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 ;)
Wednesday, March 13, 2013
Friday, January 4, 2013
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
My parents left Quito at midnight on Saturday. So I went with them to the airport, we said our goodbyes and then I stayed over at the Hotel. Sunday there was only, Alan (the guy from Inglaterra) and I left. His flight left Sunday in the evening. So we had breakfast together and chatted about the trip. I went back up to the room, packed and headed back to Ambato.
It was surreal being back "on land". I was somewhat ready to be back in Ambato. Not looking forward to spending New Years without the boyfriend, but he was off in the states having a great time. On New years eve I hung out with Hannah the whole day. We did a late breakfast and then walked literally all around Ambato. Then later that day I went back to my house to grab some stuff.
Let me go back in time just a bit to mention that when I arrived on Sunday the front gate was locked with a key. The landlords had put the lock on but had not given out keys. Well turns out, while I was gone they turned in keys..!!!!! Lucky up until when I was with Hannah I was able to get in through the garage gates.
So when Hannah and I went to my house everything was closed up. I tried jumping the gate but it proved to be a bit tricky, so I decided to just go back to Hannah´s and figure out what exactly to do!! We went back to her house and tried calling the house, but no one answered. I needed to get back to my house and change, shower to get ready for the midnight dinner with Chino´s family!!!
I went to my house around 6 hoping that someone had left a door open...no luck. So I climbed up the gate and some how was able to get over! I got into my house and about 20 minutes later the daughter came home, so I ran outside to ask for the key! All was well once I had a way to get in and out of my apartment, lol
I talked to dad on Skype and said happy new year, and then got ready to go over to Chino´s. Here in Ecuador, like I think I mentioned last year, they have many traditions for the New Year. The one is making paper mache figures and burning them at midnight, in hopes to get rid of everything that happened the previous year and start out fresh for the new year. They also do this thing where guys dress up as girls and ask for money in the street. It´s not as sketchy as it sounds lol. What they do is literally dress as women and dance in front of the cars, approach people (mainly other males) and usually get about 5 cents in return. Therefore you really can´t get anywhere in a car on New Years Eve because there are Viudas EVERYWHERE!!!
Here in Ambato they do a competition for the best Viuda presentation and the best Viejo presentation. So in the main road "Cevallos", different people bring there life size Viejos, and the Viudas do different dances, etc. We went down to look at it all around 10:30. The street was soooo packed, I couldn´t believe how busy the street was!!
We walked back up to the house and slowly by slowly family members started to arrive. We ate our 12 grapes right before midnight (with 12 wishes) and then at midnight said Happy New Year. Here there is no counting down, so it´s pretty much like everyone is asking "is it midnight, is it midnight??" and then when everyone agress it´s close to midnight you hear fire works going off and there are fires EVERYWHERE from the people burning their viejos! People run around the block with suitcases hoping for a year of travel, and other have on different colors of underware for different "good luck charms".
After ringing in the new year everyone sits down and has a dinner with the family. Chino´s aunt read the "Testamento del Viejo", which is where she acts as an old person that is reading off her will, but in a sarcastic way, making fun of different family members, it was HILARIOUS!!!
About an hour later begins the parties. All the old people go to sleep and the young people go out to party. It was so weird not being with Chino but it was good to have friends to be with. At the end (around 3:30 AM) we FINALLY ended up at a party and stayed till about 4:30. I then went to Hannah´s to sleep and woke up about 8:30 to go home and sleep in my bed. After a full night of NO ALCOHOL I woke up with a horrible "Chuchaqui Seco" which means dry hangover, like a hangover with out drinking, lol. So I pretty much spent all of Tuesday sleeping lol.
Wednesday Chino came back! And Thursday real life started again. Now it´s finally friday!!! Another week, of the new year! Who knows what this new year will bring but I am very optimistic :) :)
Christmas in the Galapagos
Welcome 2013! I feel as though it is going to be a great year, with many ups and downs, as I will be finishing my Peace Corps Service and hopefully starting another great adventure!
