Impressions of American Girls

9.2.10

Today we ran again, got a little farther than the days before, and after had breakfast at Adriana’s house and we talked about some cultural things, like how I say I don’t know a lot. I've said it a lot all my life! But, I will admit it's more frequent here because sometimes I just don’t understand what’s going on and I’m embarrassed, or I really don’t know, or I don’t know how to say NO. They told me it’s better to say NO with somewhat of a reason, and if you don’t want to give a reason for not going somewhere or accepting an invitation, you can say you have another commitment.

We were also talking about Ecuadorians views of American girls, and both Alba and Adriana told me that in Canoa (a tourist beachy town about an hour away) there are always a lot of girls who are drunk and hanging out with terrible and ugly men, and ruin the reputation of American girls. Basically they get the impression that American girls are into drugs and are promiscuous. I explained that it's difficult to generalize the whole culture based on what they've seen on a few occasions, but I understand what they were saying. However, it also confuses me because in Salinas alone there are a lot of girls who are young, single moms, and not married. Ecuadorian parents become very upset if their daughters have a boyfriend and have relations before they’re married or “rejuntadas”, like in a committed relationship.

Ruuuuunnn Forest, ooorrrr not

8.31.10

Today was the first “running” day with Alba and Adriana, Alba's cousin. We woke up early to run before it would get to hot. We walked to the highway, I was wearing shorts and they were wearing pants, maybe should opt for pants from now on. We started running but they didn’t last long, so we walked after a while, then ran again and walked back after we turned around. At least it’s something, I hope I would work up to feeling comfortable/safe running alone in the mornings or something, we’ll see. Afterwards I wanted to hurry up and get to San Vicente but we stopped to talk to a few people of course and then Alba invited us for breakfast at her house, I don’t know why I thought I could work out “fast”. Then Alba drove all of us to SV which was nice and I was stressed about getting a lot done. In the end I did accomplish a lot of my list and it turned out ok.

After dinner I played “bolley” with Maikol (12), Daniel or "Gordo" (6), and Gaston (Mirtha’s brother who is about 22) inside the house. It was fun, actually somewhat of a workout, it's like volleyball. After that they came into my room with Jerry (14, Maikol and Daniel's sister) to hang out. They made me read some stuff from a book in English and also sing a song in English. Then Maikol sang a few songs. They told me that it’s “normal” for boys to be taken to a Chongo (brothel) at the age of 12 or 13 to have their first sexual experience. They asked me if Jon, my boyfriend, goes to brothels and thought it was normal that he would, but when I said no they thought it was a little odd that he doesn't. It was a very random conversation topic, but a big part of the culture that men usually cheat on their wives or girlfriends, but it is expected that the girls are virgins until they get married. The picture is of Gaston (left), Jerry, Maikol and I in my room with my beautiful mosquito net (toldo) behind us!

Monthly Incomes

8.30.10

This morning I went to the Elementary School with Alba and met with the directora/principal Haydee; I gave her a letter that I wrote to explain my role and to talk about what I could offer to the classes like self-esteem, communication, values, etc. She talked about teaching English once a week and then I can also incorporate those things. She expressed interest in having seminars or charlas for the parents, as the children seem to have lost their values and also some things are evident that are not being taught at home. We will talk more in a few weeks when I have materials to teach English and also have supplies for other activities.

After lunch Alba and I did more of the census from 2-6:30 ish, it was so tiring! It’s interesting to hear people’s answers to the question about how much they make per month. Many say they don’t know, because the flow of work, or the success of fishermen and those who catch shrimp is pretty inconsistent. However, it was also interesting that the people don’t know how much they make but somehow are still surviving. Some of the results were as little as $10 a month, or people receive money from family who live abroad, or receive government assistance which is called the Bono. It's basically equivalent to welfare, but unlike the States, it's a set amount each month of $35. It doesn't matter if the family has 1 child or 5, if the people applying are disabled or retired. I thought that was interesting.

We are going to start running tomorrow morning because Alba wants to lose weight and so do I because I’ve gained about 5 pounds since I got here. Everyone laughs about the weight thing because normally the people here don’t work out, so I’m glad to have Alba with me so I don’t look completely ridiculous. I mean most men play soccer, some women do too, but it’s not like “workout” is on people’s list of things to do during the day. But who knows, maybe it will catch on. A lot of people have diabetes here as well as high/low blood pressure; Ecuadorian cuisine tends to carry a lot of salt, in addition to sugar and oil. People don’t generally drink a lot of water, just juice or coffee/tea.

