A year ago we left our families, homes, friends, pets, and comforts of the US to embark on the hardest and most rewarding of our journeys. We are giving up two years of our life to serve as Peace Corps Volunteers in Ecuador - in places where we are needed, sometimes wanted, and overall welcomed. When we left everything behind we had to create a new family from a group of strangers, rebuild our support system from scratch. Our Omnibus, our fellow volunteers from 106, are now our family, our support system, and some have become our best friends. We understand each other better than anyone else could. Some days we are faced with homesickness, frustration, and some times depression, but other days we are faced with the most rewarding of feelings - love. This love comes in many different forms - your students surrounding you with hugs because they have missed you, your English teacher excited to talk to you about improving their English, and another volunteer showing their support for you by giving you a swag prep-talk. All of that has happened to me and I am grateful for all of these amazing experiences.

Omnibus 106 Ecuador - TEFL, Health, Youth and Families programs. 2011 - 2013

So without further ranting, Congratulations Omnibus 106! - with a better perspective and a year gone by we are still strong, still here, and still in good spirits.

On to other news:

"90 percent of your long-term happiness is predicted not by the external world, but by the way your brain processes the world. And if we change it, if we change our formula for happiness and success, what we can do is change the way that we can then affect reality. "

Katie and I have decided to start our 21 days of Happiness. So the 21 days of happiness concept suggests that you can rewire the brain to think positive, be come more productive, and work harder by doing the following steps below for the next 21 days. By doing this you are training your brain to look for the positive in the world.

So for the next 21 days we are going to:

Write three things we are grateful for each day.Send one letter of thanks, gratitude, or appreciation to someone a day.Journaling about one positive thing every 24 hours.Meditate everyday.Exercise everyday.Yes folks we are really doing this, we are not unhappy we just want test this concept. What better way to test then by doing it!

And here are my three things I am grateful for:

1. I am grateful that Katie made granola, that is all I eat for breakfast these days. With fruit off course.2. I am grateful for spell check, I could never have survived college, grad school, and Peace Corps without it. 3. I am sooo grateful for leftovers. This chicken curry is to die for. So delicious. yummy in my tummy!

And I have decided to do the 30 day challenge as well. I know another TED talk link, but man do I love learning new things and tedtalks are amazing. Anyway, so the 30 day challenge suggests that 30 days is the right amount of time to add or substract a new habit from your life. Don't go around doing big challenges do something small like- adding a new technological skill set in the next 30 days. That is what I will be doing. I will be learning how Linux works and how to navigate/do shit on Linux.

So wish me luck. <3 <3 <3

Lots of questions and no answers, that’s what these past few weeks have been all about.

So much to tell so little time and space! First of I guess I am way behind in my updates, like a month or so behind. Sorry just cant keep track of everything ….

So here we go

MARCH:

In March I left for two weeks to visit my family in Bolivia. It was fun, relaxing and chaotic, very very chaotic. I mean there were moments when I thought and I was sure I would kill someone but those were few and far in between. Which is great! Anyway, the chaos was caused by several happenings. First, the houses were getting built/fixed so there were many workers in and out all freaking day, and I mean starting their work at 7am and ending sometime in the late afternoon. Secondly, my Mama Nelly (grandma) had moved back to Bolivia to open up her Tienda and to spend her days in “peace”. Which meant building, fixing her home, getting her paperwork/stuff done, and getting her stuff moved into her new place. Thirdly, there were way too many people living in one place, which caused a lot of contempt between individuals. Well even after those terrible moments of mild agitation, I still enjoyed my family and their company. I had a great time with my brother. We spent most nights huddled in his room with the projector beautifully illuminating his wall with our TV-shows. We also spent time talking about stuff, random and stupid stuff, but still made my heart warm. Which makes me miss him a lot. I wanted to spend more time with my parental units but I knew they were busy with the houses. In the end we still managed to spend time with each other and have family bonding time as well. Hopefully when they go back in June they can relax and just have a grand ol' time. Seriously they need the damn relaxing time.

Yup lessons taken from this small vacation: - I enjoyed the small moments I had with my family. You know when you are making dinner for them and it comes out terrible and they sit there and eat it anyway. Or when you finally figure-out that your parents are still trying to figure shit out just like you are.- I loved bonding with my brother and my Mama Nelly.- I find it interesting that I no longer have any patience what so ever for anything or anyone.- My temper seems to come out more often now, which I need to keep in check. That is something I must work on, like really work on.- I need to spend more time with my grandpa, sadly he isn't getting better. and that scares me.

