Swearing in as a Peace Corps Volunteer

8.18.10

“I Corey Margaret Klein, do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic, and that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same, that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion, and that I will well and faithfully discharge my duties in the Peace Corps. So help me God.”

Today we we officially sworn in as volunteers! Crazy that we completed two months of training and in a few days will head to our sites and start our service. The ceremony was held at the American Ambassador's house in Quito; it's a big, beautiful home with an enormous yard and a great view of the mountain Cayambe. After the ceremony we had breakfast and were able to hang out for a while, take pictures, the whole deal.

That night we all got together and had a party at one of the hostals- lots of dancing, celebrating, woop woop!

Pics: Youth and Families Program, then me with the American Ambassador Heather Hodges, and Country Director for Peace Corps Ecuador, Parmer Heacox.

Happy 56th Anniversary to my G-rents!

8.7.10

Today is my grandparents 56th wedding anniversary, so happy for them!! Love you Lois and Phil hehe!

This past week we were separated into groups based on programs and went on what is called a technical trip. It's pretty much going to other sites of current volunteers and giving charlas/workshops on various topics, talking to them about their projects, and kind of getting a sense of what other people do on a daily basis.

Overall it was a great week. My group and I had a really good time, gave a lot of Sex Ed. charlas to teenagers, and we traveled mostly in Guayaquil and surrounding areas, so we had nice warm weather! I personally loved the Sex Ed. charlas, because the kids are more interested for the most part, they like to show us what they know, and like to ask questions. At first it was frustrating to try and control a group of loud and talkative adolescents, but after a while we realized that they were so talkative because they were interested in the subject and were eager to talk about what they knew about sexual activity and HIV/AIDS/STDs, etc. However, we also talked about how it’s so important to have a good relationship with the youth and to have their trust because of the nature of the subject, and so they have the confidence to ask questions and speak openly about their experiences in order to provide them with the information. Some cultural beliefs revolving around sex and sexuality come from religious beliefs. An example of this might be that masturbating can cause mental damage, because if it is done too often, one could become addicted and this is not a healthy activity to engage in.

We were charla-ed out by the end of the week but definitely gained some good experience from it all. Our group was more for youth entreprenuership and adolescent learning combined, but not a whole lot of the charlas helped us in this regard. It was awesome to spend time with a specific group of volunteers too and get to know each other better. It was an exhausting week but very energizing, and we had a TON of ice cream, cakes, sweets, you name it, we ate it, multiple times of day, and WE LOVED IT!

The picture above is our group taking a tour of a mangrove, pretty sweet.

Site Visit After thoughts

7.24.10

This morning I got back to Cayambe/Tabacundo from the site visit, and there were a lot of thoughts going through my head. Mostly like I said before, a lot of nerves and feeling pressure to do so many things as my community has many needs. I was very shy throughout the week and know that it's going to be more difficult for me to go out into the community by myself, but little by little and with help from my counterparts it will work out. I also felt confident in the beginning of the week with my Spanish, and how I've improved a little bit in training. But the coastal way of talking is soooo much faster than the sierra, and I know it's frustrating for people to have to constantly repeat or explain what they are saying. That will take some more practice for sure to adjust to their accent and speed of speaking. Last thought= SO many MOSQUITO BITES!!! I will head back to Salinas in August with as much powerful bug spray as possible!

The picture is of me, Zeneida, and her cousin, they call her "la loca", or "the crazy one", and they are right, she is pretty crazy. All she wanted to do was teach me really bad words in Spanish, haha. She was a refreshing part of the week.

Site Visit in Salinas

7.20.10

I arrived in San Vicente in the morning and met Cleopatra, who is one of my counterparts, or people who I will work with to come up with projects for my community. She works in La Oficina de La Mujer, Niñez y Adolescencia, basically an office for women and children who need support and advice during situations where they are abused and would like to file a report.

Pretty soon after I met her, Cleo left to go get someone and left me alone in the office but said I could use her computer and should answer the phone if it rang. I was a little overwhelmed and shocked she left me there alone without really knowing me, but it was fine! She came back and we started talking; she has lots of energy and good ideas, is really interested in getting the Town Hall in San Vicente on board with being more active in Salinas as it pertains to that office. Salinas is about 20 minutes away from San Vicente but it takes longer because of the road conditions.

