No earthquake and no blood-suckers

I`ve gotten a few worried emails so let me affirm that we are just fine after the earthquake in Chile. An 8.8 travels a long way, but not 1,500 miles. Ecuador´s coastline (along with everything else in the Pacific) watched for tsunamis all day on Saturday, but nothing touched us. Tremors shake the ground here now and then, though never intensely enough to make you lose your balance and certainly not enough to do damage. We´re fine - keep your donations flowing to Haiti and Chile :)

Tomorrow is officially my last day before vacation! I conducted my last round of interviews this morning and will observe demo classes tomorrow before turning in a final report and LEAVING for a few weeks. I can´t wait - although I love my job, I could use a little psychological space from it. For today's interviews, I tag-teamed with my supervisor Rodolfo who asked some great interview questions - the creative kind Career Centers that prep you for that employers never ask. After sitting through three interviews in a row, I was amazed how much I could tell about people by listening to them discuss their favorite books, which historical figure they would invite for dinner, and what they would do if one student pulled another's pants down during class. This job teaches me to decode people and human interaction in a way I never expected. I love it!

My cultural learning here never ceases. In the U.S. we have our own set of old wives' tales so I don't make fun of the Ecuadorian versions, but I still take advantage of the opportunity to chuckle. On Friday I was talking with my friend Leandro about swimming. It´s refreshing, I said. Right, but it´s also dangerous, he told me, because you can't go swimming right after you eat. Right, I agreed, because you can get a cramp. Yes, he said, and you definitely can't shower right after eating either because that´s really bad for you too. ...Right... So there you have it, ladies and gentlemen - make sure to wait 2 hours before showering after dinner. It could be really bad for you.

In other news, no more ticks! For a few weeks I hunted every night, scouring the house for ticks and killing 5-30 a night. We couldn't figure out where they were coming from or how to get rid of them. Then we noticed poor Oso (the happy, floppy mutt who lives in the Rostro compound with us) wasn't moving much and would barely lift his head when we called his name. Further inspection revealed dozens of tiny ticks that look like a flat version of what we have in northern Midwest and and also plenty of oblong ticks that are a little bigger than a pencil eraser and squirt out black liquid when you kill them. Gross. Our guard took Oso to the vet for a rather unpleasant treatment, but now Oso lives! He's on his feet and playing again now that he´s not constantly donating blood. Similarly we haven't found a single parasitic pal in several days. What a relief!

So what about you? If an interviewer asked to name a book that influenced how you see the world, what would you say?