Que Paso Con Septiembre?

Its hard to believe an entire month has passed by again – September literally flew. I had charlas every day, sometimes twice a day and seemed to be rushing to other meetings in the mornings as well. Looking at my calendar I feel pretty accomplished. And yes, I’m going to gloat about this feeling for a moment because it’s the first time I’ve felt like I’ve done anything since arriving. I usually get caught up in the daily miscommunications and feel like I’m not making a difference here at all. I don’t know what the people in the Corazon Feliz communities think about my charlas, but they say they understand me and they participate, so hopefully they’re learning something.

Also, another exciting bit of work news – another volunteer and friend, Alea, and I printed the first edition of a magazine – “Salud y Bienestar.” It’s a monthly magazine about health issues in the community, interesting little factoids about the community, and an entertainment section that featured none other than Michael Jackson. We’re printing the mag and selling it in our respective cantons in hopes of raising money for additional projects.

Themes from the month of September include:

Daily miscommunications ranging from silly things like confusing “bono” (welfare checks) with “abono” (fertilizer) to more serious problems with scheduling who is going to what community and when.

Watching my host grandmother and aunt kill a chicken by slitting its neck and then pluck it, skin it, rip out the insides, and chop it up into pieces more recognizable to me like legs and thighs.

Attending my first community baile (dance) and dancing until 4 AM. The fiestas here never end. The next morning I had a health fair in Sucre at 8 AM, and while driving into town at 7:30 AM I saw 2 guys just leaving! The dances here are different than in the states – first of all, everyone dances – it doesn’t matter where, in the streets, in someone’s backyard, in a school – everyone and everywhere. And there are steps – the simplest is like you’re marching in place or slightly to the right, middle, left, then back again – and then there are actual dances like salsa, meringue, cumbia, Don’t ask me when you dance which one, but somehow everyone here knows and I just follow along.

El Paro (the stoppage) – the indigenous population is protesting different proposals of Correa – a potable water system in the Sierra, education reforms, and one other I can’t remember - throughout the country. The protests are bigger and more problematic in larger cities, but Portoviejo has had some problems with student protesters. Correa wants every teacher to take an exam evaluating whether or not they actually know what they’re talking about and are fit to be professors. Who could disagree with this? UNE, like the teachers union here is who. They don’t want to take these exams, so professors and students have been protesting and classes have been cancelled. Yesterday, in anticipation of the protests, things basically shut down. People didn’t have work because there were no buses or cars traveling to Portoviejo. The bar across the street was open bright and early – before I even rolled out of bed at 8 AM! PCV are on travel restriction…which sucks because the ½ marathon is this weekend in Guayaquil! I’m not sure if we’ll be able to go. Lindsey, Ali, and I are supposed to be visiting JCov and running in the race!! It was our something to look forward to this past month.