June 20, 2011

A Day in the Life of a PCT in Ecuador

Ok, so I started training.  It is 11 weeks of learning Spanish, Technical skills, and how to stay healthy and safe.  So, I wake up every morning around 6 am, I take a quick shower and eat a lovely breakfast of cheese, bread and coffee.  The coffee is instant but every once and a while I drink real coffee and it is fantastic.  I catch my first bus to the major road in Tumbaco around 7, then I take another bus to the Peace Corps Training Center.  There I have classes till 12:30 in the afternoon, then I go to lunch.  There are three choices for lunch, a close restaurant, a far restaurant or bring your lunch.  But, for lunch at either restaurant it is the same thing.  Lunch consist of soup, then rice/potatoes (sometimes both), meat or chicken and some vegetables and usually a piece of fruit for dessert.  Then there are more classes until 5, where I make the trek back to my host family’s house.  I have a great host family, I live with a woman and two of her children, a son who is 30 and a daughter who is 18.  They really are fantastic!  I’ve gotten to get to know my host mom’s other two sons and her grandchildren.  All of them have been very welcoming and loving.  And they make me practice my Spanish every day.   My host family does not have internet, and the nearest internet café is usually closed.  So I have to go to the main street, which is about a 30 minute walk or 5 minute bus ride, to get on the internet so I’m sorry that the posts are few and far between.  I am also working on getting pictures up but it may take me a little while.

I still don’t know where in Ecuador I’ll be posted or what exactly I’ll be doing there but I am excited to find out.

June 21, 2011

I am going to be in Tumbaco for 8 more weeks, but during those 8 weeks I have 3 trips that are a week long.  The first trip is next week; it is a tech trip (a trip for us Peace Corps Trainees to practice our technical skills).   This trip I am with a small group and I have to have several seminars (or Charlas (I’m not sure how to spell it) as they are called here in Ecuador) for a variety of age groups on Hygiene and Nutrition.  I have to present in Spanish for a group of 5 year olds, 8 year olds, 15 year olds and adults.  I am a bit worried about the Spanish but I think that it is going to be a great experience.

 We are going to the transition zone; it is in between the coast and the mountains.  This part of the country we are going to is very warm and has mosquitoes that carry malaria.  But don’t panic, the medical office gave all the trainees, and staff anti-malaria meds, that we have to take a week before the trip and 4 weeks after.  I promise I will not forget to take the medication. 

The second trip I will be going by myself to my site!!! I’m not sure where or what exactly I’m going to be doing there for a week but I will be at my site.  The third trip we are going to be doing more Charlas but on the coast and focusing on reproductive health.