Long time, no post!

So I know that it has been a while since I have gotten around to my last blog entry. I guess I would have to say that is an indicator of the routine and day to day life activities that I am getting into here. Right now, I am currently at my local school which has Internet connection as well as about 15 computers that the government has provided for them. It is pretty amazing actually...and it is really hard to actually get work done because kids and teachers are always coming in and out and wanting to talk! So I will write a quick blog for all of you instead :)

My job is pretty much the same as of now. I am teaching three times a week here at my local school over self-esteem, values, goals and all of that jazz. I also still go to a school about 30 minutes away every Tuesday for the day and teach all four of the classes there with kids from the ages of 5 to 12 with similar type topics. This is very different than the kids that I teach at the local school because the kids that I teach here are 12 to 16. So I get a little of all the age groups and I am not really sure which is better yet! They both have their advantages and their disadvantages. Although I would have to say at the moment I am leaning towards the older kids as they tend to understand more which makes it easier to teach something.

I am also still working with INFA here and there. But that is slowly coming to a stop for the end of the year and we will have to wait and see what comes with the New Year and working with INFA. I do still hope that I am able to work with them here and there because the kids with INFA (mainly 8 to 12) are a lot of fun. I guess the one new thing that I have picked up is that I am now holding three after school English classes every week here in El Retiro to try and help the local 7th, 8th, and 9th grade kids with their English. It is actually really very different to try and teach a language when it is just your native language. At times, I find it hard to explain why something is how it is...I just know that I am right when it comes to English!

The Spanish language gets better day by day and I have better days than others. I think I have really just realized that right now, I don't have the passion to learn a foreign language like I really should to capitalize on this opportunity. However, I am to the point with my language that I am comfortable enough to converse and say what I need to say. I mean, I do stand in front of kids everyday and direct a class of some sort some how!

I am still living with my host family...which is not ideal, but the only choice right now. There really are not a lot of apartments in my site and therefore it is taking quite a bit of work and time to try and find a place where I can live by myself. I have spoke with my boss though up in Quito and she is really try to work with to help the situation. But really there, there is not much that I can do but wait and hope.

Other than that, with the Holidays pretty much here, it seems really weird! The holidays are hard, and from everything that I have heard up to this point it will be one of the harder ones in my life. It is hard to be away from your family for the first time during the holidays and on top of that, you have a whole different culture and climate that you are in. I still find it hard to believe that it is December much less that Christmas is this Friday since the weather is so hot and humid!

For Christmas though, I have taken a couple of vacation days and I am going to head down south a little to Arenillas where another PCV friend lives and we are going to have Christmas there, five PCVs in all. After Christmas Eve and Christmas day there we are all going to head over the border of Peru for three days and go to the beach over there which is just about an hour across the border. I guess if you have to have a different type of holiday, you might as well make it really different! For New Years, I am not 100% sure yet, but I think that I will be heading up north in Ecuador to a beach location to celebrate with other PCVs where there is a gather in Canoa. Still haven't decided on that yet though!

So all in all, life is going pretty well. It still has a lot of ups and downs but you start to except them more and get used to them. I really can't wait to be living in my own place though hopefully pretty soon. I will miss you all for the Holidays and be thinking of you all often!!!

Thanksgiving Day

So as many of you have probably already guessed...they don't really celebrate Thanksgiving down here in Eucador. It is what one would call a U.S. holiday.

Therefore, I am going to run away from my site and area for the night and following morning to Guayquil to visit other PCVs there and have a somewhat of a Thanksgiving meal. I say somewhat because we are not having Turkey, it will be chicken instead because that is MUCH cheaper down here and in all honestly, I am not really sure what else there will be...but we will find out! The PC budget definately keeps you down to earth and cheap, with everything.

My bus leaves though here in about an hour so I better get going as I want to grab some snacks before I get on the three hour bus ride. That really is not that bad though, I have been on much worse! And I plan on getting back tomorrow in time for a class at Noon which makes these next twenty-four hours some busy ones. Thanks for all of the Thanksgiving Day wishes too :)

My PCV Life

November 5th, Thursday

Oh where to start where to start. I am splitting this blog up into two parts by the way. One with my life and one with my work because I have so much to get caught up on! My PCV life is what I guess I would have to call a typical one. I have my up and down moments, days, and sometimes even hours. However, it is a little comical at times because you do realize that it is all about the little things that will change your attitude. Sometimes all you might need is to go out and buy a Magnum Ice Cream Bar and your whole attitude and outlook will change for the day. And you get to skip out on the rice for dinner. Other times, you might simply need to rant and rave to another PCV in English about your day and how none of the kids would listen to you. Or it could be just as simple as having a good conversation with a local woman where you finally feel like you understand the majority of the conversation and she understood you. Either way, it is full of ups and downs which constantly change. So here are some of the highlights from this past month.

First we can start with my love; the cat. It is certainly not the Ecuadorean creepy men here and never will be…stupid machismo. My host family has a cat and she has just had three kittens. Now the kittens are still in hiding, but the mother cat still loves me, so I have gotten to see the little kittens and even touch them one night. It is a slow process…but I will get my cat yet!

My little host nephew has the chickenpox, poor boy. However, the parents were afraid to tell me at first because they didn’t know if I had had the chickenpox or not. So they didn’t want me to know because the nephew, who is six, has to be at my host family’s house quite a lot. Once they found out that I had had the chickenpox though, they then quickly asked what they should do to help the boy out. So I pulled out my “Where There is no Doctor” book which basically just said to bathe everyday in warm water with soap and to cut his nails. So then the mom was saying to the dad that they were going to go home and do that right away. It was kind of comical.

I also go running every day, more or less, in this little cement mini-soccer field type area. They play “soccer” here, but it is called Indoor because it is played on a smaller field with a smaller ball and smaller goals. It is kind of interesting really and very popular for everyone to play. So this area, the mini cancha, is where I go running every day in many, many, many circles. However, it does have a bit of a cage around it and of course everyone stops to stare at the Gringa running in circles everyday. In light of this, I have a much better understanding of how a caged animal feels being gawked at everyday and I have to say that I feel some pity for them.

Cold showers – I am never going to get used to this but I do have to admit that I take a shower in about three minutes flat now with what I have named the jump in jump out method. There really is an art form to this just so you know. You start by splashing some water of your face and then you brave it and stick your chest in. You wash all of that down and then move on to your arms. But you only put one arm in at a time while washing. From there you go to the waist and legs just having your lower part in the shower while washing. Lastly you have the hardest part; your back and hair. Here you really just have to take a deep breath and jump on in…cold showers…

My skin tone is official red and white now. Which has made it more fun for the kids to play with as they can push on my red arms, which will then turn to white for a minute and then back to red. They think that it is a chalk type board at times and a new type of toy to play with. My stomach, which gets no sun, is still pasty white and quite the contrast to my now red arms. However, I do wear my watch everyday…so there is a lovely “tan line” there which means I don’t think I can ever go out without my watch from now on.

I love my Dad – I mean, I love my Mom too, of course. But my father figured out a way to send me my current TV shows on a DVD so that I can watch them down here. Every single time I get a new disk and put it in an instant smile comes across my face as I see my lovely shows of Grey’s Anatomy, Private Practice, One Tree Hill, Desperate Housewives, and Brothers and Sisters. And I get to escape for a couple of hours from whatever I am facing that day down here. Just thinking about them now makes me happy. Oh I really am such a simple person! 

I love my Mom – Wouldn’t be right if I just had a paragraph saying I love my Dad! I really do though. All of the mail that I get from home is great. Thank you to everyone for your thoughts and letters. And SKYPE is amazing and great. I get to talk with my parents about once a week where we get to see each other and talk. And yes Dad…Mom and I could talk for longer so drop it! It is great though.

Bugs = Horrible. I guess they could be worse, but I had some type of bug that decided to live in my bed with me for a while so I have a lot of bites all around my legs which are just now starting to go down about a week later. I think I have taken care of that problem though for the most part as I washed all of my bedding and sprayed some RAID in my room. I think it was/is some type of ant. Who knows? All I know is that I am definitely not a fan of bugs and I actually take joy in killing them now.

Halloween we really didn’t do much. It isn’t much of a holiday here. So we just got together with a small group of PVCs and had dinner and watched some movies. I am not that big on Halloween anyways, so I was alright with it. But it definitely was nice hearing about all of the fall activities back in the States. The banana trees down here, are still showing the same strong green which they will forever. I think for Thanksgiving though we are thinking about going up to Guayaquil where the U.S. Embassy has a free meal for any American Citizens. We will have to wait and see. Oh yeah…and Christmas…you think we start decorating early in the States? The Ecuadoreans have already started to put up lights and decorations. I even saw one fake Christmas tree through a window one day.

And last but not least, we had a video camera come to my little town of El Retiro. And the people that came with the video camera were white and tall so everyone just assumed that they were my family…of course. In reality, they were all from France and there were here doing a TV program that is similar to Amazing Race back in the States. There were ten teams of two, and they are traveling all around South America doing tours in each country. However, these teams don’t have any money and cannot accept any money. They have to ask the local people for food, a place to sleep, and travel for free (or someone on a bus can pay for them if they are going to same way). They start everyday at a certain time and get to travel as far as they can towards their “check point”, which for this portion was Guayaquil, and every day they have a pager which goes off and tells them that they have to stop traveling for that day and go and talk with the local people trying to find food and a place to sleep for the night. And this couple, in their 70’s but you would never have guessed it, got stopped in El Retiro.