I left the office on the 20th to go to Quito and receive my parents that night on midnight. It´s amazing how many times I´ve been at this airport, but once again I was there waiting, watching as their flight once again was delayed....ugh...Luckily it was not as delayed as the other time and arrived about an hour and half later.
We went back to the hotel and had all of Friday to be in Quito. Friday night was the de-briefing with our tour group. Were were a group of 16; another family of four from Oregon (daughter 10 and son 14), a family of three (son, 20) from Chicago, a couple from California, a couple from Finland, and a guy from England. It was a really good group and we had a lot of fun.
I´ll give you a little overview of what we did at each of the islands.
SATURDAY:
We arrived to Santa Cruz island and walked to the hotel. Saw sea lions basking in the sun, in the afternoon we rode up to the highlands and then biked down to a loberia, where new sea lion pups had just been born, they are adorable animals and so fun to watch in the water. We biked back into town and had dinner.
SUNDAY:
We went for our first snorkeling adventure. The water is absolutely beautiful and the life under the water is even more. Mom had her first encounter with a snorkel, and lets just say it didn´t go well, she tried though, bless her heart :) The snorkeling was great, we swam with sea lions, saw many different colors of fish and even a turtle! The second snorkeling was by this rock formation called Kicker Rock. There we swam with sharks...well not exactly with them, but they were not too far below, and also saw sting rays!
We had lunch on the boat and set for a beach to have some free time.
MONDAY:
We took a somewhat rocky TWO HOUR boat ride to Floreana, one of the least inhabited (by people) islands. We had a really nice hike in the highlands and learned a little bit about the history of the first people that arrived. The beach that our hotel was on had black sand, very pretty!
TUESDAY:
We headed yet again to another Island called Isabela. Our tour guide was from here and had much to be proud of. This was probably my favorite island. A small beach community, not as developed as Santa Cruz or San Cristobal, but has more people than Floreana. We started off with a walk through different mangroves and volcano landscapes. We ended up at the Giant Tortoise Breeding Center and saw these huge turtles and then the itty bitty ones that had just been born. In the afternoon we had free to walk the beautiful beaches. Fine, white sand and crystal clear turqoise water.
WEDNESDAY:
This day we did some snorkeling and saw the galapagos penguin! Such a cute little animal. Mom did her best at yet another effort of snorkeling but alas decided to stay inland. After this we went to see the sharks and walk around on some volcananic landscape. They had told us that we were not going to have bathrooms until the afternoon, and even though we were all concious of this we still had to pee by mid morning. So they said the only bathroom we would have is the water. About four of us lowered ourselves into the water from the small dock. Poor Ruth on her way up cut her knee. It bled profusely, thank god the guide had a first aid kit. We went to see tortoises mating and sharks trying to rest, while little fish moved them out of their area!
On the way back into town we took about an hour to do some kayaking, which was really fun!
THURSDAY:
Mom´s Birthday, and the big hike day. We hiked around Sierra Negra Volcano, that last errupted in 2005. Sadly it was very foggy and kinda rainy so we could not see the crater. We then arrived to miles and miles of lava fields and at the top a breathtaking view of the island and ocean! By the time we got back everyone was drenched and muddy. We all cleaned up and had a lovely Birthday Dinner for Mom and did some dancing, I think she was content :)
FRIDAY:
We traveled to the last Island, Santa Cruz. This is the most populated Island and the most developed. It´s a very nice Island but very touristy and Im glad we only stayed for one day. Right when we arrived we dropped off our stuff at the hotel and went straight to the Charles Darwin Station, saw where lonely George lived. We also saw different land lizards that were very colorful in yellow and orange. In the afternoon we walked to Tortuga Bay. When you first arrive you find a beach with super white sand, crashing waves and lots of people, then you have to walk practically the whole beach and arrive to this little hidden place where the water is calm, almost like a pool. It wasn´t that deep, which made it warmer! So pleasant. Mom and I went to the Beach and Howard and Ruth stayed back...
