Tonight I looked up the word “playa” in my Spanish-English dictionary. It was as I had always been taught: beach or shore. The reason I questioned it is because clearly my family and I have different perceptions of a playa. Beach to me: sand, hot, swimming, and the like. To my family it clearly means something different…. I’ll explain.
Today (Saturday) was the first day in a long time that I didn’t have any official Peace Corps events to attend. As we had spent all week in meetings, my family time had been cut down extremely. I went to bed super early last night, which allowed me to get up early this morning to start my day. My (host) mom and I washed my clothes this morning…. I was at a desperate state. After lunch the whole family (including my aunt and cousins) drove out to the farm. Riding in the back of a truck is becoming second nature to me. I know that the river is behind our farm… so going to the beach didn’t seem out of the ordinary. We get our walking sticks (?! I should have questioned it at this point)… and start out on our walk. We get to the edge of the farm, where I then have to climb over this small dirt mound. We then proceed to climb down a hill. I’m not talking a small hill. I’m talking I was hiking down a steep hill. My dad was holding my hand most of the way down… which was good when I nearly fell off the side of the hill. When we finally got to the bottom, I was expecting a sandy beach. There wasn’t anything of the sort… instead, a grassy opening. We started a fire (!?!) and then headed down into the river. We spend the next half hour or so walking in the river, attempting to stay on the dry rocks… but realizing that was not possible. It was so much fun! Thank god for boots. On the way out of the river, my brother slipped off a rock and was wet up to his knees. We then had to climb back up the hill, which was a lot easier than going down. When we got back to the farm, we had to milk the cows before we could head home (If all goes well, there will be a picture of me milking a cow in this entry!)
I found out today (Tuesday) that I officially have amoebas... woot! According to dirrections from Melanie.... I´m keeping a count. Weird diseases/animals in my body.... #1.
I also found out today where i´ll be placed. I´m not going to post actual information... but it is in the way south and I´m going to be about 10 miles from the Peru boarder. I already checked, my community doesn´t have anything on google... so it wouldn´t help to give exact location anyway.
Have to get home... but I hope to hear from you guys soon!
-Stacie
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Friday, July 20, 2007
This week has been way less exciting than the last. We have spent every day learning about each site that we potentially will be going to and meeting the counterparts of those sites. Everyday sitting in hard chairs and listening to Spanish for hours on end is exhausting. It was interesting to learn about the different sites… ranging from a community with 17 families (and solely canoe access) to a group of communities with a total population of 35,000. Some communities are in the coastal area, some in the amazon, some in the north near Columbia, others in the south on the boarder with Peru. The wait is almost over: we find out on Tuesday where we will live for our time as volunteers. I can’t wait to know where I’m headed.
We have also spent this week learning about HIV/AIDS. It has been quite interesting to learn more about the disease and the difference in treatment between countries. Here in Ecuador a patient is not able to get drug treatment for HIV until he has a white blood count of less than 200. In the US that number is 500. It is amazing the differences in information people receive not only in other countries but also within the US. The trainees come from different parts of the US and obviously have very different experience and on certain topics, had been taught completely different ideas.
On the way home on the bus this afternoon, I realized that I am never going to get over how BEAUTIFUL this country is. Seriously breathtaking. The rolling mountains and the farms on the side of hills.
A couple other random comments: natural peanut butter is cheap here and its actually really good. It’s also really good on animal crackers. I woke up before my alarm this morning. My alarm was set for 5:30am. I still hate the morning but its getting easier to wake up before the sun. Also: roosters don’t crow at daybreak. They actually crow whenever they want. There are a lot of gringos in this country but not necessarily with PC. Sometimes an order of chicken nuggets or a tuna sandwich is necessary, even if it means spending $2.10 on lunch (how expensive!).
Today we had a session entitled ¨Love and Sex¨. Essentially it discussed the differences between US and Ecuadorian culture in regards to relationship and also the pros and cons to having an inter-cultural relationship. The lady discussed the history of the two regions and it made a lot of sense as to why relationships and life in general are different in the two countries. A couple of the best quotes of the discussion (in English for all): ¨long distance lovers = four happy people¨and ¨the best way to learn a language is to sleep with a good dictionary.¨ and clearly ¨that´s how men are.¨ Overall it was very informative... even if it did diminish my desires to have an ecuadorian novio.
