Well it appears that I have gotten into the habbit of only writing once a month. Bad, I know. It´s not as if I don´t have time, because I think if I truly made time I could sit down every couple days and update everyone, it´s just that I don´t make that time to do so. Well, I guess I have new years resolution #1, lol. Dicember has started and is coming to an end quite quickly. Next weekend will be christmas and I have done NO shopping whatsoever..gahhh. Thanksgiving with the volunteers turned out to be a success. I can officially contribute to family gatherings now, as I have learned to make stuffing and greenbean casserole, yay! We ate A TON and then went out caroling, too much fun. Tom´s host mom was really into it too! We ended up sleeping at like 10 that night.
Other news worth sharing, I have officially moved into my new apartment!!! It is located in the neighborhood of Ciudadela España, a quiet neighborhood with a great panaderia less than a block away. The apartment is owned by a nice old couple that live with their one daughter and two grandkids. Im in the back of the house with the dog, mora. She´s a barker but has warmed up to me and we´ve become good friends although I think I need to teach her not to jump!! The apartment is cute, one bedroom in a half, a bathroom, kitchen and living room. I dont really have furniture so the living room is pretty bare but I have a bed and that´s what is important. Chino´s family has been so great, donating practically everything that I have, helping me move, purchase things and what not. I really don´t knonw what I would do without them! The apartment is about 35 min walk to the Univ. and close to a main street where I can walk downtown or get on the bus!
Work is going well. As of right now I am super busy with the application of a survey we are doing with all of the first years on addictions and mental health. So far we have done about three colleges and have collected 400 responses. Im trying to think of ways to incorporate the goals of Peace Corps, which have to do with water usage, nutrition, and HIV/AIDS/Sex Ed. There are a ton of students around (im in a college haha)..but the hard part is getting a group of students together because people don't do extra curricular activities here. So that's my goal for the next couple months.
Alright that's enough for now. I'll write later, probably after christmas :) Hope holidays are jolly and everyone gets what they want from Santa!
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
HAPPY TURKEY DAY!
Well seeing as tomorrow is probably one of the important days of the year I thought I would write a little thanksgiving passage. I won't list all the things that I'm thankful for because that will put people to sleep, that is if anyone really reads this anymore, lol. I think this Thanksgiving will be different, for one reason because I am in another country, but for that reason I am not going to be surrounded by family or friends that I am normally with. Rather I will be with my new Ecua family/friends-along with volunteer family/friends. And just being with them makes me realize how fortunate I am to have such amazing people in my life. It also makes me think of the people back at home that I will not be sharing this holiday with but that will definitely be on my mind!
We had our "Ecua-Thanksgiving" last Sunday. It turned out pretty darn good for having limited food (pumpkins dont exist and neither do cranberries really) ovens, silverware and furniture. We had it at Kim's house and brought a bunch of stuff from Chino's place (thank god they live so close). Paige, Kim, Hannah and I were in charge of the cooking. I made stuffing, Kim made sweet potato casserole and apple pie, Paige made green bean casserole and Hannah made mashed potatoes and deviled eggs. Hannah is from argentina and so the deviled eggs were like your normal deviled eggs except with tuna, actually really good. The turkey we had prepared for us. So after spending a whopping 30 dollars just to buy the bird we ended up spending another 35 to have it prepared...the sacrifices we choose to make...lol Anyway everything turned out just lovely there were about 10 of us in total, americans and ecuadorians and we were all so full at the end! Afterwards we went to Ponce's birthday get together where we stuffed our faces with more sweets, and birthday cake. What a day!
Tomorrow I will be traveling to Guaranda for yet another Thanksgiving, this time with PCV's. The menu will be about the same. I think everyone's expectations are high because we all grew up with a great thanksgiving feast and now it's our turn to cook everything...lets hope all goes well!!!
The rest of my life continues as usual. Last week we had re-connect with our Omnibus. It was great to see everyone. Not really that great to be back at the training center and sit through long sessions but there were some good discussions and we did get some useful information and materials. Our PCVL's (peace corps volunteer leaders-those in their 3rd year) were more interactive with us and so it was great to get to know them a little bit better. My site visit is scheduled for December 1st. Bibi and Lila will be coming to check out a possible apartment (please put out good thoughts that it will pass!!!) and also to come to my work and talk about what things we are working on, challenges, etc.
