Yah.

5-24-11

It’s been a week since I arrived to Ecuador.  Again, I’m still getting used to things around here but I am getting a little more confident with my daily tasks.  The kids from Muñequitos are also adjusting to a new person working with them and are getting a little more friendly/ “needy”, especially when they want to be pushed on the swings.  I’m slowly but surely teaching them out to swing by themselves… “Adelante, Atrás”.  Here, I’m trying to teach independence. :-)  There are about 40-50 kids and only about 3 helpers, so you can imagine that we stay busy watching over the children.  I can’t believe how violent 3 and 4 year olds can be!

Now that I have been here for a week or so, there is more of a set-schedule: Muñequitos in the morning; “el comedor” for (older folks) “los ancianos” mid-day.  Later in the day, I go to the FEVI store.  Today I sold many things (2 shirts, some candy, and other sweets), which was a huge success!  I now have a working cell phone from the girl who came back to visit for a week or so (who is also from Kalamazoo), so now I feel a little more safe knowing that I can contact someone if need be.  Also, a retired doctor is coming tonight to help in Tonsupi, Ecuador and we are all going to take a trip there this weekend so we can see what type of medical needs there are and also to see the other school.  This afternoon I worked a little bit on a rough ‘lesson plan’ for the English classes we are going to start up next week.  At the store today, there were a couple of women interested in this class.

When I got home, my host siblings and I watched “Piranhas” (in Spanish of course)…what a frightening movie!  “Aytyetye” is the way you pronounce the word in Quechua that means How gross!  I said that many times during the movie. Haha.

Aaaahhh.

 5-23-11

This morning I woke up to a red tinted sky with mountains and fog in the distance.  Again, it was a chilly walk to meet up with Zack to talk about English classes that we are going to start next week.  We want to provide three separate English classes; one for adults, one for smaller kids (6-10 years old), and one for teenagers.  I am looking forward to starting these classes up, as many people are interested in learning English.  Afterward, I went to the Muñequitos (the daycare) to play with the kids outside.  Today there was lots of hitting of each other and tears.  For lunch, Zack and I went to Cumbayá to have lunch and talk with the director of FEVI.  The director is an extremely nice lady who cares about Lumbisí and getting the community involved in many projects (the school, garden, store, etc). Later in the day, I worked in the FEVI store…

This is the daycare, where we provide care for about 40 kids from 8AM-noon. There are two classrooms and lots of space outside for the kids to play.

These are some of the girls I work with at the daycare. 

Bueno.

Ahh, the simple way of living.  Oh, how I love how people are so relaxed and truly want to get to know you.  This is what I am finding in Ecuador.  My host family has been amazing…staying up to talk to my host siblings, talking with my host mom while cooking dinner (and making chocolate cake), and learning more Spanish (and Quechua, a dialect of Spanish, for that matter).  Yesterday was spent by visiting my host siblings’ school in Cumbayá (like the song) because it was a day for the families of the children who attend the school.  It was basically a carnival/music/comedy program that the students put on for their families.  My host brother played a song on the guitar while two other students read poetry, and we ended up missing my host sister’s song on the guitar. :-(  Afterward, we were all pretty tired from staying up so late the night before, so we took naps when we got home.  I went to the FEVI store for a while afterwards and while I was there, a huge storm came through.  Lightening, thunder, wind and a down pour of rain. I had to shut the overhead door that secures the store a little because the wind was blowing rain into the store. I ended up staying in the store until it was done raining (lasted about ½ hour).  I guess this kind of weather is what is expected in Ecuador:  cold in the morning and evenings (about 50 F), hot and intense sun in the afternoon (about 80 F), and rain from about 4-5PM. The rest of the day consisted of my family and I just relaxing/reading.  It’s not unusual to see family members sitting and talking with my host mom in the kitchen while she’s preparing dinner.  So, I joined them in the kitchen…good times that we have!

My host mom and I at my host siblings music program. 

Que chévere!

5-21-2011

Yesterday was a very eventful day.  To start things off, the kids from the daycare run up to me as soon as I get in the gate and hold my hand for a while.  The girls at the daycare are extremely loving and want to be with you always, especially when they want to be pushed on the swings outdoors.  After helping the kids in the daycare, we went to help the older woman to the cafeteria.  She lives in one of the poorest houses I’ve seen in Ecuador, and she is extremely thankful for us bringing her to lunch.  Zack, Sandra and I went to Cumbayá to get some things done and then Sandra and I went to Quito to go to the market.  We took the busses to get to both places and the driving here/riding is crazy.  They honestly pack the busses until the doors can barely shut.  It’s a great experience!  