When she came back a woman came in about her bf hitting her and she was thinking of going to Guayaquil with her two kids to live with her mother. Cleo has met with her before and explained to her a few options of leaving, or filing a report against him. Basically her role is to give advice to mistreated women and what their options are; she also accompanies them to file a petition against the abusers. After the woman left, Cleo explained that many woman come in more than once and say they’re gonna leave but change their minds. Some are worried about housing and finances, abuse is also a cycle. There is now a new law that no one can be put out of the house.

Then I met Cleo’s boyfriend from Germany, Ully, he’s a somewhat retired business consultant and came to Ecuador tohang out, coach some soccer, possibly flip houses. At lunch time, Cleo, Ully, Chalo (Cleo's boss), and a previous mayor of San Vicente drove me to Salinas. It was different from what I had somehow pictured in my mind. It's better to have no expectations so there isn't such a shock value at times. Salinas is a very small, very poor and rural, underdeveloped town. A lot of people live in houses made out of caña (sugar cane), some houses are abandoned, half built, there is one main dirt road that runs through the town.

When we arrived, I met Zeneida at the town's Microempresa (Small business) with her friend Nelly, and they were making peach yogurt in addition to rompope ( a eggnog-like licor drink/shake-yumm but thick, for sipping, like a thicker Baileys). Zeneida will be my counterpart in Salinas, so I will work with her and Cleo to develop positive projects for the community. Zeneida is the president of the Women's Group in Salinas and also has a lot of leadership responsibilities in Salinas.

We walked through the town to meet various people, especially those involved in the current youth groups. I met the President of the town, Wilson, the police, and saw an old daycare building that's currently closed, and the clinic, or subcentro de salud (not very clean).

After that we went to Zeneida's parent's house where I will live for the first three months I am in Salinas. In the house I will live with Zeneida’s parents and their granddaughter, Mirtha, and her son Josemi (3 year old terror).We sat down and talked about different ideas of what the community needs. Ully has lot of ideas for projects or ways to improve the town’s overall appearance or business opportunities, such as planting a tree for every new baby, hiring a cleaning staff for subcentro, growing grapes to make wine if the climate is right, sports to reduce crime and involvement with drugs. He would also like to help the Women's Group with creating more business opportunities in addition to the yogurt and rompope that they currently are making.

Chalo, Cleo and Ully left, and I went to a small meeting with Zeneida by the school with mostly mother's of the students. The purpose was more to introduce myself and explain my role. Everyone was really nice and very receptive, seemed excited about possible things we could do to help the kids with their self esteem, etc.

Later that night a meeting was organized with the town so I could be introduced to everyone. President Wilson led the meeting and people seemed ancy for me to get started and for me to work with the youth. I explained the goal of the week to hang out and get to know the town, then come back in August to start the two years. First 3 months will be interviewing people, they want a census done, and still getting to know everyone and integrating into the community. If I want to go into the schools I have to write an official letter explaining why and what I would do.

Overall it was a good day, but overwhelming thinking about the poverty/pressure of the amount of work that can be done/is desired, etc. I felt good about the support from the community though.

And your site iiiiiiissssss.....SALINAS!

7.16.10

Today we found out where our sites are for our 2 years of service!! It was pretty cool, the staff created the map of the country that's in the pic above. It had all of the provinces labeled and the map was made out of rose petals, sweet! They pretty much had all of our names on little pieces of paper with the names of our sites on them, and one by one drew the names. Then a facilitator (the people in the picture) would escort each of us to the province where our site is located. I was picked towards the end of the group, so it was cool to see where everyone was placed throughout the country and how people were grouped together by province. On Sunday night this week we will all travel to our sites for a week so we can get to know the people we will work with and start to get acquainted with our new homes!

Laundry the Sierran way

7.11.10

This morning I woke up and got my clothes together to learn how to wash my clothes by hand with my madre. Yes, it's a process in which the people use a rock, dry detergent and also a bar of soap with a brush. First we soaked my clothes in water and dry detergent for at least an hour. Then, you use water, the brush, soap, and rock, to wash the clothing. It felt a little bit like a Disney movie or something, where all the women get together with their wooden racks and scrub away! I learned with a pair of jeans, using the brush to get rid of dirt stains and what not. It’s exhausting work. My madre told me that on the coast, the people use as little water as possible because it’s expensive to use the water. I can imagine washing jeans to be very difficult there, and since it’s so hot it might be necessary to shower more often and thus wash clothes a lot more as well. I like spending time with her because she has so many stories about her life and her family, it’s great practice for my Spanish and I learn a lot about the family history, and about how strong and resilient my madre is.