I feel as though I have become more and more distant with my host family here. As some of you may know I am dating an Ecuadorian here and his family has really taken me in. I spend practically all the weekends with them and most weekday afternoons/evenings. They are so friendly and treat me like my host family should. They take me to different places on the weekend, feed me, and just love to chat and here about how my time here is going. I'll be glad when December 1st comes so that I can move out of the house that I am at and finally be on my own!
Christmas is just around the corner and for Ecuador it's practically here. Apparently people start to decorate and "get into the mood" (which quite frankly I have no idea how they can when there is NO SNOW!!) starting in November. I decorated with Chino's mom and sister the other weekend. It was so nice to be a part of decorating, kinda made me miss home a little. Still so strange for it to be sunny and warm and see christmas lights and christmas trees but Im sure by the second time around (a.k.a year two) it'll feel normal.
Alright, as always I will try and write more frequently!! The 6 month mark is rapidly approaching, I really can't believe I've been here for almost half a year! Long way to go though but Im excited for what the coming months may bring.
Hope everyone has a safe and happy thanksgiving!!!
We had our "Ecua-Thanksgiving" last Sunday. It turned out pretty darn good for having limited food (pumpkins dont exist and neither do cranberries really) ovens, silverware and furniture. We had it at Kim's house and brought a bunch of stuff from Chino's place (thank god they live so close). Paige, Kim, Hannah and I were in charge of the cooking. I made stuffing, Kim made sweet potato casserole and apple pie, Paige made green bean casserole and Hannah made mashed potatoes and deviled eggs. Hannah is from argentina and so the deviled eggs were like your normal deviled eggs except with tuna, actually really good. The turkey we had prepared for us. So after spending a whopping 30 dollars just to buy the bird we ended up spending another 35 to have it prepared...the sacrifices we choose to make...lol Anyway everything turned out just lovely there were about 10 of us in total, americans and ecuadorians and we were all so full at the end! Afterwards we went to Ponce's birthday get together where we stuffed our faces with more sweets, and birthday cake. What a day!
Tomorrow I will be traveling to Guaranda for yet another Thanksgiving, this time with PCV's. The menu will be about the same. I think everyone's expectations are high because we all grew up with a great thanksgiving feast and now it's our turn to cook everything...lets hope all goes well!!!
The rest of my life continues as usual. Last week we had re-connect with our Omnibus. It was great to see everyone. Not really that great to be back at the training center and sit through long sessions but there were some good discussions and we did get some useful information and materials. Our PCVL's (peace corps volunteer leaders-those in their 3rd year) were more interactive with us and so it was great to get to know them a little bit better. My site visit is scheduled for December 1st. Bibi and Lila will be coming to check out a possible apartment (please put out good thoughts that it will pass!!!) and also to come to my work and talk about what things we are working on, challenges, etc.
I feel as though I have become more and more distant with my host family here. As some of you may know I am dating an Ecuadorian here and his family has really taken me in. I spend practically all the weekends with them and most weekday afternoons/evenings. They are so friendly and treat me like my host family should. They take me to different places on the weekend, feed me, and just love to chat and here about how my time here is going. I'll be glad when December 1st comes so that I can move out of the house that I am at and finally be on my own!
Christmas is just around the corner and for Ecuador it's practically here. Apparently people start to decorate and "get into the mood" (which quite frankly I have no idea how they can when there is NO SNOW!!) starting in November. I decorated with Chino's mom and sister the other weekend. It was so nice to be a part of decorating, kinda made me miss home a little. Still so strange for it to be sunny and warm and see christmas lights and christmas trees but Im sure by the second time around (a.k.a year two) it'll feel normal.
Alright, as always I will try and write more frequently!! The 6 month mark is rapidly approaching, I really can't believe I've been here for almost half a year! Long way to go though but Im excited for what the coming months may bring.
Hope everyone has a safe and happy thanksgiving!!!
