Oh, the suspense is KILLING me.

Dobre Den

2008-06-07T04:49:00.000-07:00

So I just got to the Czech Republic yesterday. When I got to the hostel just outside of downtown Prague, Domov Mládeže, I crashed for 8 eight hours before going out with my friend, Jessie, in search of food. We were wholly unsuccessful at the not-so-late hour of 10 pm on a Friday night. So we ate snack foods and surfed the internet back at our hostel, and made friends with another student, Christina, who had been at our hostel since the beginning of May.
Today the three of us ventured by metro to downtown Prague where all the tourist action is. We saw the building where the classes will be, a wedding, a museum featuring the works of Dalí amd Mucha (he painted all those swirly pictures of women that many college students like to tack on their walls, advertising Absinthe and whatnot). Then Jessie and I went to try out one of the hundreds of gelato stands there: DELICIOUS! After that, we almost went to a Sex Machine Museum, but they were asking for nearly $30 to get in! So we explored the wax museum and the random stands in the market instead.
Tomorrow I will have better internet access, and will post some pictures.

Let Me Set Y'all Str-iz-aight

2008-01-25T11:10:00.000-08:00

So I got back from Ecuador on January 26, 2007. I piddled at my parents' house for a couple months, working for them. I took some random (and very useless) classes at Fayetteville State University. I went back to Ecuador to visit friends for three weeks. I visited friends in Arkansas, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Charlotte, and Chapel Hill to visit other friends. And then I moved to Raleigh and am now working on my Master's degree in International Studies (MIS) through NC State. This coming summer I am going to Prague to study abroad through the MIS program. Afterwards, my friend, Elizabeth Miller, and I are backpacking around Europe for a month. We will record our trip here for you reading pleasure.

Down to Business, Finally

2007-01-11T09:11:00.000-08:00

So I a lot has happened since I last wrote you all. My mom came to visit again, along with my dad and sister. We rented a car this time, in order to make traveling easier. But our driver didn’t quite know the roads as well as he thought he did, so we ended up going through some dangerous areas as well as taking the same amount of time a bus would have taken. Like my mom, my dad and my sister enjoyed staying in the Marriott the most. Their first day in Quito, I took them to the Teleferico, a gondola that takes you to the top of one of the mountains surrounding the city. It just happened to be an extremely cloudy day, so we saw nothing but clouds. After that, we went to the Equator, a line on the ground and a tall building with a museum in it. Then we went to visit my friend, Eva, at her site in Pacto. This is a two hour drive there through the mountains that would probably be a half hour drive if there were no mountains or a bridge going over all of them. After spending an hour there, we brought Eva back to Quito with us. She, Brian and Jeff joined us for the best steak dinner I have had in Ecuador. In the taxi for the six blocks back to the Marriott, our taxi ran out of gas. But anyway, my sister, Rakhee, came out with me and my friends to a couple bars after that, and so she got to know what kind of people I hang out with: gross ones.

The next day, we went to Riobamba so that they could see my old site, Mercedes Cadena. They all hated it as much as I did. Mainly because how poor they all are. This means that I should have stayed there to improve the way they live, to make their lives better. That’s my job as a Peace Corps Volunteer, isn’t it? But I’m really happy here in Bellavista, so I won’t worry about that. Besides, Kristy, the volunteer at Mercedes Cadena before me, is already back to visit as I type this. Anyway, after that, we went back to Riobamba and ate dinner with Lilly, Sarah, Meghan, and Mary Catherine. We were so sick of riding in the car that we went to the airport to see if there were any flights to Quito. There weren’t the place was totally barren. So the next day we got back into the car and went back to Quito, instead of coming here, to Bellavista, to see how much better my situation is now. But I enjoyed the time I spent with my family, so that is what counts. They plan on coming back to visit me in March. At that time I will bring them to Bellavista and then we will go to the Galapagos Islands.

For Christmas, I went to Eva’s house. She cooked an anorexic turkey and enchiladas. And, of course all the side dishes you could imagine. I contributed, of course, I made Jello shots! There, also, I got to meet Eva’s husband, a very cool man. He told Eva that since her favorite person in our group is Jeff, his favorite person in our group is me! I said that my favorite person is Brian.

After that, Eva, Brian, Jeff, and his friend visiting from the UScame to see my site before we went to the beach in Canoa for New Years.

This week I finally got to go to my other communities: La Guinea, Jaboncillo, Bejuco, and Valentin. I start work this Saturday, with the Youth Groups. I’m going to be working with a teacher from my elementary school, Mrs. Paula Keeton. I’m thinking of making her second graders and my youth group pen pals.

Well, that is all for now! Email me and let me know how you all are doing!

Love, Manisha

My Address...hopefully for the rest of the time I´m here

2006-12-05T08:07:00.000-08:00

Manisha Devasthali, PCV
Cuerpo de Paz
Casilla 13-01-296
Portoviejo-Manabi
Ecuador, South America

Hellos and Goodbyes...and a surprise!

2006-11-29T07:21:00.000-08:00

So today is my birthday. I am 23 years old. The only thing I regret is that I can’t be in a site where my mom can call my cell to wake me up, the way she has every year before. That is, after I stopped living at home. I hope Bellavista will be getting cell phone service soon. They were supposed to get it a while back, but the phone company got confused and installed a tower in Buena Vista instead. This is the first birthday in a couple of years that I haven’t been hung over and I have no plans of drinking at night. But I will still be with friends. Granted, they are really new friends that know very little about me and don’t speak the same language as me. Yes, of course I know Spanish by now, but I still can’t make sophisticated jokes or innuendos or be sarcastic. Everything I say is very literal. But the family I am staying with is having a special lunch for me and has invited the town doctor and nurse to join us. I don’t really know the doctor yet, but I will soon be living in the same building as him: the Subcentro. A subcentro is like a mini clinic for minor medical problems in the community. People mostly go there for baby check ups. People used to go there to deliver their babies as well, but now they go to the main city of Portoviejo. It has much bigger hospitals and the chance of the babies living is much higher. So the maternity area has been collecting dust for about a decade now. And when people go to medical school here in Ecuador, they are required to spend a year after they finish school in a rural community. Most people who go to and get through medical school are in it for the big bucks. And they usually come from big money as well. But they want to get their degree and therefore go to live in a rural community with a subcentro. All subcentros in Ecuador have an area for the doctor to live. The area for the doctor and the maternity area are separated from each other. I will live in the maternity area. It is super nice. There is a kitchen, two bunk beds, two toilets, one shower, and a yard in which there are already banana trees. (Brian, they aren’t everywhere, though, like in Machala.)