Ahh yes to continue the story about Ruth´s leg. A couple days before Ruth had hit her leg while peeing in the ocean, well turns out that the anti-bacterial liquid that the guide drenched her led with had completely taken off the sunscreen, soooo she happened to get an awful awful burn on her leg, that turned into a swollen leg and foot and various blisters on her leg!!! So she stayed back to keep her foot up and hope that the swelling would go down.
Once mom and I got back from the walk to Tortuga Bay we took a strole through town and looked in the different shops to see what to buy. I didn´t get anything but they bought different things for people back home.
That night we had our final dinner together as a group on Galapagos and Saturday headed back to Quito. The flight had been moved up so we were not able to get to the higlands of Santa Cruz. The drive was enough, about an hour ride from the port to where we needed to take a ferry to the airport. We drove through everything, forest, dessert, rain, and sun. The ferry ride was about 10 minutes and in no time we arrived to the airport. This little thing in the middle of nowhere. When we arrived the airport there weren´t really any people, but by the time we were closer to our flight time, it was PACKED. We got on the plane and said goodbye to the lovely Galapagos!!!
Saturday we arrived back at the hotel and had a couple hours to kill so I showed Mom, Howard, and Ruth a nice little store that has different gifts from fair trade places around Ecuador. We had a dinner in Quito together, the majority were there, others decided to go into the oldtown.
All in all I would totally recommend for other to visit the Galapagos. It can be pricy but is sooooo worth the experience. So many different things to see and do!
Alright I´ll continue the rest of my vacation on another post.
I left the office on the 20th to go to Quito and receive my parents that night on midnight. It´s amazing how many times I´ve been at this airport, but once again I was there waiting, watching as their flight once again was delayed....ugh...Luckily it was not as delayed as the other time and arrived about an hour and half later.
We went back to the hotel and had all of Friday to be in Quito. Friday night was the de-briefing with our tour group. Were were a group of 16; another family of four from Oregon (daughter 10 and son 14), a family of three (son, 20) from Chicago, a couple from California, a couple from Finland, and a guy from England. It was a really good group and we had a lot of fun.
I´ll give you a little overview of what we did at each of the islands.
SATURDAY:
We arrived to Santa Cruz island and walked to the hotel. Saw sea lions basking in the sun, in the afternoon we rode up to the highlands and then biked down to a loberia, where new sea lion pups had just been born, they are adorable animals and so fun to watch in the water. We biked back into town and had dinner.
SUNDAY:
We went for our first snorkeling adventure. The water is absolutely beautiful and the life under the water is even more. Mom had her first encounter with a snorkel, and lets just say it didn´t go well, she tried though, bless her heart :) The snorkeling was great, we swam with sea lions, saw many different colors of fish and even a turtle! The second snorkeling was by this rock formation called Kicker Rock. There we swam with sharks...well not exactly with them, but they were not too far below, and also saw sting rays!
We had lunch on the boat and set for a beach to have some free time.
MONDAY:
We took a somewhat rocky TWO HOUR boat ride to Floreana, one of the least inhabited (by people) islands. We had a really nice hike in the highlands and learned a little bit about the history of the first people that arrived. The beach that our hotel was on had black sand, very pretty!
TUESDAY:
We headed yet again to another Island called Isabela. Our tour guide was from here and had much to be proud of. This was probably my favorite island. A small beach community, not as developed as Santa Cruz or San Cristobal, but has more people than Floreana. We started off with a walk through different mangroves and volcano landscapes. We ended up at the Giant Tortoise Breeding Center and saw these huge turtles and then the itty bitty ones that had just been born. In the afternoon we had free to walk the beautiful beaches. Fine, white sand and crystal clear turqoise water.
