Thats right, I am a VOLUNTEER

Much has gone down since the last time I wrote, but only bits are intersting enough (and vauge enough to put on the internet) to write about...

Last week we, Omnibus 98, swore in. We spent the week in Quito, and officially became volunteers on Friday, August 31st. During the week we had lots of sessions on volunteer rules, guidelines, safety and security, etc. Most of it was review, but this time it was for serious because the PC-Ecuador Director was there. Surly, I made a really wonderful impression on him...the week prior we were asked to complete evaluations of training and staff and stuff. Well, I happen to take evaluations very seriously and I like to take my time and really be honest on them. Once, in college, I helped rally my class to really be honest about the short-comings of a professor we had for Human Disease and Society, because he had really done a poor job the entire semester...we were honest and thorough, and now, he no longer teaches that class....ahh, the power of evaluations. So anyhow, at the end of Community Based Training here in Ecuador, we were asked to do these evaluations, and part of the evaluation was on the Country Director. Well, I was a bit miffed that the Country Director chooses to take an annual vacation every year when the Youth and Families/ Rural Health Omnibuses come into the country. I wrote that respect is a mutual relationship, and so to earn our respect, he should start by respecting us enough to stay in the country when we arrive. Well, of course given my luck, I was appearantly the only person in my group to make such a comment, or a bad comment in general regarding the Country Director (something about being concerned that he was personally going to read all of the evaluations....whatever). So of course he announced to the entire group what I had written and promised to keep close contact with me so that he could change my mind...grrrreat.

Overall, the week of training was, well...it was like most of the official PC stuff training is: kinda boring. This week, however, was better solely based on the nature that we were in Quito. You know what that means? Gringos! And you know what that means....Gringos=good resturants! Yum! I had Indian food, Italian food, Mexican food, and my personal favorite: A TURKEY SUB SANDWICH! Funny what you get excited about after eating rice, chicken, potatoes and salad for so long. I was pretty lucky in training, though, my family was kick ass and I got way more variation in meals than most folks did. Oh! On that note, guess what I had for my last meal in Tabacundo?!?! CUY! Thats right, I ate a delisious-doesnt-taste-like-chicken-or-bologna (as some have said) oven-roasted GUINEA PIG! Weird, huh? They are a super common food in the Sierra of Ecuador (which is the middle part of the country) becuase they are native to the area and rich in nutrients. Pets in one country, dinner in another, dont judge! I cannot describe what they tasted like, but it was good. It was really hard to eat, though, because they basically just skin the animal and pop it in the oven with a bunch of seasonings. So, unlike any other meat I have ever had, it is not pretreated...that means that all the stuff on the inside of the animal are still there...that means that I have no idea what I actually ate, but there was definately some non-meat products ingested during that meal. When in Rome...

Anyhow, back to Quito...so yeah, we had training stuff, we met some more volunteers from Ecuador and learned about volunteer groups that exist (like Gender and Development Group, Peer Support Network, the volunteer newspaper, LGBTQ group, the volunteer "student government" group, etc.). Honestly, I wasnt all that intersted in any of the groups...mostly because it there seems to be a repeat of the same cast of characters over and over again...much like college student organizations...I am just not sure I want to get involved. So unlike me, I know. The only one I was really intersted in is the LGBTQ group (feeling a little odd not being surrounded by gay folks...miss you friends), but we cannot join groups for 3 months or 6 months or something like that, so we will see. Plus there are only 3 seats open in that group, and I dont know who else in my Omnibus is interested.

Fast forward to Friday: we swore in! The ceremony was at the home of US Ambassador to Ecuador, Linda Jewell´s house. Whoa, now that was a house, and all we saw was the back yard! I bet she never has to worry about not having any water or the toilet not flushing (thats how it was for me in my hotel room for much of the week. No consistant water to shower + toilet not flushing + 6 girls in one room= very smelly bathroom). The ceremony was as to be expected: National Anthems are sung, Country Director gives lots of offical thank yous to the important people who attend, Madame Ambassador thanks us for our service and cries (she cries every year appearantly), we take the offical oath, Omnibus speakers, Omnibus talent. If you recall from previous entries, I was the Youth and Families Omnibus speaker, oh yeah! I wrote my speech the day before the ceremony, only because I am so good at planning ahead for serious occasions. But it went down really well! I asked my group ahead of time to write down for me things that they had learned from their fellow 98ers, and I worked the comments into the speech so it had a real personal touch for our group. My goal was to remind us how and why we came here, while not being too serious and not joking around too much. My personal favorite part of the speech was the analogy of joining the Peace Corps to swimming in unfamiliar waters (grab your nose, close your eyes and jump); my compañeros seemed to enjoy the part where I said "Chuta" which means shoot, but it came out sounding like a vulgar word for vagina with my Wisconsin accent, and when I said we would all often question leaving "Target stores, Starbucks Coffee and customer service" to come to Ecuador. Those are three things that Ecuador does not have and could really use a dose of. Especially the customer service, this is what happens when no one works for tips.

After the ceremony we had delicious bagels, coffee, and fruit salad (have I always been this obsessed with food? What is happening to me?), and took lots of pictures...which I swear to eventually put onto a fliker account online so that you all can see. I would explain to you why it is not yet done, but it would take too long and I get angry when I think about it.

Friday night we had the swear in party. Good times, way too many drinks in a short period of time at a high altitude...enough said. Swear-In Party in PC-Ecuador is kind of like the high school prom, at least what I think prom might be like, I guess I dont really know because I never went to mine, but we will not speak of that, either, because whenever that topic comes up I get emailed by the past and have to tell him that I still have no interest in what he has to say. Annnnyways, Swear-In Party in PC-Ecuador is a lot like high school prom in that all the current volunteers seem to see it as some kind if signal towards hook-ups to come. Great, so basically it gave me the stress of being at a straight bar. First, none of the current volunteers were talking to any of the newbies, especially not of the opposite sex...cuz if you did it might mean that you want to get on them. As we loosened our whistles a bit with the open bar as the night went on, intergration happened, so that is good. There was no hooking up to be had by this prude though, worry not. Nor was there any late night drive through meals, damnit!

The rest of the weekend I basically spent time soaking up time with my friends here, as we were all leaving for our sites on Sunday and Monday. Lots of conversations on how weird the last 10 weeks have been...we barely know each other, really, and we are all so close. We got our cell phones last week, too, so it shouldnt be too bad now that we are in our sites, we can still keep in contact. Overall, it was probably the best week of training, cuz there was more free time and more freedom to do what we wanted in general. Signs of what is to come, I suppose.

So now I am at my site. I am officially living in Guayaquil. I am not here for my site visit of a technical trip, I am not leaving. Crap! now its for real. More on that later...I am at my office now, and my counterpart just got back from lunch, so I suppose I should stop blogging.

See you kids later. If you want my cell phone number, shoot me an email. If you dont have my email address and dont have access to it, well, then you are probably not someone that I would give my cell number to anyways, so....

peace,
theresa