Tungurahua, still smoking...

The only time my feet have been remotely clean here in Ecuador...

My dog, Ruskaya is much better behaved than she was the first few days I had her. While she doesn’t let me sleep as much as I would like to, she leaves me alone for at least four or five hours during the night. And she already walks on her leash without giving too much of a fuss. (Except when Eva is around, then she lets herself be dragged because she knows that Eva is a sucker enough to pick her up.)

I am very sad about so many of my friends who have decided to Early Terminate their service with Peace Corps. While they all have really good reasons for leaving, they will be missed. Maggie, Ericka, and Robert, good luck with everything!

My family is coming to visit me here in Ecuador in a few weeks. We will visit my old site and my new site. Hopefully my mom will approve of this new site.

Jeff was supposed to leave, but now he is staying. Yay!

We have a lot of time on our hands here... and we can be gross....really gross

The negative Crew would have missed Jeff...if he had actually left.

My Despedida

2006-11-20T14:11:00.000-08:00

Despedirse is to say goodbye. And that is what I did with my friends in Riobamba. I will miss them a lot. We drank chocolate cake shots at Lilly´s apartment and ate dinner at my favorite Italian restaurant, Monaco´s. I also got a puppy to keep me company in Bellavista. I named her Ruskaya, after the favorite vodka of every Ecuadorian drinker. Right now she is six weeks old and a huge pain to potty train and sleep at night. I have a problem with her at night because I won´t let her sleep in the bed with me and so she cries continuously. She doesn´t tire of crying nearly as quickly as a baby would, so I end up losing sleep more than teaching her to do what I say. Also, while in Riobamba I went to a Bullfight. The highlight for me was not the dead bull, though, surprisingly enough. It was the halftime show of midgets. Here is a picture of the family in the stands before the halftime.
Ahhh. While I will miss Lilly, Ryan, Sarah, Maggie, Mary Catherine, Megan, and John, I know that my new site is right for me. And I am super excited about my future here in Ecuador!

Bellavista, Manabi

2006-11-20T13:49:00.000-08:00

Well hello!

It has been a while since I let you know what I’ve been up to. It’s been mostly traveling, as I said before. But instead of going to the places that I said I was going, as usual, plans changed.

Jeff had a conference in Santo Domingo and called me to go swim in the pool at his hotel. I went. But we never swam. We ate a place called Ch Farina. Then we watched bad TV and discussed ridiculous dreams. In the morning we went to Amarylis’ house at the university to eat breakfast and see what she has been doing in her site. Her counterpart is hilarious. She told us that the only English she knew was “Kiss my ass.” (Not true.) I hope to go visit Amarylis again.

From there, Jeff and I rode the bus to Quito to meet Eva. We stayed at the Sur and went out to Mongo’s in the Mariscal for drinks. Then the three of us went in search of Shakira Concert tickets because we heard that there was a concert in Quito the day after Halloween. But it was actually Nov 30.

So the next day we went to Pacto to spend some time in Eva’s site. Her site is pretty rural, thought not as rural as Mercedes Cadena. Pacto has a central square. There is a market day every Sunday in Pacto. Eva does not eat like an Ecuadorian. She shops at Super Maxi in Quito. Super Maxi is kind of like Target. And you can buy most things you could in the US. Every single night at Eva’s house we prepared some really good food. The first night was Indian food, using the spices my mom sent to Eva. The next night we had a roast. And the night after was tacos. During our time in Pacto we went on a hike to Progresso. At the end of the hike was a beautiful waterfall with really cold water. Even though I have abhorred cold water for the past couple of months, this was quite welcome, since Eva’s area is sort of like a jungle zone, pretty hot.

We also went to visit Janet in Los Bancos. I find the name of this town kind of funny because there are no banks at all there: neither money nor water. And then Janet, Eva, Jeff, and I went to Mindo to do some tubing. But we got there at night and went out drinking, singing karaoke (Honesty by Billy Joel is the only thing Jeff sings), and dancing. So when we woke up in the morning, we found we had barely enough money to get back to Pacto and then to Quito. So Janet went to the Halloween celebrations in Cuenca and we went back to Pacto.

The next day we met Brian in Quito. From there, we spent Halloween at the Marriott pool. That night we went out to Latitude for unlimited tapas and wine. Apparently, the more I drank, the more I felt that the waiter was limiting my wine intake. And then I passed out on the table. We went back to the Marriott and I passed out. All of a sudden I woke up and puked and felt better again. So I went out in search of my gang. I met them in front of the hotel and we went to a gay bar called Matrushka.

In the morning we had to go to the Peace Corps Office. After that we went to the bus terminal and chose to go to the hot springs in Papallacta. The temperature in Papallacta was pretty low, so the hot springs were the perfect thing.

The next morning all of us went to the police station to wait for the bus to Tena. Tena is in the real jungle. It is located on a river. While we were waiting, a policeman came out to talk to us to see if we wanted to buy this iPod and Brookstone iPod speaker. Eva offered $30. But I didn’t hear her, so I offered $50. We ended up getting both for $50. And the iPod had about 2000 songs on it. It was good that we got the iPod because Jeff had recently broken his iPod by putting a chair on it and standing on the chair to fix something on his wall.

