December always disappears.

Nothing really gets done in December, yet it's somehow the busiest month of the year. I'm still trying to figure out exactly how that works.

***Warning: This post contains a picture of my feet. If you don't like feet, don't read this post. Carry on.***

This year, December's gone like this:

Week 1
--Helped paint a school with some of my teen alums.
--Visitors at my house.
--My cat pees all over the house.
--I am extremely embarrassed.
--Flashmob on the Malecón.
--A mustache party.
--Learned recycled crafts with the women's Saturday class.

Week 2
--Cat gets spayed.
--Sleepover with a friend at a hotel downtown: Air conditioning; cable; hot showers; heaven.
--Day trip to help an acquaintance fill out the request for a Peace Corps Volunteer to work at their organization. I am treated as the guest of honor all day long. (My favorite part was the ceviche they fed me for brunch: YUM.)
--Convince the high school principal of one of my teen alums to let her miss a week of school so she can attend a Peace Corps workshop in Quito.
--High school principals are scary.
--But it wasn't hard (see first clause of this post).
--Hit the Guayaquil pavement, apartment searching with/for a friend.
--Visitors at my house.
--More visitors at my house.
--I like visitors.
--Oh look! Here's some more!
--Traveled with some PCV friends to nearby Santa Elena to run my first ever half marathon. This, like the run in Esmeraldas province, was another run to support the preservation of Parque Yasuní.

I'm the one in the sparkly baseball cap.

After the run we were pretty much ready for it to be Christmas. (More photos of the run can be found on the 21kx24provincias blog.)

Week 3
--Traveled to Quito to spend the week at Peace Corps' "Brigadas Verdes" workshop! A number of volunteers working on environmental projects were invited to come and bring a youth alum along. We attended sessions on the state of the environment in Ecuador, how to form an Eco Club and plan activities, and recyclable crafts.

--Being at this workshop with a bunch of teenagers to keep an eye on was akin to what I imagine being a camp counselor is like.
--I'm glad I'm not a camp counselor.
--But the workshop was fun!
--Except for the last day, when a few of us woke up with food poisoning and had to travel home feeling rather ill.
--I threw up on the bus.
--While in Quito, I also visited the Peace Corps Medical Officer because my foot's been bothering me of late. She diagnosed tendonitis. No more running or wearing flip flops for a few months.

Goodbye, flip flop tan.
Hello, yoga.
Ommmmmmm.

Week 4
--So far, I've read a lot; nursed myself back to solid foods; and cleaned my house.
--My bathroom is the cleanest it has ever been, ever.
--Even though I've only lived in this apartment for a year, I am 99.9% sure that the above statement is true.
--My sister flies in from the States tomorrow!!!! (Er...later today.)

In honor of sisters and Christmas, we bring you this Public Service Announcement, circa 1954:

Makin' Coffee

I have a hand-me-down coffeemaker from a previous volunteer, but unless I'm brewing for more than just me, I like to pretend that I'm roughing it in a thatch hut on the side of a windy mountain. So I use this:

Have you ever seen one of these? They're called moka pots. They were patented in 1933 in Italy. Having one makes me feel cool.

For the longest time, these things baffled me. How could it be possible to brew coffee in one of these without defying the laws of physics? I wanted to open one up and look inside, but I never got the chance. So I just believed in the power of magic and coffee.

But now, I have one. And I can show you how they work. And guess what? The process follows the laws of physics, and it's still magical.

Ready?

Step 1: Unscrew the moka pot and fill the bottom compartment with water.

Step 2: Put in the tube thingy...

...which is capped with a filter:

Step 3: Heap a few spoonfuls of coffee on top of the filter.

Step 4: Screw on the top and put on the stove!

The top also has a filter, so the coffee grounds are effectively sandwiched between two filters.

Step 5: Wait for coffee to percolate.

Percolate...percolate...percolate...

...here's where the physics comes in: something about water reaching a boiling point, and then it rises through the filter, through the coffee grounds, and into the upper chamber of the moka pot...

...and before you know it, you've got a nice strong cup of coffee to start the day. Good morning, sunshine!

