Animal Sacrifices

Over the last two weeks we have started venuring out into sector four of Arbolito, which is down the road aways. We have been picking up these kids named Leonardo and Elena to go to Semillas. The other day we went to their house and started talking to their mom. She proceeded to tell us that she was going to kill her duck for us. We were all confused and decided that we had heard he wrong and that something was lost in translation. The next day, when we picked up her kids she gave us this pot and said that she had made us secco de pato, which ended up being delicious. I looked around and the family´s only duck was missing. Then she told us that she was going to kill her pig for us and she pointed to two pigs. One was a pretty normal looking pig and the other couldn´t stand on account her giant pregnant belly. Jon and I looked at each other and I think that we were both hoping that she wasnt going to kill the pregnant one(dont worry, she didnt). So, we went over to their house yesterday and they gave us a pig sausage soup, which was hard to stomach. The sausage texture was very soft and strange. I did my best to be polite. After soup, they gave us each a giant plate full of pork products in various shapes, sizes, and from different locations on the animal. This was delicious, even though our guard had warned us that if we ate pork we would get parasites that ate our brains. After this she brought out a cake. It was the most confusing cake I have eaten in a while. It was really dense with fruit in it and it was covered with whipped cream, orange marmalade, chocolate, and dulce de leche. Don´t get me wrong, it was delicious, I just kept thinking about how I just wanted the cake to decide what kind of cake it was.

I will try to bring some pictures in for my next post if possible. :)

a little more flaco

It is a beautiful Thursday in Duran. I am sitting at ´Cyber Emanuel´ and Emanuel is dancing to Shania Twain´s ¨I feel like a woman.¨ I am pretty sure if he knew the words to the song he would neither be dancing nor listening to the song at all. :) So, Last week was my first retreat group, from Santa Clara. I was glad that it was a small group of nine. They were pretty easy going for the majority of the week. In the beginning they were very much uneasy and unsure of what they could do or say. This awkwardness slowly transitioned into a comfort that I have been familiar with for some time. During the middle of this week I got really sick. I think I ate some bad(but delicious) food at one of my neighbors houses. I was sick for a about 2 days and I lost over 10 pounds, which pretty much makes me antimatter by about now. I imagine that there us much more of this to come in the rest of the year ahead.
Working at Semillas de Mostaza, one of Rostro´s afterschool programs, has been wonderful, but frustrating. Every day we get from 30 to 60 kids ranging from 4-15 years old. right now I am working on activity for the little kids that uses maps. When we started introducing them to other countries of the world they were very confused and asked which country was Barcelona or Emelec(the two futbol teams in Guayaquil). I dont think that they have any kind of concept of how big a city, country, or the world is. So I am printing up a map of their neighborhood(thank you google earth) and having them trace their walking route to Semillas. Then I will show them a series of maps to help them understand how Arbolito (our neighborhood) fits into the city, the country and the world. Hopefully it won´t be too much for them.

work, casa, earthquake

There was an earthquake! But no worries it was pretty far away and everyone here is a-okay
So today was my first day of work (kindof) after two weeks of in country orientation and two weeks of orientation in the states(thas right, an entire month) I will be working two jobs this year. First I have been selected to be the logistics coordinator for Rostro. This means that I am in charge of retreat groups that come down from the US. I get to do alot of driving down here which scares the crap out of me because nobody follows traffic laws. Aside from that, I am really excited to work with college and high school groups and to better learn how a non profit works. Also, I am co running an after school program called Semillas de Mostaza (Mustard Seeds). Here we do homework help, activities to supliment Ecuador´s crappy school system, play futbol, and more. We try to give the kids a safe place to play, learn, and just be for at least two hours every day.
Also, we got to go into our house. However, we cannot move in to it for probably another week because we decided that we wanted to paint most of the interior as it it pretty scratched up and peeling in most rooms. I wish I could just move in now! I´m tired of living in the retreat house. Our bedrooms are way bigger than I would ever need.

¿Week 1?