So when we got on the bus to Tena, it was really, really full. So we all had to stand. Eva and Brian got car sick. We got there and met Joseph, a PCV from Omnibus 95, who I think is cute. We went to a bar and had cocktails all night. In the morning we went to AmaZOOnicas, preservatory for animals. The name of the program is Selva Viva. From Tena, you have to take a camioneta to a neighboring town. There, you have to take a canoe to AmaZOOnicas. We saw the largest rodent in the world. It was the hamster the size of a hog. I forget the name of it. I was looking forward to talking to the parrots and holding the giant python, but our guide told us that parrots only talk when they are bored to the point of depression and pythons are very sensitive to germs and parasites when they are shedding. Apparently the parrots were not bored and the python was shedding at the time I was there to visit. But we had fun all the same. There were monkeys, tucans, cheetahs, turtles, huge spiders, etc. I loved it. Oh, and there was a sloth named Quasimodo at the restaurant we had patronized the night before. Very cool.

Then we all came back to Riobamba. From Riobamba, Jeff and Eva went to Guaranda and Brian and I went to Huaquillas. Huaquillas is what travel books like to call the dump connecting Ecuador to Peru. It is well known for its strip club, El Taliban, with a mural of Osama bin Laden with an AK-47 and the crashing Twin Towers in the background. Very morbid, but I was interested in going to see what it was like. No such luck. But if you go there thinking in terms of being a volunteer there. It is super nice. Brian works with his counterparts at the Municipio. He has a friend named Isreal, who has a wife named Diana and a daughter named Aixa. They own a booth in the market area selling baseball caps and are a lot of fun to hang out with. One of the days I was with Brian, we went to Machala, the closest large city to Huaquillas and also the capital of the province, El Oro. We hung out with Ashley, a PCV from our Omnibus. Then, a couple days later, Ashley, Jesse, Elizabeth Funsch, Brian, and I went to the island of Jambeli to party on the beach. Good times!

Then I came back to Riobamba to pack for my site visit to my new site, Bellavista. It is in province of Manabi, an hour south of the provincial capital, Portoviejo. Then I went to Quito to the Peace Corps office to meet with Xavier and Argentina to get the specifics of where I was going and who I was to meet with in Portoviejo and Bellavista. While I was at the Peace Corps office, someone stole my camera and $40. I am super upset about this because the Peace Corps office is supposed to be a haven where you can leave your stuff and not worry about it. Obviously not.

So I went to Portoviejo on the night bus. When I got there, I met a bunch of people at the Plan International Office. I will be collaborating a lot with them in the next two years. I was told that the only place to live in Bellavista was a room in a family’s house. I saw the room and bathroom and it was fine for if I was going to live there for a week. But I need me time and space of my own. So I asked around about places for rent. There was one place that was really crappy looking, but had all the necessities, so I was about to pay $40 a month when I found out about the Medical Clinic, Subcentro, having a whole lot of unused space. It has everything. And it is tiled. And it is free! I went back to Portoviejo the first night, but the rest of the nights I stayed with the host family in Bellavista. I think I am in love. The community is a lot like Eva’s community. And it is hot everyday. But you don’t need repellant or a mesh net to keep the bugs off you at night. If I had had my camera, I would have posted some pictures. But I don’t. Anyway, I met the nurse, Rosita, who lives and works in Bellavista. She and I went around the community vaccinating people older than 68 years old for the flu. I met her sister, Maira, who owns a store in town. I met Rosita’s brother, Elmo, and his wife and daughter. Elmo is a teacher in the school in Bellavista. I loved meeting them all. Everyone made me feel welcome and at ease. Especially my host family. Cristobal and Ines are the parents. Their daughters are Evelin (19), Liliana (17), and Karen (16). With them, I feel like part of the family. Karen painted my nails and Liliana made me a bracelet. Evelin, who everyone calls Katy because of her middle name, showed me so games she had on the family computer. I think this is the first time I have felt at home with Ecuadorians. I am glad this is going to work out for me.

I could write so much more, but I really doubt many people are even going to read this much in one go. I’ll more later.

Chao Chao! (That is really how Ecuadorians spell it!)

Waiting In Riobamba

2006-10-22T16:59:00.000-07:00

So I thought I was going to be sent to new site immediately. The new site was called Delegsol. It is in the south of Ecuador in the province of El Oro and its nearest big city is Cuenca. But the counterpart there decided that the community did not want a volunteer anymore. So then my APCD decided that the Peace Corps office has to develop a new site for me. This means that they have to go out to the site and make sure it meets the safety and security requirements of Peace Corps. My friend up north, in Pacto, says she knows of a site I could probably get into. But there is a possibility that another volunteer looking for a site change for a much longer time than me might get it. So we shall see. In the meantime, I am occasionally going to my site. But more than that, I am traveling aroung Ecuador. Since the visit from my APCD, I have gone to Guaranda, Ambato, and Guayaquil. This past weekend I went mule riding and hiking up Mount Altar. It was awesome! This coming weekend, I am going to Machala, Huaquillas, and Cuenca. There is supposed to be a huge party for Halloween in Cuenca. So I guess that´s all for now. I´ll do another post when I know more.

Awky Times

2006-09-29T11:06:00.000-07:00

Don´t say something scary about your community unless you want to be shipped out in a hurry

So I called my APCD to see what he would say about my family taking things from my house every single time I left. I was leaving the key with them so that they could fix stuff even while I was out. So the APCD seemed pretty understanding, but wasn´t letting me know what was going on. I was getting frustrated. So I pulled a wild card that I knew would get a reaction, I just did not know how severe. I told my APCD that there was a possible rapist in my community. It was just a rumor. But it was a rumor that kept me from living in a pretty nice house up the street. So there had to be some truth behind it. Because the deed was not completed, just attempted, there was nothing reported to the police. So when I dropped the rapist bomb on my APCD, he got the director of safety and security, Julieta, and the Country Director, Cisco, to come down to visit me and see my site. I was scared shitless that they were all coming. But it turned out ok. We sort of just hung out and discussed what was bothering me. Oh, and we ate a lot. When they got into town, we went to eat lunch. Then we went to the police station to see if there was a rape reported in Mercedes Cadena. Then we went to my site for a total of 15 minutes. After interrogating the arthritic grandmother in a not very sneaky way about the rapist, my APCD told her that I might be removed for health reasons. Then we checked to records at the police station in Guamote. Nothing there either, as I told them. So my APCD decided that I should be moved to another site. It is further south, in the province of Azuay. It is called Delegsol. It is exactly like my current site, except they have never had a volunteer and there is no cell service. But I am going to visit it first, just to make sure it is what I am going to be okay with. So I´ll let you all know how it goes. And I have some new pictures up at photos.yahoo.com/msdevast check ém out!