My grandma and my daddy

Michael, my cousin, and my granddaddy

APRIL:

April, oh April, you are a month of suckage. Yup you have been by far the worst month. So pretty much this month started out with a bang, and mind you not a happy BANG. I never thought of my city as a dangerous scary place to live in. Yeah it has its really awful parts and places you shouldn't willingly go to just like in any big city, but it still had some charm to it. Well, one unforgettable evening, Katie and I happen to be walking home alone after dropping off a fellow volunteer at their hotel. About a block before we turned for our apartment building, we were assaulted by two guys from behind. The main guy had a big shinny knife and made a grab at for my necklace, while he was holding that shiny big knife of his very close to my face. Mind you my necklace is a piece of shit steam-punk locket but it was my piece of shit locket and I really liked it. While his buddy was the look out guy. Anyway, the main guy asked us to hand over our cellphones, which we did. Then he started to leave, when he was about 10 steps away from us he turns around and asks us for money, which we told him we had none. Then both guys took off. The whole situation sucked, mainly because I have never been assaulted on the street while walking home and never felt so hopeless/defenseless. Yeah makes you a wee bit paranoid about every one. Anyway, we reported our incident to PC and also reported it to the local police.

That week we ended up going to PC HQ in Quito (12-13 hours from our site on bus) to talk about our incident and to go to the swear-in ceremony for the new PCVs. PC was very responsive and very nice to us, so we had a good chat with our director. I appreciated the way they treated us and the way they handled the situation, I did not feel like they blamed us for what happened. And they were very comforting. Thanks Peace Crops Ecuador.

Anyway, this type of situation can set off all sorts of paranoid feelings. We are still jumpy, we still get uncomfortable when walking alone on our crowded streets, and we rarely go out at night (this is normal we are really homebodies and like to spend our time at home reading, on the internet, or cleaning/washing clothes).

So dealing with that situation made us miss a week of teacher training but it wasn’t too bad. The teachers had meetings and other stuff going on so it wasn’t like we lost too much time.

That weekend we had rain, monsoon season type rain. Yup guess what happened? Our apartments flooded again. Yeah we had about and inch or two of water throughout our apartments. So we had our landlord and family help us get all the water out. Yup so after angry Katie and andrea talked to the landlord about getting our roof fixed, his mother (which turned out to be the landlady of the whole building) decided it would be a good idea to get it fixed.

Last week, a day after we started classes officially, unannounced we had workers in our apartments fixing our roofs at 8am.

So the first week of classes we had to stay home to look after the roofers cause everyone and their mother said not to trust the guys in our house alone. So it took them two days to “fix” our roofs. By the time they were done, it rained again and well what do you know it leaked again. So sure enough they took the whole week to finish our roofs. And guess who comes by at about the same week, well what do you know the door guy shows up takes 5 minutes and voilàI have a bathroom door! Yes I can finally pee/poo without feeling self conscious about it. It took the door guy about a freaking month to show up for 5 minute work (we timed it), all I could do was shake my head in disbelief.

So now we are all caught up to this week. The weekend before was my friend Nicky's 24th birthday and we celebrated it on the beach. We had such a great time it was by far an amazing weekend of shenanigans.

Now to the shitty part of the week. On Sunday, I found out a close “friend” of mine tried to harm himself and ended up in the ICU. This is the second attempt at harming himself. I thought I wouldn’t feel the way that I am feeling right now but I am. I thought my emotions would be a tad restrained less of those feeling I thought were long gone. My emotions, those tricky bastards, have betrayed me once again, which I am okay with. I guess this means I can still care for someone deeply. Anyway, just hurts and I feel hopeless and angry. I cant help my “friend” and I feel like there are so many questions which I am sure will never be answered. I feel bad for his family and his close friends. I feel anger towards him for trying to leave me and his family alone without him on this planet. I never thought this could happened and yes I do blame myself for not seeing it, maybe if I had been more attentive at his comments I could have stopped him. Yeah I know irrational thought but I still cant help it. The "What if...?" will always cross my mind constantly. That’s the truth. All I can do now is think positive and hope to the gods and goddesses that he gets all the help he needs. I still care for him and that isn’t going to change any time soon, I know that now. But I will not stand for another episode like this, this was way too much for me. I can care for him from far away. I can send positive energy his and his family's way, that is all I can do.

Well that is all, now I must/need to concentrate on getting my schedule fixed and planning my workshops for my English teachers. I also have to start writing proposals for the two libraries (reference and school libraries) we want to start up soon. Yup lots to do still.

I leave you with this amazing, nostalgic, sad song that really just gets my heart tangled in a swirl of emotions.

The gaslight anthem song - Old Haunts

Happy Valentines day! And for those of use who don't celebrate V-day, Happy Singles Awareness Day! If you don't know what that is well check out the Wiki page on it - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singles_Awareness_Day

Here in Ecuador they celebrate dia de la amistad y amor (Friendship and love day). So, to all my friends and Family who celebrate V-day or S.A.D or what ever you are celebrating on Feb. 14 have a fun and enjoyable day with your loved ones! :)

Here is a humorous video about V-day: Teen girl squad #12: valentines day

And here are two post secrets that I can relate to:

Have a wonderful day!

