Picture Update!

 Mom and Dad in Ecuador :)

 Visiting Chibuleo

 Mom teaching her brownie recipe to the kids at the foundation

 Dad playing with Dalila at the foundation

 Meeting with my KNH boss, Teresita, and my Peace Corps boss, Rebecca

 My dance crew!

 Mom and Dalila!

 Mom crowned ¨Rey Pan¨ the king of bread for our Day of the Departed celebration

 Dad teaching the kids where Colorado is

 Learning the traditional game with tops

 My two families :)

Best buds

Visitors in Chibuleo

These past few weeks have been both busy and wonderful. Mom and Dad came and it was so great to spend 10 full days with them in a few parts of Ecuador. We spent a couple of days in Quito just hanging out, then went to the Ambato area where we had some adventures and they got a peak into my life. We spent two days at the foundation in Chibuleo, which was perfect! My parents met all the teachers at the elementary school where I work, my boss and coworkers at the foundation, my Peace Corps boss, and my host family. We had a lot going on with the Day of the Dead celebrations, which was also fun to have them there for.  I was so happy to have the chance to share my life in Chibuleo with them – it is hard to share all the realities of things, so now they had the chance to make sense of all that I have told them!

Everyone in Chibuleo was so excited for the visit and talked about it for weeks ahead of time and continue to talk about it weeks later. My parents were a big hit with the kids, my mom teaching the cooking group how to bake brownies and my dad repeatedly pointing out where Colorado is on the huge world map mural. They got to share in my annual visit from my Peace Corps boss and see more of the Peace Corps process, then we had a special lunch for Day of the Dead with guaguas de pan and colada morada, the typical food for the day. My kids and I performed our dance for them, then we spent time hanging out with the host family. I am still so thrilled that they came and my two worlds are a little more intertwined now.

From there, my parents and I went to the beach! We went to Puerto Lopez, but it is after the whale season. We did get to do an incredible bird-watching hike along a river where we saw about 40 species of birds within 2 hours, including one of the rarest endangered hummingbirds of Ecuador! We stayed at a lovely little hostel where we spent time on the balcony by the ocean of laying in the hammocks on the beach. The weather wasn’t hot, but it certainly beat the cold of Chibuleo and the first snow in Colorado!
We spent a few more nights in Quito where we met up with Darcy before my parents headed back to the States. Even though the time flew, the trip was perfect and I had such a great time! I also know that time will continue flying, so I’ll see my parents again before we know it.

Once my parents left, Darcy and I came back to Ambato for election night (whew!), and then spent a few days in Chibuleo. Darcy seemed to really like Chibuleo, got to practice her Spanish a lot with the kids, and everything went really well! My host family was wonderful with all of the visitors, which isn’t surprising because of how sweet they are. They continue to ask me when Darcy will be back, so hopefully we can work something out!

On Saturday we went to a big parade in the city of Latacunga called the “Mama Negra.” It is an annual celebration that basically just showcases the wealthiest people in the city, but they throw a huge fiesta for everyone. The parade lasted for about 4 hours and there were tons of bands, dances with people in traditional attire, elected queens and more. There were tons of groups dressed up with bundles of herbs, sticks and bottles of alcohol who acted as the healers. They selected spectators of the parade, pulled them into the street and did a “traditional cleaning” with some chanting and spitting of alcohol onto the person. Of course being gringas, we were selected many times. The parade was one of the best fiestas I’ve been to so far!
On Sunday I went to my first professional soccer game here with Carlos and his family. It was Macara vs. one of the teams in Quito and it was a lot of fun. Even though Macara lost and they are all die-hard fans, it was still a good time! I hung out in Ambato until Monday evening because Ambato was in fiestas, so there was no work on Monday. There was another parade in Ambato, but I was paraded out after the Mama Negra, so I just watched a little bit on TV.

I am now finally back at work where thing s will settle down and normalize a little bit. I have a lot of work to do, but am excited for it all. After my meeting with my Peace Corps boss, I am going to try to refocus a little bit in the training of teachers rather than only working with the kids. This will hopefully help to try and make some of my programs and lessons more sustainable after I leave. The tricky part is finding people who are interested and want to spend the time working with me. We will see!

