Rainy season

April brings us the rainy season and our 3 month mark. While the rain pours down (always oh-so-conveniently beginning right after we've hung our laundry on the line to dry…), we volunteers rush to visit everywhere we possibly can as the realization that we're halfway done begins to terrify us. These days we watch beautifully sunny days turn into horrible downpours in just minutes and try to plan out the remainder of our trip here in Ecuador. In just a few days now, we'll have to say goodbye to one of our volunteers as she returns to Sweden… ahhh!

One day a few weeks ago, I had quite an adventure with the teachers from our sector. We didn't have school on Friday, because instead, we teachers went to a gorgeous hostel in a town called Puembo about 15 minutes away to spend the day relaxing, playing, and eating. The event was set up, I'm guessing, by the people in charge of the teachers as a way to show their appreciation. I was a bit skeptical about spending an entire day with a bunch of Spanish teachers much much older than myself but, I have to say, I couldn't have enjoyed myself more! The fun began when my host mom/boss shoved me into a game of futbol with the other teachers. It's been far too long since I've played soccer (3 years almost?), and it was the best fun running around with a bunch of like 40 to 60 year-year-olds kicking away at a soccer ball. Then there was the pool and sauna to enjoy followed by a fabulous three-course meal, complete with ice cream crepes at the end! Yum. It was great getting to know the other teachers--a bunch of us females would end up squished together in the hot tub chatting away and making fun of the atrocious karaoke just like old girlfriends. And of course, there was much picture-taking with screams of "Whiskey!" (instead of saying "Cheese!" they say "Whiskey!") with me shoved in between strangers only united by our common profession (my sorta profession). Great great fun.

The next day my school had a minga. This is like a construction party, complete with roofing, painting, beer-drinking, and a pitch-in lunch. Parents of the students and some of my volunteer friends all chipped in to build our new classroom and paint everything in sight. The classroom actually already has a room with walls and a crappy roof, so all we did, and all we had money for, was replace the roof. Meanwhile, the rest of us painted. It was great seeing everyone come together to lend a hand to build something that we really need. The school is expanding and to accommodate the growing number of kids, we need this classroom. Thanks to my awesome mom, there's a fundraiser going on to raise money for building more of the classroom. I can't wait to see it finished which I hope to see before I leave! Thanks to everyone who contributes!! It means so much!!

After the minga, a few of us decided to travel the 3-ish hours to visit "the farm." The farm is another VASE project. Currently five VASE volunteers live and work on this farm growing vegetables and raising a few animals. The trip there was interesting since our friend on the farm had gotten his phone recently stolen, unbeknownst to us. We were calling him frantically, trying to get directions to the farm, and ended up probably 5km away from where we were supposed to be. At night. In the rain. But the three of us hitched up our backpacks and started walking anyway, bouncing and laughing along singing Girl Scout camp songs which I taught them. Despite the circumstances, it was great fun. We finally arrived at the farm and drank hot chocolate in front of a roaring fire and watched movies all night long. The next day we got the tour, with our friend showing us the "dreaded" vegetable patch (he hates weeding) and happily pointing out all the animals they were going to eat next. It's a small farm but they grow tons of veggies and a few fruits, as well as raise cows, sheep, rabbits, chickens, turkeys, and guinea pigs (which they call "cuy" here). Overall, it was actually pretty cool.

April 15 was my host mom's birthday! The kids at the school made cards and brought food so we had a big party at the end of the day. Then, Chavela, Ernesto, and I made a "tres leches postre" (three milk cake) which was almost destroyed by the oven about as old as my 16-year-old host brother, but then was salvaged after we'd scraped off the burnt bottom and drenched it with the special milk sauce. An old friend of my host mom and her ex-husband (awkward!) had been invited so all six of us sat around the cozy kitchen table to celebrate. Speeches were made by all (even me, with my god-awful Spanish), multiple rounds of toasts were made (and I mean MULTIPLE), and plates upon plates of junk food were consumed. By the end, it had dissolved into the six of us slumped in our chairs making sleepy and somewhat drunken toasts glorifying in every way possible my host mom. And in only a few weeks after comes Ernesto's birthday! Oh gosh, and then mine!

