(Thursday, August 12, Day 52)

"The contents of this website are mine personally and do not reflect any position of the U.S. Government or the Peace Corps."


Phrase of the day:
San Isidro, voy a hacerlo lluvia!... San Isidro, I'm about to make it rain!

Today we took our final exam! (No worries, I passed, haha). Well, at least I imagine I did! This past week has been very chill...

On Tuesday we went to a neighboring town to see an organic farm. The 20 minute walk out to the farm was really nice.
I'm not sure how organic it actually was though?
Doesn't that look a bit ridiculous?? And my shoe is even off the ground. So really the cabbage is even a little bigger than it looks.
Then in the evening I went and had dinner with my friend because she didn't want to be at home. We went to this sweet restaurant on the Pan-Americana. (It's a highway that pretty much runs throughout South America. Yeah, I totally made that up. But I don't have internet in my home, so you can google it, haha). The place, Cafe Jinette, is owned by a couple from Ireland. Pretty random, I know. I had a burger with salad and french fries, and then a crepe with nutella and vanilla ice cream. Too bad I didn't find the place earlier! And yes, I totally ordered in English.

Yesterday was somehow even more chill. It was our last day of class, so we started class a bit late and met for breakfast, then finished up all of our work, filled out a few evaluations, and had one last charla with our host siblings...
Yup! We just taught them how to play kickball. I'm not going to lie, we didn't stress all of the rules... it was a bit complicated to explain. (bb, did you miss that phrase??). I tried to hit the far wall with the ball, and somehow ended up kicking it over. It was crazy. I'm thinking it's the elevation or something. Naturally, I ran and got it. (And became a superhero for the kids at the same time... priceless). (And the ground is the light green grass, not the dark green shrubbery on the wall, thank you).
We're off to Quito this weekend for more activities... and our swearing in ceremony on Thursday. About time we are actually volunteers!

Before we head out though, there will most likely be another trip to Otavalo. I mean, I need to get some pie before I head to the coast!

San Isidro should be interesting. To start off, my counterpart has a 10-year plan for the community, which consists of making distinct neighborhoods and creating a radio system for communication between the town itself and the 50+ nearby villages. I'll try to somehow work in bringing decent internet to the town too... ideas on that??

But for me, I would like to create some sort of exercise group when I first get there. I think that will help me get to know people informally. The youth there do not have after school programs, just as in most of Ecuador(the world). I figure that should be easy to create, plus I can get in shape at the same time. And who doesn't like to get paid to workout? (Yes, even if it's like $7/day). After I get to know the kids/town I will try my best to tackle sex-ed topics, Computer classes, English classes, and lots of self-esteem topics with the girls.

My real goal though, don't tell Peace Corps, is to eventually somehow create an ice cream parlor small business for the community. Right now all they have is freezer-burned ice cream bars... sad!

Just a guess, but I imagine this is the last time I'll write until I'm in San Isidro.

Have a great week(2 weeks) and I will talk to you all soon... hopefully.

ps: thanks for the mail! but please don't send any more to the office in Quito. I will be getting a mailbox near my town eventually.