OTHER DAYS

SOME DAYS you will start crying and you won't know why but when you tell a Peace Corps friend they will hug you and make you feel 100x better. 

SOME DAYS you will feel like you don't have anything to talk about with your host family but OTHER DAYS you will find you have lost track of time, talking for hours about life with them. 

SOME DAYS you will question why you joined the Peace Corps in the first place but OTHER DAYS you will have beautiful experiences that you would never had had if you had decided to never leave home. 

SOME DAYS you will feel like a child, because you need to learn anew how to take buses and how to order a meal correctly, but ONE DAY you will feel like a pro. 

SOME DAYS you will feel like you don't know any Spanish, you can't communicate how you are really feeling and you can't understand anything that is going on but OTHER DAYS you will get the joke that your sister made at the dinner table and make one back that your whole host family will laugh at.

SOME DAYS you will be completely frustrated with your students but OTHER DAYS when a student who has had trouble really understanding something, finally completely understands, your heart will fill with joy. You have helped instill a bit of confidence in that student. 

SOME DAYS you will be scared out of your mind, nervous that an earthquake will happen at any minute, and on the verge of going home. OTHER DAYS you will be so preoccupied with life that earthquakes won't cross your mind, not even once. 

SOME DAYS when you have moved to site and you're not surrounded by other PCV friends any more, you will feel lonely but OTHER DAYS your new kitty that you will adopt will wake you up with snuggles and you will feel  a bit less lonely.

SOME DAYS will be nothing but sadness, fear or exhaustion but OTHER DAYS will be absolutely breathtaking, joyful and full of love. These days will be the ones that stand out. 

OTHER DAYS will happen more frequently then you may think. OTHER DAYS will be the days that make it all worth it.

"Don't let making a living prevent you from making a life." - John Wooden

The minimum wage in Ecuador is: 

$366/month 

$12.20/day

$1.50/hour

(Yes, Ecuador does use the U.S. dollar. You are much more likely to see Sacagawea coins though, instead of dollar bills.)

The minimum wage is only applicable for people who are employed by a person or business other than their self. This is also about the same amount (minus rent) I am making monthly. As Peace Corps Volunteers we are expected to live at the same level as the average Ecuadorian. 

The majority of Ecuadorians are at the moment unemployed, or self employed and this minimum wage does not apply to them. Some of these people are the bus drivers, bus vendors,  restaurant/store owners, and people who sell fruits and vegetables in the market or on the street. The majority of Ecuadorians do not have a constant income. Rather, they work long hours every day trying to make as much money as they can. Despite the fact that many Ecuadorians are struggling to find work, and struggling to pay their bills, pay for food, etc. they are some of the most generous people I have ever met. I have received more free food here in the last few months than I have in my entire life prior to arriving in Ecuador.

As the minimum hourly wage is $1.50, I thought it would be interesting to share with you what one is able to buy in Ecuador for a dollar fifty. 

$1.50 in Ecuador will buy you: 

- 5 local bus rides (30 cents each) 

- 3 bottles of water (50 cents each) 

- 10 eggs (15 cents each) 

- 6 green apples (25 cents each) 

- 1.5 pounds of cat food 

- a 5 minute taxi ride within a town 

- 2 Bailoterapia classes (75 cents each) 

- a bowl of soup 

- around 3 pounds of uncooked rice 

- around 4 pens (35 cents each)  

- 3 servings of peanuts (50 cents each) 

- a beer (with 25 cents leftover) 

- An empanada (with 50 cents leftover) 

- 1 cone of pinguino ice cream 

- four rolls of toilet paper 

- 1 hour at the gym 

The every day things here in Ecuador may be considered "cheap" by North American standards, however when you are making an average of $12.20 a day money runs out extremely fast, especially if you have to take care of a family.  

Anything that is imported to Ecuador  is incredibly expensive. Most everything that is not a necessity, like tourist attractions and things one may decide to do to have fun, are also extremely expensive. A movie here is $7.80 which may seem cheap to you - but for me I see this as enough money to pay the bus to and from school for two weeks.

