On TV lately there have been two beauty pageants, The Worldwide Queen of Bananas (with participants from North, South and Central America, and Germany) and the Queen of Guayaquil. People are actually interested in watching them, but I don’t know why. I watched part of one for a little bit and it consisted of the women walking on stage in their bathing suits, the announcer announcing their measurements and hair/eye color, and then they announced the winner. Not very profound, but its entertaining to the locals. Another reason why I’m excited to move into my own little apartment so I can get a TV and watch the news.

Sunday for the adolescent pregnancy prevention thing, not many adolescents actually showed up but lots of adults were actually interested in the birth control methods too. We had some keychains that everyone wanted, so I made them demonstrate how to use a condom in order to win one. They are interested in the pills and injections and stuff as well, but HIV is an increasing issue nationwide, and although there have not been any cases in my town, it’s still important to educate them about it. The majority of new cases of HIV being detected are in housewives who have most likely never even heard of HIV before. The government provides anti-retroviral treatment for free, and there is a group of 16 volunteers that are working just with HIV to promote testing and treatment and break stereotypes of people living with HIV (people think you can get it by mosquitoes or if someone coughs on you). In my community I just want them to know first what it is and how to prevent it. I’ll teach more in depth about it in the high school, but every chance I get I try to briefly explain it to people, especially the women who have husbands working in other cities which is pretty common here.

I hung out with some teenagers on the street this afternoon and ate some chicken organs that they were cooking. They always have weird questions about the US that I wouldn’t even think of, but because of things they’ve seen in movies or on TV they think that’s what it is like. For example, they asked what is a tornado and why does it occur, or why do I only have one sister. A few people have asked me about the Twin Towers too or if everyone is really tall in the US.