Everything else is going really well – my host family continues to be wonderful and I am so happy to live here. I love spending time in Ambato too, getting away and spending time with others. The holidays are coming up and I am looking forward to Thanksgiving with some of my Peace Corps family (even though we are celebrating the Saturday after – I will be bringing REAL pumpkin pie thanks to mom and dad’s gift of canned pumpkin!). Darcy and I will spend Christmas together and New Year’s is always exciting in Ecuador, regardless of where I end up. While I still miss home, the holidays won’t be nearly as lonely this year being surrounded by people I love.

I hope all is well with everyone there!

Un abrazo,
Kerry

Photo Update

Darcy and me at the Basilica in Quito

 Cora making friends

 On the clearest of days, the volcanoes of Karyhuayasco and Chimborazo are visible!

 Presentation of my work at the MidService Conference

 The harvesting of the radishes!

 Nutrition Charla on the day of the visit from a Washington DC boss

Re-enactment of the three little pigs during storytime!


These are a few quick photo updates - hopefully there will be more to come soon!

Un Abrazo,

Kerry

Fully Engaged

The school year has begun and is flying by! I can’t believe it is already mid-October – scary and exciting all at the same time. Just a month ago we had our midservice conference at the training center in Tumbaco. All remaining volunteers from my training group were there and we spent the week reflecting on our first year, preparing for our second year, and sharing our successes, failures, and project ideas with everyone. It was wonderful to see everyone again and really empowering to learn about all the different projects people have going. While we may not be making a huge difference on an individual level, there are a lot of amazing things happening as a whole in Peace Corps Ecuador!

Leaving the conference, I was inspired to get things going here in Chibuleo, and they started going fast! I have now fallen into a somewhat regular routine. On Mondays and Thursdays I spend 5 hours at the high school giving lifeskills and sex ed classes to the three 8^th grade and three 9^th grade classes. We are only a few weeks in, but I have found it to be really meaningful work. I did an evaluation during the first class and the lack of sex ed knowledge is horrifying. I am hoping to at least put a dent in it and most importantly, create a space in which the kids can ask questions without fear or embarrassment and get the information they really need.

I spend 6 hours on Tuesday mornings at the local elementary school that is just outside of my front door. I am the profesora de cultera estetica, which is essentially arts and crafts! So far we have learned symmetry, texture, figures, and origami butterflies. It is really a lot of fun, the kids love it, and since they’ve never really had art classes, I can do basic things so I have enough of a skill-set for it. If anyone has ideas for arts and crafts with very limited resources, PLEASE send them my way! I always loved arts and crafts as a kid, but I realize that weekly projects are a lot and that I am going to quickly run out of ideas…

I agreed to help with English classes one hour a week, so I spend an hour on Wednesday mornings with the 7^th grade class at the elementary school. I teach them a few basic things, then help them with the homework they have from their actual English professor. They begged me to help since the kids from my school tend to be far behind when they enter into the high school. Although I know very little about teaching English, I have at least been able to help with begin with basics that they are lacking. After my English class I go up to the foundation where I have a Kichwa class for myself! One of the educators at the foundation is tutoring me in Kichwa so I can have a basic foundation of the native language spoken here in Chibuleo. I am taking an hour of class on Wednesday and Friday mornings. So far it is going well, although it is nothing like any Germanic or romance language, so it is slow learning for me.

On top of all of this, I spend every afternoon at the foundation with the kids. There are a lot of plans for things this year, but it has been slow starting at the foundation. Since it is the beginning of the year, there are a lot of things to be done and organized, which unfortunately doesn’t leave me as much time as I would like with the kids, but hopefully that will change in the next few weeks. One thing I have been doing with them is reading! The kids didn’t have a single storybook at the foundation or any interest in reading, but that is changing. I convinced the foundation to buy us 15 simple little fairytale books and I have storytime with the younger kids after they finish their homework. They now all go upstairs right after lunch to do their homework quickly so they can participate! The other day I made little paper ears and noses and some of the kids acted out the 3 little pigs while I read it. They loved it, so hopefully I will be able to put together more activities with the stories. I am also on the hunt for simple books to help the kids who are behind grade level learn to read better. Hopefully they will become book enthusiasts for life!

