Thanksgiving in Quito

Here is a quick entry to say that Thanksgiving this year was fantastic.

I went to the ambassador's house in Quito, ate a lavish meal with new friends, hung out with the ambassador and watched "Miracle on 34th street", went dancing, dawdled in a used bookstore, finally bought the end of Battlestar Galactica (and promptly watched it as soon as I got home), drank wine at a cafe and then ate spicy indian food. Everyone from the new PC group that I met were awesome, I felt comfortable and happy, and it really was a great couple of days.

Plus, it's now officially the Christmas season.

Two weeks!

PS: I also found out the reason that I've been getting sick so much lately is because I have amoebas, which is actually fantastic because I have a name to put to my problem and it is easily curable. Here's to (hopefully) the end of my stomach woes.

Nostagic thoughts

Now that I have internet in my apartment, I've been reading over all of my old livejournal entries from undergrad. It's a bit of nostagia, a bit of self torture: it makes me so, so homesick for Pittsburgh. Flying back to my apartment on my bicycle on a warm fall afternoon, stopping at the farmer's market on the way to browse the stalls for fresh produce and pie, giggling with Char over something completely random, sitting on that little grey couch in that place that felt like home for one brief year and feeling completely happy and at peace. That year still takes the place of the best year of my life, and I miss it with an ache that is almost tangible.

Not that I normally dwell on such things. I am very happy here, in Ecuador, in the Peace Corps. My work is going as well as can be expected, with the usual hiccups and people not showing up/cancelling charlas. There are electricity shortages so every day the power goes out for a few hours and I sit in the dark, surrounded by candles. The bunny continues to be cuddly and poops everywhere.

I just miss speaking my own language, having people in my life that I can really talk to, really be me, not this dumbed-down second-language version of me that everyone here sees. I miss the fact that Light Up Night is this weekend and I won't be there to see it, that my dad is going to make his traditional turkey neck soup on Thanksgiving and carve the turkey with the Thanksgiving bayonet and I won't be there to see it, that those sweet senior-year days are irrevocably lost to me now. I will never live in Pittsburgh again, never be so close to those people I care so much about again. Our culture is to move around, and our country is large enough to stretch our legs in. We scatter across the continent, across the world.

I guess all I want to say is: I miss you. All of you. I have a fantastic life here in Ecuador, I wake in the morning and thank God that I am here, in this place of eternal spring, but I miss you very deeply.

I chose a life that takes me far away, and I wouldn't change it for the world. But that doesn't mean that I can't look over my shoulder every once in a while.

Hippity Hoppity

Written on Monday, November 9, 2009

I was brushing my teeth the other day, standing on my roof and squinting in the early morning light, when I looked down and saw…

A bunny.

On my roof.

Really, it has to be one of the oddest things that has ever happened to me. Out of the many things one would not expect to see on a roof, a bunny is very high up on the list. It was (is) fuzzy and white with big floppy ears and giant bunny feet. I’ve named him Ben. I suppose he has another name, but I haven’t asked. I don’t even know if he really is a he. (So far only one friend has gotten why I chose the name Ben. He said, and I quote: "Oh, that's just sick!")

He’s my landlord’s sons’ new pet. They don’t have anywhere to put him right now so they are keeping him on the roof. Which is fine by me, except when he poops.

Plus, he’s an odd bunny. I mean, I’m not an expert in bunny behavior, but I always assumed that they were a little like guinea pigs, always afraid and cowering in a corner somewhere. Not this bunny. This bunny is awesome. He hops around the roof, follows me around, sits in my lap, nibbles my toes, and inspects my rooms. He’s the damn friendliest bunny ever.

So Ben the Bunny is my new pseudo-pet, the way Tilney the Dog was my old pseudo-pet. And that’s about all I have in bunny news today.

In other news, which I won’t really get into because I’m still upset by it, I got sick in El Chaco and was unable to go whitewater rafting. Yeah, it sucked.

Plus, I’m sick now, and have been practically bed ridden for the past four days. Luckily, I had no plans, so was just able to sleep a lot, and drink many cups of tea and eat pudding for dinner.

What else is new? I have a lot of work planned for the upcoming weeks. Adam has left to venture into the jungle, which leaves me relieved and happy to be left alone for a while. All of my Christmas shopping is (finally) done. Over half of my novel is revised. I have friends in town who are actually my age. Things are going very, very well here.

Plus, bunnies make everything better.

5 weeks until I go home! 5 weeks! Gahhh! *flails* I’ve never been so excited for anything in my life.