This Update is WWWAAAYYY Overdue!!

I seem to have fallen off the face of "blogging" earth. It's been over 4 months since my last update and I know you are on the edge of your seats waiting to hear more 'fun' stories of my life here in the Amazon. Well lets see where to begin:

House:
I've been living in my house now for about 3 months; I love it. It's so nice to have soooo much personal space and privacy (more or less from Ecuadorian standards). Supay Oso and I are very happy here...he because he has free reign of the upstairs and a lookout point from which to bark at all who pass by (not so much fun for me at 2 in the morning) and all kinds of puppy friends to play with which is fine until he starts trying to bring them into my house...This will just not do. Well as I said, I'm loving the space, privacy, and ability to plan and make my own meals when and how I choose. I'm planning on starting a garden after the new year and a compost pile and wormbed. Photos to come...Patience Patience!  But here are one of my neighbors...for your viewing pleasure.

Work:
Work with Runa has been going well. My main job with Runa has been going out to communities working with Runa (we are at 95 now and growing) and doing interviews which we will later present to all the communities (providing a needs assessment) and make suggestions for project ideas that they can start with the Fair Trade profits which will be given to them at a later date...not sure when since everything here moves at warp 'turtle' speed. I really enjoy going out to the communities and meeting the people, getting to know them, and learning a little Kichwa along the way...that is until they are drunk on trago and try and grope me...I do not like you San Francisco community.
I've also been working at the factory in Rukullacta with my 'Mujer' Helen. We planted tea plots of guayusa for an experiment that Eliot (my boss) wanted. We also mixed and laid out concrete (its totally ghetto since she and I have no idea how to mix concrete, but should function just fine) for our wormbed we are going to make and this week we are constructing a box for compost. I have discovered I'm more of a laborer at heart (that is when the sun is not blazing and i feel I'm going to keel over at anymoment) I love working with my hands.
This week the Women's Association and I are going to start a community garden on their property. I can only hope it will go well...That is I hope I don't kill anything, lose my credibility, and disband the garden...I'm such an optimist...It seems Ecuador has sucked some of that out of me; to be expected as I learned in training. Anyway, I'm sure it will all be fine, it's just difficult to grow things here that are not native to this area. EVERYONE cross your fingers for me please.

Halloween:
Halloween was a lot of fun this year. I forgot to mention I have been teaching english to some of the teenagers in my community in the afternoons. I came up with the idea to have a small Halloween gathering at my house and carve pumpkins. I was worried at first that I might not find pumpkins and thought watermelons might be a good alternative but I lucked out and managed to find the one "great" pumpkin in all of the amazonian jungle! It was a good class and I think the kids really liked it. Pictures!

A Very Posh Thanksgiving:
The Runa clan had a very nice small gathering the weekend after Thanksgiving. We ate amazing food; turkey soaked in brine with mango and pineapple, greenbean casserol, stuffing, mashed potatoes and for dessert a banana cream pie (of sorts, thanks to the worst chefs in the world...no really the dessert was awesome Sarah and Evan!). It was so nice to eat a real american meal and spend time with my new family. Pictures!

Eduardo:
So some of you were curious to know more about Eduardo. We've been dating for a few months now. He's great and so is his family. It's really helped with my spanish (although now I feel that I've platued...time for classes maybe?) but as with all cross-cultural relationships we have our share of issues; mainly with communication. He says one thing and I hear something else and vice versa. Its taken a lot of patience on both ends but overall its a lot of fun. He's introduced me to the wide world of...dan da dun!....Karaoke. I've discovered I can sing...sometimes. It's a lot of fun to sing and listen (and has helped with my spanish as well!) Pictures!

Stories From The Jungle: Don't Ever Look A Monkey In The Face...

