My host mother is on the right, the other Peace Corps Volunteer next to her, and my host sister in the middle (the one that looks like she's about to fall over/ fighting with the boy in front of her).
Cousins.
Friday, August 28, 2009
My first weekend in Guaranda ... visiting the family finca, roasting choclo and making corn-husk dolls.
My host mother is on the right, the other Peace Corps Volunteer next to her, and my host sister in the middle (the one that looks like she's about to fall over/ fighting with the boy in front of her).
Cousins.
My host mother is on the right, the other Peace Corps Volunteer next to her, and my host sister in the middle (the one that looks like she's about to fall over/ fighting with the boy in front of her).
Cousins.
A few photos
My memory cards are not working 100% ( I can't upload some of them)... but here goes a short visual trip of what I've been up to ...
The first picture is of my Family in Pesillo. We're taking a break between cooking 1,000 pieces of bread for a wedding.
Photo #2: During our tech-trip to La Entrada, we encountered a delicious pie/ coffee shop on the beach :)
Photo #3: Traditional fiesta in Pesillo.
Photo #4: Peace Corps Swearing-In Day
Photo #5: My house in Guaranda... my room is 2nd floor, most right window -- it's half way up a hill and has an amazing view of the entire valley!!
The first picture is of my Family in Pesillo. We're taking a break between cooking 1,000 pieces of bread for a wedding.
Photo #2: During our tech-trip to La Entrada, we encountered a delicious pie/ coffee shop on the beach :)
Photo #3: Traditional fiesta in Pesillo.
Photo #4: Peace Corps Swearing-In Day
Photo #5: My house in Guaranda... my room is 2nd floor, most right window -- it's half way up a hill and has an amazing view of the entire valley!!
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
I've landed ...
... training's done - we've passed our language tests, our technical competencies, we've followed bazillions of rules, we've proven we can adapt to a new culture and have what it takes ... deep inside each of us ... to be a Peace Corps Volunteer.
... we've sworn in - after a beautiful morning at the Ambassador's home in Quito, 42 Americans were shipped off to various places all over Ecuador. For some it took merely a matter of hours to arrive at their new homes, others spent several (10+ hours) on the bus(es).
... my bags are unpacked - I've landed in a house filled with love and have been received with open arms. It's a short walk to work as well as to the center of town. There is another Peace Corps Volunteer in my site - a wonderful older volunteer who is from Minnesota! Her host family wasn't working out, among other discomforts, they wanted to double her rent to $100 because she was taking hot showers everyday; so my host family has adopted her, and she's looking at moving up the street from me into my host grandmother's house. My mother loves to cook and I have a big bed -- so come visit me!!
... I've started work - my first assignments are to complete a business assessment of the pizzeria and chocolate/cheese stores downstairs, and tomorrow I am giving a charla to the 30+ people at my office. "What's a charla?" you wonder; it's a term (in Ecuador) for workshops or lectures that (with a Peace Corps twist) usually consist of food, games and pre/post tests. Wish me luck!
My work is going to be busy – Promocion Humana has over a hundred and fifty groups through the province of Bolivar. The people at my office are dedicated and hard working. It's been quite a learning process to sit in long technical meetings in Spanish. Most of the time I find myself lost, but slowly and surely I'll make enough mistakes to start understanding the process of work here.
We're supposed to take it easy for the first three months and integrate into our communities. According to the casa blanca, we're all just those crazy gringos who look ridiculous doing whatever it is we do all day long. No matter how much we try and blend in, we will stick out. Picture this – someone dressed up in a chicken suit, running around and shouting “I'm here to help you! I'm here to help you!” in the middle of Times Square – this is what we look like in Ecuador. So, to minimize that however amusing visual, for the first three months PC asks us not to leave our sites; and to take the time to say “hola” to every person on the street, attend every community activity and get to know the local norms/ slang/ and dangerous places.