There are lots of exciting things happening right now. First, Darcy is in Ecuador! She came last week and I have gotten to spend a little time with her since. Carlos and I went to get her at the airport in Quito, then we spent the next day in Quito showing her around a bit. We didn’t have a lot of time, but we went to the Basilica, which I LOVE and neither of them had ever been to. It was a clear day, so we had a beautiful view of the whole city from the top of the clock tower. From there we took Darcy to the airport because she went to Cuenca to start language school, but we went to visit her there this past weekend too. It seems like she is doing well, enjoying it so far. I’m excited for her to visit Chibuleo so she can see what my life and work is like here!

Mom and Dad come to visit in just 8 days!! I am so excited to see them, take some vacation time, show them Chibuleo, and just spend a wonderful 10 days together. There is so much to do and see in the tiny country of Ecuador, but they will mostly be spending time around the Chibuleo area with a quick jaunt to the beach J

I also got a call last week that Liam and Jamie got engaged! I am so, so happy for my favorite big brother and can’t think of anyone better to have in the family than Jamie. I know they will have an incredible life together, and I can wait for my next trip home for the wedding!

That’s all for now – things are going to continue to be busy until, oh, next May. I couldn’t be happier with the work and life here though, and I am glad to be busy at last! I hope all is well with everyone in the States.

Un abrazo,

Kerry

Freezing on the Equator

Sorry it has again been so long since I blogged, but a lot has been going on here. During the beginning of August I went to the jungle on a medical brigade, then I went to a workshop in Quito, had medical exams, and have been planning for the new year.

The jungle was a very incredible experience. I stayed in a town called Misahualli, about 45 minutes outside of the big city of Tena and 5 hours from Ambato. I met up with the Timmy brigade, which consisted of 4 medical providers (2 doctors, a physician’s assistant and a nurse), 4 pharmacists, several nursing students and technicians, three college students and translators. The brigade went out into different communities each day and provided a full day of medical care, treating up to 150 patients each day. The patients went through triage, saw the medical provider, then received their medications from the travelling pharmacy. After a full day of work, we then went back to the headquarters in Misahualli to enter patient data into the new computer system and count pills/restock the pharmacies for the following day. It was a lot of work, but also very fun and rewarding. A lot of people were treated and helped in short amount of time and I met a lot of neat people on the brigade. It was also fun going into the jungle for the first time and seeing some of the indigenous culture in the jungle.

The trip was a lot of work, but also some touristy fun. We got to ride a canoe down the river to an animal rescue center, eat traditional meals, and enjoy the warm climate of the jungle. I at a fried grub for the first (and maybe last…) time! I also stayed with the group for the last two days as they went to Otavalo and Quito. It was fun to be with them, I helped with the shopping in Otavalo, and we went on a really neat tour in the historic center of Quito where I learned a lot more about the churches and buildings I have seen but never known much about. The Timmy brigades come every 2 months, so I’m hoping I can fit a few more in during my service!

After the Timmy brigade I came home for 2 days, had a Cora pregnancy scare, then left for the Brigadas Verdes workshop at the training center in Tumbaco. The good news is I don’t think Cora is pregnant. The spaying wasn’t a complete success as she still went into heat, but successful enough as a method of birth control.

The Brigadas Verdes was a workshop to help us design youth groups specifically geared towards environmental protection and awareness. Some of the sessions were focused on engaging youth while the majority were focused on environmental issues in Ecuador and how we can help decrease the carbon footprint here. We learned a lot about water conservation, forest conservation, and recycling. The last day we spent learning different recycled crafts that my kids will be excited to continue with this coming year. It was a really well presented workshop and I think all 13 of use there left feeling a little more inspired with some things we can do back in our communities.