Monday, October 31, 2011
Happy Halloween
Woke up this morning to no breakfast. Not really sure where my host mother was..but that was fine, the more I can avoid the usual boring breakfast the better. Instead I had yogurt with cereal and orange juice, yum!
So some how the summer and fall have ended and now begins the chillyness of winter...well for those of you in the northern hemisphere that is...sorry. hehe. I on the other hand will be headed to the beach in two days! I can´t say we are starting summer here as you all begin winter because some days it can feel as though Im in winter. I really do believe that it´s possible to feel all different climates in just one day here in Ambato.
This past weekend in Ambato was tranquilo, no festivities regarding halloween which felt weird at times but then again not at others because it´s just not practiced here. So for everyone it was normal to do their reg. thing and since no one was celebrating it, there really wasnt anything to miss. What they do celebrate, or traditionally what is celebrated is something like "dia de los muertos" but here is called "dia de los difuntos". On november 2nd families go to the graves of families and loved ones bringing them a special drink called colada morada y guaguas de pan.
The colada morada is a drink made out of a black cornmeal. I think the corn is originally just a darker color, im not sure if it is actually black but that´s what they call it (harina de maiz negro). All types of fruit are added. Really anything you can think of, strawberry, piña, mora, canela..the drink ends up being a thick purple and very sweet. With this are guaguas de pan. Guagua means child in kichwa (one of the indiginous languages spoken in ecuador). The bread is in the shape of a child with an X on the belly. Traditionally these things would be brought to the graves of family members but in modern ecuadorian day people just prepare the drink and eat the pan.
Another interesting part is that both Catholics and Indiginous practice this religious holiday. For the indiginous it seems to be a bit more serious because they still have the belief that family members who have passed away are not dead but rather in another transformation, so they bring all types of food to share with the family members.
So Ecuador will have wednesday off for Dia de los difuntos and then have thursday and friday off kind of as floating holidays because Cuenca has their independence day. Cuenca is a very well known city to turists and for some reason the whole country decides to take off for their independence festivities.
On another note, the director of our office will be going on sabatical..to his house..lol I guess he´s taking off the next year to do some type of research but will be doing it from his home..not sure if that´s just an ecuadorian thing, lol. We are going to have a going away dinner for him tomorrow downtown. Should be a good time, also fun to see people outside of the office. We aren´t sure who will be replacing him but they better make up their decision fast because tomorrow is his last day.
Nothing really going on in the office these next couple days so I will probably take tomorrow afternoon off to get things in order for the trip! YAY! the beach! Hope everyone has a great start to the week :)
So some how the summer and fall have ended and now begins the chillyness of winter...well for those of you in the northern hemisphere that is...sorry. hehe. I on the other hand will be headed to the beach in two days! I can´t say we are starting summer here as you all begin winter because some days it can feel as though Im in winter. I really do believe that it´s possible to feel all different climates in just one day here in Ambato.
This past weekend in Ambato was tranquilo, no festivities regarding halloween which felt weird at times but then again not at others because it´s just not practiced here. So for everyone it was normal to do their reg. thing and since no one was celebrating it, there really wasnt anything to miss. What they do celebrate, or traditionally what is celebrated is something like "dia de los muertos" but here is called "dia de los difuntos". On november 2nd families go to the graves of families and loved ones bringing them a special drink called colada morada y guaguas de pan.
The colada morada is a drink made out of a black cornmeal. I think the corn is originally just a darker color, im not sure if it is actually black but that´s what they call it (harina de maiz negro). All types of fruit are added. Really anything you can think of, strawberry, piña, mora, canela..the drink ends up being a thick purple and very sweet. With this are guaguas de pan. Guagua means child in kichwa (one of the indiginous languages spoken in ecuador). The bread is in the shape of a child with an X on the belly. Traditionally these things would be brought to the graves of family members but in modern ecuadorian day people just prepare the drink and eat the pan.
Another interesting part is that both Catholics and Indiginous practice this religious holiday. For the indiginous it seems to be a bit more serious because they still have the belief that family members who have passed away are not dead but rather in another transformation, so they bring all types of food to share with the family members.
So Ecuador will have wednesday off for Dia de los difuntos and then have thursday and friday off kind of as floating holidays because Cuenca has their independence day. Cuenca is a very well known city to turists and for some reason the whole country decides to take off for their independence festivities.
