More of everything you´ve grown to love

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Well, well, I had a much better week last week. After settling in and getting a grip on the mountain of new projects I now have, I realized that we often make things out to be a little worse than they really are. I suppose this is some type of natural response that kicks in when the going gets tough. I know that I will make it through all of these work related challenges and that I will continue to enjoy my Peace Corps experience. By no means am I saying that it will be easy - I am going to be VERY busy for the next few months, but nothing that a seasoned teaching veteran can’t handle.

I had a meeting with Carolina from Fundacion Natura last week. She and Andrea made me a list of tasks to do regarding the water fund project and placed it on my desk while I was away at a workshop in Quito. I told Carolina that I was a little peeved that I came back to a list of 10 new jobs for me to do and that I wasn’t even consulted on the issue - this is just poor form in my opinion. She agreed and apologized, then proceeded modify the list so that it was more agreeable for all involved.

After that meeting, we both met with Bolivar and Patricio (the videographer in town) to discuss the second video that we will be making about the water fund. It was a quick meeting (rare in these parts) and we set out a pretty good plan of action.

Speaking of the video, the first video was completed a few weeks ago and I have the responsibility of distributing it to all of the schools and to most of the organizations and government entities in town. This is not a hard task, just a bit time consuming. Basically, I have to walk around to all these places, meet with the director or person in charge, give them a letter detailing the water fund, and then hand them the video along with some other materials. They usually say thanks, sign a paper saying they received the materials, and then we part ways. Sometimes, however, my deliveries take longer when people are too busy to meet with me right away or when they decide that that particular moment would be a good time to talk to the gringo about U.S. politics or how to save the world. Luckily this doesn’t happen to often - not that I don’t love the topic, just that I don’t have 2 days to sit and chat about it. Sooooooo, on a good day I can deliver about 10 videos.

Another part of this water fund campaign is that I have to do a power point presentation in the local high schools about the environment, global warming, and the water fund. I just started these this week on Monday. I have to admit, I love being in front of the class again - I have given the presentation 5 times already and it has been extremely well received.

Monday at 7:00am in the Catholic high school was the first presentation. I was dead tired due to a long weekend - which I will talk more of later. I came to realize during this presentation just how awesome teaching can be. There I was, in front of a class of 40 students (all 16-17 years olds), the presentation was rolling along despite my frequent mis-pronunciations and utter butchering of the Spanish language. Things were working fine, the students were attentive, and I was on a roll. Then, out of no where, the wheels fell off the wagon. Something I had said turned the complacent class into a symphony of utter chaos - students laughing, poking each other, losing focus. Ah, but this is the joy that only good quality teachers ever get to realize. You see, a quality teacher can turn utter chaos into organized chaos in a matter of seconds and then transform organized chaos into structured learning before the students even know what happened. Those poor students had no idea of who they were up against, they went from laughing to a state of awe in the time it took me to change slides on my presentation and utter a few words of acknowledgement.

So what happened you say? Well, I was talking about carbon dioxide emissions by country. The U.S. trumps all of course and I was explaining that this is due to our lifestyle in the States. That for example, in my immediate family, we have 8 cars for 8 people. I went through the list that my parents each had one, my brothers and their spouses, and then I said that my esposo had a car as well. My mistake was that esposo is the word for husband - esposa is wife. The kids howled - I corrected myself, but it appeared I was too late the chaos erupted. I quickly reminded them that this was just another example of how our “lifestyle” was different in the States - making my own joke of the situation - this grabbed their attention just enough to put some order to the chaos. The slam dunk structured learning came when I immediately started talking about our inabilities as a global community to effectively communicate with each other. That we all have the same goals and dreams (more or less), but that our misunderstandings and failure to hear what everyone is actually saying is what is causing the majority of our problems. Then I clicked to the next slide which showed the potential threats to our world as we know it due to global climate change - they were stunned.

I liken this technique to a prize fighter’s deadly 1-2 combo or better yet to the shock and awe phenomena - only in this case you are just messing with kids’ minds and that’s just plain old fun.

The other four presentations over the last couple of days all went very well. I didn’t need to pull out any teaching techniques, except that I did kick 2 kids out of my last presentation. They were sitting in the back of the room, on the floor, and were obviously not paying attention. Normally, I could deal with this, except that they were also talking loudly. So, I asked them to leave. They gave me that look, the “who me” look. I asked again and then they said the very predictable “we weren’t doing anything,” to which I agreed and said, “You are right, you weren’t doing anything - like paying attention. So, please leave.” They pleaded their case again and I wasn’t buying it. I explained that I was a teacher back home and that I knew how to play the game with the best of them. I booted them out the door, and then I smiled since I knew that the next person they would see would be the Nun.

