Safe in Ecuador!

Whew... the past two weeks have flown by! We´re in training right now and the week days (plus some weekend days) are packed with language, cultural, technical and security training. We are divided into communities based upon language level (about 4 or 5 per community) where we each have host families to live with until we are sworn in as PCVs and move to our sites for two years.

My host family is awesome! I have two younger sisters and a little brother. The family owns and runs a restaurant and store underneath their house. The first weekend I was here, the town was celebrating the festivels of San Juan. There were non-stop people moving in and out of the restaurant and tienda - I made myself useful by helping in the restaurant and getting to know some of the hungry visitors. For lunch, we serve soup, followed by either trout, chicken or carne with rice, potatoes with cheese sauce and a small salad (mainly just cabbage) and homemade juice. For dinner, trout, pollo, carne with rice, avocado, lentil and a small salad (carrots, tomatoe, and cabbage and mayonase), also with a soup and juice. During the festivales of San Juan in my town, there were two bands in the town center all weekend (half a short block from my bedroom window), in addition to a parade Sunday morning. My first night here, my sisters dressed me up in traditional skirt, blouse and hat, and took me around town singing and dancing for hours. Traditionally, the diablo huma is the important character of the night. The portrayer wears a mask with two faces and 12 horns, he also carries a whip. Other men wear pants made with animal fur and play the guitar. The men and women sing and dance in circles. The circles are traditionally symbolic of safety and the legend states that when a person strays from or breaks the circle, they are subject to a beating from the devil. Additionally, the groups move house to house; here we received gifts from the owners of bread, oranges, rice, meat and drink. The festivles will continue in different communities until August.

Training during the week has been intense, playful, empowering, draining, challenging, and has arrounsed many many other emotions. It has been the best training I have received prior to any job. As a PCV, you are supposed to keep your mind open to where your site will be, who you will be working with and even what you will be working on; you are also supposed to use training to prepare for what you will complete during the next two years. One of my collegues said it best, ¨I want to learn something new everyday.¨ So far, I´ve met this goal several times over, daily. My Spanish is improving, I´m no longer a vegetarian, I´ve started running with my little sister, I can understand my little brother when he talks (sometimes), I met the president of my community, I´m going to find a way to help my Papi in their tienda (bodega, viveres, store), I want to learn how to build a garden, and I take a bucket shower in an outside bathroom in 40 degree weather.

Last weekend we went on a cultural trip with half the aspirantes (this is what PCVs are called during training, before they swear-in) to an Afro-Ecuatoriano community. We experienced their food, made masks, took a walk in the ¨jungle¨, watched and danced the bomba, played futbol with the locles and heard about the discrimination against Afro-Ecuatorianos. It was an eye-opening experience as they openly talked about both the difficulties and pleasures of their lives. Again, my host mother here was the most welcoming person. She told us how at 4am every morning she climbs the mountians around her house to collect caracol (snails). The live ones are sold for food the the old shells are gathered and sold for jewelry or other artisanias. Additionally, she and a group of women make cards out of recycled paper and local flora. When we were leaving she asked repitedly when we were gonig to come back and visit and if we remembered how to get to her house so we could visit and stay with her. Infact, the entire community welcomed us and enthusiastically played futbol, played music in the streets and watched every move us ¨gringos¨made.

My community is small, but I like the personal feeling I have there. Most of the people work for two milk companies and own their own cows. There are lots of local dogs and pigs and chickens that roam the streets. Luckily, one of the neighbor dogs likes to go on runs and protects us. I don´t have internet in my community, but I hope to update my blog every other week or so.

Well, I have to go do my laundry before it gets dark out! Miss you all tons! Let me know how life is ...