Up for the weekend includes laundry (it’s been way too long), chilling with the family, and hopefully learning some Spanish before our language progress test on Monday.
Finally: write me! If you need my address let me know… but I really would like to get something in the mail! Small gifts (magazines/books, writing pens, markers, Swedish fish/other snacks, or crystal light/other drink mixes) weighing less than 4lbs are always welcomed and appreciated greatly. Or just a quick email to say hi would be sufficient!
--Stacie
We have also spent this week learning about HIV/AIDS. It has been quite interesting to learn more about the disease and the difference in treatment between countries. Here in Ecuador a patient is not able to get drug treatment for HIV until he has a white blood count of less than 200. In the US that number is 500. It is amazing the differences in information people receive not only in other countries but also within the US. The trainees come from different parts of the US and obviously have very different experience and on certain topics, had been taught completely different ideas.
On the way home on the bus this afternoon, I realized that I am never going to get over how BEAUTIFUL this country is. Seriously breathtaking. The rolling mountains and the farms on the side of hills.
A couple other random comments: natural peanut butter is cheap here and its actually really good. It’s also really good on animal crackers. I woke up before my alarm this morning. My alarm was set for 5:30am. I still hate the morning but its getting easier to wake up before the sun. Also: roosters don’t crow at daybreak. They actually crow whenever they want. There are a lot of gringos in this country but not necessarily with PC. Sometimes an order of chicken nuggets or a tuna sandwich is necessary, even if it means spending $2.10 on lunch (how expensive!).
Today we had a session entitled ¨Love and Sex¨. Essentially it discussed the differences between US and Ecuadorian culture in regards to relationship and also the pros and cons to having an inter-cultural relationship. The lady discussed the history of the two regions and it made a lot of sense as to why relationships and life in general are different in the two countries. A couple of the best quotes of the discussion (in English for all): ¨long distance lovers = four happy people¨and ¨the best way to learn a language is to sleep with a good dictionary.¨ and clearly ¨that´s how men are.¨ Overall it was very informative... even if it did diminish my desires to have an ecuadorian novio.
Up for the weekend includes laundry (it’s been way too long), chilling with the family, and hopefully learning some Spanish before our language progress test on Monday.
Finally: write me! If you need my address let me know… but I really would like to get something in the mail! Small gifts (magazines/books, writing pens, markers, Swedish fish/other snacks, or crystal light/other drink mixes) weighing less than 4lbs are always welcomed and appreciated greatly. Or just a quick email to say hi would be sufficient!
--Stacie
Saturday, July 14, 2007
Trips, charlas, and sickness
This last week has been full of excitement. From Saturday until Tuesday we divided into 5 groups and went on a cultural trip. My group went a couple of hours north of where we live. We visited a couple of Afro-Ecuadorian communities that are home/were the home/will be the home to Peace Corps volunteers. We were able to visit one volunteer, we’ll call him Jack, in his community. He has been there for about a year and is extremely integrated into his community. He has a great family, and his abuelita made us lunch when we were there. We were able to play with a group of kids from Jack’s community and let me tell you, they were adorable! As we were playing, more kids came to join us and by the time we were done there were dozens of kids running around having fun. I think most of the trainees had fun too. After we got the kids hooked on the new gringos in town, we got them together to give a small charla, or talk, about hygiene. This was the first charla for most of us, we were a little nervous, especially as this charla wasn’t in our native language and was for a group of kids we had never met before. Overall, however, it went really well. The talk was about this girl Ana and how she learned the importance of washing her hands at various parts during the day. To top the charla off, I sang! I know, I know… me, sing? But it was a simple song and I had a great group of backup singers. We were able to tour a hospital the next day and ask a local doctor a bunch of questions about the Ecuadorian health system, health in general, and about his hospital. It was really informative. Thus far in my training I have learned a lot about health and have been surprised to learn a lot of facts. The last day of our trip we were able to spend a couple hours shopping at an open-air market. Bargaining is a way of life here… and I have fully embraced it. I came away from the experience with a new poncho and bag. However, by this point in the trip approximately 8 of the 12 people I was with had gotten violently ill. We’re not sure what exactly caused it, but trainee, facilitator, North American, Ecuadorian….everyone was subjected to it, including yours truly. I’m not sure I have ever felt that sick in my life… but I am sure that I never want to feel that way again. It wasn’t until three days later that I was able to eat food and not get sick and my appetite is slowly coming back day by day. But such is the life of a Peace Corps Trainee/Volunteer.
