#24 Bloopers in The Bank

I needed to get a new bank card and to go to MY bank I had to go to the capital city of the province, Esmeraldas. It was hard to find time to make the trip to go there and when I finally got there, the lines in the bank can be a mess. When I got there I had a wait and I was listing all the things I COULD be doing with my time instead of waiting…. Then came one of the reasons I Love Ecuador…

Bloopers in the Bank.

You have to pull a number and wait for your turn with the tellers at the bank. You have to watch a screen overhead to wait of your number. They have some wacky system where it’s not just 1,2,3..it’s like J102, G236, K12, so you have to wait for you letter AND number to come up and with this system you hardly know when you’ll be up. On the SAME screen however they have Bloopers showing which is pretty awesome. Remember bloopers? You know hidden camera and people playing tricks on other people. Well first of all I love bloopers, but moreover I absolutely LOVE watching people in the bank Watch bloopers. They too are in a bad mood, and sitting impatiently. It’s so classic to see a belly laugh erupt out of a unwilling participant. Or the dead pan stare into a gregarious head thrown back laugh. The Bloopers are usually so simple and imbecilic that it’s funny to see what people get a kick out of.

While the people are watching the screen, I’m watching them cause THAT is the best part. Usually almost missing my number because….oops…that’s what I’m supposed to be doing! Which in turn passes the time and changes everyone’s mood from a grumpy one to a jovial one. Good one Ecuador. Good one!

Return to Guayaquil

Well, once I got word that I had permission to come to Guayaquil (since we have to get special permission now to travel to this now labeled a “high risk” area) I didn’t have time to blog about how nervous I was about the whole thing. What prompted me to ask in the first place was the despedida (goodbye) party of my former site mate Molly. We had braved the city together since the beginning and now she was leaving two month early to be able to attend an orientation of a prestigious scholarship she had received. Sure, I had some anxiety about going back but was that a reason to miss this proper send off?

For starters I traveled by day as we had gotten correspondence reporting some security issues on the night busses. That meant about 8 hour on the bus, all day long. I had stayed up until 3 am one morning making banana bread for the ladies as there was know way I could show up empty handed and I learned how to make the banana bread after we had gotten an insanely large donation of bananas, so it was a nod to the old days. I had a ton of work to do leading up to the trip and it’s a good thing that I didn’t go on and on about how nervous I was about returning.

Nervous about what you ask? Nervous about the city that essentially chewed me up and spit me out, nervous about seeing old friends and how it would feel, worried about going back to the barrio and seeing the ladies… it had been SO hard leaving I just didn’t know what to expect emotionally. Had I called enough? Will they be as happy to see me as I was I knew I would be to see them? Etc..It would have been an exhausting blog entry I’m certain!

What I can report now is that I am back and that the trip was absolutely amazing and cathartic. I was (as usual) worried for absolutely nothing. As I mentioned Friday I traveled all day by bus. I twisted my hair, read and slept and it actually was a quite enjoyable ride. I got in kinda late so I stayed in a hostal for the first time even in Guayaquil that had internet, AC and cable. It was fun little mental escape.

The first order of business of course the next day was to see the ladies. It turned out that they had a meeting near the hostal I was staying so we planned to just meet up there. I rolled up to the hotel where the meeting was being held. The ladies hadn’t arrived yet, but it turns out I knew SO many people at the event. It was a workshop of community organizers and I felt so welcome as even without the Ladies present I had made friends over the year and a half I had worked in Guayaquil. The meeting started and the Ladies still hadn’t arrived, so when they finally did show up in the middle of the meeting we caused a huge scene as we ran to each other hugging, talking, kissing with tears in our eyes. Hey it’s Ecuador, you can do stuff like that!

Not only was it great to just see the Ladies and be in there presence the meeting was amazing. One thing I miss about being there is the sophisticated issues the Ladies and these community leaders confront. The discussions they have are a far cry from the chasing after kids I do now. I love what I do now, but it was a great to change gears for awhile and it was great to remember the kind of work I was doing. The meeting was ALL day however, so I had planned on going to the barrio that day…so I let the Ladies convince me to stay until Monday and go to the barrio then. I HAD planned on coming back Sunday, but hanging in Cristo de Consuelo was worth staying an extra day.

The meeting was until 5 but I had to dip around 4ish to get ready for the Despedida. I showered and changed and went to Molls for the last time for a pizza party. Then we headed to the house of some other volunteers and had a fiesta. It was a lot of fun to meet new volunteers and to get together in honor of our friend. We went on from there to La Zona Rosa, which I had never been to while living in Guayaquil so that was something new. We had a great time and it was a good send off. I know from experience you don’t want to hear “don’g go!” all night, so we were all aware of that and kept the party going. We had beer, wine, brownies, cake, chips, played games and danced and danced. I was sad on the inside but we were in full fiesta fun mode so that made the goodbyes easier and we were able to send off our girl in style.

The next day was a fun filled marvelous day with my homie Liam. He and a new teacher Derrick were out and about to see the city and I was able to tag along. We hunted down the best Encebollado and talked and laughed until we couldn’t eat another bite. We went all around the city, to the pool, meet even more new friends out for dinner and I ended up spending the night as the good times kept goin.

