Sue and I are officially Peace Corps volunteers. We swore in yesterday morning at the home of Embassador Jewell. The ambassadors house was fairly posh. I have a few pictures that Sue put on the net, here is the link. http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8AbOHLhy0cNGft All is well in our world, though I am a bit sick of Quito. Everything is so Americanized, it is not much different than being in a big city in the States. The other day, we did get an opportunity to tour "old town" Quito and it was pretty. There is a huge Cathedral there, built in 1534. It was [View Full Entry]

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Well, we swear in as official volunteers tomorrow morning at 9:00 am. Sue and I are very excited to get to our sites. We will be in Puyo on Saturday. All is going really well!!! We have a new mailing address for anyone interested. Casilla 16-01-710 Puyo - Pastaza Ecuador You can still mail stuff to the Quito office as well and we will get it. A reminder, if you do send stuff, send it in a padded envelop if possible and do not declare a value. Keep it under 4.4 lbs. Here is a link to a few more pictures [View Full Entry]

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Today is our last day in our communities and our last day of training in Cayambe. It is bittersweet. Sue and I have grown to love our family - it will be very difficult to say goodbye tomorrow morning. We bought our little brother all 4 Harry Potter movies (this weekend we watched 1 and 2 on TV). The Quad pack cost us $1.50 and is assuredly pirated from China. We also made some photos for them and got a few frames to put them in. The end of training is exciting. All of us trainees are joyed at the prospect [View Full Entry]

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Ok, the long awaited update on the bus system here in Ecuador. As you already know, buses are very cheap here and a large majority of the population use them regularly. In fact, they really are the only true mode of reliable transportation in Ecuador. Very few families have cars here. Anyhow, catching and riding a bus is a real cultural experience. Here are some of the aspects related to buses. There really are no official bus stops. You can hail a bus at any point in time along the side of the road. Be careful though, the buses here are [View Full Entry]

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Well, I passed my final language test with a rank of Intermedio Alto. PC requires a level of Intermedio Medio so I made it by ok. I came to Ecuador with the rank of Principal Medio so I jumped 4 levels. What does this mean....nothing - I still have trouble hearing the language and I still have trouble making fluid speech, but I am doing ok. If you wanted me to say something like...I would have gone to the store, but they wouldn´t let me go - then it would take about 5 minutes for me to look up the appropriate [View Full Entry]

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Well, we made it back from our Jungle Tech Trip. WOW!!! The jungle was everything I though it would be and more. We left last Thursday from Cayambe and drove to a town east of Quito called Baeza. Baeza is in the cloud forest (not jungle) and was home to the 2005 world rafting championships. There was not much to the town, however, the visit to the organic farm and agroforestry project developed by the municipal government was awesome. We learned how to make a fertilizer stew using goat shit, molases, a plant called ahi (like hot peppers - it is [View Full Entry]

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I headed back to Quito this morning to see the dentist again. Ironically, last Saturday night a crown on another one of my molars fell off. Craziness I tell you - at least this time it was not painful, just weird. So, the dentist took out my stitches today and put my crown back on. I think I am good to go. I have to make one more return trip to the dentist in a couple weeks so that he can give it one last looksy. Roger, came to Quito with me today too, while he was on his site visit, [View Full Entry]

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Well, I survived my experience with the dentist, however, it was not without great pain and suffering. I am not sure if the memo was sent down here that using anesthesia (novicane) is ADA approved. Seriously, I am fine, but I have never experienced pain quite like that before. Yes, I had novicane, but not nearly enough. I had to keep asking for more. The periodontist did ask if I was ok, but only after she noticed the steady flow of tears from my eyes. It sucks being reclined in a chair with your mouth spread open by a medieval device [View Full Entry]

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A few questions from a friend in the states that I have answered. Please be advised that the answers do not reflect the views or values of Peace Corps. The answers are solely the opinion of one Jeremy S. King. 1. How many hookers have you seen? 4 that I know of 2. Is prostitution legal? Frowned upon? Encouraged? celebrated? It is legal and regulated 3. Como se dice hooker en espanol? Prostituta (female) Prostituto 4. What is the strangest food you've eaten? Chicken Heart and head 5. What is the common meal in ecuador? Any type of soup and rice [View Full Entry]

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Well, I saw the dentist today really hoping that he was going to give me the kind of good news that all dentists give right?!? "Jeremy, those teeth are great chompers, here's a lollipop, see you in 6 months." Yeah, my dentist didn't do that. He basically said that the dentist who did my root canal 5 years ago screwed up - he was a local Circleville dentist, but I'm not going to name any names. So........ I have to have oral surgery tomorrow afternoon. Essentially my options were this: 1) pull the tooth and have to have an implant or [View Full Entry]

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