Hard Times

2006-09-25T10:13:00.000-07:00

I love Ecuador. I love the community I´m living in. I love the peole I am with in my community and the Peace Corps Volunteers in this area. But I have had some problems recently. Because my bathroom has been under construction, I have had a hard time having some privacy. The family that owns my house actually lives in the house behind my house. The grandfather, Tio Gregorio and his son-in-law, Tio José, are albaníls. I tried to look this word up on Babel Fish, but Babel Fish didn´t know the word. It is kind of like a construction worker, except maybe a bit more skilled. Anyway, Tio Gregorio and Tio José are adding another room to my one room house. This way, I can let kids into the kitchen/livingroom area, without worrying that they are going to go into my personal things. The volunteer before me had two cell phones and a total of $70 stolen from her house. As well as the extra room being constructed, I bought a hot water heater for the shower. And as you read in the last entry, I now have a deliciously hot water shower, but no toilet or sink. And because the family keeps on coming over to fix stuff, I leave the key for them when I am gone to the city or on errands so that they can continue working whenever they get a chance. But as well as this, the family has been consuming a lot of my food, using my plates and silverware, and moving my stuff around. I wouldn´t mind them eating my food if it was easier to buy and bring back to my house, but it is really kind of hard. I have to walk 30 min to the bus stop, ride a bus for an hour, walk twenty more minutes to the local grocery chain, Akí, buy the food, stuff as much of it as possible in my back pack, walk back to the bus stop (20 min), ride the bus (60 min), and walk back to my community (30min). This is entirely too much time and effort to just have someone else eat it. And I can tell they have used my plates because they don´t wash them properly. They are covered with dirty wipe marks, like whoever cleaned them, forgot to rinse them off. And so when I asked the landlady, Tia María Virginia, Tio José´s wife, about the missing food and dishes, she said she didn´t know. That maybe the cat, the one I asked them not to let into the house, might have eaten it and made the mess on the plates. She said that she had only used one of the plates. All these things together are really frustrating me. I want to live in the city and commute to my community. I think that would make my life much easier. That way I could have a private and personal time and space. I feel violated. I have talked to the director of the Health volunteers here in Ecuador, and hopefully he will let me stay in the city of Riobamba and I can commute, or he will change my site altogether. I´ll keep you posted on the progress.
Manisha

Wow, that was a disaster!

2006-09-22T05:05:00.000-07:00

So my mom came to visit. She arrived late on Sunday, September 17 and we stayed at the Marriott for that night and the next night. She was in heaven. She said that it was just the vacation she needed. Then we went to visit a friend of mine at her site in Pacto. It was in the middle of a lush cloud forest. My friend even had her walls painted, tiles on her floor, and a nice refrigerator that made ice. The only real inconvenience was that the water stopped working from 8 pm to 6 am every day. My mom and I only stayed with her one night. The yard was a bit of a mess, but my mom was already feeling uncomfortable. Then my mom and I rode on three buses for a grand total of 7 hours. Here in Ecuador, a day of bus riding is not too bad if it is only 7 hours, you get to walk a bit in between, and you have someone to accompany you. But my mom was starting to get upset. I hoped against hope that she was just exaggerating how she felt. Then we got to my community and at my house, we found that my host family had not only installed the hot water heater that I bought, but decided to put tiles in as well. But by the time we got there, my whole house was covered in dust from the door being left open all day, and they had just finished removing the sink and the toilet from the bathroom and covered the bathroom with cement to glue on the tiles. So my mom and I put down our stuff and decided to go for a walk through my community. My community, Mercedes Cadena, is having a festival all week this week. The grand finale is on Sunday. So as we were walking through the MC, a lot of people were walking about and there were many who were watching the soccer tournament going on. All of them were saying hello to me and asking me who I was with. My mom was so upset by the poverty that she began to cry. I couldn't explain to them why she was crying either. So she decided that she needed to leave. So after spending a restless night in my bed, we went back to Quito and stayed the night at the Marriott again and this morning at 4 am I took her to the airport. She was supposed to stay until Wednesday morning. But I am glad she came to visit. Hopefully I will improve my entire house. And I am thinking about changing my site. I had asked for structure. I feel like when I am teaching I am talking to a brick wall. I will try to be a good volunteer in the next few months. But if it isn't working, I may try to get a more urban and structured site.

Is this legit?

2006-09-13T12:18:00.000-07:00

So it has been my first two weeks living in my site. We are told not to leave our sites during the first three months of living in our sites. That was really tough. I know, two weeks is nothing compared to three months. And three months is nothing compared to the two years I still have to spend here. Like many of the volunteers told us during training, the first few months are the most hellish. And while they have not been hellish in a way that can warrant me changing sites, I am lonely, feel awkward, and cannot communicate what I want to say as clearly as I would like.

