"What is on me?" Sitemate asked as we went running through the mountains today. I looked over; his black shirt and hair was coated with tiny white dots. I shrugged.
"Dunno. It looks like baby powder exploded on you."
We kept running. I started to notice flurries, which quickly picked up, covering my clothes and glasses. But it wasn't snow.
It was volcanic ash.
"So...are we gonna die?" Sitemate asked perkily. My mouth started to taste like grit.
"I certainly hope not. But let's get inside. And, uh, find a mask."
"Instead of running, let's watch Supernatural," he proclaimed. "I want a beer."
I laughed. "Exercise and then beer?"
"I know, I'm bipolar with my health."
"How about box wine instead?" I asked, giving up any pretense of a healthy lifestyle. "We'll make Christmas cookies."
"Deal," he said, as we walked through the gently falling ash, sucking some in with every breath. "God, I do not want to know what the inside of my lungs looks like right now."
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
things I never thought I'd say
Dude, this volcano is starting to seriously freak me out. The rumble is constant, as is the lava and it sets all the dogs in town howling.
As Sitemate said: "It's gonna blow."
Little nervous, tbqh. Last time it blew all the roads were blocked with ash and the airports were shut down. And that was a small eruption.
This is the volcano:
As Sitemate said: "It's gonna blow."
Little nervous, tbqh. Last time it blew all the roads were blocked with ash and the airports were shut down. And that was a small eruption.
This is the volcano:
Friday, November 12, 2010
Only in Ecuador: an illustrated journey
Sitemate and I are running today on this idyllic little mountain footpath, when we round a corner to see a cow blocking the way.
"Oh," you say, "a cow. How lovely, with their moos and their silly udders and big brown eyes."
No. This bitch is pissed. She has eyes of murder.
The path is totally blocked on both sides. There are only two options: Go back, or duck between some murderous barbed wire into someone's private property to go around the cow, then go back through the barbed wire to rejoin the path.
Through the barbed wire we go! It snags on my pants and cuts my skin a little, but I've had my tetanus shot, so no worries!
The cow is watching us with her murder eyes, like: "Bitches, you think you can just go around this fine piece of pissed off bovine ass? I think not!"
And we are like: "Fuck you, cow. Fuck you and your demon stare."
So we find a place where we can get back through the barbed wire, but we have to belly-crawl right under a big spiderweb. The spider isn't in it, but that's almost worse, because then you don't know where it is.
We get back on the trail and yay! Now we can run. But first there is one thing we have to do.
Taunt the cow.
The cow stomps a little when Sitemate gets too close to taunt it with his ipod video recorder going (I have to get a copy of that tape!) and we are both yelling, "Yeah, that's right cow, whatcha gonna do, you slut! Fuck off! We beat you!" I finally call Sitemate back before he gets trampled. And we keep running.
Only in Ecuador.
"Oh," you say, "a cow. How lovely, with their moos and their silly udders and big brown eyes."
No. This bitch is pissed. She has eyes of murder.
The path is totally blocked on both sides. There are only two options: Go back, or duck between some murderous barbed wire into someone's private property to go around the cow, then go back through the barbed wire to rejoin the path.
Through the barbed wire we go! It snags on my pants and cuts my skin a little, but I've had my tetanus shot, so no worries!
The cow is watching us with her murder eyes, like: "Bitches, you think you can just go around this fine piece of pissed off bovine ass? I think not!"
And we are like: "Fuck you, cow. Fuck you and your demon stare."
So we find a place where we can get back through the barbed wire, but we have to belly-crawl right under a big spiderweb. The spider isn't in it, but that's almost worse, because then you don't know where it is.
We get back on the trail and yay! Now we can run. But first there is one thing we have to do.
Taunt the cow.
The cow stomps a little when Sitemate gets too close to taunt it with his ipod video recorder going (I have to get a copy of that tape!) and we are both yelling, "Yeah, that's right cow, whatcha gonna do, you slut! Fuck off! We beat you!" I finally call Sitemate back before he gets trampled. And we keep running.
Only in Ecuador.
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Something like life
- I’m choosing to forgo a weekend of Halloween debauchery in favor of…sitting around and doing nothing. I know, lame me is lame, but this is Ecuador. The party is an eight hour bus ride one way, and will entail the same thing Peace Corps parties always do: drinking watery beer until people get too drunk to stand. Only difference is that they will be in costume. Hop on a bus for two hours to the nearest city to do this? Sweet, I’m in. Eight hours, having to deal with the logistics of a hostel and navigating my way through mazes of drunk people who I don’t really know? I’ll pass, thanks.
- Speaking of Christmas, I started downloading music! TWO WEEKS UNTIL I LET MYSELF START TO LISTEN TO IT. It’s the most magical time of the year, and don’t you forget it.
- Speaking of the time BEFORE Christmas, my most amazing friend Charlotte is coming right before Thanksgiving! THIS WILL BE EPIC, I AM CERTAIN.
