My nephew Joe is taking an international studies course in Ecuador. Here’s his latest message.From: Joe
Sent: Wednesday, December 3 2003 06:33:05
Subject: Hesperia, Thanksgiving, and a birthday celebration
Greetings friends,
nAs I’m sure we are all aware, last Thursday was Thanksgiving, a wonderfully American holiday that has absolutely no meaning here at all. However, because there are a large number of gringos in our group, the director of our program gave us 150USD to spend as we wished on making ourselves a Thanksgiving dinner. So, with money in hand, we split up who should make what. I wanted to make vegetables (boiling or steaming I can do) but someone snatched up that option right away. So I asked, what can I make guys? The reply … stuffing. That’s right, stuffing. This would be no problem at all if they had Stove Top here, but there is no such thing. How did I handle this you ask? Ingeniously. I found a few recipes online, combined them all, and produced what might have been the most amazing stuffing to ever be created in the small country of Ecuador. Thursday arrived, and I with stuffing in hand (actually in a box my padre helped me make) walked to Susanna’s house for Thanksgiving dinner with our program directors and the Kzoo kids. It was wonderful, so don’t you worry about me!
Last weekend, after Thanksgiving, we took a bird watching trip to Hesperia, a forest at 1400m on the Western slopes of the Andes. This place was beautiful!! The family that owns the preserve (the goverment doesn’t do anything here) was incredible. We ended up seeing 52 bird species, 2 monkeys, and a snake, which may or may not have been of the deadly variety.
Moving right along to the last topic of the email, last night I went out with the Kzoo peeps for a b-day. It just so happens to be fiestas de Quito this week, so there is a week long party in celebration of … well, Quito basically. Anyway, for this young lady’s birthday we purchased a few Cervezas and went out into the streets to party with the mobs. Good times I assure you!
I hope everything is going well you folks. I’ll be sure to keep you all informed, but I don’t have any interesting plans since I have about 500 papers to write before next week. Wish me luck!
Love,
Joe
Sent: Wednesday, December 3 2003 06:33:05
Subject: Hesperia, Thanksgiving, and a birthday celebration
Greetings friends,
nAs I’m sure we are all aware, last Thursday was Thanksgiving, a wonderfully American holiday that has absolutely no meaning here at all. However, because there are a large number of gringos in our group, the director of our program gave us 150USD to spend as we wished on making ourselves a Thanksgiving dinner. So, with money in hand, we split up who should make what. I wanted to make vegetables (boiling or steaming I can do) but someone snatched up that option right away. So I asked, what can I make guys? The reply … stuffing. That’s right, stuffing. This would be no problem at all if they had Stove Top here, but there is no such thing. How did I handle this you ask? Ingeniously. I found a few recipes online, combined them all, and produced what might have been the most amazing stuffing to ever be created in the small country of Ecuador. Thursday arrived, and I with stuffing in hand (actually in a box my padre helped me make) walked to Susanna’s house for Thanksgiving dinner with our program directors and the Kzoo kids. It was wonderful, so don’t you worry about me!
Last weekend, after Thanksgiving, we took a bird watching trip to Hesperia, a forest at 1400m on the Western slopes of the Andes. This place was beautiful!! The family that owns the preserve (the goverment doesn’t do anything here) was incredible. We ended up seeing 52 bird species, 2 monkeys, and a snake, which may or may not have been of the deadly variety.
Moving right along to the last topic of the email, last night I went out with the Kzoo peeps for a b-day. It just so happens to be fiestas de Quito this week, so there is a week long party in celebration of … well, Quito basically. Anyway, for this young lady’s birthday we purchased a few Cervezas and went out into the streets to party with the mobs. Good times I assure you!
I hope everything is going well you folks. I’ll be sure to keep you all informed, but I don’t have any interesting plans since I have about 500 papers to write before next week. Wish me luck!
Love,
Joe
