Thursday, June 17, 2010

Yeah it´s Thursday

Hey dudes. Lately has either been really in your face or a lot of watching movies. By this I mean, I have either been super busy or doing nothing at all. For example, Last Saturday I had to give a charla (lecture) to a group of about 50 adults on the different types of basura (trash). It was my first charla and therefore, kinda scary. In the middle of the question and answers portion, I had to sit down. I was a little nervous/dehydrated. It was all good though, the group I gave the talk to asked me to come back and give them more information on environmental stuff. It is pretty tight. They even said that they would make me some ceviche. That Saturday night was a reina competition. This is basically a beauty pageant to pick the queen of Emplame. I don?t really know what was going on during the whole thing. From what I gathered, the reason they have this event is so people can sell food and beer. I was forced into drinking beer with some dudes til around 1:30 in the morning. The competition wasn?t over, but I was so tired and scared of what might happen if I kept hanging out. It turns out the competition didn?t end until around 4am. Crazy I know.

The next day I went to a town called La Mana that has some cascadas (waterfalls) nearby. I saw 7 waterfalls that day with two of my friends that live close by. It was really sweet. One of the waterfalls was like 100 meters high. I jumped off of it?..just kidding mom. The waterfall I jumped off of was only like 30 feet high. Don?t worry though the water doesn?t have a bottom. I am convinced that it is actually an abyss. Another highlight from this day is that we made sandwiches with cheese that kinda tasted like cheddar. The meat tasted like deli chicken, but was called Jamon de Pollo, which translates to Ham of Chicken. I don?t know really what it is supposed to mean.

Since then I have mostly been watching movies. I finished a bunch of work plans for my counterpart. Oh and I put some dirt in some bags. It was a highlight. Next week is probably going to be crazy. It is my town?s citywide dance. I am not sure, but I think it is going to trump the reina competition. This is going to be tough to do considering the reina competition had a stage similar to a stage you would see at say?.. The Austin City Limits Festival equipped with two giant tv screens on each side, an extremely loud sound system, and a water fountain in the middle of the stage for the contestants to walk around. It is gonna be dope I am sure. The city even made the next day a holiday. They gave the holiday some significance for some famous person, but my counterpart told me it is the day of the hangover. Don?t worry I wont participate in that part mom.

Oh, the fourth of July is coming up. I think me and some of my friends are gonna get together and drink some budweisers. That seems pretty American. Alright, well yall stay cool and I will say wutsup later.

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

I have been showering lately. Well when I feel dirty.

These past weeks have been full of stuff. I am not sure if it has been productive stuff, but at least its stuff. I don?t know if I let yall know, but I finished all of my interviews in my community like 2 weeks ago. It is kind of crazy because everyone else I have talked to is not even close to being done. Oh well, my counterpart was really eager to get these out of the way.
I have been watching a lot of movies and tv shows lately. I recently went on a spending spree and spent about 30 dollars on media. This may not seem like a lot to most of you, but here in Ecuador this is 30 dvds. It is pretty awesome. I even bought Iron Man 2 like the day after it was released in theatres. So I guess my habits are about the same here as they were in the states. I still watch movies and play video games in my spare time. I am still waiting to get a bicycle and guitar and then things will be almost back to normal.
Also for the past two weeks I have waited for what seemed forever to use the internet here at the municipio (municipality). It turns out I wasn?t waiting on anything. We were just given wrong information and asked the wrong people to use the internet. Anyway, I finally got to use the internet yesterday. I got mucho information about reforestation and have almost finished my general plan for the project. I say general plan, because I know for a fact that I will run into many problems and have to change some of the stuff quite a bit. I hope it?s a sustainable project though. I hope my community isn?t just depending on my to do the project, but they also take an interest and participate in it.

I have been at my site for like a month and a half almost. That means, in another month and a half I will be done with host families. I can get my own apartment. This will be great. I will be able to cook for myself and take care of everything on my own again. I can start eating dinner when I want to eat it. Right now I eat dinner around like 9pm because that?s when my family likes to eat dinner. I won?t have to share my living quarters with an office. It will be nice freedom. I can?t wait.

My parents are planning on coming in October. This should also be awesome. I get to plan what we are going to do. I am also planning on making a trip back to Texas for like a week in December around Christmas. Oh, the thought of eating Mexican Food and drinking Lone Star and Shiner. I will try to keep everyone posted on when I make my return and want to try to see as many people as possible. Also, if anyone wants to come to Ecuador, it is not a problem. Everything here is super cheap. A 10 hour bus ride is like 10 bucks. A hotel room is like 7 bucks a person. It is all good. Meals are between $1.50 and $3.00. There is tons of hiking and awesome stuff to do. Anyway let me know. I miss everyone and will post soon. Luego.