Post-trip we jumped right back into our lives during training. Everyday includes a collection of new Spanish words to learn and the constant struggle to understand what the people around me are saying. It really is amazing how much you can learn of a language when you are completely emerged in it. Although I’ve only been here for just over three weeks, my Spanish has improved dramatically.
My training group gave a charla this week, this time about nutrition, at the community health center. There were about 10 people there waiting to see the doctor, and thus were subjected to hearing us talk. It went really well… we even had audience participation! This charla explained how the body is like a house… that the body needs foods from each food group to function properly; that meals need to be more balanced than just rice and potatoes. We played a hot potato-type game after the charla which was a lot of fun.
The most significant part of the week was probably the fact that I helped to milk a cow. I never considered the fact that I would be doing things like that when I joined the Peace Corps… but really, it’s the life for my family… and I’m going to participate. It really is hard work. My parents milk the cows (our family has 10ish) twice a day… at 3:30am and again around 5pm. I’m not sure I would be able to do it each day…. I have such respect for them for doing so. Speaking of the family…I can’t even begin to explain how great my host family is. I truly feel like I am just another one of the kids… that it isn’t extremely awkward for me to have showed up and joined their family. Compared to the not-so-wonderful study abroad host family experience… this family is approximately 434 thousand times better. While I am a part of the family… they also respect that I am an adult. If I can’t finish my food at dinner there is no pressure to do so. I can close the door to my room to study without being distracted. At the same time however, part of living with a family includes living by their schedule. I am usually in bed by 9 or 9:30pm…. But by that point I’m exhausted enough that I want to go to bed. The nights that I stay up to finish my work for training, to study vocabulary, or to write emails or blog entries (like this one)… I’m struggling the next day. I have to admit though, although my parents get up at 3am and the kids at 5am… I don’t typically get up until about 6:30am. You can only integrate so much.
Overall, the week was good and I’m starting to feel at home here.
Post-trip we jumped right back into our lives during training. Everyday includes a collection of new Spanish words to learn and the constant struggle to understand what the people around me are saying. It really is amazing how much you can learn of a language when you are completely emerged in it. Although I’ve only been here for just over three weeks, my Spanish has improved dramatically.
My training group gave a charla this week, this time about nutrition, at the community health center. There were about 10 people there waiting to see the doctor, and thus were subjected to hearing us talk. It went really well… we even had audience participation! This charla explained how the body is like a house… that the body needs foods from each food group to function properly; that meals need to be more balanced than just rice and potatoes. We played a hot potato-type game after the charla which was a lot of fun.
The most significant part of the week was probably the fact that I helped to milk a cow. I never considered the fact that I would be doing things like that when I joined the Peace Corps… but really, it’s the life for my family… and I’m going to participate. It really is hard work. My parents milk the cows (our family has 10ish) twice a day… at 3:30am and again around 5pm. I’m not sure I would be able to do it each day…. I have such respect for them for doing so. Speaking of the family…I can’t even begin to explain how great my host family is. I truly feel like I am just another one of the kids… that it isn’t extremely awkward for me to have showed up and joined their family. Compared to the not-so-wonderful study abroad host family experience… this family is approximately 434 thousand times better. While I am a part of the family… they also respect that I am an adult. If I can’t finish my food at dinner there is no pressure to do so. I can close the door to my room to study without being distracted. At the same time however, part of living with a family includes living by their schedule. I am usually in bed by 9 or 9:30pm…. But by that point I’m exhausted enough that I want to go to bed. The nights that I stay up to finish my work for training, to study vocabulary, or to write emails or blog entries (like this one)… I’m struggling the next day. I have to admit though, although my parents get up at 3am and the kids at 5am… I don’t typically get up until about 6:30am. You can only integrate so much.
Overall, the week was good and I’m starting to feel at home here.
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
A couple of notes....
I´m back from my first culture/tech and it was a lot of fun! It was a lot of fun... besides for the fact that nearly all of us got sick... boy was that fun. I´m sure i´ll update more about it later... but for now... just a couple of notes about mail...
Mail takes 2 weeks via airmail (as opposed to ground mail that takes months)... anything larger than a letter should be put in a padded envelope if possible... and restricted to 4.4lbs (2 kilograms). After my training finishes... care packages can be sent (I´ll have a new address by then)... but no value should be declared. More information on that will be coming when I know where I´ll be sent for the two years.
