ET isn’t just a movie anymore… its now my status as a Peace Corps Volunteer. I made the very difficult decision this week to end my service as a volunteer in Ecuador and return home to the United States. ET = Early Termination.

Let me start by saying that in no way is my ET a reflection of Peace Corps, Ecuador, nor of the community in which I was living. My community is a peaceful place and the people here are great. Ecuador is a wonderful country and I am amazed daily by how beautiful it is. Definitely somewhere that I think people should visit. And the Peace Corps… I was continuously impressed by the service the organization provides not only to the people of the world, but also to its volunteers. Whatever issue a volunteer may have, there is someone on staff that can, and is willing to, help. It may just be one of the better run agencies of the US government :D.

So why ET? I can give you a hundred reasons that have gone through my head in the last couple of months. But it really comes down to three main reasons. 1) I’m not happy. I know all volunteers go through rough times, but I decided that in the long run, my happiness is more important than anything else. I promised myself that years ago, and I must stick with it. 2) My mom has been sick over the last couple of months and I feel the need to at least be back in the states in case anything happens; I can be in constant contact and be able to get home quickly. 3) I think the work volunteers do is great and I think not only PC volunteers, but those with all programs make great impacts in the communities they serve, and their work should never be overlooked. However, I think that for a lot of people in these communities, what they need more than a gringo coming in is for their government to step up and do its job. Many of these people are lacking basic services, including water and food. I think it’s the role of the government to provide these services and give their citizens a basic standard of living. And while I think volunteers can help in that, I think a role better suited for me is to work in the government sector, where my passion is, and help people from a different perspective. (This would be an appropriate time to remind you that these are my personal views, not those of Peace Corps or the US government.)

So what does that mean for me now? I’ll head back to South Dakota to spend time with my mom and the rest of my family and then eventually head back out to my true home, Washington. I plan to get back into the political field, although the job market really will determine in what aspect. After all, next year is an election year and it’s looking pretty good for the Democrats… so hopefully that will help in the search.

I wanted you to all hear this news straight from me as well as my reasons for leaving Ecuador, as we all know how gossip is spread so quickly. Thank you to everyone that has provided support to me over the last 3 months. Your kindness hasn’t gone unnoticed, I truly appreciate it. I look forward to seeing those of you in the states upon my return and I wish the best of luck to my fellow Omnibus 98’ers and the rest of the PC family.

