Lots of photos!!

Happy belated 4th of July from Adam and Emily!!


Everything is going great with Adam and I so far. This week our training was a mixture of language, security, health and technical training. During our language training, we went out to the bank and to the post office to ask questions in Spanish. We found out that it costs $2 to send out letters...so I might not be sending out too many during the next 2 years! Sorry about that! We also went with our language facilitator to the market and we made a traditional Ecuadorian almuerzo (lunch) that included tortillas (not the burrito kind, but essentially potato pancakes with cheese inthem), rice, and beef cooked with garlic.

Our facilitator Fernanda chopping up carrots with Mica and Pacha

During our technical training, we learned about giving charlas (workshops) for youth and we actually gave one! Adam and I were in a group with 3 other aspirantes and we gave a workshop about gender stereotypes. It actually went pretty smoothly. Other kinds of charlas that we might give in the future include self esteem, goal setting, nutrition, etc. Luckily there is an entire handbook that has sample workshops, so it actually isn´t too bad. Our tech training also includes different kinds of activities that we can do in our communities...so this week all of us had to carry little eggs with us (our bebe huevos) everywhere we went. Adam and I had gemelos (twins) that we had to take with us on the bus and to all the training sessions. We were lucky that we didn´t get ours eggnapped by the facilitators or squashed in our pockets (like John below).


This week we also had some volunteers who came and shared some of the community projects that they have done. Adam and I learned how to make cleaning disinfectant from a volunteer who works with local women to make and sell the disinfectant.

Mixing the disinfectants in the buckets

We ended the week with a fun 4th of July celebration. The PC staff and volunteers cooked up some burgers, hot dogs, kabobs, coleslaw, potato salad and guacamole. I think that it was a really nice change of pace for everyone! During the celebration, we also had soccer competitions between the different communities. If you can believe it...our team from Puruhantag actually made it into the final round. We didn´t win but we did play 4 games...and at this elevation, man did it make us beat. Also, all the teams made shirts this week. Our shirts said ¨Vamos a bacilar in Puruhantag.¨The story behind that is during language training last week, our facilitator was teaching us some slang. When she was explaining the phrase ¨Vamos a bacilar¨we thought it meant ¨to go hang out.¨ It turns out that it is a phrase that teenage boys say to each other when they are bored and want to cruise for some girls to make out with. Needless to say, I won´t be wearing this shirt any other time except to go to bed. Lol. We also had to have a ¨madrina¨to run for queen in the community pageant. Thankfully Tiffany was willing to be Srta Puruhantag.

Tom, Fernanda our language facilitator, Tiffany, me and Adam

Tomas and Adam enjoying the beauty pageant

Two teams playing some futbol

The winning team that kicked our butts

Yesterday Adam and I went to a chifa (chinese restaurant) with two of the older volunteers in our group, Mary and Nancy. Nancy was the woman we visited in Minnesota and we were going to visit Mary in North Carolina but didn´t get a chance to. It wasn´t bad for $3.25 per person. Also, I am able to upload pix today because Adam and I went to the Grand Aki (a large store) in Cayambe and bought a CD-RW. No viruses for us!! Also I have added more pix to the other posts as well.

Today Adam got a haircut for $2 and we made picadillo for our family. Not sure how they liked it with the black beans, rice and tostones. It was a little off because tomato sauce tastes a bit different here...but overall it wasn´t bad! Other than that, did some laundry and had a lazy Sunday!

And now for all the other pictures that I didn´t get a chance to upload before.

Our matching watches from Wal-Mart

Our current bedroom which is very comfy...we are starting to get used to the hard bed!

My arsenal of anti-itch remedies... it´s only sort of working.

Our totally cute hermanitas, Micaela and Pacha

At one of the many fiestas every weekend. People actually built bonfires out in the street and dozens of groups walk by singing and dancing and drumming along.

Beautiful view of Ecuador

¡Nosotros estamos muy felizes!

Adam and I are doing very well so far! So much to share but not enough time!!

In summary, we spent a day in Quito getting our first vaccinations of rabies and yellow fever. Then we went to a town that is about 45 minutes outside of Quito (I think). It is absolutely beautiful here! It is in the mountain area known as the sierra, and is quite green and tranquil.

Poster in the PC office...if only they had more coffee in Ecuador...Lol

Some of the volunteers breakfasting before we met our host families

Our host family is absolutely wonderful. Their home is very comfortable and we feel blessed to be staying with them. They run an organic farm so we have an endless supply of fresh veggies and fruits (to complement the rice and potatoes). Our host mom, Magi, is an AMAZING cook. Our host dad, Edwin, is so great with us- he spends about an hour or so each night talking with us. He speaks slowly and clearly so that we can learn, and he teaches us new words, like chivo (goat). They have two of the cutest little girls ever (aside from my sobrinas), Pacha and Micaela.