WEDNESDAY:
This day we did some snorkeling and saw the galapagos penguin! Such a cute little animal. Mom did her best at yet another effort of snorkeling but alas decided to stay inland. After this we went to see the sharks and walk around on some volcananic landscape. They had told us that we were not going to have bathrooms until the afternoon, and even though we were all concious of this we still had to pee by mid morning. So they said the only bathroom we would have is the water. About four of us lowered ourselves into the water from the small dock. Poor Ruth on her way up cut her knee. It bled profusely, thank god the guide had a first aid kit. We went to see tortoises mating and sharks trying to rest, while little fish moved them out of their area!
On the way back into town we took about an hour to do some kayaking, which was really fun!
THURSDAY:
Mom´s Birthday, and the big hike day. We hiked around Sierra Negra Volcano, that last errupted in 2005. Sadly it was very foggy and kinda rainy so we could not see the crater. We then arrived to miles and miles of lava fields and at the top a breathtaking view of the island and ocean! By the time we got back everyone was drenched and muddy. We all cleaned up and had a lovely Birthday Dinner for Mom and did some dancing, I think she was content :)
FRIDAY:
We traveled to the last Island, Santa Cruz. This is the most populated Island and the most developed. It´s a very nice Island but very touristy and Im glad we only stayed for one day. Right when we arrived we dropped off our stuff at the hotel and went straight to the Charles Darwin Station, saw where lonely George lived. We also saw different land lizards that were very colorful in yellow and orange. In the afternoon we walked to Tortuga Bay. When you first arrive you find a beach with super white sand, crashing waves and lots of people, then you have to walk practically the whole beach and arrive to this little hidden place where the water is calm, almost like a pool. It wasn´t that deep, which made it warmer! So pleasant. Mom and I went to the Beach and Howard and Ruth stayed back...
Ahh yes to continue the story about Ruth´s leg. A couple days before Ruth had hit her leg while peeing in the ocean, well turns out that the anti-bacterial liquid that the guide drenched her led with had completely taken off the sunscreen, soooo she happened to get an awful awful burn on her leg, that turned into a swollen leg and foot and various blisters on her leg!!! So she stayed back to keep her foot up and hope that the swelling would go down.
Once mom and I got back from the walk to Tortuga Bay we took a strole through town and looked in the different shops to see what to buy. I didn´t get anything but they bought different things for people back home.
That night we had our final dinner together as a group on Galapagos and Saturday headed back to Quito. The flight had been moved up so we were not able to get to the higlands of Santa Cruz. The drive was enough, about an hour ride from the port to where we needed to take a ferry to the airport. We drove through everything, forest, dessert, rain, and sun. The ferry ride was about 10 minutes and in no time we arrived to the airport. This little thing in the middle of nowhere. When we arrived the airport there weren´t really any people, but by the time we were closer to our flight time, it was PACKED. We got on the plane and said goodbye to the lovely Galapagos!!!
Saturday we arrived back at the hotel and had a couple hours to kill so I showed Mom, Howard, and Ruth a nice little store that has different gifts from fair trade places around Ecuador. We had a dinner in Quito together, the majority were there, others decided to go into the oldtown.
All in all I would totally recommend for other to visit the Galapagos. It can be pricy but is sooooo worth the experience. So many different things to see and do!
Alright I´ll continue the rest of my vacation on another post.
Monday, December 17, 2012
aaaaand the volcano is erruping..again...
Well it's monday. I am anxiously awaiting wednesday, when I will begin to prepare for my trip to Quito to get my parents on thursday and then leave for los galapagos!!!
So yesterday was an exciting day. I woke up to a text from Chino, who left for the states last week, asking me if I had been outside yet, and to be careful when I did. What had my boyfriend heard, thousands of miles away that I hadn't??? Turns out the Volcano Tungurahua started erupting on Friday. Instead of a light dusting of snow, I woke up to a dusting of Volcanic ash!! Yeah not that exciting.
