December Part I: The Big Move...

Well I don’t feel so bad writing about Dramatic December after writing about how much fun I had in November. December just about did me in. There were high high and low lows, but hey that’s life. (may make this a two parter…)

I don’t even know where to begin. One thing I can say, is that I was going to write/journal/blog, during the time, but I just couldn’t and now I’m glad, I was so charged with so much emotion that it would have probably been a heavy read. Now I can just report on what I remember but it won’t be so…well dramatic…I mean who am I kidding, it’s still me…so some drama…but not as much…

Where to even begin? I guess from the beginning (get ready for more stream of consciousness writing!)… Right, right, right after the full Thanksgiving weekend, my director came to stay for a week to approve everyone’s housing. It took a lot just to prepare for that! I had to get that door put on, which in the U.S. would have taken an hour maybe. But OF COURSE in Ecaudor I learn more and more everyday. Things that take a an hour normally take FOREVER and it takes everything out of you! It’s not just the taking forever, it’s the arguing, it’s the getting taken advantage of, it’s the back and forth…it’s just a lot. My friend Mathais was even with me helping me, but it really just took a lot. You just have to experience it first hand to really understand how it can drain the life out of you…oh and in this case a third of my monthly living allowance. But great whatever. I needed to do it to move in. Got the door on, bought some pliers the day I was meeting Cris my Director so we could even open the door( don’t ask). I got all the upgrades I needed and it was approved! Yay. Oh sure I had to pay two months rent, which PeacE Corps doesn’t cover so that was more money out of my pocket…but just REALLY wanted my own place and this was my one and only chance to get it. Just to explain, our directors go on a sort of “housing approval tour” you get one day of their time, and if your place is ready. Great you can move in. If not, you gotta wait for when they can schedule a whooole special trip just for you to come approve your place…and they are super busy so that’s not an easy thng to get. So it was now or never.
So I have my place with it’s big window (that I love), built in closet and nothing else. I gotta buy everything. Some places come furnished but now this one. So the first week of Dec consisted of Moving in woes. Getting my stuff moved from my host fam to my new crib (couldn’t have done it without the help of my Guayaquiña girls Molls and Sabriga) going a whole weekend without electricity because my dueña forgot to tell me that I had to get it turned on. I had bought new light bulbs just thinking all of the lights blew out (eyeroll). I don’t even mind no electicity except when it’s hot as Hades fire and you have no fan for a break in heat or no fridge for a cold beverage. So it was pretty rough. I had moved my bed (sans sheets) my first night so at least I had something to lay on.

Again since everything that would take an hour takes a day, I had to miss work just to buy and get my bed delivered. The next thing I needed to get was a fridge. Enter week two. Honestly I can’t even get into this. The fridge drama could have never been forseen. A couple of volnuteers got refurbished fridges (or nivera…didn’t know that was the word for it…maybe have made some of the drama less if I knew what people were saying…) I said…even though we gotta be frugal as PCVs. I’m going to buy a fridge new, to cut down on the drama of always needed to get my fridge re-repaired over the next few years. Don’t get me wrong, I spent a week of searching for a refurbished fridge…it just wasn’t panning out…I had already wasted so much time, I was going new. Since I’m not much of a cook I did’nt need a full full size, but I also did not want to speand $300 bucks on a college fridge which is how much they go for here. So I searched and found the perfect size for an okay price.
Alright, I said I’m not going into it and I’m not. In the U.S. you go to a store, you buy a fridge, you get it delivered (usually FREE) you plug it in. The rest is blissful drama free history. WHY did start getting ripped off starting with the delivery guy…then why did my fridge only get hotter the first…then second day, why did the store stop answering my calls and made me roll up in there, not once, not twice, but three times before they sent someone..not to repleace it…just to “repair it”. Random repair guys in my house is EXACTLY why I bought a new fridge! So not one, not two, but three random repair guys come day after day…not able to figure it out. WTH!? I’m takin off work, I had to throw my food I had transferred from my host fams house cause now it’s been about a week. Oh it doesn’t help that the ladies in the barrio were hurt that I didn’t have them come with me to get my fridge and then swore that the reason this is happening is cause I went by myself. They are probably right, but I got it on a Sunday, the one day they take off…and I got a new one so who knew I still needed an Ecuadorian to oversee the operation. Okay smart alecs, YES this is me not going into it! There was SO much drama I can’t even tell you. So when the final guy tells me that they are going to have to take the fridge to a shop and I’ll get it back in three days (Which would be taking me into the next week) I lose it. Oh and these repair guys were SO sleazy I can’t even tell you, but anyway. I BACK up to the store that will no longer answer their phone, straight LOSING it In Spanish on just about everyone demanding my money back they finally, throw in a microwave (That I CAAAARRRRYYY, down the street on the crowded metro and too my house..only pure rage can give you that kind of strength) and agree to give exhange the fridge “mañana” I tell them if I Hear mañana one more time it’s going to get REAL ugly as I’m going to get the brava ladies from my barrio to come up there and really raise some hell. I wanted a new fridge and it needed to be in my house the same night. So at about 9:00 PM (store has been closed but…) another sketch ball comes and delivers my fridge. Sure they make me wrap the lemon of a fridge in the original packaging..probably to resell it. Whatever. It was out of my hair. Lost a week of my sanity felt, robbed, taken advantage of, and totally annoyed and missing a simpler life…If every new thing I get in my house is going to take all that I’ll never be comfy and cozy in my home I thought… Plus I just didn’t have the energy for that cause I had BIGGER stuff to worry about…like the Christmas party in the Barrio….stay tuned for week, 3 and 4 of Dec…