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!!!
Monday, December 21, 2009
Thursday, November 26, 2009
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 :)
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 :)
Friday, November 6, 2009
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.
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.
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.
Friday, October 9, 2009
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.
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.
Thursday, September 24, 2009
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.
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.
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.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