<3<3<3

Word of the day

Succinctly (adj.)Expressed in few words; concise; terse Characterized by conciseness or verbal brevity.Compressed into a small area, scope, or compass.Archaic.drawn up, as by a girdle.Close-fittingEncircled, as by a girdleTry to pronounce it. Hard no? haha We had a fun time trying to make it sound less weird.

Last night we played Bananagrams, well technically Ben and Katie played while I made myself food. But watching them play was way fun nonetheless.

Anyway, things are the same as last week. But I am starting to be okay with it. Plus I will be in training again in 2 weeks. So things will be hectic by then.

Anyway, I had a great weekend. We visited people and people visited us. IT was awesome and we had so much fun!

So yeah we had a grand ol' time!

I am a huge fan of postsecret. If you don't know what it is well YOU should check it out as soon as you can. Seriously, do it. It is such an amazing on going project. I have been reading postsecret for 5 years, maybe 6. It has been a while.

Well this past week I read past postsecrets and I found some that encompassed what I am currently going through/feeling/thinking.

I relate completely to the authors of these postsecrets....

Some days, I think like this. I really try to get things going, but there are some weeks when you feel you have failed completely or you will fail. Its an overwhelming feeling, not gonna lie.

-this is an everyday thought process-

-BIG fear of mine-

-haven't we all felt like this at least once?-

yay! update of the week .... Have a great weekend! We got one more week before Carnival, can't wait :)

All last week has been an okay week. Not really busy. My students are done and so are my teachers, school is on break at the moment. On Friday we had the senior graduation, it was very lovely and interesting. The girls wore white dresses while the boys wore black suits. It was the most interesting graduation I have ever attended. I am happy all of my students graduated.

Here are some pictures, enjoy!

Yesterday, January 29th

Well yesterday was my daddy's birthday. He turned 68 :) Got to talk to the family on skype for an hour or so. it was great I can't wait to see them all in March.

My dad is the guy with no beard

I got to talk to Mara and Alese yesterday as well and it was amazing, I just needed that! To just hear their voices and talk to them. I can't wait to go visit them soon. I also talked to cupcake for awhile which was fun. I enjoyed it, hope we get to converse again very soon.

Today

I finished up my VRF forms and my revised version of my CAT tools. Fun fun. Now I am watching Modern Family with Benja and Katie, having some Canguil/popcorn, and some wine (Chilean wine!).

Anyway that's all, not a lot of updates at the moment. Hopefully things pick up pretty soon.

Just a little side note: I love popcorn. Best snack food ever. I love how they make it here. Canguil is so yummy!

Nights like these make me miss home, wherever that it. People say home is where your heart is, if that's the case well my heart is spread around in so many places (wherever my family and close friends are).

Its going to be 9 months since I have been here in Ecuador and I think its about that time when you feel homesick. So yeah I am homesick. I miss my family and certain people a lot. Just one of those weeks, months that things just feel uneasy and unstable.

Anyway long week of not doing much. Hopefully things pick up very soon.

Anyway song for tonight:

Puscifer - Tumbleweed

Home You're so far away, come on home.
Home
A candle you can hold, you're not alone.
Home
So far away, come on home.
Home
A voice from within, you're not alone.
Home
A candle you can hold, you're not alone.
Home
You're so far away, come on home.
Home
A voice from within, you're not alone.
Home
You're so far away, come on home.

Thought This needed to be blogged ....

This past Tuesday afternoon we had our firstflood. Yup ladies and gents, the rainy season has started in my site. Oh joy!Our apartments, not to mention the streets, flooded. My bedroom hadan inch of water, my balcony had probably an inch ½, and Katie'sapartment had an inch of water just pouring in from the windowlesstiny hole that our landlord promised to fix ya mismo. Yupfamous Ecuadorian phrase, “Ya Mismo” will drive you mad, angry,and push your patience to its limits. Yamismo = wait 4-5 hours (when at a party or going out) and whendealing with house issues, you will probably wait a month maybe twofor them to fix the problem, get irritated and try to get the problemfixed again. As I am writing this, the windowless hole is getting fixed, finally after two months and a very angry Katie, we got progress.

Well that was an interesting Tuesday,we had our first real Peace Corps moment of Oh shit this is reallyhappening to us, this is our life now. Funnyhow one moment can change your perspective on a lots of things. I ama horrible person when it comes to letting friends get close, evengetting to know the real me, I am worse in relationships, haha. Butpersonally being thrown in with people you never knew andexperiencing things like floods, a whole new culture, and illnesseschanges you and I realized how much I have opened up to Katie andBenja. Yeah I know lots of people go through these epiphanies, butits a big first for me, specially when it concerns trusting people.And I hope that I have more good realizations through my Peace Corpsservice. I am glad to be here with new amazing friends, even when shithappens. My motto, Keepmoving forward justlike in Meet the Robinsons (Iadore that movie!).

I wish I had pictures from that night, Benja took some but hasn't posted them up yet, so I gotta wait. My host moms house flooded and so did many of my students homes. Our street had knee high water, it was the most disgusting water ever.