Some of stayed after the workshop and spent a little time in Quito, which is always fun. From there I went home for a few days and then right back to Quito for my 1-year medical exam. Other than some asymptomatic amoebas, I have stayed healthy all year! We did our medical exams in groups, so I got to hang out with the other 5 in my group who I haven’t seen in a long time. Seeing them made me really excited for our mid-service conference coming up next week where all 53 remaining people in my omnibus will get together for a week in the training center for some more in-service training, debriefing, refocusing, etc. It will be interesting and wonderful to see everyone! I haven’t seen some of the people who live far away since our reconnect last November, so it should be fun.

The volcano, Tungurahua, was very active for a week last month. Tungurahua is the volcano nearest me, very visible on clear days. I am in no danger when it is active, no ash came my way this time, and it was absolutely gorgeous. Some of the days were very clear except for the plume of smoke billowing out of the volcano, and a few of the nights we could clearly see the lava spewing out the volcano from the roof of the house. It was a bit eerie during the height of the activity because there was constant rumbling, like claps of thunder but on perfectly clear days. Some of the eruptions were so strong that they rattled the windows, even from this far away! It has calmed down now, but it added a little excitement for a while.

Since the volcano erupted, it has been bitter, bitter cold here. We had one absolutely gorgeous day on a Friday two weeks ago, the most beautiful day I have had yet here in Chibuleo. That afternoon the clouds moved in with rain and have been here ever since. The sun has been out for about 2 hours during one morning in the last 10 days. It is an almost constant drizzle, freezing wind, and just plain cold! I am back to the multiple socks, two pairs of pants, and 5 thick layers on top, plus the hat, scarf, etc, and even then I am freezing. It has been good practice for my baking since it is so cold in the foundation. I have made something every day so that we have an excuse to turn on the oven and heat up the kitchen a little more, where we all huddle during the days. Even the natives here are talking about how cold it is, especially for this time of the year, and are blaming it on the volcano. Whatever the cause, I just hope it passes SOON! Another reason I’m excited for mid-service: thaw out in the valley for a week.

Tomorrow is the parent meeting for the beginning of the year, then Wednesday the kids come back! It has been a nice enough break, but I am more than ready to have them back and have more things to do with my days. I have been spending my time planning and am excited for the things I am going to do with my different groups, especially my garden group, dance group, cooking group and environmental group! I am also waiting for things to get going to see if I can work a little more with the group in the high school, but still need to plan that with my counterpart and the director of the high school. If that doesn’t work out, I’m going to try to start a youth group with the jovenes in my community, hopefully using the foundation, but inviting all of the older youth who don’t regularly come to the foundation.

On Thursday a few Peace Corps official are coming for a visit to see the work I am doing in Chibuleo, including one woman coming from DC, so hopefully everything goes well! From there I leave Saturday to meet up with people for mid-service, then come back for a few normal weeks of work before Darcy and my parents come! The visits are coming up soon now and I couldn’t be more excited!

I am still playing soccer with my host sister, Amparo, and Sunday’s are a great family soccer day. Playing is a lot of fun and I really, really enjoy all the women on the team. The host family is still fantastic and I love living with them. Dalila is growing quickly (now 2 years old) and talking a lot more. Soon there will be another little baby with one of the brothers who lives in the community over, so hopefully he will visit frequently too! Darcy is planning to spend 10 days with me in Chibuleo, so I am really excited for her to know the family here, them to know her, and have her do some fun things with the kids at the foundation. My parents are also coming to visit for a few days, which everyone is really excited for! They have never had PC family visit here before, so everyone is looking forward to it, me included!

Those are the updates for now. I have some pictures that I will try to post as soon as I get fast enough internet for that. I hope everyone is doing well at home – I miss you all!

Un abrazo,

Kerry

Beaches and Ballenas!

