The Diarrhea Dialogues

For those of you brave enough to read this it should be a pleasure. I guess I should mention that diarrhea is a really common conversation topic down here. While dissension is rampant right now in the midst of a heated debate over a new constitution, diarrhea is perhaps the greatest uniting principle in this city. I know of no other aspect of life, in this barrio at least, which is more commonly understood. Casa Victoria has met this phenomenon head on in the past two weeks. Anita came down with some very unfriendly amoebas and was bed-ridden for two days until she was able to go to the hospital and receive some heavy-duty medicines. Jon then came down with a cold and a subsequent diarrhea stint as Anita came back around to full health. Char is working on week two of a lingering sore throat and he has had a couple of diarrhea cameos in that time. I had one day of stomach awkwardness that included several ventures to the toilet as well. Meanwhile the Ecuadorian housemates are healthier and happier than ever. They must think we are a weak country with all the illnesses and ailments that we bring up each day. Suffice it to say we are taking on everything that this country has to to offer the digestive system and we are paying the price at times. But this is a very small part of what has been happening here, let me share the good stuff too...

Movie Night - Last Friday night we gave an open invitation to the neighbors to join us for a free presentation of Life is Beautiful. We cleared out the dining room and set up the projector screen and chairs for the film. The expectation was that between 5 and 20 people would show up. In a matter of ten minutes we had 30+ neighbors (mainly kids) packed into the room as we had to turn away all other comers. The movie was great and we had an intermission for free popcorn and soda for all the viewers. After the movie Javier (a housemate) gave a small address about the movie's theme and about our mission at Casa Victoria. The event was a huge success...and the floor was a huge mess afterward but we felt good about providing at the very least some shelter and safety for the kids who were certainly headed for no good otherwise.

The Mago - The following day we hosted a little magic show for all the willing children in the neighborhood. Due to some miscommunication not many kids were informed and the crowd was small. Once again food was provided and the show happened to coincide with the largest rainstorm that I have seen thus far in Quito. Everyone enjoyed the show and especially the fact that we stayed dry through the storm. El Mago has been invited back and assured of a larger audience for his next show here at the house.

Club de Ninos - Every Wednesday we have a "Club de Ninos¨ and a ¨Club de Madres¨ so that basically each of them can have a break from the other. It is supposed to be just an hour but it always runs a little long and usually for the kids it includes some drawing and a video. It always ends with Char and I chasing the kids around the hallway. It turns into absolute bedlam for about twenty minutes at the end of the club and we can hardly push the kids out of the door when it is time to go. It is a great release for the kids and it is a rare time for the madres to have with peers in order to share thoughts-complaints-celebrations-questions or to just talk about life. Wednesday afternoons the house is completely full and running at its best.

Clases de Ingles - Tuesday and Thursday afternoon Charlie and I become profesores for an hour as we teach English to the housemates and several faithful madres from the neighborhood. For many of them not even a word of English is familiar, or if one is they have no idea how to pronounce it correctly. We are starting from total scratch with the class and we are still reviewing the very basics now 5 classes into the ¨semester¨. Charlie and I have a hard time keeping it together when someone tries to pronounce ¨which¨ but it comes out bitch. The rest of the room doesn't get it but we have a pretty good laugh anyways.

Visita Vecinos - Tuesdays and Thursdays are the days when we are scheduled to go out a "meet the neighbors". Many of the neighbors are coldly uninterested about meeting the house and about us, but if for nothing else they at least get to learn why there are gringos walking around the neighborhood during the days. For a good lesser number of them they love meeting us a sharing every complaint they have about the neighborhood and its other residents. Because we are a foundation they feel it is our job to deal all the municipal problems like the trash piles, the urine "problem", and the noise polution. By urine "problem" of course I mean the entire city smells like urine. This is probably due to the fact that men will urinate anywhere and any time throughout the day without the slightest bit of shame. So naturally as a foundation we have to find the solutions to these things. Believe me, we would love to solve all of these problems. We do, at times, encounter a nice neighbor who supports the fact that we are trying to help the neigborhood. These are the neighbors that we can wave at as we leave the house and they will return a warm greeting. It is these people who make it feel like home here in Quito.