Wed. - Friday

Anyway,M.D was here for the last 2 days, giving us updates on stuff and alsotalking to the schools that will be getting a volunteer. Fun piece ofnews, Katie and I will be meeting the new volunteers come February, Icant wait! Haha we will play nice, we promised. It will be fun tospend half of Feb. in Quito-Tumbaco at the training center and alsotalk/hangout with the new volunteers. I also get to visit my Tumbacohost fam again, I cant wait. I am also excited to get some trainingfor the Teacher training workshops we will be doing soon. We get totravel once a month to a TEFL site and have a workshop with all theEnglish teachers from that area. Yup massive English teacher trainingworkshops are on there way soon. These workshops are much needed andit is also a great learning experience for us as TEFL volunteers.

Oooo I am going to learn how to play the cello, even if I am notthat good at it, I want to learn it.I need a new hobby and playing an instrument will be a good way tocenter myself, that and doing yoga/exercise will help. Ahcello, just thinking about playing that instrument sets my heart onfire:Watch http://youtu.be/DRVvFYppU0w and http://youtu.be/Ry4BzonlVlw

Oh oh one last thing small achievement of the week getting my students to say "May I go to the bathroom" and "Can I come into the classroom." Yup I am so proud of them.

Hehe :)

Its has been awhile since I wrote on here. So far, I have done a lot of things since that time and have enjoyed myself greatly.

December has been a month of traveling. I went to Manabi for Christmas and ended up staying in my site for New Years, which I might add was a great decision.

School Holiday Spirit

I love my high school, specially the teachers and staff. They are so nice to their students and always thinking of new ways to push them academically. The week before Christmas was a busy week, with the students preparing for a nativity play and Christmas day the following day. I missed the Nativity play because I was baking Christmas cookies and oatmeal cookies for my students. I made 250 cookies, yup I did. I spent all Thursday morning and part of the afternoon baking, baking, baking. I never in my life baked so many cookies it was exhausting. But it was worth it, my students and teachers loved them. They ate them all and asked for more, haha, which made me very happy. I can finally say I am good at one thing in the cooking scene, that is cookies and cakes. Next year I am going to make Ginger bread cookies and ginger bread houses for my school, they love tasting my home made baked goods and it is fun learning how to make them. Swear to god it is an addictive hobby. If you have any great recipes for baked goods and healthy recipes for cookies/cakes/snacks send them my way, I would appreciate it so much – andyrich001@gmail.com or post them on my blog. Thanks!

Manabi – Puerto Lopez

I spent Christmas with the Loja girls and Katie in Puerto Lopez, Manabi. Most of our time was spent on a beach sun bathing and resting. We did go on a boat to see other islands near the small town of Puerto Lopez. We got to see blue footed boobies! It was so much fun, they are tiny birds. We got to spend time on a deserted beach on an island and I made my first Sandcastle with Katie's help :)

Christmas didn’t feel like Christmas to me. It lacked something, perhaps I was feeling a little homesick, perhaps I was missing family and friends. I honestly don't know. The Christmas spirit wasn't there for me, so I spent most of my trip resting and enjoying the beautiful coastal scenery and delicious seafood. Did I ever mention how much I love Octopus/Pulpo ceviche and fried calamari, I love it! And having Rum and Coconut mix drinks was such an added bonus. I think next year we will be back to spend a longer time in Puerto Lopez.

If you are traveling to Puerto Lopez, Manabi this time of year and don't have time to go to the big island and can't afford the $40, I suggest you take a $25 boat ride out to the smaller islands and other beaches. Hostels range from $6 to 10 a night and you can find good places to eat around the Malecon. Anyway, write to me if you got questions about Puerto Lopez or other places in Ecuador, mainly the coastal regions.

More pictures from our trip to Manabi:

New Year/ Ano Nuevo

All day Saturday I spent with my host mom buying fruits, an ano viejo figurine to burn at midnight, and getting some fritada for lunch. We also spent some time with her family, which are a very nice group of individuals, specially the grandma. While walking home we encountered roads blocked off. Apparently most neighborhoods block certain roads for soccer games. The teams are composed of the neighborhood men and women. Families come out and watch them play and enjoy a beer or two with each other. Some neighborhood have huge and I mean COLOSALL paper figurines, waiting to be burned. Apart from burning these figurines they also have many and I mean many New Year traditions. For luck, both sexes wear yellow underwear. Others eat grapes and raisins at midnight. While others put coins in rice, warp them up in gold paper and save them until the next new year. I only burned the paper figurine, it was shaped like a duck and it was about 3 ft tall. It was fun and just odd to see all of these small fires on all the roads happening, reminded me of some wartime movies.

