Fresh Meat in the Jungle

The time has come and Chris and I are officially able to welcome a new ¨jungle baby¨ to our little jungle family. Yes, we have received a new volunteer (sorry....that sounded like someone was really going to have a baby...). He comes to us from Omnibus 101, sworn-in just this past May. We lost our first volunteer prospect, guess she wasn´t down with the heat. But Grigs (his middle name is Grigsby but everyone calls him Grigs) was on the coast, in Manabí, but due to some safety and security issues he had to switch sites.

Grigs will be living in Zumbi working with FODI and the Municipio. He is a Natural Resources volunteer, so he´ll be our ¨nature guy.¨ Being a fellow DC alum (went to George Washington and graduated in ´08), we already had a lot to talk about. Basically he says Zumbi is like the Hilton compared to where he was living before.

So to inaugarate our new jungle baby, Chris, his girlfriend Emily, and I all took Grigs up to the Alto Nangaritza, or the river where Chris lives. It was an awesome trip. I have been meaning to get up there; it´s an ideal tourist spot, yet due to it´s far location and more or less difficult means of getting there, I was excited to finally have a good excuse to go.

One of Chris´s friends, Bolo, has a boat and was nice enough to take us up, only making us pay for gas ($40). The boat was a long, skinny aluminum canoe with a motor. It had high sides, because when the boat is full throttle, the water is all over the place. This river, the Nangaritza, is a really big river, with tons of Shuar folklore. We saw a lot of waterfalls, just emptying into the river (it had rained all morning). There were two waterfalls right next to each other, one wimpy one called El Bautismo (The Baptism) and then about 50 yards down another one but stronger called La Confirmación (The Confirmation). Normally, they take tourist under the waterfalls so they become ¨baptized¨ and ¨confirmed¨ in one day. Oh and Bolo swung Tarzan-style on some vines for us...pretty scary...I had to talk Chris down from doing it.

Then we boated down to this Shuar town, Shaime, which I have heard a lot about. It´s pretty much the only sizable town on the river, with a whopping population of 90. But it has a health center and a decent sized dock for the boats. It´s amazing how people live so far away from towns, but then again they have been living like this for generations, so living simply off yuca and papayas is normal.

As we left Shaime, there was a fork in the river and you could clearly see the division of the rivers that form to make the Nangaritza (we were going up-stream to get to Shaime). It was amazing because you could see one river was darker than the other and the water didn´t really mix....don´t know how to explain it but it boggled my mind!

The real point of the trip, however, was to hike up this mountain to see these natural labrintos, or labrynths. We got out of the boat and Bolo puts his 3-year-old toddler on his shoulders and just BOLTS off into the jungle. We were like whoa dude, slow down a little. The trail was PURE mud...luckily we all had our Ecua-boots on. It was a really tiring, but fulfilling hike. Once we explored some nature, fell up the mountain a couple of times, and slid down some craggy rocks, we reached the labrynths. It was amazing. There were these giant rock formations with about a 6-inch cut in the middle of all the rocks. Like a river had once passed through there or something. Bolo couldn´t explain what the rocks were, or why they were there. I asked them how did they ever find these places, and he said that his friend actually got lost one day and stumbled, literally, upon them. Crazy.

I can easily see how one would get lost. But it was just so cool to see all of this nature. I see plenty of it here, but we were REALLY in the jungle this time. And then he told us just beyond the rock formations was the Peru border. We couldn´t cross because they would shoot us....haha just kidding. But Chris said on the last trip he was on, their guide told them there were still landmines from the war in the 90s.

Overall, it was a GREAT day. I think Grigs is really going to like it here, and we gave him quite the welcome weekend.

We´re heading off to Loja for the 4th of July this weekend and I got invited to a wedding! Get ready for an exciting upcoming blogpost!

Happy 4th of July everyone!

Coming and Goings

Well, I have been quite the busy little bee this past week. After my medical exam and exciting adventures in Quito, I went to Cayambe to visit my host family from training. As always, it was awesome because I felt like I was with ¨my family¨again. I feel like I really took family dinners for granted, especially now since I eat all alone. But it was great just being with the fam again, joking around, eating some good food. The afternoon before I left, they took me up to Ibarra (about an hour or so away) to eat at Fritada Amazonas, basically Fritada Castle. Fritada is a popular food here, fried pork...it´s so good but so bad at the same time. They bought they huge platters for us to share: a POUND of fritada (dios mio!), choclo (big ass corn), mote (more big ass corn), grilled bananas and fresh squeezed orange juice. It was great. Then I hopped on the bus back to Quito to start my 14 hour journey back to Loja.

