Training is almost done

Alausí

Alausí

One of my small communities that I will be working with

The view

Rural community that I will be working in

The last several weeks have been incredibly busy. I went to my site for a 3 day visit. I will be working in Alausi with an organization called Cooperacion de Organizationes de los Campesinos de Achupallas. I will be working on youth and women’s empowerment projects in terms sexual rights and education. I’m super stoked and already got to meet my group of youths. I have an office and a computer and will basically be working a 9-5 job on week days only, which leaves my weekends free. I’ve already made a couple of friends who want to show me around. There is tons of hiking in the area and there is also a huge lake. I really have the best of both worlds at my site. I live in a small city so there is internet, running water, hot showers and a laundromat. But I go to the countryside almost every day. The scenery is absolutely gorgeous. Green hills with deep valleys. Rivers and lakes and tons of hiking trails. Another awesome thing about my site is that it is right by la Nariz del Diable, this super pretty mountain with a train that goes down it. You get to sit on top of the train instead of inside. It’s supposedly one of the prettiest views in Ecuador.

The only thing I’m not excited for is my new host family. When I get to site, I have to stay with a host family for 3 months. They are supposed to introduce me to people and show me around. My host mom is actually a grandma with a 10 and 2 year old granddaughters and an 8 year old grandson. The kids pretty much only watch TV (the Disney channel to be exact) and never really talk to me. My host mom is super evangelical Christian. She’s already told me all of the bible stories (which I assured her I already knew, but she explained any way). She also told me that one night she was up until 2 am reading the bible and crying for the sins of humanity. She is a very nice woman, but I don’t know if I can handle the bible thumping. Fortunately, I only have to stay there for 3 months then I can get my own apartment (which Peace Corps will pay for). It will be nice to have a place to myself and to be able to cook for myself. The diet here is good, but they eat a TON of rice and potatoes with every meal. I like rice and I like potatoes, but three times a day is a little much for me.

After I got back from my sight visit I got pretty sick. Everyone in the group has gotten a stomach bug that puts you out for a couple of days. Last week was my turn. I stayed in bed for 2 straight days. Fortunately, I brought a bunch of movies with me on my hard drive so I just watched movies all day when I felt well enough.

The next week we had our midservice exam. I moved up two levels on my language level (I’m now at Advanced medium) which I’m happy with. That Friday the community of La Chimba was having their festivals (just like Santa Rosa had theirs). A bunch of us went and danced the night away. Then we left for our tech trip. Basically, we went and visited a bunch of health based organizations learning about all the different NGOs and programs in Ecuador. We listened to a ton of lectures and gave a ton too. We also got to meet some of the PC volunteers already serving. I met my cluster (we are divided into geographic clusters). Within a 3 hour bus ride, I have about 10 volunteers nearby. They have gatherings about once a month. It seems like a pretty fun group. Even though our tech trip was pretty boring overall, it made me super excited to go to my site in 2 weeks.

I can’t believe that I only have 2 weeks left of training. It’s gone by soooo fast. Then I start my two years of service. Two years seems like a long time, it’s going to fly by. I already know I’m going to be super busy. When I was on my site visit, I met several presidents of the indigenous communities that I am going to be working with. They all had things they want me to help them with, and I already have meetings with them for when I get to site August 20.

I hope all is well at home!