School work

I'm emphatically sure now that I'm done with college that the people who told me college was the best time of your life were wrong. It's definitely got its high points, but it's got plenty of lows to make up for them to. For example, every time I think about school and tests I get sick to my stomach and every time I happen upon a school file on my hard drive, I nearly hyperventilate. The reason I bring this up is becuase I've started giving computer classes once a week in the grade school in my town and will soon be giving even more. The thing is, these schools are NOT what we think of when we think of grade school.

Exhibit 1: Manual Labor - I noticed I hadn't seen a couple of the kids one day, and when I asked where they had been I was told that their grade had been moving bricks all day for a wall that was being built. Interesting.

Exhibit 2: Alcohol Storage in School - The other day I walked into my classroom to a box with about 8 bottles of whiskey in it.

Exhibit 3.a: Alcohol Consumption in School. A couple weeks ago there was a program for parents where the kids were all dressed up and did a march with the flags and such and then presented the president, vice-president, etc of the class. Halfway through the program, one of the parents begins to walk around pouring cups of straight whiskey for the parents in attendance.

Exhibit 3.b: Exactly one week after the ocurrence of Exhibit 3.a, there was another function in the school to celebrate the Immaculate Virgin. The night before there was drinking a insanely dangerous fireworks in front of the church (drinking on the church steps?). Then, the next morning, a bunch of semi-hung-over professors come to school and march the kids around town until around 10 when the (sort of) kick the kids out and the professors from the schools around town all hang out and eat, drink, and be merry...in the school cafeteria. I tried to keep my drinking to an extreme minimum since there was still the occasional kid wandering around the schoolyard.

Exhibit 4: Leaving large groups of kids alone in classrooms - Yesterday while I was in the middle of a class session I was pulled out of class by the professor because the fish they had cooked was ready. The kids were 'sitting' alone in the classroom for about 20 minutes. Which leads me to my next exhibit.

Exhibit 5: Running out of Food?? - Apparently food is given to schools by the semester-load (Don't ask how the food doesn't spoil), and they have to ration it themselves. Well, with over 2 weeks left in the semester, the food ran out and now the kids don't eat. The 'good news' is that the kids are only in school for 5 hours. The other good news is that it means I don't have to worry about the less-than sanitary conditions the kitchen and food receptacles are in.


Well, those are just a few examples of some interesting things in my life, since (from what I hear) I haven't been great about putting strange Peace Corps anecdotes into my blog. Hope you enjoy! Visit anytime!

Killu's gone mad!!

So, here's Killu after his first bath in a while...in the following pictures I show you why he NEEDED a bath. So I thought I'd share them with any of you who think my dog is perfect based on the pictures you've seen.

Perfect Killu...

So, Killu decided that the day after a huge storm would be a great day for a digging excursion in the part of the patio where all the water tends to collect. Here are some of the results.

Lookinh really cute and really dirty.

Here's the infamous mud pitt he seems to love.So this picture was taken after a big storm. My drain tends to get clogged up and when i clear it out, it funnels down like a flushing toilet. This spinning water really weirded Killu out and he kept hitting it with his paw, biting it, and generally freaking out...

Part of the freak-out episode I mentioned...

Picture Fest

So, here are some pictures...don't have much internet time, so I have to make this quick.

First we have a collage of Killu and Rubi. Puppy Lovers...

A picture of the miles and miles and MILES of banana plantations I pass through on the way to Machala...

A cute collage I made of Killu pictures for Rubi's 'mom', Maggie, who is back in the States now.

Retrospective of Killu's puppy days...cute!

Fish heads, fish heads! I made fish from 'scratch' for the first time and wanted to document it. The fish look pissed that I tore their heads off, eh?

Well, that's it for now. Hope you enjoy the photos!

An Anecdote

So, I don't get around to telling many intresting of funny stories on this blog, but one last just had to be shared with the world.

