Well there goes August. I figured I would write about yesterday while Eulalia goes and finds someone to clean up all the water that´s on the floor..Everytime it rains water comes in from under the door. There´s about a 1/4 inch of space betweenthe door and where some type of threshold should be. My desk is by the door and so there´s water everywhere just about everyday.
So yesterday was a good day! I arrived to work and finished putting together this huge document about the health (really safety) situation in each of the builidng at the University. So far it´s a 95 page document and we are still missing one college. Then I worked on these "fichas". I stil don´t really get what they mean in english but they are a series of documents that we are going to use to track our progess with this emergency prevention adn attention plan. I think it will be good because each document will help us to be more organized.
Eulalia and I then sat down and wrote down/she tried to remember while I wrote all the things the Bienestar has done this year! Why this wasn´t written down before I do not know but I was surprised at the things she remembered. Her son, Pepe was here because she had to take him to his new school for some tests and then they came straight here. He seems nice but was a little whiny, obviously spoiled, just like the daughter.
As they were leaving for lunch he goes "mom what´s pornography?" haha. She refused to give him a straight answer. I was tempted to pipe in but I figured it probably wouldnt be appropriate to give him the right answer, lol. I stayed at the office to eat lunch but then decided to walk around a bit and tried to take a nap outside/rest my eyes from looking at the computer all morning. It was really cold and windy yesterday so it was hard to rest. I came back and Eulalia and I worked on the Fichas.
I left at 4 to go to the gym and picked up my laundry on the way home. the old man is really nice, borderline creepy but still nice. I got to the gym and the tredmills were all not working. Typical. So I did elyptical, some weight lifting and a bunch of abs/leg workouts. It was a nice little workout. The posters at the gym are absolutely hilarious, super old school and frankly a bit ridiculous. The sad part is they are all in english thus from the states. I´ll have to take pictures and post them. 4 is a good time to go because there aren´t a lot of people. There is even a trainer that comes in at 5. He asked me if I needed help with anything but I said I was just kinda checking stuff out for today.
I went straight to the restaurant to eat afterwards. There was really nothing to eat. I had the last of the soup and put some rice with it. I left right after to shower and scrounge up whatever food I could back at home. I showered then ate some peanut butter, apple and granola with tea. Skyped with a bunch of people from home which was nice!
....
This afternoon Im going to Julie´s to get the gas tank so that I can cook! Now all I have to do is find a fridge that will fit in the barbie kitchen. Im also going to try to finish up the site locator form with Sharon. I have to fax it tomorrow!! In the evening I will be going to a basketball game with Kim and some of my new ecuadorian friends :)
..
So it´s 9:45. I arrived at 8:30 to work and the floor still isn´t cleaned up..uy yay yay. And this also is the end of my second journal. So Im also would like to start reading on my free time, whenever that is, lol. But if anyone has some good books, in spanish would be even better, for me to read I would love to compile a reading list for the next couple years!
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Monday, August 29, 2011
August 28, 2011
What a weekend! So FRIDAY: I went to church with the family. They had different activities going on like soccer, ping pong and show making. The different neighborhoods were playing in a tournament so I went ot watch. All was fine till they introduced me to the missionaries; two young guys, one from Mexico and hte other from the states. I had met them once before but hadn´t really talked to them. So the gringo and I talked. He told me he was from Utah (surprise surprise) and I told him I was from WI. And he was like "oh my brother studies at the med school in Madison". I told him I was from Madison and then he goes "yeah, well there are a lot of black people there so it´s pretty dangerous".
I couldn´t help but laugh, but he was completely serious!!! WTF?! And to top it all of he then goes "Have you heard of the church?" First off Im literally sitting by the cour that´s on church property. Plus I liave with mormons. Ya think I´ve heard of it?!?! Uy.
After that encounter I was done. 1st off ocmpletely amazed that people still have that mindset and even worse, those are the type of people the mormons are having go out into their community to get others to join the church. That´s just wrong.
SATURDAY:
I woke up at 6 to work out with my host dad and other runners. Turns out it´s kinda like an open work out class. There were a variety of ages and skills. To be honest it wasn´t really hard nor really easy. Just the right way to start out my exercising life, lol. Im glad that I have the gym though because I like to do my own thing and it seems that my host dad is really just into running. And I´d rather do a little bit of everything.
Came home and host mom hadn´t made breadfast. THANK GOD! So I made tea and granola. It was amazing. I showered, then met Shannon downtown. We walked around a bit, had lunch then went to the internet cafe. She´s in a really small community so hadn´t checked e-mail for the past week. She left around 2:30 and I headed to my house to drop some stuff off and then met Sharon and Julie downtown again at 4. We went to see what things she had to give away/possibly sell to us. I got some nice toiletries;lotion, mousse, cotton balls, shampoo. I also got her brand new Georg Foreman grill!! I paid her $20, cuz most of the stuff was brand new and brought from the states. I then headed to kim´s place. She was a full bright volunteer at the University last year and recently got a teaching position there. We went to a basketball game of her guy friends. Afterwards we went to Chino´s- a good friend of hers. He had to shower and get ready and what not so we went to get these amazing hamburgers off a street vender. Sooo good!
We went back to his house and the team came over. One of the guys is like the spitting ecaudorian image of Mr. Daniel Bloom, for those of you reading this who know him, lol. The guys name is Pepe and apparently he´s really intelligent and driven, which is odd to find here especially at his age.
We went to this club and they said it was open bar so we paid $7 adn once we were in they told us it wasn´t. Although I wasn´t really interested in drinking any they wanted to leave so we got our money back and went to this hooka place. Apparently Chino knows the owner through basketball. They had really good music so the 9 of us got out on the dancefloor and started the dance party!! It was awesome! Towards the end we were dancing sals and merengue. The guys were such good dancers, and very patient with me trying to learn, lol.
SUNDAY:
Got home at 2:30 and woke up at 9 in order to shower before skyping with Nat. Had the same breakfast that I always have..ugh..went to shower but there was no pressure so I skipped on it and tried to skype with Nat. Didn´t work so well but we at least were able to chat. Good to hear from her and get the updates. Talekd to Lauren for a bit, she´s outside of RioBamba. It sounds like she´s had her ups and downs but for the most part is doing well at her site. I then went to Sharon´s to met up with her and Julie.
We walked all the way to Parque de la Familia. It was quite the treck but really pretty. We came back to Sharon´s and made sandwiches, had fruit salad and Mora juice. I was in heaven!! Sharon pretty much has the second floor to herself which has a kitchen, living/dining room, bathrooms, the whole shabang.
We then went to pick up our stuff at Julie´s downtown. I came back with all my stuff and then decided to go to the Megamaxi to buy some food. I steamed veggies and made a pb & j. As Im cooking my family comes home, clearly see me making food and then when Im just about done eating they come into the kitchen and are like, vamos raquel, lets go get food... I was kinda annoyed becuase they CLEARLY saw me eating. I had already walked several miles and was NOT hungry. We walked to this place that looked pretty good. I just had a "pincho" which is like a kabab. It was nice though because Raul´s (host brother that lives and works in Guayaquil) fiancee Teresa talked to me most of dinner. She is really nice and asked me all these questions that you´d think my host family would be interesting in knowing about me. It then started pouring down rain so we took a taxi home, thank god, because I was so tired from walking early that day.
Alrighty I believe that´s sufficient weekend updates, till next time, chaoo
I couldn´t help but laugh, but he was completely serious!!! WTF?! And to top it all of he then goes "Have you heard of the church?" First off Im literally sitting by the cour that´s on church property. Plus I liave with mormons. Ya think I´ve heard of it?!?! Uy.
After that encounter I was done. 1st off ocmpletely amazed that people still have that mindset and even worse, those are the type of people the mormons are having go out into their community to get others to join the church. That´s just wrong.
SATURDAY:
I woke up at 6 to work out with my host dad and other runners. Turns out it´s kinda like an open work out class. There were a variety of ages and skills. To be honest it wasn´t really hard nor really easy. Just the right way to start out my exercising life, lol. Im glad that I have the gym though because I like to do my own thing and it seems that my host dad is really just into running. And I´d rather do a little bit of everything.
Came home and host mom hadn´t made breadfast. THANK GOD! So I made tea and granola. It was amazing. I showered, then met Shannon downtown. We walked around a bit, had lunch then went to the internet cafe. She´s in a really small community so hadn´t checked e-mail for the past week. She left around 2:30 and I headed to my house to drop some stuff off and then met Sharon and Julie downtown again at 4. We went to see what things she had to give away/possibly sell to us. I got some nice toiletries;lotion, mousse, cotton balls, shampoo. I also got her brand new Georg Foreman grill!! I paid her $20, cuz most of the stuff was brand new and brought from the states. I then headed to kim´s place. She was a full bright volunteer at the University last year and recently got a teaching position there. We went to a basketball game of her guy friends. Afterwards we went to Chino´s- a good friend of hers. He had to shower and get ready and what not so we went to get these amazing hamburgers off a street vender. Sooo good!
We went back to his house and the team came over. One of the guys is like the spitting ecaudorian image of Mr. Daniel Bloom, for those of you reading this who know him, lol. The guys name is Pepe and apparently he´s really intelligent and driven, which is odd to find here especially at his age.
We went to this club and they said it was open bar so we paid $7 adn once we were in they told us it wasn´t. Although I wasn´t really interested in drinking any they wanted to leave so we got our money back and went to this hooka place. Apparently Chino knows the owner through basketball. They had really good music so the 9 of us got out on the dancefloor and started the dance party!! It was awesome! Towards the end we were dancing sals and merengue. The guys were such good dancers, and very patient with me trying to learn, lol.
SUNDAY:
Got home at 2:30 and woke up at 9 in order to shower before skyping with Nat. Had the same breakfast that I always have..ugh..went to shower but there was no pressure so I skipped on it and tried to skype with Nat. Didn´t work so well but we at least were able to chat. Good to hear from her and get the updates. Talekd to Lauren for a bit, she´s outside of RioBamba. It sounds like she´s had her ups and downs but for the most part is doing well at her site. I then went to Sharon´s to met up with her and Julie.