From what Peace Corps had told us, if this happens it is vital to take necessary measures to protect not only your nose, but eyes, skin and hair from this fine element, that looks like fine fine black sand. My landlord came out and swept it up like it was nothing. Later in the afternoon I went to Chino's to hang out with his family, and it honestly didn't look like anything had happened, just seemed as though the city was kinda dusty. The air seemed clear, and as usual IT WAS HOT!!
This morning it didn't seem to have changed much until after lunch. Here at the office of DIBESAU we are up kinda on a hill and there is a lot of wind. On a clear day you can see the volcano Tungurahua pretty clear. This afternoon has turned into a haze, the air is kinda thick and started to smell funny. All around the mountains are blurry with the invasion of this ash. I can't imagine how they got over 6 inches back in 2006...!!
So I've decided that if it stays like this until tomorrow I will have to get out the face mask and...well I don't have sunglasses but maybe a hat, because apparently it's really harmful to hair...It's so funny how ecuadorians just go about their daily business like nothing is happening..!
I just hope nothing interferes with my travel to Quito on Thursday!
Alright I'll keep updating on the volcano, here is a post form the BBC today, enjoy!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-20763495
So yesterday was an exciting day. I woke up to a text from Chino, who left for the states last week, asking me if I had been outside yet, and to be careful when I did. What had my boyfriend heard, thousands of miles away that I hadn't??? Turns out the Volcano Tungurahua started erupting on Friday. Instead of a light dusting of snow, I woke up to a dusting of Volcanic ash!! Yeah not that exciting.
From what Peace Corps had told us, if this happens it is vital to take necessary measures to protect not only your nose, but eyes, skin and hair from this fine element, that looks like fine fine black sand. My landlord came out and swept it up like it was nothing. Later in the afternoon I went to Chino's to hang out with his family, and it honestly didn't look like anything had happened, just seemed as though the city was kinda dusty. The air seemed clear, and as usual IT WAS HOT!!
This morning it didn't seem to have changed much until after lunch. Here at the office of DIBESAU we are up kinda on a hill and there is a lot of wind. On a clear day you can see the volcano Tungurahua pretty clear. This afternoon has turned into a haze, the air is kinda thick and started to smell funny. All around the mountains are blurry with the invasion of this ash. I can't imagine how they got over 6 inches back in 2006...!!
So I've decided that if it stays like this until tomorrow I will have to get out the face mask and...well I don't have sunglasses but maybe a hat, because apparently it's really harmful to hair...It's so funny how ecuadorians just go about their daily business like nothing is happening..!
I just hope nothing interferes with my travel to Quito on Thursday!
Alright I'll keep updating on the volcano, here is a post form the BBC today, enjoy!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-20763495
Friday, December 14, 2012
Girls Presentation Recap-Friday 7th
So Friday was also a big day. Early morning Sharon, Bianca and I met at the school to get things in order for the Theater groups presentation. I brought Chino who ended up being a life savor, moving big furniture and cleaning up odds and ends for the auditorio. We moved desks, cleaned floors and decorated for the big night.
We hung up stars and snowflakes that the girls had made, and taped up the scenery that they painted. At the end it finally looked like this magical place, with lights and all! The Director came in at about 12:30 and said that there would be a class coming in to watch a movie...great...Sharon refused to leave, knowing that if she was no there to keep the students in line they would not leave the auditorium how they had found it. I went back home to get ready and then headed to the school around 5.
This girls arrived all nervous and excited for their big performance at 5:30. We gave them bread, a banana and water so that they would have some food in their stomach's. I guess on the invitation we had put that the show would start at 6:30. We did this because almost everyone is late here, so we thought if we put 6:30 everyone would arrive at 7. Well let's just, for the first time EVER here in Ecuador, people showed up ON TIME!!
Everyone was in the auditorium by 6:45 so we decided to start early. Everything went great. It was so much fun seeing the girls perform and I think they had a blast! At the end we gave each of the girls their certificates and said something special about each one.