Last weekend I ventured back up to the Quito area again - this time to give a workshop of my own to the new group of volunteers. The goal of the workshop was to get them all Project Learning Tree trained. This is a non-formal environmental education curriculum that I was trained to use back in the States. Because of my connections with PLT, I was able to get them to send us all the materials for free.

This was my first stint at being a Peace Corps trainer and I have to say that I enjoyed it. However, after talking with Scott and Lindsay, both current volunteers and trainers for the new group - I am not sure I want to be a trainer for the last 10 weeks of my service. Those two were working their tails off.

So, back to the story, I took the 12:30am bus on Friday morning and got to Quito at 5:00am. It was freezing cold there - lately the weather in and around Quito has been horrendously cold and rainy. Shivering and tired, I caught a cab to the Peace Corps office where I met one of my bosses, Pablo, and another Peace Corps volunteer. The three of us headed up to Tabacundo (north of Quito and about 5 minutes from where Sue and I lived during training). My workshop was not until Saturday, but I wanted to come up a day early to get a feel for the group, finalize planning with the other trainers, and to see the Env. Ed. session that they were going to do that afternoon.

Things went very well and I have to admit that I was utterly impressed with the new group of volunteers. My group had/has a few characters that are the type of people who can cause a group to be divisive - this group just seemed to gel and respect each other to the fullest.

That night, I went with the other PC trainers to have a few beers and talk shop. I fortunate that Peace Corps put me up in a hotel across the street from the training facility and didn’t put me in a dorm style room at the training center - like the other trainers. However, since I was at the hotel, everyone wanted to use my shower. So as we drank beers, people took turns going to my room. I am sure the people at the desk raised an eyebrow or two as women and men, one at a time, asked for the key to my room, went up for 10-15 minutes and then came back down with a smile.

Eventually we all headed back to our respective places of sleep. I wanted to get some dinner, but quickly found that all the restaurants were now closed and that since it was a downpour outside, my chances of walking to one were slim. So, I found a roadside stand that was selling bizcochos. These are a cookie like bread (very famous in these parts) that you dip in manjar de leche (caramel). So, I had a fine dining experience in my room - I even washed it all down with a gatorade.

Tomorrow would be a true test of my Spanish abilities. Even though I was presenting to a group of Americans - the idea was to do it in Spanish. I was mildly prepared and as the day came, my Spanish help up fairly well. All told, I did 50% in Spanish. This was fine since my Peace boss and the other trainers did about 25% in Spanish. I had a blast and I really think that the trainees enjoyed the day and appreciated all the information they received about Env. Ed.

After the training, I went to La Esperanza to see my host family. Fabiola, my mom, was so excited to see me. We chatted for about half an hour. Santiago and Andrés my brothers were not home. Andrés was in Baños and Santiago was out playing. I left to find Santiago and when I did, he came running up to me with arms open. Carolina, my ecua-cousin was also home and I gave her a big hug as well. It was so nice seeing everyone. Unfortunately, Sue was not with me and I only had an hour. I was going to be catching a ride back to Quito with Kerry, my boss and three other Peace Corps trainers.

Susan spent the day in Baños with Susan Birch-Carl and Becca Liskens, two other volunteers relatively near us. They went to the spa for the day - yeah, rough Peace Corps life. Seriously, they had been planning the trip for a while and it was well-deserved, especially for Susan who spends days at a time deep in the jungle.

The plan was for me to meet them in Ambato and spend the night in Ambato. However, Susan said that they were headed to Riobamba - further south than Ambato and 4 hours from Quito instead of 2.5. She promised that they would return to Becca´s in Ambato, but that I should ¨take my time¨ getting to Ambato so I wouldn’t be there before them and have to sit around at night in an unfamiliar city.

Somewhere in the back of my mind I knew that they would stay in Riobamba - a place that I was not going to go tonight - because by the time I got there, it would be between 12:00 and 1:00am and everyone would either be drunk or asleep - not worth my time, especially since it was out of the way of my ultimate destination, Puyo. However, I heeded Sue’s words and killed 2.5 hours in Quito. As I arrived at the bus station to get a ticket to Ambato, Sue called and said to come to Riobamba - I said no and got my ticket instead for Puyo - damn - it was going to be another late night of no sleep - I had no idea just how late.

I got on the bus and it happened to be the cocha cama - which is the nice bus with seats that nearly recline all the way. We set out for Puyo at 8:40pm. I just happened to be sitting next to mister super friendly. He started talking to me the moment he sat down and spoke non-stop for a good hour and a half. I politely listened to him for 45 minutes and then turned my attention elsewhere as he tried to convert me to his religion - which at this point I am still unsure of what that was. He was Shuar and from the Macas area.

I think that he finally either got tired of talking or realized that I wasn’t entirely interested in what he had to say. So, he stopped chatting and instead turned his attention to the movie - Home Alone 2.

During the next hour I received two texts and two calls from Susan and the folks in Riobamba - it was a bit annoying as they continued to try to convince me to come to Riobamba and then got pissy with me when I said no. If only I had listened to them.

By 11:30 we were just outside of Baños, it was pouring down rain, and the bus stopped and turned off its engine. I know this routine - we were stuck behind a landslide. With no place to go, everyone stayed on the bus and fell asleep. I quickly realized that I was on the snorer’s convection bus. Of the 30 odd people on bored, I think 29 were snoring - the guy next to me was the worst. I was the only one not sleeping and thus not snoring. It was hell on earth. By 6:00am the rain had stopped and people woke up and left the bus to use the restroom. I got out of the bus, took a leak, and then realized that we were parked right in front of the volcano. It was a clear morning and thus I had a clear view of Tungurahua. It was absolutely stunning - almost worth the 6.5 hours of snorefest 2008. My camera was out of juice so I had no way to document the experience.

The talk around the area was that the road would be closed for another 3 hours. Most of the people on the bus opted to walk to Baños, I opted to stay with the bus since I really didn’t feel like walking over a landslide this time.

At 8:43 and 23 seconds, the bus started up and we were on our way. We managed to pick up all those who opted to walk and then headed on our way through Baños and to Puyo. I finally got home at 10:00am sharp. Instead of going to bed, I was wide awake, so I did the next best thing, I washed all of our sheets by hand and hung them up to dry. Hey, it was a sunny day, so I took advantage of my ¨good¨ fortune. The sheets dried quickly and I brought them in minutes before the day turned rainy and cold.

By the time I went to bed at night, I had been up for 38 hours and was ready for some sleep - after all, I had a presentation at 7:00am on Monday.

Susan warned me that nobody would come to visit us if they kept reading my horrible bus stories. Let me just say that they are not as bad as they seem - I have only feared for my life twice and that is saying something in these parts. I have learned some important things about bus trips though - always have food and drink with you, and, if you are travelling with friends, bring cards or some other game to play.

There has been some good news of late with my counterpart organization. We just received word that we would get an old Peace Corps vehicle, a 2002 Toyota Landcruiser. Peace Corps, as well as all U.S. government agencies are on a 5 year vehicle cycle. So Peace Corps is selling their vehicles. They like CODEAMA and offered one to us for cheap - $1000. Bolivar is pumped since the value in Ecuador is about $17,000. We also received word that we would be getting around $5,000 from USAID for new office computer equipment. I can’t claim sole responsibility for the funds or the vehicle, but it is clear that without my presence here, neither would have come to pass.

The possible outcome of all this is that I may be able to drive the vehicle would which mean more work outside of the office and in the communities AND in a couple weeks I will most likely have reliable internet at the office instead of 1 hour on, 5 off, 2 on, 3 days off etc.

Currently there is a medical brigade from the States at FRATES. I had high hopes of spending three days out there helping out, but my work schedule has only permitted a couple day trips out there. Antonio has things under control and after talking with community members, they are very content with the free care. Besides, the brigade was from the University of Florida, I am a Buckeye - I am not sure I could have withstood the heckling for three straight days.

This is for my brother Bryan and my cousin Tim. My counterpart, Bolivar just purchased a 1977 Toyota Landcruiser pick-up for $500. It was his father’s second car ever and it is in good shape. He is having a new engine put in - a diesel, and a new bed put on the back. All told, he will have spent about $1000 - I told him that there are a lot of people back in the States who’d love to get their hands on this vehicle.

Hopefully all of you in Ohio survived the blizzard like conditions of last week - I wish I could have seen 20+ inches.

Hasta Luego,
Jeremy

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Comments

[Greg]

Snow vs. Mud
So Jeremy, were you at the landslide when I sent the text about the snow here? I think I would take the snow over waiting all night on the bus. On the other hand, robotics has given me a lot of practice sleeping at night on a bus with snoring people. The snow here was crazy, but it's mostly gone now. Except where it's piled up in parking lots.