I'm Baaaaack, Remember Me???

9.15.11

Believe it or not I’m still alive and kickin’ it. Did you miss me? I missed me. Haha. It’s been stone ages since I’ve written… I apologize, but things just got really crazy, really fast, for 5 or 6 weeks. But I’m done traveling and my schedule has calmed down so I will be updating regularly again.

 A quick overview of what I’ve been up to: 6 weeks ago I moved into an apartment, the week after that I went to a weeklong community tourism conference in Quito, then came back to Cuenca for a week and bought everything I needed for my apartment; the week after that my boyfriend came to visit for 2 weeks. The day he left I went to Quito for a week long Reconnect conference with my training group and the weekend after that I went to Quilotoa. And the last 2 weeks I’ve just been getting back into the swing of things, catching up with family and friends, my Ecuafriends/coworkers, going out of town for work meetings, doing PC work, etc. Crazy, busy schedule, right? Yeah, I’m glad to be done traveling for a while.

I really don’t even know where to begin, this is going to be the longest post ever. So the whole moving into my apartment thing was crazy. My apartment came furnished, but didn’t come with ANY kitchen appliances. So I bought a fridge, a gas stove with a small oven, and all kitchen supplies including pots and pans. I absolutely LOVE the location of my apartment. I live in downtown Cuenca and can walk almost everywhere. It’s amazing. The apartment itself is really small and pretty old, but whatever, I’m in Peace Corps it’s not supposed to be magnificent. I even have a descent sized balcony overlooking the street. It’s great. And it is REALLY nice having more independence. Don’t get me wrong, I really enjoyed my host family, but after living with 2 host families for a total of 6 months, I was ready to be on my own, cook my own food, and not have anyone to report to J

Okay, let’s see, what’s next? Oh right, the tourism conference. There were 15 PCVs and their counterparts that attended the conference. It was actually put on very nicely by a professional company. We learned a lot. It’s always different for my organization though because we are so developed with tons of projects going on. Other Volunteers just work with a person in the community without a structured organization. When the presenters were giving examples they would always refer to my organization, it was pretty cool. I will save you all the borrowing details of ALL the activities I did, but just know that it was really interesting and Angie and I both enjoyed it.

The week I came back from that conference was when I bought everything for my apartment. It came furnished, but the bedding was so old and nasty looking I refused to even sit on it. Haha. So I bought new sheets and a nice, thick thick blanket to go with it. Along with bedding I bought a refrigerator, a small stove, pots, pans, seasonings for cooking, plates, cups, Tupperware, silverware, and a little bit of food to last me the week. Among running around like a chicken with my head cut off I was going to work every day and attending meeting almost every night. Crazy week.

Then my boyfriend came for 2 weeks J It was so nice to have someone close to home come down to visit. We had a great relaxing time. Right when he got here we headed to the coast to relax, chill out, and enjoy each other’s company. We went whale watching one day…. O.M.G. was that awesome. We had whales jumping and swimming RIGHT next to our boat. It was incredible… besides the whole semi-sea sickness thing. Neither of us threw up, but at times it sure felt like breakfast was gonna come back up. Too much information? Sorry, I’m not apologizing. We also went to “Isla de la Plata” or known in English as ‘The poor man’s Galapagos’.  We took a walking tour of the island and saw tons of birds along with the blue footed boobies. It’s mating season so they were all in pairs doing this awesome romantic traditional dance that they do. Such a cool experience. After that we just relaxed and took it easy on the beach. OH GOODNESS, I almost forgot. We ran into large bottles of Budweiser for $1.25 so we drank that one night. Tasted a-maz-ing! Nothing like a nice taste of home.

 While we were on the beach we ate some amazingly delicious seafood. I’m pretty sure I gained 10 pounds in just one week. We ate very well J

After the beach we came back to Cuenca and did touristy things. We took a tour of Cuenca one day, walked around the outdoor and indoor markets. The rest of the time we just hung out and went out a couple nights.

You can find more pics from our vacation on my Facebook page.

So he left and the same day I had to travel to Quito for Reconnect with my training group. It was sooo nice being reunited with my group after being apart for 4 months. The whole point of Reconnect was to learn how to better work with your counterpart. All in all it was a great time. All of us volunteers went out every day after “training” to have a beer and catch up on everyone’s PC lives. Ohhh good times, good times.

Playing a game a Reconnect: we had to pick up peanuts with

a spoon that was attached to the end of the

bamboo stick.

My friends clearly wanted their picture taken. haha

Reconnect ended this past Friday and Saturday morning everyone went their separate ways, either back to site or on to their vacation spots. As for me, I headed to my vacation stop, the Quilotoa Loop. It’s a HUGE crater created from an erupted volcano years and years ago. In time the crater has filled up with water and the lagoon is blue and green. HERMOSA! (beautiful) So pretty.

Standing on the edge of the crater

 The lagoon

You can view more Quilotoas pics on my Facebook page.

So this past week I’ve finally gotten back into my normal Cuenca routine. Go to work in the morning and afternoon, and in the evenings I normally attend meetings or hang out with my Ecuafriends. I really missed my coworkers/Ecuafriends… so it feels great to being back and see them on a daily basis. When I walked into the office for the first time in 3 weeks they were all clapping and cheering! “Heather, it’s been years since we’ve seen you! How are you? Tell us about your vacation! We missed you.” And of course all that was accompanied by hugs and kisses! Love my friends J

So that’s it. That’s what I’ve been up to the past weeks. So what am I up to now? Well, let me tell you.

I’m finally going to start a project, wooohooo! Should be starting it on Monday. We are going to develop an English program for the communities we work with and somehow incorporate computers… I’m still not totally sure how the computer thing is going to work.  We are on Ecuatime here, folks, so this project isn’t going to go down for quite some time; therefore, I have plenty of time to figure it out. I’m not too worried about it.

We also want to create souvenir like things to sell in the communities we work with.

What else have I been up to? OHHHHH, I joined a gym. I’m finally going to shrink this rice belly and get back into the shape I was when I arrived in Ecuador. I already feel a hundred times better since I’ve moved out of my host family’s house. Don’t get me wrong, the food was delicious, but it’s time to get down to business.

My apartment is doing well. I still love it. The location is great and I LOVE being able to open my balcony doors and soak up the fresh air. Pics of my apartment coming soon.

I believe that is it for now. I’m excited to get down to business and start a project!

Just a little random story I’m proud of:

So within the past few weeks I’ve been getting comments on my Spanish. Many people have told me how good my Spanish is and that I even speak like a Cuencana (girl from Cuenca) which makes me feel great. I guess I should tell you now that people from Cuenca have a different “accent” then the rest of Ecuador. Everyone says people from Cuenca sing when they talk. I don’t really hear it too much anymore because I’m used to it. But they say it because many people have semi-high pitched voices and elongate their words when they talk.

When I was staying with a host family for my PC Reconnect this past week my host mother and sister kept commenting on how much I talk like a Cuencana and then giggle. So language is definitely getting better. I am by no means perfectly fluent, but I would say I’m mostly fluent.. about 70%. I still struggle with vocab words on a daily basis and struggle with tenses (past, present, future, subjunctive) when I’m telling a story, but I always seem to get my point across. Where are my high school Spanish teachers when I need them? Also, I’ve picked up a lot of Cuenca slang words and my Ecuafriends think it is cute and hilarious when I say it, so they are always laughing at me. There are always reasons to laugh at the gringuita!

Corny story, but it is always nice to hear people tell me my Spanish is so much better! :-)

Until next week

Heather