Site Visit!!!

Ok, so whats the deal. Last week was pretty awesome I think. Let me see if I can recap it. Oh now I remember. I got my site assignment. I got assigned to the province of Guayas in a small town about 3 hours northwest of Guayaquil. I can´t write my city on my blog due to some awesome Peace Corps policies. If you want to know what it is you can either ask my mom or hit me up on facebook. Last week I went to a farm with my language group and one other and we spent six hours making some special kind of soup that you are only allowed to eat one time a year according to Ecuadorian culture. The soup had every type of vegetable you can think of and a hardboiled egg and fish. It was served with apple boxed wine. Before we ate this meal, however, i had the opportunity to feast on some fresh organic peaches. Well me and another volunteer, Tio Jose, decided we were gonna see who could eat the most. We each ate ten and were sick for about two days. It was awesome. Even though I was sick I got to drink a few beers for St. Patricks day and watch some Karaoke. On Friday we got our site assignments and on Saturday we had a fiesta for all the host families. Somehow I got tricked into participating in some native dance as entertainment. We had to practice for two afternoons before the actual event. There was about 14 of us that participated. It was quite funny. Immediately following the native dance, I was then tricked into dancing with my host mom. Funny, I know. After the fiesta we went to our favorite bar....ok its not a bar. It is a bakery that has outside seating that occasionaly will serve you a beer. It was fun anyway. I spent all day Sunday getting to my site. I had to use like 6 busses. It was awesome. As soon as my bus got to the coastal atmosphere, the lifestyle was completely different. Everything on the coast is more awesome. People wear shorts and cutoff t-shirts with sandals. I like it. Everyone also listens to regaton. Today was my first day at my new job. I am working for the Department of the Environment in my city. I live in one of the larger sites and I think they are expecting a lot out of me. Today they told me that they were going to get me a bike so I could ride 8 kilometers to the river everyday. This is pretty awesome. It is hot as crap here, but I don´t care. I am helping with reforestation and water quality. It is kind of like a dream come true. I work with 3 engineers and they all think I am an engineer even though I have told them that I am not. It is funny when they give me the water treatment plant plans, that are in spanish, and think that I know what is going on. I also currently don´t have a host family and am staying in a hotel. Cool, I know. There is also another volunteer that is about 40 minutes from my site. I met her today. This is cool because some volunteers don´t have anyone around them for 3 or so hours. I think I am going to the river tomorrow, but I will have to wait and see. This week is going to be interesting. I will return to my host family in the mountains this weekend for my last week with them. Then, I am off on my tech trip.

Over and over

This past week has been pretty cool. We have had the usual spanish/security/health/technical classes everyday. The highlight was definitely on Sunday. 4 companeros y yo went to a hot spring in a town called Oyacachi. I probably buchered the spelling of that town. It was really awesome. The setting of the town was similar to Jurrasic Park and we happened to be the only gringos in sight. The bus ride there and back was scary because there is no guard rail and we were about 4 inches from a 100 foot drop. I am alive, so all is good. Oh, last week on Friday we had a futbol tournament. My team was called Equipo Superchevre. We lost the only game we played 1-0. It is all good though because i played goalie and lost the game for my team. I tried to score from goalie, but it is real tough to do so. On Saturday we were on a mission to eat as much food as possible. I spent about 3 bucks at a chinese restaurant and got two plates piled with food. I had to make my beef and peppers hotter with hot sauce. It was really hot, i sweated like i was in Texas heat. Other than all that awesome stuff, everything has been pretty normal. I don´t think I have had to eat anything to weird. Tomorrow my group has to give a presentation on transplanting to a bunch of little kids. We will see how my spanish holds up. Well, I have to go check US sports scores, so I will talk to yall later. Peace.

Palabra

Ok, so wutsup. I have been living with a host family for almost two weeks now. I can´t tell anyone the town I live in on a blog post because of awesome Peace Corps policies, but if you want to know, just email me or hit me up on facebook. My days have been consisting of waking up super early and eating either a massive breakfast or a peice of bread and then heading to class. Class can range from spanish class, to security class, to technical class, and if we are lucking we all just wait in line and get vaccinations. I honestly have no idea what I have been vaccinated for anymore. I have a cell phone number now, so if anyone wants to call me, they should give me a shout. Here is the number, dial 0059394405185. 593 is my country code. I think that is all you have to do to call me. So here are some awesome things that have happened so far. I have been shocked by my electric showerhead only once. I ate bloody chicken on accident for dinner one night. The next day was real fun. I found a mouse in my room. I found a beatle in my beard. I accidently ate a chicken intestine. I saw a dog get milked. Yeah, a dog it was hilarious. I was in a parade full of gringos in a town called Nono and everyone in the town was there, but they just watched us act crazy. On one awesome night, I had to help my host brother pull a bunch of sheep out of the back of a truck and then pull them into the back yard. Well, I think I pulled to hard and one of the sheep passed out. All in all, Ecuador has been awesome so far. I find out where my site will be next week. It seems really soon, but it is also exciting. Anyway, I hope all is good and I wil update everyone soon.