Diarrhea

2.10.11

Ohhh diarrhea, how I’ve met you WAY too soon… You may go away anytime you wish, seriously. So you read it, I have it. No wonder I was having stomach pains the past 4 days. I figured it was coming. I started out having minor pains in my stomach and as the days went on they got worse and worse. At first the pains would come and go and then they became more consistent. And then it came… 5 times today. I took some pepto tablets and my pains have subsided, but not the wonderful diarrhea. Hopefully tomorrow I will start feeling better and I will be able to eat again. I basically haven’t eaten in 30 hours. The last time I really ate was lunch yesterday. I had a tiny bit of eggs this morning and some juice, but nothing since then. And to be honest, I don’t even feel hungry at all, and it’s not just because of my stomach. I believe it’s because I eat so many carbs and I don’t exercise; therefore, I don’t burn any energy to get hungry. I am starting to walk to and/or from school if it isn’t raining, so I am getting to burn some calories!

Let’s see, so the NRC program had class in the park near by this morning. We went around in pairs interviewing youth (youth here is considered 17-25, but we didn’t find that out until we were back at the training center) and asking them a few questions. Some of them are as follows:

Do you go to school? Do most people who start school finish it? Do you work? If so, does some of the income go to your family or is it just for yourself? Do you know how to take care of the environment? Are you interested in learning more? Would you like to join an eco-club? How many times a week?

That’s not all of them, but you get the point. We did that for about 1 ½ hours then headed back to the training center. Felipe, our program manager, gave a presentation on how to go about starting up a youth group. Then Gabi, the community development manager, gave a presentation on some of the statistics regarding suicide in males, % of women who have kids at certain ages, and many more. Some of the stats were devastating.

We then broke for lunch, but I didn’t eat lunch because my stomach was hurting sooo bad and I just wasn’t hungry. So while everyone ate, a couple friends and I walked down to the internet café. The connection was SOOOOOO slow, I was so annoyed, so I only stayed about 20 minutes, then went back to the center. I made a good decision to leave when I did because when I was just about to the training center, it started raining. (I guess I should tell you that the normal place we eat lunch at was closed today because Andrew, our family program manager, told them everyone would be gone all day on a field trip and would not be eating lunch, so everyone walked about 25 to a different place) And then when I got inside, it POURED, and I mean POURED! It was crazy because about 15 minutes before that it was 70ish and sunny! Needless to say, a lot of my friends had to walk back in the rain and didn’t have their rain coats with them, they were soakin wet! From head to toe! They were all laughing about it, I mean what else can you do but laugh, right? Oh man, they were sopping wet! It was great!

The rest of the afternoon we broke off into groups and planned a charla on a certain topic regarding NRC as if we were going to present it to school children. We planned for about an hour and then we presented them. They were all really good. We did this activity because we are going to be doing this exact same thing for real in about 2 weeks.

After class I dropped my book bag off at home and then headed to the internet café to Skype my parents since I hadn’t talked to them since I’ve been here. Well, that didn’t go so well because there were no headphones at the computer I was assigned to. Awesome, right? NOT! Oh well, life goes on. I did get to connect with them, but we couldn’t talk, so we instant messaged for a while instead. It was better than nothing! At least we could still see each other J At the same time I got to chat through Skype IM with my sister, which was great as well, because I hadn’t spoken to her since I left the States a week ago!!! Not only did I get to chat with my sister and parents, but also my boyfriend and 2 of my friends!! It was a crazy hour at the internet café! But oh so worth it!

Today was my friend’s birthday so we all (when I saw ‘we all’ I mean my training group, Omnibus 105!) had plans to meet at a bar near all of our houses after class. About 25 people showed up, it was great! Well, besides that they all got to have a beer and I only had water L Stupid stomach!!!!! Maybe next time! There are good number of us who have birthdays throughout training, so there will be more times to celebrate. Also, the only married couple in our group has their one year wedding anniversary coming up in about a week, so we get to celebrate for that as well!!

So over all, a great day!! I can’t believe, as of today, I have been in Ecuador for a week!! It seems like I’ve been here for way longer, yet the time has FLOWN by! I love it here! Tomorrow is Friday, I don’t have any plans, but after school on Saturday my training group is going to stay after and play some soccer! I can’t wait! We have a soccer field, basketball court, and volleyball court at the training center! What what!!!

To my friends in the States: take lots of pictures when you are out this weekend and send them to me!!! I can live my American life vicariously through you guys! Love you and miss you all!

Buenos Noches,

Heather

P.S.- It is impossible for me to write a short blog post. I apologize…. But not really. I always have so much to say. Ha!