One weekend we went to Rucu Pichincha, the active volcano looming over Quito. We took the TeleferiQo (a cable car) partway up the slope, and then Oskar and I climbed the remainder 2 hours to the summit while our other friends opted for horseback-riding up the steep path. The entire mountain was covered in a cloud blanket so we didn't get a spectacularly clear view, but it was so calm and peaceful with no sound reaching your ears but your own hard breathing and pounding heart. It was super great exercise, as you can imagine, and got especially difficult right towards the top where the ground was practically vertical and where it got a bit hard to breathe due to the altitude. I practically screamed for joy once we reached the top because my god, what a great feeling. Some other tourists shared their lunch with us, which was very nice of them, and then with tuna sandwiches and juice filling our stomachs, we tromped back downhill, this time with enough breath for singing camp songs and skipping merrily.

We also went to the Basilica del Voto Nacional (Basilica of the National Vow), this time when it was open. (We'd tried to go once before and managed to sneak into the main part, despite it being closed, where we stood in awe of the total silence and grandeur of the place. But then a priest came and told us to get out RIGHT NOW. Whoops.) This time we got to climb up the rickety ladders into the towers and saw some amazing views of Quito. The church is actually quite new, its construction starting in 1890, and despite looking like a traditional, super old cathedral, it incorporates some more modern elements. Mainly, gargoyles in the shapes of Ecuadorian animals--iguanas, ant eaters, owls, jaguars, turtles. No other cathedral in the world has turtle gargoyles, I bet! Super cool!

This month I've also decided that if I'm going to continue eating this awesome Ecuadorian food all the time, well I'm going to have to start working some of it off, too. So I've started going to this super great aerobics class that only costs $1 for the hour and is open to anyone who wants to come. The instructor is actually a dancer so mixed in with the normal aerobics are dance moves so at the same time I'm sorta learning some dance! And then, on top of that, once a week, I go to a group salsa class in the city. Sooooo much fun! I can't believe I've never tried it before! Great exercise and a total blast. We went dancing that weekend to try out our new moves and oh man, I love it!

And then…we celebrated my host brother's birthday on April 24! Some of their closest cousins came over, and we all hung out, ate pizza, made toasts, etc. Feliz cumple, Neto! Big 17!

We also have a new addition to the family! A baby!! Er… a baby rabbit! Her name's Pascuala (Pascua means Easter so it sorta means Easter bunny), and she showed up one day with one of the students as a belated birthday present for my host mom. She's the cutest little thing--we've been having great fun cuddling with her on the couch watching movies, feeding her bread (yes, she likes bread), and watching her hop around the garden. Sooo cute.

And to wrap up this entry, this past week we had our mid-term camp with our organization, VASE. All of us 6 month-ers (or less--one volunteer is leaving next week and another in a month and a half) traveled to a retreat center that looked a tad bit like a mental institution where we evaluated our past 3 months and made plans for the future. It was so great to reflect over how everything's been going and really organize our plans to improve everything for the future. It was especially helpful for me since I've been having some major problems in my project. In March, we were doing interviews and such for new teachers for the Pre-Kinder class, but now the school doesn't have enough money to actually hire one. Currently they only have enough money to pay for one extra teacher so instead, they hired my assistant English teacher, Lucy. Lucy is a really cool person and I love to complain and gossip with her but… she doesn't do anything really in the English classes. I'm still doing all of the lesson plans and controlling the class (or trying to) alone. And now, on top of that, on Tuesdays and Thursdays, when I don't have English, I'm basically in charge of Pre-Kinder as well since there's no teacher. It's too much work for a volunteer and my host mom/boss is having trouble realizing this. It's also still against VASE's rules--I can't take any position that an Ecuadorian could fill so I'm really not supposed to be teaching my own English classes either, let alone be with Pre-Kinder as their main teacher for 2 days a week. So we did an activity in the mid-term camp where we wrote a letter to our project boss letting him/her know our feelings and our future goals for our projects. So I'm hoping we can work something out after my host mom has really understood how things are going in my view. So we'll see.

It's so crazy, though. Only 2.5 months left. Where did April go???