The next day was barrio day. I was so excited I could hardly stand it. I was going to get to see the group of elderly I worked with, the kids, the neighbors and everyone one in between. When I showed up everyone was happy to see me and I was so stoked to see them too! I got to see the construction that is being done on the Tienda. When I was in Guayaquil we had been working tirelessly to get a propsal approved to build a community center where all of the small businesses could exist in one location. Well it had finally gone through and they were doing construction and it was a DREAM Come True to actually see that happening. Amazing. I went to everyone’s house and fell right back into the fold easily. The Ladies are amazing and resilient. They dream big and make things happen. They will be getting a new volunteer soon too I heard so that will be great. I left with one of the ladies I used to always ride to the centro with and it was such a great return. She dropped me off and we said our goodbyes..well our hasta luegos (see you laters). When the Construction is complete the ladies said they will let me know so that I can come back or the inaguration. So it wasn’t as sad this time to say goodbye.
I then went to the Malecon to meet my tutor and friend Lily. It’s where we used to have lessons and it was so great meeting in our old spot. We both had a lot of news and updates for each other and time flew by. She ended up riding on the metro via with me to the Terminal to catch my bus and that was such a sweet gesture and a wonderful send of.

Some volunteers never get to “go back” and see how they project is progressing since they left. I was able to see steps that we had taken together are still advancing and that was rewarding. All in all the Gqui return was more amazing than I could have ever imagined and I am looking forward to going back to visiting again.

Hard Knock Life

I really enjoy my time at the orfanato. I know the kids must have it kinda rough because they are living in a place that is not a home with their biological mothers and fathers, but as I’ve been getting to know the “madres” that work at the Aldea and who take care of the kids in the “casitas”, I have come to learn some of the back stories of several of the kids and all I could think of “It’s a Hard Knock Life” for real for some of those kids.

This started when two kids kept running away and we were all SOOO worried about them. Where were the sleeping? What were they doing!? What more could they want than the safety of the Aldea? Aren’t they scared of the streets? Well to this one of the moms told me a story to explain the mentality of these kids.

She told me one day at dinner one of the boys told her that when he was little he watched his uncle stab his father, right in front of his young eyes. A wound that would prove to be fatal soon after. When you ask about his mother, he calls her all kinds of names, because his father only referred to her in a negative way. It’s all that he knows. He has seen many people in his family assult and injure other people in his family. All this before the age of ten. So how would you be if you’ve seen and experienced all this? She said he talks about it like he’s talking about the weather. Unaffected. Which of course is a defense, numbing yourself emotionally just to be able to carry on another day.

She told us the real change in him came when his mother came to visit him. We don’t know what happened of if just seeing her was too much, but he went from being well behaved to running away and being a real rebel. There is also age and adolescents to consider, but SO much for a young heart to handle!

I am happy to report we find the kids and they are back. I spent the majority of the day with them and I was soooooooooo happy and relieved I didn’t know what to do, but I didn’t want to show it as to not alienate them. I am grateful for the times I have with them and when they are able to lose themselves for a moment, to run around, paint, draw and learn new things; to just be kids. But I know those ghosts of the past come back to haunt them and they deal with it everyday.

That is just one story of one child and there are so many more at the Aldea and there are SO many more in the WORLD. To me the Aldea kids are the lucky ones. They have a community around them of people that Love them and take care of them, but just the same, when problems like these arise it’s a sobering reminder that it’s a still a Hard Knock Life for them too.

Todavia, no hablas Español?

Bueno, as of late people have been correcting my Spanish. My neighbor the fisherman, the Belgian guy I work with, My French friend, My host lady, The Artist we work with at Via Via., pretty much anyone I encounter they give me a little help as I am trying to communicate and express myself. This wasn’t happening 2 months ago, and I wouldn’t know what to make of it if I hadn’t had a conversation pertaining to this exact phenomenon months earlier. According to my friend the same thing happened to her at her site. The theory goes as follows: as your Spanish improves people will start correcting you because you are only off by one word, or one tense and it’s easy to correct. At first, you’re all over the place and people are just trying to understand what you want, need and are trying to say. Now you are saying sentences that are perfect except for the oooone little thing and therefore they can easily correct you.

Example 1: First week at site you like “I like go to that thing that is down street over there (pointing your finger and drawing a house like structure with your two index fingers” – The person you are communicating is like, “The lightpost? Don Miguel's house?, The tienda? Oh the Tienda Oh you would like to go to the store! Alright lets go *mumbles under breath* That was way harder than it needed to be”

Example 2: Now you can say “I like to go the store” and you start walking away they are like “oh you mean “You would like to go to the store, see the difference? Me gusta and me gustaria…you wanted to say me gustaria” and then off you go not having had to play charades, guessing games and whose line is it anyway.

Maybe those are bad examples but you get what I mean. Anyway you slice it, I a) miss my tutor Lily! B) I need to get in these books and start seriously reading and writing to get take my Spanish to the next level cause I think I’m right there ready to cross ova! Wish me luck!