Tech Exchange: When one volunteer visits another volunteer's site to help develop a project

As PCV Olenka and I walked in leisurely fashion towards the Casita de Chocolate, I looked up and was amazed to see a huddle of women waiting for us outside the gate. After 16 months of constantly seeing community members arrive late to meetings and events (usually smiling and reminding me about the concept of la hora ecuatoriana), I knew these women were truly excited about our weekly manualidades and bisutería (crafts and jewelry-making) classes, because instead of arriving on time, they arrived early.

Seven women and their daughters sat at the table and looked at us expectantly. One proffered up a dollar coin; for previous classes, we had asked participants to contribute $1 each toward the purchase of materials. “Today’s class is gratis,” I explained, “because we’re working with recycled materials.” This pleasant surprise grabbed the women’s attention, and they seemed even more eager to get started.

Over a period of two hours that Saturday morning, Olenka shared with us her expertise in turning chip bags, milk cartons, and old magazines into wallets and beads. The ladies and I learned three new techniques that are low-cost; benefit the environment; and produce eye-catching products.

[Olenka shows the women how to roll paper beads from old magazines]

My favorite part of these classes always occurs right in the middle of our time together, after the ladies have grown confident enough with a new technique that they begin conversing among themselves while their hands are at work. Just a few weeks ago, these women were strangers to each other; now, they’re giving each other health advice, inquiring after one another’s families, and debating the merits of various platos and cooking styles. It’s been incredibly rewarding to see the bond between them grow over such a short time, as it has been heartwarming to see the relationships between the older generation and their daughters manifest in different ways during the workshops. Often, the steady hands of the mothers will guide their daughters’ less graceful efforts, while at other times, the girls’ keen eyes and quick facility for learning turn them into their mothers’ instructors.

This particular class, Olenka captured the ladies’ imaginations by transforming common household items before their eyes. Previously, they had never envisioned a milk carton becoming a change purse, or old magazine pages turning into cute pieces of jewelry. By the end of the two hours, the women were brainstorming additional ways to use items from around the house that would otherwise go into the trash, and they left excited to return next week and continue practicing the techniques Olenka taught us.

[Working on milk carton wallets and paper beads]

The women’s enthusiasm is infectious, and while we are all hopeful that the concept for a microempresa will emerge from what we learn, for now I love cheering them on as they continue to plan classes and meet weekly in what has become a small but strong community, forming a foundation of friendship that will surely direct their future efforts toward success.

[The women show off their handiwork. All products are made from recycled materials]

Día Mundial de la Lucha contra el Sida

Every year on December 1st, people around the globe celebrate World AIDS Day by holding events to raise awareness about and educate people on the prevention of HIV/AIDS. You might recognize the red ribbon, which is the global symbol for solidarity with people living with HIV and AIDS.

Each country Peace Corps serves has its own specific needs, but Peace Corps has identified five global initiatives - areas in which every volunteer can and should focus at some point during their two years of service - and HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention is one of them.

So, what did we do for World AIDS Day in Guayaquil? We danced.

Remember when I talked about the flashmob we did at our Midservice Conference back in September? Well, one of the volunteers choreographed a dance. Throughout the month of November, we practiced once a week with other PCVs and youths who have participated with us on various projects related to health and HIV awareness.

On the big day, we busted out our moves on the Malecón, right in front of the famous statue of Simón Bolívar. Originally the plan was to perform multiple times in different spots, but then the boombox batteries died.

So we settled for 1.75 performances, handed out flyers and information on HIV/AIDS, and called it a night.

Stay tuned, you never know when the Peace Corps flashmob will strike again!

Books, Books, I Love Books

I mentioned in my previous post the "stunning" mobile library that exists between volunteers here in Ecua-land. Just take a look at some of these titles, will ya?

And while you're at it, take a step back and admire my organization skills, please. This is why I like hosting Thanksgiving: it forces me to clean my house. This corner of the room looked pretty heinous before TDay.

That whole big shelf-console-thing was bequeathed me by a departing volunteer; hand-me-downs are a tradition among volunteers. A tradition without which I would be sitting on the floor instead of on a futon and living off cold cereal and a raw foods diet in the absence of a stove.

But anyway, back to the books.

