Sunday, August 8, 2010

One Week Left...

OF TRAINING! I am back from my site visit, I just got back from my technical trip and I now have just one week left of training. I am very excited to be finishing up training, sad to be leaving my Ayoran family and definitly starting to get nervous about living for 2 years in an Ecuadorian community and training to do something positive and worthwhile. However, it is also possibly the only time in my life where I will be my own boss and have endless options.

My site visit was unbelievable, I met the volunteer who will be leaving in August, I met a volunteer who moved to Cahuasqui 3 months ago, and I met my counterparts at the tourism agency, the principle at the high school and the doctor and nurse at the community health center. Through these initial contacts, I have already identified numerous possible options for work. Now the goal is to find the place where my passion intersects with the community's needs.
For the technical trip I was lucky enough to go to the coast of Ecuador for my first time. We went to Guayaquil (the biggest city in Ecuador), Salinas (a touristy beach town), Las Playas (a not so touristy beach town) and a small city called La Libertad. I traveled there with seven other volunteers and three facilitators. In each place, we gave charlas (educative talks) about self-esteem, good communication and sex-ed to high school classes and youth groups. It was very tiring, but also very fun. It felt good to actually be doing something instead of training all day.

Now, I am going to attempt to upload some photos...ENJOY!



The dairy factory my host family owns.


Volcanoe Cayambe. This is what I see everyday when the sun rises during aerobics class. AMAZING!

My little brother, Angelito, and me with a big pig!

More pictures to come later. I miss and love you all.

Ben

6 comments:

  1. I love the pic of you , little brother and the big pig!

    good luck with the sex education. I'll bet it is increasing your vocabulary!
    I hope you know how very much I admire what you are doing.

    love, janet

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  2. Salinas is a great beach town on the south pacific coast of Ecuador, one of the most visited ones!

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  3. janet.berlo@rochester.eduAugust 13, 2010 at 12:50 PM

    I an at your house, communing with the lovely Maia. We have had some good ball-throwing. Dan and Karla are here and Dan was playing tug with her. But no one can replace the Ben-of-her-Heart.

    Love, janet

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  4. Your little brother is adorable! The pig ... not so much.

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  5. Hi Ben,
    Joel just sent me the blog--amazing! and the pictures are very clear. Nice buddy picture with your hermanito and the pig! And lovely to see your smile.
    So glad to hear how connected in you sound, busy and engaged with people. Curious what has been hardest...maybe anticipation of the next unknown step each time?
    Joel and I are well, feeling lucky to have time at home with beautiful weather. I've been doing extreme gardening.
    Love to you,
    Lisa

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  6. Benjamin, sign me up! Especially for that homemade, farm fresh ice cream. I'm with Karla on the pig. I am so excited for you, although I'm sure you have equal amounts of anxiety as you begin a new phase of your Peace Corps service. I am so proud of you!

    Love, Janet P. (as differentiated from Janet B.)

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