In terms of how training is going, the larger group of 45 was broken down into groups of 4-5 and placed in different communities that are up to an hour by bus from the central town. We were grouped based on languaged level. After my language interview, I was placed in intermedio-bajo and Adam was placed in intermedio-medio. Because we get to stay together, I am with some of the intermedio-medio folks. The other two aspirantes (PC trainees) are Tiffany and Tom (not a couple). Tiffany was the gal we met in Mobile. They are both totally fun and great. Hopefully we won´t be sick of each other after 9 weeks!!

We do language training in our community. It is convenient because it is at our host family´s house!! The rest of the training is in a different community, so we have to take two busses to get there. The first bus ride is 22 cents, and the second bus ride is 16 cents, just to give you an idea of costs. It takes us about an hour to get there.

Training is a bit tiring because it is from 8 to about 5, and then we add an hour each way to travel. I think the altitude makes us super tired so we are still adjusting. 9 hours of sleep a night is not enough!! Our technical training is interesting and we do a lot of dynamicas (ice breakers) to help us prepare for when we go out to our sites and use them at our talks. So far we have done some of the standards, like the human knot. But it is new for some folks...like Adam. Lol.

Yesterday we took a trip to Mascarilla, which is an Afro-Ecuadorian community in Ecuador. It was really interesting but also very hot! We got to learn about the culture there, as well as see some of the beautiful scenery, watch an indoor soccer game, and play with the kids in the streets. Aside from walking for hours in the blistering heat and getting bitten by a bajillion mosquitos, I would say it was a great trip.

Masks from Mascarilla

Making our own masks from clay

4 of the 6 boys in our training group- John, Rob, Tom and Adam

Some of the native plants in the Mascarilla area

Our hike through the ¨gardens¨ to get to the river

It feels like a jungle out there!!

And we made it to the river after an hour! I´m glad I wore shoes because some folks had flip flops on! Btw, this is fellow aspirante Jessica

Learning about composting

Jennifer trying her hand at mixing compost

Cute kids from Mascarilla...the little girl in yellow is a booby pincher though...so women have to watch out! I learned that from playing with her...ouch!

We are in Ecuador!

Adam and I are safe and sound in Quito! We arrived at 6:30pm but as you can imagine with 45 volunteers and a ton of luggage, it took a bit of time to head out. We arrived at our hostal around 8pm and went straight to dinner of chicken, rice and potatoes (surprise!).

On our way to the airport in Miami...we are excited!!

Our first view of Ecuador from the plane

Our welcome from the Country Director at the airport in Quito

We are having a great time and meeting a lot of amazing people. Just a few facts about our group so far from what we've gathered!

Number in our group- 45
Number of men in our group- 6
Number of couples in our group- 2

I would guess that at least 1/3 of our group just graduated last month (one person graduated this past weekend from what I understand).

Our staging was really good and after our training we went to a Cuban restaurant for our last dinner in the US! No better way.

Our last dinner in the USA

Anyhow, it is late but I wanted to just give an update. Tomorrow we start at 7am for breakfast then off to the Peace Corps Office for a day of shots, language testing and who knows what else! Get excited!!

We're in Miami!

Our Peace Corps adventure has begun! Today we arrived in Miami for staging (pre-orientation where we turn in our paperwork, get briefed on the Peace Corps, and meet all the other volunteers that will be going with us to Ecuador in the Omnibus 102 group). We arrived a day earlier than most people because we were coming from the west coast. I'm glad we did!

We started out bright and early this morning at 3:40am. Adam and I both took quick showers, said good bye to Andy, Gaby and Alex (Adam forgot to say goodbye to Mickie! Good thing he spent an hour petting her the night before!). Then off we went with both our parents to the Inyokern Airport to catch our 5:10am flight. Sadly, we have ZERO photos from that experience because the people at the check in were rushing us, telling us that we should've gotten there at least 1 hour ahead of time (oops!). $100 in checked baggage fees later, we were in the short line for security (i.e. just Adam and I, as all the engineers from the base had already gone through and were sitting in the teeny tiny waiting room). We did see our parents waving us goodbye as our little propeller plane took off towards LAX. I don't think they could see us waving back!