- Twice now Sitemate and I have run into this perpetually drunk Ecuadorian who keeps rambling at us about heroin and AC/DC. I don’t understand. It would be funny if he weren’t so…persistent. Does he think we have heroin? Is he on heroin? Does he want to sell heroin? I don’t know, but it’s awkward.
- I was force fed guinea pig the other day. I wish this wasn't a commonplace thing. PS TMI: guinea pig makes your hands smell really funny for many hours after you eat it.
- I gave an on-camera interview for Peace Corps that might be used for recruitment purposes. That's right kids, my smiling face could be encouraging YOU to join Peace Corps. Somehow, I managed to be really enthusiastic about it. Don't know how.
- I had a meeting with a community the other day that actually went really well! I’m shocked and amazed. We might even start a composting toilet project there, which would be a godsend to the end of my service.
- I worked with the disabled kids at the foundation for the first time today in like a month. When they saw me in the door they freaked and jumped up to hug me. Some didn’t want to let go. It really made my heart grow three sizes. They really are sweet, sweet kids.
And that is my life in a nutshell!
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Thinky thoughts
I'm taking my GRE on Saturday. I'm nervous, and I probably (definitely) haven't studied enough, but it's my second time 'round and I think I'll be fine. Biggest thing is getting to Quito tomorrow-- 4.5 hour bus ride, then waiting around until Sunday so that the Peace Corps Ecuador director can drive me back to my site. Why he wants to do this, why he's even visiting my site...I have no idea.
I'm freaking about getting into grad school, of course I am. I realized the other day that I've been sort of blindly assuming that I'll get in to American, or Denver, but there's a good chance I won't. I thought of how depressed I would be to not get into grad school, and how much that would suck to have a whole year of just working and waiting to reapply. And then I thought of a conversation I had with a fellow volunteer a few days ago.
We had both lived abroad before this. She said:
"It's weird, you know, all the places I've lived I have such a desire to go back to, to live there again, but with Ecuador..."
"You want to get the hell out and never look back?" I supplied. She nodded.
"I can't even put my finger on why. It's a perfectly nice country. I like it here. I just... I want to leave."
And all I could say was: "I know exactly how you feel."
I'm not unhappy. I'm not crying myself to sleep or pining away or drowning my sorrows in chocolate. The place I live is beautiful, the people are nice, the work...could be better, but whatever, I have internet and a great sitemate and a hammock. But I just want to leave. I want to board a plane and never come back.
By the end of my time in Spain I was calling it my second home, my second country. Ecuador never was, and never will be, my country. It will never accept me, and I will always be a foreigner, and outsider, a thorn in its side.
If I get into grad school, I will be the happiest girl on the planet, no lie. But if I don't get in...it won't be the end of the world. I'll still be happy. Because no matter what, I won't be living here anymore. I'll be living in the United States, in a big crazy city with water that I don't have to boil and food that won't give me amoebas and people who look like me and speak my language. I'll find a job, and an apartment, make friends, date, go out on weekends, apply to grad school next year. I'll start looking for an agent for my book. I'll be near my family, and see the change of seasons, and just be so wholly there and not here. And you know what? That's all I need.
I'm freaking about getting into grad school, of course I am. I realized the other day that I've been sort of blindly assuming that I'll get in to American, or Denver, but there's a good chance I won't. I thought of how depressed I would be to not get into grad school, and how much that would suck to have a whole year of just working and waiting to reapply. And then I thought of a conversation I had with a fellow volunteer a few days ago.
We had both lived abroad before this. She said:
"It's weird, you know, all the places I've lived I have such a desire to go back to, to live there again, but with Ecuador..."
"You want to get the hell out and never look back?" I supplied. She nodded.
"I can't even put my finger on why. It's a perfectly nice country. I like it here. I just... I want to leave."
And all I could say was: "I know exactly how you feel."
I'm not unhappy. I'm not crying myself to sleep or pining away or drowning my sorrows in chocolate. The place I live is beautiful, the people are nice, the work...could be better, but whatever, I have internet and a great sitemate and a hammock. But I just want to leave. I want to board a plane and never come back.
By the end of my time in Spain I was calling it my second home, my second country. Ecuador never was, and never will be, my country. It will never accept me, and I will always be a foreigner, and outsider, a thorn in its side.
If I get into grad school, I will be the happiest girl on the planet, no lie. But if I don't get in...it won't be the end of the world. I'll still be happy. Because no matter what, I won't be living here anymore. I'll be living in the United States, in a big crazy city with water that I don't have to boil and food that won't give me amoebas and people who look like me and speak my language. I'll find a job, and an apartment, make friends, date, go out on weekends, apply to grad school next year. I'll start looking for an agent for my book. I'll be near my family, and see the change of seasons, and just be so wholly there and not here. And you know what? That's all I need.
Thursday, October 14, 2010
My life, let me show it to you
People have been all "so what's life like in the Peace Corps?" Let me give you a typical rundown of a day lately.