After my laundry lesson, I went to meet up with the girls from Tabacundo, and we went to cayambe for the World Cup championship game. Before I left my madre told me to meet her at her mother’s house to kill some Cuy, or guinea pig, because we would have that for dinner on Monday night. There's gonna be mass held at her mother’s house for Alejandra’s birthday (my madre’s daughter).

Once i arrived at abuelita’s house, some people from the family were there but they weren’t killing cuy. Instead they were making some cookies called alfajores. It’s two small sugar cookies with some caramel in the middle, then the outside is coated with caramel and coated with coconut shreds=delicious! My madre’s nephew, David, was playing the guitar and singing some songs. He’s a very talented musician, and it was a great, relaxing evening spent with some of the family.

San Pedro!

7.10.10

Today (Saturday) I went to Ayora for the morning to work with a group of volunteers on some music for Family Appreciation Day that is coming up in a few weeks. There are other groups to organize stuff for the day, like a cooking group, dancing, etc. Today learned a new song, and a few people who can play instruments were learning the songs as well. I wish i could play the guitar and jam out! Afterwards we came back to tabacundo to watch the soccer game for 3/4th place for the world cup with a few other people. After the game we went to Angela’s grandmother’s house because the whole family was dancing for the fiestas of San Pedro, so the other volunteers wanted to check it out. We started at about 4 pm, and it was a great time! The family was extremely welcoming and full of energy. I love the songs that they sing, which pretty much talk about people getting drunk too fast, love stories, and there's even one about Tabacundo. The people dress up in indigenous outfits for the fiestas, and also carry bottles of alcohol to drink while walking/dancing around. We didn't dress up because we didn't expect to stay long and there were a lot of us, but Angela did because her family is pretty hard core! They dance almost every weekend for San Pedro, so she's a pro by now. After a while we were all given orange scarves that were embroidered with the family's name or something for the occasion, so we were welcomed into the family! Success!

Te busco, Te robo, Te dejo en el polvo. HASTA LUEGO!

7.9.10

So today is the big soccer day, yay!! I left my house in the dress that I was going to wear for the "Reina" Competition and had some other bags with all my soccer stuff and a change of clothes for after the games. I borrowed a white sweater from Betsy (my madre's daughter) but left it on the bus on accident! Hannah and i ran back to the bus station and checked multiple buses and talked to the drivers, only to figure out that our bus that we arrived on had probably just left, grrrr! I was all flustered and felt really bad for losing Betsy's sweater that I didn't really want to borrow in the first place!

We got to the stadium or center for the day and all the groups/teams had great costumes and barras, or sayings to represent themselves. Our slogan was "Hasta Luego Cocodrilo", like "See ya later alligator" but crocodile instead. Don't hate on it, we like it! And then our song or barra is written above as the title of this post, and it means, "I'll look for you, I'll rob you, and leave you in the dust. See ya later!" Our thoughts in creating it were related to playing soccer, like chasing someone down and stealing the ball from them.

We had the Reina Competition first and sang the National Anthem. Then 6 out of the 13 girls were picked to answer a question in Spanish. I was not chosen, nor did I win or anything, which is fine. I was glad not to have to speak Spanish in front of everyone!

We played 3 games, lost 2, but scored some goals and had a great time. The team from ayora won the tournament, and played their final couple of games in the rain! It was an exciting day and other volunteers had come to watch the tournament and hang out. Afterward a group of us went to a chinese restaurant for dinner which was really good, a nice change from an ecuadorian meal.

Before dinner I had been trying to call my madre to tell her that I wasn't coming home for dinner and would be back around 7 or 8, but no one answered the house phone and she doesn't have a cell phone. When I did get home, my madre was in the street waiting for me with a shawl because she thought i was in a dress all day! I'm pretty sure I told her that we had a soccer tourney but she was all worried and I felt bad she had been waiting outside in the cold--ahhh communication mishaps!