I had a hard time with my emotions that day. I was waiting for midnight to come around I thought of my previous New Years with friends and family. While reminiscing on the past, I thought of one New Year I had with my parents, all of us were watching CNN New Year coverage and just sitting in the living room in our pjs waiting for the New Year to come to the reservation. It was the most boring New Year ever and I couldn’t care less. I don't know why but for some reason that memory made miss them dearly. I am glad I will be seeing them soon when I go to Bolivia to visit in March. I cant wait.

The host Mom and I :)

Sunday

Sunday, I spent all day cleaning my apartment. I needed to do laundry, it has been two weeks and I had so much laundry to do. Agh I hate doing laundry by hand but hell it needs to get done. Anyway, I hand wrote letters to my friends, which I have yet to send out. I don’t like writing I hate my penmanship and somedays I hate my writing, but I thought it would have a more personal touch then writing them an email. It also costs so much to send mail from here and it takes such a long time to arrive other there. …Anyway....

While looking for inspiration to write this blog, I read some of Pablo Neruda poems from the book I explain a Few Things, which a beautiful man gave to me as a parting gift. Thank you dear, it has brought a smile to my face every time I read a poem from that book.

I found a poem that I love and I am sure whomever is reading this will enjoy it as well.

Plenos Poderes – Fully Empowered by Pablo Neruda

I write in the clear sun, in the teeming street,at full sea tide, in a place where I can sing;only the wayward night inhibits me,but, interrupted by it, I recover space,I gather shadows to last a long time.

The black crop of the night is growingwhile my eyes in the meantime measure the plain.So, from sun to sun, I forge the keys.In the half-light, I look for locksand keep on opening broken doors to the seauntil I fill the cupboards up with foam.

And I never weary of going and returning.Death in its stone aspect does not stop me.I am weary neither of being nor nonbeing.

Sometimes I wonder where - from father or mother or the mountains - I inherited all my mineral obligations,

the threads spreading from a sea on fire;and I know I go on and go on because I go onand I sing because I sing and because I sing.

There is no way of explaining what happenswhen I close my eyes and waveras between two underwater channels - one lifts me in its branches toward dyingand the other sings in order that I may sing.

And so I am formed out of nonbeing,and as the sea goes battering at a reefin wave on wave of salty white-topsand drags back stones in its ebb,so what there is of death surrounding meopens in me a window out to living,and, in a spasm of being, I am asleep.In the full light of day, I walk in the shade.

In Spanish:

A puro sol excribo, a plena calle,a pleno mar, en donde puedo canto,solo la noche errante me detienepero en su interrupcion recojo espacio,recojo sombra para mucho tiempo.

El trigo negro de la noche crecemientras mis ojos miden la praderay asi de sol a sol hago las llaves:busco en la oscuridad las cerradurasy voy abriendo al mar las puertas rotashasta llenar armarios con espuma.

Y no me canso de ir y de volver,no me para la muerte con su piedra, no me canso de ser y de no ser.

A veces me pregunto si de dondesi de padre o de madre o cordilleraherede los deberes minerales,

los hilos de un oceano encendidoy se que sigo y sigo proque sigoy canto porque canto y porque canto.

No tiene explicacion lo que acontececuando cierro los ojos y circulocom entre dos canales submarinos -uno a morir me lleva en su ramajey el otro canta para que yo cante.

Asi pues de no ser estoy compuestoy como el mar asalta el arrecifecon capsulas saladas de blancuray retrata la piedra con la ola,asi lo que en la muerte me rodeaabre en mi la ventana de la viday en pleno paroxismo estoy durmiendo.A plena luz camino por la sombra.

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One more thing i hope this year turns out to be a great year for all of us. Don't forget to have fun, be silly, and enjoy life!

Ciao :)

Sorry for the delay in updates. It has been a very busy first months on site. We just had our reconnect and it was a learning experience for both ourselves and the PC staff. Anyway here are a few pictures of my adventures since I moved to site. Also very exciting news, I will be moving into my new apartment in less then 3 days with Katie living next to me. Fun fun. We are both excited!

Places:

Machala, Cambios, Zaruma, the island of Jambeli and Tumbaco for Reconnect.

First few weeks on site:

These are pictures from my trip to Zaruma, El Oro with my two English teachers. Beautiful city.

My 26 Birthday Party! Best Ecua-birthday I will never forget :) <3

First Halloween (cultural day) with my students! I painted their faces and had a blast giving out candy.

OMNIBUS 106 RECONNECT November 2011

And I wanted to say I have had 2 great host families here in Ecuador and I am so happy to have meet them. <3My Machala family! Host mum, Katie, and Benja!

My Tumbaco Family!!! <3

until next time :)Ciao.....

So I will make this short because I need to pack....

My site is called Machala, it is a coastal city with a large population and is known for being the Banana Capital of the world. I will be with 2 other PCVs from my Omnibus (Omnibus 106) Katie and Ben in the same site. Also we will have 4 other PCVs that live near our site.

I am ecstatic about my site and cant wait to get to my community tomorrow!

Will update when I get back from site next week.