My first weekend here was my first chance to integrate with my family and community. Thursday, my first day here, I took off work to unpack my bags and spend the day with my mom and sister. My sister curiously sat in my room while I unpacked, asking what everything was. We talked about our families and school and hobbies. She knitted me a scarf and hat, because it gets cold in Guaranda. For lunch, the other Peace Corps Volunteer here in Guaranda joined us, and after we all headed to the weekly 3pm Thursday market trip. The entire trip took 2.5 hours and we came home with what I remember felt like 150lbs of fruit and veggies in three potato bags. At the market we joined up with 3-6 other women (I couldn't keep track of them sometimes) to purchase fruits and veggies in large amounts. The women bartered and hurried from seller to seller, quickly filling their bags and dividing their finds. The actual time we spent purchasing goods in the market was short, the meeting people and socializing between levels of the market is what we spent most of our time doing (yes, it is a two and a half story building filled with chicken, fish, eggs, pigs and more!).
The next day I went to work for my first official day. The day was unexpectedly filled with excited familiar faces (from my site visit) as well as several new faces to meet. That night we made guacamole and tortillas (thanks for the recipe mom!) and my host family loved them!! I had been running by myself the previous two days, and my little sister told me Friday night she wanted to join me, so, sure enough at 7am sharp she was waiting in the living room for me. We walked up a short hill to the Federacion de Deportes where there is an outdoor track to run around. I was so proud of her, and hope we can keep up the early morning workouts! Saturday is actually a work day for me here (until 2pm), so after running with my little sister, I headed to work. Saturday night was spent playing cuarenta (an Ecudorian card game) with the cousins. Sunday morning for breakfast I made french toast, although it really is just not the same without maple syrup … and then we set off for the family finca (ranch/ farm). We decided to walk the hour to the small, peaceful haven outside of the city. My host aunt and her family own the land and are building a new house on it. During my complete tour of the house-to-be, I fond my father's prized possession is a grill where they can cook pigs. :) We cooked corn over a fire, ate it with mayonnaise while making corn-husk dolls decorated with flowers and petals of every sort. That night the whole family returned to our house where we made chocolate chip cookie and played Frisbee.
These first few days showed me a glimpse into my new life, but there are still many many unknowns. It appears to be a very new experience filled with unexpected challenges everyday. The next few months will be spent making sense out of everything. I think PC has it right – spend the time now to integrate and learn what the people want; you'll spend less time redoing the projects you wanted to have and more time empowering the projects they want.
Talking to the other volunteers in Omnibus 102, its amazing to see how different each of our experiences have already been. We all are placed in very different places, and we all come from very different places. Someone recently asked me, “Where does your motivation to be here come from? How do you know you want to be here for the next two years?”. To this, I think the following begins to capture some of the internal/ unconscious motivation:
"Life will give you whatever experience is most helpful for the evolution of your consciousness. How do you know this is the experience you need? Because this is the experience you are having at this moment." - Toole
Sunday, August 2, 2009
Guaranda, Ecuador
So, training has been crazy. Every second is filled with schedules and requirements. Free time is not a common phrase here.
My site visit went awesome! I will be living in a bigger city (the capital of the province Bolivar - Guaranda), and working in communities all over the province. For the first three months, I´m living with a host family. I have a mom and sister who live in teh house with me. The father works in another city for 45 days a week and is home for 2-3 days a week, and the oldest son of the famliy just graduated from colegio (high school) and is going to University (possibly in Quito). My mother loves having another hija in her house - sadly, she recently has lost her job and her son has left for school, so she loves cooking and cleaning for me. During my four day visit, I ate enough food to feed a small army. I´m going to have to work on slimming down my meals once I get there! My host mother and sister went walking around town with me every day I was there, they will be great support to have while adjusting to Ecuadorian language, culture and lifestyle. Both sets of host grandparents and 4-5 aunts and uncles (I haven´t figured out who lives there, and who was just visiting) also live on the same street - so I´ll have lots of Ecuadorian family around.