Amor y Paz,

Stacie

The last week has been more of the same here in my site. Last weekend we had yet another inauguration of a community’s new electrical system. This time the community was further out into the rainforest, so I got to see more of the beautiful landscape of Ecuador. It still amazes me every time. When we got to the community, a couple of the women wanted to show me the waterfall that is not far from the community. It had been raining for much of the morning (what a surprise anymore), so climbing up the side of a mountain was again, really difficult for the gringa. At one point I was nearly facedown in the mud. Luckily one of the women saw me and gave me a hand up the mountain. Once again, the waterfall did not fail to impress. I just can’t get over how beautiful nature can be. After the trip up and down the mountain… we hung out for a while as the rain got even harder. As soon there was a letup, the futbol/soccer games started. One of the women from the municipal’s team had gotten injured the night before in their game and was unable to play. The best solution for that—throw the gringa out there! Keep in mind it had been raining for most of the day and was currently still raining. We were playing in mud. What a mess, but so much fun! Our team ended up losing to some teenagers from another community, but I have to say, that the one goal our team did score, it was by an assist from me. So while I was rusty from not having played for a couple 8 years, I still had some skills. Sunday afternoon I went for a run around town… and ended up stopping over at the “host family’s” house. My host sister was going to play basketball with some of her friends, so I joined her. Keep in mind that as a 5’9-10” girl, I was by far the tallest person on the court. I used this to my advantage as much as possible. I was able to get rebounds a whole lot easier than the others and was able to shoot without being blocked. It also became a joke throughout the game. There was one point that I put my hands on the shoulders of one of the guys that was playing (he couldn’t have been taller than 5’4-5”) and moved him out of my way. I may be a gordita and I may be tall, but neither of those things are negative in my mind and I use it as an advantage. Sunday night I ended up sitting outside of my counterpart’s “Burguer”/restaurant and talking to him and his wife. At one point, we were sitting there when a man came over to say hello to my counterpart. My counterpart introduced me as a volunteer from the Cuerpo de Paz. This man went off about the US and how it is not okay that I am able to freely come to their country, having minimal issues getting a visa, while someone like him cannot get a visa to get to the states easily. Especially because he is poor and indigenous. This was the first time that I had been subjected to someone being so anti-US to my face. Luckily I wasn’t ignorant to the fact that people believe exactly what this man was saying (hell, I agree with a lot of what he was saying) so I was able to take it in stride. After the man finally left, my counterpart and I had a conversation about US immigration policies. We got into the conversation because he couldn’t understand why the US would want to build a wall between the US and Mexico. I won’t get into my personal beliefs here, but it was an interesting conversation to have with someone from a completely different life perspective. The most exciting part of my weekend was what happened after the Burguer closed. My counterpart, his wife, and some other people and I walked over to the park after they closed up the restaurant to watch part of a presentation that was in the park. We had been there for maybe 10 minutes when I started to feel a little sick, as if I needed to throw up. I was thinking of a way to excuse myself from the group so I could go home and be in peace, when it hit me. My stomach got really upset, I got really weak and a little jittery, my knees nearly gave out, my vision got blurry, and then left completely. Just in time, I was able to explain to my counterpart that I wasn’t feeling well, and grabbed his arm to stable myself. I got sat down on the curb, where I was a lot more stable. I still felt horrible, but at least at that point, if I‘d passed out, I would have had a shorter distance to fall. The mayor/my host dad came to pick me up in his car and brought me back to his house, where I was able to convince everyone that I didn’t need a doctor to come, but only after I had talked to the PC nurse and she told me just to get some sleep. I slept at my host family’s house (where the roosters still are out of control)… but woke up just as sick as I went to bed. At the advice of the PC nurse, I spent all of today at home in bed, having just recently gotten up and moved to the kitchen table. One thing I would never wish upon anyone… even people I really hated (and we know how I feel about that word)… is intestinal cramps. They are worst experience I have ever lived through. So it’s not an official disease like the amoebas were, but I think nearly fainting in the town’s central park should make the list of health-type experiences that I’ve lived through. So mark that one down, Melanie. Now that I’ve been up for a couple 2 ½ hours… its time to finish up some research for work tomorrow… and then head back to bed. Hopefully tomorrow I’ll wake up refreshed and ready to start my week.

Hey everyone. Check your email for something from me... I forgot the ¨Ecuador, South America¨ part of the mailing address I sent out. This is actually kind of important for sending mail!

Also, if you find that your not getting the emails and you should be... check your SPAM folder. For some people, my emails have been going there.

Hope everything is well where you are at!

Hasta luego.

Stacie

Last weekend I went to a community not far from mine that was inaugurating their new electricity that they have recently got. The first thing I noticed was that this community, out in the middle of the rainforest, had more cell phone service than my much bigger community. I thought that wasn’t fair. But that’s not the point. This inauguration celebration was a pretty typical Ecuadorian event. We sat around at first talking. I met some of the kids and they spent an hour asking me how to say words in English. Some of the community leaders gave speeches. I learned that this quest for electricity began back in 1977. They have been fighting for electricity for 30 years, unbelievable. There was the “yes, we know there is a gringa here, she’s with us and here’s her story… she’s not as sketchy as you may think” speech. Then there was lunch – soup, a pile of rice with a piece of chicken, a couple fried pieces of pork, and then a small small portion of tomatoes. Of course you can’t forget the plate of yucca in the center of the table for all to share. And the spoon. All meals are served with a spoon. One of my personal goals for the two years is to learn how to cut meat with a spoon… because its hard. But I digress.. However, an Ecuadorian gathering wouldn’t be complete without the liquor and beer. After lunch (3/4 of which I took home for future meals), they broke out the crates of beer and a drink they call leche del tigre (milk of the tiger). The beer was typical Pilsner (similar to PBR in the states, and the more popular of the two beers they have to offer here). The leche del tigre was a mixture of milk and rum. I was not a fan at all… and it seemed that many people didn’t enjoy it.. so the mystery remains on why they still drink it. When Ecuadorians start to drink though, they also start to dance. Being one of very few women that were not preparing/cleaning up from lunch, and being the token gringa in the group, all the men wanted to dance with me. Let’s clear one thing up: I can’t dance. Period. To music in the states, to music in Argentina, to music in the Sierra of Ecuador (okay, maybe I can do the campo shuffle—but really, who can’t?), nor to music in the Amazon of Ecuador. I love to listen to music, but I can’t find the rhythm with my body to save my life. Well let me tell you, the Ecuadorians LOVE it. They love how the white girl has no rhythm when all of them were born dancing. They also love that although I can’t dance, I still do dance. There were embarrassing pictures taken, there were funny looks and lots of laughing. But I was laughing right along with them. You can’t get your feelings hurt if you think it is just as funny as they do. So I made some new contacts and people in the community think I’m sociable and have a great attitude. One point for the gringa integration.

