September 21, 2007Hey all...just a quick post to say, hey, the blog is just not my style! Its too much work and I am finding it so much easier to send out emails and such. I have a list of people to send my update emails to, and if you are not on it, please email me and let me know. I will add you to it. I feel like I can be more "me" on the emails and give you more details. That is what you all want, of course! Thanks for checking out the blog...and enjoy the emails

Love to all,

Kelly

August 19, 2007Hey All!

Sorry its been almost a month since my last entry. I have been finding it easier to just email people and talk on the phone occasionally, and by the time I get to the blog, it seems redundant! But, I know there are people who just want to check it out now and then, and its good to have a "meeting place," so to speak. If you ever want to chat, though, shoot me an email: Kelseacows@aol.com.

Lots to tell: I will be moving to my official site in a couple of weeks, which is in the province of Napo...a very rural site in a bioreserve area of the amazon jungle. There are many native, indigenous people who speak Kitchwa and I plan to delve a bit into that eventually! Spanish is coming along, but I feel like I need a bit more security in it before I try a whole new language I am really excited about my site; a lot needs to be done, from basic sanitation and nutrition to, I would like...things like women´s groups and habitat conservation. We will see! I need to get there first and get moved in. I am having a house built for me right now, and I will post a pic when I can.

Life here has been good so far and I will be sad to leave the Sierra area, but happy to get into some warmer weather. And WARM it is...its actually very hot and humid and there are lots of tarantuals. Rock on, right?!

Enjoy a couple of pics for now and, of course, shoot me an email if you want more info. Hope all is well and PEACE and LOVE to all!

Love

Kelly

July 22, 2007Hey All!

I have now been in Ecuador for several weeks and am about half way through training. Exciting! Things are still amazing here and there is a lot to report and a lot still coming up.

First off, I will be finding out my official site assignment--the place I will be living for 2 years--on Tues. This is important and exciting; there are several potential agencies I could be working with, and various areas in health. Time will tell, but I have my sights on a couple particulars and we will see what happens

I went hiking today at la Laguna Cuicocha, a lake with mountains and I THINK was a volcano way back when. It is about an hour north of Cayambe and the hike was about 4 hours long and INTENSE. No kidding...one of the most physically demanding things I have ever done, but worth it. Completely. When I get a chance to upload pics, I will add a couple here.

Which reminds me: If there is someone who is not recieving my emails or snapfish pics, please email me and let me know so I can add you to the lists. Things were crazy when I was leaving and I dont know that I got everyone on the lists. Sorry! So much has been going on!

More interesting news...is that I have eaten soup with cow stomach and another type, last night, with chicken feet. Mmmm, mmm! Well, I didnt have to eat the foot but you know, what can I say?? Who ELSE has eaten chicken foot soup!? Dare I say none?

I will post after Tues so that everyone knows more about my situation, but for now, I must catch the bus back into town. I hope everyone is well and happy, as happy as I am here in this beautiful and interesting country. I truly am having a wonderful culteral experience and I feel very at home and at peace thus far. More to come later!

Peace and Love,

Kelly

July 6, 2007Hey all!

Sorry its been so long since anything has been posted--at some point I wil put a picture or two on here as well.

So far, so good! I have been at my site for a week and a half now and I truly love it here. I am in a small rural community and my family works in agriculture. I wake up every morning to roosters! I help milk cows...even have witnessed a cow insemination. No kiddin!

It is beautiful here and while there is a lot of poverty and things are much different than home, I feel quite at home and quite at peace. I am working on my spanish, slowly, and feel good about that, too! I have definetly learned a lot.

Right now I am living in the mountains, but my 2 year site might be in the jungle...we might have to canoe to get to most places! Wow! Totally different...that is a great way to sum things up. However, the people here and much like people anywhere....trying to make a living and enjoy life. I´ve noticed that many little things are the same. For example, the way my host dad drinks his tea...its just like how my dad drinks his coffee. Same mannerisms

I hope everyone is doing great and of course there will always be more to come later. So far, the most ¨helpful¨thing I´ve done has been a health charla--a health presentation with my other trainees in my community. I talked about the birth control pill (in spanish!) and other people talked about IUDs, condoms, etc. I felt really good that I could do it all in spanish and answer questions. Only 4 people were there but hey, its something!

Love to all, and peace!

Kelly

June 20, 2007I am here in Miami at my staging event, checking my email one last time before our plane takes off later this afternoon. I am glad the hotel has some internet access! Who knows the next time it will be readily available?

Things have gone wonderfully so far. I have met a lot of really wonderful people and also have learned a lot in the time that I've been here. We've had a lot of fun, shares some anxieties and excitements, and just gotten to know each other!

On Saturday I will be having dinner with my host family for the first time. Please hope that I don't run out of things to say in Spanish after the first 3 minutes...

Talk to you soon! Vamos al Ecuador!

Love,

Kelly

June 16, 2007

The packing has been done (sort of, I am still finalizing some things) and now all that's left is to pack it all in the car and head to Miami Monday morning! I thought I would show some before and after packing pictures to prove that it really is possible to put "10 lbs of ____ in a 5 lb bag!" I honestly don't feel like I am bringing that much but I am kind of pleased because, hey, shouldn't we all go through a minimalist phase at some point?