We walked all the way to Parque de la Familia. It was quite the treck but really pretty. We came back to Sharon´s and made sandwiches, had fruit salad and Mora juice. I was in heaven!! Sharon pretty much has the second floor to herself which has a kitchen, living/dining room, bathrooms, the whole shabang.
We then went to pick up our stuff at Julie´s downtown. I came back with all my stuff and then decided to go to the Megamaxi to buy some food. I steamed veggies and made a pb & j. As Im cooking my family comes home, clearly see me making food and then when Im just about done eating they come into the kitchen and are like, vamos raquel, lets go get food... I was kinda annoyed becuase they CLEARLY saw me eating. I had already walked several miles and was NOT hungry. We walked to this place that looked pretty good. I just had a "pincho" which is like a kabab. It was nice though because Raul´s (host brother that lives and works in Guayaquil) fiancee Teresa talked to me most of dinner. She is really nice and asked me all these questions that you´d think my host family would be interesting in knowing about me. It then started pouring down rain so we took a taxi home, thank god, because I was so tired from walking early that day.
Alrighty I believe that´s sufficient weekend updates, till next time, chaoo
August 26, 2011
Wow it´s crazy to think that a week ago we were getting ready for Lucy´s wedding. The time has flown by. I can´t really tell if my 1st week here has been what we in the states would call "productive" but I´ve def learned a lot. It´s going to take time to get to know the University but I am confident that in 2 years I mill master it :).
Had wine night with Adam and Kim last night. Kim´s friend Chino came over too. It was really good to talk to them and hear about their experiences. They are going ot be great help; Adam as a PCV and Kim as an employee of the University. My head feels at times that it´s swimming with all these things I have to learn/do. I have barely begun to think about CAT tools..which I don´t really need to quite yet but still, it´s going to be in the back of my mind, bother me till I actually start to work on them.
Hopefully I can skype with some people and catch up on lives back in the states. My host dad, marathon runner, is going to start training me! I told him that I wanted to start working out so he is going to help me train. Im not really sure how hard core but I hope it will be a good work-out.
Had wine night with Adam and Kim last night. Kim´s friend Chino came over too. It was really good to talk to them and hear about their experiences. They are going ot be great help; Adam as a PCV and Kim as an employee of the University. My head feels at times that it´s swimming with all these things I have to learn/do. I have barely begun to think about CAT tools..which I don´t really need to quite yet but still, it´s going to be in the back of my mind, bother me till I actually start to work on them.
Hopefully I can skype with some people and catch up on lives back in the states. My host dad, marathon runner, is going to start training me! I told him that I wanted to start working out so he is going to help me train. Im not really sure how hard core but I hope it will be a good work-out.
later that day...
Well here I am locked out of the office. Not sure why my key doesn´t work because it worked the other day. I wanted to get a head start on some stuff. I saved all my contacts to my computer this morning. All 178 or so. That´s literally what I did all morning. Went to put saldo on Eulalia and I´s phones. It was nice because it got me out of the office! It´s such a nice day today except super windy, which makes it colder.
Have been in contact with Kim. Im going over to her house tonight to have wine with her and Adam. Although I don´t drink wine, lol. Sharon and them get here around 5 pm today. I´ll probably see her tomorrow. Although both Shannon and Cara were going to be in town as well. Not really sure how i´ll work all of that out. The doctor Jenny has a birthday tomorrow and I guess we are having a sort of party for her. I hope I can get away early in the afternoon to see people. everyonés at their one week mark. Crazy to think how fast time goes.
Sadly Im coming to the end of my second journal. I started the second one just over a month ago. Clearly I´ve had a lot to say, lol. I hope I can keep up writing. I have a feeling I will have time to write and if not at least try to make an effort to keep it up. What will these next months...and years, rather, bring..no one knows. Im content here though and I think that´s a good thing right? Alright I´ll go take a second try at the door, lol
Have been in contact with Kim. Im going over to her house tonight to have wine with her and Adam. Although I don´t drink wine, lol. Sharon and them get here around 5 pm today. I´ll probably see her tomorrow. Although both Shannon and Cara were going to be in town as well. Not really sure how i´ll work all of that out. The doctor Jenny has a birthday tomorrow and I guess we are having a sort of party for her. I hope I can get away early in the afternoon to see people. everyonés at their one week mark. Crazy to think how fast time goes.
Sadly Im coming to the end of my second journal. I started the second one just over a month ago. Clearly I´ve had a lot to say, lol. I hope I can keep up writing. I have a feeling I will have time to write and if not at least try to make an effort to keep it up. What will these next months...and years, rather, bring..no one knows. Im content here though and I think that´s a good thing right? Alright I´ll go take a second try at the door, lol
August, 25, 2011
This morning sched is so not routine yet. I must be the most impatient person ever. I know it´s only been 4 days but still. Woke up this morning to someone hacking up what seemed like hundreds of hairballs, yes a human being, lol. This was followed by the loudest traditional Ecuadorian music you can imagine. And it´s just annoying because it just repeats and repeats. Plus I had to dance to it at the wedding for what seemed like forever! Im not in a bad mood but Im not in an amazingly great one either.
I know I´ve probably already wrote this before but I really have got to get used to not having high hopes for things. For example this meeting we had last night. All these different community leaders were going to be there; Rotary Club, Red Cross, Scouts, the university and one other one that I can´t think of right now. The only people that showed up were us and the scouts..And nothing really got accomplished.
So the government has appointed this Secretaria Nacional de Gestión de Riesgos. Translated it´s like the National Secretary of risk management. From what I understand their purpose is to help train people in things like 1st aid, search adn rescue and emergency evacuation strategies. So what they´ve developed is a sort of commitee of different leaders to help train a group that can then go out and educate the community on emergency procedures.
At the start of the meeting we talked about the strengths and weaknesses of each group. then we got off subject with what was necessary to train people in; whether it be immediate emergencies or the aftermath as well. Then it was kinda like, well what is our main goal..lol. I think what they need to do is get /figure out the gruop of people they want to rain and then prioritize what are the most important things to train people in. With that they can move forward. We´ll see next meeting how it pans out and if people actually show.
I ate at the corner place before going home. It was too cold to shower. Family didn´t come home till 11:30. I was well asleep but still heard them. TEFL gets here today. Alrighty, off to work!
I know I´ve probably already wrote this before but I really have got to get used to not having high hopes for things. For example this meeting we had last night. All these different community leaders were going to be there; Rotary Club, Red Cross, Scouts, the university and one other one that I can´t think of right now. The only people that showed up were us and the scouts..And nothing really got accomplished.
So the government has appointed this Secretaria Nacional de Gestión de Riesgos. Translated it´s like the National Secretary of risk management. From what I understand their purpose is to help train people in things like 1st aid, search adn rescue and emergency evacuation strategies. So what they´ve developed is a sort of commitee of different leaders to help train a group that can then go out and educate the community on emergency procedures.
At the start of the meeting we talked about the strengths and weaknesses of each group. then we got off subject with what was necessary to train people in; whether it be immediate emergencies or the aftermath as well. Then it was kinda like, well what is our main goal..lol. I think what they need to do is get /figure out the gruop of people they want to rain and then prioritize what are the most important things to train people in. With that they can move forward. We´ll see next meeting how it pans out and if people actually show.
I ate at the corner place before going home. It was too cold to shower. Family didn´t come home till 11:30. I was well asleep but still heard them. TEFL gets here today. Alrighty, off to work!
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Wed. August 24, 2011
A new day-sunny and beautiful. I have to say the weather is quite pleasant here. And as long as I have hot water at night to shower with I don’t really mind the chilly nights. Mom called this morning, which was great! I ate breakfast and headed to the University. Again didn’t do too much this morning. I wrote the informe from the meeting yesterday. I have no idea if I did it right but at least the info of what we did is in a doc now.
I went with the Janitor, Vicente, to get bread to drink with our mid-morning tea. Came back, had tea, chatted and then ran another errand with Vicente to the mall. There was really nothing else to do, lol. I think the only thing Eulalia did all morning was organize her files..I also worked on my security forms..so many maps that I have to draw and I can’t cheat with google maps or mapquest!
I went with Eulalia to her son’s old school to get some document, but no one was there so we walked to lunch. We walked so far! I have no idea how she can walk in the heels that she wears. She raved about the lunch but it really wasn’t that special, lol. All almuerzos (lunches) here are the same here. They consist of soup, (I swear there are only like 3 different kinds people make) “el segundo” which is LOTS of white rice, some small portion of meat and then if you’re lucky you will get some type of salad. There is usually fruit for dessert. The best thing about the almuerzos are the juices; always fresh and homemade!
I came home for the afternoon because I'm going to this meeting tonight. I took a nice long nap, uploaded some pictures and ate an apple. I was able to skype with Annie for a short while till my internet ran out. So good to see her!! I'm glad my skype, even video, works out here in the living room.
The other TEFL volunteers get here tomorrow. I'm excited but not really sure how often I will even see them. Maybe I will see Sharon more because she is at the University. They are all older volunteers so I can’t really “hang out” with them like I would the younger ones but it will still be nice to be with them!
Tomorrow evening I might go over to Kim’s (fullbright volunteer who is now a professor) house to hang out with her and Adam. I'm glad I will have them close. Alright I should get going!
I went with the Janitor, Vicente, to get bread to drink with our mid-morning tea. Came back, had tea, chatted and then ran another errand with Vicente to the mall. There was really nothing else to do, lol. I think the only thing Eulalia did all morning was organize her files..I also worked on my security forms..so many maps that I have to draw and I can’t cheat with google maps or mapquest!
I went with Eulalia to her son’s old school to get some document, but no one was there so we walked to lunch. We walked so far! I have no idea how she can walk in the heels that she wears. She raved about the lunch but it really wasn’t that special, lol. All almuerzos (lunches) here are the same here. They consist of soup, (I swear there are only like 3 different kinds people make) “el segundo” which is LOTS of white rice, some small portion of meat and then if you’re lucky you will get some type of salad. There is usually fruit for dessert. The best thing about the almuerzos are the juices; always fresh and homemade!
I came home for the afternoon because I'm going to this meeting tonight. I took a nice long nap, uploaded some pictures and ate an apple. I was able to skype with Annie for a short while till my internet ran out. So good to see her!! I'm glad my skype, even video, works out here in the living room.