Although some things are relatively expensive, I'm continually surprised at how cheap fruit is! This past Sunday I went to the market and bought two apples, a pineapple, a papaya, a melon and a bag of strawberries for $3. This fruit usually lasts me for an entire week and I love it because it's also extremely fresh.

When you are making only $366 a month - money runs out extremely quickly. For that reason I have found that I have to be very careful with my money. I am not ashamed to say that I am now a change hoarder. Not only because no one ever seems to have change for more than a $5 bill but also because I have found that I need and I use every last cent. I have also had to learn how to regatear* at the markets and ask for the yapa* so I can get the most for my money. Finally, I have found that it is usually better to go to three or four different places to check the prices before buying anything. This helps a lot on cutting down costs.

I have also started to keep a budget for the first time ever! A budget on a peace corps salary is extremely important. I have learned that I can't just spend money willy nilly. I really have to make sure to keep to my weekly budget and to save the money I don't use for later on down the road in case of an emergency. 

Peace Corps is definitely not a job where you're ever going to feel rich, and most of my fellow volunteers feel like they live paycheck to paycheck. However, although you may never be rich in terms of money, your life will be so much richer for the people you meet and the experiences you have. And that my friend, is what truly matters.

-------------------------------------------

*yapa - whenever you ask for the yapa at a market you are basically asking for a gift of one or two more of whatever you are buying. You usually do this if you are buying a fair amount of a product, or if you are buying from the same person every week. People here will normally want to give you the yapa to entice you to come back and buy from them again. 

Regatear - to bargain or to haggle 

Expect the Unexpected

While most of my other Peace Corps (PC) friends were celebrating a month of having been in site, I was waking up to the 2nd day at my new site. Nothing about my first month as a volunteer had gone as expected. 

As most of you know, 3 days after having arrived to my site of Portoviejo, the earth decided to throw a tantrum and change the world for so many people. Although at times the first month of being a volunteer were overwhelming, sad and just plain difficult, I was constantly reminded of how lucky and privileged I was to still have food, water, a roof over my head, my life and my friends. I wish I could have spent my 2 years of service in Portoviejo, but sometimes life throws you the hardest of curveballs and you have no choice but to roll with the punches as best as you can. 

After being removed from Portoviejo, because the Peace Corps had deemed it unsafe for us to stay, I along with 32 other volunteers who had been in the effected region, were taken to Quito. At the time, there were so many unknowns. We didn't know how long we would be in Quito, whether or not we would be able to return to our sites or how we may be able to help with the relief efforts from so far away. At the time it felt like ages, like we were stuck in limbo, but eventually we did get answers to all of these questions. 

We relied on cellphones to keep in touch with our host families in our communities, to see how they were doing, if there was anything we could do to help, and to make sure they knew that even though we had to leave, we would do anything to be there with them and to help in any way we could. Our host families had all taken such good care of us and had treated us as just another member of their family, after only having known us for 3 days, and in an unimaginable situation where food, water and safety were all scarce. I am forever indebted to them and will always consider them family. 

Within the first few days of being back in Quito, I realized there would be multiple ways I would be able to help with the relief efforts. Over the next three weeks, I spent quite a bit of time, organizing and packing supplies to send to the Manabi and Esmeraldas provinces. In one day alone, I, along with a few other volunteers and many college students from Quito, helped PLAN international to pack 2,000 bags full of supplies to send to families around Portoviejo. Each one of these bags had supplies meant to be able to last for 2 weeks. 

In addition to helping with relief efforts, many of the first few days were spent in meetings and group, as well as personal, therapy sessions. We talked a lot about what had happened and how we were feeling in relation to all of the events that had occurred. I was mentally exhausted and did not feel much like talking to people who had not also lived through the earthquake. They were the only people who really understood, and I took comfort in being surrounded by them. 

After about a week, the first volunteers were being cleared to go back to their sites. A group of us who had been in Portoviejo, Manta and a few other towns, were the last of the 33 to still be in Quito. We were the ones who would not be able to return to our sites. The damages were too extensive and we would not be able to perform our duties as a TEFL volunteer. Telling my Portoviejo family I would not be able to return was one of the hardest moments of my life. I felt like I was not only abandoning them, but also the school I was supposed to have worked at and the community I was supposed to be a part of. That entire night I was a mess. 