On another note, the director of our office will be going on sabatical..to his house..lol I guess he´s taking off the next year to do some type of research but will be doing it from his home..not sure if that´s just an ecuadorian thing, lol. We are going to have a going away dinner for him tomorrow downtown. Should be a good time, also fun to see people outside of the office. We aren´t sure who will be replacing him but they better make up their decision fast because tomorrow is his last day.
Nothing really going on in the office these next couple days so I will probably take tomorrow afternoon off to get things in order for the trip! YAY! the beach! Hope everyone has a great start to the week :)
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Time Flies When You´re Having Fun....
The date today is Thursday October 27. It´s been practically a month, A MONTH since I´ve written in my blog. Things have been happening I guess you could say. Im not sure why I haven´t been writing. I guess it´s because I haven´t exactly dedicated time to write. Where to begin, where to begin...All at home are enjoying the lovely colors of fall, probably even getting ready to hibernate for winter. Here in Ambato it´s been hotter than ever. No color change, just hot sun, with various rain showers here and there. The sun is nice, but I already know that I am going to miss the season change throught these next two years that I´m here.
Work has been progressing. We are sooo close to getting our addiction and mental health survey up online for the first semester students to take. In doing my CAT tools with students it is obvious that there is a lot of alcohol consumption around the University. Yesterday a student came into the office and wanted to talk to Eulalia (my counterpar) in private. Come to find she was considering suicide. That being said I believe that there needs to be more research on the mental health of students and further support for them. Hopefully this encuesta (survey) that we do will help tackle or at least begin to tackle the problems of mental health and drug abuse here in the University.
Our plan for the prevention and attention of emergencies has slowly come to a hault..not really sure why. We went around to each of the facultades that we will be working with, presented our ideas of the formation of brigades and had to leave it up to them to form their own groups. I think some have but the next step would be to start the capacitaciones (trainings) and it doesnt look like that will be happening any time soon..?
The newest project that I´ve formed a part of is ´Charlas de Motivación´. Eulalia, Juan (clinical psychologist), Alvaro (motivational speaker, professor) and I are going around every facultad and doing what we call charlas of motivacion. We do an ice breaker, talk about what it is to be resilient, work as a team, etc...It seems like a very simple subject but as many of the people have mentioned in the reflection we do at the end, most come to work, do their work and dont really interact with people outside of their work atmosphere. For example, there are the people that work in the office. Those in the office tend to be in the office and interact only with office personal and not with persay the janitors or the tech people. So far the reviews have been pretty good. It´s the first time that the University has done any type of "togetherness" with faculty in the University and personally I think that´s something really important for an institution like this.
In a couple weeks my counterpart and I will be traveling back to the beloved Tumbaco for Re-Connect. Im excited to see everyone and hear how things are going in the different sites. I think the presentations of our CAT tools will be boring and I dont have high hopes for what they will have us do in terms of project planning. Regardless I will go into it with a positive attitude and do my best to learn what I can! Im not gonna lie, I will miss Ambato...oh how I will miss my lovely mormon family..NOT.
Speaking of family, starting tomorrow I will actively starting to look for apartments. I told Eulalia this morning about my plans and she goes, "well I should call my friend in Ciudadela España (one of the barrios that Im interested in living in) and see if her apartment is available. With one phone call I already have a possible place. It sounds nice...now lets just hope the price isnt too steep! The lady of course, has to check with her husband and get back to me but I think there is hope! There are also other places around my neighborhood that might be possibilities but I have to physically go to the houses, knock on doors and talk to people...que pereza..I´ve got a couple weeks so I think that should be enough time. SO EXCITED tho to get out on my own!!! Just the thought of cooking my own food and not eating the SAME THING every morning for breakfast makes me feliz :)
Friends are good. I´ve become very close with one of the guys in our friend group. It´s getting to the point where he would be my "enamorado" but Im not sure if I want to claim that title yet...We went to parque de la familia yesterday. Gorgeous views of the city and of the volcanos!! Whoever comes to visit I will take you there :) The guys have started a tournament in Pillaro, about 30 minutes away. There are some more challenging teams which is good. Last weekend they lost by 3 points..sad, but they played a really good game. It´s still early on in the tournament and hopefully when they play them again they will win! They have contracted a Cuban to play on the team with them. He´s crazy tall and plays for one of the professional teams here in Ecuador. He came out with us last weekend which was fun. Very very difficult to understand him, def puts my spanish to the test! I´ve had this ongoing battle with Chino about whether or not I´m "Rubia". If you were to look up the definition Im pretty sure it means blonde, and I am most definetly NOT BLOND! But Chino says that because my hair is lighter and my skin is lighter I am considered a Rubia. I still dont agree. So the other night I asked the Cuban what he thought, if I was blonde. His answer, regardless of your skin or hair color your sangre is white...to say that in a way I´m "white blooded" that I come from a place that is considered white, rubia..etc..