The other TEFL volunteers get here tomorrow. I'm excited but not really sure how often I will even see them. Maybe I will see Sharon more because she is at the University. They are all older volunteers so I can’t really “hang out” with them like I would the younger ones but it will still be nice to be with them!
Tomorrow evening I might go over to Kim’s (fullbright volunteer who is now a professor) house to hang out with her and Adam. I'm glad I will have them close. Alright I should get going!
Day 2, August 23, 2011
Tuesday August 23, 2011
Well today has turned into one of those sad exhausting nights. Arrived at the office just in time to leave for the meeting. It was a really good presentation. It’s amazing how many simple safety things the University doesn’t have! No smoke alarms, no fire extinguishers, and no evacuation/emergency exit routes. Just unbelievable. The only reason why the University is implementing this program of training individuals on prevention and attention to emergencies is because the government has mandated it. We are in 2010 and the government is just now mandating safety and security measure like this. It’s these types of things that remind me that I am indeed in a 3rd world country. It’s just amazing that the country can have so many up to date material things, but they never bothered to train people on firs aid/cpr or simple emergency materials.
The meeting went from 9:30 to non. The dean of sciencias humanas, probably one of the most important people to be there took a phone call 10 minutes into the meeting and didn’t return till the very end. How rude! We changed the date so that he could attend. I'm not sure yet how I feel about him. I went to get lunch and returned to the office around 2 to write in my journal and look over what CAT tools I might do. The janitor came in and we chatted for a bit. Eulalia finally arrived around 3:15. Of course I was going to try to get away early but she had me type up the attendance from the meeting. It didn’t take long and she fed me mandarinas so it was all right, lol. I ended up leaving around 4 and she was fine with it. She told me to come in tomorrow at 9, so that was nice. I think if I keep a good relationship established with her and work hard when I'm there I can maneuver whatever hours I want.
I left and walked home only to find that the padlock on the gate was locked and for some reason my key didn’t work. So I walked to the restaurant to get a key then walked back home to drop my stuff off. After that I had to go on a mission to find a place that copied keys. My host mom said that up from the Aki store there would be on. So I walked all the way up to the mall, nothing. There are about a million and two hardware and car repair stores but none seemed to copy keys! I stopped at the Aki to get granola and on my way back to the restaurant I asked at like every other store to see where they copied keys. They all kept sending me farther down the street but by god I found one!
I returned to the restaurant to eat. Really good soup, not so good Segundo plato. It was ram intestines. I didn’t even try to stomach it. My host dad asked if I like it and I politely said no, but that I tried it. I miss Tumbaco food that Mama Teresa made. I recharged my phone and came home. Hot shower was great! Watched some dexter and called it a night.
Well today has turned into one of those sad exhausting nights. Arrived at the office just in time to leave for the meeting. It was a really good presentation. It’s amazing how many simple safety things the University doesn’t have! No smoke alarms, no fire extinguishers, and no evacuation/emergency exit routes. Just unbelievable. The only reason why the University is implementing this program of training individuals on prevention and attention to emergencies is because the government has mandated it. We are in 2010 and the government is just now mandating safety and security measure like this. It’s these types of things that remind me that I am indeed in a 3rd world country. It’s just amazing that the country can have so many up to date material things, but they never bothered to train people on firs aid/cpr or simple emergency materials.
The meeting went from 9:30 to non. The dean of sciencias humanas, probably one of the most important people to be there took a phone call 10 minutes into the meeting and didn’t return till the very end. How rude! We changed the date so that he could attend. I'm not sure yet how I feel about him. I went to get lunch and returned to the office around 2 to write in my journal and look over what CAT tools I might do. The janitor came in and we chatted for a bit. Eulalia finally arrived around 3:15. Of course I was going to try to get away early but she had me type up the attendance from the meeting. It didn’t take long and she fed me mandarinas so it was all right, lol. I ended up leaving around 4 and she was fine with it. She told me to come in tomorrow at 9, so that was nice. I think if I keep a good relationship established with her and work hard when I'm there I can maneuver whatever hours I want.
I left and walked home only to find that the padlock on the gate was locked and for some reason my key didn’t work. So I walked to the restaurant to get a key then walked back home to drop my stuff off. After that I had to go on a mission to find a place that copied keys. My host mom said that up from the Aki store there would be on. So I walked all the way up to the mall, nothing. There are about a million and two hardware and car repair stores but none seemed to copy keys! I stopped at the Aki to get granola and on my way back to the restaurant I asked at like every other store to see where they copied keys. They all kept sending me farther down the street but by god I found one!
I returned to the restaurant to eat. Really good soup, not so good Segundo plato. It was ram intestines. I didn’t even try to stomach it. My host dad asked if I like it and I politely said no, but that I tried it. I miss Tumbaco food that Mama Teresa made. I recharged my phone and came home. Hot shower was great! Watched some dexter and called it a night.
wedding and start of ambato
wedding and start of ambato, a set on Flickr.
Here are some photos of the Wedding that took place on saturday. Along with two photos of my new room in Ambato!
Monday, August 22, 2011
DAY 1-AMBATO aug 22, 2011
Well today was the day, I embarked on my new adventure, La Universidad Tecnica de Ambato, trabajando en el bienestar estudiantil con la trabajadora social Eulalia Pina. I took my time getting up this morning and my host mom had breakfast ready around 7:45; hard boiled egg, hot chocolate, and bread with some sort of lunch meat-nothing like the fresh juice and fruit i got in Tumbaco. Hopefully I can start making my own breakfast...
I walked to the University and arrived around 8:30. At the entrance I ran into my counterpart conversing with other employees. Im so glad I took my time because it looked like she had just arrived as well. We made our way up to the office saying hi to everyone and then stopped in the doctors office to talk to the nurse and doctor. Lots of socializing. Eulalia told me how excited she was that I was finally here to help her. Then started rattling off all the things that we needed to do. Im hoping she was talking about the span of two years, but to be honest I kinda lost her at about the 4th or 5th thing. Then the janitor came in and talked with her for awhile. He's a really cool guy, and from what I got today he seems to hang out in the office when not cleaning. Eulalia then proceeded to pick up a magazine and read it..so much for getting a jump start on all of this stuff. I was totally fine with it because I was able to catch up on some e-mail and look over documents that Julie (the previous volunteer) had left me.
Some how the time passed by and about 12:30 we left for lunch. Eulalia had to buy some things and so did I (random stuff for my room) so we went downtown to get them and eat lunch. It's amazing what stores sell down here. They are cheaper in the small tiendas downtown. There are literally stores for just plastic things, haha. I got a wastebasket, bags, soap holder, and 24 hangers for like 3 dollars. We then ate at the mercado, llapingachos (potatoe tortilla), SO GOOD!!!! and this amazing juice (aguacate and Borojo).
We were back in the University by 2:30. I still had some stuff to get/errands to run so I told Eulalia that I would probably leave around 4. Once back at the office she decided to take me on a tour of the university and the different facultades (kinda like different colleges within the University). We stopped by the "human sciences" (liberal arts maybe?) and talked with the director there because they are collaborating with the Bienestar to do this training on emergency awareness; first aid, evacuation plans, and some other stuff. Apparently there was supposed to be a meeting on wed to get the project started but the director scheduled another meeting at the same time so they bumped it up to tomorrow. This didn't seem like the greatest idea because as we headed back to the office Eulalia was talking about all of the things that she needed to do in preparation for the meeting.
There were two other students that would help out and they came back to the office with us to start working. At about 4:15 she finally e-mailed me these documents that needed re-formatting. SERIOUSLY!!!!! After all morning not really doing anything Im given work to do 15 minutes after I was planning on leaving. Needless to say I stayed till 5:30 finishing it, a little frustrated and exhausted from the day in general.
I still had to go to the Megamaxi to get a couple things and figure out if my phone could be activated. They said it would be about 5 days, which didn't really matter to me because I have my other phone, so I left it in the hands of them...should be good. Then made my way to the Megamaxi. Quite the store, it sells everything; from food, to clothes..kinda like your target, or dare I say Walmart... But higher class ya know? Don't really plan on going there a lot because everything is expensive and obviously imported (mainly from the states I would say).
I finally got home around 6:30 to find my door locked! I was never given a key for it! I kid you not, EVERY single door in the house had a key in the lock just chilling except my door! So I tried each key and thank god the LAST one I tried worked. I dropped off my stuff and headed to the restaurant. Only my host dad was there. By this time Im so tired and super hungry. My host mom was nowhere to be found and all my dad was eating was popcorn. I snarfed like a whole bowl down and then had to ask if there was any other food, lol. He was like yeah....then I had to ask if I could eat, lol so awkward. It seemed like he was waiting for something...I don't know. So I ate and then we conversed for awhile.
He asked me where I would be going after three months. I told him that I would be staying in Ambato for the next two years but that I could find my own apartment if I wanted. He seemed kinda confused as to why I would want to leave living with them..ahh cultural differences. It will be interesting to see how this relationship with the family develops over these three months. But I really can't imagine I'll want to stay. The only thing that would make me stay a bit more is if I don't get the time to look for a place. I ended up leaving and coming back to the house to shower and put the rest of my stuff in order.
Oh what a day. For the most part it was really good, just really intense with all these things going on. Im sure that's not what everyday is going to be like, with time things will calm down I'm sure. Im thinking I deserve a little Dexter. I can only imagine what the rest of the week will bring! Thank god I have both days of the weekend off!
Thanks for reading!
much love,
rach
I walked to the University and arrived around 8:30. At the entrance I ran into my counterpart conversing with other employees. Im so glad I took my time because it looked like she had just arrived as well. We made our way up to the office saying hi to everyone and then stopped in the doctors office to talk to the nurse and doctor. Lots of socializing. Eulalia told me how excited she was that I was finally here to help her. Then started rattling off all the things that we needed to do. Im hoping she was talking about the span of two years, but to be honest I kinda lost her at about the 4th or 5th thing. Then the janitor came in and talked with her for awhile. He's a really cool guy, and from what I got today he seems to hang out in the office when not cleaning. Eulalia then proceeded to pick up a magazine and read it..so much for getting a jump start on all of this stuff. I was totally fine with it because I was able to catch up on some e-mail and look over documents that Julie (the previous volunteer) had left me.