I just got home from an incredible beach vacation in Puerto Lopez with Shannon and my host sister Pauli! Even though it took us 16 hours to get there, 12 to get back, and we were only there for 2 days total, it was well worth it! We spent Sunday out on a boat whale watching, going to Isla de la Plata, and snorkeling, then relaxed on the beach all day Monday, happy to be out of the cold! The whales were unbelievable. On the way to the island we saw a pod of 8-10 adult humpback whales (ballenas) VERY close to the boat. The guides told us they were all males following and courting one female, which made it exciting for us because we saw several of them breach, and lots of tails poking out of the water. At one point the whales swam under the boat and came up right alongside us! Even the guides were excited about it, so I think we got very lucky! On the island, Isla de la Plata, we got to see many blue footed boobies, enjoy the strange mating dances, and hear their funny calls all along the hike. We also saw hundreds of frigit birds (fargatas) in a favorite mating site on the island, with the males throats all puffed and red to attract the females. From there we went snorkeling off the island where we got to see a little bit of coral a few neat, big, colorful fish! The way back was even more exciting when we came across a momma and baby whale. The guides said the baby was very young and he was just loving life. He leapt from the water every few minutes, which was quite the site right near the boat!

We spent almost the entire day on the beach Monday, which I’m regretting with the sunburn now, but was quite wonderful. There were 6 other volunteers there, so we hung out with them a lot, which was nice because I hadn’t seen them since November. I also got to see Kirsten, a good friend of Kathleen’s from Baltimore who I met a few times at CC. She was visiting Ecuador with a tour, so we hung out with her group a bit.  Eating lunch on Monday, I ran into an old friend who I grew up with and haven’t seen in about 5 years, so it was funny to randomly run into her on a beach in Ecuador!

We decided to take a night bus home on Monday instead of losing another 16 hours of travelling during the day, so we left Puerto Lopez at 7pm and got into Shannon’s site at Tisaleo at 7am. We spent the morning resting in Tisaleo, then went into Ambato to get our nails done, do some shopping, and enjoy our last day of vacation!

I went to work at the foundation today where I made apple cobbler with the kids, which was a huge hit! The baking group has been the most successful part of summer classes because the kids all love it, and they enjoy having a little dessert after lunch! We have made cookies, carrot cake, tres leches cake, and now cobbler. Hopefully I will be able to continue with the baking group once regular classes begin again in September, although it’s harder when the kids have homework that they have to get done. Tomorrow I am only going to the foundation to check in for a few minutes before I leave to catch a bus to the Amazon. I am going to meet up with the medical brigade in Misahualli tomorrow night and begin working with them Friday, which I’m looking forward to. It should be a great experience!

Tomorrow is the last day of classes, then the foundation closes for the rest of August so they can do some repairs and have a little time off before regular classes begin again in September. I can’t believe how quickly time is flying – we are just 2 weeks away from completing one year of service, which means there is only 1 year to go! I’m looking forward to our mid-service conference in September to see everyone again, then in October my parents are coming for another visit!

I am keeping busy with extra activities since things have been slower at the foundation, but things are always hectic there. Last week we took 36 kids on a trip to Chambo, just outside of Riobamba, to do an exchange with another KNH foundation in the area. It was a sports day, so we had a young boys’ team, a girls’ team, and a teenage boys’ team. There was of course of election of the sports princess, and then my group presented the traditional dance. All of the bosses from the KNH office in Riobamba were there and loved the dance, so that was good and my counterpart was happy. All of this happened before lunch, and after lunch all the kids went swimming (because we were at a little ranch). I was elected to go into the pool to help with the kids since neither they nor the adults know how to swim. Luckily it all ended well and it was a lot of fun just hanging out with the kids!

I’m still working on my embroidery, so hopefully next time we have to present the dance, I will be wearing my own blouse! We’ll see…might not get it done that quickly.

Cora is doing well – someone commented on how fat she was the other day, but she is really just well fed, unlike many of the dogs here. Her ego was only a little bit hurt. She and Precioso are still best buds, and I’m so happy to have a family that doesn’t mind taking care of her for me when I’m gone. It is so much less stressful leaving when I know that she is in good hands, getting fed, and playing freely all day!

Those are the updates for now! Things are going very, very well and I will have more updates about the jungle in the next few weeks. I hope everyone at home is doing well – I miss you all!

Un abrazo,

Kerry

Busy days in Chibuleo

I have once again been bad about posting a blog, but I think it is a good sign that I don’t have that much time to write since moving to Chibuleo.