And now for an awesome story involving an attack by monkeys:

Well where to begin on this one. It all began on a quiet monday afternoon. I had absolutely nothing to do that day and the boys in my family were off school for vacation. We decided that since it was such an awesome and sunny day, and for once it wasn't raining, that we'd go to the pool near the community. It's like this exotic hotel across the street from my community, totally random. I've been there from time to time with the boys and it's a pretty awesome place they have all these different species of monkeys and it's super tranquilo. I go with Jamil, Keneth, and their cousin Clide. We're swimming for a good hour or so and having an awesome time when Clide starts yelling at me that he sees monkey's really close to where we are swimming. Me being the "gringa" crazy "extranjera" I start freaking out and am like 'oohhh mmmoonnnkkkeeeyyysss!! Lets go see them!'....what was to occur next could have only been the most unique and horrifying experience of my life. We leave the pool and walk up to were there are these two monkeys hanging out in this low hanging tree. One of the employees at the hotel starts feeding one of them bread and as we approach the other monkey falls out from the top of this tree and hangs down from a low branch by its tail and starts reaching out to me and Clide. Well at this point I'm cheesing out big time...here I am in the Amazon with my Kichwa family and here's this monkey reaching out to touch my fingers like something out of Michelangelo's "Creation of Adam"...I am kicking myself big time for not bringing my camera...So we hold hands with this monkey for a few minutes and then she springs off to go forage or whatever monkeys do in there free time. We go back to the pool and swim some more and again the monkeys return. We go back and this time she is out of the tree and on the ground hanging out in this chair. So Clide and I go to sit with her...kind of close but at what I thought was a good distance...apparently not. We're sitting there for a few minutes and like lightning she went from being this tranquilo little monkey to 'monster monkey' like something out of Wizard of Oz....She starts screaming and lunging at Clide. He gets up from his chair and starts to slowly back away from her but unbeknownst to him the she-monkey's boyfriend has jumped down behind Clide and the he-monkey's not too happy to have someone else looking at his woman in that manner. I see the he-monkey before Clide does and so I try as best I can to yell at Clide that there's a monkey behind him....too late, he backs right into the he-monkey and I watch in horror as he grabs Clide's calf with his squirrely-hands and takes a huge bite into his leg....like he was biting into an apple...At this point I'm screaming and Clide is screaming and we both take off running for the safety of the pool....and of course the monkeys start to chase us...they are running at us on their hind legs gnashing their horrible 'fruit eating' teeth at us and screaming like banshees...they want us out!....I'm running and Clide is limping for his life for the pool. After what felt like a heartwrenching eternity we make to the safety of the pool and the monkeys retreat to the trees screaming in triumph. I check myself over, making sure everything is still in order and then look down at the blood dripping from Clide's calf...there was a deep gash in his leg about the width of a pencil and the length of my thumb. I'm trying to stay calm as I apply pressure to his leg with some tissue from my bag but inside I'm soooo freaking out. Here I am the 'adult' of the group and I let my cousin get attacked by a freaking monkey! He kept insisting that it didn't hurt at all and that he was fine, oh those Kichwa boys, but I insisted we leave and get his leg cleaned out. So we left....Moral of the story: Don't sit with a he-monkey's girlfriend...he will get jealous and he will bite the shit out of you. And Clide is fine...we got him cleaned up and his leg is healing very nicely....Probably one of the funnier moments since my time here...Not then but it sure is now...

An update that is looooonnngggg overdue!

This is long over due!! I must apologize for my lack of updates but I've been fairly busy and lazy out here in the jungle and a lot of crazy/hilarious things have happened to me since my arrival here most of which I can't write about on this blog but if you really really want to hear some ridiculous stories come visit me; we'll drink a beer and I'll regale you with my adventures....
So where to begin?....Where did I leave off?...Well as of now I'm just trying to stay busy and trying to figure out what sort of work I can do here in my community. So far I've accomplished a few things. I started three gardens (small vegetable gardens) in my community. One and a half of which has failed miserably due to too much rain and not enough sunshine (fungus has killed my tomatoes) but the biggest and, in my opinion, most important garden at the women's association is doing really well. I've got over 20 tomato plants (red and yellow), cucumber plants, watermelon, and chili pepper plants (which are sooo pretty by the way!)...I'm trying to look at this as a learning experience, I have absolutely no experience growing things out here in this type of climate so most everything is an experiement but so far I'm really excited with the results. My hope is that I can begin a seed bank with the women's association so they can continue the garden if they so desire. I'm trying to stay open minded and neutral to this idea, I'm not sure if it's something they would be interested in.

