Learning to Be Cool

A while back, my Cool Aunt sent materials in the mail for this cool crafts project she thought would be cool to do with some of the teens I work with.  Cool, huh?  Given that the group of teenagers had somewhat splintered in April with the start of school and their varying schedules, we decided to meet during the weekends when everyone was available.  Not all the girls I'd worked with had met each other.  So, in an effort to make our class seem, like, so cool, I invited them all to my house for our first meeting.  Ten people confirmed their attendance with me the day prior.  Three people arrived on the day of.  Sigh.  Even after two years here...some things never change. 

Undeterred by this development, those of us who were present carried forward with the day's activity.  Our materials: strips of fabric and a hot glue gun.

The results:

Bee-yoo-tee-ful flowers.

Much candy was consumed in the process of making these, by the way. 

The evidence lies outside the frame of the camera lens.

Candy is cool, but what about headbands?

The girls seemed to be okay with the whole idea.

During our craft session, the girls told me the secret to being cool: Pizza.  Haven't you known that in the back of your mind for all these years?  You did!  You knew it all along!  Why did you doubt yourself?  Next week, because we need more people to come and because it is my birthday, we will be eating pizza.  Did it just get chilly in here?  Because the coolness factor went up by 100%!  (Okay so maybe I'm still working on the whole "being cool" thing.  Story of my life.)

Thankfully there are many cool people in my life, such as aunts who send packages and teenagers who hang out with me at my house.

And then there's this joke: Why did the hipster burn his tongue on the pizza? 

*For the elder generations who may not know what a hipster is, I can only hope to explain when I next see you face to face.  For now, I refer you to any young person wearing plaid, glasses with thick plastic frames, and an iPod and who looks generally disheveled.

Answer is in the Comments section.

Que vivan los Juegos Olímpicos!

Given that:

1) The 2012 Olympics opening ceremony occurred yesterday;

2) Believe it or not, there is ESPN in Ecuador;

3) Sports Planet (sports bar & restaurant) has giant iced strawberry lemonades,

Guess what I did yesterday?

Yes, I spent approximately 3.5 hours surrounded by television screens (when was the last time that happened? my friend asked in wonder) all broadcasting the opening ceremonies in London.  We couldn't understand anything people said because it was all dubbed over in Spanish and muddled up, and then later the restaurant people decided to play music and cut off the sound to the TV, and it just wasn't quite the same as watching it on the Peacock...but it was all okay!  Because seeing Kenneth Branagh as master of ceremonies with a tophat on made up for everything.  Mostly.  (I miss you, Bob Costas!)  I did have some questions about the whole thing though, namely:

- Can someone explain to me the significance of the hospital bed dance number?

- Who else forgot that the Democratic People's Republic of Korea is North Korea's official name?

- How cool was the gigantic Olympic torch?!?!?!

- If you could describe each country's 2012 Olympic uniform in two words, how would you describe Ecuador's and the USA's?

I would say:  Ecuador - yellow jacket; USA - prep school

It's fun to be rooting for two countries.  Let the games begin!

On the Playlist: Guayaquil de mis amores

Julio Jaramillo was an Ecuadorian singer famous in the 50s, 60s, and 70s for his warm voice and soulful renditions of songs from various Ecuadorian musical traditions (pasillo, bolero, etc.).  He is now deceased, but his fame in Ecuador has reached Frank Sinatra-like proportions.

Below, he sings a love song to his native city of Guayaquil.

Happy Independence Day / Loor a Guayaquil!

One Day More...

...until the celebrations for Guayaquil's independence day.  There will be music.  There will be dancing.  There will be fireworks.

Today I arrived in the barrio to find the aerobics class dancing it up in anticipation of tomorrow's celebrations.  See below for further proof of how exuberant this group is. 

Bonus points to the lady playing air guitar on a Coke bottle!!!

Letter from a Stranger

The Peace Corps office in Quito sends out monthly pouches in the mail to all volunteers.  The pouches contain relevant information pertaining to us as a group or on an individual basis. 

This month, we received a pleasant surprise in our pouches: letters from people we did not know thanking us for our service.  Imagine my surprise upon opening my pouch to find the regular stuff, plus this:

A subsequent e-mail from the PC office revealed that these letters were written by university students from around the United States who had participated at the NACURH (National Association of College and University Residence Halls) conference, which brings together student leaders in order to share ideas and improve campus life.  The intent of the letters is "to show appreciation for the hard work that you do and encourage you through your service."

My letter, from a dude named Gregory, was particularly awesome because of the signoff (see below).

No, Gregory, YOU rock.  Many thanks for this encouraging and uplifting letter.  You, sir, are a gentleman and a scholar, and I wish you all the best in your future endeavors.

You Rock You Rock,
jordan

Lost in Translation

I was walking around downtown Guayaquil the other day and a sign caught my eye:

It was a restaurant, with a sign reading "Le Sandwich," all cutesy and French, and below that, in Spanish, Placeres recién horneados.

My brain told me this meant, "Le Sandwich: Recently roasted pleasures."  I laughed.  But I wasn't laughing at the meaning of the sign, per se, so much as at the silly phrase my brain's immediate translator spit out.  "Recently roasted pleasures" - and what would that look like, exactly?

