Christmas is already here – it seems to have snuck up. It has been a difficult week leading up to Christmas because I miss home much more than I thought I would, but luckily there are a lot of great things happening here in Zhoray to help keep my mind off of it!
The biggest news is that I have a new furry friend, Cora Cavanaugh. The volunteer nearest me, Brittney, gifted me a puppy for Christmas. She is an adorable little thing and so much fun to have around. As much as my family here questions why I didn’t get an expensive purebred, I saved Cora from being poisoned in the home she was in, and I couldn’t have hoped for a cuter pup! She is very young, probably 7 weeks old now, but seems to be doing well. Her name Cora comes from the Spanish word for Corazon (heart) because she has a black, heart-shaped spot on one side. It has been an exhausting first week with her because she’s still a little baby and cries a lot at night, but she is definitely getting better. It is nice that she’s young because she sleeps a lot right now, so I can leave her in my room to go to work or hang out with the family for little periods at a time and she just sleeps in her bed. In another month she will be able to stay outside more, but she is still missing two rounds of vaccines, so I don’t want her near too many dogs because I know that the dogs here have not had their vaccines. While Suca doesn’t like her and Zoila pretends to not like her, Nayelli is in love with her. Whenever I’m not working, Nayelli is in my room playing with us or taking her to run around in the park with me. She was just the friend I needed to keep me company during the lonely times.
Work here picked up a tad bit, but everything seems to have stopped now for the holidays. I had a meeting with the health volunteers and 7 actually showed up, the most yet. We talked a lot about reorganizing the group and beginning anew with me in charge instead of the doctor. There were many ill-feelings towards the group because it has been poorly organized in the past, but I think they are slowly understanding that I am fully committed and they shared a lot of ideas about things they want to work on and learn. We are only going to meet once a month for now because some of them have to travel so far to get to meetings that it isn’t possible to come more often. Once projects begin, though, hopefully some of them from the center will want to work more. My group with the girls didn’t have quite as much success because not a single girl showed up to the first week of meetings. I knew it was not good timing because it was the week before the holidays, so I’m not too discouraged and will just try to start again when they are back in school. The garden is progressing slowly, but we should be ready to plant within a few weeks!
As far as the holidays go, a lot has been happening. Last weekend was the Christmas program organized by the Cooperativa. I was selected as one of the judges for the Princesita contest there, which is basically a beauty contest. It was an interesting experience seeing these tiny girls dressed up like dolls, but they all won prizes and seemed to have fun. After the Princesita election, we had mass outside at the Cooperativa, then there were sports competitions for the men all day, so people just hung out a lot in the market. I want to mass again that night for the first night of Novena, the series of services leading up to Christmas. We had a little procession up to a house near the subcentro where mass was held. In the last week, I have been to mass 4 times with much more coming tonight, tomorrow and Christmas. The new priest in town is really great and I like his sermons, and the services and music are really pretty in Spanish, so I have been choosing to most of the times when Suca and Nayelli go.
On Wednesday we had the big Christmas fiesta for the entire parroquia (county). The kids from all the schools dressed up as Christmas characters from the nativity and there was a huge procession from where the virgin is to the church. Hundreds of people were in the parade and the outfits were great! There were a lot of “Mary’s” on horseback with babies, live donkeys and sheep, and my favorite were the little kids dressed as sheep! While most people were in church, I helped the subcentro decorate and organize the stage for the Princesita contest (yes, another). The contest was for girls 6-8 years old from the whole parroquia. The contest took a few hours because we hired clowns to come out during “judging” to entertain everyone. The clowns were a huge hit and stayed for a long time. After the Princesita contest, there were tons and tons of little games and contests for the kids. All of the authorities had organized to buy toys, so all the kids who were there received at least 1 Christmas present, which is the only one many of them will get. It was a really fun day and I’m glad that I chose to stay in town for Christmas and see it.
I had a nice Secret Santa exchange and dinner in Azogues with the subcentro staff last night, and we have holiday party for the whole Azogues area next Friday, which should be fun. Not much else has been happening here, just holiday preparations and celebrations.
Wishing you all the happiest of holidays and sending my love from Ecuador!
Kerry
OMG CORA IS SOOOOO CUTE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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