Since I am obviously not from Ecuador, they stopped and talked with me on my walk back from the Junta with my kids after our Aventura de la Vida. However, since I don’t speak French and they don’t speak English, we both had to try and communicate in Spanish. The woman spoke Spanish really well and the man didn’t really speak it. All in all, it made for a very interesting day. And my host family feed them both lunch and dinner for free. I also had to call the PC so that they can inform the US Embassy here that I have been tapped talking about the Peace Corps…got to love politics!

So I think that would be the highlights of my life right now. I am sure that there are more but they come and go so often that I forget most of them! It is really hard to explain the life of a PCV. Every experience is so unique and different to the next and yet there is this common thread that we all share. The common thread of having daily contradictions in our lives that make you feel bipolar at times and wonder why you are here and why you can’t leave at the same time. The fact that you find yourself counting down the time you have left and then you can’t decide if that amount is too short or too long. The fact that I know that when I leave here I will feel joy to be returning back to my family and my culture and yet at the same time sadness to be leaving the people and culture that I have learned so much about and probably will never see again.

My Work So Far

November 5th, Thursday

So it has definitely been a while since I have gotten around to writing a blog post. It is kind of funny because it seems like not a lot has happened and yet at the same time when I sit down to think about it a lot comes to mind. So I figure that I will actually write two blogs today, one about my job down here in Ecuador and one about the my life.

My job is still really vague and always will be. Basically my objective is to work with youth and family to help improve their lives in whatever way I figure out I can. I am set up with a counterpart person…but he is not being the best of help which from what I hear is pretty common. A lot of the counterpart people here in Ecuador think that a PCV is someone who will do their job for them, which isn’t the case at all. So anyways, I still work with him but I am also starting some of my own projects. We will just have to wait and see how that all pans out.

With my counterpart and the INFA organization we currently have two after school help programs; one on Tuesday for language and one on Thursday for math. The first week we had one kid show up. So I started just telling other kids about it (as well as bringing a soccer ball to play around with after which helped) and now we have about ten kids that come with about five to ten kids hanging around to play ball afterwards. It is not the best program as the kids really just want to play for the most part, but there are always a few of them that do really listen to the language or math which makes it a good program. It also gives the kids something to do after school as we usually start at around 2:30pm, have the help season for about an hour, and then play until about 5pm.

Along with the help classes, my counterpart and I also hold a season every Wednesday called “Aventura de la Vida” for the INFA kids that starts at about 2:30 and lasts for about an hour, sometimes a little longer. This class teaches different life skills such as self-confidence, what are your dreams, alcohol is bad, tobacco is bad, and so on. We also take frequent trips to the Rio, which is about a 30 minute walk from my town, and we always seem to have more kids show up for that. It is a hard balance to get the kids to show up and yet at the same time have it be a productive charla. I mean, they are just kids after all that really just want to play for the most part.

Other than that, my counterpart has charlas here and there occasionally which sometimes happen and other times don’t. The INFA organization is a really good organization that Ecuador has for the youth and family of Ecuador. However, it is what I would call a typical Ecuadorean Organization as well.

I have started teaching at the local school three times a week, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday to the equivalent of 8th, 7th, and 9th grade respectfully. There are about 20 students in each class give or take. They love having the American Senorita come in and teach especially as my classes are not the normal type. However, they are difficult at times to try and get calmed back down, especially because Spanish is so not my native language. I do think though that I am getting through to some of them with my classes, which tend to be about self-esteem, self-confidence, values, goals, and so on. As I have been told by a couple of the other volunteers down here, I am brave for taking on this age group…which at times I would definitely agree. But I really do think that this age group is among some of the kids that need to hear this message the most. So I will just keep trucking along bringing my screaming voice to class with me.

I am also going to start teaching at a school in a community about 30 minutes away from where I live in the middle of the banana fields out in the middle of nowhere really. To get there I have to take the bus first for about 15 minutes and then someone comes to the bus stop and picks me up where we drive out through the banana fields and rice patties to get to Buena Esperanza, the town where I will teach every Tuesday. This school only has kids 5 to 12 years old, so it is a little younger than what I teach at the other school. The kids are split into four class rooms there, so I will teach one hour at a time four times on Tuesday mornings. It will be among the same types of themes as what I teach to the kids at the other school, but with more drawing and play time for the younger kids. I start that next week though…so cross your fingers for me!

And lastly, I am hoping that I will be able to work with a NGO from the U.S. called Soluciones Comunitarias. It is really interesting actually what this group does. It was started by a couple of RPCVs from Honduras and an RPCV from Ecuador hopped onboard as well. They started in Honduras with their organization and are now moving down into Ecuador as well as other South American Countries. Since they have such strong ties with the PC, they tend to start there with current volunteers. They basically help small rural areas make small businesses so that the towns’ people become dependent on themselves. The organization supplies the products, such as water purifiers, solar lights, good quality glasses, and so on to the town’s people which they can then sell for a profit. The NGO also teaches business classes to the local people which will help them along their way. All in all, I think it is really interesting and I hope that it works out. The RPCV from Ecuador said that they could help me start my community bank here as well. They are planning their first visit to El Retiro in January. So hopefully that will go well and we will go from there.

As you can see, it is a lot of random stuff here and there. I don’t really have a schedule and I probably never will. I don’t have an office and probably never really will. Most of my classes go in one ear and out the other of the kids. Time goes by slow and yet at the same time fast. The experience itself is unlike any other with the constant ups and downs, which at times even you can’t explain. There was an article in the Peace Corps Times this last issue called “Sometimes you are Left with More Questions than Answers” which I think sums it up best at times:

“How do you tell friends you gave up a nice job and will return jobless, an older woman in a deepening recession, yet have no regrets? How do you tell colleagues you trudge long miles to isolated mountain schools, see crowded classrooms with kids sitting on paint cans, yet learn more than you teach? How do you explain you live among poverty and see beauty; live among HIV and see elegance; live where time is slow yet have rich, full days? How do you tell future employers you failed, yet treasure this failure more than all the successes on your resume?

As one of my PCV friends told me here when she left, they tell you at the beginning that it is really just about all of the relationships that you make along the way that really matter. But you never really realize how true that is until you are leaving at the end.

Likes and Dislikes

Where to start where to start...that is the question. I guess I will start with the fact that my life is still full of ups and downs everyday if not every hour. The Peace Corps experience really is a crazy thing that takes you for a ride and I have a feeling that ride will continue during my whole two years of service.

Let’s see…how about I start with some of the things that I don’t think I will ever get used to here in Ecuador:

1) Breast feeding – The moms here just pull out the boob with no relation as to where they are or what others will think. Oh yeah, and they breast feed for as long as they possibly can…this means you have kids who are talking and breast feeding at the same time. My theory, if they can ask for it, they are too old. Sorry!

2) No concept of lines – When it comes to having a line, they don’t really. It is more so push and shove your way through and whoever gets their first wins. This also means there is no concept of personal space when it comes to being in a “line” for something…or in a public place really for that matter, especially if it is crowded.

3) Noise Restrictions – This would be another thing that they don’t really have much of a concept for. I don’t really think that there are any noise violations here. And if there are noise violations, they don’t get enforced. I also think I have come to the conclusion that people don’t understand indoor voices versus outdoor voices…there is only loud and louder.

4) Ecuadorean Time – This would mean that when I say something starts at noon, I might have 5 or so people there at noon if I am lucky and by 12:30 I should have enough to at least start. However, all of the people that really planned to attend probably won’t show until 12:45 or so. And even then, you will have people walking in at 1.

5) Machismo/Drinking – This one is pretty plain and simple; women stay at home, have the babies, take care of the babies, wash the clothes, clean the house, have the food ready for their husbands, and serve it to them. Men here literally will NEVER cook a meal or clean their clothes. If for some reason a man doesn’t have a mom, daughter, sister, or woman who will do these things for him, then he will go and pay a local woman to do it for him. Drinking is pretty much that women don’t, and if they do they are considered easy, where as the men get to all of the time whenever they want.

6) Cat Calls – As someone from training told us, “trust me girls, you did not get prettier when you left America and came to Ecuador”. No, we didn’t get prettier, the men just got creepier.

I think that is a pretty good list of the main points. No don’t get me wrong, there are also some things about the culture here which I have taken a liking to as well:

1) Friendly – Everyone here is really friendly for the most part. Don’t get me wrong, you still have theft and what not. But for the most part, the average Joe you find on the street will be very friendly.

2) Fruits – There is always food around. This can be a good thing and at the same time a bad thing. However, lucky for me they have a ton of fruits here which I have fallen in love with. Now if I could just convince my host family that I really don’t eat anything for breakfast besides some fruit, I would be set!

3) The reach of a Dollar – I think this one kind of speaks for itself. Everything down here is a lot less expensive and you can make a dollar stretch a lot further down here. The only exception would be for any electronics; those are not cheaper.

4) Work to live, not live to work – This would be another one that has the positives and negatives. It is definitely a much more laid back atmosphere and this means it takes a lot more time to get something done. Or even just to have something set into motion really. It will come as it will come. Overall, this is probably a better way to live for the stress factor.

5) Hammocks – For those of you who have never taken a nap in a hammock, I strongly suggest that you do. It really is quite the feeling and experience. Not to mention that the hammocks are only comfortable for just the right amount of time so that you don’t end up taking too long of a nap.