So I know I have not been updating my blog as much as I would like to and this is due to, A. I am tired everyday B. I am busy everyday C. I have a social life. Haha. But now I will update you all with everything that has happened so far…

Entonces empezamos con ....

Week 2 - We had a very busy week. Well for week 3 we ended up covering safety and security, a bit of tech training, and visiting the Quito office. The PC office is pretty awesome. We had a good time getting a short tour of the place and meeting the staff. We also got to meet some PCVs that were in town. In the weekend, we had an amazing time learning and visiting the small Afro-Ecuadorian town called Mascarilla. The community was amazing. They were so friendly and just fun loving people. We had a great time playing futbol and other games with the kids. We (a group of us) got in trouble when we went for a night walk around town without communicating our plans to our host families (we stayed with host families for the weekend). Well I still think our night excursion was worth getting into trouble. This town is pretty quiet and beautiful at night. We danced la bomba, learned to make clay masks, got to have some traditional foods, and got some historical background info. It was a nice experience getting to know others trainees and getting some cultural experiences under our belts.Mascarilla

Week -3 – This was a hard week for all of us. We had some stressful moments, some moments when people were acting childish, and some moments were we all got fed up with everything and everyone. However, everything is fine now. But it was a hell of a week. All we did was tech, security and health training. We started on our Malaria meds this week as well, which we will take for the rest of our stay in Ecuador (if we are placed in a malaria zona).

Week 4 -Tech Trip! We (TEFL group) were divided into two groups, one going to Santa Elena near the coast and another going to Santo Domingo near Quito. One group was all ladies the other was the bros’ group. We had a great start (I was in the all ladies group). We took a trip to Santo Domingo, which is about 5 hours by bus. The activities we did there were; Co-teaching in a classroom, went to visit a small pueblo outside the city, went to visit the Tsachilas village outside Santo Domingo, went to a fair, went out dancing, and went to the market. We had a great time co-teaching and getting hands on experiences with Ecuadorian students, however, the city was not what we expected. We were hoping for a cleaner place and more variety in food selection. At the end of our trip we were ready to go home and spend some time with our host familes. Although I must say I had a great time getting to know our program manager, she is an amazing woman. Also we got to be in the gay pride parade in Quito, which was the most fun we have had since our cultural trips. :)

Small town outside Santo Domingo

Los Tsachilas!

At the high school in Santo Domingo

Gay pride parade!

Week 5 - Oh this week was such a fun week for all of us. We celebrated 4th of July with juegos and lots of yummy foods! One of our fellow TEFL people got sent home because of an injury. We all miss you William, hope you get better soon and come back pronto! We had some sick days this week; most of us were/are sick from our tech trips. I was one of the lucky few to get some gastrointestinal illness. I had friends in my tummy (amoebas)!!!! Yay I feel so lucky L …. However, I had no clue about my tummy friends until Monday the 11th. So I was sick last Tuesday (July 5th) had a sick day went home got better and on Sunday, after a fun adventure in the cloud forest, I got sick again. We were also stressed out because of our LPIs (language tests) and our site interviews (this is when they decide where they will place us for the next 2 years). About the cloud forest, it was gorgeous! We went zip lining through the ecological reserve, where this family of biologist and horticulturalists live. They are trying to maintain this eco-system and trying to start projects for the preservation of the cloud forest. Amazing individuals! I had such a great time hiking and zip lining that I would want to do it again soon. Anyway had a great weekend even though I was sick.

GO TEFL TEAM!

THIS WEEK (WEEK 6) – OH boy, were to start. I went home on Monday because of my tummy friends. Had a grand time trying to rest when all my body wanted to do is go to the bathroom. And we have one day before they tell us where we will be for the next 2 years! Exciting as hell! I can’t wait to learn where I will be and with who. See we as TEFL (teaching English as a foreign language) group gets to share a school with another volunteer. So we get to work with another volunteer from the same Omnibus J fun, fun, fun! Can’t wait to know with who and where we will be placed at.

So that is the update of my month here in Ecuador. It has been quite the adventure so far. I have made great friends and have visited beautiful places. I can’t wait to go to my site and see who my counterparts are and just get a feeling for my community.

Well that is all, I will definitely update manana when I know my site!!!!! Bueno entonces Wish me luck!

I can honestly say I love Ecuador. It is amazing. Everything is pleasantly beautiful the smell, the sights, the people, and the food. Although I have not tried a lot of the local food yet, my host family has been kind enough to make some delicious and light dishes for me.

We traveled all day Thursday (starting at 1am) and arrived in Ecuador at 6pm local time.

Waiting in New York airport for our first flight

So we arrived finally Thursday afternoon in la ciudada (the city) of Quito, Ecuador. We spent Thursday night to Saturday morning in the Training center in a town called Tumbaco 30 to 40 minutes outside Quito. We were greeted by our Cuerpo de Paz (peace corps) Ecuadorian team, whom might I add are very nice and friendly. We stayed in dorms and spent most of Friday learning what we are expected to do in the next stage of our journeys. We will be training 12 weeks in Tumbaco PC center and staying with our host families learning the traditional cultural customs and getting adjusted to speaking Spanish. The center is this huge place that has multiple dorm rooms and classrooms. We are the first group ever to stay overnight, so it was an adventure for both the staff and us.

