March 16, 2010
Days in the Peace Corps, I am coming to realize, are full of confusion and new surprises; you never know what could happen next! Today was supposed to be another normal day with our entire group of volunteers, full of information about STDs and pregnancy. But I had forgotten that the US Ambassador for Ecuador was coming to visit with us! We received an interesting talk from her about her experiences and her advice for us as volunteers and as young people in a new culture who are all being seen as representatives of the United States. Her closing statement to us was with a story of an adventure she had in one of the many countries she had worked in. She advised us to leave a legacy wherever you go; to make such an impact that when someone does a certain activity or sees or smells something they will think of you and the amazingness that was you! This made a big impact on me. It made me think more about the effect I could possibly have here on just about anyone that I meet. Up until now I have been thinking a little more selfishly, about how this experience is going to affect and change me. I need to start thinking differently, in a more open and giving fashion.
After our talk from the ambassador, we had to rush to do lunch because we were just informed this morning that we were coming back to my farm for our afternoon agriculture session. Lunch consisted of Pollo frito con agridulce (sweet and sour chicken) at a China restaurant. It wasn’t bad, but it is also Chinese food in Ecuador, so what more could I expect?! Then we had to rush for a bus into my town for our ag session, which we were of course late for- true Ecuadorian style already! Now this ag session was the most interesting as of yet. We were learning about small animal production, which is my job title, so my attention was piqued. Edwin, my host dad, along with a few current volunteers, talked to us about cuyes and pollos (guinea pigs and chickens) and the care of them, what was the best method of cleaning and caring for them, what works, what doesn’t. Apparently the best way to clean a cuyes habitat is to take out all the poop/fertilizer and take a blow torch to everything. This will kill all the germs and parasites and anything else growing in there that doesn’t belong, and this method is much better than chemicals and insecticides, and is cheaper, always good! Next on the agenda: killing time! Now this was worse than I was anticipating. I figured there was a good way to do it quickly and relatively painless, but the way we were shown was pretty nasty. Its possible Bryan just didn’t do it correctly, but he was told to hold the cuy behind the head, on its neck, and jam its head into the cement. Now when Bryan did this, the cuy did not die right away, so he had to mask its head multiple times in the pavement. Throughout this process, I could not watch and it was a little upsetting for me, thinking that I’m probably going to have to do this at some point. They also said another method was to cut its throat, which seems better to me. After the cuy Maggie, my host mom, came out and demonstrated how to go about preparing the cuy for the next step of cooking it. Next up, a chicken! Which, by the way, is so much easier to kill!! All you have to do to kill a chicken is take a knife and chop its head off- simple right?! All of this was a lot to absorb for the day so a few of us went out for a drink in a little place in our town, which had some amazing tables and stools made out of cuttings of trees and varnished. It was a nice relaxing time hanging out and enjoying the company of fellow volunteers. We spent time talking about our possible sites for the next two years. We are all very excited to find out on Friday where we will be living for the next two years!! I’ll keep you updated as to where I will be!!!
Days in the Peace Corps, I am coming to realize, are full of confusion and new surprises; you never know what could happen next! Today was supposed to be another normal day with our entire group of volunteers, full of information about STDs and pregnancy. But I had forgotten that the US Ambassador for Ecuador was coming to visit with us! We received an interesting talk from her about her experiences and her advice for us as volunteers and as young people in a new culture who are all being seen as representatives of the United States. Her closing statement to us was with a story of an adventure she had in one of the many countries she had worked in. She advised us to leave a legacy wherever you go; to make such an impact that when someone does a certain activity or sees or smells something they will think of you and the amazingness that was you! This made a big impact on me. It made me think more about the effect I could possibly have here on just about anyone that I meet. Up until now I have been thinking a little more selfishly, about how this experience is going to affect and change me. I need to start thinking differently, in a more open and giving fashion.
After our talk from the ambassador, we had to rush to do lunch because we were just informed this morning that we were coming back to my farm for our afternoon agriculture session. Lunch consisted of Pollo frito con agridulce (sweet and sour chicken) at a China restaurant. It wasn’t bad, but it is also Chinese food in Ecuador, so what more could I expect?! Then we had to rush for a bus into my town for our ag session, which we were of course late for- true Ecuadorian style already! Now this ag session was the most interesting as of yet. We were learning about small animal production, which is my job title, so my attention was piqued. Edwin, my host dad, along with a few current volunteers, talked to us about cuyes and pollos (guinea pigs and chickens) and the care of them, what was the best method of cleaning and caring for them, what works, what doesn’t. Apparently the best way to clean a cuyes habitat is to take out all the poop/fertilizer and take a blow torch to everything. This will kill all the germs and parasites and anything else growing in there that doesn’t belong, and this method is much better than chemicals and insecticides, and is cheaper, always good! Next on the agenda: killing time! Now this was worse than I was anticipating. I figured there was a good way to do it quickly and relatively painless, but the way we were shown was pretty nasty. Its possible Bryan just didn’t do it correctly, but he was told to hold the cuy behind the head, on its neck, and jam its head into the cement. Now when Bryan did this, the cuy did not die right away, so he had to mask its head multiple times in the pavement. Throughout this process, I could not watch and it was a little upsetting for me, thinking that I’m probably going to have to do this at some point. They also said another method was to cut its throat, which seems better to me. After the cuy Maggie, my host mom, came out and demonstrated how to go about preparing the cuy for the next step of cooking it. Next up, a chicken! Which, by the way, is so much easier to kill!! All you have to do to kill a chicken is take a knife and chop its head off- simple right?! All of this was a lot to absorb for the day so a few of us went out for a drink in a little place in our town, which had some amazing tables and stools made out of cuttings of trees and varnished. It was a nice relaxing time hanging out and enjoying the company of fellow volunteers. We spent time talking about our possible sites for the next two years. We are all very excited to find out on Friday where we will be living for the next two years!! I’ll keep you updated as to where I will be!!!
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