Well I'm at my site…My site for the next two years is Ambato Ecuador! It’s actually a pretty big city-about 300,000. I will be working with a social worker at the University. At first I was really excited but now I’m not sure. I will very much be working with upper class students. I guess I only though PC was about reaching out to those less fortunate. The “bienestar” (well being) is working in 4 different areas-alcohol/drug abuse, mental health, sexual health, and nutrition. They already have a volunteer and she’ll be here on Monday to talk to. I think that will be good because I will get a better feel for exactly what she does and what tasks I may be taking over. Although I'm not going to lie, it’s a little intimidating coming in to fill someone else’s shoes.
There are 3 other volunteer in Ambato-all TEFL. Sharon actually might be at my school. The University has a pop of about 20,000 students so I'm not even sure if I’ll see her. Ambato is a really neat city. Last night we went downtown to ballet-girlfriend’s daughter of host brother (who’s in Guayaquil) was performing. There are many parks and some old colonial buildings. Hopefully in 2 years I can learn to navigate the city.
Onto next agenda-host family. So after meeting with my counterpart we went to see my host family. They own a restaurant. surprise surprise. My host dad, Raul is a marathon runner-one of the best in the country and runs all over the world. My host mom is Mariana. They are both super sweet! We ate at the restaurant then my host brother, Diego took us to the house, apt, rather.
It’s a small apt. There is one main hallway with 6 rooms. The 1st is the living room, the 2nd, the bathroom, the 3rd, is the kitchen. The other 3 rooms are bedrooms on the other side of the hallway. Mine is in the middle and there are no windows. There’s a little window up high that looks out into the hallwa but that’s it. The room is super small. There’s a full bed and a tall desk. The closet is nice except where the desk sits I can’t get the door open all the way which means I can’t get the drawers open.. I’ll have to talk to the host fam about that.
Diego and I hung out all afternoon. We walked a lot. He made a map of the city for me, well kind of. The family is Mormon so there is no alcohol allowed in the house, which is really fine by me. After being at the ballet we didn’t get back to the restaurant till almost 10. We then ate a little and walked home. I was exhausted and it was really cold! I was really hoping for a hot shower but alas there was no water. Apparently it gets shut off sometimes. So I went to go brush my teeth and wash my face. There was water to wash my hands and just as I had my face lathered up to rinse the water was gone. Only little drops here and there! I tried to use as much of the drips as possible to rinse my face but it didn’t work. Alas no water, I didn’t get to brush my teeth either.
This morning I woke up to shower and there still wasn’t water pressure. I hope this isn’t a regular thing. It will be hard to get used to but I’m sure I can do it. So it’s 7:45. We’ve got to leave by 8 to get to the University and I'm not exactly sure how breakfast is working. Diego just got up..But I'm pretty sure he was up to work out at 5 am. He goes to the University to workout and said I could come whenever. Sounds good except I have to get up at the crack of dawn. I didn’t really bring work out clothes this week so maybe when I get back in Aug.
Honestly I have so many mixed feelings right now. It’s only the 1st full day, so we’ll hope it goes well. Diego still isn’t out of the bathroom, so much for eating breakfast. Maybe I’ll grab some pan on the way. So many changes, not gonna lie, I miss my host family in Tumbaco and I miss Tumbaco. Transitions are hard but I will continue pushing on ☺.
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