Some how the time passed by and about 12:30 we left for lunch. Eulalia had to buy some things and so did I (random stuff for my room) so we went downtown to get them and eat lunch. It's amazing what stores sell down here. They are cheaper in the small tiendas downtown. There are literally stores for just plastic things, haha. I got a wastebasket, bags, soap holder, and 24 hangers for like 3 dollars. We then ate at the mercado, llapingachos (potatoe tortilla), SO GOOD!!!! and this amazing juice (aguacate and Borojo).
We were back in the University by 2:30. I still had some stuff to get/errands to run so I told Eulalia that I would probably leave around 4. Once back at the office she decided to take me on a tour of the university and the different facultades (kinda like different colleges within the University). We stopped by the "human sciences" (liberal arts maybe?) and talked with the director there because they are collaborating with the Bienestar to do this training on emergency awareness; first aid, evacuation plans, and some other stuff. Apparently there was supposed to be a meeting on wed to get the project started but the director scheduled another meeting at the same time so they bumped it up to tomorrow. This didn't seem like the greatest idea because as we headed back to the office Eulalia was talking about all of the things that she needed to do in preparation for the meeting.
There were two other students that would help out and they came back to the office with us to start working. At about 4:15 she finally e-mailed me these documents that needed re-formatting. SERIOUSLY!!!!! After all morning not really doing anything Im given work to do 15 minutes after I was planning on leaving. Needless to say I stayed till 5:30 finishing it, a little frustrated and exhausted from the day in general.
I still had to go to the Megamaxi to get a couple things and figure out if my phone could be activated. They said it would be about 5 days, which didn't really matter to me because I have my other phone, so I left it in the hands of them...should be good. Then made my way to the Megamaxi. Quite the store, it sells everything; from food, to clothes..kinda like your target, or dare I say Walmart... But higher class ya know? Don't really plan on going there a lot because everything is expensive and obviously imported (mainly from the states I would say).
I finally got home around 6:30 to find my door locked! I was never given a key for it! I kid you not, EVERY single door in the house had a key in the lock just chilling except my door! So I tried each key and thank god the LAST one I tried worked. I dropped off my stuff and headed to the restaurant. Only my host dad was there. By this time Im so tired and super hungry. My host mom was nowhere to be found and all my dad was eating was popcorn. I snarfed like a whole bowl down and then had to ask if there was any other food, lol. He was like yeah....then I had to ask if I could eat, lol so awkward. It seemed like he was waiting for something...I don't know. So I ate and then we conversed for awhile.
He asked me where I would be going after three months. I told him that I would be staying in Ambato for the next two years but that I could find my own apartment if I wanted. He seemed kinda confused as to why I would want to leave living with them..ahh cultural differences. It will be interesting to see how this relationship with the family develops over these three months. But I really can't imagine I'll want to stay. The only thing that would make me stay a bit more is if I don't get the time to look for a place. I ended up leaving and coming back to the house to shower and put the rest of my stuff in order.
Oh what a day. For the most part it was really good, just really intense with all these things going on. Im sure that's not what everyday is going to be like, with time things will calm down I'm sure. Im thinking I deserve a little Dexter. I can only imagine what the rest of the week will bring! Thank god I have both days of the weekend off!
Thanks for reading!
much love,
rach
Saying goodbye..Sunday August 21, 2011
Well today was a lot harder than I thought it would be. I had talked with Vani's (my host brothers wife) family to set up a time for them to pick me up at the house and drop me off in Ambato on their way to Guaranda. We had said around 9. I woke up at 7:30 to get the last of my stuff packed up. My host mom came in to say good morning and wondered if I wanted to go to the market with them. They usually go at like 6 AM but had slept in from the night before. I told them that I probably couldn't because I wouldn't be back in time to leave, but she said that everyone was coming over for breakfast, perfect!
I went to the market one last time and it finally hit me that I would be leaving. I don't know what it was but the whole time I was trying to fight back tears. We got back to the house and I went to my room to pack and couldn't help but cry while I finished shoving the last of my stuff in a backpack. Cesar, the cook came up to see if I needed help and saw me crying and gave me a big hug! He's such a sweetheart! I tried to pull myself together when I went down to breakfast but couldn't do it. Of course they were like, "are you crying?" (well duh!) I told them yes, that I would miss them all very much. And of course they were all sympathetic which made me cry even more..We had a nice breakfast and I said my goodbyes. Mama Teresa started crying when we hugged goodbye. I gave them a card and had put some pictures together from my time with them. I hope they enjoy them.
It turns out that Sol and Amelia (nieces) were going to spend some time with their grandparents, so they were in the truck all the way to Ambato..quite the trip. We made a pit stop in Quito and had lunch with a long lost high school friend. I ate cow tongue..not that bad but Im glad I didn't know what it was till after I ate it!! We finally arrived in Ambato around 5:00. They dropped me off at the house and everything, such a kind family! Although Im pretty sure they were trying to set me up with their son the whole way, he was the one driving us, lol. We exchanged information and Im sure I will be seeing them these two years that Im here. Even though I just met them on saturday for the wedding, they felt like family, so caring.
I unpacked for the most part and went in search of my family because they weren't home when I arrived. I ran into them at the pharmacy on my way to the restaurant. My host mom gave me a really big hug! We walked back to the house and had dinner, hot chocolate, and bread, yum...lol. Time for sleep, big day tomorrow!!
peace
I went to the market one last time and it finally hit me that I would be leaving. I don't know what it was but the whole time I was trying to fight back tears. We got back to the house and I went to my room to pack and couldn't help but cry while I finished shoving the last of my stuff in a backpack. Cesar, the cook came up to see if I needed help and saw me crying and gave me a big hug! He's such a sweetheart! I tried to pull myself together when I went down to breakfast but couldn't do it. Of course they were like, "are you crying?" (well duh!) I told them yes, that I would miss them all very much. And of course they were all sympathetic which made me cry even more..We had a nice breakfast and I said my goodbyes. Mama Teresa started crying when we hugged goodbye. I gave them a card and had put some pictures together from my time with them. I hope they enjoy them.
It turns out that Sol and Amelia (nieces) were going to spend some time with their grandparents, so they were in the truck all the way to Ambato..quite the trip. We made a pit stop in Quito and had lunch with a long lost high school friend. I ate cow tongue..not that bad but Im glad I didn't know what it was till after I ate it!! We finally arrived in Ambato around 5:00. They dropped me off at the house and everything, such a kind family! Although Im pretty sure they were trying to set me up with their son the whole way, he was the one driving us, lol. We exchanged information and Im sure I will be seeing them these two years that Im here. Even though I just met them on saturday for the wedding, they felt like family, so caring.
I unpacked for the most part and went in search of my family because they weren't home when I arrived. I ran into them at the pharmacy on my way to the restaurant. My host mom gave me a really big hug! We walked back to the house and had dinner, hot chocolate, and bread, yum...lol. Time for sleep, big day tomorrow!!
peace
Wedding! Saturday August 20, 2011
So the ceremony was to start at noon. We left the house at approx 12:45. Some family members came to the house before hand with the flower girls and took pictures. We were waiting on my host mom to bring something for my sister. Then there weren´t enough cars so the photographer, my host mom and dad and I took a taxi to Checa, where the wedding was to take place. It´s about 45 minutes from Tumbaco.
We arrived to this cute little house that had a soccer field, basketball court, capilla (chapel) and a grassy area where the tent for the reception was set up. My sister called us on the way and told me to wait and not go sit down because I would be entering with someone... The chapel was very small and all the family lined up outside before the bride entered. This left the chapel pretty much empty. There was space for about 60ish people. Lucy finally arrived around 1:15 (at this point there were still people arriving to the ceremony, gotta love ecuadorian time, lol). I ended up walking in with her best friend..kind of like a bridesmaid..not really sure. There was this man that presented the groom´s family and then the bride´s family before they walked up and entered the chapel.
At the alter stood the bride and groom, their parents, and then the padrinos (god parents) I sat in the front row with this friend, Pato (host brother) and wife. The ceremony went pretty fast. Clearly there had not been any dress rehearsal but surprisingly were only a few hiccups. Right after the wedding we proceeded to the reception that was "next door"
A tent was set up with about 8-9 tables seating 8 people each. Not all the of the tables were filled. The bride and groom entered, everyone said their speeches and then they proceeded to call all the singles ladies up to the dance floor. The groom then took the garters (yes more than one, 5 in total) off the brides leg. Each color represented a question about the bride. After all the questions were answered the one´s that won a garder stood to the side and the single men were called to the floor. They were asked the same questions, only this time about the groom. The guys that answered the questions correctly about the groom matched up with the ladies that had answered the questions about the bride correct...And then the men put the garters on the women, it was kinda weird, lol Then instead of throwing the bouquet of flowers she just gave them to her best friend. Just a couple differences.
The food was served and people danced, then after awhile we had cake, some type of nut cake with a very very sweet sugary frosting. I ended up leaving with Jose Luis at 9 because I was beat. He had someone come pick him up and drive which was good because like most others at the wedding the whiskey had gotten the best of them! We went to Cumbaya and had sushi and then I went home and slept! Overall it was a really fun wedding and I really bonded with Lucy and her husband Jorge, so sad I had to say goodbye the next morning.
Saturday August 20, 2011
So after writing yesterday I went down and helped peel garlic and snap beans. All of the food had to be cooked and the cooks didn´t arrive till almost 7 PM! I skyped with Dan, Mike and Bri, my roommates from the twin cities for a bit and then went to find food because my family hadn´t returned. Luckily there was fried rice to eat!
Most of the fam returned around 8:30. Apparently there was still al ot to be done? It sounded like Lucy and Jorge were at the site, revising everything and realized that there were things missing...Not really sure why they are just doing it now, the night before. Everyone´s stress levels are high, that is clear. I just feel bad for my host mom because she is still recovering from her paralysis in the face adn it´s clear she has a lot of responsibility in the wedding.
....