Saturday later-afternoon I was hanging out in the park reading when one of my co-workers came running though. She is/was part of a “indoor” futbol team that was playing that night. Turns out there is a little league that is set up. Her team was actually the muncipal’s team, so there were other people I knew playing. They were playing women from a community not far from here… and although we lost, they put up a tough fight. Two observations from the game: One: Indoor futbol doesn’t necessarily mean that its inside of a building… this game was played in the basketball court of the park. Maybe because it wasn’t on a regular field it was “indoor”? and Two: the women played with canvass shoes on and no guards of any kind. Maybe it’s just the culture, but ouch. And they wondered why their legs were covered in bruises by the end of the game.

The rest of my time is either spent in the office or integrating myself into the community. I haven’t been as good as I would like to be at “Whipping it out”… but I’m working on it. After the dancing event on Saturday, I have finally made good relations with the lady at one of the stores by the park. We had a good conversation as I was buying some of the basic necessities I needed to make dinner one night. I met a nun that lives in town when the lady at the pharmacy told me that she sells the medicine that the PC nurses sent me looking for. I didn’t realize that when the lady at the pharmacy said “hermanitas” (“sisters”) that she actually meant hermanitas as in nuns. Boy was that a surprise.

I went to the sub-centro de salud (clinic) today to introduce myself and give them the PC list of numbers in case there is an emergency. I’m hopefully going to be doing something with them during my time here… after all, I am a health volunteer. We’ll see when the director/head doctor comes back from his conference next week.

A few other thoughts:

**Alert the media: I have discovered the reason for the droughts in the US Midwest. The rainforest stole all the water. I can not even explain how much rain I have seen in the last 24 hours. Downpours that prevent you from seeing across the street… that last for hours. I’m not sure there has been a day that it hasn’t rained. You wake up to it, you go to work in it, you come home for lunch in it, and its still raining into the evening. I tried explaining to a couple of my coworkers this morning that people in my part of the US would do anything to have rain like this. That we have droughts which hurt the crops. One woman’s response was that people here know how lucky and special their country is for getting all the rain and how better their agriculture is because of it.

**I´m starting to believe that my community is more interested in getting me a husband and family during my two years than actually what I was sent here to do... I think it was something about health?

**I have banana trees in by backyard and chickens that run around everywhere. If you´re looking for the chicks, they are probably in my front yard. But the pig? You´ll have to walk behind all the banana trees.

Signing off from the jungle,

Stacie

I arrived Monday evening to my site after traveling for 24 hours. My host mom offered to pick me up from Loja, which is about 5 hours on a bus from Santa Ana (I think that’s what I decided to call my site… alas, it is now). I was so happy to not have to take another bus, especially with all of my suitcases that I jumped at the offer. The 5 hours by bus turned into 9 by truck. We stopped in Zamora, the capital of my province to do some work at the provincial Department of Education. My host dad happened to be passing though Zamora after doing some work in another city, so he hooked up with us as well. We then had lunch, more work, and finally, hours later, we headed out. However, as I woke up from one of my numerous naps in the truck (if you know me at all, I can’t stay awake ever, especially in moving vehicles) I realized that we were arriving in a community that is about an hour drive from my site, the community I went to visit in August. Unfortunately, the volunteer that lives in this community was on his way to Quito when I called him, so we weren’t able to meet up. Finally, we arrived in my site. I was so excited to be there that about an hour after arriving, I was already in bed.

The last couple of days have been pretty good. My counterpart is on vacation this week, so I don’t have much to actually do around the office and we’ve been unable to actually plan what my goals should be. I’m having a meeting on Friday with the health promoters to discuss what topics they want me to support them with and work out a schedule for when I will be traveling with them to the outside communities. Then on Monday I will have a meeting with my counterpart and discuss these plans and solidify what my job will actually entail. But because none of this has happened yet, I have essentially been hanging around the office; awkwardly sitting by people and making them talk to me and using the internet whenever no one is on the one computer in the office that has access. The question that remains to be answered… is now me, of all people, got the job that starts at 7:30am? All municipal employees show up for work at 7:30am, break at 12:30pm for lunch, return at 2pm and then leave for the day at 5:30pm.

