Hola a todos!
It has been yet another week here in Zhoray and wow does it feel like time is flying by! Before I know it, it is the weekend again and I am travelling into Azogues for my Saturday outing.
I am starting to fall into a routine, which the Peace Corps discouraged during our first few months, but I think it’s a healthy routine that still allows me to integrate into the community. Sunday is my day around the house, Monday my day in the school, and the rest of the week work at the subcentro. The evenings are still spent baking and cooking, but more importantly just hanging out with people in the family. I am happy with routine and the predictability, so this is a welcome new weekly schedule!
Sunday reaffirmed my long-held knowledge that I would not make a good, old-fashioned housewife. From 8:30am-7:00pm I was baking, cleaning, washing clothes and bathing without a second of rest. I washed clothes for 4 hours, but I got about half of my dirty clothes done and we had some sun late Sunday and all of Monday, so my clothes dried in a day! Also, I learned that I’m not that bad at it (slow, but thorough) and it is not soap stains in my clothes, it is just the discoloration that comes from washing on a stone and drying in the sun. Super. So it is a toss-up about whether light or dark colored clothes are better – the light colors get stains from everyday living, but the dark are as good as stained with the discoloration from washing. Hmmmm, I guess I will just have to get used to having stained clothing!
From there, Nayeli and I made more carrot cake. It is quite a process to wash, peel and chop the carrots for the cake, and that is only the first step. It took us all afternoon to make the cake and cream-cheese frosting, but both turned out well! We made a lot this time, so we sent cakes to all the relatives and still had some to enjoy ourselves J. The whole process is slowed by frequently having to wash dishes (on the laundry stone where there is a water valve) in order to complete the next step. Also, only one pan will fit in the toaster oven at a time, so there is a lot of waiting involved for the cakes to bake.
After baking, I was finally able to shower because we had running water! Not having water is something that I am still not very used to. There is supposedly a water key in the subcentro that controls the water flow. If it is open, then we get water in the house but people on the other side of the street and up the hill don’t get water. When it’s closed, the other people get water. So it is a fine balance of sharing the water and also who wants to go up the hill to open or close the valve without making everyone on the other side angry. Then there are the times when there just isn’t any water for anyone! Usually we have water for a few random hours a day, and the rest of the time there isn’t any. MacKenzie and I try to keep the 3 pots on the stove full to have water for cooking and drinking when there isn’t any more, but even then there are times when we don’t have any. Of course when it does come on, everyone wants to do all their water-chores and bathing, so it quickly runs out. Es si es, just another thing that I try to accept, ignore, and not dwell on!
Classes went well at the school again on Monday, but I was worn out afterwards (as always). The kids are all high energy, needing constant attention in rapid Spanish, so it really takes my energy, but it’s a lot of fun! After class I went to make my own lunch, but they saw that I was toasting bread to make a sandwich and I was immediately sent downstairs to “eat a real meal that will fill my stomach and keep out the ‘mal-aire,’ or bad air, that made me sick last time.” So, I went downstairs and ate another scrumptious mystery plate, this time of intestines and stomach (and who knows of what…). Mmmmm, that will certainly keep me from getting sick!
I’ve started entering patient names and file numbers into an electronic Excel document at the subcentro – my first idea that they’ve liked and let me work on! How it is now, the ficha (file) numbers can be found by looking up a person’s two last names that are filed in “alphabetical order.” The reality is that the names are not filed well, the drawers are disorganized, and it takes up to 15+ minutes to find a single patient’s file number. Then comes the actual finding of the ficha, which often takes even longer. While there isn’t much I can do about organizing the fichas right now, I can put the names on the computer to easily search for the patients. It is a really slow process because there are about 4,000 names to enter and the handwriting in the books they are kept in is usually illegible, so I do the best I can and then the subcentro staff will help me fill in the gaps with what I can’t read. It is tedious, but keeps me busy and will be very helpful when it’s done!
I left Zhoray with the staff on Wednesday to go to Azogues with Lucy. I stayed with her because the monthly area meeting was earlier today. Brittney and I did a little presentation to all the doctors and directors of the area to present us, Cuerpo de Paz, our work here, etc. I think they were amused by our Spanish more than anything, but at least they were awake for our presentation, unlike most of the others. I am now spending the weekend out with Lucy and her sister and a few friends – another little vacation in case I’ve been working too hard J.
Happy birthday, Grandma! Hello to everyone at home, I miss you all!
Kerry
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