(Me at the Equator) (Jadida and I)
Today was my day to stay back and help Vanessa (pronounced Banessa) cook, while
the others went to work. After we cleaned up breakfast we got ready to go to the store.
We walked to Vanessaʼs house to get her carro (car) and then we were off. She and I
fumbled through small talk as we searched for words each other could understand.
Hereʼs what I think we talked about: How we both have a manual VW car, that
volcanoes are called volcans, that the weather is muy calor ( very hot), and that my
home church is mucho grande (very large) and hers is (muy pequino). Our hands and
body language had to fill in the gaps… And there were many gaps.
(Our Room)
We bought a bunch of food for a whopping 35 dollars, and the girls (Karen and Jadida)
enjoyed telling me how to say all sorts of food in espanol.
After the grocery store, we went to the pharmacia, fruit stand, and got our water filled
up. Once we arrived back at the inglesia (church) we began cooking. We made shrimp
(I got to pull out the poopy part) with TONS of cilantro, as always. We also made rice
and fried plantains (like a harder, not as sweet banana).The plantains were pretty
good… Much better than last night anyways. Vanessa had smashed them up and put
cheese in them. She then formed them into big balls and we ate them raw. It was muy
interesting!
(Ecuador is muy bonita!) (Karen and I going to the grocery store)
Earlier in the morning I had asked Vanessa if she and I could was clothes. She agreed,
and so we gathered all the dirty ropas (clothes) and went to her casa (house). She has
a washing machine, but no running water, so it pretty much defeats the purpose of
having a washing machine. We put the clothes in and then had to fill it with 8-10 buckets
of water. She turned it on and put the soap in. After that, she shut the lid, turned it off
and said “Vamos!” (Letʼs go!). I was pretty confused because we left and now our
clothes are just sitting in cold soapy water. I know that we will still have to come back,
empty the dirty water, and refill the machine so that the clothes can rinse. Honestly, the
whole event made me realize how blessed we are to have running water, hot showers,
flushable toilets, and working devices. United States… You are blessed.
Speaking of hot showers, I havenʼt showered at all in 6 days. The closest thing I got to a
shower was the baby powder I put in my hair today. Here is one of the many good
things about not having any boys on our team… Thereʼs no one to impress!
In Him,
Kaitlyn
P.s. There are more pictures coming!! The internet is terrible here. I´m gonna try to get some better internet this weekend!