Outside of work time, I have successfully been the awkward gringa. My omnibus has the motto: “Whip it out… and get some”, which referred to being outgoing, going up to people and introducing ourselves (A Texas university, Texas A&M maybe, uses this motto and apparently everyone knows everyone and school spirit is extremely high. Our trainer went to this school so is all about it.). Let me tell you, Whipping it Out is harder than it seems. Not only am I complete stranger to these people, but I’m also a foreigner, and I also lack the ability to speak their language with fluidly. Add to that the fact that I am shy… and well, we don’t have much whipping it out happening. I’m working on it. I know it will take some time, but eventually I will integrate into this community and people will like me, because, well, how could they not?

One point of information, I don’t have cell phone service in my site unless I’m standing on the roof of my house (which, don’t happen all that often, surprisingly). We’re suppose to be getting a tower “ya mismo”… but I’m not holding my breath. A language/cultural lesson (this is 1/3 of the PC mission... for me to tell you about the culture here)… Ya mismo can roughly translates to mean already/right now/soon. In Ecuadorian culture (and maybe other Spanish speaking countries, I’m not sure)… it actually means sometime in the future. Mix these together and you could reasonably assume it means sometime in the near future. So theoretically we should have cell phone service in the next month or two. Well, if you reasonably assumed this, you would be wrong, at least partially. Ya mismo here in Ecuador means anything ranging from five minutes from now to never happening (or at least happening so far in the future that we’re around to see it). So ya mismo we’ll have cell phone service could mean that we’ll have it by the end of the year, by the end of my service here, or by the time my grandkids are born. So I’m hoping for a shorter time, but I’m not holding my breath.

The question I leave you with is this: How does one dry her clothes on an outdoor clothesline when she lives in the rainforest and it rains at least twice a day? (It’s a question I must propose to someone here soon… I’m running out of clean clothes and my clothes just won’t get dry on the clothesline.)

It’s official: I’m a Peace Corps Volunteer.

On Tuesday morning I headed to Quito to begin a week of meetings. The best thing about being in Quito is the fact that they have non-Ecuadorian food. It is nice to have something else to eat besides rice and potatoes. Throughout the week we ate Indian, Mexican, and really good American food. Sure, it’s more expensive than typical Ecuadorian food...but really, it was worth every penny. Both Saturday and Sunday morning we went out for American breakfast… pancakes, omlettes, bacon, etc… I was so full that I was uncomfortable for most of the day.

Anyway, Friday was the swearing-in ceremony for Omnibus 98 -- Peace Corps Ecuador now has 45 new volunteers. The actual ceremony was held at the residence of the US Ambassador… which is really nice. She (the ambassador) reminded us that whenever we are in Quito, we, as PC Volunteers, have access to the swimming pool and tennis courts that are there. You better believe that I’ll be hitting that up when I get a chance. After the ceremony we had a reception which included bagels, another exciting and rare food (why is this whole entry about the food??) As a tradition, the training group that is sworn in throws a party for not only themselves, but for all the volunteers that come up to Quito for the occasion. We went a really cute bar and had a lot of fun. From what I’ve heard, the other volunteers enjoyed it. By 4:30am we decided that it was time to head home, as we had to be up early enough to make brunch.

With each group that swears in as volunteers, 3 members of that group are elected to be members of the Volunteer Advisory Committee. I was one of the members selected from my group. I’m actually really excited for this… having an active role in the Peace Corps, in addition to my actual work in my community. The committee holds meetings a couple times a year in Quito… which will get me out of the south of the country once and a while.

Tonight (in about 4 ½ hours)… I get on a bus to head to the community where I’ll spend the next two years. I’ll get there tomorrow afternoon, after nearly 20 hours on a bus. While I’m not looking forward to the bus ride, I am really excited to get to my community and start the integration process. There is a lot of paperwork I have to complete for PC in the first couple of weeks… so really I’m going to be busy with that. I did find out, however, that the city that I have to go to to check my mail (snail mail) is only 3 hours away instead of 5… so that’s pretty exciting. A trip every couple of weeks to the city will be plenty.

