Things I Could Get Used To

-          Fresh squeezed mandarina orange juice

-          A week’s worth of groceries for less than $20

-          Fried plantains

-          Being within walking distance to everything

-          Ecuadorian green tea (made with oils)

-          Super fresh food

-          A full plate of lunch for less than $2

-          25cent ice cream

-          Strawberries the size of your fist

-          Free health care

-          The smell of the bread store on the corner

-          Friday afternoon dance lessons

Things I Miss

-          Independence!!

-          Ability to communicate to everyone at all times

-          Sleep!!!

-          The sound of silence (without dogs barking at all hours of the night, roosters crowing at 4am, and the TV on on the other side of my wall aaall night long)

-          Pancakes

-          Summer nights where the sun doesn’t leave at 6:30pm every night

-          Oatmeal

-          Hummus

-          My bed!

-          Pizza

-          WiFi

-          Netflix/Hulu Plus

-          American music

-          Cell phone plans

In no particular order.

Me: 1, Chiquañan: 0

My current place of living/working is a town called Tumbaco. I live about in the center of this bustling little city and my work (the Training Center) is about a 25cent 20 min bus ride away in a quiet little area of town called Collaqui (COY-a-key). Laced through the city of Tumbaco is about a 26km trail known as Chiquañan. This trail is probably my favorite spot in the whole city! A portion of the trail starts right outside the gate of the Training Center and takes about an hour to walk the trail all the way to the city grid and up the several blocks to my house. Getting to walk this trail with friends after training has become my favorite time of the day! There’s not a single spot of the trail that isn’t picturesque in some way shape or form like the volcanic mountain in the background with the Quito city lights turning on for the night below it; the natural caves, tunnels, ravines, and tree-overhang areas; the beautiful fruit trees and flowers; even the occasional horse, donkey, cow, dog, or goat you may regularly pass; there’s not a day that goes by when I don’t revel in the beauty and glory of God’s creation! This trail is very common among runners, walkers, and bike riders.

But why stop at walking? Enter us: the PC Runners Club: OMNI 112 edition! After finally properly acclimating to the altitude (mas o menos), we were able to start day one today. And omigosh did it feel good to get out and move!!

Obstacles:

-          It’s been about a month or so since my last run

-          Uneven trail path (not my thang)

-          A few up hills (as in pretty much the whole way back after turning around to retrace back to the Center…we’re not quite to 26k yet to just make the complete circle ;) )

-          Rain, thunder, and lightning (towards the middle to end of our run)

-          And did I mention we’re sitting at about 8,000 - 9,000 feet above sea level? (yay dizziness, headaches, and near lung explosion!)

Accomplishments:

-          I think I went farther than I ever have (about 4-5 miles)

-          I ran more of my first mile than I ever do (almost the whole thing)

-          My lungs didn’t actually explode!

Suck it, altitude! I can’t wait to be at ballin status in the US!

Some Days You Win, Other Days You Just Suck at Life...

How does that Coldplay song go? “Nobody said it was easy”. Truer words have rarely been spoken! Don’t get me wrong, I’m having a blast in this beyond gorgeous country (pics coming soon)! And I love my team of 38 fellow trainees (aspirantes…we’re only aspiring, we’re not quite there yet). I’ve grown quite close to several of them right off the bat (I might even already have some favorites), love that I get to do life with most of them over the next 2 years, and already know I’ve made some connections I’ll have for life! Not to mention, they’re crazy supportive (I mean, we are all in this together) and are pretty good at encouraging me away from my personal doubts. It’s a great support system to have (even if most of them are crazy different than me, in so many ways).

But let’s be honest, I’m struggling! One of the hardest things for me since I’ve arrived has been language. I don’t know if I have ever felt so inadequate in my life! Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t a pity party or a cry for help (other than prayers, in which case, feel free to wear your knees out!!). But rather this is just my life right now. I’ve been told from the beginning that PC has one of the best methods and models for language training and in some places is actually highly recommended and copied by other organizations as well. This may sound very comforting…unfortunately it’s not the only component (it’s not even the key component). The way language requirements work with PC are through a system broken up into 4 levels (beginner, intermediate, advanced, superior), with the bottom 3 levels containing 3 sublevels (low, medium, high). In order to be sworn in by the American gov’t to become a Peace Corps volunteer August 6, you must be at intermediate medium level (so that you are prepared to be at site by yourself able to completely communicate with those in your community without the need of a translator). Two years of high school Spanish and 1 year of college Spanish about 6 or 7 years ago has gotten me…beginner low. And it embarrassingly sucks! I am literally one of 2 in my class (while everyone else seems to be doing so much better) and am struggling so hard in so many aspects. There are so many words I have forgotten over the years and I am very much beginning to understand the phrase “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks” on a very personal level as I can’t seem to remember anything I read in my diccionario over and over and over. Honestly it’s a bit discouraging and quite terrifying that I can’t progress. I’m told to give it time that it’s only [the end of] week one. But unfortunately I’m a bit of a “results now” kind of person. I really hope what they’re saying is right, that it will come. I just hope this memory thing kicks into gear and sometime very soon!! I’m sure my nothing-but-Spanish-speaking Host Family agrees!

This Overload...

So training is much harder than I thought! And that is a bit of an understatement. I felt like I was pretty well warned beforehand and I felt like I heeded those warnings fairly well in trying to prepare myself. False. Nothing could prepare me for the brain explosion that is now my life! Peace Corps (or Cuerpo de Paz as I now call my employer) is comprised of many sections. And guess what, they all want a corner of your brain during your “short” 12 months in training. Every day (Monday – Friday) 8-5 we have anywhere from 4-6 classes of all different variations. There’s:

·         Safety and security (you’d be amazed how many topics are involved in security briefings; apparently it’s the end of the world as we know it)

·         Personal health (what to do when you get the inevitable Montezuma’s Revenge, lose a limb, or just generally need a refill on your dehydration salts, athletic tape, and bug spray)

·         Culture (it’s a bit different than ours…who knew (oh yeah, sarcasm doesn’t translate))

·         Tech (for me it’s Community Health (CH), one of only 2 sectors invited this time around; the other is Youth & Family Development (YD))

·         Admin (the fun stuff: money, mail, logistics, etc)

·         General knowledge (our CORE values, all the gazillion acronyms we have (PC has its own language in and of itself), training how to’s, the *long* list of “what not to dos” that will most assuredly get you sent home, computers/IT, etc)

·         And the ever popular: Language (yikes!)

There are presentations, exams, and readings/homework for each…and it’s only the end of week one! My head has far surpassed spinning and is now in an explosive state. And I’m terrified! Eleven more weeks to go! Just keep swimming, swimming, swimming…

Disclaimer

This blog thing is proving to be harder than I thought it would be. There just aren’t enough hours in a day and the lack of wifi (wee-fee) at my house makes it a little difficult. So there might be several posts all at once but maybe that will hold you over till I am able to post again or get a better hang of this. Don’t worry though, I haven’t forgotten! Just unintentional, unavoidable slacking. But then flexibility is key here!

Also I feel like I should just throw it out there, apparently somewhere in the process of learning Spanish my English has started to struggle. So, forgive me if I trip over words or just make absolutely no sense at all! I’m apparently at caveman status in both languages. I’m trying but I’m afraid it might only get worse.