Walk Like an Ecuadorian….

Looking back, I honestly cannot believe that we only have one more week of training left and then a few days in the capital city, Quito, and then we will officially swear-in as Peace Corps Volunteers! I can truly say that, at times, it has felt like two years instead of two months, but to actually have made it this far, I believe is an accomplishment in itself. I have heard from almost every volunteer that training is the most difficult part of service, which has definitely been a relief for me. While I really enjoy some aspects of training, it is pretty intense. We work a ton, sleep a little and occasionally have down time, but I believe it has seriously been a rewarding experience and I feel that I am as prepared as I can be to move to my site and begin my service.

This past week we traveled to the province of Manabi on the Coast for our technical trip. Manabi is one province closer to the Coast from Guyas, where I will be living. It is pretty hot there, but it is beautiful and there are fewer mosquitoes than in my site, but they are definitely still there! Basically, tech trip is an opportunity for us to practice giving charlas, or presentations, practice our Spanish, and learn more about what other volunteers around Ecuador are doing. There were four different tech trips, two for the health group and two for the youth and families group. It appears that our trip was the most intense, considering we were up every morning at the latest by 6:00 a.m, but usually 5:30 a.m. to take a bus at least an hour and a half away to give our charlas. Which means we also had to travel back to our hotel and prepare for the next day. One day we traveled six hours to give a charla, and therefore it was our worst. In total we gave 18 charlas… which is pretty impressive considering the highest number of charlas given besides for our group was four. Essentially, we had pleanty of practice!

The theme of our first charla on Monday was HIV/AIDS and we presented it to three groups of high school students. Our first charla was a bit rough, but by the end of it we were rolling. The next day we did a charla for a group of kids in middle school about recycling. It was pretty funny, and definitely reminded me of my friend Hannah, the recycling queen! Yet, I also realized that I am not very informed about recycling, so I definitely need to brush up on that before going to my site.

On Wednesday, we helped out a volunteer with a health event at which all of the women from her town and neighboring towns were offered free pap smears, which is obviously a huge deal in Ecuador. Some of the women there had never had a pap smear and already had numerous children or were older. It was so weird to think of something so simple that most women do every year as something that some women had never even heard of. We had two tables where we gave a quick charla about how to do a self-exam for breasts, which most of the women had never even heard of. The other group did a charla about la Ley Maternidad, or Maternal Law, which provides free healthcare to children under the age of five and for a major part of services related to pregnancy. Many women in this country are not informed that they and their children are eligible for free medical services and it really is an awesome thing. I definitely plan on working with this theme a lot in my site.

Friday, we had the privilege of joining an former Peace Corps language facilitator and counterpart to see what he is working on now and we also gave charlas to two groups of jovenes, or teenagers, about the importance to plan pregnancies and pretty much any other major decision of this sort. Needless to say, this was a bit of a touchy topic, and I can honestly say that this was the most awkward of all of our charlas. First, I felt that we did not have adequate Spanish to discuss a topic that is pretty intense in Ecuador, and I also felt that we needed to have more confianza, or trust, with the group before we just basically began criticizing their way of life. It was definitely pretty intense, but I believe the groups still enjoyed themselves.

On Thursday night, we finally had a break and we had a BBQ and a little fiesta, or party, at a place called La Finca. It was overall pretty awesome. One of the volunteers is a friend of the owner and he hooked up with amazing seafood and pretty much anything else we wanted. It was definitely nice to have a little break after working muy duro (really hard) all week.

Overall, I learned during out tech trip that my Spanish needs to improve… drastically, which I think will make giving charlas less intimidating and easier. I also learned that being prepared counts much more here. It is much more difficult to swing a presentation in another language. I am not really sure how I did not figure this out during college, but I am definitely aware of this now!

We returned from our tech trip on Friday extremely exhausted, but I had to rest up for Saturday since I had the privilege to dance in the fiestas with my family again. This time it was even more fun because my entire family was there, including the in-laws who were hosting the majority of it. We left the house to begin dancing a 5:00 p.m. and we danced until 5:00 a.m. in the morning… no lie. It was definitely an experience. We danced and partied so hard that by the morning, everyone had cried at least once. It was honestly amazing, and I can say I have pretty much never felt so welcomed. I even had a fan club of 4 jovenes, which were really cute and fun. I am really excited to see how the fiestas in the Coast are different, and fortunately they start the weekend I arrive, so I will get to experience them first thing!

Basically, the past week has been extremely intense but definitely a great experience! I am ready to knock out this last week of training and enjoy some down time with my favorite people before we all head to our sites! I cannot believe that swear in is so close! I would be lying if I said that I have not had a single doubt throughout training, but I believe just making it through this week has reinforced why I joined the Peace Corps and why I wanted to come here. I think this will honestly be one of the best experiences of my life… the good, the bad, and the occasional ugly. I absolutely feel like I am becoming a little more Ecuadorian everyday…