Hasta luego!
-Stacie
Mail takes 2 weeks via airmail (as opposed to ground mail that takes months)... anything larger than a letter should be put in a padded envelope if possible... and restricted to 4.4lbs (2 kilograms). After my training finishes... care packages can be sent (I´ll have a new address by then)... but no value should be declared. More information on that will be coming when I know where I´ll be sent for the two years.
Hasta luego!
-Stacie
Friday, July 6, 2007
Holllllla!
Peace Corps has been reviewing trainees’ blogs so excuse the time lapse. Here’s an update since my arrival in country….
Omnibus 98, my training class, arrived to Ecuador last week ready to take on any challenge thrown at us. Granted I’ve never seen another training class, but it seems like 98 is so excited to get started in our training and eventual service as Peace Corps Volunteers. There is not one person that I know of at least that at the point isn’t super excited to be here. Sure we miss the comforts of the US and the like, but Peace Corps Ecuador is not to be missed.
We spent a night in Quito when we first arrived and then went to a smaller town about an hour north. After a couple long days of orientation, we set off to meet our host families. I was happy to find out that I would be living in a community about 2 ½ hours north of Quito with a family that includes 4 children. My papa has a dairy farm and I can’t wait to go to work with him some day. My madre spends her days at home doing all that needs to be done and let me tell you, she works hard. My new brothers and sisters range from 7 years to 8 months. This is such a change for me. Being the 3rd of 4 girls, with Abbie being 18 now, I didn’t know what it would be like to have such small kids in the house. All I can say is that I have a greater respect for parents now (not that I didn’t before). A couple instances stick out in my mind. One is the tickle war I had with the 3 oldest kids. No joke, for about 2 hours we just tickled each other. Mostly it was the 3 of them against me, but overall it was a lot of fun. The other instance is when mis padres were helping the kids with their homework. It was so refreshing to see parents investing such an interest in their kids homework. Especially after working at Bancroft for 2 years and wishing the parents were able to spend more time with their kids and help them with their homework, it was great to see a parent explaining the different parts of speech. The 3 year old is very shy with new people (and I was no exception)… but after just a couple of days, he opened up and now we’re friends. The other day when I woke up and opened my door to go to the bathroom, he came running down the hallway to give me a hug. So Cute.
Its colder here in Ecuador than I imagined it would be. I’m okay in a sweatshirt or a light jacket… but its not the hot country that one may imagine. This did not, however, prevent me from getting sunburnt the first weekend. I’m now nursing a sunburnt nose like no other. I imagine it is how skin cancer feels and looks. Okay, maybe a bit of exaggerating, but it by no means feels normal. The temperature also doesn’t affect how beautiful this country is. Everywhere you look there are more mountains, some snow capped, some behind fog, some with crop fields and houses on the side.
Speaking Spanish all day every day is exhausting! I’m finally learning to understand my family’s accent, which makes communication so much easier. Spanish lessons are going well also. My community group is a great group of people and they make our sessions enjoyable. When I arrived, I tested into the intermediate-medium level which is higher than I expected but I was very happy with. I really am putting in a lot of effort into learning the language in hopes that when I arrive to my site I’ll be able to work without too many problems with my counterpart. My host brother is really helping me, as he is willing to repeat things and rephrase things for me. Just being exposed to the language and being forced to communicate in it is so beneficial. I’m not going to lie, its so much easier to speak Spanish with other English speakers, as they understand some of the made up words and the random English words that are thrown into conversations.
Tuesday, July 3
Today was quite a day. I (finally) learned how to wash my own clothes by hand. We’re talking bar of soap, an ourdoor sink, water out of a faucet, and a clothes line. Let me tell you, I have a large respect for clean clothes and the people that wash them. I will never abuse a washing machine again. Washing clothes by hand is hard on your back and your hands and your body in general. And I’m slow at it. Mi mama could wash 2.5 shirts in the time it took me to do one. And then came the pants. Oy vey. But now I have clean clothes, and hopefully by sometime tomorrow they will be dry. With the wind we’ve been having, it should be no problem to dry them. Either way, I won’t be wearing dirty clothes for the next 2 years.