The Foundation I work for has an office in Guaranda. They work in cities all over the province, I´m going to start working in their Youth Program. They work with childre, mainly through after school programs, in organic agriculture. They philosophy is that if they teach the childre, they children will teach their parents. Additionally, the Foundation does work in community loans and small enterprise development. Under the office in Guaranda, they have a pizza restaurant and a store that sells cheese and chocolate; these stores support women-run businesses in Salinas. Once my Spanish gets better, I hope to do some work in these areas.
For the first three months on site, the Peace Corps asks us not to leave our sites, so we have time to adapt to the culture and to get to know the people at your site. However, I am also not supposed to ahve visitors and I´ll ahve to ask permission to leave for my birthday and Halloween. We are also supposed to complete community assessmens and present them in four months. My Foundation has been around for 30 years, and has doen some work with long-term goals and program/community assessments. However, it will be quite a challenge to get to know 6+ communities and build confianza with them. I will be the gringa who just shows up for awhile... I was talking to a current volunteer who also worked in surrounding communities during his service - he said you never quite adapt to the culture of all the pueblos, ¨Just make your charlas at each community as fun, outgoing and crazy as you can so they remember you and want to come next time. Then, find a few people at each pueblo you can relate to, and try to work through them.¨ A charla is a term here for workshops. Many Peace Corps Volunteers utilize charlas to reach out to and to educate their communities. They can be anythign from a 30 minute conversation about sexual education to a camp fire, s´mores and talking to kids about fears.
Another sweet find while at my site, was the Federacion de Deportes de Bolivar which is a 20 minute walk from my house. They are a government run program which offers all children in the province sports free of charge. When we were there, we saw karate, kung-fu, soccer and a rock climbing wall! The Federacion also has a soccer field, basketball courst, a track and an awesome staff. I hope I can find sometime to work here.
I´m heading to Guayas today for a technical trip. About half the Youth and Family Volunteers (about 12) are going. We will get to meet current Volunteers, practice charlas with kids and see the beach!! I´ll be back Friday, and then I only have a week before going to Quito for a few days and swearing in on August 19th!!
I know I´ve been promising photos - but I still can figure out how to upload them from these public computers to Blogger...
My site visit went awesome! I will be living in a bigger city (the capital of the province Bolivar - Guaranda), and working in communities all over the province. For the first three months, I´m living with a host family. I have a mom and sister who live in teh house with me. The father works in another city for 45 days a week and is home for 2-3 days a week, and the oldest son of the famliy just graduated from colegio (high school) and is going to University (possibly in Quito). My mother loves having another hija in her house - sadly, she recently has lost her job and her son has left for school, so she loves cooking and cleaning for me. During my four day visit, I ate enough food to feed a small army. I´m going to have to work on slimming down my meals once I get there! My host mother and sister went walking around town with me every day I was there, they will be great support to have while adjusting to Ecuadorian language, culture and lifestyle. Both sets of host grandparents and 4-5 aunts and uncles (I haven´t figured out who lives there, and who was just visiting) also live on the same street - so I´ll have lots of Ecuadorian family around.
The Foundation I work for has an office in Guaranda. They work in cities all over the province, I´m going to start working in their Youth Program. They work with childre, mainly through after school programs, in organic agriculture. They philosophy is that if they teach the childre, they children will teach their parents. Additionally, the Foundation does work in community loans and small enterprise development. Under the office in Guaranda, they have a pizza restaurant and a store that sells cheese and chocolate; these stores support women-run businesses in Salinas. Once my Spanish gets better, I hope to do some work in these areas.