Tough Topics

7.8.10

This morning we had a medical session on rape: definition of it, stats about it and Peace Corps Volunteers, how to report it, the process after in terms of medical attention, treatment, etc. It was difficult to sit through the whole morning talking about such an awful thing but it's necessary. We watched a video of three Peace Corps Volunteers who were raped at some point during their service, which was tough to watch, but also good to know their situations and how we can stay safe by avoiding certain areas or beaches at night, just having knowledge of some "dos" and "don'ts". Of course it's a scary thought and I hope nothing like this ever happens to anyone in our group, or any volunteer for that matter, but it is a reality and it was comforting to know that Peace Corps is up front and open about the topic.

In the afternoon they lightened things up and we had different stations related to non-formal education and ways we can incorporate it into our service. The stations were making puppets, making candles, jewelry/beads, making soy milk, and utilizing videos or different media tools to help in our charlas or workshops at our sites. The soy milk was interesting and would be easy to make on our own. I don't remember the process exactly but you would soak the soy beans for a day, then cook them until the outer layer comes off. The milk is made also with vanilla and cinnamon sticks, and it tasted pretty good!! By the end of the day everyone was ready to go home and get things organized for the big soccer tourney tomorrow!

Himno Nacional de Ecuador

7.7.10

Today we spent some time learning the National Anthem of Ecuador, because this Friday we are having a soccer tournament between all of the communities, and also a competition for a "Reina" (Queen) of our group, Omnibus 104. So each community has to elect one of the girls to represent their community, and I was chosen to be the Senorita of Tabacundo. Below are some of the words to the National Anthem. We didn't learn much because we didn't have a recording to listen to so it was a little difficult.

Salve Oh Patria, mil veces! Oh Patria!

Gloria a ti. Gloria a ti!

Gloria a ti. Gloria a ti!

Ya tu pecho tu pecho rebosa

gozo y paz ya tu pecho rebosa

y tu frente y tu frente radiosa

mas que el sol contemplamos lucir

y tu frente y tu frente radiosa

mas que el sol contemplamos lucir.

Los primeros los hijos del suelo que soberbio el Pichincha decora

te aclamaron por siempre senora

y vertieron su sangre por ti.

Dio miro y acepto el holocausto,

y esa sangre fue germen fecundo

de otros heroes que, atonito, el mundo

vio en tu torno a millares surgir

a millares surgir

a millares surgir.

Yesterday in class we talked about our progress with learning Spanish and how it helps to spend time with our host families around meal times, at least for me it's helpful. It reminds me of being at my grandparents’ house with my family because we do the same thing as my host family here: sit, talk, eat, laugh, tell stories, etc. It’s a good feeling to have that reminder of home and the same feeling of family and being together, as corny as that may sound. We took a break in class to get some cafecito, and talked more about next Friday, our expectations of our sites, and how anxious we are to learn where we will spend the next two years.

Then today we had a change of focus and had some fun learning "piropos", or pick up lines for both men and women. Some are pretty hilarious, some of them translate to "What a mango!", or "You are for me to eat", which is "Eres paco...merse". It was a pretty entertaining day!

After class we spent time in Cayambe to buy our jerseys for the tournament and picking up other stuff that we needed, like a sash for me to wear. We named our team the Cocodrilos de Tabacundo, or Crocodiles from Tabacundo, and we're going to have green jerseys that say "RAWR" on the back, I'm so excited!!

Charlas

7.5.10

Today we had a meeting in Ayora with the Youth and Families group and we were given the topic for our first “charla” in our towns. "Charla" means "workshop" or literally "chat", and every volunteer will give various charlas throughout their service, so we are practicing now with our families and people in our communities. Tabacundo was given the topic of Personal Values. We put together the presentation and practiced in front of the group. We had the group listen to a series of statements, and then stand in front of one of three signs: I agree, I disagree, or I’m not sure. The statements talked about gender roles, teen pregnancy, etc. It was interesting to have some discussion about each statement and what ppl believed, why they chose to stand where they did. It was also good to have our Ecuadorian professors and trainers there to add to the discussion, because their culture has different opinions on things like homosexuality or having sexual relationships before marriage. We will officially give our charla on Wednesday afternoon with members of our host family and a few community members.