6) $1.25 DVDs – That is right, DVDs for a buck twenty five. And the greatest thing about it is if a movie just came out in the movie theaters, you can probably find it on DVD in one of these stores in a week or under. They also have some of the US TV shows on DVDs down here too. And yes, they are all in English (Spanish captions and some are voice doubled in Spanish) and of course they are all pirated.

So there you have some of my favorite and least favorite aspects of Ecuador so far. It is hard to differentiate work from life here since the two overlap all of the time. But overall, I would have to say that life here is a day to day thing where I am definitely learning more right now than what I am teaching. The most important thing that I have learned so far though is a pretty simple thing; development work is a hard to do.

P.S. Now if I could just convince my host family here that I am a twenty-three year old woman who can take care of herself on her own, I might be set! The whole concept of an independent woman is another thing that doesn’t really exist here.

A month into Site

Wednesday, September 23

So once again I find myself writing a blog entry after so much time has passed I can’t remember the last blog entry of mine…and since I write these entries from my computer at home most of the time, where I don’t have internet, I can’t read my last entry either. Long story short, we are starting fresh here!

I have been at my site now for a month and three days…yes, I do know down to the day…and man oh man has that month ever seemed like a long time and at the same point it seems to have gone by relatively quickly. It is really hard to explain it, just one of those weird things I guess that time does! In all honesty, I haven’t done that much in the past month, but I am slowly starting learn that is half of the battle of the Peace Corps experience. You don’t feel like you are doing anything, but in reality, just by doing the daily things that need to get done and talking with the community that you live in you are doing “work”.

The Peace Corps experience is definitely one that I knew would be hard, but I never could have imagined that it would be this hard. And the funny thing is that you spend most of your time not really doing a whole lot which is partly what makes it so darn hard to do. And when you don’t have much that you have to do, it is even harder to find the motivation for things that you should do or might want to do.
I am currently working with INFA, an Ecuadorean group that helps children afford to go to school. We do put on educational talks every now and then, but as with most things here in Ecuador, when you say something is going to happen, it sometimes does and other times does not. And for the first couple of months here, I really do need to just work with INFA until I can start up some of my own projects once I have the right contacts.

Describing my job is a hard thing to do in itself because the job is so vague. I have no office, I have no real coworkers (besides other PCVs none of which are at my site), and my boss is a ten hours bus ride away. However, I will describe my job for you. I am going to be working with the youth in my community by teaching the themes of self-esteem, values, goals, communication, relationships, sexuality, and so on. How I am going to accomplish this task is still up in the air somewhat.
I will be using the community house to give some of these “lectures” but they will be done in a way to try and attract the youth such as forming a youth group. I also spoke with the local school and they are open to letting me teach some of these life skills there which I will start in about a month after exams and a week of vacation. As you can see, it is a pretty vague description because I am basically working on my own to try and find and utilize the resources that the community has to teach life skills to the youth. I also want to facilitate a community bank at some point and some type of trash project especially for the “indoor” soccer field (it is just like soccer and it is outside, but with a smaller field and a smaller ball…they call it indoor).

Sometimes when I start to think about all of the projects and ideas that I have for the community I get really excited. And then I realize that a lot of my ideas will probably fail because there is no current structure here to support them. With the Peace Corps, it isn’t good enough just to come up with a great idea of something that the community that you live in needs. You need to figure out some type of support structure to make that idea a living idea. And when you are the foreigner, who doesn’t speak their language really well and doesn’t know all of the customs or norms, that can be really difficult to do.

So I guess what I have to say is, I definitely have my up days and down days…and I would even go as far as to say I have my up hours and my down hours at times. However, I think at the heart of the Peace Corps experience you have a volunteer who is putting themselves into a foreign, literally and figuratively, situation where they will grow as a person and hopefully in the process help develop something at their site that will last once they leave. At the least, that volunteer will have touched someone’s life just by being their friend. And with all of the cultural barriers that are out there in the world today, having that understanding between two people of different cultures is something in itself. I would have to say that at this point, I think a successful Peace Corps volunteer is someone who has made it through the experience; that in itself is one heck of an accomplishment.

My host family in El Oro

Wednesday, September 23th

So I thought I would post a blog just about my host family here in El Retiro as it is rather large. However, everyone is also really nice. My host mom and dad are 59 and they have eight kids…yes that is right, eight kids. Thankfully for me they are all grown up, but then this of course means grandkids. However, three of the eight kids live abroad in Spain right now so that leaves five here, all but one of which are married. Now before I continue, let me just say that I know some of the daughters better than others and therefore I know more about some than others.

The oldest daughter, Carmon, lives next door to my house and has at least two kids that I know of one of which is 16, a boy, and the other which is 2, a girl…but in all honesty, I don’t really know too much about them and I have never seen the husband…that is if there is one too. The next oldest daughter, Betty, lives down the road and has two kids, one son, Mario, who is 8 and one daughter, Shirley, who is 11. The father is a part of the military though so he is out of town most of the time. The next daughter, Joana, lives here in El Retiro but a little further out of town with her husband and daughter of about 4, Valoria, who is a handful. Joana goes to University all day Saturday and the husband works with the Bananas all week around more or less, so that leaves Valoria at our house all day Saturday. Then there is Diana who is 23 years old who is not married but has a son, Kenneth, who is two years old and they live in Machala. However, they tend to spend the night here plenty which leads to many nights of no sleep for me as the two year old doesn’t go to sleep until midnight, he naps a lot during the day, and well…he is two. There is also the brother of my host dad who tends to be babysitting Kenneth. So where ever Kenneth is, the Uncle is as well. And last but not least, the son…who’s name I can’t remember…is married to Lydia with two sons, one who is 5 I believe, Michael, and one who is just about a month old. But I do believe that their marriage is far from great as I never really see the two of them together and he ends up sleeping over here every now and then as I don’t think she lets him into the house when he has been drinking.

So in case you are trying to keep track, the host family is my host mom and dad – Milda and Larry, with eight children – Carmon, Betty, Joana, Diana, the son who’s name I can’t remember, and three children abroad in Spain (I am not sure what order..I only know that Carom is the oldest followed by Betty and that Diana is the same age as me) – and eight grandkids that I know of – The two of Carmon, Mario and Shirley, Valoria, Kenneth, Michael and the new baby. All in all, it is a lot to try and keep track of!

Everyone though is very nice and they try their best to talk with me when they can. However, after living with my host family for the past month, I definitely know that I will want to get my own place for a few reasons. One would be Kenneth, the 2 year old basically because he is two and has a voice that you can hear all the time. Normally screaming something like, mommy mommy mommy, or I want I want I want, with other loud banging noises on whatever he can bang on, at nine to midnight without anyone telling him to hush up. What can I say though; he is two and a very cute kid.

Another one to mention would be Valoria who will enter into my room anytime it is not locked…and when it is locked she just figures that means you pound on the door for five minutes. She is always running around and full of energy though, that is for sure.

And last but not least with the kids you have Michael and Jeffery, who is 7 I believe. Jeffery isn’t a part of the family by blood, but he works at the house sweeping up the bird poop and whatnot just about every day. They enjoy listening to Michael Jackson way too many times and singing and dancing along to it. Not to mention that when I lock myself in the room when Jeffery is around, he just takes it up to himself to climb my wall and say hello to me from there (the ceilings are open at the top).

Then you have the hammer that puts the nail in the coffin, my host Dad snores. And not just a little here, we are talking a lot and loud. All of this combined, just reminds me why I enjoy living by myself so much even when the people are really nice!

Okay…so I think that is enough on my host family. All in all, they are really nice but I can’t help the fact that I still really enjoy living by myself and am looking forward to being able to again in two more months. The down side of this is that my host family won’t understand why I want to move out, so that will be another hurdle that I will have to deal with when it comes. In Ecuador, people don’t move out of the house unless they are married, that is just pretty much how it goes. And even then, it isn’t uncommon to have young mothers/families live with their parents. The family life here is very different from the states; from how you raise your children to who has what responsibilities. But I guess that is one of those things that I will just have to deal with when it gets here.

Missing Labor Day

So I have officially had my first real holiday in the States which I am missing. Good old Labor Day with the football games on with the start of college football season...yes, I have to admit I even missed the football games. But I guess this is just the first of many holidays which I will be missing in my PCV service. On the brighter side, Ecuador had a soccer game on Sunday...which they lost to Columbia...but it was still a really fun time. Not quite Labor Day with the burgers and beer, but we made do with what we have here. Moral of the story here, the next two years are going to be very interesting.

I still haven't really "done" that much with my job, but I am slowly starting to accept that is one of the main aspects of my "job". Just living in a third world country where you don't speak the language or know the culturally accepted ways of doing things is a job in itself. I did meet up with my counterpart though, so I am doing a little more with INNFA now helping here and there. I have also attending some of the local meetings in my town and was apart of the Dia De Deportes (Day of Sports) this past Sunday where, of course, I got sunburned.

My first three months here my main job (being the one that I actually have to write a report for and turn into the PC) is a survey of my neighborhood and find out about the area and the things that they want to see changed. This really just involves a lot of observing and socializing. Development really does start with the people in the community, and not yourself. I am pretty proud of myself though that I have written up a couple of surveys that I can hopefully put to use sometime starting next week after I have my counterpart give his opinion on them as well.