We meet our host families yesterday. My host family is amazing. They brought me home and took me around town after I got myself settled in. We went into town and also went to Quito. IT was so beautiful. I have a host-mother (Patricia), host-father, two host-sisters (Juana y Carla) and one host-brother (Carlos). They act just like my aunts, uncles, and cousins from Bolivia so I get along with them just fine. My host-mother is very welcoming and very very motherly. My host-sister Carla is 12 years old and is such a cute little girl, she spent all afternoon yesterday helping me unpack and talking to me about her favorite music and sports teams. My host-bother Carlos talked to me about sports as well and wanted to know more about Arizona. He plays university soccer and is studying Economics at the university. My host-sister Juana wasn't around much yesterday, she is taking classes to pass the university entrance exam. She is only 17 years old and already aspiring to be a doctor. My host-parents both were asking many questions about life in the States and my families background. It has been fun getting to know them as well as practicing my Spanish.

This my host-family backyard. Also the view from my room :)

Oh yes I do have internet access, my host-family has wifi! So if you have Skype please for the love of god add me to yours just contact me through here (email me) or FB.

Mucho love!

I will be in Ecuador in less then 10 hours. This still hasn't sinked in.

Today we had staging and it was an amazing experience. We have 62 PC trainees in my group! All heading to do some amazing work with health, TEFL (teaching English), and youth development.

I wish I could write more but I have to re-pack and figure out what to pack for my day pack. I will be spending three days in Tumbaco for our arrival activities/events and meeting our host families for the first time.

Good news people, I will have a cellphone for emergencies! but no text : ( ....Also I will have limited access to internet so it might be a while before I get back to you! So please don't stop talking to me : )

If you are feeling like you want to send me some love please send mail to:

Andrea GoodrichCuerpo de Paz, Casilla 17-08-86-24Quito, Ecuador

NO PACKAGES DURING MY PRE-SERVICE TRAINING (which is until August 18th 2011)

I will have a different address after my pre-training is done and I am placed in my site, so keep those awesome things you want to send me until later! But do send me some lovely letters and post cards I will need them to make this transition easier =)

I do miss my parental units and my brother. I hope I get to see you in Ecuador sometime soon!

Also I miss these people so so so very much! I did not know how much I would miss you all until I left

Go us! hehe

Love you x 3.1467921923923982.......

And I will miss many others as well, even if I did not get to see you as much. =)

And I will miss my cupcake ;) ... I will always miss you.

So this month started out very stressful for me. I had a bit of a scare because of my passport issue. However, it has all been resolved, with the help of an amazing clerk. He was very helpful and nice to me. :)

Today I finally made my flight reservations for my staging. I will be leaving May 31st at 7am to Philadelphia, PA and will be there until June 1st. I will be making my way down to Ecuador June 2nd at 10am in the morning and will be arriving in the city of Quito at 5pm! I am so so so so excited about this.

Now all I have to focus on is fitting my life in 2 suitcases and a carry-on for the next 2 years! I also have to pack and sell a lot of the excess stuff I have accumulated in the past 5 years. I am not looking forward to this last bit at all.

Well that is all. I will write more once I am heading to PA and when I am settled in Ecuador.

YAY! Finally things are moving forward!!!

Ecuador- Galapagos islands not in the pictureThis is my one Month Count down until I leave to Ecuador!

Well it has finally happened I got my assignment and it will be in Ecuador! woot! - This was my reaction about 2 weeks ago when I got the news from Peace Corps.

Now this is how I am feeling -

"What have a gotten myself into!??!?!!" is as of right now on my mind 24/7. I haven't yet gotten that "OMG I will be gone for 27 months and will not see any of my family and friends for a long time" feeling. Not yet. I have gotten more of an overwhelming feeling of "I need things done now!" than anything else. I NEED to start packing, paying bills, and getting ready to leave. I will say this- I am excited, thrilled, sad, scared, overwhelmed, scared! (with emphasis), just in awe that my medical stuff went through, Afraid to fail, and over all excited to be part of Peace Corps. I have a lot of thinking to do in the Month ahead before departing. I also am going over my assignment, looking it over and over and over again. My role will be to train and advise teachers, students, and community members in basic teaching methods and concepts and teaching them English. To be more precise, I will be teaching English at a university level. I am so petrified to teach to a large group of people that are really expecting me to know everything there is to know. I am afraid to fail in teaching them or worse to fail in serving the community I am assigned to. Some fears, I cannot change but I can stop obsessing over them by gladly entertaining myself with good company (My amazing friends <3) and creating things like this blog!