I’m off now to finish packing my bags and then meet up with the other girls I’m traveling the first 13 hours with. We’ll see how this goes. I have all of the stuff that I packed 3 months ago plus everything I’ve accumulated over the months to carry without assistance through a scary bus terminal. Wish me luck.

P.S…. I posted some new pictures on facebook yesterday… so check them out!

This week has been pretty typical of Peace Corps training. We spent most of our time in our training community in Spanish classes. We were studying the subjunctive and even worse: the imperfect subjunctive. The English language does not utilize this form very often and I sure don’t remember learning it in any English class that I took in all my years of school. This makes it even more difficult to study in another language because there isn’t a simple translation to clarify things. Regardless… slowly but surely the concept is making sense. Now if only I could use it without great difficulties in daily conversation. We also watched a Mexican movie, “Cicatrices” (“Scars”). This movie discusses domestic violence. Essentially, the man beats the woman, the woman uses self defense, files for divorce, the couple’s child rides his bike off the house’s roof, cracks his head open and dies, the couple gets divorced, the man turns to god and changes himself, the couple gets back together, and the movie ends with the woman getting pregnant. The reaction of my training group to this movie was overall negative. The issue of domestic violence is real here in Ecuador, as it is in the US and all parts of the world. The message this movie gives is that even though a man beats his wife, over time he can change and everything will be fine. While that would be nice, and ideal, it’s not reality. Most abusive relationships do not end like this. 800 million women lose their lives as a result of abusive relationships, often at the hands of their spouse/boyfriend/whoever. The worst part is that this movie is shown in schools to young kids to discuss domestic violence.

Friday was our last day of our technical training. We learned about Community Assessment Tools (CAT tools). For once in my life… it seems like part of my $200,000 GW education is going to be put into practical use. Essentially I will be observing and conducting interviews in my community in order to gather data about the community both for their information and also to assist the work that I will be doing over the years. As we were discussing the tools, all I could think about was sitting in PSC 104, Research Methods, thinking how useless it was to learn most of the techniques for collecting data and the like. Now I’m actually really excited to collect this information, produce a report, and then present about it when the omnibus gets together again in January. It will also be nice, 2 years from now, to be able to show potential employers that in addition to the direct work I did in my community, I learned a skill that can legitimately be transferred to work in the political sector.

The highlight of my week quite possibly could be the fact I received a care package from my mom. In addition to the practical stuff that I had requested, she sent me pictures of home (some from graduation… but also literally of our house, so I won’t forget what home looks like J). Best of all though were the Swedish Fish and Reese’s Pieces. It’s not that the candy here isn’t good… it is… but there is nothing like the comfort foods from home. It took me hours to even consider opening a package of candy… because it is so special I don’t want to waste them. Oh how priorities have changed over the months.

So here we are… the week that we’ve been working so hard for. Week 10. Tuesday we leave for Quito. Friday is swearing-in. Sunday I leave for my site in order to get there by Monday afternoon. And then I’ll finally be settled. In addition to my work in the community, providing technical assistance in the area of health, there are two other sections of the Peace Corps mission. One includes improving the understanding of other people and cultures on the part of Americans and the other includes improving the understanding of American culture on the part of other people. These are the part of the mission that people often don’t know or forget about, but the part that I am excited to perform the most. Not many people can discount the fact that the image of the US on the part of the world as a whole is not the best. People often get the wrong idea about the US as a result of our government’s foreign policy over the years. As a result, it is important to inform and educate the world that the people of the US are not necessarily representative of the government in all aspects. But in addition to that, I believe that the people of the US (as a generalization, not everyone) are ignorant to the people and cultures of the rest of the world. By me sharing my experience and other volunteers sharing their experiences, we can only hope to educated the people of the US of the huge world we live in and how (in my opinion) all people and all cultures have something to share to the world as a whole.

So there’s that. The next update will probably be coming from Quito, after I’m officially a volunteer. Keep an eye out for an email from me this week with my new contact information. If you don’t get it, shoot me an email and I’ll make sure to forward it to you.

It recently came to my attention that people were concerned about my well-being after the earthquake in Peru this past week. Rest assured that everything is fine here in Ecuador. The worst we had were a few tsunami warnings for the beach areas. I´m alive and doing well. Thank you for the concern!