All in all...my mood changes all of the time if not almost hourly here. But I really think that is one of the many joys of the PC experience. There is definitely a reason it is called an experience instead of just a job. The things that I am doing here don't really fit a regular job description at all and I don't think that they need to. I guess in some ways it goes back to the good old saying you'd be surprised by how far a smiple smile goes.

Living in El Retiro for the next two years of my life is going to be by far the most challenging thing I have done in my life and the most rewarding. And even though I have days where I don't know what I am doing here, I know that when the time comes to leave this area and return back to the States, that in itself will be hard as well.

Living the Peace Corps Life

First things first, I have gotten all of my pictures up on facebook which equals four new photo albums. This way you can get a better idea of what I am trying to describe down here. Not to mention pictures are always fun to look at anyhow.

So now that I am an official PCV you might be wondering what my life is like. And in all honest, I am still wondering myself that as well. Basically our job is just about the vaguest one in the book. I think that half of the battle here for me is that our "job" is far from anything that you could ever do in the states. The Peace Corps has three main goals as follows (I am paraphrasing here):

1 - To promote the understanding of Americans in a different culture outside of the United States.
2 - To promote the understanding of that other culture outside of the United States back to the people in the USA.
3 - Teach technical skills that are needed in that developing country.

Now the thing here is that two out of the three goals is basically just socializing; socializing with the people here in Ecuador and then with the people back at home. Only one of the three goals is actually what we would consider to be results oriented which is teaching technical skills. That in itself no matter what country you are in is hard to really measure as well. And in all honesty, you really have to work on the first two goals first before you can work on the third one because if you don't understand the culture, how can you teach?

So I guess long story short, my main job is really just to let people stare at me...which they do all of the time...and try to speak my broken Spanish to them and share our cultures and their differences. Now for someone who is used to working Monday through Friday 8 to 5 (using the analogy here) this can be kind of hard to accept and get used to really. I have a lot of what I consider to be "free" time everyday and there is no set in stone schedule that I will ever have to follow over the next two years.

Now don't get me wrong here. With time I will establish regular classes where I will be teach about the topics of self-esteem, sex education, parenting skills, and so on. Hopefully I will be able to facilitate a community bank as well which would have meetings weekly. But that probably won't become a routine for another six months or so. The first three months of service our job is just to survey the community and see what they need and want to see happen in their community.

It is amazing to me how different the cultures define a "job". Not to mention that when you are brought up thinking that you have to be clocked in to be considered working that changes your view point on everything. Here, there isn't really so much a clock to punch in on (some people do, don't get me wrong). And even without having a clock to punch in on, people can tell if you are doing the work that is needed for your job or not. I guess it really goes back to the point that in the States people "live to work" where as a lot of other people "work to live". And the Peace Corps Experience definitely is a one of a kind "job" that seems to fall somewhere between those two thoughts.

P.S. I have also decided that Peace Corps secret goal number four is to give the host country a constant source of entertainment for them, because no matter what you do, where you go, or what you say...they are going to laugh at you and hit on you.

Pictures

I have a load of pictures to upload onto Facebook...just been having issues with that so you will have to wait for those to show up. Hopefully in the next week here I will get around to it!

My Address

All is still going along here in El Oro Ecuador. I have gotten my mail address...and since all PCVs love getting mail from home, feel free to send whatever you would like. It is just basically a PO box though so if you send something larger than a normal padded envelope let me know so I can try to avoid all of the custom costs and pick it up as soon as possible:

Lesley Parker
Casilla 07-01-477
Machala - El Oro
Ecuador

Everything else is just going along as I am trying to get an idea of what my job here is going to be like. So far it has been a lot of down time and getting to know the area, which is normal, and letting all of the people in my town stair at me all of the time I go out anywhere or do anything. I think half of our purpose here is to be entertainment sometimes!

Finally at my Site where I will be for the next two years

August 21 2009, Friday

So to be honest right now…I cannot even really remember the last blog entry that I wrote. And since I am writing this blog entry right now in my bed where I do not actually have the internet, I will try my best to pick up where I think I left off in the blog last time.

First things first, I am an actual sworn in PCV now!!! That is right folks. No more Peace Corps Trainee; I am a fully fledged Peace Corps Volunteer. Finishing up training was a very busy time that was filled with a lot of paper work and a lot of sad goodbyes. Not only to the host family members that we lived with over the past two months, but also to each other as we are now all at our own sites by ourselves.

Finishing up training though went pretty well really. We had a family appreciation day as well the last Saturday that we were there. All of the family members were invited to the Ayora training center where we had lunch and some cultural activities that included a dance and singing. I actually joined the dance group somehow…by accident I think really one day after classes. I thought we were just learning some of the traditional dances for fun; it wasn’t until later that I realized I had actually signed up to dance in front of some 200 people. It actually ended up being kind of fun even though I am sure my dancing was far from perfect.

All of the dances, the ten of us girls in total, dressed up in the traditional dance and then did a little dance to the traditional Sierra song. One of the PCTs told me that her parents got a kick out of the dance just because of Joy and me (the two girls that are about six foot that danced) for the pure fact that we were able to dance in the clothes and look really funny doing it I think. Either way, people seemed to enjoy the “entertainment” and we enjoyed learning how to do it the best we could as well. I did not actually get any pictures of the dance, but I am sure with time that pictures will show up on Facebook. I only got pictures of myself before the dance in the traditional dress which will be up on Facebook at some point. We also had two huge roasted pigs for the lunch meal which was a big hit with everyone. All in all, it was a good day.

That pretty much wrapped up training as the next day we left for Quito with all of our stuff at 8am from Cayambe. It was definitely a bitter-sweet feeling leaving the freezing cold of La Chimba. I will not at all miss the cold weather but I will definitely miss the amazing view; one of the best I have ever seen in my life. Hopefully one day I will revisit that area if for nothing else but to see that view again.

So off we went to Quito where we dropped off our stuff all together in the hostel and then went off to the Mitad Del Mundo (the middle of the world). First we ate at a really nice restaurant on the PC dime which was really good. Then we went to the wrong Mitad Del Mundo as there are actually two in Quito (one I think that is supposed to be the “real” one and the other one is more touristy…and then I also heard someone say that they thought the real zero zero point was up in one of the mountains…long story short, who really knows???) for about ten minutes. Next we went to the one we actually had tickets for which was the touristier one. So I got pictures of me at both of them which I will also put up on Facebook. It was nice and weird at the same time to be doing something that was touristy. Either way, I have now officially been to the middle of the world…both of them in Quito.

The time at the hostel went by rather quickly really. We would all go to the PC office during the day and have our final lectures and sign our final papers…of training only though, I am sure there are plenty more papers to follow over the next two years. During the night we would all hang out at the hostel which was a lot of fun actually as it was a nice time to relax. There was a Papa John’s right down the street as well which had a two for one deal on Tuesday. So we all ditched the hostel food for the night and went and got pizza which was amazing, let me tell you. Definitely worth the whole 4 dollars I had to spend on pizza and breadsticks once all was said and done.

Then came the swear in day, Wednesday August 19th, where we all got to get dressed up, my first time of putting on mascara in two months might I say, and actually feel pretty again. For swearing in we went to the Ambassador’s house in Quito where we had the ceremony. The ceremony was just like any other for the most part except that it was in Spanish and English and of course we were at the Ambassador of the United States house and she gave a speech to us as well. Once the speeches were all done, one from our Trainer Facilitator, one from our Country Director, one from the Ambassador, and two of the PCTs in my group, we then all got to come up one by one and shake the hand of the Ambassador and our Country Director as we got our certificates…and these pictures will also be up on Facebook book. After the ceremony, there were bagels, fruit, coffee, and tea with of course many pictures. We then all went back to the PC office where we waiting for our time to head off to our sites (some people left right after, some left that night, others were leaving the next day). My group actually left at 8pm so we had some time just to relax in Quito. Then the three of us, Sarah, Dana, and me, got on our 10 hours overnight bus trip to head down to El Oro.

Thankfully, everything on our trip went relatively well. I say this because we were a group of three Gringos with lots of luggage…this equals a big target for theft around here. But as I said, thankfully everything went well in that sense. As for actually getting from point A directly to point B I had some issues. The bus that we take goes down to Machala and then keeps heading south. My barrio, El Retiro, is further south on the Pan-American Highway. So I thought that the bus would just go right by my barrio. In reality, it took a different side road so it didn’t go by my barrio but straight to Santa Rosa on the Pan-American. Now thankfully again, we had actually made this same type of mistake last time and therefore I knew that there was a bus that went back towards Machala which would for sure go by El Retiro.

Now the sad/bad part of this story is that the drivers of the Panamericana line decided to drop me off at the roundabout with two suite cases, my backpack, and my purse instead of actually going a little out of their way to drop me off in town. So I was left at the roundabout with all of my luggage not really 100% sure which way to go. Oh yeah, and did I mention that it was raining slightly…thankfully, not a whole lot, but enough to make it count. So after I forced myself not to cry because I knew all that would do would be attracted any one that might want to rob me, I began collecting all of my stuff and myself together and started the trek towards Santa Rosa where I knew there was a bus.