I left my site after being here for a week. My friend from Paquestancia, Jeff, works with Plan International in Guaranda. He actually has the job I wanted the most. It is very organized and structured. His apartment looks like it is in a retirement community in Florida. Jeff invited me and Eva, another good friend of mine from training, to accompany him to a conference on the coast in the province of Manabi. Plan International was sending him to learn about the different methods of teaching HIV/AIDS, sexual health and rights, and alcoholism to children that already exist in Ecuador. A conference on the coast could not possibly be fun alone. So Eva and I met in Quito, rode the bus to Guaranda, and stayed the night with Jeff. Then we took a 4 hour bus to Guayaquil and then another one to Portoviejo. The closest beach to Portoviejo was Manta. Peace Corps Volunteers are banned from going to Manta because there is a US military base there. I suppose they think we are going to go hang around the barracks to pick up military guys. Not my cup of tea. I just wanted to go to swim and lie on the sand. But we learned of another beach close by: Crucita. So for the conference we visited 6 different elementary schools and got to meet the child facilitators. These children we met were elected by their teachers and peers to go to a month long conference in which all the children learned about HIV/AIDS, sexual health and rights, alcoholism, and love as well. Love is something that is never really talked about in Latin American culture. So I thought it was interesting that the fact was noticed and Plan shed some light upon it for the kids. I am thinking of starting such a program in my area. Not only in Mercedes Cadena, but also in the surrounding villages. I already have some contacts that may be able to help me make it happen.

So I got back to Riobamba on Sunday night. Since it was late, I stayed the night with my friend, Maggie. Luckily, I asked her host family where I could get a camioneta (truck) to take stuff bought in Riobamba to my site. The host dad had a camioneta connection and offered to drive me and all the stuff I was planning on buying. So all day Monday I went shopping. I bought a vegetable basket, a desk, a chest of drawers, a refrigerator, and a mattress all for only $250!

And yesterday I taught my first class of English and Health. It was supposed to be for 2 hours. I ended 45 minutes early. I taught the kids about the spreading of diseases through fecal matter, flies, water, and not washing hands. And when I reviewed the material with them, all they could say was that they should wash their hands, clip their nails, and wash their faces. And the English part was just as hard. Some kids just did not want to use their voice boxes. And tomorrow I will be doing the same lesson for the 4th graders. Yesterday I was teaching 5th and 6th graders.If you have any suggestions on how to teach kids effectively, please let me know.

Today I am in Riobamba doing some shopping, since I can now store food in a fridge. Milk! Cheese! Oooooo! Mac and Cheese!

And this Sunday, my mom is coming to visit me here in Ecuador. I am so excited! She actually wanted to come at the end of August, while I was swearing in. Now I can take off from my site for another week. My mom and I are going to hang out in Quito, visit Eva in her site, and see the cloud forest before we celebrate the Mercedes Cadena festival with my community on the 24th. So I won’t be writing again until the beginning of October.

Ciao! Ciao!
Manisha

My REAL Permanent Address

2006-09-05T06:03:00.000-07:00

Manisha Devasthali
Cuerpo de Paz
Casilla 06-01-202
Riobamba, Chimborazo
Ecuador
South America

Living in the Campo

2006-09-04T11:06:00.000-07:00

I am sorry to all for not writing since my site visit. I have been busy with classes and trips, moving from Paquiestancia, swearing in, celebrating swearing in, and spending time with friends who are now living many many hours away from me.

So after my site visit to Mercedes Cadena, I went to Ambato to visit a clinic that concentrates on Tuberculosis. Though TB has been eradicated in first world countries like the U, it is not the case here in Ecuador. And worse than that, it is really hard to tell if someone has TB or not. But we had some lectures on how to tell and how to test. I even got to go into a lab and see TB growing in a tube. It looked like yellow bubbles growing on a green stick. And I enjoyed how the sign on the door out side the lab said that you must wear gloves, mask, lab coat, and googles and I somehow did not see abyone at all wearing googles. Well, it has been about two weeks since that, and I have not had a consistent cough, so I guess I don't have TB.

Then, the weekend we got back from Ambato, we set up a Family Day party to thank all of the families for giving us a place to stay and food to eat everyday for the past eight weeks. We catered food from a restaurant and had a whole pig to plus a whole lot of potatoes to feed 300 people.

The following week, we all packed up and moved to a hostel in Quito. Everyday we had to sit through different lectures. Some seemed important, and others useless. But there were couple that were quite interesting. There are times during my volunteering that I will want to visit other volunteers. If I can teach something while I am there, Peace Corps will pay for my bus rides there and back. Sounds good to me! And the other one that I liked was when we were taught a little bit of self defense. We were all throwing each other and punching a lot. There was even a helmet you could put on to have someone slam you in the face. I got some bruises, but I had a great time.

Then, on Friday, August 25, we all got dressed up and rode in a bus to the Ambassador's House. Her name is Linda Jewel. She swore us in after we had some speeches and my friend, Paul sang a funny song about our time in training. After that, there was a delicious BBQ at the Country Director's house. His name "Cisco" Ruybal. It was fun and the food was delicious. Real hamburgers and hot dogs! And then me and my friends Eva, Brian, and Jeff went to the Marriott to swim in the clear blue heated pool. It was so nice to not be too cold and be able to see to the bottom! Later on that night there was a huge dance party that everyone went to. That was a good night!

Then, on Monday, I went out to Mercedes Cadena. I had so many bags that I put some under the bus and I still had so much stuff on the seat next to me that I bought two seat tickets. When I got to Riobamba, Kristy, the volunteer I am replacing met me to help me. And since moving into her little house, I have tried cuy for the first time. Cuy is what Ecuadorians call Guinea Pig. Cuy is actually an animal native to the Andes. Because of the diffrent indigenous religions here, some Ecuadorians even say that cuyes have magical healing powers. They are not pets here. They are used for medicinal puposes and also are eaten as a delicacy. Cuyes are always roasted over a spit when they are cooked. And, actually they are pretty tasty!

So all week I have been letting kids into my house to color and making appointments with children to bake cakes. I feel like a traitor to being a health volunteer if I am continuously loading kids up on sugar. But it is hard to say "no" here in the campo. You should have seen how angry some kids got when I told then that they had not made an appointment with me to make a cake and should therefore make an appointment and come back at tht time. Also, it seems like a crime to wake up any later than 7am. Since living in Paquiestancia, I have grown accustomed to sleeping 11 or 12 hours a night. Now there is a cat that Kristy owned and I now own (any ideas for a name? something original, please) that starts pouncing on me at 5 in the morning and then Tia Virginia (the lady that owns the house I'm living in) starts pounding on the door for some reason or another at 6:30am.

