From Quito...

It’s official: I’m a Peace Corps Volunteer.

On Tuesday morning I headed to Quito to begin a week of meetings. The best thing about being in Quito is the fact that they have non-Ecuadorian food. It is nice to have something else to eat besides rice and potatoes. Throughout the week we ate Indian, Mexican, and really good American food. Sure, it’s more expensive than typical Ecuadorian food...but really, it was worth every penny. Both Saturday and Sunday morning we went out for American breakfast… pancakes, omlettes, bacon, etc… I was so full that I was uncomfortable for most of the day.

Anyway, Friday was the swearing-in ceremony for Omnibus 98 -- Peace Corps Ecuador now has 45 new volunteers. The actual ceremony was held at the residence of the US Ambassador… which is really nice. She (the ambassador) reminded us that whenever we are in Quito, we, as PC Volunteers, have access to the swimming pool and tennis courts that are there. You better believe that I’ll be hitting that up when I get a chance. After the ceremony we had a reception which included bagels, another exciting and rare food (why is this whole entry about the food??) As a tradition, the training group that is sworn in throws a party for not only themselves, but for all the volunteers that come up to Quito for the occasion. We went a really cute bar and had a lot of fun. From what I’ve heard, the other volunteers enjoyed it. By 4:30am we decided that it was time to head home, as we had to be up early enough to make brunch.

With each group that swears in as volunteers, 3 members of that group are elected to be members of the Volunteer Advisory Committee. I was one of the members selected from my group. I’m actually really excited for this… having an active role in the Peace Corps, in addition to my actual work in my community. The committee holds meetings a couple times a year in Quito… which will get me out of the south of the country once and a while.

Tonight (in about 4 ½ hours)… I get on a bus to head to the community where I’ll spend the next two years. I’ll get there tomorrow afternoon, after nearly 20 hours on a bus. While I’m not looking forward to the bus ride, I am really excited to get to my community and start the integration process. There is a lot of paperwork I have to complete for PC in the first couple of weeks… so really I’m going to be busy with that. I did find out, however, that the city that I have to go to to check my mail (snail mail) is only 3 hours away instead of 5… so that’s pretty exciting. A trip every couple of weeks to the city will be plenty.

I’m off now to finish packing my bags and then meet up with the other girls I’m traveling the first 13 hours with. We’ll see how this goes. I have all of the stuff that I packed 3 months ago plus everything I’ve accumulated over the months to carry without assistance through a scary bus terminal. Wish me luck.



P.S…. I posted some new pictures on facebook yesterday… so check them out!