Around the time I found out I wouldn't be able to return to Portoviejo, I honestly had no idea how I would move forward. I decided I needed to return home to the U.S. for a few days before I could continue. I needed some normalcy and consistency in my life but most of all I needed to hug my parents, go to a church service and see my best friend. I thought this would give me the energy I needed to continue and it did. I was lucky enough to be able to go home for just about a week, and it was exactly what I needed. 

When I returned to Ecuador, there were 5 of the original 33 volunteers still in Quito. I found out my new site would be in the province of Santa Elena, and that I would be leaving the next day.

Peace Corps tells you so many times that to be a volunteer you need to be resilient, flexible and persevering. Little did I know that I would be tested in all of these qualities, just days after swearing in as a volunteer. These are not easy qualities to have, especially after having survived an earthquake, and I would be lying if I told you that I didn't have to work extremely hard at times to really embody these qualities. 

I know, however, that if I stick with the Peace Corps for the two years, this experience will all be worth it. Every day I write down one thing that made me happy that day in my "happy book". Any sadness and fear I have right now due to the earthquake(s), I know will be greatly overpowered by the 2 years full of memories I have waiting for me to write down in my happy book. 

7.8

"It looks as though the city has been bombed."

The ground started to move. Fast, faster and then so fast it felt as though there were waves beneath my feet. 

I smiled and thought "oh fun a small earthquake." Seconds later when I was hiding under the table, hugging my new siblings and trying to calm everyone down - I feared for my life.

As soon as the shaking stopped we ran to the gate and tried to get out into an open area. In all of the commotion, however, we couldn't find the keys. My host cousins and siblings were sobbing. They were obviously afraid, but were also thinking about their relatives who lived elsewhere in the city and who they were not sure had been as lucky as we had been. My host grandmother was reciting prayers over and over again asking for God to take pity on us while at the same time my host parents tried to calm everyone down and keep us safe.

After passing some of the children over the gate, but still not being able to find keys, a few of the adults and I decided to risk running through the house in order to get outside to safety. Not until that moment did I begin to realize the amount of damage the earthquake had caused. 

Walking through the house, using the light of our iPhone (because electricity had been lost) we stepped over broken plates, vases, televisions and more. Making it to the other side we joined together with the rest of the family outside.

Everyone was still in shock, crying, hugging whoever was close by and trying to call family to make sure they were ok. For 5-10 minutes we couldn't contact anyone because the lines were not working. Finally, when people started to hear from their loved ones, the crying started to calm down. 

I called my parents in the U.S. to let them know I was ok, and immediately contacted the rest of the Peace Corps volunteers around me to make sure they were ok. Thankfully no one was hurt. The relief I felt was outstanding. Unfortunately, I began to realize that not everyone had been so lucky. 

The destruction is immense. The shopping mall, the hospital, schools and many homes fell through and collapsed. Walls cracked, entire second floors fallen on top of the first floor, and people stuck between. My school, which has been under construction for two years, may or may not have been destroyed. 

Helicopters began to fly overhead - sounding a siren similar to an ambulance. People ran by on the sidewalks. We soon realized that walls around us had completely fallen through. Walking along the street with my host grandpa I witnessed firefighters trying to rescue people who had been stuck beneath a floor that had fallen on top of them. Later we were told, in that building alone, there were 2 people who made it out alive and 5 dead. The woman with the dyed hair who had been pregnant, among others. 

My host father and uncle decided they couldn't just sit still knowing that we were ok, but others weren't. Having had experience with the Red Cross they decided to go and try to help as best they could. 

The rest of us brought mattresses, pillows, water and more outside and spent the night under a tin roof. There were warnings that we may receive up to two more earthquakes, and not trusting the infrastructure we decided it would be safer to camp outside. We stayed outside Saturday and Sunday night. During these past few days I've felt at least 6 aftershocks, and to be honest I sometimes feel as though the earth has not stopped moving.  Each time the ground begins to move, my heart starts to beat faster, my alert is turned on high and my fear  rises. 