Okay, so i have been in Ecuador for a week now. Most of the last week ahs been orientation related. There has been aot of visiting work sites and getting to know the bus routes. This whole process of orientation is really overwhelming. I feel like i want to do everything jb related, but i have to choose just one.
Yesterday we all went to a beach town that is a few hours away called Las Playas. We spent the whole afternoon playing in the sand and in the ocean until I got blisters on the bottoms of my feet. I got stung by a jelly fish on my shoulder and most of my group got sun burned. In all, it was an amazing afternoon away from being drained bye Duran and all of the decisions and responsabilities that we will soon be facing.
Wghen we got back home we were doing an arts and crafts project and reality suddenly stepped in to remind us of the environment that we were living in. Our neixt door neighbors were in a domestic dispute which involved alot of screaming by children. In the middle of this, our community gathered together and prayed for our neighbors. Then, as soon as the shouting stopped, we got a call from Megan, our director, telling us that the father of one of our good friends, Diana, had died. It was a rather humbling night for everyone. We all prayed and went to bed. I think we all realized that the reality of Ecuador had hit us and that we have a difficult, yet amazing year ahead of us.

Today had clam chowder in New England!

Sorry for not updating this in a while. Life have has been hectic. My week trip to Ecuador with Seattle U was amazing. It was great to see all of the friends that I had made last year and to meet new people. I went in with a lot of fears and anxiety, but they have been mostly put to rest. One evening in Duran, I was sitting outside with a few of the volunteers and they were just venting, complaining about everything. (I won't ge too specific) It put me at ease knowing that the volunteers were people and struggled through things like real people do. It can be easy to look up to them and all that they do and think that I could never amount to that. Also, seeing excitement on people's faces when they find out that i am coming back makes me feel very welcome and excited to come back
It has been very emotional to spend the last three weeks in Tacoma/Seattle, saying goodbye to everyone. Last week, I went to the Humane Society to get Allison a kitten. Her name is Nina and she is four months old. She is blonde and grey(her fur looks like a blonde cat got into a fireplace and covered with ash). She is supa cute and likes snuggling, exploring, and playing with empty boxes. I also got to go canoeing and hiking with Francisco, which was a great getaway for me. I said goodbye to almost everyone that I wanted to, but I will always wish that I had just a little more time.
Right now I am at Boston College for orientation. We are doing our orientation with the Jesuit Volunteer Corps and there are lots of amazing people here. It is difficult to be present to everything here with my head still in Seattle. I have leave a place that is filled with with so much love and to step out into the unkown with people that I have never met.(except Shea!) I am out of time, but I will be back to write more soon.

First trip is tomorrow~~

This last week has been an interesting adventure. I took all of my finals, graduated from college, said goodbye to everyone in Seattle, and moved back to Tacoma. tomorrow I leave for Ecuador. I am leading Campus Ministry's week long trip to Ecuador with Rostro de Cristo. After this week in Ecuador I will be be back in Washington for three weeks, followed by two weeks in Boston for training, and then I move to Ecuador for a year!

Last night I said goodbye to Patrick and Katie and went back to my stale empty room. I remember looking up at the ceiling and having a sudden wave of emotion pour over me. I feel like it is just when I find myself within a place I have to leave it. I will miss this place. I will miss the community that I have found here.

I don't know quite what to expect going in to this next week. All I know is that I am in for one hell of a reality check. I don't know whether to be excited or scared, so I think that I'll take a little of both. :)


Also, I just got my mailing address for next year. If you would like to send me a letter send it to:

Kipp Gallagher o Megan Radek
Rostro de Cristo
Casilla 09-01-1024
Guayaquil, Ecuador


Thank you.

I love you all!

Two months till orientation

"It's a dangerous business, stepping out your front door. You never know where' ll you'll be swept off to" -Bilbo

I have three weeks left in this place called college and soon i will be moving to Ecuador for an entire year. I thought that it would be appropriate to start a blog to record my adventures. As it stands right now, I am excited and scared to death for the upcoming year. I feel like Jake Wild once captured how I feel about moving to Ecuador in a photograph. I am ready to leave this place that I have called hope for nearly 23 years; It is time to step out of my front door and be swept off into God only knows what.

Thank you to everyone for your continued support.

I love you all. :)

-Kipp

P.S. Thanks to Mr. Salad Bar for the name.