a new etapa

So after two months I figured it was time to dust off the blog and write a new entry!  I believe that I have reached a new "etapa" (stage) in my PC life.  I believe that my PC is not just an experience anymore, obviously it's my life and most importantly another home.  This is all very hard to explain, but I think that as I hit my 5 month marker (as in 5 months left till end of service) I realize that the idea of going "home" kind of scares me.  Where is home?  I struggled with this question as my parents divorced and I began to live in two different places with each parent.  I have now come to accept that home is where you have loved ones around you, where you are supported and are able to grow.  I feel so lucky to have created another/different type of home here in Ecuador and will be very very sad to leave it. That said I have only 5 MONTHS!!!  The emotions running through me are all over the place.

"Work":  I have stepped back some from the University and decided to dedicate more time to job hunting and the school where we have the girls group.  Sharon and I are going to start a focus group and try to get a better idea of who the students are and what they have/dont get from their school.  Our idea is to start a mentor program, and perhaps english club. Sadly we only have about 3 months and we hope that a new volunteer will be coming into the area so that they can keep working on what we started but I believe those chances are low.

At the University I am on a final project that is a continuation of the World Aids Day event we did back in December.  After three months (which I guess for Ecua time would be right on time) we are doing our follow up with sex-ed trainings in the classrooms.  Fernanda and I are in charge of coordinating and organizing the schedule for not only the sex ed trainings, but also, dental hygiene and prevention for breast and cervical cancer for the doctors to give to the whole University (18.000 students).  We are about half way done and I will be so relieved when the schedules are approved.  We are supposed to start going into the classrooms by the end of April, lets hope everything goes as planned.

For our girls group we are starting to work on our final presentation which will be the "Little Red Hen" (in english) and then some contra dancing along with some songs in english.  Our hope is that the girls can memorize the script (it's really REALLY repetitive) but we'll see.  We have a great group this semester.  About 8 of the girls from last semester and 10 new girls are part of the group.  I am having a blast working with them and doing the planning for each week.

Dad and Tracy came to visit in February.  It was a great time.  This was their first trip outside of the States and I think they enjoyed themselves.  I had a great time showing them around.  We were in Quito, the jungle, Cuenca and Ambato!

Alright I think that's good enough for a short update. I'll be writing more frequently.  After all, these are the final months to write about this amazing life changing experience ;)