The answer kinda surprised me. I guess, maybe because the way I´ve been raised, skin or hair color, any physical feature doesnt seem to have an impact on who the person is. Here physical appearance has a lot to do with background. And to a deeper extent it seems that down to the blood people are different...Even after different travels to LA countries and being here four months it still amazes me as to how White, American Women are perceived. It´s like we are these mystical, exotic people. And not because we come from a completely different culture, you dont even have to go that deep. It starts simply with our appearance. No matter if the person is ugly or not, people seemed to be obsessed with this idea of Americans. Not to say that all Ecuadorians are shallow and creepy...which some most def are, but it´s just interesting to hear how we are perceived in this country and then to actually live it....
Alright time for lunch...i´ll write some later
Work has been progressing. We are sooo close to getting our addiction and mental health survey up online for the first semester students to take. In doing my CAT tools with students it is obvious that there is a lot of alcohol consumption around the University. Yesterday a student came into the office and wanted to talk to Eulalia (my counterpar) in private. Come to find she was considering suicide. That being said I believe that there needs to be more research on the mental health of students and further support for them. Hopefully this encuesta (survey) that we do will help tackle or at least begin to tackle the problems of mental health and drug abuse here in the University.
Our plan for the prevention and attention of emergencies has slowly come to a hault..not really sure why. We went around to each of the facultades that we will be working with, presented our ideas of the formation of brigades and had to leave it up to them to form their own groups. I think some have but the next step would be to start the capacitaciones (trainings) and it doesnt look like that will be happening any time soon..?
The newest project that I´ve formed a part of is ´Charlas de Motivación´. Eulalia, Juan (clinical psychologist), Alvaro (motivational speaker, professor) and I are going around every facultad and doing what we call charlas of motivacion. We do an ice breaker, talk about what it is to be resilient, work as a team, etc...It seems like a very simple subject but as many of the people have mentioned in the reflection we do at the end, most come to work, do their work and dont really interact with people outside of their work atmosphere. For example, there are the people that work in the office. Those in the office tend to be in the office and interact only with office personal and not with persay the janitors or the tech people. So far the reviews have been pretty good. It´s the first time that the University has done any type of "togetherness" with faculty in the University and personally I think that´s something really important for an institution like this.
In a couple weeks my counterpart and I will be traveling back to the beloved Tumbaco for Re-Connect. Im excited to see everyone and hear how things are going in the different sites. I think the presentations of our CAT tools will be boring and I dont have high hopes for what they will have us do in terms of project planning. Regardless I will go into it with a positive attitude and do my best to learn what I can! Im not gonna lie, I will miss Ambato...oh how I will miss my lovely mormon family..NOT.
