We’re finally here!
It’s Friday night right now, and with any luck we will be able to post this to the blog on Saturday. We have been incredibly busy since we landed, and there hasn’t been much time to type. Anyway here’s what we have been up to since we last checked in. ..
Sunday-Wednesday: Three full days of staging events in Washington, D.C. Here’s the breakdown of our training group:
43 trainees. 10 of us are married. 4 are over 50 yrs old. All have been overseas for something at sometime. Almost all of us speak Spanish. And about a third of us graduated within the last year.
Our training group is divided into two sectors: Habitat Conservation and Sustainable Agriculture. In ten weeks we will be split up and spread all over the country to our respective sites, but for now we will be together (mas o menos).
Wednesday night: We arrived in Quito and were greeted by a horde of volunteers bearing roses and welcoming messages. They whisked us (and our massive amounts of luggage) away to a nearby hostel where we spent the night.
Thursday: The morning was spent at the Peace Corps office in Quito meeting the staff, taking ID pictures, filling out forms, taking a language proficiency test (for placement purposes), and speaking with current volunteers. That afternoon we piled into a bus and drove an hour to the North to the town of Tabacundo where the training center is located. As we arrived the sun was setting on the glaciers atop Volcan Cayambe.
Friday: More introductions in the morning including Health and Safety, local history, and some survival Spanish lessons. There are 11 language instructors (all Ecuadorian) for the 43 of us! The afternoon had technical classes during which the Environmental Rep. from USAID gave us an overview as to what they are up to in Ecuador. We also received our language scores (Mike: Advanced high, Mary: Intermediate medium) and some information about the host family that we will be living with for the duration of training. Our family consists of a mother (Fabiola, 51), her son (Andres, 17) and her grandson (Santiago, 9). Their house is right across from the parque central in the town of La Esperanza which sounds like it is located about 15 minutes by bus from the training center in Tabacundo.
Tomorrow morning we will be in the town of Cayambe touring the market and then in the afternoon we will meet Fabiola and her family for the first time!
Sunday will be spent in La Esperanza getting to know Fabiola and her family, and then Monday-Friday we will be at the training center by day and La Esperanza by night.
The weather so far has been fantastic (sunny and 50-60’s) and the food is delicious (potatoes, rice, chicken, fruit, eggs, bread, cheese).
I guess that is it for now.
Hasta luego,
Mary and Mike
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10 comments:
Hi Michael and Mary
SO good to hear from you. Thanks for keeping in touch with you being so busy. It is appreicated You have a small host family so it should work out well. Your kind of weather and food, there you go!
Take care of each other.
Love, grandma
Dear Mary and Michael,
It sounds like you are off to a great start. I am very excited for you both. Enjoy every minute.Thanks for staying in touch.
// dad / joe
HI Michael and Mary
I really do know how to spell grandma, sorry to mess up your first comment.
Enjoy reading the Ecuador news - but not about the volcano. But I'm not worrying.
love, grandmageduxvuj
go figure that one out!
guess who?
It turns out one of the couples I know from law school, Becky and Stephen Tobin, good friends of mine know your mom. I was telling them about how sad I was my friends left for the Peace Corps and that I didn't get to see you guys... They go, are their names Mary and Mike and they have a mom named Annie? I was like yes.
Anyways, glad to hear you are doing well. Tucson is not the same without you.
Love-Mel
Dear Mary and Mike,
So good to hear from you, especially as I was spending the weekend at home alone getting over this "goodbye" cold. Jim was delighted to hear from you indirectly and I left a message with Granny. Talking to Santiago was a treat. What good fortune to have a new "little brother" for three months--sounds like thoughtful grandmothering on your hosts part to expose him to more of the world as well.
Congratulations on your Spanish scores. I assume this frees Mike up for more roaming around, which I am sure he will hate :-) And Mary, not too shabby, now with 3 months and 11 Native speakers per 43 (minus Mike and I assume a few others)--FLUENCY!
Miss you both.
Love,
Mary's Dad
Hi Mary & Mike,
So glad to hear that all is going well. Way to go on those Spanish scores!
Much love,
Sansa
Hey guys! Yay, Ecuador! Sounds like you guys are staying busy and hopefully having some fun, too. Glad to hear.
So, when are you coming back???
:)
-Holly
I am so lame on this comment business. It's great to hear you have arrived--very hectic and very exciting. Thanks for sharing it all with us.
love,
Rosemary Bill and Nora
Mary thanks again for the jacket!
I’m so glad you were too lazy to try to sell it.
Have a good time and glad to know the to of you are ok
- sue
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