After the training day ended, Jordan, Hannah, Angela, and I went to a cafe and had some coffee and bizcochos (biscuits/biscotti). We talked about wanting to find out our sites next week, or where every volunteer will be placed for their two years. After we find out we will go on a one-week site visit to get to know our communities a little bit and get a feel for what it will be like. We've had some interviews with our Program Staff about our preferences about the type of work we would like to do within Youth and Families, where in the country we want to be, etc. My preference was to be in a warmer environment and use my previous Social Services experiences; I'm not really sure what to expect but I know it will all work out for the best. When we find out our sites we're supposedly having a party/ceremony and they will announce where each person's site is. I said I imagine it to be like a game show almost, where they will call each person up one by one to reveal their site. “Angela, Come on Down!” Almost like a Price is Right episode, Ecuadorian style. We were also told that the facilitadores/professors will dance and provide entertainment for the volunteers, so we will see what happens!!

The pic is of Ayora, where we meet at least a couple times a week as a big group to have Technical training and such.

Happy 4th of July!

7.4.10

WE LOVE AMERICA!!

We celebrated in Ayora, a smaller town than Tabacundo, with other volunteers in a large field with beer, bbq, other "American foods". I brought oreos, yummm!!

On the way to the field I spent about 1 hr with hannah trying to find the entrance to walk down to the field but we couldn’t find the “door”. Supposedly there was a small door with writings on it, it was in the middle of a stone wall, and then there were narrow stairs going down. We saw one door that had stairs going down but looked dangerous or as if no one really goes down those stairs, so we continued to walk and then ran into another volunteer. Eventually we went down the stairs and joined the party. We played some baseball with a soccer ball, so we played kickball basically, and invented some other games. It was nice to have some kind of invented American bbq and just speak English and hang out with other volunteers.

After the party, Hannah and I went back to my house and then went to Angela’s grandmother’s house for another celebration with all of the families from Tabacundo. Mama Dios and Daniel (her grandson) joined us, as well as Jordan, her mom and sister, Angela’s family, and Hannah (her parents were unable to come). We told funny stories about how I left my cell phone in Angela’s father’s van the second day we had them, as well as some posters for a presentation a week later (Angela did that). We made smores which were amazing, and ate pizza that Angela made with her family. Overall it was a really fun day, viva America!

Tabacundo loses a member, sadness.

6.28.10

So today our friend, Cat, who is in our Tabacundo group, has decided to go back to the States. The past week she has been sick and missed a couple of days of training. She has been feeling homesick on top of everything else, and said that she has been having doubts about being in the Peace Corps for two years, since this is her first time being far away from her family for such a long time, as well as her boyfriend who is in the States. We wish her well and hope she can find different opportunities to volunteer in the U.S. and maybe come back to Peace Corps in the future if she wants!

Slowly adjusting...

6.22.10

The time passes by pretty slowly here so far, tomorrow we will be here one week and it feels a lot longer than that. Today in class we talked about the importance of family in ecuador. It seems similar to that of the U.S. in some ways, but here it’s very common for family to see each other every day and to be in constant contact. Sometimes the grandparents and parents will help to raise the children in the family and always help no matter what. We also talked about machismo and the rise of femenismo/feminism as well. There are some commercials that talk about machismo being part of violence, and woman are slowly gaining more respect. The other day when we went to Otavalo for La Fiesta de San Pedro, Jorge (my madre’s son in-law) was driving but couldn’t find the entrance to the party, but his wife was telling him where it was. He wouldn’t listen and pretty much pretended that she hadn’t said anything, he didn’t even respond to her. This was really frustrating to see because i wanted to yell at him but i knew i couldn’t . Otavalo is another town like an hour from Tabacundo, it's a big tourist spot and known for its Market. Fiestas de San Pedro are two months of basically partying in the streets, to be honest I'm not sure of the history but I know that people save up the rest of the year to be able to do a lot during the two months of San Pedro.

Today was frustrating in general because things kept changing and Norma wanted us to talk about the average age that people get married in the states, if we agree with extended family living together, etc, and no one really cared that much about the answers to her questions. We have a general meeting tomorrow in Ayora and heard at the last minute that we had to buy coffee, tea, snacks, etc for the day for 70 people. We felt frustrated because i feel like this is a new job, and it is not my responsibility to coordinate these things. Each group will have to do it at some point, and i understand that it was probably a test to see how we would handle it. We have everything we need and hope it’s enough for everyone, so we will see. It also didn’t help that i woke up this morning with a bad headache; it has gotten better but is not totally gone. I need to drink more water but I also have to go to the bathroom and i can’t! Tonight i’m in bed early and just trying to relax before i have to wake up early tomorrow. We did get to talk a bit with Gabi and Cristina, the Program Managers, which made us feel better to talk to them about some of our concerns, and we talked about “girl stuff”, like plucking eyebrows haha. I told them that last night I was practically in my closet with my flashlight plucking my eyebrows because I needed more light.