Then I started playing one of my favorite games: how to translate a phrase most accurately.  The meaning I thought of first - the one above - is more literal, as I think most immediate or off-the-cuff translations tend to be; your brain's just processing as quickly as it can and acts more like a dictionary than an interpreter.  The verb hornear refers to cooking something in an oven, so perhaps "recently oven-roasted pleasures" would be better?  Then again, it may also specifically mean "to bake."  What exactly does this restaurant sell, because you don't bake a sandwich, you bake the bread.  You could toast a sandwich.  Recently toasted pleasures? 

Here's where I had to stop being Sally Albright and depart from the words in front of me to get at the meaning behind them. 
Recién = recently = in the context of food, "fresh?" 
Placeres = pleasures = ...treats? 
The end phrase I came up with was "freshly toasted treats."  One thousand points to Jordan!  (That's why I like this game so much.)

Translation is a funny thing; when one looks at a sentence or a phrase or even a single word, it can point simultaneously in a slew of different directions.  Things may always sound a little strange to my foreign ear, as Spanish is not my first language.  And aside from matters grammatical, there may be cultural differences in terms of, for example, what is deemed appropriate or humorous in an advertisement targeting a certain demographic.  I must at least take the time, after the initial laughter (or head-scratching) has died away, to trace the possible paths each phrase points to and attempt to divine the meaning behind it.

And now I think I'd like a sandwich.

Fiestas de Guayaquil

Guayaquil's coat of arms

Well folks, the countdown has officially begun.  In T-minus 5 days, Guayaquil will celebrate its independence day.  The nearby high school's marching band has been practicing all week, making rounds about the neighborhood in formation.  Apparently somebody thought it would be a good idea to invite them to play in the nearby shopping mall; it was as if the place had turned into one large amplifier for an afternoon. 

As a form of participating in the celebrations, here's another selection from last year's El Universo video series, "Guayaquil en Un Minuto," showcasing the city from a variety of perspectives. 

This week, in honor of me being mostly broke, the subject is: lottery tickets.

Vendors may be found on pretty much any street shouting "El pozo, el pozo!" or "Lotería, lotería!" to hawk their wares.  As a PCV and also because I'm not an Ecuadorian citizen, I don't purchase tickets.  But the vendors and their cries are ubiquitous sights and sounds in the city, just another part of walking around that you get used to and eventually, inexplicably, come to depend upon and enjoy.

80 Degrees and Cloudy

Reality check, please?  I think I need to redefine my idea of "cold and windy."  Today it is 27°C in Guayaquil, and the sky has been clouded over all day.  Brrr.  I wore a sweater.  I got home and made some tea and plan to wrap myself up in an alpaca blanket in a few minutes.  The other night, I made hot chocolate. 

***Lunchtime Poll:  If Jordan ever moves back to Chicago, will she survive?***

I suppose in all my wishing that the winter's rainy season would end, I forgot how glum the summer dry season can seem in comparison.  What's not helping is that starting today, many of my PCV friends are heading back stateside. 

So I baked a cake. 

I poured the extra batter into muffin tins and baked those, too.  Did you know that cake is actually healthier when it's in the shape of a muffin?  Believe it.

Speaking of healthy snacks, check out this inspired concoction the Cake Baby came up with:

Strawberries.  Banananananas.  Bread-ish ingredients mixed therein.  And a scrumptious topping of oats, brown sugar, chopped almonds, and spices of various kinds.



(oh yeah also there was ice cream)

There wasn't anything particularly Ecuadorian about this dish, but it was delicious.  And you can easily throw in whatever fruits/berries you want.

Smiles all around.

A Visit to the Sustainable House

Remember this?

That's two posts in a row starting with the same question; I'm doing a lot of remembering these days; bear with me.

This is the Kichwa / Peace Corps Sustainable House many of you supported through donations last year.  Some fellow PCVs and I teamed up with an indigenous community high in the Andean Cotopaxi region to build a sustainable house.  The village will use it to house guests and tourists, and then otherwise as they see fit. 

The structure itself has been finished for months, and since some of us PCVs hadn't seen it, we figured it was time to put the house to the test and sleep in it.  Good news: we survived (huzzah!), and the house did not collapse.


...Of course it didn't; part of what makes the house sustainable is that we used local materials and traditional building techniques (i.e., the villagers knew exactly what they were doing) in combination with some more innovative approaches (e.g., the heat retaining bottle wall).

These two showed us around and explained what was what, from the foundation to the roof.  They and the other villagers were extremely excited to show off everything they'd accomplished--and also anxious to make us feel at home.  After taking us on a tour of the mountainside and the village, they fed us and tucked us into bed, piling on blanket after blanket until we could hardly move.  Good luck if you have to use the bathroom in the middle of the night.

A Room With A View!

There are still a couple finishing touches to be put on that will make the house 100% spiffy, but I am happy to report that our night there was highly satisfactory, due as much to the hospitality of the community and the beauty of the scenery as to the comfort of the house itself.

Thanks again for your support on this project!

Beach Bum Ninjas

Remember this?