Adam's 15 year old puppy Mickie

We arrived at LAX in half an hour and were at our connecting gate in no time at all. The plane ride to Miami was quite uneventful. No food or snacks served (unless we wanted to pay $4 for some nuts) and a terrible movie about a dog hotel. We arrived into Miami around 3:30pm and were the last to get off the plane. We got to our baggage claim turnstyle, and luckily only had to wait about 5 minutes before getting all of our bags. I have realized that it is a bit tricky handling all the bags if I also have a bag of zong (thanks mom!) and a bag of empanadas (thanks Gaby! They were FABULOUS and totally hit the spot).

Our empanadas and sticky rice (zong)

After wobbling our way out the door toward the taxis, we were able to grab an SUV taxi, swing by baggage claim #5 (we were at #23) to pick up fellow Peace Corps trainee Nancy Wall, and whip off to the Doubletree. It was sooooo nice to drop all our bags and just sit on the bed relaxing for a bit (since we didn't get to bed until 1:30am the night before!).

Adam and his hot chocolate chip cookie

Vegging out after a loooong morning

After a little relaxing, we headed off to Chili's to get some dinner with Nancy. Adam and I had originally wanted to go to a Cuban restaurant with his cousin Nicky, but because we are sans car, we found a restaurant in walking distance. In some ways, it was nice to go eat at a chain restaurant with too large portions for one last time before heading off to Ecuador where we will hopefully live without. Though some pork with black beans and tostones also would've hit the spot!

After dinner, Adam and I met up with his cousin Nicky. Nicky is actually Adam's 3rd cousin. I'll have to take a look at their family tree to get a better understanding of his family history. Either way, it was great to meet him because I had heard a lot about him.

Adam and his cousin Nicky

Then it was back to the hotel where I tried to figure out how to redistribute our bags so that most of the weight will get carried in our backpacks, and less in the duffel with no wheels! Woo hoo! I'll keep everyone posted about how staging is tomorrow night!

Probably the comfiest bed we will sleep in for a long time

And just in case people were wondering, our last day in Ridgecrest was a total whirlwind. We could've used a few more days! But then again, a few more days would've just given us more time to procrastinate. Yesterday we ended up doing the following:
1. Hang up blinds in the back bedroom and hang up the picture frames
2. Go to Wal-mart to return stuff and buy pepto tablets
3. Make a Father's Day Card for Adam's dad that I have NO IDEA where it went
4. Burn wedding pictures to send to Maile. Again, I have NO IDEA where that went
5. Meet up with Sarah and her family, where we got to hang out, catch up, and set up a swimming pool!
6. Meet up with Danny and his family, where we got to hang out, catch up, and get witnesses for our wills (which we have NO IDEA where they went)
7. Eat dumpings, steak and chicken with my parents and show my mom how to use the digital camera and Skype!!
8. Go back to Adam's family's house to frantically shove things in boxes that we weren't taking with us (Suegra- sorry to leave the house a disaster!!) and stick Clif bars, fruit snacks, and beef jerky in the available crevices. Um, all those things that we have no idea where they went. Yeah, probably somewhere in those piles. Looks like we need to make a phone call to the parents!
9. Sleep for 2 hours and dream about how we overpacked! =D

And now some photos of our last few days!!

Finished product of the room

Mom learning how to Skype with Susan and Paul

Grandpa with Catalina

Julienne with Grampa

Catalina driving the Honda Pilot

Gaby with Julienne

One Day Left

With just one more day left before we depart for the Peace Corps, Adam and I have been busy spending time with family, running errands, remembering things that we have to do, and catching up with friends. It's incredible to think that we only have more day left before we head out on something that was just a thought 2 years ago!

Yesterday, Adam and I officially sold our car...we were sad to see the Matrix go, but we were also glad to have it sold! Farewell our good Matrix! And most likely we will be getting a hatchback when we return.

Look at that lower lip!

We also spent the day getting paperwork done- wills, power of attorney, personal property insurance, etc. I'm glad that we got those things pretty much taken care of. In the evening, we had a delicious feast with Adam's family- turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes & gravy, salad, and rolls. We also had an early celebration for Catalina's birthday (my niece, who will be turning 4 next week!).



Today was a lovely day with Adam's family. We went out to the Kern River area and picnicked by the Trail of 100 Giants. I love sequoias. Too bad we all forgot to bring jackets and sweatshirts because it was pretty chilly. Pictures from today are on my other camera, so photos will be uploaded later!

My parents went to a wedding today in Laguna Beach, so they are spending the night with Betty. Luckily I got to spend a lot of time with them last week, and I'll get to spend tomorrow with them as well. I am grateful that our parents both currently live in the same town!

29 hours until we fly to Miami!