Speaking of family, starting tomorrow I will actively starting to look for apartments. I told Eulalia this morning about my plans and she goes, "well I should call my friend in Ciudadela España (one of the barrios that Im interested in living in) and see if her apartment is available. With one phone call I already have a possible place. It sounds nice...now lets just hope the price isnt too steep! The lady of course, has to check with her husband and get back to me but I think there is hope! There are also other places around my neighborhood that might be possibilities but I have to physically go to the houses, knock on doors and talk to people...que pereza..I´ve got a couple weeks so I think that should be enough time. SO EXCITED tho to get out on my own!!! Just the thought of cooking my own food and not eating the SAME THING every morning for breakfast makes me feliz :)
Friends are good. I´ve become very close with one of the guys in our friend group. It´s getting to the point where he would be my "enamorado" but Im not sure if I want to claim that title yet...We went to parque de la familia yesterday. Gorgeous views of the city and of the volcanos!! Whoever comes to visit I will take you there :) The guys have started a tournament in Pillaro, about 30 minutes away. There are some more challenging teams which is good. Last weekend they lost by 3 points..sad, but they played a really good game. It´s still early on in the tournament and hopefully when they play them again they will win! They have contracted a Cuban to play on the team with them. He´s crazy tall and plays for one of the professional teams here in Ecuador. He came out with us last weekend which was fun. Very very difficult to understand him, def puts my spanish to the test! I´ve had this ongoing battle with Chino about whether or not I´m "Rubia". If you were to look up the definition Im pretty sure it means blonde, and I am most definetly NOT BLOND! But Chino says that because my hair is lighter and my skin is lighter I am considered a Rubia. I still dont agree. So the other night I asked the Cuban what he thought, if I was blonde. His answer, regardless of your skin or hair color your sangre is white...to say that in a way I´m "white blooded" that I come from a place that is considered white, rubia..etc..
The answer kinda surprised me. I guess, maybe because the way I´ve been raised, skin or hair color, any physical feature doesnt seem to have an impact on who the person is. Here physical appearance has a lot to do with background. And to a deeper extent it seems that down to the blood people are different...Even after different travels to LA countries and being here four months it still amazes me as to how White, American Women are perceived. It´s like we are these mystical, exotic people. And not because we come from a completely different culture, you dont even have to go that deep. It starts simply with our appearance. No matter if the person is ugly or not, people seemed to be obsessed with this idea of Americans. Not to say that all Ecuadorians are shallow and creepy...which some most def are, but it´s just interesting to hear how we are perceived in this country and then to actually live it....
Alright time for lunch...i´ll write some later
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
wednesday sept. 28 2011
So it's been over a week since I've posted anything on the blog. Im not really sure what why, I guess you could say I've had somewhat of 'writers block'. The daily routine seems as though it's become too much of a repeat and I in no way intend on boring my readers! I feel as though my life here in Peace Corps as hit a sort of plateau. The hype of everything being new and scary has slowly come to a halt. Not that this is a bad thing. Im becoming more comfortable in my work place, have established a great group of ecuadorian friends, and well, am learning to survive the host family situation (while counting down the days till I can move out).
I often get this feeling of needing to start projects of my own or be more proactive with reaching out to the community. But then I take a step back and take into consideration what Peace Corps told us at the end of orientation; the first three months we are really supposed to sit back and do more observing, just getting to know the people, living the life, etc..Im not sure if that's exactly what I've been doing. I think my situation is a little different because of my work situation. The fact that I am in an institution that has regular work hours and projects that are already started makes it hard for me to just "sit back and watch". But it's very clear that I am in a Latin American country where things happen at their own pace. I've embraced the laid back culture and have actually learned to appreciate it.
About a week ago was my one month anniversary here at my site, Ambato. I was walking home from work the other day and felt as though I needed to pinch myself. Im actually living and working/volunteering in a Latin American country. How long has this been my dream...hmm since I was 16! This month literally flew by, so many new people to meet and new places see. I want to keep growing and keep learning and seeing new things. I don't want to get into any certain routine of 'just living life'. Im not sure if that even makes sense, I mean routine is great and I think I need it in a sense to stay sane. But I want to keep pushing myself.
Im at the point with my spanish where I can communicate just fine, but I want to take it further, with vocab..etc..I want to be able to REALLY express myself. It feels weird saying Im bilingual because I feel like that's a huge accomplishment that I haven't quite achieved. The second language will never be quite like the first but I hope that in these two years I can keep expanding my language. I was with the director of our program the other day and I told him how in college I took portuguese classes. He offered to take me to the dept. of languages and talk to the director to see if I could audit a portuguese class, SCORE! It would be awesome to start up that language again.