In between all of these activities we continue to explore Quito and to get to know the locals. We are teaching them how to throw a frisbee, how to be on time, how to mop a floor, and how to speak english. They are teaching us spanish, how to deal with the community, and how to undrestand their culture. We are not far from being here one month and we have so much more to see and experience. Plus we have some travels upcoming...

Chillando

So I am not the most faithful blogger, that much we can all agree on. To my defense I have been busy. It feels like I have been here for a month already because every day is so full and we have had so many people come through the house. As I am writing this the guests have left the house and it is just seven of us here. The squad includes: Jon and Anna Eshleman (the house parents), Javier Cuchipe, Esteban Jaramillo, Ricardo Navaraez, Charlie Beck, and myself. During the day we have an accountant, librarian, handy-man, and contractor here to maintain and improve the house. Now that it is just us here, we have developed a consistent schedule which looks something like this.

Breakfast - 8am
Kitchen and house clean-up - 9am
Required reading time - 10am
Morning meeting - 1030am
Lunch - 130pm

Those are the established activities for the house and depending on the days we play sports together, walk the neighborhood, or do house chores. At some point each day we have free time and that usually falls in the afternoon and evening. Being that we are in Ecuador the schedule is questioned and manipulated almost daily. This is not a culture of planning and following through in the long term. The guys we have in the house are awesome guys, each one is at least 3 years my senior. They all have their own outside pursuits which requires their attention away from the house. For part of each day it is just gringos here and thus a lot of English is spoken. So much so that we have begun teaching English classes to all the willing members of the home and community.

I have been cooking, gardening, and painting around the house. I have also been commissioned to help in the library in preparation for the October 1st grand opening. In reality I have not pulled my weight with this assignment but I will be working more in there this week. I have taken a select few photos around the house and of the city (having a photographer in the house takes away all motivation). I will post photos in the coming days...Adios

La Primera Semana

A few really noteworthy things have occurred already in the house even though we are just a week in. Charlie already got a lecture from both Ecuadorian house-mates about the bad language that he always uses. He didnt mind of course because as he said, "I just love using bad words in Spanish too much". More fireworks to come soon I am sure.

The house alarm went off twice last night which is pretty startling. We average a break-in every three weeks according to those in the know so there is cause for concern when it is triggered. In these cases there was no break-in but rather doors left unlocked and the alarm system decided not to respond to it until the wee hours of the night. Also, the alarm company called at 530am to ask if everything was OK, a mere two hours after the incidents. What a tremendous display of the punctual nature of this country.

Lastly, Charlie and I went mattress shopping yesterday and met an effervescent salesman named Xavier Guzman. Xavier was very helpful but took a massive fall. While trying to retrieve a mattress off a children's bunk-bed set Xavier fell, hit a coffee table and slammed onto the floor, hitting his back. He bounced right back up as if nothing happened but Charlie and I had to get out of there in order to laugh. We got his business card and I should call him today to make sure both ego and body are in full health. Xavier, thanks for the memories.

As far a the living situation goes, every day is very different. We always eat breakfast as a house at 8am. The day workers (accountant, librarian, handy-man) arrive about 9am. We have down time or reading time thereafter and we try to meet every day in order to learn each other's schedules. Mostly we try and leave the house for a little while before lunch (at about 1pm) but sometimes we just do cleaning and odd-jobs for the few hours in between. Afternoons often include tourist activity or trips to the market. We have not yet seen much of tourist Quito but we have ventured the city on buses and we are quickly acclimating to the altitude and the layout of the place. The house is good health but changes are taking place daily. We have a guest bedroom which would love to welcome any visitor at all. Go to the house website at www.casavictoria.blogspot.com to check the newly renovated guest space! For pictures see www.charbeck.net.

Labor Day

Now that I have spent a couple of days here I can report just a couple of things.
-The home is very large and really an oasis in what is a pretty rough neighborhood.
-The people we live with are great (although three of them got out of dodge right when we arrived). The home is cared for by all of us who live here but is mainly directed by the Patrones Jon and Anna Eshleman who are here for about a year.
-The weather has been un poco frio and looks to only be getting more cold (we're talking mid-50s right now so not freezing or anything)
I still will be adjusting to daily routines and my role here at the house but every day will include at least some home maintenance, some reading, and some adventure. This is the real third world and we gringos really don't blend in too well. It will take time for the neighborhood to adjust to another gringo and prove to them our intentions are to help. With time it will happen...more to come soon.