Well, I just officially finished my first three weeks in Ecuador! I seriously love my area! My zone is the city of Otavalo, but my area is San Pablo. It's actually a huge sector that encompasses half of a big lake, so Hermana Giles and I are in charge of San Pablo, Gonzales, Pijal, Espejo, and Araque. We live in Gonzales, and we can walk to Pijal, but a bus is necessary for the other towns.I just love Hermana Giles. She's so patient with me, and we're a lot alike. She understands all of my movie references and loves music. She's super low maintenance, and we laugh together a LOT!! It's just such a chill companionship, and we both feel liberated after our previous companionships. She's an excellent trainer, and I never feel awkward around her, and it's just really peaceful.
I think my Spanish is going pretty well. I still have so much darn grammar to learn, and I'm pretty sure that all of the conjugations are going to kill me. Each day, I'm able to understand more and more, so I know that I'm learning, but I'm just so impatient. #classicSlytherin. I just want to be the best. I want to know Spanish, and I want to be an awesome teacher, and I hate that I'm not good at everything right away. Also, the phone. You can think all you want that you're good at speaking another language until you try to speak to a native on the phone, and suddenly you realize that you don't know anything at all.
The food here is cool. We have a nice routine going. In the morning, Hermana Giles will make French toast, and we'll cut up some fruit and spread some dulce de leche on the French toast, or we have yoghurt with granola and fruit. We have mamitas assigned to feed us for lunch every day, and it's sometimes problematic, because they give us so much food, and we really have to eat it all. And it's like two- or three-course meals. We start with a soup which is usually just the meat, but in soup form, and then they give us the plates meal which usually comes with enough rice to feed China and enough potatoes to satisfy Samwise Gamgee. And sometimes like today, we each get a whole half a fish. I was so darn grateful that Hermana Giles got the fish head, and I got the tail. We had a nice little laugh about that, but this is such an adventure. But I love dinner. We usually stay in San Pablo or Gonzales for papa y pollo (chicken and fries) or empanadas, take it home, cut up a pineapple or some bananas, and picnic on the floor of our apartment while doing language study. It's just such a peaceful way to end the day.
So, some quirks of Ecuadorian living.
First, though I have not yet encountered a chamber pot style toilet, no one here puts their used toilet paper in the toilet because the pipes are too small. So every toilet has a community plastic trash can next to it in which we deposit our used toilet paper. Needless to say, most bathrooms smell pretty bad, that is, if there is toilet paper at all. And I'm asking for a miracle if I expect there to be soap and a hand towel. I now have, in my bag, toilet paper in the form of napkins, hand sanitizer, and a hand towel. But honestly, we just hope that we don't need the bathrooms all day!
Second, the piedra. Nothing in the world will make you appreciate your washer and dryer at home more than a piedra and a clothesline, especially in a rainy place like Ecuador. For most people, a piedra is where you wash not only your clothes, but also your dishes. It's a big stone table, and you just go at it with your sponge/brush and some soap. Then, you hang your clothes up and pray that it doesn't rain.
It is amazing though how cheap everything is. A bus ride from town to town is 30 cents, and a half a chicken and fries is $2.00. We went to the Plaza de Ponchos in Otavalo for my first P-Day, and I bought an alpaca wool scarf for $6.00, and a sweet backpack for $10. The backpack is actually for a 72 hour kit that we keep in case of an earthquake, or a volcano eruption. Yes, I look out the window every morning and see an active volcano....
The altitude here really is amazing. I get out of breath from walking up a hill (though hills here are rather large). Jump roping is actually an excellent indicator of how much I've acclimated to the altitude, because each morning, I can jump for longer without getting out of breath! We're also averaging about 9 miles a day walking, but my pedometer doesn't take into account the mountains we walk up....and slowly die. It's awesome! Every time I reach the top of one of those "missionary deterrents", all I can think is how awesome it is that we just made it up that, and how strong my legs are going to be by the end of my mission.
And then there are the dogs. We actually don't have any problems from the strays other than having to resist their puppy-dog eyes when begging for good. Actually, we are kind of getting to know them. There is a chow in Gonzales that I've named Harry, and an English Sheepdog names Winston. Every time I see Harry, I think of Michel in Gilmore Girls. But the dogs belonging to people are the ones we have to watch out for. They will come after us if we come near, so with a lot of our investigators, we have to call from a distance so they can call off their dogs. We've actually come pretty close once or twice to being bitten, but it turns out that there's a reason that we're told to bring an umbrella...and it isn't for the rain! An umbrella s actually a sword in disguise :-). We use it to fend off and scare away los perritos!
I seriously love being a missionary! It's so dang hard at times, but it's also so amazing. It's amazing to live in this beautiful country with these humble people. Even though they don't have a lot to give, they still give so much. It's amazing to have the opportunity to preach the Gospel and to see the beauty that it brings to people's lives. I am seriously so grateful to Heavenly Father for allowing me to serve a mission and for sending me here. Every day, I kind of forget where I am, and then I see the mountains and the rain, and I'm reminded of what an awesome blessing this is from Heavenly Father.
Family, I love you guys so much. Thanks for letting me come here and be a missionary. Thanks for your support--financially, emotionally, and mentally. Thanks for writing me every week, and by the time this letter reaches you, I may have gotten to talk to you on the phone! I love you guys, and give Hootie and Chiefy some love from me.
Love, Hermana Kennedy
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