Wow so I’m in Ecuador! It still doesn’t seem quite real, at least not as a long-term deal. Quick recap:
Flew down to miami on Tuesday morning after basically no sleep, sat through a ton of meetings, then went out for a nice dinner with my fellow trainees. Then we headed to bed and got up for the airport the next morning. Had about 4 hrs to wait at the airport once we were past security because for some reason the peace corps finds it necessary for us to be there super early, but whatever, it kept my stress level waaay down
Had an interesting flight and landed in quito without any problems. The mountains were sooo beautiful coming into quito, sticking up just above the clouds while the sun was setting. Amazing. We were greeted at the airport by out training staff and pushed through security/H1N1 checks pretty quickly, piled into tiny vans, and headed to the hotel. It was very pretty and almost like a bed and breakfast feel to it. Had a yummy dinner, then hung out until bed. In the morning we packed up again, headed to the peace corps office and did meetings/paperwork/medical checks/etc until time to leave for the next town. Saw the beautiful mountains on our visit, and switched from the southern to the northern hemisphere as well :)
 We arrived in our next location and checked into the hostel, etc then hung out until dinner, then bed. The next few days at the hostel were pretty much just meetings and craziness, followed by some light partying in the evenings (we were literally locked inside the hostel complex and told we would be kicked out if we were caught sneaking out, no joking around there). It is the carnival season in our town, and there were people out partying throughout the day/night. One of the mornings we went to the street and watched the kids from the school next door practice their dance for the parade this weekend. It was soo neat.
Finally, this morning we got up and got ready, had a couple meetings, then we actually got to meet out host families. We did some activities at the hostel, then packed up and left. We went out to lunch in town before leaving for my smaller community, but we weren’t allowed to eat any fruits or veggies because of issues with possibly unsafe preparation, so I managed some beef things. Then we hired a driver and rode to my community outside of the larger city, which is located further up into the mountains. It is a very rural village with very few amenities, but I think I will love it. My family is so neat, they have had like 5 previous peace corps trainees stay with them, and they seem pretty used to having a gringa for a visitor :) I also have 3 host siblings, the boy is 6 (today is actually his birthday!) and the two girls are 7 and 12. They have a cute black lab puppy named Beethoven (totally loved that part!), a bunch of pigs, a cat, and supposedly a guinea pig (have yet to see this though). Well we pretty much got here, dropped everything off, then headed to a nearby town for a fiesta celebrating the indigenous peoples in this area. It was so interesting, everyone was in traditional attire based on their community which included masks dresses and other costumes, and there was tons of singing, dancing, and musical instruments. I really wish I could have taken my camera but I need to get used to the community before I bring anything a gringa would normally have. They are having a similar festival in my town in august, so perhaps I can get some pics then. After the fiesta I could barely keep my eyes open, so my host mom made me go nap, not that I really minded :) after 20 mins I came out and played soccer with my siblings. They were impressed by my goofy stunts, like doing headballs, juggling the soccer ball, etc. They were not impressed by my lack of stamina, and no matter how many times I tried to explain that it’s because of the altitude, the concept didn’t seem to cross the language barrier. Anyway, it was a ton of fun and the parents ended up coming out to watch us for awhile. We also bought fruit from their fruit truck that drives around the town, so I got to check out some different fruits. Then I went with my host parents and host brother (who literally hid in the truck after he was told he couldn’t go, so he went) to obtain milk. We drove around to a bunch of farms nearby and either picked up the milk already prepared or watched them milk the cow. Then we had to go to the city center to pay for the milk or something, not sure. I just know it was wicked cold. I was shivering in my Wittenberg sweatshirt and vest on top. We also passed a bunch of people coming back from the fiesta, most of whom were drunk, and most of whom stood in the road until we stopped, then offered us the alcohol they drink (cant remember what it’s called but it tastes like pure alcohol with a little licorice flavoring). Thankfully my host dad received all of the drinks and I just had a small sip to taste it. I also saw a drunk man fall off a horse. Very interesting.
Throughout the day things were a little quiet and awkward with the host parents because my Spanish is really bad right now, so I spent a lot of the time with the kids. After the milk adventure, we came back and had dinner. It was good - rice, chicken, plantains, and hot milk :) one thing to comment on though is that it is weird being served the best parts of the chicken. It makes me feel a little bad though because I don’t really even like chicken, so I don’t need the best stuff. It was motivation enough for me to eat pretty much all of my piece of chicken, down to the bones. I also gave them the gifts I brought for them, which went over better than expected. I gave the little boy a Frisbee, the younger girl the mini butterfly kite, and the older girl a magnetic 3 board game set. I gave the parents one of the bowls that my dad made from sycamore tree, which I feel like went over really well. They kept remarking how beautiful it is and wouldn’t let the little boy destroy it too much. I also gave them 3 postcards from Kentucky and promised to explain them later when my Spanish is a bit better. Lastly, I had brought 2 issues of People en Espanol so I gave them to all of them. All of the girls seemed to love it, including my host mom, especially the perfume pages :) then after dinner we cleaned up, which they let me help with finally, and headed to bed, which is where I am writing this from.
Saturday I am going to the larger town where we had our orientation with my older host sister to buy gifts for my host brother’s birthday. I’m pretty excited about this part, since I haven’t had much time to explore yet. Also, I am hoping to talk my sister into taking me to an internet café, which obviously worked if you are reading this. As far as accessibility to internet, phone, etc. I basically wont have much. I think I will be lucky if I can make it to the city every 2 weeks or so and since my town has nothing except electricity (if you’re lucky, which thankfully I am), I wont be on here much.