I woke up this morning to voices at 4 A! I think it must have been the cooks leaving. Then there was a bunch of what sounded like arguing at 5ish. I showered at 6:30. I think Lucy is supposed to be getting ready right about now. Im not really sure what´s going on for breakfast. I hope we have it..Im also not really sure if Im supposed to help with anything but I feel like maybe I should just keep out of everyone´s way. I told them to let me know if anything needed to be done and so far I´ve helped out with some of the food and gave my host dad some duck tape to secure the wiskey bottles in boxes, lol.
Im so interested to see how this wedding goes...
Most of the fam returned around 8:30. Apparently there was still al ot to be done? It sounded like Lucy and Jorge were at the site, revising everything and realized that there were things missing...Not really sure why they are just doing it now, the night before. Everyone´s stress levels are high, that is clear. I just feel bad for my host mom because she is still recovering from her paralysis in the face adn it´s clear she has a lot of responsibility in the wedding.
....
I woke up this morning to voices at 4 A! I think it must have been the cooks leaving. Then there was a bunch of what sounded like arguing at 5ish. I showered at 6:30. I think Lucy is supposed to be getting ready right about now. Im not really sure what´s going on for breakfast. I hope we have it..Im also not really sure if Im supposed to help with anything but I feel like maybe I should just keep out of everyone´s way. I told them to let me know if anything needed to be done and so far I´ve helped out with some of the food and gave my host dad some duck tape to secure the wiskey bottles in boxes, lol.
Im so interested to see how this wedding goes...
Friday, August 18, 2011
So I´ve been rejected twice from getting my blackberry unblocked to get moviestar on it. Well not quite rejected but I was sent from Ventura mall in Tumbaco to cumbaya and from there to Quito. I didn´t really want to go all the way to Quito, too long of a bus ride. Maybe this is a sign. The only thing is, my mind is already made up and Im getting moviestar because everyone at my site has it and it´s super expensive for Claro and Moviestar to talk to each other. I´ll probably just wait till Ambato.
Had breakfast with the family this morning and then headed to the mall to get the pictures and the dress. Mall doesn´t open till 10 AM, I know that noe, after waiting almost 45 minutes. Oh Ventura mall, how I won´t miss you and your power outages and late opening hours! Needless to say I got the dress and pictures, yay! Came back home and started packing. Ruth and I skyped at noon. Really good to hear how she is doing. I was starving by the end of the convo, so I went downstairs to the restaurant to eat. So convenient to be able to go downstairs and right away be served food! I sat with Lucy, Jorge and this other guy. He was kinda weird, I think has something to do with the wedding..not really sure, He was nice though.
Came back upstairs and somehow finished packing. Everything fit, for the most part at least. I even got my garden boots in there! You would be proud of my packing skills dad. I swept the floor and now everything looks so nice and clean. I have no idea how my desk got so cluttered, but now you can actually see the desk, lol. I decided to go into Cumbaya and that´s where they told me to go into Quito to get the phone activated. I got right back on the bus and headed home. Just mised the rain! Apparently the rainy season isn´t supposed to start till Sept/Oct but climates are clearly changing. It´s kinda nice though because it´s really sunny and warm until like 4ish and then it rains. I wonder how long the rainy season will last?
So Im working on uploading picutres to a Fickr account. I think sooner or later I can link it to my blog. For those of you who don´t have facebook, now can look at my ecuador pictures! Andres wants to go out tonight but I don´t think I want to. Im kinda tired, plus I have no idea what kinda of wedding event are going on..Although from what I´ve gathered, I think there´s just stuff going on tomorrow.
I really hope I can get a ride Sunday with family to Ambato. If not it´s going to be tricking. The days are winding down here in Tumbaco. Not really sure how I feel. I called my counterpart and family. Family didn´t answer but my counterpart did and she´s anxious for me to get there.
Toodles!
Had breakfast with the family this morning and then headed to the mall to get the pictures and the dress. Mall doesn´t open till 10 AM, I know that noe, after waiting almost 45 minutes. Oh Ventura mall, how I won´t miss you and your power outages and late opening hours! Needless to say I got the dress and pictures, yay! Came back home and started packing. Ruth and I skyped at noon. Really good to hear how she is doing. I was starving by the end of the convo, so I went downstairs to the restaurant to eat. So convenient to be able to go downstairs and right away be served food! I sat with Lucy, Jorge and this other guy. He was kinda weird, I think has something to do with the wedding..not really sure, He was nice though.
Came back upstairs and somehow finished packing. Everything fit, for the most part at least. I even got my garden boots in there! You would be proud of my packing skills dad. I swept the floor and now everything looks so nice and clean. I have no idea how my desk got so cluttered, but now you can actually see the desk, lol. I decided to go into Cumbaya and that´s where they told me to go into Quito to get the phone activated. I got right back on the bus and headed home. Just mised the rain! Apparently the rainy season isn´t supposed to start till Sept/Oct but climates are clearly changing. It´s kinda nice though because it´s really sunny and warm until like 4ish and then it rains. I wonder how long the rainy season will last?
So Im working on uploading picutres to a Fickr account. I think sooner or later I can link it to my blog. For those of you who don´t have facebook, now can look at my ecuador pictures! Andres wants to go out tonight but I don´t think I want to. Im kinda tired, plus I have no idea what kinda of wedding event are going on..Although from what I´ve gathered, I think there´s just stuff going on tomorrow.
I really hope I can get a ride Sunday with family to Ambato. If not it´s going to be tricking. The days are winding down here in Tumbaco. Not really sure how I feel. I called my counterpart and family. Family didn´t answer but my counterpart did and she´s anxious for me to get there.
Toodles!
Friday, August 19, 2011
Rachel's photostream
Rachbs' photostream on Flickr.
Here is a small collage of photos over the 11 weeks I was in Tumbaco
Thursday, August 18, 2011
And so it begins! Yesterday we had our swearing in ceremony. It took place in the training center. Really sunny which meant really hot. Janett, training manager said a few words and then Parmer, country director spoke. Sharon/Joey spoke from the TEFL group, Orrin spoke from our group and Ben spoke from youth and families. All the speeches were really great. Then came the big moment..actually taking the vow-repeating after the rep for the ambassador. Well he must not have experience with swearing people in because he didn't have us repeat the whole phrase! We did raise our right hands and state our names, lol.
There were little snacks afterwards. VAC-like the student congress of PC was going ot feed us but changed it to just an ice cream social. Rebekah, Nick and I went to Cumbaya to get Shawarma then headed back for the ice cream. We played kickball and got to know some of the VAC volunteers better. Later in the evening everyone met in Tumbaco at one of the restaurants/bar and said our goodbyes. Then later some of us went into Cumbaya for a bit..
......
Today was a sort of productive day. I woke up at the normal time, had breakfast and got my laundry all gathered up. I dropped it off at the laundry mat and stopped by the restaurant to say hi. My host dad had left early in the morning to get there and I hadn't seen them since yesterday afternoon because I was out most of the evening.
After that I headed to Quito to meet with Emilia from CIMAS; my college study abroad program. The semester after our group, they switched buildings and boy is it nice! The view is amazing, overlooking Quito. Kind of far North, not super central like ours was but still neat. I had a really good convo with Emilia and talked to another student who is just finishing a med program through CIMAS-from minneapolis actually.
Afterwards I stopped by Quicentro to look for a dress. Didn't ahve much luck. I found one but wanted to wait and see what I could find at Ventura mall in Tumbaco. I came back and ate at the restaurant then texted Portia to see if she had arrived in Ibarra yet. Apparently her group was about to meet in the park to leave. So I headed over and said one last good-bye. It then started to rain, so I waited it out and grabbed my clothes.
Dropped off the clothes and headed to Ventura Mall. I also put together some photos to give to my host family and for me to keep. I went on the search for a dress and actually found one! I wanted to make sure the shoes matched so I asked her to hold it for me and she said she couldn't...lets hope it's there tomorrow. I then proceeded to get the pictures developed. I should've done that 1st because they were going to take a 1/2 hour to develop. So I wondered around the mall a bit and all of a sudden a huge Thunderstorm came and knocked out the power twice! I returned after the 1/2 hour to get the photos but because the power went out they weren't able to get all the photos done and said to come back in 10 minutes.
15 minutes later they still werent ready, so I said I would come back the next day. By this time I was really frustrated and had to walk home in the rain. Tomorrow Im getting the dress and pictures and hopefully starting to pack!!! Wish me luck!
There were little snacks afterwards. VAC-like the student congress of PC was going ot feed us but changed it to just an ice cream social. Rebekah, Nick and I went to Cumbaya to get Shawarma then headed back for the ice cream. We played kickball and got to know some of the VAC volunteers better. Later in the evening everyone met in Tumbaco at one of the restaurants/bar and said our goodbyes. Then later some of us went into Cumbaya for a bit..
......
Today was a sort of productive day. I woke up at the normal time, had breakfast and got my laundry all gathered up. I dropped it off at the laundry mat and stopped by the restaurant to say hi. My host dad had left early in the morning to get there and I hadn't seen them since yesterday afternoon because I was out most of the evening.
After that I headed to Quito to meet with Emilia from CIMAS; my college study abroad program. The semester after our group, they switched buildings and boy is it nice! The view is amazing, overlooking Quito. Kind of far North, not super central like ours was but still neat. I had a really good convo with Emilia and talked to another student who is just finishing a med program through CIMAS-from minneapolis actually.
Afterwards I stopped by Quicentro to look for a dress. Didn't ahve much luck. I found one but wanted to wait and see what I could find at Ventura mall in Tumbaco. I came back and ate at the restaurant then texted Portia to see if she had arrived in Ibarra yet. Apparently her group was about to meet in the park to leave. So I headed over and said one last good-bye. It then started to rain, so I waited it out and grabbed my clothes.
Dropped off the clothes and headed to Ventura Mall. I also put together some photos to give to my host family and for me to keep. I went on the search for a dress and actually found one! I wanted to make sure the shoes matched so I asked her to hold it for me and she said she couldn't...lets hope it's there tomorrow. I then proceeded to get the pictures developed. I should've done that 1st because they were going to take a 1/2 hour to develop. So I wondered around the mall a bit and all of a sudden a huge Thunderstorm came and knocked out the power twice! I returned after the 1/2 hour to get the photos but because the power went out they weren't able to get all the photos done and said to come back in 10 minutes.