Until next week,

Stacie

They are slow to be posted... but my photos are starting to be uploaded here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/11733792@N07/

Friday was the 2-month mark since I arrived in Miami for our pre-departure training. Tomorrow is the 2-month mark since I arrived in Ecuador. (For those keeping track, with two months down I have 25 more to go) It really doesn’t seem like it has been that long, yet at the same time it seems like I’ve been here for a long time. Having been two months means that it is almost that special moment: when I (along with the rest of Omnibus 98) am sworn in as a Peace Corps Volunteer. This coming week I’ll still be in my training community living with my host family but the week after I’ll travel back to Quito for a couple of days of meetings. After swear-in, I’ll travel all 20 hours and officially move into the community in which I’ll be living and working for the next 2 years. I am more excited than I am able to express in words. It will be nice to settle. As a result of moving to my site… the mailing address I gave you back in June will no longer be valid. If you have already sent something to me, great. If you haven’t but plan to, please hold off until I get my new address. Once I have this new information, I’m going to be sending a mass email with my address, my new phone number, and other more personal information I can’t post in the blog. If you didn’t get my first mass email and want to make sure you receive future emails (they are definitely not frequent, only when there is information that I can’t post online), please leave me a comment with your email address and I’ll be sure to add you.

Okay, enough with that. This last week I went on another technical trip. We headed back to the jungle (excuse me: tropical rainforest). Despite the fact I have mosquito bites all over my ankle area, the trip was pretty good. The first day our final destination was Archidona in the Napo province. However, our bus broke down along the side of the highway about an hour outside of Quito and we spent two hours entertaining ourselves in everyway possible. Finally a new bus came to pick us up and we continued on our way. Instead of transferring buses to Archidona, we decided to spend the night about 2 hours away in a really cute town in an amazing hostel.

This is when I have to break off onto a little tangent. The hotel we stayed in had an amenity like no other: hot water. I had forgotten how amazing it is to take a shower with hot water. The electric shower that heats up water as it is coming through the spout does take the intense coldness off the water and sometimes does get pretty hot… but it will never compare to a legitimate hot shower. Over the last two months I have mastered the art of short showers. However this one particular morning I spent an entire half-hour showering in hot water. It was amazing. I have never felt so clean. When you live in a country like the US you take for granted simple things like hot showers. My life here is really not that hard, but do remember me when you’re taking your hot shower every morning. Remember that for some of us it is a very rare commodity.

Anyway, back to the trip. We essentially spend the week learning about tropical diseases, particularly malaria, dengue, and chagas. The place we spent the rest of the week functions as a health center for expectant mothers, often indigenous women. A group of midwives run the center and provide traditional pre- and post- natal care as well as perform births. It was really interesting to learn the traditions of these women and their work as midwives. We also visited various health centers and branches of the health ministry to learn more about the tropical disease situation here in Ecuador. With the likelihood for a return of El Nino this year, the probability of working directly with these diseases is high, so it was interesting to hear what the federal and provincial governments are doing to help the situation.

Overall, the trip was good but I´m glad to be back ¨home¨. I´ll be even happier when I´m settled into my community and I can start living my life here in Ecuador.

That´s all for now. If you´re on facebook--check out the pictures I posted last week. Hopefully I´ll be able to upload some from my recent trips.

--Stacie

First.... the picture I promised you all last entry... of me milking a cow. Hot, no?

On Sunday I arrived back in my training community after an 8 day trip to the south of the country. My opinion on the beauty of this country hasn’t changed. It is incredible. From my training community to Quito is about 2 ½ hours in bus. From there we got on another bus for 12 hours and traveled to Loja. The scenery is pretty much the same outside of Quito as it is outside of Loja. From Loja I left the other 4 girls I was traveling with and headed out on my own to go meet a current volunteer that has been here for about a year. That was another 3 ½ hours. In total, to meet up with this volunteer (we’ll call him Paul) it was 18 hours. By this time the scenery had changed dramatically and now I was clearly in the jungle. I can’t even explain how beautiful it is. If you haven’t been to a jungle/rainforest region… its definitely worth a visit (can I suggest the Amazon region of Ecuador… perhaps the southern region? ;)) The climate also changed dramatically from my training community to the jungle. I was hot and I loved every minute of it.

Paul and I hung out for 2 days in his community and I learned more of what it is like to be a PCV… the information you can’t learn in a training session. The second day I was there we went for a hike to see a waterfall that he had found on a random hike he went on. I was definitely not prepared for what I experienced. We were hiking up and down and alongside hills covered in trees, alongside the river… amazing. It was a difficult hike… I was definitely feeling the fact that I haven’t been to a gym since I left the states. Regardless, we finally made it to this waterfall and… wow. Its amazing that waterfalls are natural… that this is what mother earth makes for itself. I have pictures and as soon as I figure out how I can upload them without too much difficulty… I’ll post them for all to enjoy. After relaxing near the waterfall for a short while, we headed back. In total the hike was 4 hours long and by the time I got back… I was covered in mud. Let me tell you, a cold shower never felt so good.