Anyway, if you want to know what I am going to be doing please check out this pdf - http://www.peacecorps.gov/welcomebooks/ecwb518.pdf . I need to figure out what to take, the list they gave us of items we should THINK of taking is huge! I mean holy s*$t huge! Check it out:

General ClothingOne or two pairs of nice pantsOne to four pairs of heavy work pants or jeans (agriculture and habitat conservation Volunteers usuallyneed more and health and youth Volunteers usually need less; anything over a women’s size 8 is difficult to find locally) Six T-shirts or short-sleeved polo shirts (T-shirts are readily available in Ecuador unless you need something larger than XL)One or two dress outfits for occasional formal meetingsThree or more long-sleeved shirtsTwo to four pairs of shorts (not too short) or capris (quick-dry are the best option)12 or more pairs of cotton underwear One or two pairs of long underwear or other clothes to layer (bring items that are easy to wash by hand)12 pairs of good-quality socks (lower-quality socks are available)One or two pairs of heavy wool socksTwo or more sweatshirts, sweaters, or fleecesOne warm jacketOne waterproof windbreaker or ponchoOne pair of heavy work gloves (agriculture and habitat conservation Volunteers)Athletic clothing for working outOne or two bathing suitsOne or two sun hats, visors, or caps with a bill

WomenSix or more brasOne or two nice dresses or modest sundresses (read above)Two or more tank topsSkirts can be a great alternative to shorts, as shorts are often culturally unacceptable outside of sports and the beach. Also keep in mind that longer skirts are more acceptable

ShoesTwo pairs of tennis or running shoesOne pair of good-quality hiking/work boots (agriculture and conservation Volunteers)One or two pairs of comfortable dress shoesOne pair of flip-flops (decent local brands are $2-$5), sandals (easily purchased locally), or sturdy sandalsOne pair of rain/mud boots (sizes under 10 available locally and are inexpensive)It is difficult to find men’s shoe sizes over 10 and women’s shoe sizes over 8

Personal Hygiene and Toiletry ItemsShampoo and other toiletries are readily available in Ecuador Contact lens solutions and extra cases and travel bottles (available in larger cities, but much more expensive than in the United States)Tampons (expensive and difficult to find, except in main cities). An alternate option is a menstrual cupMakeup (U.S. brands are expensive here). Good quality sunscreen and bug-spray. You can find the basic brands down here, but if you are particular about either sunscreen or bug-spray, better to bring your preferential brand

MiscellaneousSleeping bag (Depending on the Volunteer and if he or she travels a lot, sleeping bags can be helpful, butare far from necessary. They are, however, expensive on the local market)Sheets (full size is recommended) and pillowcases (available locally, but are expensive and low quality)One shower towel (expensive on the local market)Towels (note: camping towels fold up small and dry quick)Camara and film (expensive locally)Portable music player and good quality headphonesGuitar or other musical instrument (if you play)Charger and rechargeable batteriesSunglasses (important to have with UV protection)Wide-colored markers and other art supplies (available locally, but expensive)Decorations for your room or apartment (e.g., posters, maps, and postcards of your hometown)Favorite books and “how-to” books with illustrations (some Volunteers teach English formally or informally)Flea collars, if you plan to have a petEquipment for hobbies, such as sewing patterns (expensive and hard to find in Ecuador) and musical instruments (you can buy a good handmade guitar in Ecuador)Favorite games, Frisbee, foam footballs, word games, etc. Knapsack or day pack (very important)Medium-size backpack or duffel bag for weekend travel (available locally, but expensive)Photos of family and friends (important) to show host familyPillow, if you have a favorite one Small flashlight or headlampSmall pocket calendar or daily planner Pocket knife or multi-tool (highly recommended)Good quality water bottleDuct tapeAt least one good quality kitchen knife.Ethnic spices (e.g., Indian) from the States if you plan to cook a lotTravel alarm and watch (nothing flashy or expensive)Small tool kit (available locally, but expensive so only bring if you would normally use one)USB flash driveHair dryer (if you use one frequently in the States)Laptop (useful for work purposes and tracking progress and activities throughout service, but not required) Keep in mind I can only take two luggage (together they cant exceed 80pds), a small carry on, and my laptop bag. This is going to be interesting.

And then I took a look at my closet and thought, "oh my goodness I cant possibly pack all of this in 2 bags and not exceed 80 freaken pds!!!" In the past 5 years living here in Tucson I have accumulated too much clothing items and SHOES. Oh well I need to go through it all and just get rid of things that I have not utilized in the past 6 months.

I also have another to do list but I will not post that on here. Not because it is personal or anything just because it is scattered in notepads and post-it notes. I don't feel like rounding up all these little pieces of paper and compiling them into a massive list, I know I will have to do it at some point soon enough or chaos will take over.

I hope to keep up with this blog as much as possible as the time approaches when my new and exciting journey begins and as it unfolds. I will try my hardest to post on here and to also post pictures :) I know everyone enjoys having a visual to go along with a story.

Ciao for now!