brownie points

Wow...what a busy week. I wish I had time to capture all the great details, but instead, I offer the Cliff´s notes version of some of the highlights:

• Offering my first English class. On Monday, my counterpart, Manuela, learned that NAWE (the Waorani Nation office...which is mostly men) was having an English class. Not to be outdone by the men, she asked me if I would teach the Waorani women English...and start in ten minutes. So...even though I have never taught English, had no lesson plans, and the fact that Peace Corps generally doesn´t encourage us to do it (because it is not very sustainable...plus it is just not the best use of my time....) I of course said, "sure, why not?" It ended up being a lot of fun. The women were really attentive and very eager to learn. I started out with basic salutations, and for the rest of the week I heard "good afternoon" both morning, noon and night. It was great fun. My favorite part was when they asked "¿cómo se dice hombre feo en íngles?" (how do you say ugly man in English?) They all squeeled with laughter when I told them. They kept repeating it over and over...especially when any man walked into the office.
• Hooping it up. Had another fun night of playing b-ball with the Waorani. It was men against women...and no dogs and no major injuries. This weeks adventure was playing on a largely unlit court after dark, which made it interesting. The women were eager to use their newly learned English vocabulary words on the opposing team.
• Mi taller (workshop). I held my first full-fledged workshop with the Waorani women. We brainstormed marketing and promotion activities for the new store (they were mostly my ideas, as marketing is a pretty foreign concept to them), I made some graphs which depicted the highest selling items from the store in recent months (most of them understood the graphs. Only two looked at the graphs sideways or upside down). I brought in some drinks and Jeremy´s cookies, which were a HUGE hit (food is a necessity for any workshop). I then showed them how to do a couple new designs using their traditional materials (chambira palm string). The "new design" was simply a friendship bracelet--the kind I used to make in 7th grade. They all LOVED it and worked the rest of the day on their bracelets. One of the women simply studied the completed bracelet I had brought in and then started making it on her own before I even explained the knot work. She is super pilas (slang for cool, clever). The workshop was a success, and I think I earned some brownie points with my counterpart...no thanks to Jer´s cookies!
• Hanging with Jeanette and Co. One of our friends from our training group came to visit us for the weekend, along with her 19 year old brother and another friend. Good times were had by all. Manuela provided a fantastic (and free) guided tour of the Ethnobotanical park, we took in Jer´s really cool science magic show, we ate at El Jardin (compliments of Mr. Warner...thank you sir!!!) took a really cool hike and explored 6 new waterfalls, we played some mean Spanglish Speed Scrabble (a big hit) and ate a lot of good food, thanks to my hubby, the chef.

There are lots of other side bars I could add, but just don´t have the time to type. We have another big week ahead of us. We will be making 2 trips to Quito. One for official business: We were one of the chosen few who got invited to meet THE Peace Corps Director who will be visiting Ecuador. The second trip is to meet our friends Matt and Heather who will be flying in from Columbus to visit. Should be a blast.