Besides sweating a lot and getting really muddy while avoid catcalls from the males in the street, I did pretty well. I only had to go about a half mile in towards town and then I found a bus that was heading to Machala and thankfully they put my luggage in the actually bus with me so that I knew it would be safe. Once on that bus, I recognized where El Retiro was pretty easily and got off there. There it was just about another half of a mile walk to my house where I will be staying for the next three months. So I arrived to the house, all sweaty and muddy where my host family asked me what happened and I just told them it was okay, it was good exercise for me. Really, I am just really proud of myself for not breaking down and crying when I got left at the roundabout!

So yesterday, Thursday, was my first official day as a Peace Corps Volunteer at my site and man oh man did it all hit me. Between the language, the culture, and my purpose for being here, the next two years are definitely going to be challenging. I have settled in though into my room with all of my stuff and the fact that my host family has the restaurant next door is really nice and it is something that I am going to really enjoy. Today was another relaxing day where I just stayed in the house and the restaurant really and “talked” with the kids and the customers. I say “talked” because my language still has a ways to go. However, they do have two TVs here; one in the house and one in the restaurant which I am sure will help out my Spanish as well.

I still have yet to met up with my counterpart as he has been busy these past couple of days. I am sure though once I talk with him I will get a better feel of what I am going to be doing here as he is really my support system here in the barrio. I think that for the first month or so I am just going to follow him around with INFA and see how things work. Once I get a better feel, I then get to do surveys around the barrio to see what people think of their barrio and the things that they want changed. It’s called the CAT tools that I have to use to assess the neighborhood and see where I can help. And of course it is for my own knowledge as well. We have to complete these tools with in the first three or four months here and have a full report down up for our Reconnect session in Spanish. Yes…the PC does give you assignments to complete. It should be a good thing though, just something that I have yet to figure out completely how I am going to go about doing.

My first “real” assignment here though is just to introduce myself to the community as well as the Peace Corps as I am the first volunteer. This in itself will be something that will take time. All in all, everything right now is just a lot. That I guess is the easiest way to put it. It is a lot to be on your own in a society that you do not understand, or fit into at all, with a language that you cannot really speak. Not to mention that you want to help develop this place, but you know that is something that takes a lot of time and it is something that you might never see the results of anyhow, if people even accept you at all. All in all, it is just a lot for a person to take it. And I am sure that over the next two years, I will encounter a lot of different things that will include many ups and downs. I mean heck, I think that I have ups and downs hourly at this point! The PC experience is definitely a one of a kind thing that is going to push me to limits I never knew I had and teach me things that I could never imagine; both in good ways and bad ways. Hopefully I will just be able to keep my sanity along the way…even if I only had a little to start with 

The Presidents in La Chimba

So the presidents did come into La Chimba this past Sunday and it was actually really really interesting. However, it was just President Correa and the President of Bolivar along with a really famous indigenous women. The presidents came to support the indigenous group here in Ecuador. La Chimba had a really famous indigenous women who lived there and died there in May 2009, her name was Transito Amayana (not sure how to spell her last name there...). So the Presidents came to honor her and the indigenous race here in Ecuador. It was also to support President Correa because he just was reelected for the next four years right before we all got here. I was about 10 yards though from the President of Ecuador and the President of Bolivar which is pretty cool to be able to say (The President of Venezuela did not make it for some reason). All in all, it was really interesting and I will be sure to put up some pictures of it at some point and give a more detailed post of it at some point.

Right now everything has just been really crazy as we are finishing up our last week of training here in Cayambe. Therefore we have been really busy doing a lot of nothing more or less. I say this, because it is a lot of ¨tests¨ and paperwork that we are having to make sure gets done. Not to mention everyone getting ready to leave one another here in a week and go off by ourselves to our sites for the next two years! Long story short, it is and has been really busy. We go to Quito this Sunday and then swear in for our two years of service next Wednesday, August 19th. So the next few days will be packed full with moving and goodbyes...this includes lots of drinking of course! But I will be sure to update everyone with everything once I have the time to. Wish me luck over this next week for a smooth transition!!!

Tech Trip Post

August 8 2009, Saturday

So I just got back from my technical trip today which was a trip that included a couple of different locations in the Guayas and Santa Elena Providence (really we just went through Guayaquil in Guayas for a day and the rest was in the Santa Elena region). The point of this trip was to get a better technical feel for the type of work that we will be doing over the next two years by seeing some of the Peace Corps current projects in these areas and giving Charlas (educational talks) to certain groups along the way. Really though…it was kind of like a vacation time for my group with a lot of ocean and beach! Don’t get me wrong here folks, we definitely worked as well.

We left for our trip last Sunday night and we went through Quito, like you always do to get anywhere in this country really…either Quito or Guayaquil you go to for transportation more or less…so we got to eat dinner in a nice modern mall in Quito where I had Pizza Hut with a side salad. Good stuff let me tell you. Then we got on to our six hour or so overnight bus to Guayaquil where we got in at around four a.m. Now for those of you who do not really know Guayaquil…if you are a foreigner, you do not go out when there is no sunlight; it is just pretty much a rule of thumb there unless for some reason you have an urge to get robbed. So we stayed at the one bus terminal in Guayaquil until the sun came up around six a.m. This was just the one bus terminal, not the main one where we were going to eat breakfast with some of the current PVCs there. So once the sun came up, off we went to the three story bus terminal of Guayaquil where we all ate breakfast together.

Next was another bus to La Libertad in Santa Elena which took about 2 hours give or take (so we settled from travel Monday about at lunch time). La Libertad is a town on the coast line and can be a little touristy as well I believe. This town is the site of one of the girls in our group so we got to meet her counterpart and see the school and what not where she will be working. However, we actually stayed at a hostel right on the coast in a town called Salinas; La Libertad isn’t right on the coast line as it is a little in land but it was only like a five minute bus ride out. Anyways, Salinas was beach number one and we stayed at that hostel for Monday and Tuesday night. Monday was just a travel day and a day on the beach front in Salinas. On Tuesday morning we went to the school of the PCV which I thought was pretty nice (this site has had a few PCVs in the past…I think this might be the last one there…so a lot is already set up for them) and listened to presentations and then gave a charla as well of our own to the kids. Tuesday afternoon after lunch we went to a women’s group meeting and gave a charla there and then went to visit a medical center facility as well that they have. Now with our down time we were forced to eat sea food (which was a little overpriced because of the tourism factor) and relax on the beach.

For Wednesday we left beach number one of Salinas and went to visit a town about an hour and a half or so further north on the coast line (this bus ride was full of amazing views as it was all along the coast the whole way) named Palmer. Now this is also a site of one of our PCVs and it has also seen its share of PCVs over the years; I think both the girl at La Libertad and Palmer have a pretty good chance of closing these sites. In Palmer, the past PCVs there have helped organize a big youth group called “Neo Juventud”. Over the years this group has accomplished a lot such as a gym, a computer/Internet café, and an actual bakery that is completely run by the Youth. All in all it was pretty impressive, and of course, right on a beach front (the PCVs house is literally on the beach…her back yard is the beach). And Palmer was not a tourist town at all so that was a nice change too. We were just there for the day though, and then we drove to Manglaralto for Wednesday and Thursday night (we left there Friday afternoon).

Manglaralto is nearby one of the towns that we are prohibited to visit during service as well which I thought was interesting. The town is called Montanita and is about a twenty minute walk along the beach north from Manglaralto. The reason it is prohibited for us is because Montanita is a really touristy town and there is a lot of theft there with foreigners…and since we are technically the government’s responsibility while we are working here, there are certain sites we cannot go to for security reasons; we can drive through them, but we cannot visit them. Anyways, I just thought that was kind of interesting because you could literally see Montanita from Manglaralto…and really, the beaches in both towns are the same beach and just as nice, just that Manglaralto is safer for us and there is a current agriculture volunteer there working.

So when we first got to Manglaralto Wednesday night we actually went inland…even though it has an amazing and my favorite beach there that we will call number three…to one of her communities that the current PCV works with. She actually works with a group of women who make Panama Hats, and purses, out of a type of tree branch that then get exported all over the world really for a crazy profit. Long story short, I bought a purse for $4 dollars that probably would have ended up getting shipped off and bought for around $80. After seeing that we went on a little nature walk around their community where we got to see all of the natural resources really that they have and use to make a profit. Their main problem is that they don’t know how to run a business and cost things out correctly and that causes a lot of problems. Then we returned back to Manglaralto for the night at our hostel which was literally a two minute walk from the ocean…and they had hammocks out front.

Thursday we went to another one of our PCVs future sites called La Entrada. The main thing that this town does is fish; as once again, it was right on the beach…this one will be beach number four. It was a really nice facility as well and we got to learn about oyster farming. We also went down to the beach front where people were busy at work. A man on a motorcycle with a crate full of fish and a bag full of crabs…all half alive I would say…people pulling in a boat out of the ocean and up onto the shore the old fashion way with logs, and my personally favorite, a man that had just finished snorkeling the shores for octopus. We help the people with the activities that we could for fun. One of our facilitators actually bought one of the freshly caught octopuses for a dollar that we ate at lunch in a mixture as well. We then went back to the facility…which did I mention…is on the coast line, for real…and gave our Charla to a group of youth about planning for your future. We ended the day with some of the best Cheese Cake I think I have ever had (I guess a four star desert chef that use to work in Guayaquil had enough there so he retired out to La Entrada where he has a desert place that everyone knows about) where I got Oreo Cheese Cake, and headed back to our beach front number three in Manglaralto to watch the sunset over the Pacific Ocean.

