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!
Dear Corey,
ReplyDeleteOur whole class is very interested in hearing about your experiences in Tabacundo. We can understand how you were nervous about living with a whole new host family. The family seems to be very nice though. One of the things you mentioned in your blog that interested us was your observations and random facts. We found it really odd that the people in Tabacundo considered hot water a blessing, and take cold showers everyday like it wasn’t anything unusual. Also, we found it strange that they rarely eat with forks or knives. We were also wondering what you planned on doing whenever you completed your training, and if you met your goals? We look forward to hearing more about your experiences and especially skyping with you next Friday.
Sincerely,
Ashlyn Byerly,
Johnathon Boles,
Joshua Key,
Bailey Carpenter,
& Haley Caudle
Hello! Thanks for the comment, I'll tell you more when we Skype but we finished training on August 15th or something and had a ceremony to become official volunteers on the 18th. Then everyone moved to their sites which are assigned throughout the country based on different skills and needs. I was happy that in training I increased my language skills if that's what you mean by goals. More to come later!
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