I don't really have any schedule yet. I plan on teaching health and English in the school to 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders. And I am supposed to do a census with the help of my community contact, but he doesn't seem very interested in it. And when campo people aren't interested, believe me, it will not get done.

This week, I am going to the coast for a conference on different methods on how to teach young adults about safe sex, HIV/AIDS, and sexual rights. I hopw to learn a lot, because the group, PLAN International is holding the conference and then in late September, having a meeting with the youth in Mercedes Cadena.

Well, that's all I have for now.

Ratocama!
Manisha

2006-08-30T13:32:00.000-07:00

http://www.usembassy.org.ec/

The MC

2006-08-21T15:20:00.000-07:00

August 10, 2006
So I went to my site in Mercedes Cadena. It was good. But I think this only because the volunteer who is already there was with me the whole time. I could speak English to her whenever I wanted. She and I could cook something other than potatoes sans spice to eat. But anyhow, I started last Saturday morning by taking a my luggage out to the road in hopes of catching a bus. Instead, there was a truck in which Becca and I threw our bags ad climbed onto the bed. It was extremely uncomfortable. We were hanging on to the sides of the truck, holding on for dear life as well as trying to make sure that our bags wouldnt bounce off. But we didn{t have to pay the driver anything, so that was a savings of about 20 cents. Then we caught a two hour bus to Quito. At the bus station, we bought tickets to Riobamba. Three hours later, in Riobamba, we met all of the current voluteers who were going to show us around Riobamba and our sites. Kristy Romeo is the volunteer who showed me around and is currently in my site. She and I took an hour long bus from Riobamba to the entrance of Mercedes Cadena. From there we walked for half an hour to her house.
As soon as we got there a neighbor invited us over for dinner. After dinner, we were on our way back to Kristy{s house when We were invited to a town meeting to introduce me to the community. So Kristy dressed me up in an indigenous outfit and we went. She explained that I am different from her and that I have skills that she has not yet demonstrated.
That night I stayed at Kristy{s house, but the next night I stayed with a family across town. During the time I spent with them, I peeled potatoes, shelled peas, planted potatoes in the field, went to a school parade in the nearby town of Guamote, and milked the cows. (I know! Finally!) Their names, if they are older than me or my peer always begin with Tia or Tio, meaning aunt and uncle. So I stayed with Tia Rosa and Tio Oswaldo and their 8 year old son, Danny. Danny{s favorite musician is Delfin Quishpe. I know this because he played Delifin{s music videos in my room at least once a day. My favorite video became Delfincito.
I also got a chance to see what Kristy does as a volunteer. She took me to Guamote to watch and help her teach shampoo-making and English. She also teached little kids how to bake.
I really like the site. But my main problem is that all the people there speak Quichua as their first language and Spanish as their second. So, unless they were talking to me or wanted me to understand, I couln not participate in many comversations. But I will take more Quichua classes to try to remedy this. After living there for two years, Kristy still is not fluent in Quichua, so I am not too worried. I will get along just fine.
The title of this email is basically quoting Ecudorians trying to get the attention of Kristy in Guamote. She wears the indigenous garb here. One part of that outfit is the skirt, the anaku. So when someone yelled out to her, {Mister con anaku,{ we busrt out laughing. Also, I bought some indigenous garb for myself to wear in town. I really like it. I{ll send a picture as soon as possible.
Ratocama! (That{s how people in the MC say see you later)
Manisha

And the emails continue...

2006-07-26T14:38:00.000-07:00

July 20
Well, I have another good story for you all.
It starts with Paquiestancia having a super huge five day long festival celebrating the founding of the town. There were parades, fireworks, booze (the Ecuadorian favorite, Pilsner), and, of course, bull fights. The people of Paquiestancia got together to build a bull fighting ring on the lush and beautiful soccer field in the middle of town. The only store in Paquiestancia that sells beer and has tables to sit at installed a post where all the drunk men could tie up their horses. On Saturday, there was an amphitheater set up in the gigantic patio of the elementary school. All of the big folk singers from Cayambe came to sing. But it was more like they were doing high tech karaoke. There were colorful lights wildly flashing from side to side on the stage. Also, on one side of the patio, there was a stand selling the box wine that came with the obligatory tiny plastic shot glass. In Ecuador, when you have alcohol, you share it with anyone and everyone. And you all drink from the same cup. The box wine comes in two flavors: peach and apple. Trust me, peach is less gross. As well as this, there was homemade alcohol. It was somehow made from the sugar that is made locally from sugarcane. And if we know anything about homemade alcohol, it is strong! It was not even sweet. And the weirdest part was that it was hot.

But anyway, the next day i went to the bull fights. It was pretty awesome. Four people and a couple of dogs got rammed. There was even one guy who got his pants torn from hip to knee. And everyone could see that he wears thongs. It was pretty hilarious. I was sitting next to an Ecuadorian woman who saw that I was with all of the gringos (Peace Corps peeps). She and I talked to each other. And then when I got up to leave, I was missing my phone. I went looking for the kids who had sat on my lap to confront them. But neither of them had odd rectangular bulges on them. Then i remembered that the lady I was sitting with had asked me two now peculiar questions. Back to back she had asked me if I have a phone and if I have insurance. I had thought that she had meant life insurance. But looking back I understand that she meant insurance on my phone. So I was pissed and wanted to knock her out and search her pockets. But she had family there and if I was wrong I would have felt dumb.