Sunday on the farm

8.29.10

We spent the day in San Antonio (near Chone) at one of Pastorita’s daughter’s house, I think her name is Mariana. It's about 45 minutes away from the house, more inland, and the house is pretty isolated and at a higher altitude, it's a big farm. There are tons of flies, and you can smell the pigs, they have soooo many! There are lots of cows and chickens, pretty typical farm. We went for lunch, and I tried to be part of the cooking clan of women in the kitchen, but at first they wouldn’t let me do anything really, just told me to eat the papaya they had cut. Then I was allowed to help make tongas, like tomales where you use these big tree leaves and put some rice, chicken, peanut butter sauce, and a platano maduro in the middle and then wrap it all up.

Parts of the day were frustrating because everyone talks really fast and asks me questions that I don’t always follow, so I feel stupid. Then they say stuff like “She doesn’t understand some words”, I’m thinking that I would understand better if I could make out what they’re saying, and OF COURSE I don’t understand everything because I’m still learning! Then people continued to ask if I cook, what I cook, if I wash clothes, etc, always surprised that I know how to do certain things. It just gets me irritated sometimes even though I know they just want to talk and have good intentions. I have to look at it as my chance to correct misunderstandings or stereotypes of American girls. One of the teenage girls in the family asked if I had servants in my house, because I had told her I could wash my plate when she was trying to do it for me. I told her that might be true in some households but the majority of families teach children to help out and they have to do chores to do their part to keep the house clean, and to learn the value of hard work and responsibilities.

Funny thing: I told my host mom that I love platano maduro, it tastes the best, kinda sweet, and I just like it. It looks like a banana, but you can't eat it raw. It has to be fried or boiled I think. Of course now I eat maduro pretty much daily, and I think if she doesn’t have anything to give me or doesn’t know what to feed me, she just picks maduro as a safe option. It’s also easy to make and cheap, but hopefully I still like it after a few weeks!

WATER IS LIFE!

8.28.10

This morning I had a great surprise, that I was able to shower with running water! It has been confusing because I know the water runs, not sure if it does every day though. But, I’ve seen my host mom fill up the receptacles with water almost everyday, but I’ve tried to turn on the “bomba” to make the water run, and it doesn’t. The bomba is something that pumps water from the river into the plumbing in the house, or that is my understanding. Anyways, it was AMAZING to shower without a bucket to dump over my head and such, it felt great. The picture shown is of the bathroom, it's difficult to see but the green things are the receptacles where water is held when there is no running water.

This morning I started the census of Salinas with Alllllbbbbaaaa! I say her name that way because it reminds me of the Flinstones when Fred says, "WIIIIILLLMMAAAA!". She is my neighbor and I was introduced to her by Chalo (an employee at the San Vicente Town Hall). She doesn't have a job right now and agreed to help me do a census since she knows everyone in Salinas. We talked to 33 different families and it took us from about 9-2pm, a really long day of repeating questions. Most of the questions include people's names, ages, level of education, occupation, income, and the types of health problems they've had, from asthma to malaria or dengue, a sickness from mosquitoes.

Tonight there was a mass at the Catholic Church for the Virgen Cisne, not sure what role she plays in the church, sorry! Alba came to pick me up for church, so we went to mass a Brazilian nun who gave mass. Salinas doesn't have a pries that consistenly comes to hold mass because there aren't enough priests, so usually one of the nuns comes from San Vicente every couple of weeks. Of course at mass they had me jump right in and do a reading. Today is the mass for the Virgen de Cisne, so there was a procession afterwards up to where they had set up for a baile, or dance. Everyone has been asking if I like to dance or if I can dance. I didn’t want to stay at the baile because I don’t feel comfortable yet with the ppl, and didn’t want to be embarrassed. Alba and I hung out outside the baile while ppl were starting to come and talked to her uncle. Afterwards we went to the Evangelical church just to check it out. We were standing outside for a while and people kept offering for us to come inside but I was comfortable just watching and was almost ready to leave. This church was worshipping, loud music, lots of people with their hands up in the air, and people crying. One woman approached us and pretty much dragged us into the church to sit down. It was just a little uncomfortable because I don’t know the people that well and I don’t usually see tons of people balling with their arms in the air. Then towards the end of the mass the pastor started asking people to come forward to pray and “ receive the word of God” etc. Eventually, he called Alba and I up to join the group of people, and everyone continued to cry and scream out etc. It was fine for me to stand there, but THEN, the pastor called me out and and tried to get me to come forward again with a man to give myself to Jesus. I then felt more uncomfortable and didn’t really respond/stood still, and according to Alba, turned fire red! Then he asked, “You don’t beleive?” I pretended like I didn’t understand what he was saying to me and eventually he moved on. It was frustrating because I didn’t even want to come into the church, and it was my first time going there. I don't know a lot about Evangelism, but I respect other religions and the way they want to worship. However, I don't appreciate being accused that I don't believe in God by someone I don't know and who has never seen me before. I talked to Alba after about it that I don’t go to the same kind of services as the evangelical church, but i respect what they do and how they practice their faith, I just don’t share the same style as they do.

