one of the volunteers in our cluster who just finished her 2 years of service, Corrie. Here are a few pix:

Jessica enjoying our fancy parks

A quick day trip out to Vilcabamba for some warmer weather

Grigs enjoying a crepe while laughing at our ridiculous cameras

Jason playing with his new lens while I take a photo with my wide angle lens.

Vilcabamba water- guaranteed to help you live longer...so they say!

Is she human? Or is she dancer? Saying bye to Corrie (in the scarf)

Grigs hollering "NO TE VAYAS!!!" Or maybe just "See you later!"

Thank goodness for arcoirises!!

As desert rats, Adam and I have always enjoyed the rain that comes once in a while in the high desert of California- the scent of creosote bushes in the air that indicate the rain is coming, the lightning and thunder... but we certainly aren't accustomed to the almost daily rain in Loja and sometimes it can be frustrating (especially when you want to hang your clothes to dry...with all the rain sometimes it takes a few days to dry and then you get a slight mildewy smell). It rained all day yesterday, it rained really hard last night, and it has been sprinkling all day today, which is pretty typical of the weather here. 

But the one redeeming quality of all the rain that we get (other than the beautiful green hills surrounding the valley) are rainbows! I have probably seen as many rainbows here in Ecuador as I've seen in my entire life. Yesterday as I headed out the door, I was greeted with the images below. Absolutely beautiful. And actually it was a full on double rainbow (but I chose not to take a picture of the two together because then there would also be images of the electric wires in the way)...which made me appreciate more the YouTube video "Double Rainbow Song." It does blow your mind in that way!

Wild Goose Chases

Don't let the title fool you...today I am not talking about the crazy geese that live behind our house, or the one that bit Adam when he was talking to our neighbors. I am talking about one of our common experiences living in Ecuador...the wild goose chase of searching for some obscure product that back home, we would be able to find in no time.

For the past week, I have been in chase of something that in the U.S. I might find in one stop at a Home Depot....

...a metal ring that is 1.5 inches in diameter. Yes, it is an obscure thing to be looking for...but I have been in search of it for an activity that I am doing with the girls at Dorotea Carrion tomorrow so I set off on my little scavenger hunt!

Here in Ecuador, there are a few things that lead to things turning into a wild goose chase. One is that sometimes us extranjeros (foreigners) don't know the proper vocabulary or word usage for an item. The other is that there are literally hundreds of stores in Loja that carry the most random things, so often you are guaranteed to go to at least 2 tiendas to find what you want. Small little tiendas full of random things so you keep trying, one after the other!

So, to start my hunt, I went to a ton of hardware stores (at least 5) asking for "un anillo de metal de 4 centimetros, mas o menos" (a ring of metal of 4 centimeters, more or less). I would get the response that they didn't carry it, but perhaps the next ferrateria down the road would have it. One guy asked me what it was for, and I couldn't really say...me telling him I am doing some teambuilders with a group of girls would lead me nowhere! The staff at Dorotea Carrion showed up with a u-shaped tube that was 4 cm but not what I needed. They were also at a loss of where you could buy something like that so I continued my hunt.

Today I headed into town in the rain, and Adam suggested that I stop by this big warehouse store called Placa Centro. I walk into this gigantic warehouse where they are cutting planks of wood, selling gallons of paint, and giant bags of sawdust. I gave up asking for "un anillo de metal" because it just brought about strange looks, so instead I pointed at my purse and asked if they had something similar to the rings on my purse.

My question led to a very sure response from the woman. She directed me to make a left at the corner down the hill and told me there would be a shop next to a few panaderias (semi-helfpul...there are panaderias on every block). It was the most confident response I had received in the past week (I had been getting a lot of "Ummm...maybe you can try another hardware store??") so I was happy to follow it. I arrived at a small hardware shop next to a panaderia and asked them if they carried something similar to what was on my purse. They shook their heads but then said, "There is a shop that is up the hill and to the left. They fix shoes and they have things like that." I thanked them and went to this next shop that fixes shoes. They regrettably told me that they too did not carry such an item...however they knew of one place that was sure to have it. Back down the hill, make a left, and it would be on that street. I wandered up and down the street not seeing a shop that would carry such a thing, so I gave one last shot and asked a small store that sold ribbons and asked if they knew where I could find something similar to the thing on my purse. The woman at the store smiled and pointed across the street and said "There is a shop that will sell that in the blue and yellow building. Their entrance is on the other street, so just make a right on the corner."

I walked into this shop, full of zippers, soles of shoes, belt straps, belt buckles...AND metal rings of 4 cm, more or less! I was soooo happy to pay my $0.20 (I even had a choice of silver or gold colored and a large variety of diameters!) after only having visited 5 locations today! And I was sure to ask what I should call this ring in the future, in case I ever had an inkling to buy another one. No, it was not an anillo (the word for a ring that you would wear)...it was an argolla. So in the future, "Estoy buscando una argolla de 4 centimetros, mas o menos." And I will prepare myself for yet another visit to no less than 5 tiendas in search of my obscure item that is sure to be sitting in some tienda somewhere in Loja!