i work like a man

Ok, so I’ve been working, well sort of anyways.  Pretty much since I got here I’ve been working in the community garden a few days a week.  But as of this last weekend, I think I’ve been working.  Saturday we had a minga at the elementary school.  It was pretty cool.  The director and the president of the community assigned parents to come with tools (apparently showing up is mandatory).  We cleaned banana trees, prepared soil for the school gardens, chopped bamboo (my personal favorite) to make a sort of orchid structure, pulled weeds, picked up trash and umm.. spoke to somebody from what I think was the ministry of the environment.  Later that night one of the ladies that had been there told me that I work like a man, I’m taking that as a huge compliment.

On Monday I gave my first charla.  Basically I just talked to the kids about California and then I gave them an assessment test (which is actually part of the community assessment I have to work on in these first four or so months).  It was much harder for them than I expected and they for the most part do not seem to know much about the environment despite the fact that they live in one of the most special climates on the planet.  Then I gave them homework.  The assignment was just to draw a blueprint or plan for their grade’s section of the garden with the three crops we would be planting there.  And because apparently Ecuadorians like competitions, I made it a contest, where the winner got to see his or her plan utilized in the creation of their plot.  I didn’t really think anyone would do it.

But they did. 

On Tuesday when I arrived to work with them in their garden, I was met with a pile of drawings.  Some were better than others, some didn’t make any sense… and the kid that won, basically won because he used glitter, which I thought showed a lot of effort. So anyway, we planted their garden, I think it came out pretty cool, but man, am I in for it when I try to work with the younger kids.  The seventh graders were pretty hard to keep under control, and well, I’m not much of a kid-person.   Oh the best part of Tuesday is that, wait for it…. I got fitted for a custom tailored suit.  Yeah, that’s right you read that last part correctly. Let me explain.  My town is going into it’s month of celebration, and apparently there is going to be a parade in which all the teachers are strolling in suits, so they were all being fitted.  A few days prior to this, my niece asked me if I was going to be in the parade, to which I replied, of course.  I mean, I’m trying to integrate, so I pretty much do whatever they ask me or invite me to. So when the director asked me if I wanted a $90 suit made to fit my exact measurements, I figured that: a) it was part of the cultural integration, b) even though I’m gonna have to pay for it with money from home, it’s gonna be a pretty sweet keepsake and c) never again in my life am I likely to have a custom suit, so fuck it.

Ok, so today is Wednesday and so far I have had my machete sharpened, and worked in the garden with Luis, the machete wielding bad ass who I hope will teach me the ways of native species vivieros.  Tomorrow I go back to the school to help the sixth graders build their garden, and I think I have plans to meet up with several people this weekend to begin my community assessment. So, all-in-all I’d argue that yeah, work here has begun.