15 minutes later they still werent ready, so I said I would come back the next day. By this time I was really frustrated and had to walk home in the rain. Tomorrow Im getting the dress and pictures and hopefully starting to pack!!! Wish me luck!
Tuesday August 16, 2011
Tomorrow at this time I will be an official PC volunteer, crazy... Today could've been a lot better than was planned. We had some people form the USAID come talk to us about their work. Sounds like some neat projects but kinda ironic that they are investing the most money in countries like Iraq, and Afghanistan, where we have gone in and initially destroyed through wars..
The whole afternoon we were supposed to go into Quito and tour the historical district. The USAID presentation went later than expected so we didn't get into Quito till noon. They gave us an hour for lunch and then we only had 2 hours to do stuff around the city.
So we rushed through a really neat museum and then went to the Basilica. Some of us went to the top, it was a really awesome view of Quito. A lot of us wanted to stay in Quito but they made us go back to Tumbaco in the same busetas that had brought us there earlier.
Tom, Portia, Rebekah and I went to Ventura Mall to get some food and ice cream. We then went our separate ways and I came home to watch Sherlock Holmes. I've got a bunch of movies and music, although they all won't play..hmm
Big day tomorrow!
The whole afternoon we were supposed to go into Quito and tour the historical district. The USAID presentation went later than expected so we didn't get into Quito till noon. They gave us an hour for lunch and then we only had 2 hours to do stuff around the city.
So we rushed through a really neat museum and then went to the Basilica. Some of us went to the top, it was a really awesome view of Quito. A lot of us wanted to stay in Quito but they made us go back to Tumbaco in the same busetas that had brought us there earlier.
Tom, Portia, Rebekah and I went to Ventura Mall to get some food and ice cream. We then went our separate ways and I came home to watch Sherlock Holmes. I've got a bunch of movies and music, although they all won't play..hmm
Big day tomorrow!
Monday, August 15, 2011
Monday August 15, 2011
To wrap up the end of the trip, Sunday morning Renee, Portia and I hiked to a waterfall! It’s the dry season so the river and waterfall itself were low. It was still really pretty and we were able to swim some. We got there early so by the time we made our way back, a ton of people were making their way to the waterfall.
So glad we got up early to do the hike because then we were able to get into Tena a little early. We walked down to the Parque Amazonico. Unfortunetly the bridge that was washed out 2 years ago by the flood still hasn’t been re-built. I'm not really sure what this means for the park but I asked someone about it and they said it would be re-done but who knows when… We ate, got ice cream and then made our way to the bus to meet up with the rest of the group. I really wanted to walk over to my house but Portia and Rene were with me and I didn’t want to drag them all over town. Before the bus left, I walked up to the hospital, pretty deserted on a Sunday and doesn’t look like it’s changed much.
We arrived in Tumbaco around 6 PM. The family arrived shortly after me. Apparently they were in Quito at the doctor because mama Teresa had some problem where part of her face became numb/paralyzed. I guess it wasn’t a stroke but rather her body was super stressed and that’s how her body reacted to the stress. She has to take it easy and do these different injections but should be better within the next couple weeks.
Today was a rather blah day at the center. It’s clear everyone is ready to be done. Some people from the Embassy came to talk to us about US/Ecuador relations and different info on Ecuador. We got out early for lunch so Portia Rebekah, Tom, Katie and I went to Tumbaco to eat. When we got back there was a presentation on the library/resources PC is developing, lots of books on all sorts of things, it’s pretty awesome!
The rest of the afternoon TEFL gave us presentations on different “quick-tips” for teaching. They did classroom management, curriculum planning and some games. I thought it was really informative and interesting. We then had our last health overview session.
Today a bunch of people brought external hard drives to exchange music/movies. I gave mine to Tom so I hope he gives me some good stuff! After training we went to Cumbaya. I left early so I could come home and eat with the family but mama Teresa was the only one home because the rest were looking at suits for the wedding. Alright starting the 4th season of Dexter, life is so much better with him in it, lol
Night
Saturday August 13, 2911
So breakfast was AMAZING this morning! Fruit, bread, eggs, tea, with all sorts of jam. We got to the guide place by 8:30 but didn’t leave till 9ish. Our main mode of transportation was a motored canoe. We started off with a Selva walk-hike through the jungle. It was cool. Lunch was after and really good! We had some time to swim in the river. We mainly traveled up and down the rio Napo, which eventually feeds into the Amazon River! The river was super low so there was no way to get to the museum. We went to this exotic animal rescue center. To end we went to a kichwa tourism community. They danced for us and showed us how Chicha-traditional drink- was made. There were also Shaman (Natural healer) who was doing limpiezas del cuerpo-mal aire, kinda like body cleansing with natural leaves and smoke.
We arrived in town around 6 and are now back at the hotel. Probably go get some dinner and then play more cards. Heading back to tomorrow. I’d like to go into Tena and check out some places.
August 12, 2011
So I'm pretty much in paradise right now. Woke up at 5, got to the bus stop by 6 AM to catch the bus that didn’t arrive till almost 7. The trip itself went pretty fast. I slept most of the time. We arrived in Tena at 10:30ish. So weird to be back. The city from what I’ve seen hasn’t changed too much. Although I would like to go back and explore some on my own. I want to check out the park (parque amazonico where jordan worked)and go see the hospital.
The “hotel” that we are staying in is to die for. $18/night which is kinda steep but still good price with breakfast. There is a pool and is right on the river. It’s about 10 minute walk from the town, which is really cute. There is a bunch of stuff like hikes, native villages to visit and water excursions. I think later this afternoon we will take a boat up river to see an animal preserve. The weather is great but very hot. Feels and looks like the jungle. I'm gonna hop in the pool but I’l write more later. Sharon, Meredith, Kim, Portia, and Renee are on the trip, along with myself.
...
Hard to believe the day is already over. The rest of yesterday was pretty relaxing. I went in the pool after writing. The water was so nice in combination with the sun. Although it was hard to manuver with part of my already brunt body, lol. But I had a ton of sunblock on, don't worry mom!
Renee and Kim returned from Tena (they had gone to get cash) and we went into town to get dinner. Renee, Kim Portia and I found a place for $2.25. Before dinner we went to this guide place where Sharon and Meredith were going to do a $75/day excursion of hiking, animal rescue and museum. When we arrived they said the prices had dropped to $45. The rest of us signed up because we figured it was a pretty good deal for a whole day of activities plus lunch.
Dinner was alright, my chicken didn’t have a lot of meat but what can you expect for 2 dollars, lol. We wandered around the city looking for scooped ice cream but had to settle for packaged ice cream. We walked across the bridge that was all lit up, really pretty. Then we sat by the water for a bit. Portia and I decided we were still hungry and go salchipapas; hot dog/French fries. All we really wanted was the potatoes.
We headed back and I showered, then Kim, Renee, Sharon and I played some Euker. We all went to bed early.
Thurs August 11, 2011
Yesterday was Independence Day for Ecuador. Not sure if I mentioned it or not. The president “moved” the holiday to Friday so that the weekend could be extended. No one really talked about it or did anything special for it, which seemed kinda odd because Ecuadorians are so orgulloso (proud) of everything else in their country, you’d think they would want to celebrate Indepencence day. Maybe more will be going on this weekend.
Family day was today. It went fairly well I would say. We spent the morning doing the last of our tec stuff. Bibi and Lila (our health PCVL) talked to us about the quarterly progress reports we have to do. They seem really intense with many details but are important for feedback to Washington.
Lila seems really cool! The PCVL (PC volunteer leader) are volunteers that have decided to stay on a 3rd year and support the new volunteers at their sites or to just be there for any other moral support that’s needed. At the end we put paper on everyone’s back and went around writing something positive about that person.
The rest of the morning was dedicated to getting ready for family day. I forgot to say earlier how I woke up at 6 AM to make guac. It turned out really good! When Cesar (the cook) came later he helped me chop the onion. It was super strong and made both of us cry, lol
We did these different activities; tye-die, bracelet making and putting our hand prints on the world map that youth and families painted. People started showing up around 1:30, even tho the food wasn’t supposed to get there till 2. We had a ton of different food that people brought and then had chicken ordered in. My family didn’t show up till 3 and the only thing that was left was chicken! Ecuadorians max when it comes to potlucks. Now we know to serve them and not let them serve themselves. Some families made sperarate dessert plates just to take home! I barely got dessert.
The dance and theatre taller did on indigenous dance and then presented Romeo and Juliet..really funny. There was face painting and a couple piñatas. Then a person from each group said a little something and we gave them the family foto with the frame. Afterwards there was futbol and basketball. I showed Lucy the huertos and Sol and Amelia played on the playground equipment.
We went home around 5 and at about 6 I left to go to Cumbaya. Tom, Portia, Rebekah, Chloe, Jasmine, Alex A. and Katie came too. Tom, Portia and I got Mexican food and met up with everyone at the shawarma place after. It was pretty much our last night together-for the weekends because Portia and I are leaving for the oriente/selva/jungle tomorrow. I would’ve liked to go out but I have to wake up at 5 so there was no way. Portia and I took a taxi back around 9 and now I gotta pack. We leave for Misahualli tomorrow, close to Tena. I can’t believe I’ll be going back.
Night
Aug 10, 2011
Tomorrow is family day! I'm going to make guacamole tomorrow, I hope it turns out okay. We are expected to have around 300 people show up. Today was good. In the morning we “liquidated” our community banks. After putting some money towards piñata commitee for tomorrow and then some towards a gift for PC staff we got back a whopping $1.62.
Our Spanish class decided to make ceviche de pollo for class since it was the last one. My stomach wasn’t feeling the greatest so I helped cook some, then went to a hammock to write dad a letter. A got my third letter from him today and a package from Hannah! Don't worry I plan on writing everyone back that has written me, just may take some time! The ceviche turned out to be quite scrumptious. We even made brownies! After training a few of us had to go to te Santa Maria and get stuff (mainly food) to make for family day. I actually found everything at smaller vegetable and fruit stores than at the super market. Way more cheaper and supporting local farmers! I then came home, ate and skyped with fam.