The last day, Friday, was spent in Manglaralto where we went across to the High School and gave our last Charla in the morning. We then visited the current PCVs garden that she is starting and were then able to spend the rest of the time relaxing on the beach (from about 11 to 3 with lunch on the beach front as well). We then got on the bus to head back to La Libertad, about two hours or so, and then had to wait in La Libertad at the mall until our bus at 8:30 that took us back to Quito…this bus was actually about ten hours though because coming to the coast we stopped in Guayaquil, this bus was just direct. Therefore, here I am back in La Chimba for Saturday night.

All in all, the trip was a really good success and a lot of fun with great sites that I will be sure to post up on Facebook, so take a look! Today was just the recovery from the bus rides really…although the one from last night was not the worst I have been on which was a plus…but at the same time, my ankles still blow up with the altitude changes. We did take some time to put on some finishing touches to a moral painting though that we are doing in the town hall area…which hopefully we will get done with one more meeting.

Now for the fun upcoming news event briefing…dun dun dun…the President of Ecuador is coming to La Chimba tomorrow. That is right people, you read that correctly. President Correa will be here in La Chimba tomorrow along with…get ready for this…the President of Bolivar and the President of Argentina I do believe. We are not really sure why…as there are many rumors going around for the possible why. I think though it is a mixture of reasons. One is that there is a native woman who passed at the start of 2009 who was a spokes women for the indigenous group here in Ecuador (comparable to our Martin Luther King we are been told in importance) and she was from here in La Chimba. Also I think it is in part of President Correa celebrating some political win. I asked my host brothers tonight, and they were just kind of like, yeah…we know he will be here tomorrow. They said it was normal and even my fourteen year old brother said he could remember other times that the President of Ecuador has come to La Chimba for some type of celebration or reason. But neither one could really tell me why he was coming tomorrow…but I think the main reason has to do with that native woman, Transito A…something…I can’t remember her last name right now!

So the funny thing is while we are in training all the PCTs cannot be in groups of more than five in a public place and throughout the entire PC we cannot attend political rallies or gatherings as we are politically neutral while we are a part of the PC. But since the five current PCTs live here in La Chimba, we got the okay to watch tomorrow…but from afar. I know that the other PCTs are bummed about this because they have been informed that they cannot come up to La Chimba at all. I have also heard that a lot of the facilitators are planning on coming up because they are Ecuadoreans and the same rules that apply to us do not apply to them. Long story short…tomorrow will be interesting and will start at 8 a.m. as we are going to sit on one of our houses roofs and try to see the helicopters fly into La Chimba at about 10,000 feet above sea level and hope that there are no riots of any type. Go La Chimba!

A Cultural Experience

Okay...so I just have two things to post really quickly. Number one, I saw two cows get killed today for the meat for the fiesta that starts tonight and goes through until this Sunday...and I will never be able to look at a cow or a piece of meat the same again. There will be a blog later with more details for you all I am sure. Number two, I think my Spanglish is in full swing. I am starting to forget words and things in English...learning a language does such crazy things to your brain. Alright, that is all for now!

Quick Update

July 29th 2009, Wednesday

Training is going along like I think it does at this point. All of the lectures are talks are getting repetitive a bit, but I can definitely see how they are all necessary. Training really is different than what the real PC life is going to be like. At the same point though, it is completely necessary no matter how much at times you really wish you didn’t have to go through it all. And either way, we only have three more weeks left which is really like one more week because this one is half over and one of the weeks is a technical trip.

My technical trip is to the Guayas and the Santa Elena provinces (these are along the coast about in the middle of the western side of Ecuador). We start off our trip Sunday afternoon, the 44 current trainees all get split up into four different groups and locations depending on what technical skills you are going to be needing for your site, and we are going to Guayaquil first. Well technically Quito first because that is where all of the buses leave from.

We leave Sunday on an overnight bus to Guayaquil. We then are going to be doing loads of different things until Friday including traveling to a couple other sites…the only one I remember though is La Libertad off of the top of my head. We head to La Libertad that Monday so we are really just in Guayaquil as a pit-stop. Long story short though, we are then travel a little on the coast line there in Santa Elena while doing technical skills practice with charlas and talking with current PCs and seeing what they are doing at their sites (so I am really on the coast line for my trip starting at La Libertad going North). My groups’ main focus is business and joven a joven which is youth to youth (sex education and things along that line). The other youth and family trip is going to the Esmeraldas…and I don’t remember where the two health trips are going for sure…one is Riobamba though. Long story short, I’m going on a technical trip next week and I will blog about it once I get back and have time.

The rest of training is really going to go by quickly. We all go to Quito on August 16th, Sunday, and say goodbye to our host families here. That is going to be really weird to say goodbye to my “family” that I have been living with for the past two months…but I guess that’s a part of life for you! We then have closing CBT activities in Quito and we swear into the Peace Corps and become an official volunteer on August 19th at the Ambassador’s residence. We then leave for our sites and should be at our sites August 20th for the next two years.

It is all pretty exciting and overwhelming at the same time. The CBT (country based training) is really very different than what we are going to be actually doing at our site and that is exciting and scary at the same time. However, once we all get to our sites things will calm down a lot as well and being away from all of the Gringos (Americans) will definitely help the Spanish come quicker as well as the ability to integrate into your community. The first 90 days at site you cannot use any vacation days and your main job is to get to know your community and asses it. Since I am the first PCV at my site, I am sure that this will take me the first 90 days to accomplish as well as build relationships and trust within the community. It’s pretty excited in a lot of ways and at the same time I am sure it is going to be VERY hard and frustrating for the first few months.

On an exciting note, I have figure out SKYPE and it works wonders. For those of you who don’t know about SKYPE, Google it! It is basically a free download on any computer which allows you to call any other computer for free anywhere in the country. This means, that I can talk to any of you for “free” (I have the internet café fees…but they are really small…completely free for you though) if you have SKYPE on your computer, a microphone to talk with (you can get headsets pretty cheap in the States I do believe), and an internet connection. It really works well and I would love to chat with you all anytime. My user name for SKYPE is lesley.parker1986 I do believe…99% sure…you can also check using my email of lparker2008@yahoo.com. I also learned how to purchase credit on SKYPE so that I can call a landline or a cell phone…but this cost a lot so I am only going to use this method to call people to tell them that I am on SKYPE and that they should get to a computer if they can to talk to me. I think you get the idea…but if you have any questions, let me know. Because I would definitely love to talk to people back home…especially when I have more down time when I get to my site after August.

So those are my updates for now…there was more that I wanted to post up, but I have forgotten now, oh well! It must be the fact that my bed is calling my name and that’s all I can think about. Sweet Dreams all!

My Barrio - El Retiro

July 26 2009, Sunday

Alright, so I have a little more time now to update you on my barrio site visit to El Retiro. In all honesty, it’s kind of hard to describe the barrio as I was really only there for about three days and one of those days I went into Machala. And as we all know, first impressions are only first impressions and what you think might end up happen, may not be the case at all.

El Retiro has about 1,000 people I do believe (or at least that’s what the paper that the PC gave me says). It is basically one paved street with a handful of dirt streets that go off of that road. There are always people on the main road walking, on bike, or in cars which is kind of nice as it makes the town really seem alive. The main street is pretty long though and takes about 20 minutes to walk all the way down give or take I would say. The barrio is right off of the main road (Pan-Americana) which is really nice because there are buses that come probably about every 15 minutes that go to Machala or Santa Maria. On the other three sides of the neighborhood are banana fields…tons and tons of bananas like you wouldn’t believe. As my host dad said to me, the bananas are free here because they are everywhere. My house for the first three months is on the main street on the right hand side about half of the way down and it is, in one word, cozy.

My host family mom and dad have eight children but they are all grown and some are actually living over in Spain (two or three I think). One of her daughters lives down the street though with her two children, Mario who is eight and Shirley who is eleven, and I think that they are going to become my two best friends in the area because the kids are super cool. There dad is a policeman but only lives at home during the weekend pretty much because of where his job is. In my actual house though, it is just my host mom, dad, me, and another woman who is a worker of my mom and dad in the restaurant next door.

You see, my host family actually owns the building next door which is their kitchen and a restaurant for the community (el comedor). So they have the restaurant where they work all day on the left hand side and then their house where they sleep on the right hand side. The restaurant is really neat and there are people there ALL day long really which will help me get into the community I am sure. It is open every day but Sunday and they feed about 40 people a day I would say, give or take. Therefore, my mom is cooking pretty much all day long and she actually has two women who help her cook and clean the house, with the one actually living with us (I think she might work to pay for her “rent”) so there’s four people in the house including myself.

The restaurant is really interesting too because the three women cook everything while the man, my host dad, actually is the person who talks to the people, cleans the tables, and brings out the food. He is kind of like the hostess I suppose. The reason I say this is interesting is because it really pains the gender roles here. On the coast, machismo is a really big thing and I could definitely tell even in the couple days that I was there…and I think it will take some getting used to.

The men are the ones who do the talking and works at a job all day while the women stay at home with the kids and cook and clean the house. Not only is this true for the men and women, it is also true for the boys and girls. With the youth (11-13) that I talked with on my visit, all of the boys have some type of job and they actually want to work because they want to learn the trade of that job for when they get older, and all of the girls stay at home and help their moms. The gender roles are very much defined and the idea of machismo can be seen every day. In my opinion machismo is basically the idea that the men have to be the person “in control”, working, not really doing too much with the family, as that is the women’s job, and coming and going as he pleases. I think that I am going to find that it is also very common for the man to have another woman on the side. The women definitely rule the household though and are really the people in charge of the children by far. The kids are well, kids. However, with the structure of the family the mother is very strict with them. The gender roles will be very interesting to observe as they are definitely different in my neighborhood than they are in the States.