Many of the items that get handed down - or rather, passed around - between volunteers are books. This makes me jump for joy! I was so afraid of coming to Peace Corps and being sent to a remote town without any good reading material. I lucked out in that Ecuador is a small enough country with a large enough network of bus lines that volunteers are able to visit each other fairly regularly. And they usually come with a couple pounds of good reading material stuffed into their bags.

I also lucked out because I have awesome family and friends back home who send me reading material. Without this fodder from afar, the PCV mobile library would likely never expand; it's difficult to find literature here, generally speaking, especially in the English language. So thanks, everyone who's been sending me books! Your good deeds will surely be rewarded. I hope.

(Seriously, this is quite the literary soirée: Mr. Fleming, meet Herr Goethe. Mr. Salinger, meet Señor García Márquez.)

Somehow, the library I've accumulated here has come to rival the one I have at home. These books are like friends - and they come from friends, and they remind me of friends. And there's no better frame of mind than that when I'm sitting down to open a well-worn cover and start reading.

The Similarities in Stress Levels Between Earthworms and PCVs - with a graph!

When we were preparing the worm bed for the garden, a Peace Corps staff member from the Agriculture group described the proper care and attention for the worms. He made it a point that we have to periodically stir the bed to evenly distribute soil/newspapers/desperdicios, encouraging the worms to roam freely throughout the whole bed. And we must place the bed in a cool, shaded spot. If we didn't do these things, he warned us, the worms would become estresados – stressed out. And those poor, stressed out little wormies would just hang out at the bottom of the bed and not eat anything or produce any humus because they were so, so stressed...just imagine, the weight of all that newspaper and soil and vegetable waste pressing down on them...

I had to laugh at the idea of an earthworm getting stressed out (I can't really picture it, can you?), but then I started empathizing with the little guys. And then it struck me—Come to think of it, people don't generally think of Peace Corps volunteers as “stressed out,” do they? Most people associate Peace Corps with things like adventure, excitement, and learning about new cultures, languages, and foods – and these things are all true. But they and stress are not mutually exclusive.

For one thing, adventure brings its own kind of stress. There's the experience of not knowing how to prepare for something because you have no concrete idea of what it is going to be like. I’m reminded of trying to pack my bags before coming to Ecuador, staring blankly at the packing list Peace Corps provided us, which was obviously generic yet somehow meant to simultaneously serve the needs of volunteers headed for snowy Ukraine, sunny Africa, coastal Ecuador, and probably the isolated Fiji Islands, too. (The result was that I didn’t start packing until the day before I left, nearly causing my poor mother to have a myocardial infarction.)

Then, once you do find yourself plopped down in the middle of the situation – thinking, Oh! so this is how people in Ecuador dress, and Oh! so this is what the weather is like on the equator, and Oh! so this is what guinea pig tastes like – then, there’s all the minor adjustments to daily life you have to make. Things like throwing toilet paper into a wastebasket instead of flushing it down the toilet (sounds gross, right? meh, you get used to it). Things like people answering their cell phones in the middle of a class or a meeting. Things like being expected to eat the entire heaping plate of rice your host mom just set in front of you. These things, benign in themselves, when combined can build to a breaking point. One day at the supermarket the security guard yelled at me because I attempted to enter the store wearing a backpack, which is supposed to be stowed in a locker; I started to cry. It was a last straw kind of thing, ya know?

Eventually, every volunteer learns to adapt just by being where they are: we come to know what we didn't before, the expectedly-unexpected becomes reality, and we find ways to deal with the cultural differences that boggle our minds. I should say, boggled our minds - past tense, because one of the most effective ways to acclimate to the little stuff is to participate until it becomes habit. If my phone rings and I'm in the middle of teaching a class and I don't answer it, everyone looks at me like I'm weird and a bad person. So I just answer it. Of course there are some cultural differences – attitudes and behaviors regarding gender roles or corporal punishment, for example – that may never, ever line up with an individual's personal beliefs. Especially a person who comes from a culture where the attitudes and behaviors regarding such topics are at the opposite end of the spectrum. And all of those things we can’t or won’t adapt to - let’s just throw those onto the stress pile, too.

So, why am I making you listen to the myriad ways Peace Corps volunteers can get stressed out? To see if you I can stress YOU out, of course.

Are you stressed yet?
Are you stressed yet?
Are you stressed yet?
Are you stressed yet?