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
August 9, 2011
A week from today we will be sworn in as official Peace Corps Volunteers! Today we had our 2nd to last tech session. We talked for a little about sites and any questions/concerns we still had. Then played the card game cuarenta (40). At 11 we went to go harvest our vegetables from the garden. The lechuga (lettuce), remolacha (beets) and rabano (radishes) were all ready, for the most part. After harvesting we cleaned and chopped and made a lovely salad. Chloe took the tops of the beets (the leaf part) and cooked them with some onion and garlic. They also roasted/baked some of the beets, which were quite tasty.
We ate our left over pizza with the salad and Portia, Tom Rebekah and I watched the movie Booty call, so funny, gotta love the 90’s! In the afternoon, Parmer (country director) and Dana (asst director) came to talk to us about the Policy book. We talked about housing, traveling and vacation policies. I don’t know if I mentioned this or not but we are the last group that has the option to live on our own after the 1st 3-6 months in site. Apparently Washington has mandated this for several other Latin American countries. They’re not sure if it will go worldwide or not. The vacation days policy is kinda confusing but essentially I get 2 days/month and can save and use them up. We also get personal days. No more than 25 days/month are to be used at once.
After training a bunch of us played soccer. The 1st time in years that I’ve played! It was really fun but oh so tiring. Again, not sure if it was the altitude or being out of shape.lol. The burning of garbage close to the field didn’t help. Our team lost but it was still really fun to get out and play.
I went straight to the mall to get my family photo printed then arrived home about 7:30. Papa Patricio was home. The one night I come home starving and there’s no food! So I showered and ate some crackers with PB. I was starting to think I might fall asleep before Mama Teresa and Lucy arrived home. They arrived around 9 pm
I guess they were in Cumbaya in search of a “Madrina”; Lucy needs one for her confirmation this weekend. So they were at a family member’s house. Lucy isn’t confirmed and can’t technically get married by the Catholic church until she is so I guess she’s doing crash courses or something since the wedding is in like a week and a half…lol..oh the catholics..
My host sister Anita from Mexico skyped me!! I was able to see the whole family and talk with them for a bit. Soo good to see them and hear how they are doing. Anita will be leaving for a Rotary Exchange Year in Brazil next week. They want me to visit and I really wish I could. Made me kinda miss Mexico.
So I ended up eating dinner, I was the only one but Mama Teresa stayed and talked with me. We had an interesting conversation about divorce and some of the family dynamics. My host brother is divorced and re-married but has a son with the 1st woman. We talked about how the ex isn’t the greatest example for Arian but that the step-mom doesn’t seem to get along super well with him either. The kid is such a sweat heart and I can only imagine what type of counseling he’s gong to need and most likely not get when he’s older. Plus Pato (host brother) and current wife are going to have their 3rd child so I guess there is some pressure about finding a bigger place and all that jazz. Ok calling it a night.
Chao
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
August 8, 2011
Monday Monday Monday. Back to training. So yesterday Portia, Kris and I worked on our project. Afterwards my host family picked me up to go get ice cream. We went to the mall, ate ice cream and then walked around a bit because my host mom had to get shoes for the wedding. By the time we were done with that it was time to eat dinner so we stayed at the mall and ate KFC.
I know, I'm embarrassed to even say it. I can’t remember the last time I had KFC. I really feel like I haven’t been eating the greatest lately and I haven’t been working out at all..not happy about that, but the change can only come from me. Once I start working out it won’t be that much of a problem. It’s just the starting that’s hard.
Today went by pretty fast. We had Spanish in the morning and then this questionnaire about being ready to serve. It was pretty straight forward. The lady that does our lunch had a sick family member so she couldn’t make food..We ordered Pizza. Pizza here isn’t really made with sauce. It was okay.
The rest of the afternoon was presentations. We went 1st and did really well! Everyone did a great job with some good ideas. Came home and told my family about our family appreciation day on Thursday, it sounds like they can come so that’s good! We took a family photo, which we will be framing and giving to them as a thank you I’ll have to get it printed tomorrow.
All right super tired, night
Sunday Aug 7, 2011
So the rest of yesterday was good. I skyped with SisBros. I was able to see everyone on the camera for a bit and that was really nice! I left to eat at the restaurant and then met Portia and Rebekah at the Santa Maria to go to Quito. We went to Quicentro for them to get food. I forgot how nice Quicentro is. The food court is just like the U.S. The stores are pretty much the same just super expensive because most everything is imported.
We made our way to the teleferico in taxi. There’s a small theme park and you have to walk a little ways to get to the lift. Boy can you feel the altitude! We were so out of breath..maybe it’s cuz we’re out of shape, lol We were able to pay the Ecuadorian price because we have something equivalent to and Ecuadorian i.d. So instead of paying $9 we paid $4.50. The lift took about 10 minutes and the view from the top was absolutely breath taking. From where we arrived there was a path to walk even farther. It was also FREEZING. We took some pictures-it was pretty clear so 3 different snow covered volcano were quite visible.
After about 45 minutes we made our way back down the volcano. All in all we were up over 4,100 meters, which I believe, is over 13,000 feet. The volcano Pichincha is no longer active. We went back to Quicentro so Rebekah could buy an Internet stick. The people are so friendly at Claro, even though their programs are all messed up, lol We were going to go to a movie but Tom said there was stuff going on in the park so we decided to check it out. There was a stage but it was in the middle of some skit, so we went to find food.
Afterwards we went to the movie store. $1.50 for movies, so crazy! I bought three: little miss sunshine, 7 almas and sin limites, don’t remember the names in English. Then Tom called so we went to this little restaurant where some other volunteers were. Some of us then decided to go to see Captain America. It was in 3-D, which if I would’ve known that before going I wouldn’t have gone. It was all right. One of the guys wanted to stay all the way through the credits to see previews for the next movie that would follow it. So many credits but at last we got a sneak peak of what’s to come for the next movie. All right time to work on our presentation. Chao!
Saturday, August 6, 2011
Saturday Aug 6 2011
I can’t believe the first week of August is already almost over. I have 2 weeks left in Tumbaco. Mixed feelings really. I'm ready to start work and get to know/live in Ambato but I'm really going to miss the other volunteers. Skyping with SisBros today! Kinda sad I can’t be there. This will be the 2nd time in 22 years that I haven’t gone to Wesley woods, and I won’t be back for another 2 years! Afterwards I will take my laundry to get washed, eat at the restaurant and then some of us are going to the teleferico, FINALLY! This has been something I’ve wanted to do since I lived here over two years ago, lol
Who knows what the rest of the weekend will bring. Tomorrow we have to work on our project for Monday’s presentation. Starting August 22nd I will begin to track all my time that I spend on buses. I'm interested to see how many hours within these next two years I will spend on buses! Any guesses on how many hours it will be???
Who knows what the rest of the weekend will bring. Tomorrow we have to work on our project for Monday’s presentation. Starting August 22nd I will begin to track all my time that I spend on buses. I'm interested to see how many hours within these next two years I will spend on buses! Any guesses on how many hours it will be???
Friday August 5, 2011
Pretty uneventful day. Got on the bus at 8:45 AM had one 20 min break in Santo Domingo and arrived in Quito around 6 PM. Took the Metrobus from the S. of the city to the north that took over an hour then hopped on a Tumbaco bus (another hour). Arrived at home around 8 pm. No one was home so I hopped in the shower and talked to dad for a bit. Figured out logistics to talk with SisBros tomorrow.
Family came home around 9 and we ate dinner. I checked some e-mail and went to bed. So tired.
Family came home around 9 and we ate dinner. I checked some e-mail and went to bed. So tired.
Thursday August 4, 2011
Today was interesting; the charlas didn’t go exactly how I expected. We met Tiffany at the terminal in Guayaquil to go Colimes. She is the volunteer there and will be replaced by Rebekah. The ride there was rough. The driver was really awful. We almost crashed once. It was also super hot!
Colimes is adorable! The main production is rice so coming into the town there were so many rice fields, really pretty green. Many of the houses are simple wood constructed on stilts surrounded by the rice fields. We started out at t private school, which really just means it’s a little more religious and somewhat smaller.
The classroom was really small, less than 20 students. We started out with BINGO then did the matching game and ended with a true and false game. Most of the students knew the body parts, more than I feel like I knew when I was 12. It was really slow going though. Not really sure why, maybe because the games weren’t really fast paced. But I think the kids had fun. At the end we opened it up for questions and one girl asked what exactly is a sexual relation?! What does it mean? How do you go about explaining that properly in English much less in Spanish?! We said that for everyone it’s a little different because partners very (ex. Man/woman, man/man etc) and that some people don’t consider oral sex to be “sex”. But that it’s everyone’s won decision and you should only do it when you are comfortable. We could’ve got into a lot more but I think that answer was enough.
We went to se the sub-centro and Tiffany’s counterpart. The city is divided by a river, that in the dry season is connected by a sugarcane bridge but in the rainy season washes away and people have to take boats across. Then we went to eat. The second school was quite a bit farther so we took these little motorcycle taxi’s. The coast is normally on vacation right now (they have a different school schedule than the sierra) so there was only one class there. We split the class up and teamed together.
Our group had the older students-30 of them. We partnered with the STI group. The whole time it was like pulling teeth trying to get the kids to participate! They were all so quiet and timid. I'm not sure if it was because they just didn’t know the answers or were just embarrassed because it was a mixture of boys and girls, probably a little bit of both.
All in all it was the last charla and I think even us as presenters were kinda checked out for the day. One of the kids had a belt with a MN Vikings buckle and I explained to him what they were and where they were from because he had no idea. The director and professors there invited us to eat some tpical coastal food afterwards. The 1st was like a tomale with camaron. And the 2nd was corviche, really tasty.
We took the motorcycle taxi’s back to the busses and had an equally bad ride back. So many people were on the bus! We got back and ate Chinese food again. Haven’t eaten the greatest on this trip but it’s kinda like when you go on vacation and splurge, right? Then it was pirate ship night! There is this boat that has a bar/dancing and goes up and down the river for a couple hours. It was pretty fun. I was way too full of food to drink a lot. We got back around midnight and a bunch of people wanted to go out more but Portia, Rebekah and I headed back to the hotel. Luckily we are the group to leave later tomorrow…9 hour bus ride..yay..not..