Morning:
-Drag my ass grumpily out of bed sometime between 8-9
-Make enough tea to water a small army
-Drink all the tea
-Eat breakfast
-Go to the bathroom every five minutes due to all the tea
-Every time I enter the bathroom I do a sweep check for the tarantulas (yes, I do mean that literally) that like to hide out in my shower and eat small children
- Browse the internet
- Realize I have a class I haven't prepared for.
-That's ok. I just grab an old powerpoint presentation and my laptop and figure that if the teacher doesn't have a plan I'll just show that. Also, it doesn't matter because over 80% of the time class is cancelled anyway due to soccer or parties or something.
-Get dressed
-Walk the fifteen minutes to the local high school
-Realize all the students are in some kind of school-wide meeting. Again.
-Run into some teacher/employee/friend who tells me that I've gotten fatter since he last saw me.
-Find the creepy teacher I'm working with hanging out at a store/cafe instead of teaching class. We plan to have class the following week, but I won't hold my breath. Also, his shirt is unbuttoned down to his navel.
-Return home.
Afternoon:
-Internet
-Revise fanfiction chapters and read blogs
-Eat lunch
-Write entries like this
-Write some fanfiction
-Send out a few emails
-Try to convince myself to do something productive
-This succeeds about 25% of the time. Like yesterday, when I wrote an essay for the PC Ecuador newspaper.
-Keep writing/revising/checking livejournal and gmail compulsively
-Maybe study for the GRE's for like half an hour
Evening:
-Talk to my mom on Skype
-Internet
-Go to dance class. This will end in one of two ways.
- 1. I have the class and return home gross and sweaty to take a shower
- 2. I wait around with a couple other people for 45 minutes (like last night) while the instructor keeps saying the class will start "right now" until I finally get fed up and leave
-Return home.
-Cook dinner
-Internet until bed at around 12:00 am.
So basically.
I have no life.
*sigh*
Morning:
-Drag my ass grumpily out of bed sometime between 8-9
-Make enough tea to water a small army
-Drink all the tea
-Eat breakfast
-Go to the bathroom every five minutes due to all the tea
-Every time I enter the bathroom I do a sweep check for the tarantulas (yes, I do mean that literally) that like to hide out in my shower and eat small children
- Browse the internet
- Realize I have a class I haven't prepared for.
-That's ok. I just grab an old powerpoint presentation and my laptop and figure that if the teacher doesn't have a plan I'll just show that. Also, it doesn't matter because over 80% of the time class is cancelled anyway due to soccer or parties or something.
-Get dressed
-Walk the fifteen minutes to the local high school
-Realize all the students are in some kind of school-wide meeting. Again.
-Run into some teacher/employee/friend who tells me that I've gotten fatter since he last saw me.
-Find the creepy teacher I'm working with hanging out at a store/cafe instead of teaching class. We plan to have class the following week, but I won't hold my breath. Also, his shirt is unbuttoned down to his navel.
-Return home.
Afternoon:
-Internet
-Revise fanfiction chapters and read blogs
-Eat lunch
-Write entries like this
-Write some fanfiction
-Send out a few emails
-Try to convince myself to do something productive
-This succeeds about 25% of the time. Like yesterday, when I wrote an essay for the PC Ecuador newspaper.
-Keep writing/revising/checking livejournal and gmail compulsively
-Maybe study for the GRE's for like half an hour
Evening:
-Talk to my mom on Skype
-Internet
-Go to dance class. This will end in one of two ways.
- 1. I have the class and return home gross and sweaty to take a shower
- 2. I wait around with a couple other people for 45 minutes (like last night) while the instructor keeps saying the class will start "right now" until I finally get fed up and leave
-Return home.
-Cook dinner
-Internet until bed at around 12:00 am.
So basically.
I have no life.
*sigh*
Thursday, September 30, 2010
More news on Ecuador
"In a speech to soldiers from Quito's main barracks, President Correa said: "If you want to kill the president, here he is. Kill him, if you want to. Kill him if you are brave enough. "If you want to seize the barracks, if you want to leave citizens undefended, if you want to betray the mission of the police force, go ahead. But this government will do what has to be done. This president will not take a step back.""
Can you imagine the US President ever shouting this to the masses? It's pretty potent. I'd embed the video but I can't find an embed code on the website so you'll just have to go to the website to see him get beaned by tear gas. It's scary.
Also, I don't know why, but I find this funny:
"They are trying to oust President Correa. Wake up the people of the Bolivarian Alliance! Wake up the people of Unasur [Union of South American Nations]! Viva Correa!," Mr Chavez wrote in a message on Twitter.
South American dictators...on Twitter. What is the world coming to?
Can you imagine the US President ever shouting this to the masses? It's pretty potent. I'd embed the video but I can't find an embed code on the website so you'll just have to go to the website to see him get beaned by tear gas. It's scary.
Also, I don't know why, but I find this funny:
"They are trying to oust President Correa. Wake up the people of the Bolivarian Alliance! Wake up the people of Unasur [Union of South American Nations]! Viva Correa!," Mr Chavez wrote in a message on Twitter.
South American dictators...on Twitter. What is the world coming to?
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