Unfortunately, on Monday, Peace Corps decided it wasn't safe for us to stay in Portoviejo any longer. My wonderful host dad was kind enough to drive us to a city close by, where we then stayed in a hotel over night. It was wonderful to see the relief workers who were arriving from all over the world, but at the same time it has been incredibly hard being separated from my host family and community and not able to help.

I'm unsure what is going to happen to us from here. Honestly, that's not what matters to me. There are people here in Ecuador who have lost everything. Their houses, livelihoods and loved ones. People who are lacking food, water and electricity. People who are still stuck under buildings waiting to be rescued. I wish I could do so much more than I am able to do at this moment. 

My body is ok but my heart is breaking. 

Mindo Lindo and SIte Assignment

Last weekend, I had the incredible opportunity to travel to Mindo with 10 other amazing women from my Omnibus. I had a wonderful time just enjoying their company and enjoying the wonderful Ecuadorian countryside. Everything here is so green it reminded me of Portland, Oregon!

We are only allowed one night away during training so we didn't get to spend too much time in Mindo - but we definitely took advantage of the time we had. We left on Saturday morning at 6 am, arrived around 10 in Mindo and left again Sunday afternoon at 5. 

We spent the afternoon exploring the great food of Mindo. We went to a chocolate factory and tried some delicious coffee and a homemade brownie. We also went out to dinner at a pizza restaurant where the owner uses all of the vegetables from his home garden for the toppings. Everything was delicious. 

The next morning we left at around 9:30 to go on a waterfall hike. I'll just leave you with pictures for this part. I had a ton of fun and again the landscapes were breathtakingly gorgeous. 

It was a wonderful trip and I'm so glad I was able to go on it! Also this last pic was taken by Mattie (another trainee) who wasn't able to be in the picture but is awesome. 

Coming back from the trip was a bit sad because I would have liked to explore a bit more, but it was great to come back to my lovely host family. It was also nice to know that on Wednesday we were going to find out our permanent sites. 

On Wednesday we had a few sessions in the afternoon but finally at one we had our site assignment ceremony. It was wonderfully exciting. The presenters did a great job at creating suspense. They rambled on a bit at the beginning and everyone just wanted them to let us know where our sites were! It was funny though and they did finally get around to it (after again pretending that the presentation broke and they would have to suspend it). 

For each site they gave us the name of the town, the school and some facts about the school. They also let us know if the school was looking for anything in particular or if there were any specific challenges they could foresee. 

After presenting all of this information they had every trainee stand up. They then explained that they were going to give us some hints to who the trainee was that would be placed at that site. If the clue didn't pertain to you you would sit down. As trainees would sit down there would eventually only be one trainee left standing and a huge applause would break out as the trainee realized they were the one who would be going to that site. It was all very exciting and we had some amazing reactions. 

I accidentally sat down on my site and didn't think it was me so they had to tell us all to stand up again. One of the clues was that I love to draw - which is very true but I didn't realize I had mentioned it to staff and I haven't drawn much recently so I just assumed they weren't describing me. Once they had everyone stand back up though and they said "this person has experience teaching in Mexico" I knew I would be headed to PORTOVIEJO!! 

We received this packet with information about our school, our host family and our city. I went go much into details now, seeing as how I'll be visiting Portoviejo soon and will be able to give you more information once I get back from my trip. I will say that Portoviejo is in the coastal region of Ecuador and is about a 45 minute bus ride from the nearest beach. It's the capital of the province, has a population of about 250,000 and I will be joined by 3 other wonderful volunteers who have also been placed in Portoviejo. 

I am incredibly excited about what lies ahead and can not wait to start this next part of the adventure. 

3 week TEFL Practicum

Time has flown by and we are now entering our 9th week of training!  A lot has happened in the past few weeks, including a three week practicum.

Part of our 11 week training includes TEFL training. We have many sessions in the training center on how to teach listening, how to coteach and coplan etc. What has been the most beneficial for me out of all of our TEFL sessions was this 3 week practicum. 