Hope all is well with you all! I miss you and would love to hear from you, even if I won’t be able to check it for awhile. Having continued support will help make this experience much easier :) and enjoy the couple pics I’ve (hopefully) been able to post on here! Adios!

12 Days and Counting...

One of my friends asked me some questions and I thought it might be helpful to post them since it explains some new information. If you have more questions you want answered, post them on here and I'll answer what I can when I can :)

A. How does this whole peace corps thing work? Are you allowed to leave at all? Like to visit home?
I get 2 vacation days a month which can be built up and used at once. Now, depending on what I'm doing, I may have weekends off anyway, so theoretically I could travel some on the weekends. But as far as big trips, I use vacation days, and when I cash in my saved up vacation days I received additional vacation pay to offset the cost of travel. I can travel back to the U.S. but only plan to if I have a family emergency (or if I can get permission to come back for Kelsey's wedding I will probably do that). We have to get permission from the country director to travel, mostly for safety reasons and so they know how to contact us in case of an emergency, etc. I believe we are also "strongly advised" not to travel to certain countries that are dangerous, like Brazil or Colombia, because of the drug cartels.

B. Where are you staying?
I don't know much about where I'll be or what exactly I'll be doing. I know I leave June 16th for Miami, where I will stay until midday on June 17th. The one day in Miami will be spent in meetings preparing for our departure to Ecuador. Then I know that I will be staying in Quito for 4 days. Not sure what all we do there, but I know that we will be receiving all of our pre-service medical screenings including vaccinations, and being briefed on safety etc. in Ecuador. Then, I know I will be spending the majority of the 3 month training in a town in the mountain region. It is in the northern hemisphere, btw, because we will cross over the equator when driving. Lastly, sometime during the 3 month training period I will find out where my site will be, and should be spending about a week there before completing the training, being sworn in, and heading to my project site.

C. Do you get compensated at all?
I basically receive a room and board stipend, with some extra for whatever else. It's a modest amount, meant to allow me to live at the same level as the people of Ecuador. Then when I return to the U.S. at the completion of my service I will receive a "reacclimation stipend" to start up again here in America.

D. How does the whole visitors thing work?
I'm not allowed to have visitors for the first or last three months, but for the other 21 months I can. How easy it is just depends on where I am and if I am staying with a host family or if I have my own place. Are you gonna come visit??