Luckily Chris bought us our tickets the day before because the bus station was PACKED. Sunday was another round of elections so everyone was going back to their hometowns to vote.

When I arrived Sunday morning in Yantzaza, my friend Miriam had just gotten there as well. Miriam and I trained together and she lives in Salinas de Guaranda in the province of Bolívar, which is probably the coldest site there is here. Her site looks at Chimborazo, the tallest mountain in Ecuador, so you can get a good gist for what her weather/life is like. Ironically, during training I wanted her site and she wanted where I live, but we both agreed they did a good job of placing us in the end because we both wouldn´t change where we live.

She came down to help me give charlas on Nutrition in Children for FODI. Monday we had a big charla day for all of the educators, which was really good. Gave out some Humana stress relievers that my dad had sent (thanks Dad!) and they were such a hit. People were asking me for more at the end, some of the girls had stolen them from each other! They also kept asking me what they were called, I was like...um...estrés....best thing I could think of. If you put a Spanish accent on an English word, which a lot of times they do, it´ll pass as a legitimate palabra.

Then the rest of the week we traveled throughout the communities giving charlas. This week FODI was also celebrating Dia del Niño, so at every community, we gave cake, a cup of cola, and a FODI t-shirt/short set to every kid. It was a lot of fun, we had a great time seeing all of the communities, as well as talking to the parents. The last community, San Francisco, is a Saraguro (Kichwa) community and we showed Miriam how we party down here! It was great, they did the whole gifting cake thing and then as soon as that was over, a dad whips out this giant pitched of Leche de Tigre...and San Francisco is known for their Leche de Tigre (milk with homemade cane liquor) I got pretty happy (as they say down here for tipsy) on this stuff at Christmas. But this time around I was trying to pace myself. But this guy pouring the milk pours us FULL GLASSES! It was so hard trying to drink the whole thing...and we did that about 3 times in an hour. Woo wee....we were feeling it. But it was great time, as always...riding in the back of the pick up, playing with the kids, eating a TON of food (it´s bad custom to turn down food offered). So we were stuffed. But it was great.

Miriam left and I did another round of communities on my own, but that was still fun. It was great having her here; she is Latina so Spanish is her first language. It was nice having her around to talk to my friends, hang out with people because they could easily understand her.

As for other news, I got a cat! I got to my house on Sunday and someone had put a cat in a potato sack, dropped it through my window, and so now I have a cat I guess. Her name is Tortilla, it´s been almost a week, so I don´t think this one will run away. She´s a kitten, so is still yelping a lot, but buena gente none the less.

Some other news, my friend Doris, the Tuberculosis patient I have been visiting for pretty much the whole last year, finally went home. She had been bed ridden last June because only half of one of her lungs functions, so was put on oxygen. Since then she has been trying to get this electricity powered oxygen machine and FINALLY got it. I was so happy to hear that. She had been having a lot of problems at home and was getting really sick of being bed-ridden, so it´s great she is finally at home with her family. She called me right before she left simply said ME VOY (I´m going!) giggled and then was off to her home.

So a lot has been happening, needless to say. It´s nice taking care of my cat....something I´ve got to look forward to when I get home. Now if she will only use the Ecua-kitty litter box I made her...

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOLLLLLLLL!!!

Si se pueden! Si se pueden! These were the cheers we chanted yesterday as I attended the Ecuador-Argentina futbol game (soccer, for the Americans).

And let me tell you, it was quite the experience! It was like an American tailgate with a Latin American twist. Practically the whole city of Quito donned their florescent yellow jerseys, including yours truly. I looked even whiter, if that is possible. I think it is a plot for Ecuadorians to note a true Ecuadorian in the yellow---since only their cinnamon skin blends well with the blinding shade. But we really stood out as gringoes; a bunch of volunteers got together to show our " hometown pride", armed with papas, "water bottles" of the stiff stuff and mimosas in our nalgenes. Totally classy, but totally necessary.

We all arrived around 1 pm, and the game didn't start until 4. But it was totally worth it, because there were plenty of opportunities to people watch--men, women and children with their ecuadorian support; giant Ecuadorian flags flying over the crowds; and don't forget the giant inflatable Pilsener bottle flying over the center of the field.

