Sorry it has been so long since I’ve written, but things got
very busy with the holidays. A last minute decision, I got to go home for a
week for Christmas! It was wonderful to see my family and friends, be home for
the holidays, and have a white Christmas J
I was only there for a week, but it was a great time to
relax, catch up, make a quick trip to Santa Fe, and enjoy the holidays in a
familiar fashion.
I am now back and in the full swing of work at KNH for the
month of January. We have the big annual presentation on Tuesday that details
everything that happened in the foundation during the year 2012. The
authorities from the national office and other guests are coming for the
presentation, which has become a mini-theatrical type performance with the kids.
It has been a ton of work, so I have only been at the foundation this month,
taking a break from the elementary school and high school.
I have three more days to prepare with the kids, plus get
all my parts rehearsed for my 20 minutes of presentation in Spanish. The kids
don’t have to present too often like this, so it is challenging to get them to
memorize lines, speak loudly and clearly, and be animated. We will see how it
turns out!
It worked out that I am taking this month off from the
school and high school because in February everyone is on vacation for the end
of the semester. That means that I have the whole first half of February free,
which should be fun because during that time is Carnaval and the fiestas of
Ambato. First I am going to visit Katrina in her site in the coastal region to
help with some Dengue prevention training at her health center and with her
group of health volunteers. I am excited to go visit her and see her site, have
a little bit of warmth (although I hear it is sweltering right now…), and do
some different work for a few days. The visit is long overdue since she has now
visited me in both of my sites, so it should be great!
The plan right now is to go to Guaranda for one night during
Carnaval to see the biggest parade/celebration in the country, which is great
because I am so close to Guaranda this year. The other days I will spend in
Ambato, going to the fiestas, toros, etc. It is the festival of fruits and
flowers in Ambato, so I’m excited to see what it’s like!
After vacation is over in mid-February, it will be back to
work. I’m excited to get back to the high school because I will begin with
teacher trainings. The plan is that I will give workshops once a week or every
other week about the sex ed classes and the teachers will then replicated the
workshop in their classes with grades 10-13. I’m a little skeptical of how much
support I will get from the high school because we have been talking about it
for a long time and it still has not begun, but I’m still hopeful because this
will really help make the project more sustainable and help them progress into
teaching sex ed each year to the incoming students. Time is passing quickly, so
I only have a few more months to try and get things going and self-sustaining.
Outside of work, there is soccer!
One Sunday my women’s team and our co-men’s team both play in the championship
game, so hopefully San Pedro will be all around champions this year. It has
been so fun playing on the team, meeting new women and sharing in the favorite pastime
on Sundays. Luckily I think the new season begins again in 1-2 months, and in
the meantime I’m playing on an “indor” team in San Pedro where we play on the
basketball court with fewer players and a mini ball. I am playing on a team
with my host sisters, host cousins, and Shannon! Last week was the inauguration
of the season which included the parade of the teams onto the court, the
announcements and the election of the “Senoritas de Deportes.” I was the
candidate for my team so I got to participate in my first reina pageant, which
was quite something. It was fun because all the women on my team are so funny
and energetic, so we just had fun with it. It was nice to participate in the
tradition once, but I must say I am okay that we don’t have the reina pageants
for every event in the US.
Those are the updates for now. I
am just working to enjoy the time I have left here with my host family, Carlos
and my Peace Corps friends, see as much as I can of this beautiful country, and
continue to develop my projects with a goal of reaching some level of
sustainability. I hope all is well with everyone at home!
Un Abrazo,
Kerry