So last night I was walking out of the grocery store and about to head to catch my bus back to Licto (I got paid yesterday, which means I HAD to come in to town after living a week off of 60 cents and whatever I had in the fridge). As I'm walking out, there's a forty-something woman (age will come into the story later) walking next to me and as we get to a spot where we both can't fit I say to her 'Siga no más' which means 'Go ahead.' To said statement (which generally tends to mean 'go ahead so that you don't get in my way so that this awkward interaction doesn't have to continue), she responds 'Oh, you speak Spanish!' My mind cycles though all the mean things I can respond to such a stupid comment (including 'Are you serious? I never noticed,' 'No I don't, English just sounds remarkably like Spanish sometimes,' or the ever-present 'Oh, sorry, I always forget, what language do they speak here in Ecuador, I must have used the wrong one?'). Instead of being rude, I decide to go with a simple, obvious 'Sí.' This whole episode ends up degenerating into a boring conversation in which she lies to me about 15 times in the period of 5 minutes. First lie, she doesn't normally talk to strangers. Second lie, she's working at the university. Third lie, she's doing 'research' into the foreigner who live in Riobamba. Fourth (implicit) lie, the photocopied 5 dollar bills in your hand must also be for the 'research,' I assume. Fifth lie (but this one was mine), 'I'm not really in Riobamba all that much to be able to go out with you.' Final lie (again mine), 'Oh yeah, sure, I'll call you sometime when I'm in time. That would be GREAT.'
So, to fill in the blank spots between the lies, she writes down her name, phone number, addressm and a 'cute' PS in crappy English begging me to call or write her some time.
Anyways, it's not the BEST story that's happened to me since I've been here but it's moderately funny, in retrospect (while it was happening, I think horrifying would be a more appropriate adjective to describe my emotional state.)
Well, that's all for that story.

Right now I'm reading 'The Innocents Abroad' by Mark Twain. It is one of his first works and it's basically just a comical narrative of a trip he took to Europe and the Holy Land. Unless you appreciate a cranky, biting wit (my grandma would LOVE this book, it's like what you would get if Andy Rooney took the same trip and wrote a book about it), you might not like it, but I, for one, am enjoying the 500 pager in its entirety.
I also read two other books this week (it's been a lazy week): 'Blindness' by José Saramago and 'More Than A Carpenter' by Josh McDowell.
Blindness is a great, great book and I'm really anxious to read its sequel and really hope someone will make it into a movie someday.
More Than A Carpenter is really good for what it is - a brief version (126 pages) of the defense of Christianity against the typical statements like 'The Bible isn't reliable,' 'Science doesn't support Christianity' and the ilk.

Anyhow, I'm now somewhere around 25 books into my Peace Corps service, which puts me well on the way to 100 books in 2 years. One problem that is surging lately is the fact that now that more and more people know me in the town (especially since I've been teaching computer classes at the school) and inevitably someone wants to talk to me on the bus (which means less reading accomplished on the way to Riobamba).

To finish (or get closer to finishing), I'll give a pre-game narrative of what I'm doing on my birthday weekend. Tonight I'm celebrating here in Riobamba with the cluster folk, and tomorrow morning Killu and I are heading down to Machala to hit the beach and spend time with some other friends down there. In Peace Corps, it's a wonderfully blessing to have your birthday at the beginning of the month because you're still temporarily rich off of the monthly stipend. I pity those with depressing end-of-the-month birthdays. If my birthday had been before Thursday, the only birthday present I could have afforded was a half-a-dozen eggs.

Speaking of eggs, I have made egg nog like 3 times since Thanksgiving, it's a wonderful thing. Since I know you all want to know how to make it, here's my recipe:
2 eggs
3 tblspn sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
2 1/3 cups milk
Mix. Consume. Share with your neighbors. Enjoy.
I hope I didn't leave anything out, that was by memory. Alcohol is obviously optional. I prefer it with amaretto, but rum seems to be the typical alcohol of choice. Drink in moderation, folks. Happy Holidays.

So I guess this turned into much longer of a tirade than I expected, but I hope you've all enjoyed it as much as I have. My pinky hurts from typing. That darn 'return' is just so far away! I'm out...

Killu just keeps getting cuter

Well folks, it's official. My dog is now even CUTER than he was before. Call me partial, call me biased, you can even call me Francine Myers for all I care, but don't call my dog ugly. Because that would be a blod-faced lie. So, in case you were doubting, here's the proof (and it's not actually in the pudding, it's in the pictures):

So here's a glimpse at his new sexy-dog collar. You should see the females in heat flock to this guy. Check out those puppy eyes and the cute dirt stain on the snout!

Posing with collar-matching ball and oversized bone.

Again, the ball only complements the blue of the collar.

An to top it all of, showing off the oversized bone for the ladies.

Well, I think that's it for the fashion show, I hope you enjoyed it.