So I told Peace Corps head people what happened and they told me to file a report. I had to go to the Ecuadorian police station in Cayambe to do it. Because we had classes from 8am to 5 pm on Monday I couldn´t go then. So on Tuesday I got one of the official Peace Corps drivers who happened to be my friend to drive me to Cayambe in the morning during class. He was going into Cayambe anyway to buy snacks for the day. So he dropped me off where he was buying bread. I went to the Municipio and asked the man at the counter where to go and he told me to go upstairs. The lady upstairs told me to go out of the building and take a left and that is where I would find the Comisario de Policia. The uniformed dude around the corner told me to go down the street more and go to the thrid floor. There was no third floor where he said I needed to go. So I went into some place that looked like a doctors office and the lady in the waiting room told me to go around a couple more corners on the same block. So I did, and came upon a very decorated uniformed man who i assumed would know something. He ask me my life story and then told me to go to the blue door where a lot of uniformed men were loitering. So i told my story for the millionth time that day and the man I was telling told me that i didn´t need to file a report if I didn´t know who did the crime. So I had to explain being a US citizen and Peace Corps volunteer before he would let me in to the building that did not say anything about Comisaria de Policia to fill out a report. When I told the dude filling out the form that I needed three copies of the report, he gave me the original and told me to go to the store across the street to make the copies. Then, when I finally came back and had him sign them and wen to meet my driver friend, I saw the driver disappear around the corner. So I chilled there for 20 minutes waiting for him to come back, moving away from people who were invading my bubble in the Ecuadorian way, until another car with diplomatic tags happened to come by with another Peace Corps person in it. So I made it back to class.
But somehow, Peace Corps head honcho, Susanna, twisted my story into me being negligent and now I´m going to have to pay for a new phone. The thing that makes me angry is that another person simply lost her phone and is lying, saying that someone stole it, and she isn´t going to have to pay. Oh well. I know to lie my pants off to Peace Corps from now on.
Next week I will find out where my site is! Yay!

Let me know what is going on with you, whenever you get a chance!

Hasta Luego!
Manisha

July 26
As the governement enjoys doing, they dragged out the process of letting us Trainees know where we were going until the last possible moment. All last week we met all of the community contacts from all of our potential sites. Then on Friday afternoon we had interviews with the Trainers to let them know where we wanted to go. Yesterday we found out where we are going.

I am going to Mercedes Cadena. It is a small town in the privince of Chimborazo near Riobamba. It is in the Central Sierra at 2900 meters above sea level. Really, the nearest town is Guamote, 10 miles away. And to get to that town, I have to walk for a half hour from my site to the Pan American Highway and then catch the bus that comes only a precious six times per day. Riobamba, the real city that I will probably visit more often, is an hour bus ride once I get to the PanA (anyone who knows the Pan American Highway in South America calls it the PanA).

This Sunday we are all going to the sites we have been assigned for our site visit. I will be staying with the volunteer who is already there, Kristy Romeo, for a few nights. And then I will stay with a family across town to get to know different people around town. Altogether, I will be in Mercedes Cadena for a week. My primary activities there as a Volunteer will be:
Giving nutrition and cooking classes
Family Gardens
Educate community members in family planning methods
Teaching in the local school and kindergarten
Working with traditional medicine and medicinal plants
Conducting AIEPI activities (AIEPI-atención intergral de enfermedades prevalentes de la infancia= Integral Attention to the Preventable Diseases of Infancy)
General hygiene and health education
Mercedes Cadena is an indigenous town of about 800 people, of which about 70% are Catholic and 30% are Evangelical. Today I learned that here the main difference between Catholic and Evangelical is forgiveness. I find it hard to believe that Evangelical people forgive everyone while Catholics do not. But, as well as this, Catholics drink alcohol, listen to music, and dance while Evangelicals do not. Anyhow, the people of Mercedes Cadena speak primarily Quichua. And while many also speak Spanish, I am getting a crash course on Quichua today through Friday in order to impress and dazzle the people when I meet them. I am really enjoying it so far because I love learning new languages. But as well as that, the sentence structure is very similar to Hindi and there are a few words that are the same in Hindi. I feel like this sort of supports the theory that the Native Americans were actually Indians and Asians who crossed the Bering Strait thousands of years ago.

And I talked the head honcho into giving me a phone for free, so I will be getting that before I go on my site visit. I think that is everything for now.

Keep in touch!

Hasta luego!

--
Manisha Devasthali
Pictures: http://photos.yahoo.com/msdevast
Websites: http://fannypackrocksmyworld.blogspot.com/
http://www.myspace.com/msdevast
http://www.unc.edu/~msdevast/Manisha%20Devasthali.htm
Mailing Address: Cuerpo de Paz, Casilla 17-08-8624, Quito, Ecuador, South America

More entries

2006-07-02T14:48:00.000-07:00

June 21, 2006
Hola Family and Friends!
I am super excited! I got to Washington, D.C. on Monday, June 19 for staging. Today, Wednesday, June 21, me and 49 other Ecuador Peace Corps Trainees are getting on the plane to Quito, Ecuador.
The main thing we did in staging is go over the common sense things that people forget when they are excited and in a new country. You know: don't hang out with drug dealers, don't ride on motorcycles, don't go places for a few days without letting someone know, etc. The ones I just mentioned are all frounds from being termintaed from the program early.
Once we get to Quito, we will be getting shots and filling out paperwork until Thursday afternoon. Then we will be traveling the hour and half North to Cayambe to get settled. There we will start our language and technical training while living with families. We will be grouped with about 3 or 4 people at our own current level of Spanish language.
After 3 months of this training, I will be sworn in on Friday, August 21 and then I will be sent to my community.
So far, I love everyone in my training group. Everyone is super nice. I know I'm going to have the most fun time ever!
Hasta luego!
Manisha

June 25, 2006
Buenos Dias Everyone!
I got to Quito just fine. We got the best welcome ever. There were current Peace Corps volunteers who were jumping up and down and screaming at the airport.
Then we stayed the night in a hostel. After that, the next day, we went to Peace Corps Headquarters in Quito to learn some more rules, get our cell phones, and meet everyone who will be helping us during our time in Ecuador.
That afternoon, we went to EL CAAP, a hostel of sorts in Cayambe to get more detailed classes about what is going on. We were there for two days. Then yesterday, we went to our perspective families in satellite pueblos around Cayambe.
My pueblo is Paquiestancia. Guacan Farinango is the last of the family I´m staying with. The parents are Miguel and Carmen and the kids are Marta (13), Angel (11), Flor (8), Rubi (3.5). This morning I woke up at 5 am to go across town to the property behind Miguel´s mother´s house to milk the three cows that Miguel and Carmen own: Luci, Rosa, and Manuela. Then we came back to a breakfast of hot milk and empanadas. Now we are in town to buy eggs, and a few vegetables (chochos, which are a type of bean indigenous to this area).
I will be here for 9 more weeks doing my training. Starting tomorrow, Monday, I am going to have language and culture classes with my teacher, Javier, and the other Trainees here in Paquiestancia: Becca, Jesse, Jeff, and Paul.