One of my gardens in the Rukullacta Vivero

One of the other gardens at the Women's Association

Teresa, my host mom, is on the far right with some of the other women from the Association; cleaning this area for the garden

With Runa I've been working with their interns doing community development assessments in the communities affiliated with Runa. I helped, by helped I mean gave my opinion, develop an interview format; went out to communities to conduct interviews with presidents and community members; data collection, and collaborate ideas for future projects with the communities we are working with. It's been an interesting experience and we had some really awesome days and some really horrible days I feel like we can make some real strides with the information that we collected it's just a matter of accepting that it's going to be a slow process unlike in the States when things get finished right away, here it's more like..."ya mismo"....or I'll get to it. My hope here is to continue this work with Cassandra, the intern coordinator, after the first round of interns leave. I also hope to work on agroforestry development/projects at the Runa factory when they start to construct the tree nursery there.
Future goals in my community: Well I've been doing my encuestas (interviews) within the community and I've learned some interesting things so far and gotten a few good ideas for projects. The encuestas have been exhausting mentally in some ways. It's really difficult to listen to people here talk about how poor they are, the health problems they have, how badly they need help, etc. I feel so horribly guilty some days and I just don't know what to say in most cases. I want so badly to just run around the community like Santa Clause with a huge bag of food and money for everyone. But that's not sustainable and I don't have those kind of resources. Like they say "give a man a fish and he can eat for a day, teach a man how to fish and he can eat for the rest of his life"...or something like that. I have had this idea about using this abandoned field near my house to start a garden and/or chicken farm for the youth in my community and within that add charlas about whatever topics parents think their children should learn about. It would be AMAZING if I could get that working but there is an issue with the land. It's owned by the commuity (plus) but many people in the community don't want to share or let others use it (minus)...I could just be running my head into a brick wall with this. I suppose we will see. I'll keep you updated....Maybe.... :)
I got a puppy!!! I've had him for about a month now. He is an absolute terror! Yet I can't help but love him all the same. I have a feeling I jinxed him with his name. I call him "Supay Oso" which means "devil bear"! Supay means 'devil' in Kichwa and oso means 'bear' in spanish. He really lives up to his name. He's constantly getting into things and chewing things and pooping/peeing everywhere! Its all part of puppy parenthood right?? He's been a great help to my integration though...now when I see people they are like "hey!...where's Supay?"....They greet the dog before they greet me....Oh well.....Anyway heres a photo of my little devil....

Don't let the face fool you...He's a monster.... :)

Love the head cocking....

I got a house and I'm moving in two weeks! Pictures to follow when they finish constructing the bathroom, shower, and lavadora (clothes washing area). It's ballin! It's two rooms with an open area for my 'livingroom/hammock area' It over looks the soccer fields so I can watch the kids play in the evenings and its an awesome view of the mountains...I really lucked out...there's not too much to choose from here in terms of housing. I'm so excited to have my own space and privacy. I love my family here, they are absolutely amazing but it's vacation time right now and that means EVERYONE is home...that's 10 people in the house and that does not include cousins that come to visit frequently....Plus I can't stand the constant rap music coming from Wilfridos room....among so many other things...Privacy does not exsist here. I literally have someone watching me at all times and relaying to everyone else just what I'm doing. It's not personal it's just how it is here and I'm a source of gossip and interest here in my family and the commuity....Now I know how Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie feel...I don't envy them.

Cuando veo las estrellas, nunca me siento más vivo y aún más sola...

  Last night was one of the most beautiful nights I've seen since moving to Ecuador. It was around 10:30pm and I was laying in my bed watching some Grey's (thanks by the way Chloe!!) and getting ready to nod off to sleep when out of the corner of my eye I see the street light outside my window go out and I find myself in the pitch black except for the light from my computer. Curiosity getting the better of me I close my computer, get up, push aside my mosquito net, and tip toe through my room and out into the open part of the upstairs. I blindly turn the corner to the front of the house in the total darkness and stop in my tracks gasping in surprise...There in front of me was one of the most clearest and brightest skies I have ever seen. There was not a single light for what could have been miles. The only light was coming from the illumination of this massive blanket of stars silently twinkling like moris code...there was no sound as well which only added to the clarity and beauty of the night. I stood there in wistful awe and never felt more solitary and yet felt more comfort in that feeling in my whole life. It felt like someone wrapped a warm blanket around my shoulders. I stood there and tried to think of something brilliant or poetic or cliche to say or think or feel, but I all I could feel was just this warm feeling of comfort; like this is exactly where I'm supposed to be and I didn't want it to end. It certainly puts things into perspective...I'm such a small person in such a big world. One phrase did come to mind while I was standing there in the ebony of the night..."Kushi kawsan" which in kichwa means "live happy"...In that moment I felt like I was really living happy. I'm pretty damn lucky to get to stand out under the stars alone in the middle of the amazon jungle in Ecuador contemplating life...