What do I REALLY need? The question came up many a time during the packing debacle. What I found is that I would rather have warm socks than an extra shirt or two, and I would rather pack photos and inspirational books than some extra shoes or shampoo. I can get all of that pretty much anywhere, right?

I really am leaving on Monday. Wow. I will be training in Cayambe, which is cold and yes, it is the rainy season. (*Hoping that my dollar store poncho does the trick.)

If you want to send me something, here is what I currently need:

*positive energy

*prayers

*good luck

*love

*a whole lot of courage

Please send asap

Lots of love, and more to be posted at some point in time...who knows when...

Kelly

May 31, 2007Yes, the greatly anticipated PC staging event is right around the corner! What is staging? It is a two day introduction to Peace Corps and we get some immunization shots, some important info, and some idea of what to expect in our country of service. I will officially be leaving Sarasota with Mom and Dad on Monday, June 18th and we will head to the staging site in Miami. Monday afternoon and all day Tuesday I will be in staging, and Wednesday morning we leave our hotel at 11:00 am and head to the airport. We are flying to Quito, Ecuador and I think it is only supposed to be about a 4 hour flight. Crazy! It really isn't so far away....(hint hint, come and visit sometime!)

Lately, I have been trying to hastily learn some more Spanish, spend time with friends that I haven't seen in a while, and I've been playing lots of Yahtzee with Mom. It's so mindless, it's great! I would like to do some more yoga and reading but...well, there are only so many hours in the day!

I did a "trial" packing run yesterday, I kinda gathered all of my stuff and tried to see if I would be able to fit everything into my luggage, no less stay within the PC guidelines! I think I will be ok...maybe slightly over but I think that will depend on, you know, the humidity in the air that day! It is SO crazy trying to figure out what is important, what is necessary, and what I just want to have to make me think of home.

Emotions are running high these days...Bonnie, Brian, Keegan and his girlfiend Alexa will be coming into town next weekend, and then I think I might be heading to Tally to spend a last couple of days with Brian before I ship out. I can't really think about trying to say goodbye to everyone yet; when I do I get distracted and there is still a lot to be done!

Well, any last suggestions from anyone? This is crunch time!!

Peace and Love,

Kelly

PS: The picture above is of Brian and I at Universal's Islands of Adventure, one of the many stops on our road trip last week. We had a blast!!!

May 18, 2007Greetings!

I leave for my staging event exactly one month from today. Crazy, eh?! Sorry it's been so long since I have posted anything; between graduation, visiting family, getting the flu, etc. there has been a LOT going on!

Still no word from the PC about my staging event; I should be getting that info in the mail any day now. As soon as I do, I will post what I know.

I am officially "closing" the gift wish list as there are only a few weeks left to get what I need and get packing! Thanks SO much to every one who helped me out with all the things I am going to need for this adventure

More to come later...

Peace!

Kelly

April 30, 2007Well, it's official. I am a real person now. No longer a student, a college kid, or reciever of movie discounts. It's all over! Real life now begins...

No more discounts until I am a senior citizen. Only 40 some years to go!

That being said, I have to say that Graduation Weekend was a complete success and a lot of fun. Unfortunately, I couldn't hear hardly anything at the graduation ceremony; something seemed messy with the acoustics. And other than feeling like herded cattle moving from place to place ("Step on the tape---SMILE!") the graduation ceremony itself wasn't all that bad. It didn't seem as long as I thought it would, hearing all the the "horror" stories of boredom that go around.

More importantly, I was reminded once again that I have amazing family and friends all around me. They are all simply perfect, wonderful people and I couldn't be more fortunate. Who else has a friend that would take the Greyhound bus for 11 hours from Ft. Lauderdale just to see you graduate? (Carline, you are awesome!) And who else has a dad that researches the best Walleye fishing techniques and gets his daughter the perfect fishing lure for graduation? And wraps it himself?! I bet ya can't find a better dad than that

Graduation was special and I will always remember it. I just got done painting my room with Katie and wow...that was a lot of work. The room was bright pink before, so...yeah. Just think about that for a minute. Fun times.

And now that I am hallucinating from paint fumes and lack of sleep, I finally have found a minute to rest and update the blog. Later it's off to sleep, back to Sarasota, and off to Michigan on Wednesday to see the rest of the family.

T-minus 50 days until I leave for Ecuador...

Peace and Love,

Kelly

April 23, 2007So, here I am in the final week of my time here in Tallahassee. Lots of people to see, places to go one last time...and, oh yes, a couple of exams to cram in there somewhere.

There has been a lot of talk lately about the Peace Corps volunteer that went missing and was recently found dead in the Phillipines. A lot of people have mentioned it to me and I have read a couple of articles about it, not to mention several blog entries. After thinking about it, for me, it comes down to this: bad things can happen anywhere. Nothing you do in life comes without risk, be it the Peace Corps, grad school, or simply going to work every morning. All you can do is educate yourself, make smart choices, and do what you feel is best. Go with your gut because it is connected to your heart

So, my gut and my heart tell me that I need to do this. So I am going to do it. Of course, it never hurts to have loving people all around you and to get a lot of positive energy and prayers sent your way.

"You are braver than you believe, you are stronger than you seem, you are smarter than you think."

-Christopher Robin to Pooh

Peace,

Kelly