For the first three months on site, the Peace Corps asks us not to leave our sites, so we have time to adapt to the culture and to get to know the people at your site. However, I am also not supposed to ahve visitors and I´ll ahve to ask permission to leave for my birthday and Halloween. We are also supposed to complete community assessmens and present them in four months. My Foundation has been around for 30 years, and has doen some work with long-term goals and program/community assessments. However, it will be quite a challenge to get to know 6+ communities and build confianza with them. I will be the gringa who just shows up for awhile... I was talking to a current volunteer who also worked in surrounding communities during his service - he said you never quite adapt to the culture of all the pueblos, ¨Just make your charlas at each community as fun, outgoing and crazy as you can so they remember you and want to come next time. Then, find a few people at each pueblo you can relate to, and try to work through them.¨ A charla is a term here for workshops. Many Peace Corps Volunteers utilize charlas to reach out to and to educate their communities. They can be anythign from a 30 minute conversation about sexual education to a camp fire, s´mores and talking to kids about fears.
Another sweet find while at my site, was the Federacion de Deportes de Bolivar which is a 20 minute walk from my house. They are a government run program which offers all children in the province sports free of charge. When we were there, we saw karate, kung-fu, soccer and a rock climbing wall! The Federacion also has a soccer field, basketball courst, a track and an awesome staff. I hope I can find sometime to work here.
I´m heading to Guayas today for a technical trip. About half the Youth and Family Volunteers (about 12) are going. We will get to meet current Volunteers, practice charlas with kids and see the beach!! I´ll be back Friday, and then I only have a week before going to Quito for a few days and swearing in on August 19th!!
I know I´ve been promising photos - but I still can figure out how to upload them from these public computers to Blogger...
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Site Assignment!
I got my site for the next two years.... DRUM ROLLL .... I´m going to Guaranda. It´s the capital of the provence Bolivar. At our sites, we have a counterpart (to get our primary projects organized and started) and a host family (to help us adapt to the area and learn the culture). My counterpart is the organizer of an foundation who caters to developing the city. They have outlined their needs in the community, which include, youth self-esteem development, agroculture micro-enterprise development, and working with women´s community banks.
When I was told my site, my first thoughts were, ¨AWESOME ... where´s that??¨ Infact, my site is on the map and I have been told it´s a large city with a small town feel. My town is 45 minutes away from Riobama and about 4 hours from Quayaquil. Guaranda is in the Sierra, in a valley in the Andes. The city is known for it´s week long Carnaval festivities and for Pajaro Azul. They also have cheese and yogurt factories, a chocolate factor and lots of agriculture in the surrounding towns. There is a park where people stroll in at night (a place to go running!), and rock climbing in the area (a sport I will be picking up down here!). Additionally, I have heard there is internet at my work and wireless internet is available in many restaurants. There is a delicious pizza restaurant and some international restaurants.
One of the programs through the Peace Corps is World Wise Schools, an exchange program between PCVs and teachers in the US. Peace Corps Volunteers get to write about their experiences and the local culture to a class back in the US, and in exchange can develop assignments and receive letters from the students.
http://www.peacecorps.gov/wws/
I´m looking for a teacher in the US to connect with. Let me know if you or some one you know would be interested!!
Tomorrow at 6:45am I´m leaving to Guaranda for a four day visit! I´ll tell you all about it when I get back .... I love and miss you all!!!
When I was told my site, my first thoughts were, ¨AWESOME ... where´s that??¨ Infact, my site is on the map and I have been told it´s a large city with a small town feel. My town is 45 minutes away from Riobama and about 4 hours from Quayaquil. Guaranda is in the Sierra, in a valley in the Andes. The city is known for it´s week long Carnaval festivities and for Pajaro Azul. They also have cheese and yogurt factories, a chocolate factor and lots of agriculture in the surrounding towns. There is a park where people stroll in at night (a place to go running!), and rock climbing in the area (a sport I will be picking up down here!). Additionally, I have heard there is internet at my work and wireless internet is available in many restaurants. There is a delicious pizza restaurant and some international restaurants.
