29 september 2009
Tuesday, September 29th, 2009this last week has been quite difficult. after receiving a message from my brother on wednesday indicating that my grandma was very ill, we went to the cabinas after CENIT to call home. my mom told me that my grandma had passed away that afternoon a few hours prior. we were very sad but it did not feel like it was really happening and that day i was able to continue with our plans of grocery shopping, cooking and our salsa lesson that night. on thursday it was the same, i had the knowledge of what was happening back in the states but i am removed from it so it didnt seem real. then on friday i tried to call home twice but nobody answered. later that night a lot of friends came over and cooked a huge meal for me for my birthday on saturday. we had chicken, platanos, grilled zucchini, salad, un monton de fruit and canelazos de mora which is a drink of blackberries served hot. during the fiesta i started to feel strange and after a cetain point i went to the bathroom and started crying and i could not stop. i was so sad, i missed my family and wanted to connect with them but i could not reach them. al saw out all of our guests and i went to sleep. on saturday we had planned to go to papallacta which are hot springs about 2 hours out from quito but i woke up sad and grieving so i decided we would go another day. i went to the cabinas again 2 times to call home but nobody answered. it was the day of the funeral and nobody was home and nobody was answering their cell phones. i could not celebrate my birthday properly because i felt so sad and i could not enjoy the day. i have decided that we will celebrate this coming saturday by going to papallacta. on sunday we met with Lisa and walked to church but the times were different so we went to the cathedral which had Mass at 11am. after Mass we found a cabina in the Centro Historico and i called home and they answered! though the connection was bad it was really good to talk to my family. then we walked back and relaxed on the hammacks in the sun because all weekend there was so much beautiful sun. we had a snack then took the ecovia to eloy alfaro and walked up the steep hills through the neighborhood of bellavista until we reached the casamuseo of Guayasamin whom is one of the most famous painters of Ecuador. his museum is beautiful and is a hommage to all the poor of Latin America. the museum was really modern, i felt like i was in NY or Europe for a little while. we returned to our casa and had the leftover locro de papas which is a soup of creamy potato with cheese and avocado. al really liked it and cannot wait to prepare such foods for his family when we return to the states next year. on sunday night we had an english/salsa lesson, which is going very well. ruebens english is decent and we talk with him in english for a while then we dance. al has learned 7 new vueltas or turns now and we are working on doing the basic paso more quickly now with turning. we have improved a lot since we started a few weeks ago. on monday i went to a clinic in the north with Jessie our medical director to get more materials for educating our community about health issues. after work yesterday i met with Nellie the dueña of our casa to prepare humitas which are a typical ecuadorian dish of ground maiz with butter, cheese, eggs and onions wrapped in the husk of the corn and steamed for an hour. the process was quite long but i learned a lot of new cooking words and copied a lot of recipies from the book called cocinamos con kristie which is their cookbook and translates to Cooking with Kristie. Nobody knows who Kristie is but everyone refers to her. we had tea with the humitas with their family including their grandma Estelle whom is so cute. she is just tickled that al and i speak spanish and could not stop smiling at us whenever we talked. there are also 2 little girls that are always playing on the terrace, one is their daughter and the other is her amigita or little friend. Estelle is always tending to the plants all over the house which i find adorable because she shuffles her feet going from one plant to another looking and watering if necessary. last night we had another salsa lesson which was more difficult because the pasos jirando are difficult for us but we will practice. i got the paper saying there is a package! so i will go to the post today after work to pick it up. then i will try to call home, then we are going to Lisas apartment to make more canelazos and i will prepare buñuelos de avena which are sweets made with oatmeal and honey. i got the recipe from Kristie and will try it out today. then later tonight a friend Nan from Long Island in our casa is celebrating her birthday with a cake and we will get back to celebrate with her, she told me that i should blow out some candles too because my birthday is so close to hers and we were born in the same year too. tomorrow night we are going out salsa dancing! wednesday is the night to dance salsa in Quito.
chao amigos!
annieandal