Whew ... this holiday season has been jam packed! It's good ... sometimes just keeping busy helps being away from friends and family. My deepest wishes of love and peace to everyone with the year 2010. I am one who believes you don't have to wait for the "New Years Resolutions" to make changes in your life; but like the Ecuadorians do, there's always time to burn your past and leave it there (I'll explain ... just keep reading... ).
Thank you sooo much for all the holiday cards, presents, snowflakes, and wishes from home!!
CHRISTMAS WITH THE FAMILY
To back-track just a little, besides the Christmas activities with work, my family celebrated the Novena leading up to Christmas. It included the nine nights before Christmas Eve. The family meets at a different member's house every night. The host provides song, readings, reflection, and (of course) food. I hosted the night of the 23rd with a single mother (she's the sister of Teresa and lives in my apartment complex) Dora. She prepared the readings and reflection for the night, and I made breakfast burritos!! There was a song we kept singing every night previously during Novena called "El burrito caminando" (the walking donkey), and haha ... it just made me think of Vegetarian Primavera Illegal Pete's Burritos, so I had to make the closest thing I could. Nancy and I also taught the family "Jingle Bells", I'll have to make a video of it next year!!
I spent Christmas Eve in Guaranda with my family ... I highly advise reading and rereading this part about their Christmas Program -- one of the best ways to spend the holidays with loved ones! I think more people should celebrate Christmas this way. They have a party Christmas Eve - it starts with the Misa de las Gallinas (mass of the roosters or midnight mass). Afterward, everyone (three generations - this year's count was 53 family members from Guaranda, Ambato and Quito) travels to the Casa de la Rena (the Queen's House - specifically for Christmas, she was elected last year). Nancy and I made three turkeys (thanks Grandma and Jenny for the bag and recipes!! We did brine the turkeys, and they were AMAZING!!), stuffing and mashed potatoes.
After the food (the Queen also prepared a salad, rice, and a coconut dessert!), we started with the program. The Queen and Princess paraded in and gave speeches of thanks for all who came.
I had the honor of hosting the program with my cousin - we basically announced who was going to preform next and read some good holiday thoughts and wishes in between acts. I think the family just enjoyed laughing at my Spanish and listening to my lame attempts at cracking jokes. Each family member performed in one (or more) numeros or acts - including dances (we did a traditional dance with long colorful dresses, there were also two Michael Jackson Thriller presentations), singing, and even a mass (a couple did a reenactment of la Misa de las Gallinas, dressed up like a priests and a nun and recited "new-aged prayers" for the family).
After the acts, it was about 4am, and the dance party started. I made it until around 6am dancing Salsa, Reggeaton, and Cumbia. Man -- Ecuadorians are born to dance for hours and hours. I don't know how to keep up here ... I find old men with bad hips out dancing me. After making it to a respectable 6am, I squished into the back of a camioneta with Teresa and some cousins and enjoyed the sun rise on Chimborazo as we rode home. At least I got to see snow at the top of the volcano Christmas morning :).
The next morning, after a 2-hr nap, I took the 9am bus to Riobamba to join up at Jason's for their Christmas Party. We spent the day catching up, getting Christmas hair-cuts and filling ourselves with amazing food!
NEW YEARS
For New Years, I decided to head to the beach. It's amazing how different la playa (the beach) y (and) la sierra (the mountains) are. They are like two different worlds - the people, the attitude, the climate, the food, even the dialect is different (I officially have a Spanish accent and use momentita y cercita - diminutive words for "in a moment" and "very close" filled with love and strong sierra roots). It was great to see old friends, get a little sun (okay, I got burnt), eat some seafood (while sitting on the beach, sipping Club and watching the sunset - good times Peyton!), and pancakes with peanut butter!!
For New Years, people here have a few traditions. First, they make replicas of people out of corn stocks or newspaper including politicians, ex's, bosses and self-replicas. The idea is that by burning the figure at midnight you are leaving behind bad thoughts/ events and entering the new year fresh! Us PCVs decided to burn a cuey (guinea pig). Everyone wrote their "burn-wishes" on a piece of paper, put it into the cuey, and at midnight with champagne and sparklers, we burnt our past. Another tradition is to run around the block with a suitcase - this signifies you will travel in the new year. And if you eat 12 grapes, you will have wealth in the new year.
...AND THE HOLIDAY SEASON CONTINUES
After the wonderful holiday season, I was ready to get back to site - refreshed, driven, focused after talking to other PCVs (all in all, a successful mental health break). Unexpectedly - this word is becoming daily language here in Ecuador - I learned that the BIG festival in my town, the CARNAVAL, the place to be in Ecuador, which I thought started mid-February ... actually starts today. In the Catholic Church, the three wise men arrive in Bethlehem, and I guess this is how they celebrated.
RECONNECT
Next week I'm heading to Riobamba for the week for Peace Corps Reconnect (we've nick-named it disconnect, because our Omnibus is being divided into three regional areas). It's when we come together with our counterparts (our community/work contacts) to talk about our communities, their needs and our future projects. During training, Peace Corps trained us in CAT and PACA tools, or community assessment tools (surveys, community maps, 24-hour clocks, seasonal maps), during our first months at site were supposed to utilize these tools during our integration to learn more about the community. The CAT and PACA tools are not only for us though, they are for our communities as well - it's the process of uncovering needs and project potential WITH not FOR your community.
New photos UP.