The next day my counterpart (let’s call him Juan) came to pick me up from Paul’s community. We drove about 2 hours and arrived in the community I’ll be living in for the next two years. (I’ll refer to my community as Santa Ana.) I love this community already. A nice small community that definitely has the small town feel that I love. When we arrived, I went to my host family’s house. I stayed with the mayor, his wife, and son. Their daughter attends university in the city and was unable to come home for the week. This family is extremely nice, especially the mom. She brought me in as if I was long lost family. We went to the muncipal (like city hall) to meet the mayor. The three of us went to see the house that I’m going to be living in during my service. It is incredible. I can’t believe that I’m going to have the house all to myself. It is a legitimate house… living room, dining room, kitchen, two bedrooms, and 2 bathrooms. I even have a refrigerator (a rare commodity for PCVs)! Needless to say, you’ll be well taken care of if you make your way to visit me. I’m really excited to get settled and make the house my home… with my special touch. Any suggestions for decorating are more than welcome.

One story that is noteworthy was the trip Juan and I took so I could get to know a couple of the communities that we will be working with. To get to some of the communities we work with is easy… we get in a vehicle and go. Others are not so easy. Most of the communities we work with are located along a river. Juan and I drove for about an hour where we got in a boat to travel along this river. These boats are not the recreational boats that are common in the States. I’m talking a motorized, large fishing boat type boat. We traveled about 20-25 minutes when we arrived at our first community. What I didn’t know at this point was that it would be almost another hour walking to get to the community. While the walk was more or less easy… it was not a Sunday afternoon walk. Again, I was covered in mud. I have never had any balance, so walking on a log over a mud hole was not that easy for me. Juan knew better and wore his boots… but I didn’t have mine along with. By the time we got to this community I was covered in mud and overall out of it. We visited with the kids in the FODI center (I’ll explain in a bit)… and then were on our way back to the boat. My counterpart told me that there was a shorter path to get to the river, but it involved going over the large hill instead of around it. I was game so we went this way. Boy was I questioning that decision after a while. The path had been well developed… but still was made of soil and thus mud. There were various points that Juan was holding my hand as we made our way down the other side of the hill. At one point I was walking on my own.. thought I was doing well…. When I slipped down the hill and fell on my butt. Juan was so worried I was hurt, but I assured him that I was fine.. just even more dirty. Finally we made it to the river and I was able to wash my hands I have a great picture of just how dirty my shoes/legs/pants were by the end. Friday night, my last night in Santa Ana until I return in September, Juan, his wife, sister-in-law, and on of my other coworkers and I went out to the Karaoke in town. It was a lot of fun to get to know them out of the work setting. I even got to dance a bit of salsa and realized how rusty my dancing abilities actually are. I definitely need to practice before I go back out.

During my service, I’m going to be working with the Patronato, a branch of the local government. They provide various services including (but not limited to) a daily lunch for the elderly in the community and a painting class for students that are on vacations. In addition, there are 4 health promoters as well as a team that provides services to the communities around Santa Ana. This is the FODI program, which in English is something like the Fund/Foundation for the development of children. As part of FODI, there are two programs. The first includes visits to the homes with children under 2.5 years. I’m still learning about this aspect and have many manuals to assist in this. The other aspect are centers where children from 2.5 to 5 years come to spend their days. The center provides meals to these children and educates them. The idea behind this is that in many of these communities the parents go off to work and leave small children under the guardenship of other children (for example a 5 year old in charge of a 3 and 2 year old). This is clearly not in the best interests of any of the children. For this, these centers give these children a place to spend their days. In addition, these children are at the prime age of their bodies growing and overall development, for this their nutrition is extremely important. My job in all of this will be to give talks on various health issues, including nutrition, hygiene, alcoholism and interfamiliar violence. I will be assisting communities to develop and sustain community gardens. Because these communities are so isolated, they do not have access to markets to buy fresh fruits and vegetables. In addition, I’ll be traveling with the health promoters to these communities and providing whatever assistance they may need. Oh, and everyone wants me to teach them how to speak English.