One of the programs through the Peace Corps is World Wise Schools, an exchange program between PCVs and teachers in the US. Peace Corps Volunteers get to write about their experiences and the local culture to a class back in the US, and in exchange can develop assignments and receive letters from the students.
http://www.peacecorps.gov/wws/
I´m looking for a teacher in the US to connect with. Let me know if you or some one you know would be interested!!
Tomorrow at 6:45am I´m leaving to Guaranda for a four day visit! I´ll tell you all about it when I get back .... I love and miss you all!!!
OMNIBUS 102
My brain is a mesh of Spanglish right now. Thankfully, after three years of college spanish classes and 6 months of living in Spanish speaking countries, my Spanish is starting to improve!! Unluckily, sometimes this means I can´t speak or type English. My deepest appologies for my spelling and grammer on these pages ...
Over the past four weeks, I have been part of a motivated, diverse and very caring group of people. We are OMNIBUS 102. We are 45 individuals from around the US here in Ecuador to serve for two years in two programs - Youth & Families and Community Health. During training, we are divided into ten surrounding communities, based upon language level, to live with host families. I live in a small town, about a 40 minute bus ride from our training site. In my town, there is no internet (hense why it takes me so long to update my blog, and I have so much to say right now!!), one full service restaurant (under my bedroom), several small stores, kindergarden, a primary school, TWO fulbol fields, two milk companies, a mushroom factory and a volleyball court. Most families have cows, they milk twice a day, as well as a variety of other animals (popular ones include: pigs, sheep, dogs and roosters). I live here with three other Peace Corps aspirantes. We complete language, technical and cultural training everday until we swear in as PCVs on August 16th. Between now and then, we will complete charlas (workshops) with the youth and parents in our community, visit our sites (More on this to come!!) and go on a technical trip. During our taining, we get to work with and meet current volunteers, we are evaluated on several competencies, and we get to share our knowledge with OMNIBUS 102.
To back-track a little and update you on my whereabouts since my last post, we got to celebrate the 4th of July!! Now, we didn´t get fireworks, and there was a deffinate Ecuadorian twist to the American Independence Day. Peace Corps held a reiña contest, futbol games and a BBQ for us. For out futbol games, we were divided up by community and each team had a reiña of their community. The reiñas each competed to be the reiña of OMNIBUS 102. They were judged on appearance, team spirit, and by answering the question, ¨Why do you believe you will be a good volunteer for your community?¨ Additionally, the futbol teams competed in a bracket - my team was eliminated the first round 2-1, but the team we lost to won the championship (so we declared 2nd place for our team). For the BBQ, PCVs cooks us hamburgers, hot dogs, potato salad, fruit salad and guacamole!!
Two weekends ago, my friend John and I climbed on the hills by our houses. We trotted up pipline trenches and followed sheep paths up to a field of wet, long grass. The top was beautiful - we were able to see all the surrounding communities and farmland. Hiking made me miss home for one of the first times. But it also rejuvenated me and quenched my need for a small adventure. I don´t have any pictures to post right now, but I will get some up soon!! I think my photos from the first three weeks here got deleted off my camera :(
My family here has been very supportive and helpful. I have a mother and father (Maggie and Luis), two sisters (Ali, age 17 and Magily, age 12) and a little brother (Leonel, age 3). Right now, the two girls are on vacation until September. They spend their days helping their parents in the family store/ restaurant. Additionally, we have language classes at my house 2-3 times a week, and the family loves to watch us try to speak Spanish. We have Cuy at our house (guinea pig, a delicious delicacy here), chicken on the roof, and a pregnant pig down the street. Ali has one more year of school, and then is going to University. She is going to study law, and will either go into the police service or continue her education to become a lawyer. Her younger sister has an incredible amount of patience for me, will explain things 5 times over, and enjoys ¨taking care of me¨. Leonel enjoys being the boy of the house, he has endless amounts of energy and enjoys playing his guitar with his dad. I know when I´m learning a lot of Spanish, becuase I´m able to understand him. My family enjoys helping me with my Spanish vocabulary and like to learn English words - Leonel´s favorite word is ¨pig¨.