Since pretty much everyone is related in Lumbisí, my next door neighbors (my host dad’s brother and sister-in-law) had a party later in the evening and invited all of their family/friends. The party was to celebrate one of the girls’ they hosted a few years back (who came back to visit) and just received her masters degree in Public Health.  This was a very interesting night, since I didn’t know what to expect from an Ecuadorian fiesta.  First, the main Ecuadorian food is soup, rice, and some kind of meat.  You know exactly what you’re going to eat every day.  Another fact, they pretty much only use spoons.  So, at the party we had just a plastic spoon to eat rice, pork, and potatoes.  We started eating at round tables in the front area of their house, which also had a tent over it (not very common in Ecuador) and a DJ who was playing music really loud until 4AM.  Eventually people started to dance (Ecuadorians LOVE to dance).  Another interesting thing is that instead of drinking out of one beer bottle, they have one glass/cup that one person pours a shot-like amount of beer and they hand it to people while dancing.  The person doing the pouring goes around to everyone over and over again.  Also, since I’m from the United States, all of the guys wanted to dance with me and as soon as I would sit down, another one would take my hand and I would have to dance with him.  That was fine until about 3 hours into the night…:-) 


 
Sandra (another volunteer from Switzerland) and I at "la alameda" in Quito, Ecuador.  This is where the outdoor market it located on the weekends. 

Settling In

5-19-2011

Today I started getting into the routine of things.  I slept well through all of the dogs barking and roosters crowing, and today was a little hazy, so I didn’t have the sun peeking into my room in the morning.  I met up with Zach at a local park in Lumbisí where we walked together to the guardaría (daycare that FEVI sponsors).  I met up with another volunteer from Switzerland and we watched over the little kids and they absolutely love to hold our hands and have us push them on the swings.  That is a lot of work, since there are so many kids. It is fun to be apart of their lives and involve them in as many things as possible. We’re talking 3 and 4 year olds, so it’s a lot of fun!  We also serve them snacks and almuerzo (lunch) before we leave to help out the elderly in the community.  It is extremely difficult to push a wheelchair up hills, speed bumps, and dirt roads along the way to the cafeteria.  Most of the roads are made of brick/stone, so there are a lot of bumps to go over with the wheelchair.

The people here are so welcoming!  Walking down the road you say “hola” or “buenas días” to everyone you walk past.  It’s a very friendly environment and I hope to get to know people while I’m here for 3 months.

The afternoons are pretty much open. Zach opens the FEVI store and most of the time we stay there for a while before we’re off to other things.  FEVI has started a sewing class for the women in the community, so we got to see what is was like watching these women sew!  I wish I would have learned to sew before coming here so I could teach more women instead of learning from them!  Zach and I talked a little bit about the projects we want to start in the next few months. Hopefully our plans will work out.  It is difficult to start programs when I’m not sure of whom I need to reach out to.  I hope to organize what the programs will look like and go from there…                                                   
                                                                         

This is the view from the "park" in Lumbisi, right next to the FEVI store.  I'm pretty sure it is the Cotopaxi volcano....

a new world

The flights are over, and now I'm off to a start of a new life. I got picked up from the airport by Zack (the volunteer coordinator through FEVI) and we went straight to my host family's house.  At this point, it was a whirlwind because it was dark outside, my whole family came to greet me outside of their house, everything was spoken in Spanish, and I was exhausted from traveling for 12+.  Although, Zack made it a little easier, because he came inside to greet everyone, and then ate dinner with us as well. That way, it took the conversation away from just me having to answer all the questions. Finally after all of the greeting, I was able to get to my room, unpack and get to sleep by 9:30PM.  
Through the night, I heard roosters crowing and dogs barking. This is a common occurrence here in Ecuador, so I just lay in my bed laughing.  The sun rises early (about 6AM), so I awoke on my own and greeted my family.  Breakfast this morning was like an omelet, eggs and veggies mixed together, plus some sort of freshly squeezed fruit juice. I was supposed to meet Zack at 8AM at the FEVI store, so my host mom gave me a tour of the surroundings and brought me to the store where we met up with Zack. He then gave me a tour of the community garden project and where the FEVI kids' daycare is. We played with/helped the kids for about 2 hours. They are adorable and are fun to talk to in Spanish. 
At about 11:30AM we pushed a lady in a wheelchair to a cafeteria where we served about 40 elderly people lunch. They were grateful to be served. Now we are working in the FEVI community store where we sell used clothing, etc. to people in the community. More to come later...

A likely sight in front of my house; just a random cow chomping on some grass while I'm leaving my house in the morning.

This is a view from the dining room in my house.  Mountains in the distance, dirt roads leading down to a river, "San Pedro".