All in all it was a great closing to an amazing semester, working with these girls! We are going to continue with this group and maybe add a couple new girls if they are interested. It just seems so hard to have to start over a brand new group, and these girls have grown so much!
We hung up stars and snowflakes that the girls had made, and taped up the scenery that they painted. At the end it finally looked like this magical place, with lights and all! The Director came in at about 12:30 and said that there would be a class coming in to watch a movie...great...Sharon refused to leave, knowing that if she was no there to keep the students in line they would not leave the auditorium how they had found it. I went back home to get ready and then headed to the school around 5.
This girls arrived all nervous and excited for their big performance at 5:30. We gave them bread, a banana and water so that they would have some food in their stomach's. I guess on the invitation we had put that the show would start at 6:30. We did this because almost everyone is late here, so we thought if we put 6:30 everyone would arrive at 7. Well let's just, for the first time EVER here in Ecuador, people showed up ON TIME!!
Everyone was in the auditorium by 6:45 so we decided to start early. Everything went great. It was so much fun seeing the girls perform and I think they had a blast! At the end we gave each of the girls their certificates and said something special about each one.
All in all it was a great closing to an amazing semester, working with these girls! We are going to continue with this group and maybe add a couple new girls if they are interested. It just seems so hard to have to start over a brand new group, and these girls have grown so much!
Thursday, December 6, 2012
Quite a successful day if I do say so myself :) :)
Let me set the stage for what we were dealing with just about 24 hours ago...It was around 2:30 in the afternoon. Everyone that was invited to the event had confirmed, tents were being put up and everything seemed to be somewhat in order, (as much in order as it could be because really ANYTHING can happen at the last minute). The only thing that we were missing were the 200 certificates to be signed by Sonia, the director.
We had talked with her about doing a certificate with the name written by hand because not all of the institutions had turned in their lists of who would be participating. She gave us the ok, so wednesday I WROTE OUT 200 NAMES BY HAND on the certificates!!!!! They looked great, on this nice certificate paper, printed in color and all that jazz.
Then at 2:30 we got the message that literally made all of the work seem to come crashing down. Sonia wrote to Fernanda, saying that the certificates looked awful and that they needed to be done with the names typed on the computer because there was no way that we could hand out the certificates with names written out by hand.....mmmm WHAT!?!?
I told Fernanda it was ridiculous and of course she agreed, so we went to talk to Sonia in person. I explained to her that usually when you get something hand written it is more personal than just typed up on the computer and that it would be really hard to do all of them over because it had taken over a day to get them signed and what not....after all the event was in LESS THAN 24 HOURS!!!!
She responded by telling me that this was my point of view and that the University does everything of great quality blah blah blah and that people will take the certificate and remember the event and if it's written by hand they will think less of the University...Have you started to think she is crazy...?? ok good :)
There was no way around it, either we changed them, or she would not turn in the certificates. And because this country IS SO OBSESSED with their certificates, it would have not been fair to tell these professional institutions that we were no longer going to give the certificates..so we went back to the office and printed out new certificates....
Were they of better quality, ABSOLUTELY NOT...sadly they were printed out in this shiny blue paper, in black because all the color tinta had been used up....but Im sure everyone was happier because their names were typed...right??
So I left work on Thursday around 7 pm...completely exhausted from the day, but hopeful that friday would turn out well..
So today was one of the most important days that I've had here in Ecuador in terms of work. After planning for over 2.5 months we finally had our event for World Aid's Day, at the University. Everyone but one group showed up to present in their stands. There were University kids and high school kids that came to see the different tents!! I am proud to say that Fernanda and I did a superb job with carefully planning and executing our goal of a Mass Event on Campus, along with launching our sexual health program "Por Mil Motivos". The two of us really could not have done it without each other, lol. Seeing as we were really the only two behind the project and MINIMAL from our co-workers at the University. I think we really did surprise them, see young people can do great things!! Although I do have to say this will be the FIRST and LAST time that I do an event like this at the University.