Chicas de Tabacundo!

6.19.10

So in Quito we each had an oral Spanish exam with a staff member, and from there everyone in each program was separated into different groups based on language level. We were all transported together to a small town called Ayora, about 1.5 hours northish from Quito, and then from there driven to our towns where each group would live with families and get together for language classes. I am in a group with four other chicas: Angela, Catherine, Hannah, and Jordan, and we will be living in Tabacundo from now until mid-August when we complete training. There are 13 groups total, all of which are dispersed in and around the city of Cayambe. Our language facilitator, Norma, traveled with us and dropped us off at each of our host families houses.

As we drove around I started to get nervous about living with a host family again and wondered what they would be like. I was the 2nd last to be dropped off, and my madre met Norma and me at the front gate. When Norma drove off with Angela to her house, I was like "ahhh don't leave me yet", it was all happening so fast. But my madre showed me upstairs to my room and I met her granddaughter, Jhanice. She watched me as I unpacked my stuff, and we laughed because a bottle of bugspray had spilled/exploded in my backpack! The whole room smelled like bugspray, but thankfully it was in a plastic bag so nothing was ruined. Jhanice was pretty quiet but told me she knew a couple of words in English, like "chicken". Random part of the story but she's so cute!

The rest of the day I spent meeting the rest of the family. In the house lives my madre (they call her Mommy Dios/God Selena, or Mommy Diose, because she is very generous and the door to her house is "always open"). Her daughter, Candi, also lives in the house with her son, Daniel (15), and Jhanice is her daughter who is 8 years old. Jose Fernando is her son who lives there as well but has a separate room/apartment right next door but has a separate entrance. Her other daughter lives in the house behind ours with her husband and two children. Then Cristian and his daughter Maria Jose live in Tabacundo but a few minutes away, and they come over a lot for meals and stuff.

In conversation the family told me that Tabacundo is generally safe, however there are some streets that I shouldn't walk down at night, especially when the bars close at 2 pm because there is a lot of drinking and violence. It seems like something I would keep in mind in any place.

Random thoughts/observations: Everyone eats with a spoon, rarely with a fork or knife. And hot water in this country is a HUGE BLESSING! I was a little shocked by my first cold shower, it's definitely a wake up call!

Bienvenidos

**Time to play catch up! So I have horribly neglected my blog and am just starting to post things that were written back in June. The post date on the blog will be different but I'll include the date each entry was written so you can put these posts in perspective in terms of time. So sorry, I'm a first-time blogger!

6.18.10 Happy BDAY to my sister Kerty, 22 woop woop!! I love you!

We arrived safely later in the evening of the 16th to Quito, Ecuador, yay! All 68 (the largest group so far) of us were welcomed by Peace Corps staff who clapped for us an helped us get our luggage to the vans and then onto the buses. We were divided into two groups: Youth and Familes (Jóvenes y Familias), and Public Health (Salud Pública). As part of Youth and Families, I stayed at Hostal San Javier. Over the next few days we stayed in Quito and spent a lot of time at the Peace Corps Ecuador Office, getting to know staff and fellow volunteers, completing paperwork, getting shots, language exams, and talking about safety and cultural things, policies/procedures as PCVs (Peace Corps Volunteers). The 67 other volunteers that I’ve met are amazing people, and come from all over the States; there are two other “Wisconsinites” (woo!). Everyone comes with all different kinds of traveling and volunteer experiences. Our group is also fairly young, most have just recently graduated from college, others are in their mid to upper 20s.

After training during the day we came back to the hostal those couple of days and had dinner, and then hung out, played games, etc., you know, the usual thing you do when you first meet new peeps.

Welcome to my blog!

I leave for Washington, D.C. on Tuesday, June 15th in the morning. After an orientation period I will fly to Ecuador on Wednesday, June 16th as a Youth and Families Peace Corps Volunteer (PCV).

Look for messages and pictures to come!