Thanksgiving

Making Cholas with my host family

As always, I’ve been very busy here in Ecuador. Last week we had our Peace Corps Reconnect Conference. Everyone who came in my group in June got together for a big conference in Quito. We presented the results of our community diagnostic and our ideas for projects in our sites. It was really neat to see what everyone else has been doing for the past 3 months. It was also surprising to see that no two volunteers are having the same experience. Each site is so unique. We also had some workshops on how to be affective volunteers with our organizations and counterparts as well as some project planning ideas. We stayed in a convent and were barely allowed to leave the whole week (supposedly for security issues). It wasn't as bad as you’d think though. We played some pretty intense games of catch phrase and just chatted about our sites.

Guagua Pichincha

After reconnect, I went to see the 7^th Harry Potter with Erick and Criss. Again, not something I was ever expecting I would be doing in the Peace Corps, but really awesome nonetheless. Then the next morning some of my PC friends and I went to Mindo for the weekend. Mindo is a cute little town in a transition zone (the area between the Andes and the coast). It was a little bit warmer there, which was really nice considering it had been rainy and cold all week long. We went hiking through the jungle (well, semi-jungle considering the wildness that is the jungle of the entire east side of Ecuador). We went to 6 or 7 different waterfalls and went swimming in the river. It was really cool because the water has worn down the rocks so you can basically slide down the waterfalls at points. Overall it was just really nice to get a change of scenery…not that I don’t love life here in the sierra, it’s just nice to get out once-in-a-while.

A pretty waterfall

Friends

Things have been getting really busy with work. Monday Rosa (my counterpart) and I gave an all day taller to our group of teenagers on HIV/AIDS. I think it went really well, though I still don’t know how well the kids understood the material. I absolutely love working with these kids. As I get to know them better, the more I start to understand their culture and their way of life in the communities. Because life in the communities is so difficult and the kids are expected to help with the farming and house work, and as a result education is kind of pushed to the back burner. Also, since there are no high schools in most of the communities, the kids only go to school once a week (that’s all they have time or money for). Learning has just never been something that is emphasized. It’s really hard to teach them about something as complicated as HIV/AIDS on a couple of different levels. First, they just aren’t used to any type of technical learning. I try to break the hard parts down to the basics. Even still, without the basic understanding of how human biology works they have a hard time visualizing how a virus can live in a person’s body for months or even years attacking the immune system while on the outside the person seems perfectly fine. Secondly, they have absolutely no understanding of how sex works. It’s just not something that is talked about in the communities. When I try to explain that HIV can be transmitted through semen and vaginal fluids, they have no idea what I’m talking about and even when I explain in detail what these bodily fluids are, they still have a hard time understanding. But I think slowly but surely they will get it. Since December 1^st is World Aids Day, we’ve been talking a lot about the topic. So hopefully with all the repetition they will get it and be able to explain it to their peers. One of the other PCVs nearby is having a health fair during market day in here town for World Aids Day and my group of teenagers will be presenting. We also want to do a skit in the communities to start teaching the other community kids about HIV.

I’ve also been continuing my talleres with the moms in the communities. This month we’ve been focusing on breast feeding and nutrition of early development. They seem to be learning a lot and internalizing what we’re teaching. I’ve also become pretty involved in the UN Population Fund’s (UNFPA) commission for sexual and reproductive health for the province of Chimborazo (which is the province I live in). I’m getting to know a lot of the government programs available to the communities. I’m making a lot of connections and meeting a ton of new people still. Hopefully, these programs and organizations can connect with the communities and help them out with some of their needs.

Yesterday was Thanksgiving Day. A group of about 10 of us got together and had a huge feast in Riobamba. A couple of the volunteers made an 18 pound turkey with mashed potatoes and gravy, homemade stuffing, fruit salad, etc…everything you need for a delicious Thanksgiving Dinner. As I was sitting there eating (or rather stuffing my face till I nearly exploded), I realized that I have been here for 5 months already. Time has flown by! I’ve been so lucky, too, in the last 5 months. I have really only been sick once (knock on wood!), I have a great site, I love my organization and my counterparts, the PCVs near me are really great and the Ecuadorians I have met have been super welcoming and open to having a strange, tiny, blonde gringa working/living with them. Of course, not every single day is filled with rainbows and butterflies, but at this point, I really couldn’t ask for a better Peace Corps experience. I really hope this luck continues!

The other day when I was on a long bus ride back to Alausi, I was thinking about life here and life in the states and came up with the following list that I thought I would share with you all:

Things I miss about the states:

Chipotle

Driving

Not being asked when I’m getting married/having kids

Meals without a mountain of rice and a ton of potatoes

Running on flat ground (Alausi is ALL hills)

Knowing that when I turn on the faucet, water will come out

Real Ketchup

Arizona sunsets

Ovens that work (ovens here are really more for storing things than for cooking)

Stores and vendors always having change

Not having to pay to use public restrooms

Things I love about Ecuador:

Taking the bus EVERYWHERE!

The fact that everyone says hello whether you know them or not

Hornado (roast pig—delicious!)

How nice and friendly people are (for the most part)

How excited people get over soccer

The views

The mountains

The fact that DVDs cost $1

The fact that good ice cream costs $0.50

Speaking Spanish and Kichwua

Having people tell me that I’m the first gringa they’ve every spoken to (I sure hope I’m representing us well!)

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving and enjoys the holiday season! I love you and miss you all!