So I've got a meeting to go to in about 15 minutes and theres no way that I can update all of the things that have been going on. So I'll summarize real quick. As I said work is going well. We are so close to actually starting trainings for the project with Prevention and Attention of Emergencies! We have a space to start the Addictions and mental health program. The money got cleared to do Survey Monkey and upload our survey. Eulalia and I will actually be giving up our office and moving into a new one (needs to be "built") next to the director. So there are many exciting things going on there.
Family is doing fine. I've gotten into a routine with them where I eat breakfast with them, then when I get done at the gym I go and have some sort of dinner. And that's really about it for family interaction. They do their own thing, I do mine and it seems to work out well. It's such a different family life than I've been used to, probably the worst that I've had in all of my host family experiences, kinda sucks to have to end on this type of note, pero bueno, asi es la vida.
Surprisingly enough I've been watching way more basketball than I have soccer. Basketball is really popular here and the group of friends that I have are on different club teams play a couple times every weekend. It's really fun to learn the different tec. terms in spanish and see what they consider "professional" basketball, lol.
This past weekend I went to Guaranda, a small town where a couple other volunteers are. Rebekah met up with us and we had a good time. Nice to be with Americans but felt weird speaking so much english. Clearly my english going down hill and I apologize for this, my grammar was not the best to begin with and will get progressively worse within these next two years...just a heads up.
Alright enough for now. I'll try to update again soon!
I often get this feeling of needing to start projects of my own or be more proactive with reaching out to the community. But then I take a step back and take into consideration what Peace Corps told us at the end of orientation; the first three months we are really supposed to sit back and do more observing, just getting to know the people, living the life, etc..Im not sure if that's exactly what I've been doing. I think my situation is a little different because of my work situation. The fact that I am in an institution that has regular work hours and projects that are already started makes it hard for me to just "sit back and watch". But it's very clear that I am in a Latin American country where things happen at their own pace. I've embraced the laid back culture and have actually learned to appreciate it.
About a week ago was my one month anniversary here at my site, Ambato. I was walking home from work the other day and felt as though I needed to pinch myself. Im actually living and working/volunteering in a Latin American country. How long has this been my dream...hmm since I was 16! This month literally flew by, so many new people to meet and new places see. I want to keep growing and keep learning and seeing new things. I don't want to get into any certain routine of 'just living life'. Im not sure if that even makes sense, I mean routine is great and I think I need it in a sense to stay sane. But I want to keep pushing myself.
Im at the point with my spanish where I can communicate just fine, but I want to take it further, with vocab..etc..I want to be able to REALLY express myself. It feels weird saying Im bilingual because I feel like that's a huge accomplishment that I haven't quite achieved. The second language will never be quite like the first but I hope that in these two years I can keep expanding my language. I was with the director of our program the other day and I told him how in college I took portuguese classes. He offered to take me to the dept. of languages and talk to the director to see if I could audit a portuguese class, SCORE! It would be awesome to start up that language again.
So I've got a meeting to go to in about 15 minutes and theres no way that I can update all of the things that have been going on. So I'll summarize real quick. As I said work is going well. We are so close to actually starting trainings for the project with Prevention and Attention of Emergencies! We have a space to start the Addictions and mental health program. The money got cleared to do Survey Monkey and upload our survey. Eulalia and I will actually be giving up our office and moving into a new one (needs to be "built") next to the director. So there are many exciting things going on there.
Family is doing fine. I've gotten into a routine with them where I eat breakfast with them, then when I get done at the gym I go and have some sort of dinner. And that's really about it for family interaction. They do their own thing, I do mine and it seems to work out well. It's such a different family life than I've been used to, probably the worst that I've had in all of my host family experiences, kinda sucks to have to end on this type of note, pero bueno, asi es la vida.
Surprisingly enough I've been watching way more basketball than I have soccer. Basketball is really popular here and the group of friends that I have are on different club teams play a couple times every weekend. It's really fun to learn the different tec. terms in spanish and see what they consider "professional" basketball, lol.
This past weekend I went to Guaranda, a small town where a couple other volunteers are. Rebekah met up with us and we had a good time. Nice to be with Americans but felt weird speaking so much english. Clearly my english going down hill and I apologize for this, my grammar was not the best to begin with and will get progressively worse within these next two years...just a heads up.
Alright enough for now. I'll try to update again soon!