Falling in Mud 101: La Reina del Lodo...

It's been quite some time since I've written so it is time for an update! As of last wednsday I have officially been in my site for one month! Whoo hoo! One month down and 23 more months to go! I don't how this first month has gone by so quickly. Some days I feel like I've just gotten here. So far things have been going well in ol' Rukullacta. I've been taking it very slow here. Mostly hanging out with the family when I'm not riding on the coat tails of the Technicos. So here is my schedule for the most part. During the week days I wake up around 6 or 7 have breakfast, change, and wait around and read in the hammock for a few hours until Nelson or Silverio comes to pick me up and we either go to a farm to cut estacas, look for guayusa trees, or they give charlas and I hang out and listen. It's been fun so far but I'm still not entirely sure what exactly I'm going to be doing with Runa. Everything still seems really up in the air. But so far I'm enjoying the ride.
I've been sick once since I've been here. Last weekend I had a fever, sore throat, muscle aches, and diarrhia. After that the fever and muscle aches left the diarrhia stayed and continued on...Just my luck. I had been staying near the house for those few days but I'm feeling much better now. It's very difficult to be sick and so far away from home. All I could think about that whole time was about how much I wanted to be home and have a car and be able to get into that car and drive to the pharmacy and pick up what I need and speak in english and come back home and recooperate. Everything here is that much more of a challenge especially when you are sick. That's something I know I took for granted back home...The convenience of everything back in the States.
I am La Reina del Lodo! How did I come across such an awesome name? Well all you have to do is follow a group of Kichwa people about an hour into the Jungle and up and down a mountain when it has been raining everyday for the last week and you are wading through mud up to your knees and then, most importantly, you have to fall...A LOT. How does one walk on mud you ask? I have no idea! I have no idea how they can so easily walk through the forest and barely have any mud on them and I'm covered from head to toe! Mud is a most decieving thing. It looks stable. It lies to you telling you that it's solid ground and it wants you to step on it. "Come forth weary traveler and place your tired sole onto my ever so solid footing" and you believe it! You place your foot on 'solid ground' and before you know it your knee deep in mud and the pressure and suction has made you stuck...Stuckity stuck stuck!...Trying to pull your exhausted limbs from the mud is even worse. It just makes you even more tired trying to pull yourself out and you usually end up getting more stuck. Towards the end of our travels through the bosque I just gave myself up to fits of laughter after falling for the hundredth time, I just laid there in the mud and laughed and laughed. It was laugh or cry at that point and I'll be damned if La Reina del Lodo cries in the jungle especially in front of her coworkers! Needless to say I survived the trekk and am a better person for it. I would never trade that experience for anything! It was awesome. I had never laughed, lept, swung, slipped, slid, pounced, fell, lagged, twirled, stumbled, shouted, smiled, snorted, sighed so much in my life! I loved it! I'm ready for another trekk and know I will be better the next time. I'll keep you updated! And here is a picture of one of the many creatures living in my house...

The Basillica!!!

Here are some photos of our cultural trip to Quito!  The Basilica was absolutely breathtaking!  Hope these pictures will do it some justice...

One of the plazas in Quito you can see the Basilica in the distance...the two peaks

Rukullacta: Week 1 in site...

Ok so I'm here in Rukullacta.  I've been here for a week now.  What to tell you guys....Well I live in a really tranquilo site.  It's very quiet all except for the roosters, the occasional dog fights, and the blasting music from the neighbor at all hours of the night and early morning (thank goodness for earplugs).  I'm surrounded by green...green, green, green!  I'm surrounded by mountains and forest and the Sumako volcano is not very far; I can see it when I go to Tena.  It's really hard to describe what I see except to say that there are times when I stand outside mouth agape staring at the distant mountains and think...Damn, I'm so freaking lucky! 