It has been a rollercoaster ride for me here, so I can’t imagine how everyone is feeling back home in CO. All I got about the Waldo Canyon fire were Facebook posts and photo updates of the beautiful landscape of the only home I have known being completely destroyed. I am happy to hear that it is 100% contained now, but my heart goes at to all of you affected by the fire.

Just a few days after the worst of the fire, I got news from home that a dear, dear friend of mine passed away while working in Mexico City. Mando was a great friend all through middle school and high school, an outgoing, funny, friendly, brilliant person who will be missed by all those who knew him, all over the world. It is hard to be away from home during such times, but I have had to keep going with life here, and I have seen just what an amazing support group I have, both with my Peace Corps friends, my family here in Chibuleo, and all my family and friends back home.

We have started our “cursos vacacionales” at KNH, which are like summer classes for the kids now that they’re out of school. This is our first week and it is definitely what I expected, but it is still going well. The kids come for classes and lunch from 9am-2pm each day, and I find myself much more exhausted after these days than normal days when I work 9am-5pm! I think it is because they kids don’t have homework, so they are there and expected activities all the time, so it is a full day of spending time with the kids. While it is tiring, it is also a LOT of fun! My summer courses include health, cooking, art, dance, environment, garden, and theater classes. The others are each doing a class or two each, but the majority of the work is mine. It is frustrating at times, but it’s also great because I love working with the kids. There are only a few kids during the summer classes (about 15 come each day), so it is a good group to work with.

There is a girl working at the foundation with me, Vivi, who is a college student doing her thesis/practicals at KNH for a few months. She is 21, from Ambato, interested in public health, and a lot of fun to hang out with! I spent last weekend with her and her family in Ambato because there was a baby shower for her sister, so I helped decorate for it. As a typical Ecua party, the baby shower lasted for about 6 hours, but it was fun and I got to meet a lot of Vivi’s friends. We went out dancing in Ambato, so I got to meet more of her friends and she got to meet my PC friends from the area, so it was a nice little exchange and everyone had a great time. I am realizing how nice it is to know more Ecuadorians, spend more time with them, learn more about different families and cultures, and actually improve my Spanish! Funny how your Spanish gets better when you spend your days talking with people…

I made it home on Sunday in time for the second half of our soccer game (since they called me to see if I was playing 5 minutes before the game started…). I think we are almost out for the season, but it has been a lot of fun and another good way to meet more people. It is also nice to get out and exercise some, especially when the weather is nice! After the game we went back to Chibuleo in time for the end of the fiestas. I am not a fan of the campo fiestas because they are usually the same: the men (and in this case the women too) get way too drunk, they all want to dance with the gringa, the music never ends and it is COLD! I went out for a bit and only had to dance with a few guys, but decided I had enough when I got followed into my house by a drunken man when I went for dinner and my host mom had to chase him out. At least I know they are all looking out for me!

Cora made herself scarce during the fiestas because she is afraid of the fireworks. She is doing well, but I came to the frustrating realization that her spaying was not as successful as I hoped because she went into heat. She is now, however, a true Ecua dog because she is living on the roof for a bit so the perros don’t bother her to death. I’m working on getting things figured out for her, but all in all she is doing well and still cute as can be!

I got my vacation days approved, so I’m headed to the beach with Shannon and Katrina at the end of the month to do some whale watching! I am super excited, and also looking forward to being out of the cold for a few days. I am also looking into the possibility of helping with a medical brigade of American doctors in early August, so hopefully I will know more in the next few days. There are no classes at the foundation in August, but if everything works out then I will be in different projects and workshops for almost the whole month, which should be good!

The rest of my time I am passing in the house with the family or with Shannon. I have started embroidering and the two indigenous women I work with are so excited to be teaching me how to embroider the traditional blouses here in Chibuleo. I am making some progress, so hopefully in a few months I’ll have the collar embroidered and be ready to make my blouse – then I will have my own blouse for the dances!

That’s about it for now. Overall, things are going really well here in Chibuleo, but I am sending all my thoughts and love to everyone at home. I miss you!

Xoxo,

Kerry