Friday, September 16, 2011
Thursday thursday thursday
Almost the weekend! Today was a good day, well after the morning. So Eulalia and I were going to go to this simulation at Gestion de Riesgos. It was a big deal because the police, firemen, Red Cross and even the governor were there. They were doing a mock test of how they would handle a volcanic eruption with an earthquake. I arrived at 9 o´clock on the dot, waited for Eulalia...She called me at 9:02 to say that I should come up to the University to help finish up this document that had to be turned into the boss. Someone had called her to say the simulation wouldn´t be starting until 10..well good to know...
So I walked up to the University to find out that the boss wasn´t even there and Eulalia was doing interviews with the guards..Long story short we didn´t leave the University until about 10:15 and arrived late to a mad chaos of people..It was so awkward at first because everyone was running around trying to do work and we were just standing there, supposed to be observers but it was really hard to observe when people were all over the place, sounds going off, it was quite the site. So much planning had to of gone on with it. We met some important people, made some contacts and had scrumptious kimbolitos! they are officially one of my favorite foods here. I could probably live off of kimbolitos and llapingachos, lol
I then went to lunch at Kims. She made a great salad and I had curry chicken, HEAVEN!!! I went back to the office in the afternoon and Eulalia and I worked on printing out this huge document..I don´t know how it became so complicated but it took us over 3 hours to get everything just right and in order..lol
I went to the restaurant to have dinner and then back home to shower befor the basketball game. The "professional" team was playing a team from santo domingo and the game ended up being really good! Worth the whole $4 this time, lol
So I walked up to the University to find out that the boss wasn´t even there and Eulalia was doing interviews with the guards..Long story short we didn´t leave the University until about 10:15 and arrived late to a mad chaos of people..It was so awkward at first because everyone was running around trying to do work and we were just standing there, supposed to be observers but it was really hard to observe when people were all over the place, sounds going off, it was quite the site. So much planning had to of gone on with it. We met some important people, made some contacts and had scrumptious kimbolitos! they are officially one of my favorite foods here. I could probably live off of kimbolitos and llapingachos, lol
I then went to lunch at Kims. She made a great salad and I had curry chicken, HEAVEN!!! I went back to the office in the afternoon and Eulalia and I worked on printing out this huge document..I don´t know how it became so complicated but it took us over 3 hours to get everything just right and in order..lol
I went to the restaurant to have dinner and then back home to shower befor the basketball game. The "professional" team was playing a team from santo domingo and the game ended up being really good! Worth the whole $4 this time, lol
Wednesday-back at work
Went back to work today. Doc still doesnt want me doing a lot of exercise so I have to take a taxi to the University which just seems ridiculous because it´s like a 20 min walk but whatever, doctors have their orders for a reason, right? We had a meeting right away in the morning with Jurisprudencias y derechos humanos about the plan de emergencias. Marcelo from gestion came in to talk and then Alexandra talked about the University plan with the brigades and committee and all the trainings that we have to do. Faculty and students came and seemed really interested and movitvated to start. At the end of the meeting the cooridantor designated professors for each of the brigades and the students that were there signed up for which group they wanted to be trained in. They seemed to be the most motivated to get things started which is really exciting!
I went to the restaurant close by campus to eat, good food! I then came back to the office and did some work until about 4 when I went to the post office to pick up the infamous package my father had sent me...well it wasn´t his package, but a package from Anne!! With tons and tons of chocolate! Yay! Although Im not really sure where dad´s package is. I decided not to go to the meeting in the evening because I knew it was going to go really late. Instead Chino and I met up with Hannah and Pepe and then went to Kims to have some cookies she made, absolutely amazing! Came home and went to bed.
I went to the restaurant close by campus to eat, good food! I then came back to the office and did some work until about 4 when I went to the post office to pick up the infamous package my father had sent me...well it wasn´t his package, but a package from Anne!! With tons and tons of chocolate! Yay! Although Im not really sure where dad´s package is. I decided not to go to the meeting in the evening because I knew it was going to go really late. Instead Chino and I met up with Hannah and Pepe and then went to Kims to have some cookies she made, absolutely amazing! Came home and went to bed.
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