So I'm going to be working with the Runa Foundation in Archidona helping with investigations in guayusa and who knows what else...my job seems a little vague at this point.  For the past few days I've been visiting the viveros (tree nurseries) to meet the guys that work there and help out where I can.  Unfortunantly everyone runs circles around me and at times I feel more in the way than helping but I know that will change with time.  I have also been going out to communities to help cut estacas (tree cuttings) for the viveros.  That is an awesome job!  I went yesterday with Silverio, my counterpart, to a distant community to cut estacas at his cousins farm.  We went fairly far out into the "monte" (woodlands, forest) to find the guayusa trees.  It was an amazing experience.  I'm out in the monte hanging out all day with a Kichwa family cutting estacas and listening to them speak Kichwa and attempting to speak a little Kichwa myself.  At the end of the day before we left the Senora of the finca (farm) asked me if I would like to have some chicha de chonta (chonta is fruit from this type of palm tree...I'm not sure if I spelled 'chonta' correctly I'll check back with you guys on that).  I'm not a huge fan of chicha...it tastes very different to say the least, but I wanted to be polite and show my appreciation for letting me follow them around for the day.  I drank as much as I could and after La Senora invited me into her house to see some of the handy crafts she had made from 'Mate' which is fruit they use.  They carve it out and dry it and use it serve chicha and other things in.  As I stood there admiring her work she asked me which one I wanted.  I was really taken aback.  She wanted to give me one of these beautiful bowls?  I was so touched by her kindness I didn't know what to say.  To be honest I didn't think that she cared too much for me she didn't speak to me very much while we were out in the monte working.  And now she was offering me this beautiful gift.  It was a really really great day.  I hope I have many more similar experiences....

Here are some photos of my new family.  These are just a few of the kids...

Baby Dillon and Will

Baby Dillon and Jessica

Me!

Jamil and baby

Maria Jose and baby

Maria Jose, Jennifer, y Yo!



Finished Training!!! I'm now a Volunteer!

Hey everyone!
Sorry for the lack of updates but it's been a little crazy since the swearing in ceremony.  So I am done with training (or I have been for the last week).  I can't believe it's over.  It feels like these past three months have gone by so fast.  I still can't believe I've been in Ecuador for 3 months.  Sometimes it feels like I've only been here for three weeks. 
So swearing in was a huge mixture of denial, exhilaration, relief, sadness, and uncertainty.  All the normal things you'd expect from someone who is about to be shoved onto a bus to leave everything they know in Tumbaco for something completely unknown and uncertain.  I tried to tell myself that I was as prepared as I was ever going to be and there is nothing to do but close my eyes and JUMP into this new world and hope for the best....so far I feel as though I'm doing pretty well.
I really miss my host family in Tumbaco.  It was really difficult to leave them, they are such a wonderful family and the next volunteer who gets to live with them is sooo lucky.  I cried a lot the morning before I left and Marta (my host mom) did as well.  Which I was a little surprised about and made me cry all the more.
I hope everyone is well in the States...I miss you guys....Come visit....Be happy....

Family Appreciation Day.  Marta (mi madre), Mayri (back left), y Gaby (back right)

Kristin and Whitney at our Swearing in!

The boys

The Girls

Christina and Kristin...We did it!! We're Volunteers!

Tech Trip to Puerto Quito & Carnaval!!

March 11, 2011
Puerto Quito:
Well what's been going on for the past 2 or 3 weeks? A LOT! And of course I've not been keeping up with my blog. I've been so busy with training that I can't keep track of the days. I can't believe we are already into the 2nd week of March. So what's been going on? Well last week we had our tech trips. My groups trip was in Puerto Quito. About 3 hours from Quito in the Coast; it wasn't actually anywhere near the coast. It's one of those transitional locations between the Sierras and the Coast. It was absolutely beautiful and fertile. You could throw an old stick out into the yard and in a year you would have a tree. The climate on the other hand was TERRIBLE! It was so hot and humid I had to peel my clothes off at the end of the day. I was dripping sweat from every crevas of my body. Sweating is an understatment...I was leaking for 5 days straight! Well aside from the heat and the leaking I had a really good time. I was a little under the weather for the first day or two, what with my stomach battle against the amoebas. I felt that I really learned a lot and it gave me an opportunity to meet the people in our group on a more personal basis. It's been difficult to try and fit in during training; I've felt alone amongst many of my american companions. But I feel like things are getting better, maybe because I don't care anymore and I'm starting to come more out of my shell.
Anyway back to Puerto Quito. We learned how to make yogurt, milk cows, make cheese, prune cacao trees, harvest and process yucca, learned a little about pigs, chickens, and cuy. Que mas? We learned how to make a worm bed, dig canals on the sides of mountains with a Nivel-A (or A frame) and how to kill and process rabbits (not one of my favorite arts). All in all it was a good trip and after a hard days work we got to go lay in the hammocks and swim in the pool or river behind the farm.  Thanks to all you taxpayers for my "vacation"!!

