Intrusion

I just moved in with a host family that I’ll be living with for the next 8 weeks for the duration of the training. All of the people in the family seem really great and I love their house. It’s just within walking distance outside the “town,” so it’s actually more or less a farming ranch (with a pet dog, guinea pigs, chickens, and a pig). The house is actually really nice and the family is great. I won’t go into all the details of the family for now, partly because I don’t understand who’s who yet, but it’s a normal sized house and I feel really good about it thus far. Not too far from my place there are also some of the other PC people, so that’s nice. I happened to arrive on the day of the grandmother’s 80th birthday, so I already got to meet a lot of the family and experience part of family life.
In other news, because I got the highest Spanish ranking of anyone (along with two other Latina girls who grew up speaking Spanish), I’m in a group in which I won’t really have to mess around with the Spanish stuff as much and I’ll be able to do other projects with more free range and hopefully the opportunity to learn Quechua (one of the indigenous languages of Ecuador). Well, that’s it for now, I’m feeling really tired...

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So, I just had my first bout with some General Intestinal problems...I think I’m over it (in just under 24 hours, no less!), but it wasn’t fun while it lasted. Going against the advice of the entire Peace Corps staff, I ate some “street food.” It was a meat skewer from a food stand set up for the Fiestas de San Pedro in Cayambe. I knew it wasn’t a great idea, but I figured that since I’m going to be here for over 2 years I should get used to the street food. And considering I’m over it in about 20 hours, I can’t say I regret the decision all that much, those were good pinchitos.
In other news, I found out where a Baptist church is located here in Tabacundo, so I think myself and some other Christian PCT’s (Peace Corps Trainees) are going to check that out on Sunday. Keep my health in your prayers, being that this GI stuff could end up being some kind of intestinal worms or something...for now though, I’m feeling great...

Cayambe

After 2 days in DC and a day in Quito, I'm now up in a small town named Cayambe outide Quito. Last night we weren't allowed to leave the place we're staying at because of some kind of incident in the town last night where a lynch mob of taxi drivers apparently went after some policemen...weird...but apparently things are all cleared up now for the Fiesta of San Pedro which is going on this week.

I finished my book "A Very Short Introduction to the Spanish Civil War" and already lent it out to another person around here who loves Spain (there are actually a bunch of us out here!). Suggestions on what to start next? Anyways, that's the news for now...tomorrow I move into a host family (for the next 8 weeks) which should be interesting and challenging.

Signing off...

My Peace Corps Reading List

Below are the books I'm bringing to Ecuador with me. I don't know if I'll get to all 36 of them (about 15 lbs. worth of literature), but I'm going to try and be a reading machine while I'm there:

Blue Like Jazz, Donald Miller
End of the Spear, Steve Saint
Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis
The Savage, My Kinsman, Elizabeth Elliot
The Spanish Civil War: A Short Introduction, Helen Graham
Vanishing Voices, Nettle & Romaine
Blindness, José Saramago
Death and Money in the Afternoon, Adrian Shubert
Death in the Afternoon, Ernest Hemingway
Don Quijote de la Mancha, Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra
For Whom The Bell Tolls, Ernest Hemingway
Homage to Catalonia, George Orwell
Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad
Journey to Portugal, José Saramago
More Than a Carpenter, Josh McDowell
Nine Stories, J.D. Salinger
Passion and Purity, Elizabeth Elliot
Spain: A History, Raymond Carr
The Sun Also Rises, Ernest Hemingway
Arms and the Man, George Bernard Shaw
Confieso Que He Vivido, Pablo Neruda
Del Amor y Otros Demonios, Gabriel García Márquez
El Cid, Unknown
Five Cities of Refuge, Kushner & Mamet
How to Stay Alive in the Woods, Bradford Angier
La Aventura del Tocador de Señoras, Eduardo Mendoza
La Verdad Sobre el Caso Savolta, Eduardo Mendoza
Medieval Europe: A Short Sourcebook, C. Warren Hollister, et. al.
The Odyssey, Homer
The Wine Avenger: Become a Wine Genius in One Hour, Willie Gluckstern
Bíblia Sagrada, Nova Versão Internacional
Holy Bible, English Standard Version
My Utmost for His Highest, Oswald Chambers
Portuguese Dictionary, Harper-Collins
Santa Biblia, Nueva Versión Internacional
Ecuador, The Let's Go Travel Guide

Feel free to comment on anything you love, hate, or have never heard of...and if you're a fellow PC/Ecuador volunteer, I'm open to book lending/exchanges.