The weather was beautiful when we got there, sunny and warm. And then all of a sudden, about an hour before kick off, these dark ominous clouds float over and just open up and POUR on everyone. Typical Quito/Ecuadorian weather, but not surprising nonetheless. People were running to the gates, trying to buy plastic ponchos. Me, as a Jungle Girl, I was used to the rain, however it was a much chillier rain that I am accustomed to. Whatever, bring on the mimosas! Syke...

But the game was amazing. We had really good seats, they were in front of a fence, but we could see the field pretty clearly. Ecuador was playing great, despite the weather, and Argentina was fightin' pretty hard. Argentina is a world ranked team, so this was a clutch game. The first half, it was nil-nil. Then the second half comes around (no half-time show...there isn't nearly as much glitz here as home games..they are actually all about the GAME, what a novel idea!!) and ECUADOR SCORES A GOAL! GOOOOOOOLLLL was flashing all over the big screen, and we went NUTS. It was awesome. I've never been as excited at a game before. And then a few minutes before the game ends, still on the high from goal one...WE SCORE AGAIN!!! WOOO!

And Ecuador took the win. It was amazing. They beat Peru on Sunday and now have beaten Argentina. They are on a roll, now placing 5th in South America with Argentina in 4th for the race towards the World Cup.

And I think I actually like soccer now. I know, I know...what kind of American am I...but let's just say every day I am becoming more and more Ecuatoriana.

So we came up to Quito originally for our mid-term health exams. They sent me on a little scavenger hunt, as I had to run around the city to go to the dentist and then another doctor. The dentist, Chris and I commented, was like an American dental office from the 70s. It was very nice, but the decor was totally outdated. But surprisingly all of the doctors spoke AMAZING English. So hopefully everything turns out ok...still haven't done the " poop in the cup" test...for some reason pooping on command is really difficult. Sorry, TMI but after a while this stuff is just natural PCV talk.

Oh and I did manage to get a kitten last weekend. A neighbor girl came by and said one had shown up at her house and she didn't want it. I've been looking for a cat, and was totally excited. I fed the little thing, even named it (Amazonia) and got her a little bed. And then the damn thing ran away! Jumped out of my window...have no idea how she did it. So I'm on the hunt again....and I definitely saw her lurking around right as I left. I think she was laughing at me, because I was silly enough to feed and care for her and then she left me.
Whatever...I'm going to find a new one more deserving...

Happy Birthday, Mom!

It´s raining and I´m bored....

Well, just when I though rainy season was over....it has rained ALL DAY today. No joke.

Whoopee.

Hahaha...it´s ok. I kinda took a personal and have binged on The Shield, so it wasn´t a complete waste. But there have been some thoughts spinning in my head that I´ve been meaning to add to the good ol´blog.

• I am pretty sure it´s Andres who is writing about Chicaña, but a while back you asked if your friend made the elections in Los Encuentros...unfortunately, he didn´t. Let`s hope for 2016!!
• Second order of business....ridiculous t-shirts. I love the t-shirts here. They all make NO sense whatsoever. What I love about them so much though, is that someone tried really, really hard to make them make sense, yet screwed up one word so they just turn out being RIDICULOUS. Like ¨Men hike up tees¨...uh, buddy, I think that´s supposed to say trees and men don´t really hike up trees to begin with. The real kicker was this one day I was walking down the street in Zamora, and this 80-year-old man was looking at me like I had five heads. Now, a lot of people have gotten to used to seeing me around, so when I see someone who is just baffled by my presence I tend to take a second look, too. So this guy was just staring me down and I look at his t-shirt...it has in big letters FLAME THROWER. I was like whooaaa...settle down there cowboy, cuidado with the fire. It was just a chuckle to myself moment, because A) he was looking at me like I was the crazy one and B) this guy looked like he could barely lift his sack of dead chickens let alone throw flames. Ay dios mio
• The Director of the all girls school I work at, La Paulina, is a real fireball, as well. She reminds me a lot of Mrs. Trunchbull from Matilda...you know, the old Olympic shotput champion who puts bad kids in ´The Chokey`. Well the girls absolutely FEAR this woman. She reminds me a lot of a little pitbull. She`s this little round woman, but has the face of a lion and the lungs of a.....well a person that yells a lot. She is fiesty. And I love her. She knows how to control these malcriadas like nobody`s business but is about the same size as all of the students. She is great with real people, and somehow knows how to control these girls. When I tell them I have to talk to the Directora, girls gasp and look at me like `Dios Mio, I hope you get out alive...` If only I had that type of power....