My host mom told me too that it is common for women to get pregnant and married as young as 15 and then get divorced, or just really be on their own, around the age of 30. Obviously all of this is just the first bit of information that I am getting and it will be interesting to see what parts are true and what aren’t. They were also really surprised though that I was 23, had no kids, and no husband or boyfriend. This isn’t really the norm for women in my town at all. They started to then ask me what I find handsome in a man (we got warned this would happen – That they would try to set us up on dates) to which I responded one thing; he has to be taller than me. This is pretty much one of my requirements no matter where I am, but with this one requirement it also cancels out about 90% of the Ecuadorean men which hopefully means they won’t set me up on any dates. Because honestly, I just don’t want that at all.

Another thing about the coast is that they are very lively, animated people who are not afraid to ask you anything. Therefore, some of the first questions you do get asked when you met someone goes something like this: What’s your name, how old are you, do you have a boyfriend, how much do you make. Now I don’t know about you, but these are not really the first questions that come to mind for me when I first met someone! But on the coast, it’s just normal.

So back to describing my neighborhood, there are a handful of soccer fields and volleyball fields which have people playing on them almost all of the time. These two sports are definitely hobbies and I think that there is a soccer game just about every day. And if you don’t play in the games, you are watching. There is also an internet café and my “sister” down the street actually has internet in her house which she said I could use too. The town also has a school, a kindergarten, two churches, a police center, a health center, a community house, bakeries, restaurants, and stores. All in all, I think it makes for a pretty nice little town. Oh yeah, they also have a stadium where people play soccer a lot and it is basically a pretty nice sized field that is fenced in.

Having my host family have the restaurant is pretty cool as well since I can go and eat pretty much whenever I want. It took me the whole time I was there to convince my host mom though that I really just want fruit for breakfast instead of a whole huge meal, which is custom for breakfast complete with rice and meat. On the last day, I got a plate full of cut up banana and apple which was amazing. She even gave me some milk with ice in it since I told her I don’t really like hot milk, which is custom here for breakfast. And for lunch it is normal to have soup as well, which in all honesty, I am just getting pretty sick of here lately so I didn’t really eat it. The next day, my host mom didn’t give me soup with my lunch. Basically, when it comes to food my host mom is amazing as she observes what I did and didn’t eat and then she tailors my next meal accordingly. Therefore, by the end of the visit I was getting more meat, less rice, vegetables that I like, such as tomato and lettuce instead of yucca…yuck…, and lots of banana. I am definitely going to enjoy the food on the coast more than what I do here in the Sierra.

The house next door to the restaurant is where I will be living. I have my own room and there is one bathroom and shower for us all (there is one in the restaurant too). And get this…there is a washing machine. I did notice that they still washed some of their clothes by hand, but I think on the coast it isn’t as common for people to wash their clothes like I do here up in the Sierra. I am pretty sure though that I will be able to use the washing machine though when it comes time to do laundry…we’ll have to wait and see though. The PCs that currently live in that area told me that they take their laundry to a cleaner about every two weeks. The laundry cleaner cleans and folds your clothes for about $2, and it is a lot easier on your clothes. We’ll have to wait and see I guess! (I also posted pictures of my barrio and what not on facebook too so you can see what I’m talking about).

There are about four current PC girls that live right around where I am. Two live in barrios that are actually apart of Machala, one lives in a barrio about 15 minutes from me, and then another lives in a different barrio as well about 30 minutes from me. So all in all, there will be about five of us all within 45 minutes of each other. This will be really nice as I know that I can have some time with Americans if I need it. It is a little weird because most of them were in the same Omnibus (they have been here for about a year) and therefore have really strong friendships. But I am sure that I will be able to join in on this as well with the support system.

My job is really still pretty vague and I think always really will be. I work with INFA, Institucion de Ninos y Familias (Institution of children and families), and will be working with the community of El Retiro as well. So Romulo and I have made up some tasks for the first few months that are as follows:

1 – Introduce me to the community and explain the Peace Corps and my purpose as I am the first PC in my town. I think Romulo even mentioned a possible Fiesta for me, but we will just have to wait and see about that!
2 – Work with INFA and what Romulo is currently doing in the community. INFA gives out becas (scholarships) to the families and in return the kids have to go to school and certain other talks and the parents are certain talks that they have to attend as well for education. So Romulo has a talk right now called “Aventura de La Vida” (adventure of life) which I believe is a class for the kids that happens two times a week. So I will be helping him with that.
3 – Start a community bank. This is a big one that the community really wants but it is a project that is going to take some time because I first have to give talks about what the community bank is and how it works and then facilitate one. Basically, I have to first educate the community about a community bank and how it works to get the interest in it and then run one with the community.
4 – Give talks to the youth about self-esteem, values, and goals. Basically, just be like a social worker for the kids and remind them that they are their greatest asset. It is along the lines of one of the programs that the PC has, “Como planear mi vida” (how to plan my life), which is a resource that I am sure I will be using often.

Those are just the basic things that we managed to come up with in the first few days…and I am sure that some of those ideas will work which others will end up failing miserably. That’s just the life of a PC though for what I have heard. Once you are actually living in the community as well you will be able to see more things of what the community actually needs and wants.

So there is a summary of my barrio and my job…or what I think will be my job…for the next two years. Like I have said above, all of this is just the first impression and it will be interesting to look back at this in two years compare it to what the community and job actually were like.

Now we have a week of training back here in Cayambe followed by a week for our technical trip. The fiesta for La Chimba is this Thursday to Sunday too so that will be interesting with many circles of dancing, with the same song being played over and over again, and of course drinking all around. I am sure it will be a interesting week to come!

The Site Visit - This is going to be long

July 24 2009, Friday

So I guess before I get into this long blog I should just put the summary right up here at the top in case you don’t want to keep reading. My initial site visit to the El Retiro Barrio in the El Oro providence of Ecuador went pretty well and I think overall it left a pretty good impression on me and that I left a pretty good impression on them. Now with that said, I still don’t think any of this is going to easy going…but I probably would say that no matter where my site was! You can stop there if you don’t want any more details, because here they are folks.

So the trip started out with a group of five of us and one facilitator going from Cayambe to Quito (a two hour bus ride) where we had to work our way through Quito from the old bus terminal to the new bus terminal. Sounds easy, right? Well of course not. It was a Saturday when we left and apparently that changes how the metros run in Quito and we needed to take the metros to get to the new bus terminal along with walking a block at around 8pm at night. Long story short it took us about two hours total to get from the old bus terminal to the new terminal and this is with us all having our five days of clothes and whatnot for luggage that we are hauling around while not trying to look lost or too foreign so that we don’t get targeted by a pickpocket (Quito I believe is the second highest city in Ecuador for crime with Guayaquil surpassing it).

Before I continue here let me paint a picture of the public transportation here. The public transportation here is used ALL of the time and when you are standing there on the bus with absolutely no room to breathe, much less move, not only one but two or more people will manage to somehow get on. And all of the while you will have your bum into some guy you have never met and a little lady shoving you around in front (something like this…) while people constantly get on and off. I think you are starting to see how pick pocketing is an easy hobby here with the public transportation.

Okay, so now that you have that very important picture in mind I will continue. We get to Quito and head over to the first of three different Metros we ended up taking in the city. We all get shoved on together and we even run into another group of ours that is heading to the New Terminal too. The other group gets off at a stop before our group, and the other group ended up being at the right stop and we were at the wrong one. Luckily, there was a really nice guy on the Metro with us who works for the Metros that our facilitator was talking to and he took us back over to the Metro and got us on for free going the opposite direction. The kicker is that it was a Saturday night and I guess that one Saturday to get from the old to new terminal you have to take three separate Metros instead of just the normal two. So anyways, we got back on and got off at the right stop.

We then had to walk down a little over a block to the other Metro…the only thing here is that since the new bus terminal literally opened up this last weekend, no one had ever really been to it and thus no one really knew which line to take exactly. So we ended up standing in three different lines before we finally decided it was the right one. And then once the Metro comes, well let’s just say that they don’t wait. They open the door, people literally shove themselves and whoever else is in the way on or off, and the doors close whether people are in the way or not. And here is when it gets fun.

The zipper Dana’s backpack broke…now what makes this really funny is that his backpack had actually broken that morning in Cayambe when he first tried to leave. So this second backpack was actually the backpack of his host family. And of course, it had to break right when the metro came and people where being shoved on and off while others were waiting for a different line. Somehow I ended up right at the door of the Metro as it was beginning to shut. I look into the Metro and see half of my group with the other half still on the platform along with our facilitator and Dana trying to frantically stop his belongings from falling all over the Metro floor while at the same time trying to get on the Metro without getting pushed over because he is trying to not lose his belongings…and all I’m thinking is I can’t go around this city without our facilitator right now! So I literally end up holding the door open, by myself, with my bum pushing against the right side door as I yell at the rest of my group to hurry up because I don’t know how long I can hold it open. Thankfully…we all made it on, Dana with his falling apart bag and all, and my facilitator made a comment that it was a good thing I was strong to hold open the door. It was definitely a panic moment for me as I’m sure it was for Dana too!