Ecuadorian behaviors and culture were highly reflected in this whole process. From the very beginning I learned that you have to be 100% behind people making sure that they get done what has to get done. You can't trust people to take responsibility for their part, as small as it may be. Anything that the authority says goes, no matter how much blood and sweat you've put into the work, and there is no room for discussion. Sadly people do not seem to rebel..haha Those would be the negatives. The positive of this experience is Fernanda, the girl that I worked on with the project. She truly is the hope for the behavior change that needs to happen. In Peace Corps we talk about change at a local small level and I am glad to know and see that Fernanda is on that path to being a positive influence in what at times seems like the scum of it all. My job here is to support her and empower her to be more affirmative and push for what she believes...Times ticking, only 8 months left!!!
We had talked with her about doing a certificate with the name written by hand because not all of the institutions had turned in their lists of who would be participating. She gave us the ok, so wednesday I WROTE OUT 200 NAMES BY HAND on the certificates!!!!! They looked great, on this nice certificate paper, printed in color and all that jazz.
Then at 2:30 we got the message that literally made all of the work seem to come crashing down. Sonia wrote to Fernanda, saying that the certificates looked awful and that they needed to be done with the names typed on the computer because there was no way that we could hand out the certificates with names written out by hand.....mmmm WHAT!?!?
I told Fernanda it was ridiculous and of course she agreed, so we went to talk to Sonia in person. I explained to her that usually when you get something hand written it is more personal than just typed up on the computer and that it would be really hard to do all of them over because it had taken over a day to get them signed and what not....after all the event was in LESS THAN 24 HOURS!!!!
She responded by telling me that this was my point of view and that the University does everything of great quality blah blah blah and that people will take the certificate and remember the event and if it's written by hand they will think less of the University...Have you started to think she is crazy...?? ok good :)
There was no way around it, either we changed them, or she would not turn in the certificates. And because this country IS SO OBSESSED with their certificates, it would have not been fair to tell these professional institutions that we were no longer going to give the certificates..so we went back to the office and printed out new certificates....
Were they of better quality, ABSOLUTELY NOT...sadly they were printed out in this shiny blue paper, in black because all the color tinta had been used up....but Im sure everyone was happier because their names were typed...right??
So I left work on Thursday around 7 pm...completely exhausted from the day, but hopeful that friday would turn out well..
So today was one of the most important days that I've had here in Ecuador in terms of work. After planning for over 2.5 months we finally had our event for World Aid's Day, at the University. Everyone but one group showed up to present in their stands. There were University kids and high school kids that came to see the different tents!! I am proud to say that Fernanda and I did a superb job with carefully planning and executing our goal of a Mass Event on Campus, along with launching our sexual health program "Por Mil Motivos". The two of us really could not have done it without each other, lol. Seeing as we were really the only two behind the project and MINIMAL from our co-workers at the University. I think we really did surprise them, see young people can do great things!! Although I do have to say this will be the FIRST and LAST time that I do an event like this at the University.
Ecuadorian behaviors and culture were highly reflected in this whole process. From the very beginning I learned that you have to be 100% behind people making sure that they get done what has to get done. You can't trust people to take responsibility for their part, as small as it may be. Anything that the authority says goes, no matter how much blood and sweat you've put into the work, and there is no room for discussion. Sadly people do not seem to rebel..haha Those would be the negatives. The positive of this experience is Fernanda, the girl that I worked on with the project. She truly is the hope for the behavior change that needs to happen. In Peace Corps we talk about change at a local small level and I am glad to know and see that Fernanda is on that path to being a positive influence in what at times seems like the scum of it all. My job here is to support her and empower her to be more affirmative and push for what she believes...Times ticking, only 8 months left!!!
