Staging and First Day in Ecuador

A bit more of an actual update for those of you who are craving more details. 

First and foremost I want to say how welcome I feel by the Peace Corps, my host family and my host community. After about only a week here in country I already feel at home.

Last Tuesday I had staging in Miami with the 37 other volunteers who are now with me in Ecuador. An amazing group of people. 

The day mostly consisted of icebreaker activities, learning more about what to expect on our flight to Ecuador the following day, how to deal with/prevent different situations in country and at the end of staging we divided into 7 groups, each of which performed a little skit on how we would deal with a certain scenario in country according to the 10 core agreements that a PCV (peace corps volunteer) makes. My groups situation was about a volunteer who was not adjusting well to his host country, was sick and missed his girlfriend at home who also missed him and wanted him to come home. 

Wednesday morning we woke up bright and early. We were in the lobby at 5 am in the buses by 5:30 arrived at the airport around 6:30, checked all of our bags, and got through security by around 7:30. I went and grabbed a Dunkin Donuts coffee and an empanada for breakfast. We then all hung around chatting for about an hour until our plane boarded. Most of us were grouped all together at the back of the plane. A lot of people took advantage of the four hour flight by sleeping, but I was not able to. Instead I chatted with my two aisle mates the whole way. We arrived in Quito at around 2 with no problems. Our plane arrived early, no ones baggage was lost, we all went through security and customs just fine and were welcomed on the other side by lots of Peace Corps staff with smiling faces, hugs and a banner that read BIENVENIDOS. 

We all stuck our luggage into a big truck and then hopped on to this large charter bus that took us to the community we will be staying at for training. The views along the way were nothing short of beautiful. 

When we arrived at the training center we went inside and all sat down. We met all of the staff and received little welcome notes that our host families had written for us. The note included their street address as well as their phone number. We also went upstairs to the roof to marvel at the view. 

At around 5 our host families arrived. The person in charge of host families called out the host families name and then the name of the PCV that would be staying at their house for the next three months. Each time this happened everyone clapped, the PCV went to give their host families hugs and kisses and then they went downstairs to collect their luggage. 

I was maybe the fifth or sixth person to have their name called, so I met my family pretty early on. Both of my host parents were their to pick me up. I could tell from the moment I met them both that they were very kind people. Their smiles gave it away! They helped me bring my bags to their car and then we drove back to our home. It's really nice because my host is just off of the main road and only about a ten minute walk to the training center (it's all uphill though). 

When we arrived at their house I met their two dogs (Mirage and Oso). 

They showed me to my room and where the bathroom was located. I stuck my bag in the room and then went out to the living room to chat. There I found out that my host mom is a hairdresser (her business is right under our house) and has just started going back to school in order to get her high school diploma. She goes to school every Saturday. My host dad is a retired plane mechanic for the Ecuadorean military and now tends to some land that he owns and grows many vegetables and fruit on. He also owns chickens and pigs. All of these things are found on my plate at breakfast and dinner. 

At around 7:30 I went with my host dad to pick up my host siblings from school. They go to school in the afternoon so don't get home at night until 8. I have two brothers (16 and 15 yo) and a sister (13 yo). They are all very sweet. 

When we got home my host mother had made dinner of chicken, salad and rice. You will see rice at almost every meal, even breakfast. You not only get rice but you get what they call a "Chimborazo". Chimborazo is the name of a very tall volcano here in Ecuador - so as you may guess this saying pretty much means a "mountain" of rice and they do not exaggerate. I am loving the food though. It is nothing short of delicious. 

I hung out at the table for around an hour chatting with the host fam until I decided to go into my room and start to unpack. The end of my first day in Ecuador ended at around 11 o'clock and believe me I was so tired that I had no trouble sleeping at all.