I kid. My main point is threefold:

1) It is quite possible to be stressed out in the Peace Corps, in case you were wondering, and even if you weren’t.

2) In fact, it’s probably the norm to sustain SOME level of anxiety about SOMETHING for the majority of your service. Here’s a handy-dandy graph to illustrate:

3) We all have to find ways to adapt and adjust if we want to integrate into our communities, make a positive impact, and be successful volunteers during the two short years that we are here.

So, when push comes to shove comes to oh-my-gosh-what-the-heck-am-I-doing-here, how do we deal? Here’s a list of common stress relievers among PCVs in Ecuador:

Physical exercise. For me, this comes in the form of running. And let me tell you, I hated running for many, many years. I spent all of junior high frantically inventing ways to get out of the dreaded weekly mile-and-a-half run in P.E. It was, at that point in my life, the bane of my existence. And now? – I look forward to running six miles at the end of a busy day. Because if I’m going to throw a stomping temper tantrum out of frustration, I might as well check out the scenery at the same time.

Journaling. Lots of us journal. It’s a form of self-reflection, and of holding oneself accountable.

Creating something with your hands. Some people paint lovely portraits or landscapes on canvas; some people knit scarves, hats, and blankets; some people build their own furniture. I paint my toenails. Anything that’s absorbing in a way that transports you away from external distractions and into the what and how of whatever it is you’re creating.

Drinking. Not necessarily to excess, but I for one would be lying if I said I never looked forward to a cold beer at the end of a long day in the coastal heat.

Stories, i.e., reading books and watching movies. There is a stunning mobile library among PCVs (on a recent trip with a group of PCV friends, we spent the morning of our departure bickering about who was going to get which books versus what we actually thought of them), and movies are to be had here for a song (which, if you're like me, means you'll be up at midnight polishing off the leftover Thanksgiving stuffing while watching Top Gun).

Conversations with friends and family. Friends and family from home, Ecuadorian friends and host family, and other PCVs. Simply airing one’s frustrations and grievances to a sympathetic listener does wonders for the soul.

Lying. It is incredibly easy to lie here. "Yes, I have a boyfriend, we're engaged to be married next month." "No, I can’t eat rice; I’m allergic." Etc., etc.

Serving yourself a huge mug of something, anything: colada morada, hot chocolate, tea, juice, ice cream... Or, just making and eating food that reminds you of home, like PB&J or mac'n'cheese.

Taking a shower. Okay, this last one may be more of a personal quirk than anything. But who’s going to object to extra efforts at hygiene, right?

There are days when, for whatever reason, any volunteer may feel unmotivated and be less than productive. Lest we find ourselves huddled in the corner of the shower (okay, I admit again, maybe that’s just me), we find ways to cope and get ourselves back to work. It’s just like the worms: mix things up a little bit and you realize that what was previously an obstacle has now become an opportunity; the Great Beyond is not just a pile of rotting debris sitting on your head, but rather an appetizing array of newspaper and vegetable peels – and we shall munch our way through it with gusto.

Just Like Home

Leftover Thanksgiving turkey sandwiches!!!

Quiz Answers

I know how hard it's been for you to wait...thank you for your incredible patience...and now, I shall reveal the identities of the mysterious garden veggie pictures posted a couple days back. Ready?

This guy is a squash (zapallo). The fruit isn't fully ripe yet, as you can see below.

And they're quickly taking over their half of the bed.

These guys are radishes (rábanos). They're almost ready to be harvested and are sometimes used here in soups and salads.

And this you should recognize as flat-leaf parsley (perejil), good for use in pretty much any kind of soup, according to my sources.

This guy is my favorite - maybe because the scent of a tomato plant brings me back to being a kid and helping my grandfather water his garden in the summer. As one of the ladies exclaimed the other day, ¡Qué rico el olor de las matas de tomate! What a lovely smell the tomato plants have! I wholeheartedly agree.

These guys are not producing quite yet, but they've grown rapidly in the few weeks since we've planted the seeds, as you can see below.

We planted the tomatoes on the other side of the health center, where there's more sunlight and where they can have their privacy. Tomato plants are extremely shy, did you know?

