Verga Cassaroll

Visiting neighbors and develpoing relationships is at the heart of the Rostro de Cristo mission. We are here for a year to not simply perform the jobs we were given, but to immerse ourselves in Ecuador through the customes, traditions and most importantly the people. Everyone we meet asks us how we are enjoying Ecuador. Do we like the food? How is the weather for us? Do we miss home?

The majority of us always answer with much gusto and say that we like Ecuador very much, we like the food, the weather is hot but tolerable and we love the people. With only a month of being here, there is little else for us to say because we have only really put our toes in the water. The truth of this experience and our emotions will only come to fruition when we submerge ourselves. But the question is, when will that happen?

Recently I have found that I am frusterated, mostly with myself. I shamefully do not speak fluent Spanish, the language barrier is strong and I feel as if I will never be able to fully express myself, or truly enter into real relationships with the Ecuadorian people. I am such a chatter box back in the states, I enjoy talking to people, I am witty and sarcastic, I can win people over through a conversation. But yet here I am left to simply nod my head when they speak to me and respond with broken sentences, most of the time with the wrong words and context. I find myself asking of I ever will truly be able to get to know the people of Ecuador if hey cannot understand what I´m trying to say.

But despite my language deficiency I am trying to spend more time with neighbors. It´s amazing how people here are so inviting and welcoming. While coming home from the bus the other day I passed Gabriel´s house and he waved me over to come in, I visited with him and his family for almost an hour. I don´t even remember what we talked about but what mattered was that we were giving each other our time.

What´s so beautiful about the neighbors is that they invite you into their homes whether you are expected or not. When we were younger we would run away from the windows and turn off the TV and lights if we saw someone coming for an unexpected visit, most of the time it was because we were still in our underwear or pjamas, or we hadn´t cleaned like mom said, and other times because our visitors seemed to never leave. Kids typically don´t have very good manners. Mom,however, always made our home open to anyone who came, serving them coffee and whatever little food we had. I´m just finally starting to appreciate how lovely of a custom it is especially since I am not the unexpected visitor.

Life here is still full of surprises and laughter. The days are draining, but we come home to warm community and the five of us spend our nights laughing and teasing each other. Just the other night we laughed extremly hard at Laura´s expense. Please read the following story:

In our house we have many cookbooks that previous volunteers have left behind with their own receipes. It was Laura´s night to cook and so she stood outside with a receipe book and was consulting our guard and two neighborhood children about different meals. She turned the page and found the receipe for ¨Verga Cassaroll.¨ As Laura asked aloud:

¨Que es Verga Cassaroll¨
¨Verga es un mal palabra¨(that is a bad word) one of the neighbors said.

Bryan, an 11 year old then pointed to a picture on the page and began laughing hysterically. It was a picture of a penis! As Laura continued to read the receipe she realized it was a receipe for Penis cassaroll...also known as a joke. Poor Laura was horrified that she hadn´t seen the picture before or read the ingredients before she asked the neighbors.

That story kept us laughing throughout dinner as we enjoyed the usual rice, beans and veggies. No verga.