Scrambled eggs for breakfast two days in a row!

It has been a good while since I´ve written! The recent act of the rainy season actually being the rainy season has kept me from walking to the internet. Lo siento. A recap of the past week or so... Saturday – woke up and caught the buses to the leather capital of the world. Spent time seeing the city and talking to the people, then met up with some current volunteers for lunch. Fruit salad and a ham sandwich equals heaven. We rode out to one of the volunteer’s sites. It was good to actually see a site. Went to Gran Aki with Jamie to pick up some things, and we ended up buying cubes of cheese, ritz crackers and coke and kicking our new soccer ball, chris brown, home on the dirt road. It was great. It’s strange, because here the expensive cheeses are cheddar and Colby, etc, but in America, the expensive ones are the ones that are so cheap here. We sprang for some tasty cheese. I came home and my madre was here to take me to Maria Paz’s first birthday party. It was insane – clowns, facepaint, an enormous hello kitty cake, treat bags, and lots of people. They really make a big deal out of birthdays no matter what age you are. I enjoyed it. I think the funniest tradition here is that after the cumpleañera blows out the candles, everyone chants ‘que muere de pastel! Que muere de pastel!’ and then they shove the person’s face into their cake. Luckily they only held Maria Paz’s head to the cake and let her take a big bite, but they usually just push your face into it! I finished watching the first disc of 30 rock thanks to Nicole, and went to bed muy temprano. Sunday we went into town to get some good american lunch and drink some not so good ecuadorian beer. It was a good day. I bought a watch. Monday we learned about good plants to make herbal teas from and the uses for them. I thought it was pretty interesting since I drink herbal tea from a plant out back every night. We then traveled to another site to see these herbs in person and to see the other group’s garden. It was pretty. This week we have to make compost and finish our garden. We are going to try raised seed beds to see where our plants grow better. We are a little pressed on time to make a legit compost pile, but we’re goin to try our best. Ate dinner with the madre and hermana, my mom is really sad because apparently someone stole our sheep from the back yard, but she has a lead on where it may be and is gonna find it if she has to beat some people up to do it. We also have a new cat. It came over in a backpack the other week, and I didn’t see it after that, but it escaped from the roof and was in my sister’s room the other day before hiding under the stove and then in the silverware drawer. I think it might be back outside now, but it certainly does not want any human contact. My friend Jamie who lives down the street had the cutest kitten, but it got ran over because it decided the best napping spot would be in front of a wheel. So the parents replaced it with an even smaller cat. It is adorable. Tuesday we went to a neighboring pueblo again to make lunch – we made cheese empanadas, mote pillo, majado, fruit salad and tea/coffee. We finished off the day with a round of translated pick-up lines, and ended the day with a small celebration of St. Patty´s day. Wednesday we got to meet the ambassador and got our cell phones – so exciting! My numero is 011-593-9-488-5852. I can call and text within ecuador but I cannot call the u.s. however I can receive calls from the US and text there. So call me. We ate dinner at 6:00, and I got confused because it was so early! I think madre had to run out for something with her amiga. Finished off 30 rock to pass on to Jamie. Thursday was a chill day with a morning of language simulation tests/hanging out and playing an ecuadorian card game, cuarenta. It’s super fun. Had more health/assault talks and made our traditional ham sandwiches for lunch. We received our cook books today and I’m excited to finally get to cook for myself! Oh, and I got to eat a scrambled egg this morning. Not fried, not boiled. Scrambled. It was basically the most exciting morning so far. Basically. Friday was a normal day, but Thursday night was freezing! I’ve definitely put the long johns to good use lately, since its actually started raining in the ‘rainy season.’ We learned some reflexive verbs, ate pizza for lunch and worked in the garden for a bit in the afternoon, then it started raining. One of my sisters ducklings died because it decided to ‘play’ with one of the dogs, so we’re down to two. Oh well. The other two get to live inside the house now because it is so cold at night. I walked out of the bathroom this morning and they were hangin out in the hall! Saturday morning I learned how to wash my clothes on a rock then talked to mom for her birthday. Jamie and I went into town for a good hamburger and we saw alot of other gringos there. Abiding by the rule of six, we found other places to hang out! Sunday I went to town with my family because my sister, brother, and his wife were dancing and playing guitar in a parade. It was cool to see them in their traditional dress! My sister-in-law got sunburned like I usually am, and my padre said ah, two gringas in our house now! haha padre, not funny. Today was a chill day of class and tomorrow we finally get to find out where are sites are! I can´t wait. That is all, and just in case anyone is wondering what to get me for my birthday (I realize it is three months away but let´s be real, I´m in Ecuador), I would love a new pair of TOMS (www.tomsshoes.com), preferably fleece lined ones. You´ll not only be helping me out with cool shoes, but you´ll be providing a pair for a child in need! It´s win-win. Ciao!