                                        This was our first day driving to the farm in Puerto Quito.

                                                        This beautiful tree in the bosque.

                  Me with our Nivel-A that we made to dig canals on the side of this hill. I was so sweaty!!

           Our group after a long day of pruning Cacao trees. The huge fruit that Mayling is holding is called a     Jack Fruit.

And after a long hard day....Time to relax by the pool...with an icecream...Life doesn't get much better.

Carnaval:

So carnaval...a really fun and dangerous time for "Gringos." I was assaulted by espuma, huevos, agua, and harina de colores (foam, eggs, water, and colored flour)!!! I had a really great time with my host family and I got to eat cuy! An interesting little animal, but I don't think it's my favorite thing I've eaten here so far. I'm not a big fan of eating things with a face or feet. But I'm glad I tried it. Definantly worth the try.

My siblings! Carlos, Mayri (in purple), and Gaby. We were in a town called Chaltura outside of Otavalo where we had just eaten cuy and now it was time to attack eachother with foam spray!

Very dangerous!

                                                                 Fritata de Gringa....

What's to come?...Well in 5 days I find out where my site will be for the next two years! Everyone please cross your fingers that I get placed into a good site with welcoming people and another good host family.
What else?...Well I got talked into dancing (I think the Bomba...A coastal type dance) with 5 other trainees in front of all the other trainees, facilitators, trainers, and THE AMBASSADOR of Ecuador!! What have I gotten myself into! I'll let you know how that goes. This is completely not like me. I don't dance to anything with much more than a rigid hip wiggle. This is going to be interesting.

A few adjustments that are quite different from the States:

1. You have to throw toilet paper in the trash, not the toilet. That took awhile to train myself into doing.
2. The water is not hot...more like luke warm...on good days. It's a struggle some mornings to take a shower.
3. The light switches are sideways not up and down
4. The rooster crows at 3am...4am....4:30am...5am.....5:30am...6am.....well you get the picture and it's usually right under my window...how does he know to do that?
5. Anytime you walk into a small store or place of business you must greet the people in the store. Or should, it's polite. I'm so used to not talking at times I forget.
6. I take a public bus to and from the training center...I now have a different outlook on personal space. But everyday is an adventure!
7. I think the people here really like christmas because I see christmas decorations everywhere and it's March...
8. There are dogs EVERYWHERE. That's a tough one for me because I want to take all of them home with me.
9. I eat soup twice a day almost everyday. That's been an adjustment...I'm only used to soup on cold days or when I'm sick.
10. Rice and potatoes have become the staple point of my diet...I have a feeling that's going to get old soon, but the fruits here...my god they are good! And my host mom makes the best juice in the morning! It might be one of the favorite parts of my day. That good old glass of fresh juice.

I'm a horrible blogger...

So just to clarify I want everyone to know what a horrible blogger I am.  I’ve been in Ecuador for 3 weeks now and I have not written anything.  Luckily I’ve been journaling religiously so I’m going to back track from what I’ve written in there.  Ok…here goes…

2/2/2011

                I flew from Knoxville to D.C. at around 7am and arrived in D.C. around 9am.  It was my very first time on a plane by myself!  So many firsts for me on this journey.  The flight went off with no problems but I was a nervous wreck getting to the luggage terminal; waiting forever for my bags and then hauling all of my crap from the luggage area then  outside to try and find a taxi or shuttle to the Holiday Inn hotel.  Again I made it to the hotel with no problems.  Yay!  Got checked in and met my first PCT Erin Menzies.  She is also in our Ag group specializing in Water Resource Engineering.  We chatted for a bit then took a walk around D.C. to get lunch before officially meeting the other PCT’s. 