I have to say I was anxious before I entered into this practicum but I was incredibly lucky to be assigned to work with a teacher, I will call Marta, who teaches 7th grade at a military school in Quito. She has been teaching for almost 20 years so has an incredible amount of experience, although most of her experience was with the 5th grade. I was not the only trainee assigned to this teacher. There was a bit of confusion the first day we arrived at the school and I ended up working with another PCT (peace corps trainee) as well. She would coteach the morning class while I observed and then in the afternoon we would switch off. It ended up working out very well. Here are some pictures of the school we worked at: 

I was very lucky with my teacher in that she was very willing to work with us, she had a very high level of English and most of her classes are focused on having the students speak as much as possible. This is very different from what I've heard most Ecuadorian classrooms are like. In general,  from what I've heard, the majority of classrooms here are teacher centered and focus on writing and reading. This is understandable due to their cultures history and due to the fact that most classrooms have upwards of 30 to 40 students. You may be able to imagine how it may be more difficult to incorporate speaking and listening activities in to classrooms of this size. 

I went into the school from 7:15-12:00 twice a week for three weeks. At the end of the practicum we were all required to plan and teach a lesson by ourselves. One of the TEFL teachers came in to observe the lesson in practice. It was difficult but I think my class went relatively well. I would like to see in the future how I could incorporate more games or more realia to make the content more relatable, interactive and engaging. 

Here is a picture of me with one of our classes and my co teacher: 

Overall,  I am so happy we had this practicum as part of our training and I'm definitely going to miss the students and working with the wonderful teacher at this school. I will not, however, miss waking up at 5 in the morning and taking two buses to get to school on time. 

PCV Visit and Picture Update

About two weeks ago I spent four days in Quito, visiting a current Peace Corps Volunteer at her school and in her community in Quito. Before this trip, I hadn't had the chance to see an Ecuadorian classroom and I hadn't been quite sold on the city of Quito. I had been a bit upset, to be honest, after pulling Quito from the hat, when other trainees had found out they would be visiting Cuenca, Riobamba, Otavalo and other parts of the Sierra. I wasn't sad for long, however, because as soon as I spent a few hours in the city I fell in love.

The reality of what the next two years will be like, hit me hard when I had to wake up at 5 am to get to school on time. I am not much of a morning person and I was trying not to fall asleep on the hour long bus ride into town. The Peace Corps Volunteer I visited had already been to the training center a few times to co-teach or lead sessions for our Omnibus, so I had met her a few times beforehand. She is an incredibly kind, intelligent and fun person and I had a wonderful time spending a few days with her and the other volunteers I went on my trip with.

Her school, in downtown Quito, is located in a very fun area of town and has a lot going on. I traveled with two other trainees and we arrived at her school around 7:30 am (about a half hour after her school day had already begun). The day was spent observing many of the classes she co-taught, attending a weekly English meeting she has with her four English Teacher Counterparts and sitting in on her English club. Her classes ranged from an IB class of around 24 students who were quite advanced language learners to lower level classes of around 40 students that were sometimes hard to control and keep on task. Overall it was wonderful for me, to see what a day in the life of a Volunteer looks like, and it gave me more of an idea of what my life could be like in a few months. Something that is sometimes hard to imagine during training.

After school was even more fun. I went to drop my bags off at the hotel we would be staying at for a few days and took around a two hour nap. We then all met downtown to go get some dinner and go salsa dancing. There is this great Cuban restaurant in Quito that gives excellent free salsa lessons twice a week. It was so much fun. I will definitely be trying to go back before the end of training.

Thursday, after school, we had delicious seafood for lunch and then ventured into the downtown area to visit an Artesenal market. A few schoolchildren came up to us in the market and explained to us that they were there with their English class and their task was to interview an American. That was quite fun. I had to think of my favorite place in Ecuador I had visited. Only having visited 3 different places, I had to say Quito. I also bought a beautiful scarf made out of alpaca wool and a little shoulder bag to carry my books in for school.

Friday - we tried to go visit a crater called Pululahua - located right near the equator. Unfortunately, when we arrived it was so cloudy that we couldn't see a thing. Instead of trekking down into the foggy abyss, we decided instead to order a nice cup of coffee and cake in the café and relax a bit. That night we went out to a costume party for a birthday celebration.

Overall the trip was quite a success. It was great to be able to see an Ecuadorian classroom for the first time and I also really enjoyed getting to know Quito and some PCVs a bit more.