I´m cleansed!

This week has been great and really productive actually, so I guess taking a nice ¨vacay¨ was exactly what this little PCV needed. Friday I helped out in Zamora, with my Intercultural Health boys, on a charla they were presenting to health leaders of the communities throughout the province. I got to meet Shuar and Saraguro shamans, medicinal healers, and midwives. It was pretty cool, all I really did was help with a slide show and play a game with them, but I sported my Intercultural Health t-shirt (that I designed, thank you very much) and smiled and did the Gringa wave and I was good to go.

But I quickly left after my part to go to Loja to witness yet another Intercultural health event. This time, it was actually in Vilcabamba, an hour south of Loja, and my friend Andy had invited another volunteer, Clay, to come do a technical exchange and bring his Tsachila family with him. The Tsachilas live in the Santo Domingo region (about 3 hours west of Quito, in a transitional zone of sierra and coast) and they have a very distinct culture. Clay has the amazing opportunity of living with them, wearing the traditional garb, painting his body, etc. His host dad, Alejandro, is a traditional medicine curer, or shaman, and he performed cleansings on us. Alejandro is extremely proud of his culture, wearing the traditional red paint in his hair, a knee-length woven skirt, and body paint that comes from a dried fruit. I have seen pictures and heard a lot about this culture, but I have not witnessed it real live.

Alejandro brought his wife, Rosa, too. She wore this really beautiful multi colored skirt and had her face painted (just lines across her face), as well as her legs and feet. When I arrived, Rosa was making a traditional ¨sauna¨ which consisted of a giant pot of boiling leaves, about 30 different types she said. They dug a hole, about 2 feet deep, and then put a rock that had been sitting in the fire in the hole. Then someone sat on a stump, put their feet on a plank of wood that stretched across the hole and Rosa poured in the steaming water. Then you placed a sheet over your whole body, excluding the face, and just sat and enjoyed the instant steam bath. It looked awesome, I didn´t get to do it...I opted for the cleansing ceremony. But Katie, another volunteer, said she is looking forward to doing this in the US, in her manicured lawn and with neighbors looking out at her while she just chills with her mom´s 70s print bed sheet wrapped around her. Hey...I wouldn´t object.

But while most were doing the sauna, I wanted to watch Alejandro perform his cleansings. I was able to see him ¨cleanse¨ Andy´s host parents, and that was good because I got to see what it was like and I was able to see what he said, so as to verify he didn´t say the same stuff to me.

He started out by taking a swig of cane alcohol and blowing it on his hands, so as to clean them I guess. Then he blew all over the mom´s body: her arms, chest, patted down her head. Then he spit on these rocks he had. After that, he rubbed her with a candle for a few minutes and then lit the candle. While he was rubbing her with the candle, I noticed he kept rubbing his eye, like it was itching him. After the reading was over, he told her that she ate too much salt, and that his eye was burning, like a salty sensation, and that´s why he told her that! It was so cool.

He basically did the same thing to me. However, what he told me was really interesting. After rubbing me with the candle, he asked his wife if she brought these special leaves for a cold bath and had said she didn´t. He looked disappointed...and I started to freak out. Am I ok? Will I explode if I don´t get this bath? Are wild boars going to come eat me?
Tranquila, Corrie....it´s just sunburn. He told me that the sun is really affecting me where I live, that it is making me weak. This bath would help me, but unfortunately he didn´t have the leaves to do so. I couldn´t believe it, I told him I lived in Zamora...but by the sound of it, he didn´t really know too much about Zamora and that there is as much as there is. PLUS, I´m super sunburnt...freaky thing.

He also told me that I am missing my family (kinda general, but true) and that I will live a long life. He had a big smile when he said this, so I totally believe him and it made me feel really good to hear that.

After that, he cleansed me with an egg. Rubbed me all down with an egg, and then spit some perfume concotion on me. He was very happy with the egg cleansing because when you shook it, you could hear that it was pure yolk, there was no liquid inside. He smiled big again and said all the bad energy was trapped in the egg, he had gotten a lot out. Hallelujah!