                Our In-country orientation consisted of a series of “meet and greets” with games, presentations, goal setting, etc, etc…It was soo long but entertaining at the same time.  It really got me motivated for the journey ahead.  After our orientation I met up with my friends Dominic and Linda for dinner.  It would be my last meal in the states…it was awesome…. thanks PC for  the crab cakes and beer.  It was so great to see my friends before leaving but sad at the same time.  It really made me realize that I was actually leaving (this was no longer a daydream, I couldn’t just pinch myself out of Ecuador) my friends and family and probably wouldn’t see most of them for 2 years.  

                After dinner I headed for bed (we had to be up and out of the hotel by 3:30am!!)…so after like 3 hours of sleep we slumped out of the hotel and onto a bus for the airport, and after a long series of ticket lines, security checks, layovers,customs, and greasy fast food we finally arrived in Quito, Ecuador at around 7:30pm!!  I could feel the affects of the altitude as soon as we got on the bus for our hotel in Tumbaco.  We were up at about 9,00ft (someone might need to correct me on that) and I was really lightheaded and really out of breath.  BUT some things I saw on the bus ride through Quito:  a man breathing fire in front of traffic; KFC, TGIF, Dominos (guess I’m not so far from home); some beautiful buildings; barbed wire and broken bottles on the walls of all the homes in residental areas and dogs everywhere (it was a little unnerving at first with the broken bottles but I’m getting used to it now; as for the dogs that will take a little longer…I want to take every dog I see home with me).  From Quito we drove to Tumbaco (about a 45 minute drive and a 2,000ft decent) to the hotel San Patricio.  It was a beautiful hotel and I really enjoyed staying there those first two nights in Ecuador.  We took a bus to the PC training center nearby and had more orientations about what to expect from PC and what PC expects from you, host family expecations, money, food, medical issues, crime, etc, etc…I’m so sick of presentations and it’s only 3 weeks in…Ha! 

2/5/2011

                I met my host family…dandandaaa!  They are awesome.  That weekend PC gave us our host family presentations about what to expect, advice with kids, food restrictions, etc.  Everyone was pretty nervous and not sure what to expect.  I was nervous mostly about my spanish and communticating with my family.  PC wanted us to play this game where we get a card with half our name on it and our family gets the other half.  So we have to walk around from family to family and find our match.  I plunged into this huge crowd of Ecuadorians thinking “holy shit, how am I going to do this”…turns out you can get pretty far with a smile and hand gestures.  My host family found me first and I felt a huge wave of relief.  I have 5 new family members.  My host parents: Marta and Carlos and three siblings: Gaby, Mayri, and Carlos (Jr).  Here’s a little info on everyone that I have slowly accumulated over the weeks.  My host dad Carlos is a math teacher at a high school in Quito.  My host mom teaches people how to make hand crafts such as dolls, needle work, etc.  She also does repairs on handcrafts.  I’m hoping she can teach me how to crochet one day when I have some extra time (which to be honest probably won’t happen because PC keeps us all so crazy busy!).  Gaby(27), my host sister, works in a factory in Quito that manufactures things like diapers and shower probucts.  I think she works in quality of packaging, and making sure everything looks correct.  Mayri (25) is in school studying chemistry and wants to be a chemical engineer.  Carlos (17) goes to a high school in Quito and wants to be a Chef.  My family here in Ecuador is really great!  They have had many many volunteers before me so they know the ropes and are really patient with my “gringa spanglish”…we get a lot of good laughs at my attempts to construct sentences.  Oh one funny thing (Mom you will get a kick out of this) my family asked me what my Mom’s name was and I told them “Tanya”…they looked at me with this funny look on their face and asked me again and again I said “Tanya”…they said it sounded like I was saying “tenia” which in spanish means tapeworm.  Sorry Mom, your name means sound like tapeworm here.  Anyway I’m going to try and post a video here soon of my house so you guys can see where I’m living and what it’s like here.

The Great Packing Disaster.....and still not finished

Just a few pics of my progress...and Phoebe.  Still some things to get.  I need to get my host family gifts and a few other little things and BAM I'm done and ready to go!!! I'm leaving in 4 days...I'm so excited!!!

One of my duffels and my backpack (thanks again Carrie!) and just a few of my boxes from my house in Murfreesboro. 

Miss Phoebe...she's been so curious about all my packing...I'm gonna miss her so much!!

 Toiletries and clothes EVERYWHERE! This does not include shoes or my electronics.