Over the past few weeks I've also - 

Visited El Cinto with my host family: 

I went to a Quito vs. Toluca Mexico soccer game with some other trainees: 

I also, climbed Quilotoa with other PC trainees: 

And finally I started a 3 week practicum at a wonderful school in Quito where I've actually started to coplan and coteach with an amazing English teacher. 

Next week we find out our permanent sites! I can't wait.

Carnaval

 Last weekend we were given a four day weekend for Carnaval. The celebrations began on Friday when all of the Peace Corps Trainees were surprised by a number of celebrations that the staff had put together for us at the training center to show us how Carnaval is celebrated in different parts of the country. The celebrations were divided into three different rooms or "cities" and all had food, music, dance, and Carioca! Carioca is a type of foam that people love to spray on unexpecting friends or strangers for Carnaval. 

The first "stop" my group had for Carnaval was at Guaranda. A city to the south of Quito and pretty much in the middle of the country. As we walked into the room, we were welcomed by the sound of traditional Carnaval music. We were given delicious tortillas to eat and divided into groups to create our own original Carnaval song - of course which we then had to sing to the class. It was really fun. 

We then moved to another city where we were greeted by multiple staff members dressed in costume for carnaval. They explained to us a bit about their costumes and the history and showed us that in the city where we were currently celebrating in, they use water balloons, eggs, Carioca and flour to hit unexpecting bystanders with. 

A few of the Peace Corps Trainees (PCTs) also put together a song and while they sang it to us, we all danced along. It was really fun. 

We finally went to the last stop where we were sung a Carnaval song by some PCTs and then proceeded to watch a little contest happen to see who would be crowned the "town queen of Carnaval". One of the PCTs danced a bit and the other recited the ABCs backwards. There was no clear winner! 

It was a lot of fun to have these Carnaval activities at the Training Center and only made me more excited to actually be able to participate in Carnaval the following Tuesday. 

My family got back from our trip to Nanegal on Monday but I just wanted to sleep. On Tuesday, however, I woke up bright and early, ready to celebrate Carnaval. Unfortunately, the morning of, it was a bit cold and looked like it might rain. For that reason my little sister, Majo, and I didn't venture out into the streets of Nayón until about 1 or 2 in the afternoon. 

We went over to the park, where another one of the trainees lives, and I immediately got soaked with a bucket of water. Unfortunately, I didn't get many pictures because I didn't want to bring my phone with me in fear that it would get wet and stop working. I did have a whole ton of fun though. At first my little sister and I mainly targeted eachother, cracking eggs on each others head and soaking eachother in water. Then we realized that there was a whole group of boys in the park who wanted to get us wet etc. so we all ganged up and tried to get them, at the same time they tried to get us. 

Large groups of families and friends also rent out trucks for the day. They not only load up all of their manpower in their trucks, but they also load up the bed of the truck with a lot of Carioca, gallons of water (both dirty and clean) and with flour as well. They then proceed to drive around town, throwing all said weapons at people who appear to be playing Carnaval, or those who aren't wet yet. A few times, I saw two trucks who would cross paths, and so would then obviously jump out of their trucks and have a little turf war between eachother. 

Suffice it to say, I got soaked, my hair smelled of egg, my whole body was covered in Carioca and I couldn't wipe the smile off of my face. I can't wait to celebrate Carnaval again next year. 

Warning: If you don't like the idea of getting wet and dirty - often inflicted by complete strangers- it's best to stay inside.

Fin de semana en el campo

"Now more than ever do I realize that I will never be content with a sedentary life, that I will always be haunted by thoughts of a sun-drenched elsewhere." - Isabelle Eberhardt

This past Friday my host family surprised me by letting me know that the next morning we would be heading to visit my host dads uncles farm in the country.

On Saturday morning, we woke up at 5:30 and the six of us piled into the car to drive the two hours to Nanegal. I was definitely tired but the views I saw as we drove along the highway were so breathtaking I did not want to sleep in fear of missing it all. 

We arrove at around 8 in the morning and stepping out of the car, were greeted by los tíos and about 6 dogs and a cat. 