Tuesday, December 4, 2012
There was a gusano in my refri....what?!?!
Happy December to Everyone!
I was cooking stir fry today for lunch and opened my fridge to grab the soy sauce, and as I lifted the bottle, this goopy thing was stuck to the bottom of it. As I looked closer it was one of those gross, fat worms that I think live in your vegetables when you don't wash them well....and let me tell you I DO wash my vegetables very well before putting them away. Needless to say it was disgusting and made me wonder how long it had been in there!!
In other news, the countdown has started for the arrival of my rents, (mom, howard and ruthie). They come on the 19th, or 20th..hmm I guess I'll have to check on those dates. I've been trying to play christmas music, but it's just not the same without cold weather and snow, lol
This week is quickly coming to an end!!! Which is a good thing and a bad thing. We have an event on Thursday at the University for World Aids Day. There will be about 200 people just participating, and then a ton (hopefully) attending...gulp. There are still oficios to be turned in and certificados to be made..ahhhhh!!! Why do Ecuadorians do EVERYTHING at the last minute....ugh..
Then Friday, Sharon and I have our final presentation with the girls group that we have been working with. I think Im more excited for this presentation than the one at the University. We are trying do something really special, both for the girls and their parents. With the girls, we've made snowflakes, and stars that we are going to hang from the ceiling. We are making gingerbread cookies to give the parents afterwards and are making luminaries going up the stairs to the Auditorio...although turns out paper bags with square bottoms are harder to find here than you would think!
On top of it all, Peace Corps has decided to be a complete pain in the butt and do visits. The one visit will be combined with assisting the event at the University, which will be fun to have some volunteers come. The other one will be tomorrow with one of the Doctors...what more do they need to talk about!??!?! Just seems so silly that now, a YEAR AND FOUR MONTHS of being in site they now decide to do all of these visits, instead of, oh ya know, the first 9 months, lol...hopefully they will take our feedback and fix this for future groups.
Alright time to run to the University! I'll write hopefully at the end of the week to update on how the events went!
I was cooking stir fry today for lunch and opened my fridge to grab the soy sauce, and as I lifted the bottle, this goopy thing was stuck to the bottom of it. As I looked closer it was one of those gross, fat worms that I think live in your vegetables when you don't wash them well....and let me tell you I DO wash my vegetables very well before putting them away. Needless to say it was disgusting and made me wonder how long it had been in there!!
In other news, the countdown has started for the arrival of my rents, (mom, howard and ruthie). They come on the 19th, or 20th..hmm I guess I'll have to check on those dates. I've been trying to play christmas music, but it's just not the same without cold weather and snow, lol
This week is quickly coming to an end!!! Which is a good thing and a bad thing. We have an event on Thursday at the University for World Aids Day. There will be about 200 people just participating, and then a ton (hopefully) attending...gulp. There are still oficios to be turned in and certificados to be made..ahhhhh!!! Why do Ecuadorians do EVERYTHING at the last minute....ugh..
Then Friday, Sharon and I have our final presentation with the girls group that we have been working with. I think Im more excited for this presentation than the one at the University. We are trying do something really special, both for the girls and their parents. With the girls, we've made snowflakes, and stars that we are going to hang from the ceiling. We are making gingerbread cookies to give the parents afterwards and are making luminaries going up the stairs to the Auditorio...although turns out paper bags with square bottoms are harder to find here than you would think!
On top of it all, Peace Corps has decided to be a complete pain in the butt and do visits. The one visit will be combined with assisting the event at the University, which will be fun to have some volunteers come. The other one will be tomorrow with one of the Doctors...what more do they need to talk about!??!?! Just seems so silly that now, a YEAR AND FOUR MONTHS of being in site they now decide to do all of these visits, instead of, oh ya know, the first 9 months, lol...hopefully they will take our feedback and fix this for future groups.
Alright time to run to the University! I'll write hopefully at the end of the week to update on how the events went!
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