I also learned how to pick choclo (it resembles corn on the cob) with my family. And turns out, you can eat the stem (or whatever it’s called) that grows out of the ground that the corn branches off of. This is probably common knowledge to others, but to me, its something new. I also got to meet the family cuyes (cuy = guinea pig). But I’m sure most of you know by now that cuyes aren’t family pets here… they’re dinner. Who knows when its going to happen, but its coming. I’ll be sure to report.
Omnibus 98, my training class, arrived to Ecuador last week ready to take on any challenge thrown at us. Granted I’ve never seen another training class, but it seems like 98 is so excited to get started in our training and eventual service as Peace Corps Volunteers. There is not one person that I know of at least that at the point isn’t super excited to be here. Sure we miss the comforts of the US and the like, but Peace Corps Ecuador is not to be missed.
We spent a night in Quito when we first arrived and then went to a smaller town about an hour north. After a couple long days of orientation, we set off to meet our host families. I was happy to find out that I would be living in a community about 2 ½ hours north of Quito with a family that includes 4 children. My papa has a dairy farm and I can’t wait to go to work with him some day. My madre spends her days at home doing all that needs to be done and let me tell you, she works hard. My new brothers and sisters range from 7 years to 8 months. This is such a change for me. Being the 3rd of 4 girls, with Abbie being 18 now, I didn’t know what it would be like to have such small kids in the house. All I can say is that I have a greater respect for parents now (not that I didn’t before). A couple instances stick out in my mind. One is the tickle war I had with the 3 oldest kids. No joke, for about 2 hours we just tickled each other. Mostly it was the 3 of them against me, but overall it was a lot of fun. The other instance is when mis padres were helping the kids with their homework. It was so refreshing to see parents investing such an interest in their kids homework. Especially after working at Bancroft for 2 years and wishing the parents were able to spend more time with their kids and help them with their homework, it was great to see a parent explaining the different parts of speech. The 3 year old is very shy with new people (and I was no exception)… but after just a couple of days, he opened up and now we’re friends. The other day when I woke up and opened my door to go to the bathroom, he came running down the hallway to give me a hug. So Cute.
Its colder here in Ecuador than I imagined it would be. I’m okay in a sweatshirt or a light jacket… but its not the hot country that one may imagine. This did not, however, prevent me from getting sunburnt the first weekend. I’m now nursing a sunburnt nose like no other. I imagine it is how skin cancer feels and looks. Okay, maybe a bit of exaggerating, but it by no means feels normal. The temperature also doesn’t affect how beautiful this country is. Everywhere you look there are more mountains, some snow capped, some behind fog, some with crop fields and houses on the side.
Speaking Spanish all day every day is exhausting! I’m finally learning to understand my family’s accent, which makes communication so much easier. Spanish lessons are going well also. My community group is a great group of people and they make our sessions enjoyable. When I arrived, I tested into the intermediate-medium level which is higher than I expected but I was very happy with. I really am putting in a lot of effort into learning the language in hopes that when I arrive to my site I’ll be able to work without too many problems with my counterpart. My host brother is really helping me, as he is willing to repeat things and rephrase things for me. Just being exposed to the language and being forced to communicate in it is so beneficial. I’m not going to lie, its so much easier to speak Spanish with other English speakers, as they understand some of the made up words and the random English words that are thrown into conversations.
Tuesday, July 3
Today was quite a day. I (finally) learned how to wash my own clothes by hand. We’re talking bar of soap, an ourdoor sink, water out of a faucet, and a clothes line. Let me tell you, I have a large respect for clean clothes and the people that wash them. I will never abuse a washing machine again. Washing clothes by hand is hard on your back and your hands and your body in general. And I’m slow at it. Mi mama could wash 2.5 shirts in the time it took me to do one. And then came the pants. Oy vey. But now I have clean clothes, and hopefully by sometime tomorrow they will be dry. With the wind we’ve been having, it should be no problem to dry them. Either way, I won’t be wearing dirty clothes for the next 2 years.
I also learned how to pick choclo (it resembles corn on the cob) with my family. And turns out, you can eat the stem (or whatever it’s called) that grows out of the ground that the corn branches off of. This is probably common knowledge to others, but to me, its something new. I also got to meet the family cuyes (cuy = guinea pig). But I’m sure most of you know by now that cuyes aren’t family pets here… they’re dinner. Who knows when its going to happen, but its coming. I’ll be sure to report.
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