So we have got one more Metro to get and at this point it is about 8 and we are starting to get tired and hungry since we left Cayambe at 4. Thankfully this Metro we actually had to wait for about five minutes for which gave Dana and us time to re-pack his belongings into the room that each of us had and what bags we could make up since he now no longer had a functional backpack of his own (the mosquito net bags came in really handy here). I ended up having his toiletries in my bag (remember this). So we got all of that situated before the last Metro came and then it was just the normally getting shoved on to the Metro.

The new bus station in Quito is actually a pretty nice modern building. This is where our group breaks up again because not all five of us were going to the same place; just three to el Oro and the facilitator stayed in Quito. So the three of us; me, Dana, and Sarah; head to the Pan-Americana Bus line to buy tickets (there are lines which just go straight from point A to point B and don’t pick up anyone along the way, only drop people off; safer). The tickets were $9 and we all paid with a $20 bill and got a $10 back and a dollar coin. The reason this is “funny” is that one of us ended up getting passed back a fake $10 bill, but we were just so tired for the past two hours of running around that we didn’t notice at all…and go figure, it was Dana (this part comes into play later in the story).

Our bus ended up leaving at about 9pm so we really just had time to grab some snacks and jump on the bus at that point…which the three of us didn’t really mind either, because sitting down in assigned seats with our bags safe underneath the bus, didn’t sound like that bad of a plan at that point. So we all breathed a big sigh of relief and set in for our 10 to 11 hour bus ride. They played some weird movie which I don’t really remember and I ended up half falling asleep for pretty much the whole night. Here’s a little funny side note for you too, they serve you a free cup of coke it you want just about right before you go to bed at 10pm…I guess it’s to try and help you stay up to watch the movie. But anyways, the “sleep” that you get on these buses, isn’t really much sleep.

And then of course at 2am we got pulled over by the Army, which I guess is pretty regular, and they search all of the men. It was really kind of weird though because I think that it is regular just to get stopped and have them check your papers (citizen idea cards, and we have PC cards), but they didn’t do that at all. They just patted down all of the men and pretty much just left the women alone. Either way, it was a nice stretch for the legs.

So morning comes and we are texting one of the current PCV in Machala (the big city we are going to) and trying to figure out where we are exactly and where we need to get off. And of course…we missed all of Machala and drove right through it to Santa Maria where we got off and had to take a 30 minute public bus ride back. Definitely could have been worse, but it was a minor panic moment and way too early in the morning to have to be thinking. My counterpart that I am going to be working with was actually already at the Pan-Americana bus terminal when I got into Machala so I took off and the other two went off for their bus that they needed to take about an hour and a half for Sarah (to Arenillas about 30 minutes from the Peru border) and about two hours for Dana (to Huaquillas basically right on the Peru border).

Now remember Dana’s backpack problem…and remember those toiletries. Well you guess it; Dana went off to Hauquillas while his toiletries went off to El Retiro with me…sorry Dana!!! And of course Dana realized this about 30 minutes after we parted but by then it was too late. So he ended up having to go out and buy some necessary toiletries for the trip. Now remember that fake $10 bill Dana got given back…well you guessed it, he tried to use that for his toiletries which is where he ended up finding out it was a fake. Poor man with bad travel luck!

So I got onto my next bus which costs 0.40 and is about 30 minutes to El Retiro, my barrio, from Machala; not bad at all. My counterpart is a 27 year old man, Romulo, who works with INFA in the El Retiro barrio and lives in a barrio about 15 minutes away of El Cambio (barrio = neighborhood). Machala, which in my opinion is a pretty big city, I think I am really going to enjoying being by. It has a daily market which is about four by eight blocks FULL of fresh vegetables, fruits, meat, seafood, and even clothes. Not to mention that there are some pizza and hamburger places in Machala as well (some food places I can run to for comfort so to say) as well as some super market type stores around and places that sell DVDs in Spanish AND English! There is also a big fishermen’s port in the city and from there you can take a 20 minute ferry ride to the beach which is really an Island called Jambeli. Machala is also where I will be getting my mail at a P.O. box and it is where my bank is. So I am definitely pretty excited that it is just an easy 25-30 minute bus ride away from my barrio.

From there Romulo and I headed off to El Retiro and made small chat here and there. He seems like a really nice guy that will definitely help me out in the next two years. About 15-20 minutes from my barrio just outside of Machala is a center which they actually call “Shopping”. It is basically a mini-shopping center with a food court, a movie theater (which plays movies in English every once and a while too), and a store which is kind of like a super-sized Target from what I have heard. All in all, pretty exciting…oh yeah…I forgot one of the coolest things about Shopping. It has free wireless internet there! It is supposed to be really slow, but still, it is internet…and it is free (some of the current PCVs have even used SKYPE there). So having Shopping right by my barrio is another awesome thing.

So I guess it’s time I actually talk about my barrio, eh? But sadly I am out of time right now so I will have to wait and post up another post for my thoughts on my site. All in all though, I really do think that it is going to be good.

P.S. I posted some new pictures on Facebook of my site area as well.

Exhausted

So I just got back from my 10 to 11 hour bus trip, followed by another 2 hour bus trip, with an hour and a half bus trip yet to follow to get from Cayambe to the home of La Chimba. My site visit went well and I have a lot of emotions and thoughts going all around in that lovely head of mine...half of which don´t make sense because of the sleep deprivation...so I therefore plan on going home, taking a nap, and then typing a blog post from my lab top which I hope to post this weekend. All in all though, the trip went really well, and the coast is definitely a laid back lifestyle where you go with what comes...probably exactly what I need for the next two years :)

Time for the first 13-15 hour bus trip

So I made it into Cayambe in time to use the internet cafe before I get to head off onto my first, of many I am sure, bus trips. My voice is starting to get better but I can definately tell that it is going to take my voice a while to get back completely. At least now though I can almost make full sentences when I talk!

I am really excited to go to my site and get my first impressions of everything. That really is about all I´ve got right now besides the fact that I am feeling pretty doped up from the medicine I am taking and I feel sleepy...which could be a good thing for this bus trip. Happy reading with the other posts!

And the winner is...

July 17 2009, Friday

Just a couple quick updates to mention. First things first, the PC decided to not really give us a day off this weekend as we have language class first thing in the morning tomorrow and then for people who have a long trip to their site, like me, we get to leave right after for the buses. So my long journey will be tomorrow and I am actually kind of excited for it because I am sure that after two years of living down south I will be pretty familiar with this trip at the end of it all (we have to go back to Quito for certain things here and there throughout our service).

Today we just had language classes and we were able to go to Cayambe which was really good because we all needed money from the ATM for our trip. We also had to pay our host families here in La Chimba their money as well so we all definitely needed to get more money with both paying our host families and having enough money to take on our site trip with us. The ATM machines were not really working very well and it took us a couple of tries and three different machines in the end but we all ended up getting our money (the PC is still having problems with the banking at the moment). I think pretty much everyone struggled a little with the ATMs though so no one was left out.

For the fun update, I woke up this morning and couldn’t talk. Well more so as one of the PCTs said today, I sounded like one of the cartoon characters from Family Guy (I think she said the baby, Stewy) or my personal favorite and one I know that my father will love, the Godfather, when I tried to talk. I stayed up last night as well using the last of my voice to talk to my mom on the phone, which was total worth it, but it was definitely gone this morning. Once we all got together though four out of five of us realized that we needed to talk to the doctor about something or another. So we called him and he was actually going around to the communities to give out the mosquito bed nets for the people in the Malaria Zones (yes this includes me…). So he came and handed out our mosquito bed nets and then had a consultation with each of us, minus the one healthy one.

One girl has to wait on her next bowl movement to see the outcome as to if she can even go on her site visit this weekend or not (I definitely think it sounds like she’s got it the worst out of all of us!). Another girl has to go to Quito at some point to get tested to see if she is diabetic and the other girl I believe just has a cold right now with diarrhea that seems to be pretty constant. My diagnosis was the only one that the doctor could actually put a name to right now (and drive around the corner to get the medication)…and the winner is…laryngitis!

Basically, I have had a cold for about the past week and it just decided to move a little further down south into my esophagus and lungs. Everything that is coming out of my nose is really clear but when I cough I have green stuff come up from my esophagus and lungs (not to mention I have pressure around both of my ears). I also get light headed really easily especially with the altitude here. And today was the top off with my inability to speak in either Spanish or English. So I have antibiotics that I get to take over the next three days, one pill a day, and some lovely cough type medicine that I take a teaspoon of every 6 hours along with 2 ibuprofen, and I got told that my voice will be sore for about five days or so.

I realized this morning though that I was taking a total of 7 pills in the morning for the past few days give or take (2 Tylenol, 2 nasal decongestants, 1 malaria, 1 anti-allergy and 1 birth control). Now I just have to take 5 pills in the morning (2 ibuprofen, 1 malaria, 1 anti-allergy and 1 birth control) with a few more ibuprofen during the day and an antibiotic during lunch for the next two days. Got to love the crazy things a different altitude, area, and climate do to your body. There really are so many illnesses out there!

So that’s my interesting update though…that I have laryngitis and now the local people really look at me like I’m crazy when I try to talk because I’m speaking really broken Spanish in a voice that even makes the Americans laugh at me because of how weird I sound. Oh well, another experience to put in the books!