Next, we have the turnips (nabo). We've already harvested these, as they had grown to gargantuan proportions and were ready for being chopped up and thrown into a soup or salad. Yum.

And this guy - if you couldn't tell before, maybe you can now:

They're green bell peppers (pimientos)! It's almost time to harvest them as well. Now if only there were a way to whip up some ranch dressing...stand by, I will get back to you on this posthaste.

Credit to The Pioneer Woman for the vegetable quiz idea!

The Juan Pavo Makeover

You saw Juan Pavo before:

Cold, lonely, and afraid in the bottom of the freezer.

After a few days of thawing out, the Big Day came around, and it was Juan's turn for the oven. I started by pulling out that bag inside of him. You know, the one with all the innards?

Funny thing, there were feet in there along with everything else. I've never cooked a turkey in the States, but I'd bet my holey britches that the feet are not normally included with the bird.

Moving on, let me introduce you to these two turkeys. Whitni and Rip came into town to celebrate the day, and they cooked up some delectable treats. Unfortunately I didn't get pictures to document their culinary prowess; Juan Pavo was feeling needy. And then the stuffing felt left out, so I had to give it a little extra attention. From there it was a chain reaction with the side dishes, and before I knew it, I was simultaneously mediating between the carrots and the capers while attempting to prevent the pumpkin muffins from committing oven suicide.

These are a carry-over from last year's celebration. Welcome back, guys!

Now, Juan Pavo took his sweet time in the oven, but fortunately we had this to tide us through:

And the people were happy, and they saw that it was good. Amen.

By the time Mr. Pavo finally did emerge, everyone was hungry and happy.

*clears throat*

Drumroll, please.

...

...

...

Swimming in a sea of butter and rosemary, surrounded by dozens of adoring fans. Life couldn't get any better, Juan Pavo; your life's work is now fulfilled. And we only ended up eating one hour later than planned!

I didn't get pictures of the food. I was busy being a good hostess, okay? So here's some more turkeys:

"Turkeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeey! Turkeyturkeyturkeyturkeyturkey..." If you can name that movie, I will give you a hug. If you can whistle the theme song from that movie, we must be soulmates.

This little turkeyling stole all of our hearts.

The lovely Isa models the latest in haute turkey cuisine.

We missed everyone who wasn't there to share the meal with us, but all in all it was another good Thanksgiving outside the U.S.

This is Turkey, over and out.

Lombricultura (aka, Vermiculture)

Today, we added a bed to the garden--a worm bed.

The worms need their own bed in order to produce humus, an organic fertilizer which we will add to our soil in the future. There are many, many, many different models of worm beds to choose from; we opted for the simplest and cheapest option of using an old tire.

We placed it on top of some rocks to ensure the bed will have proper drainage and oxygen from below as well as from above. Then, we created a floor for the bed by making a latticework of sticks and covering it with sacking.

We poked holes in the sacking for drainage/oxygen purposes; we don't want the little wormies to suffocate.

Next comes newspaper, torn into strips.

At this point, we were ready to people our worm bed. (Worm our worm bed?) We've had our worms on hold for the past few weeks, and they've been hanging out in a plastic sheet. But it was time for them to graduate to the tire. So we dumped them into their new abode, with much pomp and circumstance.

Then we threw in some desperdicios from the kitchen - organic waste such as veggie peels and eggshells.

Then came the really fun part: adding water and mixing it all together with your hands.

Desperdicios, soil, newspaper, and all.

Mike is about ready to wash his hands here. Apparently nobody else wanted to get theirs dirty.

There's worms in there, I promise. They're just not very photogenic (i.e., every time I tried to take their portrait, it came out blurry).

Finally, we covered 'em up so it'll be cool and dark and humid - perfect conditions for making humus. Stay tuned in a few weeks for phase two, when we will add another tire on top of the first one and repeat this whole process in a way that encourages the worms to migrate upwards into the newer tire, allowing us to take and use the humus in the original tire.

And now, because you've been so patient and listened to me talk about tires and worms and stuff, shall we all play a game? Who can correctly guess what plant this is?

And this?

And this little guy?

What about this one?

And this?

And, finally, this?

These are all residents of our garden, in different stages of growth. Answers next time - or maybe the time after next, because tomorrow is Thanksgiving, and that means FOOD.