2/8/10

There is both so much and so little to report. Sometimes Becca and I feel that we are living a relatively mundane, lazy life, but then we step back and realize that same life contains some really interesting components. Maybe we’re not such enormous losers, we tell ourselves.

Becca is donating some of her clinical skills to a local non-profit organization, where she just received her first therapy client. The organization/foundation offers a wide array of various Eastern and alternative therapies, including acupuncture, yoga, and meditation. This will allow Becca to be more creative in her work, and she is looking forward to this opportunity. She had been trying feverishly to avoid doing social work, given that she plans to spend the remainder of her working days in this field. But the combination of Cuenca’s lack of other volunteer opportunities with Becca’s gravitational attraction to the world of therapy has led her back in this direction.

She had resisted this fate up until recently, and over the past month has tried her hand volunteering at a local animal shelter, a curious choice considering Becca has always felt dogs to be dirty and “germy.” The shelter, Amigos Fieles, has done heroic work in the community by providing veterinary care and housing for Cuenca’s formidable population of stray dogs and cats. Becca’s volunteer role was not initially described in a clear manner, which in retrospect makes sense given that an honest description of her title would have been “Free Shit Cleaner.” While there were some sweet moments hanging out with the dogs, the bottomless supply of soiled cages awaiting her at 8 AM eventually ran out of appeal. Becca spoke with the director about other way in which she could contribute, and has proposed doing some humane animal education in the local schools on behalf of the organization. She is currently assembling materials and hopes to have her first gig soon.

My best friend is 9 years-old, which unfortunately is about four years above my Spanish developmental level. Becca and I first met Mateo’s mom Veronica at the hotel where she works, and we subsequently became friends. She described the situation with her son, a precocious kid with three older sisters and a dad who lives far away physically and emotionally even further. He had been expressing need for a connection with a male figure, and so I offered to try and develop a relationship with him. We now spend Monday and Friday afternoons together, and the time has a special quality to it. He is a sophisticated child and has manners that would make many good American parents wonder where they have gone wrong. Because of my lack of fluency with the language, Mateo relates to me more as a little brother, ironic given I am 23 years his senior. He is currently teaching me how to play chess, and I’m convinced that when I won for the first time the other day it was because he let me.

I am also playing on an Ecuadorian basketball team, and we are currently 3-2 at the midway point of the season. Our team’s name is “Lavanderia Duran,” after the laundry business that our captain Jorge Duran manages. I am forced to play down low more because of the relative lack of height in the national gene pool. Through 25 year of playing consistently I have never been asked to be a primary rebounder in the way I am now, and my team is suffering as a result. Becca is taking a Latin dance class, jogging by the river, and enduring seemingly tortuous yoga DVD’s to stay fit. She recently confessed that she receives a perverse satisfaction in being in better physical condition than me, which has motivated me to step up my defensive energy on the basketball court.

Shari is coming to visit Thursday, and we can’t wait to spend time with her in our new home.

Wishing you all well up north.
Love,
Greg and Becca