So this weekend, Joshua (my boyfriend) is in town and we have a big weekend planned.  Today we're going to sell my car (goodbye Patty Passat!), going to the Knoxville zoo, eating at this pizza place we saw on that show Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives, visiting my grandmother, seeing my Dad's new house, and then squeezing in a movie.  Tomorrow, my Mom's side of the family is coming over for dinner and to say good bye.  Lots to do, lots to do!

How did I get here?

I cannot believe there are only 19 days left before I leave for D.C.!  The last few days I've been asking myself how did I get here so quickly?!  It feels like just last week I received my invitation and was having Thanksgiving with my family.  Time is such a weird thing. 

Anyway, yesterday was my last day at work.  It was full of mixed feelings.  I'm super stoked that I won't be waiting tables again....EVER!...but I'm so sad to be leaving my friends.  We are such a close knit group at work; it's going to be so strange not to see them for a few years.  I'm sad to be leaving some amazing people, but I'm so excited about the new friends I'm going to meet in my training group.  Omnibus 105 Wooo!!!!  One of the girls in my group started a Facebook group a few weeks back so we could start meeting each other and talk about PC things such as packing, flight info, PC issues, etc.  Everyone seems so great, I can't wait to meet them! 

These next two weeks are going to be crazy!  I have so much planned.  My sister is staying with me this weekend; I'm going to a slumber party tomorrow with a bunch of my girlfriends; I've got a couple of appointments to go to this week; I'm going to Chattanooga on Thursday with my friends Lin, Claire, and Allison; then Saturday my mom and her fiance are helping me move back to Knoxville.  Whew! 
I can't believe I'm going to be in Ecuador in less than 3 weeks!  This is going to be an incredible adventure!!

Testing...1...2...3...

This evening I decided to do a packing test to see how much stuff I have, if it will all fit in my bags, and if I've hit my weight limit (now 100lbs).  It was surprisingly awesome!  When I had everything laid out I kept thinking "There is no way this is all going to fit and stay within my weight limit."  But it did, with room and weight to spare!! (Side note: I bought those space bags to put all my clothes in and they are amazing! I feel like I have so much more room then if I just threw all my clothes in my bags)  So far my bag weight is at 55 lbs with all my clothes, books, shoes, and a few other accessories.  I still need to add toiletries, sleeping bag, and some other odds and ends but I feel like I have a lot of wiggle room.  Phew!! One less thing to stress about. 

Changing subject we got about 4 inches of snow today!  I know for some of you that is something to laugh at but this is middle Tennessee and we freak out at the chance of flurries.  My boss called me this morning and told me that work would be closed all day today.  Woohoo! Unexpected surprise!  I was glad to have the day off but at the same time I really needed the money.  I only have 5 days of work left and I have got to make enough to pay bills, Josh, buy last minute items, and have a little travel money.  Come on tax return!!
Back to the snow, it was a good day.  Josh and I took Toby (our dog) for a walk, had a snow ball fight, made snow angels (Toby attempted to help with the angels) and made a huge mess of the yard.  All in all a good day! 

24 Days Till I Depart For D.C.!!!

It's time for a PC update!  Earlier this week I received my staging info for our group's in-country orientation.  I'm in the Omnibus 105 training group!!!!! I called Sato and made my travel arrangements.  My flight leaves for D.C. early Wednesday morning (February 2nd) around 7 and I will be in D.C. at 9 am. My group will meet at a hotel in D.C. and we will have several intense hours of orientation about what's expected of us and what we should expect from PC and of course, how could I forget, all that awesome paperwork!!!

The next morning we have to check out of the hotel by 3:30 AM!!!!! Guess I'm not getting any sleep for those first few days.  Then on a plane to Quito!!! We will spend those first few days near PC headquarters getting vaccinated (yellow fever, hep B or A, rabies, the usual), oriented, and meeting the PC staff.  Then our host families will come meet us and take us to their homes.  I'm so excited and so nervous to meet my host family.  I'm not sure what to think or to expect from this experience with them.  I can only remain positive and just smile and laugh. 

Most of my packing is done.  I'm pretty sure I have all the clothes and things I need.  I'm just lacking some toiletries and a few other small things.  I've gotten almost all of my finances taken care of.  All that's left is packing up my house, moving back to Knoxville, and spending as much time as I can with my friends here in Murfreesboro.  I'll have a final packing list up in the next few weeks as well as pictures!!