Colimes is adorable! The main production is rice so coming into the town there were so many rice fields, really pretty green. Many of the houses are simple wood constructed on stilts surrounded by the rice fields. We started out at t private school, which really just means it’s a little more religious and somewhat smaller.
The classroom was really small, less than 20 students. We started out with BINGO then did the matching game and ended with a true and false game. Most of the students knew the body parts, more than I feel like I knew when I was 12. It was really slow going though. Not really sure why, maybe because the games weren’t really fast paced. But I think the kids had fun. At the end we opened it up for questions and one girl asked what exactly is a sexual relation?! What does it mean? How do you go about explaining that properly in English much less in Spanish?! We said that for everyone it’s a little different because partners very (ex. Man/woman, man/man etc) and that some people don’t consider oral sex to be “sex”. But that it’s everyone’s won decision and you should only do it when you are comfortable. We could’ve got into a lot more but I think that answer was enough.
We went to se the sub-centro and Tiffany’s counterpart. The city is divided by a river, that in the dry season is connected by a sugarcane bridge but in the rainy season washes away and people have to take boats across. Then we went to eat. The second school was quite a bit farther so we took these little motorcycle taxi’s. The coast is normally on vacation right now (they have a different school schedule than the sierra) so there was only one class there. We split the class up and teamed together.
Our group had the older students-30 of them. We partnered with the STI group. The whole time it was like pulling teeth trying to get the kids to participate! They were all so quiet and timid. I'm not sure if it was because they just didn’t know the answers or were just embarrassed because it was a mixture of boys and girls, probably a little bit of both.
All in all it was the last charla and I think even us as presenters were kinda checked out for the day. One of the kids had a belt with a MN Vikings buckle and I explained to him what they were and where they were from because he had no idea. The director and professors there invited us to eat some tpical coastal food afterwards. The 1st was like a tomale with camaron. And the 2nd was corviche, really tasty.
We took the motorcycle taxi’s back to the busses and had an equally bad ride back. So many people were on the bus! We got back and ate Chinese food again. Haven’t eaten the greatest on this trip but it’s kinda like when you go on vacation and splurge, right? Then it was pirate ship night! There is this boat that has a bar/dancing and goes up and down the river for a couple hours. It was pretty fun. I was way too full of food to drink a lot. We got back around midnight and a bunch of people wanted to go out more but Portia, Rebekah and I headed back to the hotel. Luckily we are the group to leave later tomorrow…9 hour bus ride..yay..not..
August 3, 2011-Wed
Today went so well!! We left the hotel at 7:15 hopped on the metrobus, which took us to the bus station to grab a bus to Milagro. We arrived around 9:30 and met Hannah, one of the volunteers at the Red Cross. We then took the Red Cross bus to the school. I honestly don’t know how we made it because the van turned off like 4 times.
As we approached the school Hannah told us how the boys had never received Cuanto Sabes. Then she reminded us that these were coastal adolescent boys with raging hormones-they would be rowdy but love us..great…we got to the school and found out that the classroom sizes were of about 40-50 students! It just kept getting better and better…NOT
The first charla went so well. The boys were very receptive and respectful. The actively participated and some had quite a bit of knowledge about HIV/Aids. It was so hot tho! At the end they didn’t want us to go and begged us for our Facebook information, lol From there we went straight to another classroom to give the charla to more students. The teacher stayed in the classroom and that may be why they were a little more timid. It was still fun and the boys were super well behaved.
Afterwards we did some interviews with the students. It turns out there are some girls at the school. We talked to one of them who was very interested in us and asked all sorts of questions. Her name was Andrea, she is 17 and has a 4 month old baby! There is no sex education at the school and all the students agree that teen pregnancy along with STI’s & HIV/Aids is a problem on the coast.
We left the school to go get food and see the park. Milagro is pretty big and known for its Pineapples. After lunch Hannah talked ot us about Sex workers. Her and another volunteer have started a sort of women’s empowerment goup, all of the members are sex workers. We got on the bus and were back at the hotel in Guayaquil by 4:30-5ish. I think everyone was really impressed by how the presentations went. Maybe because we went in with such low expectations it could only get better from what we were thinking.
I def feel a lot more confident in my knowledge on HIV/Aids. I probably know more in Spanish and could explain it better in Spanish than in English! We went to watch the Spain vs. Ecuador game. Ecuador lost…
We went to the Malicon, which is like the area by the river with restaurants and parks. Tomorrow is human reproductive system in Colimes. Should be a little bit easier and I think we’re pretty well prepared. We have to get up a little bit early and I’m exhausted from today!
Peace
As we approached the school Hannah told us how the boys had never received Cuanto Sabes. Then she reminded us that these were coastal adolescent boys with raging hormones-they would be rowdy but love us..great…we got to the school and found out that the classroom sizes were of about 40-50 students! It just kept getting better and better…NOT
The first charla went so well. The boys were very receptive and respectful. The actively participated and some had quite a bit of knowledge about HIV/Aids. It was so hot tho! At the end they didn’t want us to go and begged us for our Facebook information, lol From there we went straight to another classroom to give the charla to more students. The teacher stayed in the classroom and that may be why they were a little more timid. It was still fun and the boys were super well behaved.
Afterwards we did some interviews with the students. It turns out there are some girls at the school. We talked to one of them who was very interested in us and asked all sorts of questions. Her name was Andrea, she is 17 and has a 4 month old baby! There is no sex education at the school and all the students agree that teen pregnancy along with STI’s & HIV/Aids is a problem on the coast.
We left the school to go get food and see the park. Milagro is pretty big and known for its Pineapples. After lunch Hannah talked ot us about Sex workers. Her and another volunteer have started a sort of women’s empowerment goup, all of the members are sex workers. We got on the bus and were back at the hotel in Guayaquil by 4:30-5ish. I think everyone was really impressed by how the presentations went. Maybe because we went in with such low expectations it could only get better from what we were thinking.
I def feel a lot more confident in my knowledge on HIV/Aids. I probably know more in Spanish and could explain it better in Spanish than in English! We went to watch the Spain vs. Ecuador game. Ecuador lost…
We went to the Malicon, which is like the area by the river with restaurants and parks. Tomorrow is human reproductive system in Colimes. Should be a little bit easier and I think we’re pretty well prepared. We have to get up a little bit early and I’m exhausted from today!
Peace
August 2, 2011
Today was our Cuanto Sabes training. Not really sure if I would say I'm now completely prepared..It took us awhile to find the office because Javi got lost, lol. The office was a lot smaller than I pictured. There’s one large room then you go upstairs to Rebecca’s office and there’s a small bathroom. Next door they have the VIHDA center where they do testing and counseling.
One volunteer and an Ecuadorian did the Cuanto Sabes training. The program lasts 6 months and is a series of weekly meetings with youth. It’s a mixture of youth empowerment and training on HIV/AIDS. The training is normally 4 days long and they did it in 4 hrs! Their presentation was really well done but I still think the 3 days would be beneficial. We had a lunch break and then were expected to give our own charla to each other and then do the same charla tomorrow!! I def do not feel prepared enough.
We have to cover 4 topics in 45 minutes; what HIV/Aids are, the different characteristics, transmission and prevention. They gave us a little under an hour to prepare and lets just say the practice charla in front of each other was pretty much a disaster. I'm in a group with Portia and Kris, which is really great but their Spanish a lower so I feel like I have to carry the team because we cannot have awkward silences when giving these types of presentations. Our presentation tomorrow is with an all boy’s school but apparently some have had Cuanto Sabes before.
We were done around 5 and headed back to the hotel. Everyone is pretty frustrated because they don’t feel like their Spanish level is competent enough to relay this type of information. This information is important and any wrong word or information translated wrong could be really bad.
Kris, Portia and I worked on our project for a while and I feel a little better but it still might be rough. We’ll see what tomorrow brings!
One volunteer and an Ecuadorian did the Cuanto Sabes training. The program lasts 6 months and is a series of weekly meetings with youth. It’s a mixture of youth empowerment and training on HIV/AIDS. The training is normally 4 days long and they did it in 4 hrs! Their presentation was really well done but I still think the 3 days would be beneficial. We had a lunch break and then were expected to give our own charla to each other and then do the same charla tomorrow!! I def do not feel prepared enough.
We have to cover 4 topics in 45 minutes; what HIV/Aids are, the different characteristics, transmission and prevention. They gave us a little under an hour to prepare and lets just say the practice charla in front of each other was pretty much a disaster. I'm in a group with Portia and Kris, which is really great but their Spanish a lower so I feel like I have to carry the team because we cannot have awkward silences when giving these types of presentations. Our presentation tomorrow is with an all boy’s school but apparently some have had Cuanto Sabes before.
We were done around 5 and headed back to the hotel. Everyone is pretty frustrated because they don’t feel like their Spanish level is competent enough to relay this type of information. This information is important and any wrong word or information translated wrong could be really bad.
Kris, Portia and I worked on our project for a while and I feel a little better but it still might be rough. We’ll see what tomorrow brings!
August 1, 2011
2 month anniversary! Today is our first night in Guayaquil. We left this morning at 7:30 AM from Quito, which means that we got to the bus stop in Tumbaco at 5:50 to get to Quito. We were on the bus from 7:30AM till 5 PM. We had one break of 15 min in Santo Domingo. I guess they switched hotels because the first one wasn’t in a safe place so now we are more downtown. It’s actually really pretty here. Def doesn’t feel like Ecuador. More like Europe or even the U.S., it also feels really safe. We ate dinner at a Chinese restaurant-so good! After that we got ice cream and went to the boardwalk or the Malicon. It’s really pretty. Some people stayed to get beers but Portia, Rebekah, Marissa, Cara and I came back to the hotel.
I showered and started working on our project; laminating body part cards. We’re doing a Bingo game, match the body parts and definitions of the words and true/false. I think it should go pretty well but you never know what will go down at these charlas. Cuanto Sabes lecture tomorrow, all day..then sight seeing. Night
I showered and started working on our project; laminating body part cards. We’re doing a Bingo game, match the body parts and definitions of the words and true/false. I think it should go pretty well but you never know what will go down at these charlas. Cuanto Sabes lecture tomorrow, all day..then sight seeing. Night
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