We were welcomed into their home, which consists of one room that was their kitchen and another structure entirely which consisted of their bedroom and the town store that they own. We sat down to eat breakfast together of pan with queso (bread with cheese), hard boiled eggs and coffee. I also had the opportunity to try the fruit that surrounds cacao seeds. It was really sweet and delicious. 

The view from their house was absolutely gorgeous. 

After visiting for a bit with the tios we went down to visit their farm. I am so in love with this country, I can't even explain. The picture below is a view of the property on their farm - taken from the car as we drove down the windy dirt road to get there. 

Their farm is filled with yucca, sugar cane, papaya, many different types of bananas, palmito, 7 ponds filled with fish,  chickens running around, a goose - and that doesn't even begin to cover it all. They basically don't really ever have to buy food because they have everything they would ever need to sustain themselves on their land.

Right after arriving we trekked down the hill to the ponds to do a bit of fishing. 

I'm sad to say I didn't actually take part in the fishing but it was really fun to see - and I did pick up a few of the fish that were deemed as "big enough to eat" and proceeded to throw them in the bucket. The other fish, that were too small, were immediately thrown back into the pond. I was told these fish can live up to three hours outside of water. They were still moving about as they were being prepared for dinner.

I also became a butt of my family's jokes as I managed to slip and tumble down the hill into a hole. That was fun. I'm fine! Thought it was funny how my family took pictures of me laughing before actually helping me out of the hole ;p this picture was taken by accident during my tumble. 

And the aftermath of my fall:

We then lugged the big bucket of fish up the hill and gave it to a few people at the house to prepare. We proceeded to walk down the other side of the hill looking for palmito to cut down to make ceviche later that night.  After a few hours of trekking around the hills of their farm we arrived back at the house to this beautiful dinner: 

This is the fish that we had caught as well as yucca and other vegetables from the farm. It was delicious. 

The rest of the weekend I spent swimming in a river, playing cards with my host siblings and cousins, eating delicious food from the farm, throwing water on each other, marveling at the beautiful landscapes and enjoying trekking around the farm and being disconnected from internet etc.   

Here we are playing Carnaval:  

I'll write more about Carnaval in my next post. Until then. Love and peace to you all.

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. 

First Impressions

Disclaimer: My Peace Corps experience is going to be markedly different from what you may imagine a Peace Corps experience to be. In Ecuador, TEFL volunteers are often placed in medium to large cities with working amenities, possible wifi access at home and there are even some instances of multiple volunteers living in the same city and/or working at the same school. 

What I've noticed so far: 

- Smiling faces and helping hands 

- Breathtaking, towering mountains

- Warm weather 

- Green!

- every few shops that you pass will be a flower shop 

- food is absolutely delicious (lots of veggies, meat, rice and fresh fruit)

Facts:

- 16,000 people in training center city 

- 2 million people in Quito 

- Training center city is called the "Garden of Quito"

Differences/Difficulties: 

- I showered with completely cold water the first morning I was here because I didn't realize that I was supposed to turn the nob to the left for the warm water (oops) 

- My host house doesn't have wifi but I do have my own room, working amenities, warm water (sometimes) and a washer for my clothes

- Altitude! I feel out of breath after 5 seconds of walking uphill/upstairs - I also was told that we aren't allowed to work out for 2 weeks until we have adjusted to the altitude 

- Can't pet the street dogs because they may bite and have rabies

- Spanish language is spoken with Kichwa thrown in

Peace Corps Training 

- so much paperwork! 

- I feel so much more informed of what's expected of me now 

- Staff is wonderful, supportive and incredibly knowledgeable 

- other peace corps volunteers are amazing, intelligent and as interested and excited to be here as I am 

- found out I will be swearing in (as long as I pass all parts of training) on April 12 

- placed into Advanced-mid Spanish class (only advanced-high and superior classes are above my level) 

- Was told that our omnibus has the highest overall level of Spanish probably in PC Ecuador history 

- training center has 3 floors, a kitchen, a rooftop terrace, many classrooms, a computer room and a medical office 

- I have no doubt that after all of the safety and security as well as medical trainings that we have planned, I will feel 100% equipped with the tools and strategies needed to stay safe, healthy and happy

Pictures for your viewing pleasure: