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Published: February 19th 2011
I realize the first entry was perhaps a bit disorganized and a rather random collection of details. I was trying to spit out at least a few tidbits in the small frame of time I had. I suppose it is a somewhat accurate representation of what my time here has been like so far; slightly chaotic, a bit all over the place.
For those of you who did not hear, my departure from Grand Rapids began a bit rough. The night before I was supposed to fly to Washington D.C. to meet my fellow volunteers before taking off to Ecuador, the epic blizzard attacked. My 6 pm flight was cancelled and rescheduled for the following morning. Soon this rescheduled flight would be cancelled, and I would eventually make it out exactly 24 hours after my original flight. It turned out to be a blessing in disguise. I was still packing up until the last minute before we departed for the airport, and that was with an extra 24 hours. I hate to think of what the previous day would have been like if my original flight had Not been cancelled.
Due to my delay, I missed the pre-orientation in Washington D.C. In short, I did not miss much at all. I arrived in D.C. Wednesday night, stayed the night in a hotel, and the next morning all of us PC volunteers met in the hotel lobby at 3:30 am to hop on a bus to the airport. On to Ecuador!
There are 42 of us PC volunteers that came to Ecuador, a good number I think. It was quite overwhelming at first, trying to make small talk, remember names, find connections and potential friends. Most of the other volunteers are about my age. Ofcourse it has only been a week and a half, so we are still getting to know each other. I have already found a few buddies though. There are way more girls than guys, which is lame, and seems all too often to be the case. But I’m already over it.
We arrived on a Thursday and spent 2 nights at a ‘hotel,’ which was actually nothing like a hotel but that is what they called it. On Saturday, around noon, our host families came to pick us up. Each of us is staying with a different host family in the community of Tumbaco. It is about a 20 minute drive from Quito. I was initially really hoping to be in a house with kids, so I didn’t really know how I felt when Zoila and Hugo picked me up. Also, as I mentioned before, they do not speak a word of English. Once they picked us up, we had the rest of the weekend to spend with our families before returning to training on Monday morning. So most of the day Saturday, and ALL of Sunday. By ourselves. Alone with our families. It was mostly good, though by Sunday night I was about to scream. My brain could no longer function and I was about to blow if I did not have access to a conversation in English relatively soon. Let’s just say I do not remember the last time I was so excited for a Monday morning to arrive.
I held it together, and Monday did come. Commence training at the compound. I call it a compound because that’s what it is. Most buildings around here have high walls surrounding them, often with barbed wire or broken glass bottles glued to the tops. Ours has barbed wire. We also have a security guard who carries a gun. Safety first!
All of our trainers and teachers are great. Most are Ecuadorian, but there are a few gringos as well. I really don’t know what else to say about training at this point. The medical stuff has been interesting… sometimes… I have gotten many shots since being here, yet another today. Apparently my arm should start hurting tomorrow and then ache for the next few days, so that’s cool. We also had a presentation based almost entirely on diarrhea the other day and what we have to look forward to in that department. Apparently it is not a question of ‘if,’ but rather a question of ‘when’ and ‘from what.’ I am happy to announce that I have felt absolutely fine thus far and continue to be ‘normal.’ We had another presentation today about malaria and dengue, some more fun stuff. Due to some personal stuff, I guess I don’t get to take the fun kind of malaria medication that can cause crazy dreams, hallucinations, and even psychosis. Shucks.
A few other things worth mentioning:
- I am living at an incredibly high altitude right now. My face is burnt. And large hills kill me. I am surrounded by mountains every direction I look, and am looking forward to attempting to climb some of them, one of these days.
- The weather here is awesome. It usually gets pretty hot during the day if the sun comes out. Today I wore a skirt and t-shirt. At night, it cools right down and pants and a jacket may be appropriate. It rains on and off, sometimes every day, sometimes every few days.
- There are dogs everywhere, many of them strays. They run all over the streets and seem to form gangs, especially the ones that hang around the bike path we walk on everyday. Most are friendly enough, but two people have already been nipped by random dogs. Good thing we got our rabies shot already! And with dogs come dog poop. There is dog poop all over the sidewalks. I have not stepped in any yet. I am sure this will change soon enough.
- I take cold showers every morning. There is only one knob for water in the shower and in the kitchen sink. It’s called ‘cold.’ I guess there may be a switch in the shower which activates the hot water. I have not been motivated enough to find out more. I have come to somewhat appreciate my cold showers in the morning. There is always an occasional burst of luke warm water during them, so as of now I am content with my single knob.
- Whoever was spreading the rumor that I would not be eating fresh fruits and veggies once I got here was a big fat liar. I have not eaten so much fresh stuff since…Ever. There is so much fresh! Everyone makes homemade juice all the time from all sorts of fruit. This morning I had a big bowl of fresh fruit including bananas, papaya, and pineapple. When I open the fridge, it is all fresh produce. There is nothing processed inside. It is awesome. The only things I would change… please don’t add so incredibly much sugar to my juice. Please stop adding salt to everything. And let’s cut down on the butter and oil. Beside that, I am one happy camper.
- They use the American dollar here. It almost seems too easy.
- A large beer (deuce if you will) costs $.80 from one of the small tiendas. Even better than dollar out the door! Sometimes we stop on our walk home and drink a nice cold one on the pavement in front of the store. It is a nice activity after a long day of ‘school.’
I am completely happy with my host family now. They are great. We live in a second floor apartment on one of the main roads. It will be nice if I can improve my Spanish enough to actually have some real people conversations with them one of these days, though we get along pretty well as it is. Nights are interesting. As I mentioned before, I have to be home about 7, though I think they would prefer me to get home around 6. Lately I have been getting home closer to 7. Dinner is always waiting. Zoila always sits with me as I eat. This can make for a slightly awkward situation as she watches me eat, but I have become used to it. It is also like this in the morning. Then they go to bed by about 8. 8?! Yes. 8. So that’s when I retire to my room and do homework, scribble in my journal, read… And then I go to bed between 10 and 11. 10?! Yes. 10. I usually wake up around 6. 6?! Yes. 6. I can’t believe this is actually my schedule. But it’s working surprisingly well. I fall asleep easily and wake up pretty easily too.
Overall, I still can’t quite fathom or fully comprehend the situation that I have gotten myself into. It is easy enough to go along with thus far though. I have training until around April 20th, when I will move to another site in Ecuador by myself where I will live for 2 years. It will be another few weeks before I find out this location. In the meantime, I am just doing my thing. Ecuador is a very interesting place and I have so much to learn about the people and culture!
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Sheryl
non-member comment
The best!
I love you hannah nanner! Your blog is the first blog and perhaps the only blog i ever/will ever read. And for that, I thank you! Sounds like you are doing well. E-mail or send letters in the mail. which ever is easiest. I love you and hope to hear from you more soon!