Mid Service

Well it´s been about a month.  I do apologize!  This second year has started out with a bang!  Two weeks ago (which for some reason feels like forever), we had our mid service with our 106 group.  It was so much fun to see everyone and get to chat with several about how their last year has been.  It was also surreal to be back at the training center after almost a year!

The week was also so much better planned out than our PST (pre-service training) and our Re-Connect.  The administration has changed and so the lady that is in charge of trainings and what not is actually an American who served in Ecuador as a PCV awhile back, her name is Bibi, and she worked with us as a health group back at PST, she´s awesome and did a really great job and organizing the events for mid service!

The first day we did a lot of reflecting.  We did an exercise on perspectives..What were our perspectives now that we are one year into our service, what were our projected perspectives for the end of next year.  There were several perspectives all over the room, from very negative to very positive.  So the first round was to sit under the perspective that you had at that moment, after the first year, and converse with the other people that chose that perspective.  I chose the perspective of "Im looking forward to the next year...what comes, comes." I chose this perspective because one, I am looking forward to the next year, and being here in Ecuador for a year, knowing that so many things change daily, Im ready for whatever comes!

Next we had to choose where it is that we want to be in the next year.  For this one I chose "What a great opportunity".  I chose this because in the end, my two years will come to a close and I really just want to leave knowing that I learned all that I could and that the people I worked with learned what they could learn from me, and that overall it was a great opportunity!

The second day in the morning we had presentations of all of the volunteers on their work for this last year. It was kinda like a science fair where everyone set up little tables to show off their work.  There were various ways of presenting..most either did a print out of pictures, or a powerpoint.  I think this activity was the most beneficial because we could see the work that others had done and could get ideas for this next year.  And not only get ideas but know who to contact if we wanted to do a "tech exchange". The rest of the day was health and security workshops...

The third day we did a training on body maps and prevention of HIV-Aids.  It was a really awesome activity and Im hoping to train the staff here at DIBESAU on the activity some time this week (keep your fingers crossed)

The fourth day we had meetings within our own programs.  We talked a lot about our work and the peace corps goals.  I think everyone agreed on the fact that the first year (like most americans do) we were so worried about getting results, completing the health goals, and not really paying attention to the other general PC goals which mainly have to focus on cultural integration.  Now looking back on the year we see that most of us have gone above and beyond those two goals that are really just as important as the first goal.  Everyone was excited to get back at site to start their projects, now that we felt well integrated into the community.

We then received our letters that we wrote to ourselves in Philidelphia before even arriving to Ecuador!  Many had put money in the envelopes!  I put 20 bucks and was so happy to see that crisp 20 dollar bill.  The letter wasn´t that interesting, I was mainly really excited but at the same time really nervous!  We then wrote another letter to open at COS....Im so interested to see the answers to the questions that I wrote a year from now...

Friday was the last day and believe it or not Joshua, who is the financial guy of  Peace Corps came to talk to us about COS (Close of Service).  Mainly logistical stuff, our re-adjustment allowance, and if necessary the earliest we can leave without having to ET (early terminate).

It´s crazy to thing that already in March/April we have to be doing write ups about our work, our site, etc, etc.. and then in May we will have COS because Im sure people will be leaving in July to go back home....


All in all it was a great experience.  It def. gave me "ganas" to come back to Ambato and start work for the new year!