July 18, 2008

The last several days were not particularly interesting, so I will simply recap their highlights:

Tuesday- I went to Ayora and the trainers told us how they developed the sites.

Wednesday- Spanish class as usual. Afterward, Lauren, Margaret, and I baked cookies at her house. It was great fun! The people here don’t do a lot of baking and have never tried soft, freshly baked cookies. All their cookies come packaged. Lauren’s mother thought we had to flip the cookies over like pancakes, and that they were not done when we pulled them out because they weren’t hard as rock. She also thought Lauren and I were crazy because we kept eating all the cookie dough. My family loved the cookies and asked for the recipe. Next, I want to try my famous lemon bars.

Thursday- Today we learned what the sixteen sites are. We still don’t know which one we are going to. They wont’ tell us until Tuesday. AHHH! The wait is killing me!! Two of the sites really interested me. They are both in the coastal province of El Oro. One is El Cambio and the other El Guabo. The seemed small and full of work. I really hope I get one of those sites; I think it would be a great match!

Today- Today we watched a Chilean film in Spanish class. It was pretty good. In the afternoon all the aspirantes (trainees) met with the alcalde (mayor) of Cayambe and he described the last 500 years of Ecuadorian history in an hour and a half. I have to admit, I didn’t really pay attention. My mind was elsewhere (at my futures site to be exact). I really should learn patience!

After our meeting with the alcalde we were free so two of the other trainees and I bought a liter of Diet Coke and sat in the park and chatted until my skype date with my parents. It was really nice to talk to them. We both had webcams, so we got to see each other! It was really nice; almost like we were in the same room. Technology is amazing!