So it’s been a while... In November my Mom came to visit for Thanksgiving. We celebrated with my host family. My mom, Lindsay, and I made turkey, stuffing, green bean casserole, pumpkin pie, sweet potatoes, apple pie, and biscuits. They seemed to really enjoy the food, which I found to be a relief because I didn’t know how they would like it. It was a great experience.
My mom, Lindsay, and I traveled to the mountain refuge of Chimborazo, where we had hot chocolate and played in the snow. Then Mom and I visited the ruins of the Canari people at Incapirca, and the Cajas National Park. We met up with a couple of Returned Peace Corps Volunteers who are opening up a café in Cuenca. They have a beautiful house outside of town. My mom flew out of Guayaquil and I only had a quick couple of weeks between my mom leaving and me leaving for the US for Christmas. These couple weeks were full of finalizing my grant reports and my grad school applications. Luckily it was all manageable and now completed. Wahoo!
My trip to the US involved a lot of “moving home” activities. I only have about three more months in Ecuador, so I packed two large bags full of things I wanted to take home for good, ie clothes I won’t use, souvenirs, Christmas gifts …and my cat. Nena is now an international traveler. My mom is going to care for her during my final months in the Peace Corps. This is a good thing because I will be traveling and working in other places.
Flying with a cat is an interesting experience. She traveled with a friend cat (actually my friend, Lindsay’s cat, Bernardo). We saved money by having them travel together. And we both few into Chicago on the same flight. It worked out well. They shared a crate and got along relatively well. My Nena doesn’t tend to like other animals and got fussy at a couple points. Bernardo howled through American immigration and customs, but behaved well for the rest of the trip. The whole trip included a quick ride in the back of a truck, 5 hour bus to Quito (the capital and airport city), hour long city bus ride, and then many errands to get them approved for travel. Then the 12 hours in lines, planes, and layovers, and then another hour on Chicago’s El. Poor cats.
Upon arriving home, I had several errands to run. I was trying to wash all my clothes, visit the bank and go to the Post Office. Turns out I got nothing done this day. If anything will give you reverse culture shock, it would be the post office a week before Christmas. And driving in Chicago was pretty stressful. Plus I was exhausted from my overnight flight. Crazy, frustrating, unproductive day.
Steve and I hung out in Springfield for a few days and then visited his family and had a lovely time in Wayne, Pennsylvania. They are wonderful people and everything was excellent. I returned to Springfield to celebrate Christmas with my family. My mom bought a new house while I was in Ecuador and it is strange but nice to see her in a new house. The new house is spacey and has great light. I had a great Christmas break!
Now I am preparing to go back to Ecuador…I am pretty sad to be leaving the good US of A. But I will be back soon!! My plans upon return are to work at a friends Engineers without Borders project and to paint a World Map in my town...because my project is over I don't know how I will fill my time!
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