This weekend was a free weekend for us to spend time with our families. Obviously, Saturday was the 4th of July, so I spend some of my free time with some friends in the larger city close to my town. It was my first 4th of July away from home, so it was pretty interesting. We went to the local German Café (yes, there are German café’s in Ecuador) and had a little American feast. I enjoyed a plate of spaghetti and some chocolate ice cream… not so bad for a 4th of July out of the States.
We had our actual 4th of July celebration on Friday with Peace Corps Staff, Co-Trainers, language facilitators, and current volunteers who are our big brothers and big sisters. My big brother is Nick, who happens to also be a Co-Trainer, so we are already pretty close as you may imagine. The other volunteers were great and they were a wealth of information and definitely eased many of the fears I have had thus far. They are also amazing cooks! We had hamburgers, hot dogs, potato salad, real green salad, guacamole, chips, and cake just to name a bit of the awesome feast they prepared for us. I honestly forgot that we were in Ecuador for a minute!
We also had a futbol, or soccer, tournament between communities, the staff and the co-trainers. Our team amazingly made it to the championship game, but we were, unfortunately, defeated by another community that had a pretty awesome chant, and needless to say an amazing team. I was also the reiña, or queen of my community, which was interesting to say the least. It was pretty fun, but it definitely reinforced why I have never been a contestant in a beauty competition!
Today, Sunday, I went into the larger city to watch the fiestas and dancers with my family. It was pretty fun! There were tons of people though, which can sometimes be a bit dangerous, but probably not any more risky than Mardi Gras in America. I am excited to begin week three of training, especially since we will be one week closer to finding out our sites! The anticipation is almost unbearable!
Hasta Luego!
Tiffa :D
It looks like you are having such a wonderful time! I'm so glad there's such a nice sense of community there- I know you're grateful for having so much help and encouragement. I am so proud of you and can't wait to see which site you get!
ReplyDeleteMuch love,
Katherine