So I mosied back inside after this reading (it was outside in the pitch dark, by the way) and I had the most intense amount of energy! Everyone was like Corrie, are you ok? I was like so ready to go. But it was cool hearing how other people´s readings turned out; one guy had a lot of friendship (amistad), another girl had stomach issues, etc. They were all like, oh, it´s so general, it´s like a horoscope. But I was totally into what he told me. That shaman ROCKED!

We all had to pay $5 for the readings, but it was totally worth it. It was great too, because they have never really left Santo Domingo, so for them to have this opportunity to come all the way down to Loja, was great. Clay was super excited to have exposed them to another part of the country and for others to witness what their culture was like. I definitely want to go to visit them again; they are trying to boost tourism in their site as means of income generation. So if you ever want a cleansing, I got your shaman.

Lady Terps taking on Ecuador

Woo wee. I am pooped. This past week was one of my most memorable weeks so far, since Ms. Kristina Amelia Roberts came to visit me. Kristi and I were roommates in college for a mere semester, yet our ridiculous personalities and great sense of Wanderlust have helped us maintain a great bond.

I was super excited to meet up with her, mostly because this was going to be exciting to have a friend come visit me (one who knows me well) and I was anxious to see her perspective on things here in Ecuador. When she called me to come get at the airport, I was surprised at how fast she had de-boarded (is that a word??) and gone through customs. Dressed in her usual Kristi style---great bag, lioness hair and flowing scarf--I knew right away it was her. Yet, where was all her luggage? It hadn´t left the States... Great. Starting to sound a lot like my parents´ journey when they got here (took them five days to claim their luggage). But that didn´t stop us. Kristi had literally just gotten back from Italy, 24 hours before seeing me, so she was definitely in a go-with-the-flow attitude.

Perfect. Because that´s exactly what you need to enjoy Ecuador.

We took a nice tour of downtown Quito the next day: teleferico ride(gondola) up the Quito mountain side for an excellent view of the city (she left her battery charger up in the restaurant so we had to sweet talk the guy to let her back up...which we also found was one of my talents here: sweet talking), shopping at the local artesan market, lunch in historic Quito, and great cocktails in the Mariscal. All doing this in the same outfit, I was so far very impressed with Kristi´s traveling abilities. Finally the next day, after many calls to many different airlines, we claimed Kristi´s backpack (more thanks to our ¨investigative team¨ that we had put together...)

Then we headed off to Ibarra, about 3 hours north of Quito. It is known for its great weather and the weather was perfect. We actually lucked out with great weather the whole time. But met up and stayed with a married couple from my group, Jake and Erin. They were awesome hosts, got to walk around the city, sample some of their famous ice cream and then joined up with a bunch of other volunteers at a BBQ. That was a blast, getting to talk to the other volunteers, along with a local, and Kristi, I think, got a good sense of what Peace Corps and the people are all about.

After hitting up Ibarra, we had a long day of bus rides back to Quito to then go up to the coast to the province of Esmeraldas. I was super excited to see Esmeraldas because A) it is home to the majority of the Afro-Ecuadorian community B) it is, literally, on the opposite side of the country from where I live C) it´s the coast=BEACH

So we got to Quininde, which is inland, but is Geoff´s site, a youth and families volunteer that is also from my group. It was Saturday night, so we had a couple drinks and then went out on the town. We danced like crazy gringoes at this club, where everyone seemed to be around the ages of 12-15. But whatev...it´s the coast so I guess anything goes. The dancing was different from where I live. They played a lot more Reggaeton and they were gettin´all up in each other´s GRILLS so that was kinda like being back in the US, but with less clothes. It was hotter than the hinges of hell, but still a good time.

Sunday we headed up to the coastal town of Atacames (2.5 hours), which is pretty much a touristy beach town. Another volunteer, Chris, lives up there so we were able to crash at his place--which was a total ¨ideal Peace Corps¨ house: all wood, hammocks everywhere...it´s like what I thought my house was going to be down here. We walked to a couple beaches, hung out with some locals, drank giant batidos or fruit juices. It was perfect. Exactly what I wanted. Kristi and I got pretty burnt but that was basically the worst thing that happened to us the whole trip, so I´m not complaining.

We got to see some of Geoff´s work in his town the next day, the place where he does youth group activities and where he is growing a garden.