That trip happened in August of last year.  I didn't plan on returning to Esmeraldas province, which is on the northern coast of Ecuador and a bit of a hike from Guayaquil.  But as fate and sugar-fried coconut would have it, I found myself back there just last week.  Because what better way to unwind after COS conference than treating yourself to the spa-quality facilities at the Peace Corps office (see previous post) and a trip to the beach with your PCV buddy Angela?  (Answer: none.)

We agreed that our favorite spot was Mompiche, a small beach town sitting peacefully on its piece of as yet undeveloped shoreline.

Perhaps one reason Mompiche's not so highrise-y as the rest of the beach towns in the area is that it doesn't quite line up along the same coastline; it takes another bus or two through dense jungle foliage to get there.  But once you do, it's worth the extra effort (and haggling over bus fare).  It's the beachlover's ideal getaway, as long as you're one of the beachlovers who likes to lie around and read, and then eat, reapply sunscreen, and lie around some more before eating dinner and going to bed soon after the sun goes down.  This is exactly the kind of beachlovers we were, so it was perfect.

A little ways on foot from the town is this place:

La Playa Negra.  The Black Beach.  So named because the sand is...

...black.  And also pretty heavy.  Legend (and the mining industry, which had set up camp just down the beach) has it that this is due to there being a high concentration of titanium in the area. 

Titanium or not, we saw this as our one opportunity to truly blend in with our Ecuadorian surroundings.  No longer would we stick out as gringa foreigners.  No longer would we feel singled out as we struggled to make our way in an unfamiliar place. 

We became one with the land.

Below, I have marked our heads so you may see where we are.

It was a magical moment, when we realized our newfound ability to melt into the landscape and...

...disappear.

Es "hasta lueguito," no más

Right now I am writing this from the Peace Corps office in Quito.  I took a shower using the facilities here and felt like a diehard Peace Corps Volunteer because the water was FREEZING.  And I just blow-dried my hair for the first time in a couple years - by kneeling under the hand dryer in the bathroom.

It's been a long, exhausting, exhilarating week.  My training group - the people I arrived in Ecuador with two years ago, in June of 2010 - attended our Close of Service (COS) conference.  This is the last official conference we have as volunteers, with sessions on medical / administrative / readjusting to life in the States / future plans / reflecting on our time here.  Starting on the 19th of July, people will start going home and making the transition back to that nebulous thing floating in the air above our heads called real life.

Because I won't actually be leaving until December, seeing my friends go through their goodbyes and making all the necessary preparations for finishing work, packing up, and making one last jaunt to their favorite beach, etc., has been somewhat surreal.  Somewhat like the past two years have been.  So surreal, in fact, that my friend Claire and I wrote a whole series of haiku based on our experiences as PCVs in Ecuador and performed it at the talent show our group held during one of our last nights together.  Maybe I will post them here.  But only if you beg me to.

Perhaps the biggest surprise of my service thus far - and, I think, in sum - has been the deep friendships formed with other volunteers during the two years we've been abroad.  Upon leaving home, I'd venture to guess that most of us were focusing on what we wanted to accomplish as Peace Corps Volunteers: the relationships we wanted to form and the work we planned to do with natives of the foreign country in which we were placed.  I, for one, never expected to form such strong bonds with my training group (and other volunteers who arrived in country prior or since).  It will be hard to see everyone go.

But there were some really good things that came out of saying goodbye this week, such as:

- packing my apartment full of people before we all headed to the conference.  Hostal Jordan is free, hope you don't mind sleeping on the floor and the fact that there's no hot water.  But hey, we have fun.

- people stuffing their faces with marshmallows at the talent show

- eating Mexican food in Quito

- doing laundry for free at the training center

- people dressing up as ninjas and slicing airborne fruit with machetes at the talent show

- a bonfire and 5th of July fireworks (our apologies to the USA, but the 5th worked better logistically)

- reflecting on memories and anticipating the challenges of adjusting to life stateside with my fellow PCVs

- staying up way too late too many nights in a row playing improv games; conversing about things literary, personal, and lite; and getting our groove on

- watching in awe as people sang their hearts out and performed spoken word poetry at the talent show

- cringing in awe as one of my fellow PCVs got up on stage with a trash can and contemplated sharing with us his talent of vomiting at will (fortunately or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it, he ended up performing rock ballads instead)

- walking outside at night to see the full moon lighting up the silhouette of the Andes against a starry sky

- cheering on my friends as they completed a half marathon

- doing a photo shoot with Claire and some llamas

- stuffing my face with five kinds of pie, and then going back for more (note: I did not do this alone)

- saying a big thank you to our program managers, who have been a great support during our service

...and who will continue to be so for me and a few others who are extending our service from anywhere from 3 months to a year. 

Though it's bittersweet to say goodbye, I can't help but anticipate what the coming months will bring.  And to all of you who are leaving: Ecuador won't be the same without you, and I will miss you.  I can't wait to see what you get up to stateside.  That also goes for friends who have already left, who may not have been in my training group.  I'm counting on you guys to pave the way and throw some advice and words of experience to those of us who have yet to cross that bridge.

Que le vaya bien - y con mucho cariño -
Jordi