I talked to Pastorita (my host mom) when I got home about it and she said she was baptized Catholic but really likes the Evangelical services. She told me a story about how she was having trouble with her pregnancy with one of her kids and needed to have a C-section. During the process at the hospital and after, she said she was feeling like she might die, because everything felt so far away and she had lost a lot of blood or something. She said that she had told God if he let her live that she would come back to church and find him at the Evangelical church. She said she is still working on it to get back to the church but we didn’t really go farther into the reasons why she hasn’t been.

First Contacts with the High School

8.27.10

This morning I went to a meeting at the high school/colegio with my neighbor, Alba and Zeneida (my counterpart in Salinas). We spoke at length with the professors there about why I'm in Salinas and offering help to come and give charlas/workshops to the kids on topics from sexual education to values and communication. A bunch of other issues came out while we were there that made me really confused because I have no idea how the school runs. A more delicate problem now is there is a girl who is the only one in her class and she has to study in a room by herself. This is the same space that teachers use to meet when the don't have class and talk about their problems with the children, which is not appropriate for her to hear, and also causes some great distraction for her in terms of getting her work done. Zeneida wants to come back next week to see if the school has resolved the problem, in which she suggested that the teachers meet in the office to discuss issues and leave the girl alone with her teacher so she can focus and learn. I felt awkward that Zeneida was bringing me into the situation during the first time I'm meeting the staff and the principal of the school, and they all talk so fast it was hard to keep track of what everyone was saying!!

In the afternoon Zeneida and I went to the microempresa (mini-business area at the entrance to Salinas) to talk with police about a marcha, or protest that many leaders of the town want to carry out against some youth. Lately they say that Salinas is becoming more dangerous and the youth are starting to use more drugs and drink, and also engage in delinquent behaviors. The marcha would be a demonstration that the town has had enough, but also to offer the youth help to start a group or to look for jobs, something to support them to stop doing these things. I also feel awkward about participating in a marcha when I just recently got to my site. I don't want to give anyone the wrong impression that I'm just here to criticize what people are doing. I especially don't want to push away the youth when I haven't had a chance to get to know them or them to know me. In the end the marcha wasn't ever carried out because of a lack of interest.

history of Salinas

8.26.10

The main highlight of the day was that I read a lot which felt good, good for the soul ya know? talked to Zeneida’s mom about the history of Salinas. It used to be a salt mining town, where the people filtered the land and used the salt (i’m terrible at remembering/understanding/explaining these things so bear with me). So the salt brought the people to Salinas and also it has access to the water where people can catch shrimp and fish as well. Zeneida’s mom talked about her parents living here and this is where she was born and raised her kids. She had 12 kids total, but a couple of them died, and she also semi-adopted a couple as well because there was a woman she knew who didn’t have the means to raise her kids, so the family took them in. It was a great conversation because I don’t know her very well but it was cool that she shared a little bit of her family’s history with me. Then there was a meeting at the school that I went to with Zeneida and there was another man there from ERA (Escuela Revolucion Agraria), a school with the Department of Agriculture or something. He’ll be coming her twice a week, Weds and Thurs for a few hours to give seminars and help the people learn how to cultivate the land to improve the look of the town and increase production of agriculture. I was also reintroduced to the people at the meeting and talked about the census and evaluation of the town over the next few months. Afterwards a few of us stayed and there is a growing concern that the jovenes/youth are involved in delinquent behaviors, drugs, theft, etc. In the end the adults want to organize a marcha against this behavior and present the jovenes with an opportunity to work together to find other solutions to working or getting involved in something else more positive.