My new pictures will be up pretty soon on http://photos.yahoo.com/msdevast

Hasta luego!
Manisha

July 2, 2006
Well my first day with my host family has actually become something of a legend here in Peace Corps. Well, at least in Omnibus 96. I actually did not tell you all about this in my first email. That first day that I milked the cows was the only day. The thing is, we could not milk Manuela because she is pregnant, I could not milk Luci because she is bad tempered, and when I was allowed to milk Rosa, Rosa was not at all cool with me milking her. So, even though her back two legs were tied together, she tried to kick me and ended up kicking the full bucket of milk instead. It was happening all slo= mo, too. But I was not putting my head back in danger to save the two or three dollars worth of milk that was starting to spill into the grass. So then later that day, when we were in Cayambe to go grocery shopping, I decided to help by carrying the plastic bag full of eggs. Thirty eggs to be exact. But, alas, the bag broke because there was way too many eggs in it. And we went home with only 14. And speaking of home, I was carrying all of the vegetables down the path to the house when I tripped and fell and bruised all of our carefully chosen produce. Since then, I haven't really been allowed to do much around the house. But today I did all of the dishes. So I guess they are starting to trust me again.

In other news, we have compentacies that we must complete during training. The first ones we have completed have been (1) teaching school age children about health, (2) get to know the health system of the area, and (3) draw a map of your community. For the first one, we went to the elementary school in Paquiestancia and had a game in which each child was in charge of presenting one vocabulary word to the class, and they essentially taught themselves. For the second one, we went to the dispensary in Paquiestancia and talked to the nurse there and then we talked to the director of the hospital in Cayambe. Basically, the population of about 92, 000 people in this area are covered by 30 doctors and the hospital only has 30 beds. The good thing that is sometimes manipulated is that women get prenatal, natal, and postnatal care and their children up to 5 years old all get free health care anywhere in Ecuador. The only problem is that there are not enough beds and they are charged for everything else: needles, IVs, tubes, food, sheets, etc. And the third was done by using other maps we already had. But we also asked our "parents" about things in the community that we either had not learned about yet, or were not sure about.

Tomorrow a bunch of us are getting together for another competancy: huertos. Huertos are gardens in which only plants for nutritional or economic use are planted. And Trainees from several surrounding communities are coming to Paquiestancia to my house to create a huerto. The day after, July 4, we are all getting together to learn recipies and nutrition, but we are actually going to be having a cook out. But Happy Independence Day to everyone back in the States! Then we will be going on technical trips around Ecuador on Saturday until Wednesday. In my group, Health, there are four different tech trips. They are going to the Jungle, Coast, North, or South. I am going to the South with three other Trainees: Maggie, Elizabeth, and Matt.

Oh, and I almost forgot! Me, Jesse, Paul, and Becca got dressed up in traditional Ecuadorian clothes on Thursday to dance from Paquiestancia to Cayambe to celebrate Cayambe's patron saint, San Pedro. I don't have pictures up yet, but I will sometime!

Please let me know how you are doing back home! And this is my address for the next two years.
Manisha Devasthali
Cuerpo de Paz, Avenida Granda Centeno, OE4-250 y Baron de Carondelet, Quito, Ecuador, South America
And this is where you can find my newest pictures http://photos.yahoo.com/msdevast

love, Manisha

Down to Business

2006-05-25T12:59:00.000-07:00

If you are looking at this, it is probably because you want to know how I am doing in Peace Corps. Here are the first two emails I sent out to family and friends.

February 7, 2006
Hello Friends and Relatives!
As you may or many not know, I have been nominated to leave in June 2006 to volunteer somewhere in Latin America for the Peace Corps.
Firstly, I would like to thank those who took the time out to write recommendations for me: Professor Robert L. Stevenson, Professor Sebatian Cobarrubias, Professor Adriano Duque, Frank Ryan, and Elizabeth Miller. Thank you so much for doing this for me.
Next, I wish I could tell you more about my trip: the specifics of where and when I am going. I only know that I will be there for 27 months: 3 months of training and 24 months of volunteering.
Lastly, if you do not wish to be on this listserve, email me back so that I can remove you.I will email you about any new developments.
Best-
Manisha Devasthali

May 7, 2006
Hello again to my Family and Friends!Well since I wrote to you all on February 7th, I have been scrambling from doctor to doctor to get all of my medical information in place in order to get the exact date and location that I will be residing for the next two plus years. I even got my wisdom teeth out; something that I probably never would have had done, since people usually get it done between the ages of 16 and 20, and I am 22. After turning in all of my information on April 11th, I was finally medically cleared on April 25th.
But on May 1st, a one Echo Dominguez from the Peace Corps office in Washington, D.C. told me that my resume was not professionally done and that the lack of information meant that I was not qualified for any position in the Peace Corps.
Faced with the horror of finding a real job, I went to the Carreer Services office on the UNC campus to get help with my resume. The Carreer Service office recently created an online computer program that helps with formulating a very professionally formatted resume. It is called Optimal Resume and it has won a natio

I love Chuck Norris.

2006-05-21T12:37:00.000-07:00

Chuck Norris is awesome. His super powers amaze me. I have never willingly given up an opportunity to watch him on Walker, Texas Ranger. Here is a website that I highly recommend to learn more about the genius that is Chuck Norris: http://4q.cc/index.php?pid=top100&person=chuck