I’m really excited to finish training, swear-in as a volunteer (August 31, 24 days!) and then get to my site and get settled. I hope everything is going well in the States (or wherever you may be reading this from). Thanks for the emails and messages I’ve received from some of you. I hope they keep coming!

Hasta la proxima vez,

--Stacie

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

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

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.

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

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.

I´m safe and sound for anyone keeping track. No time to blog today... but just wanted to check in! I´m loving Ecuador and I have a great host family with 4 kids ranging from 7 years to 8 months.

By tonight we'll be in Ecuador. All 46 members of the Omnibus 98 training group will finally be there. Staging has been really great. I got here Sunday night after a really long trip (including 2.5 hours sitting on the runway here in Miami). I met some of the other trainees, had dinner, then went straight to bed. I can't even explain how great the bed and pillows(!!) are at this hotel. Monday we actually started orientation. A lot about the Peace Corps and culture, adjusting, and safety. It was very informative and gave everyone a chance to meet the other trainees. Tuesday was much of the same... just started a whole lot earlier. I've really enjoyed meeting the other trainees. Study abroad was some genuinely good people along with a lot of people that had clearly signed up for a 5 month-long party. The PC people really do want to be here. They know going in how hard it is going to be, living in a community by yourself, working hard, and it's two years. If you don't truly want it, you wouldn't be here. There are people from all over the US and from all different walks of life. A lot are straight out of college, but others have been in a career for multiple years. In our whole class there is no one over the age of 30! That surprised me a lot; I figured there would be a few thirty-somethings and a couple older people. No matter. It seems like we're all at different places with our spanish abilities, which makes me feel a whole lot better. I know once I get down there and get emerged, I'm going to be fine. That, and the language classes, I'll be set.

Miami has been really great. I've always known it has a large spanish-speaking population, but it didn't really register until I got here. It really is like a whole other world. It seems so natural to speak spanish, but when you stumble you can always throw in english and the people will understand. I think I'd like to come back and visit Miami some day. And my roommate tells me there is some great salsa dancing, so who really can say no?

I have a couple more phone calls today and then off I go. Who knows what the internet situation is going to be like for the next days/weeks... so I'll post when I can. I have a feeling there will be a lot of personal journal-ing during my experience. Maybe I'll finally fill up that book I have. So that's it for me. Next time you hear from me, I'll be living in another country!!

--Stacie

Tomorrow morning I leave for Miami. By Wednesday evening my training group will be in Quito, Ecuador. This fact hasn't hit me quite yet. I keep saying goodbye to people and it doesn't seem real. I took Donnie to the airport on Wednesday and said goodbye as if I'm going to see him in a couple of days. Its been a similar type reaction to everyone I've said goodbye to. But tomorrow I have to get up super early. My mom, Abbie, and I are heading to Sioux Falls to have breakfast with Melanie before my 10am flight. I'll be in Miami by early evening. I know of at least 1 other girl from my group that is also getting there tomorrow night, so I won't be completely alone.

I'm really excited for this adventure to start. Clearly I have reservations, everyone does or should. I'm moving to a country where I barely speak the language to do a job that I have no prior experience or training in. Well, maybe that's not completely true. Its not as if I haven't worked in an office/organizational setting before. But health? I guess that's what training is for. I have confidence that the PC won't put me in a job that I'm not properly trained for. The idea of having a host family kinda scares me too... but then again, it can't be much worse than living with Monica for 5 months, right? I am really excited to meet the rest of my training group. From the emails and facebook messages that I've exchanged with people, they seem really nice. I'm approaching this experience much different than I did when I went to Argentina. Anyone can study abroad.... its a 5 month long party with a couple of classes thrown in. PC is much more of a commitment. The people that make it are the people that truly want to be there. I'm also ready to meet Ecuadorians and truly experience the culture.

So here we go. No looking back. One last night in Yankton. Keep an eye out for a story in the P&D next week about me. I'm not sure what day it will be printed, but it'll be there.

--Stacie

Welcome to my blog. I'll be using this blog to keep my friends and family (and anyone else that stumbles across this) updated during my service as a Peace Corps Trainee and Volunteer in Ecuador. I'll be working in the Rural Public Health program as a Health Organization Development Volunteer. Who knows exactly what that will entail, but part of the adventure is finding that out! So welcome. Please read and comment on my posts. I'll update as often as time and internet access allows!

--Stacie