We traveled back to Quito Tuesday night so that Kristi could catch her 8 am flight back to the states. Overall, it was an amazing trip. Kristi was an excellent travel partner...I was surprised at how much faith she had in me, jumping in and out of buses and eating foods I told her was good. But I definitely needed this trip to re-center myself and I was anxious to get back to Yantzaza.

However, after Kristi left, I continued down to Riobamba to visit my other friend Darci and I got to check out her site. She lives an hour out of Riobamba, in a city called Guamote, and it was really cool to see because her site is about 90% indigenous. Thursdays are their market days so we got to walk around...it was a HUGE market, Darci telling me it´s one of the largest in Ecuador. I could tell...people were pushing through us, people were yelling, there were so many indigenous...it was a little overwhelming. But super cool.

Well I got back to Loja at 5 am this morning and I am spent. Luckily I have a weekend to recooperate.

But now I definitely know how much I can travel in a week and how to do it. It´s kind of exhilirating knowing how you can travel throughout a foreign country with ease.

How do you say ¨Random¨ in Spanish?

Things are status quo down here in the Middle of the World. Work is...well...work. Been hitting a wall lately and luckily my roommate from college, Kristi, is coming down to visit me next week. This is great timing because I´ll be missing Zamora by the time her visit is over. Plus, it will be nice to grab some ¨American¨ish food in Quito :-)

Due to the lack of exciting activity, I have noticed that there are a lot of wacky trends going on around here. Not sure if it´s the change in weather (today is the third SUNNY day in a row!)...

• Toying with Creativity: One thing I´ve learned here is that kids get real creative with their toys. Since a lot of them don´t have toys, they make do with what is lying around (brilliant concept...my kids are gonna have a blast with coke bottles and empty egg cartons!). One thing, however, has puzzled me more than others. Within the past few weeks I´ve noticed three different kids walking around with cardboard boxes on their heads. I´m not sure if they are trying to be robots...it´s the most bizarre thing. This one little dude was walking up the same sidewalk I walk up to get to my house. He was just strolling along like it was nothing...then BAM! he hit the light pole, wobbled a little bit, and continued with the box on his head. It was hilarious.

• Do you like my hat? Along with creative toys, kids have started new fashion crazes. The latest: the black plastic funda-hat. Plastic bags, or fundas, are found everywhere and recently kids seem to like to put them on their heads. The smaller ones are tight around the crown of their head and then the top is flapping in the wind, while the handles hang down like little Orthodox dreadlocks. Just the other day, my fruit lady was sporting one. And she´s like in her twenties...

• Painting Dogs: Dogs are gross here. I wasn´t a fan of dogs before I even got here (sorry Elly!) and now I despise them even more. They are all bravo, bark like crazy and poop and pee everywhere. This is no such thing as a pooper scooper in the entire country of Ecuador. However one thing I have sort of grown to like is painting dogs. Just yesterday I was in Zamora and my friend Yesenia and I passed a purple dog. The poor (once) white mutt was splattered with bright purple...and it looked to be dyed, just not paint. So that´s staying for a while, buddy.

• Phil Collins is the greatest musician who ever lived: Phil Collins is the MAN in Ecuador. As a fan of music, it makes me sad as to how Ecuadorians associate Americans with the horrible American music they play. Phil Collins was playing on repeat yesterday at a school. Not until the fifth time I heard the same song did I realize that an English class was learning the words. I mean, whatever floats your canoe. Along with Phil Collins, other favorites include: Bon Jovi, ¨the song from Titanic¨, MIMS- This is Why I´m Hot, some Beatles (this is forgivable, yet British...), and let´s not forget Hotel California. Oh and what really gives me a good chortle is the popular naming of Elvis, yet no one´s heard of him.

• It´s just a name, right? Speaking of names, naming your child is a big deal yet not so big deal at the same time. For some families, they won´t name their children for months after they are born. But when they do name them, the names are usually very.....interesting. It sometimes saddens me to see kids with American/English names. Mostly because they are getting rid of their Hispanic roots, not to mention the pronunciation is atrocious. However the real kicker I saw the other day was, and I kidd you not, Mehlghibson. Now, it took me a few minutes to process the name but after a couple of run throughs and help from a co-worker, I discovered this poor kid´s FIRST name was named after none other than the famous Mel Gibson. That was his first name....you won´t even believe what his middle name was...syke, it was Luis or something like that. But still, if that won´t get you beat up on the playground I don´t know what will.