Last thoughts .... things I forgot in my 2 year bag (which is in Quito until August 16th), but I wish I had right now ... my computer charger, duct tape, my french press, bubbles, my Chacos ...
Over the past four weeks, I have been part of a motivated, diverse and very caring group of people. We are OMNIBUS 102. We are 45 individuals from around the US here in Ecuador to serve for two years in two programs - Youth & Families and Community Health. During training, we are divided into ten surrounding communities, based upon language level, to live with host families. I live in a small town, about a 40 minute bus ride from our training site. In my town, there is no internet (hense why it takes me so long to update my blog, and I have so much to say right now!!), one full service restaurant (under my bedroom), several small stores, kindergarden, a primary school, TWO fulbol fields, two milk companies, a mushroom factory and a volleyball court. Most families have cows, they milk twice a day, as well as a variety of other animals (popular ones include: pigs, sheep, dogs and roosters). I live here with three other Peace Corps aspirantes. We complete language, technical and cultural training everday until we swear in as PCVs on August 16th. Between now and then, we will complete charlas (workshops) with the youth and parents in our community, visit our sites (More on this to come!!) and go on a technical trip. During our taining, we get to work with and meet current volunteers, we are evaluated on several competencies, and we get to share our knowledge with OMNIBUS 102.
To back-track a little and update you on my whereabouts since my last post, we got to celebrate the 4th of July!! Now, we didn´t get fireworks, and there was a deffinate Ecuadorian twist to the American Independence Day. Peace Corps held a reiña contest, futbol games and a BBQ for us. For out futbol games, we were divided up by community and each team had a reiña of their community. The reiñas each competed to be the reiña of OMNIBUS 102. They were judged on appearance, team spirit, and by answering the question, ¨Why do you believe you will be a good volunteer for your community?¨ Additionally, the futbol teams competed in a bracket - my team was eliminated the first round 2-1, but the team we lost to won the championship (so we declared 2nd place for our team). For the BBQ, PCVs cooks us hamburgers, hot dogs, potato salad, fruit salad and guacamole!!
Two weekends ago, my friend John and I climbed on the hills by our houses. We trotted up pipline trenches and followed sheep paths up to a field of wet, long grass. The top was beautiful - we were able to see all the surrounding communities and farmland. Hiking made me miss home for one of the first times. But it also rejuvenated me and quenched my need for a small adventure. I don´t have any pictures to post right now, but I will get some up soon!! I think my photos from the first three weeks here got deleted off my camera :(
My family here has been very supportive and helpful. I have a mother and father (Maggie and Luis), two sisters (Ali, age 17 and Magily, age 12) and a little brother (Leonel, age 3). Right now, the two girls are on vacation until September. They spend their days helping their parents in the family store/ restaurant. Additionally, we have language classes at my house 2-3 times a week, and the family loves to watch us try to speak Spanish. We have Cuy at our house (guinea pig, a delicious delicacy here), chicken on the roof, and a pregnant pig down the street. Ali has one more year of school, and then is going to University. She is going to study law, and will either go into the police service or continue her education to become a lawyer. Her younger sister has an incredible amount of patience for me, will explain things 5 times over, and enjoys ¨taking care of me¨. Leonel enjoys being the boy of the house, he has endless amounts of energy and enjoys playing his guitar with his dad. I know when I´m learning a lot of Spanish, becuase I´m able to understand him. My family enjoys helping me with my Spanish vocabulary and like to learn English words - Leonel´s favorite word is ¨pig¨.
Last thoughts .... things I forgot in my 2 year bag (which is in Quito until August 16th), but I wish I had right now ... my computer charger, duct tape, my french press, bubbles, my Chacos ...
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
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 ...
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 ...
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