Now that I´m actually here in Ecuador I haven´t had a chance to post till now.

So I am now living with a host family in a small town around Cayambe. I just got here yesterday and it has been quite a change of pace from "summer camp" which was what the first week of training was like....now this is the real deal!

My host family is great so far, we spent most of the evening trying to communicate which is always interesting. They have hosted a few other volunteers before though, so I think they are used to our lack of spanish skills.

A few days ago we took a trip out to an integrated farm and learned a few techniques for sustainable farming which we may implement into our communities.

So much has happened in the last few weeks I don´t even know where to start! So far everything is going well. We are having spanish overload every day and I really hope I am learning something haha.

I will go ahead and update the blog at some point when things settle down a bit...and I have tons of pictures :)

One more day....so excited/nervous that I can't even sleep! Typically I sleep like a baby through the night but last night my body (or mind) decided it was time to wake up at 3:30 am after 4 refreshing hours of sleep :/ Well, this time will come in handy considering I have not yet actually tried to pack anything into a bag, much less see if I am any where close to my 100 lbs limit. I guess I have procrastinated on that issue as long as I could. Preparation and goodbyes are quite stressful and sad, it will be nice to finally get this started :)

I have the greatest friends and family and have really enjoyed seeing everyone this weekend. It is very hard to leave people you love so much, but even though I may be far away I'm sure we will be able to stay in touch. Much love to everyone!

Trip to Honduras...getting warmer....

To start off the New Year, I headed down to Honduras with my friend and roommate Kate to visit her old site and friends. She is a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer about 9 months out of service. She invited me along with her to visit, which I am sooo grateful for because it was a wonderful experience and I learned a ton...not to mention had plenty of time to practice up on my Spanish skills (which I must admit need a lot of practice!).

Our first adventure was out to the campo in Buena Vista. Kate had worked on engineering plans for a water system to bring water into the town and to the houses. She worked with members of the rotary during this project and we met them and they drove us up to the community from the city of Santa Barbara.

It was verrry muddy, its a wonder we made it a few hours up a windy steep muddy road....

We were invited in for coffee after Kate had met with the men working on the pipe lines. This is a picture of the coffee mill which de-shells the coffee beans which grow in this area.

We stayed a few days in Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara. This is where Kate was during her Peace Corps service. All the people were overly hospitable and invited us in for coffee and cake usually. Everyone was truly excited to see Kate, and you could see that she was loved and respected by her community. We went by her host family's house and they invited us in and we all chatted a while, we were then invited us to stay in one of their apartments for free while we were there, which was great!

This is our lovely morning breakfast...yummy coffee cookies given to us by a girl's mother Kate knew in the community. Cornflakes with milk in a bag, pancakes and our freshly brewed coffee sock coffee.
Here Kate is in the room on the roof where the family makes their tortillas and there's me having my morning coffee and looking out on the beautiful view of Santa Barbara below.

After a day of adventures through the city we came back to the apartment. I went to use the bathroom and was surprised to find a little furry friend frantically running around the rim of the toilet trying to stay above the water. So I told Kate, though she didn't really think it could be true. She checked, screamed, then flushed...which just gave the mousey a lil bath.
So we told the owners and in comes our rescue with a piece of wood, which she proceedes to kill our furry little friend with :( Well at least it gave the lil kiddies a good scare which was funny hehe, and I think the cat enjoyed the find.


We visited with Kate's old co-workers. Everyone there was great. I tried to have a conversation with some of the guys for a while in which I managed to embarase myself to no end...I think I'll be laughing at myself a lot more than usual these next few months!

This is the central park in Santa Barbara which had recently been renovated. They had a nice little bridge with tortugas turtles and a large nativity scene (common in the area for Christmas). To the left is Oscar a boy Kate had taught English to, we all went to the one vegetarian restraunt in town which was quite delicous!

We went down to the southern part of the country on a 7 hour bus ride to Lange to visit Laura a friend of Kate's. While we were there her host dad took us on a hike in the mountains. When we got to the top we could see a Volcano in El Salvador and Nicaragua across the water. Seeing 3 countries at once isn't something you get to do everyday, it was beautiful up there.

Two Weeks...Two Days...Too Ironic

Only two weeks and two days left.... The smallness of the world hit home on Saturday night as my friends and I braved the snow to have a farewell dinner at Bus Boys and Poets in DC. During the course of the evening my friend Meredith said she had a friend also leaving soon for Peace Corps, who she then contacted to ask where she was going and voila..she is leaving for Ecuador in February as well! I also found out that that waiter we had has a friend doing PC in Ecuador right now, so I took down her name and maybe I'll be seeing her soon. I love these moments of synchronicity.

So I have a plan ticket and an itinerary for our staging event...which happens to be in DC, my stomping ground, how convenient. We all meet up for the day then ship out bright and early the next morning!

I thought I would give an update, so at this point I know I will be heading to colder mountainous area near the equator for training. I have also received a big (kind of like a frat/sorority) who I can contact with questions...which is very helpful knowing I love to be over prepared for everything ;P She lived in the DC area for a while, its nice that we will have something in common.

We have a facebook group for Omnibus 103 (this is the name PC has for our training group). There are quite a few of us there and it is a great place for us rookies to spout out questions to the current volunteers who have been super helpful.

So its time for me to really focus on packing...a 100 lb limit for two years and numerous possible climates makes it quite difficult! So far I have a light warm temp sleeping bag, a small netbook, a GRE study book, binoculars...hehe I hope I can get some bird watching in :), a few pairs of cheap back up glasses, loads of sunscreen, two books from Jim at the office (Returned Peace Corps Volunteer)...one: 1491...two: a fake book with the pages hallowed out to secretly hid things..so MacGyver, love it! Shout out some packing advice if you have any!

So with only two weeks left I still have a week of work..painting to do to get the basement apartment rented..a car to sell and a pimped out rim to find..things to buy and pack..and going away party 75.6 to attend. I'm sure it will all come together as always.

I plan on posting about my trip to Honduras soon, with pictures!

The verdict is in; Drum Roll Please........

*~ECUADOR~*

I was officially invited to serve as a PCV in Ecuador. I'll be leaving February 16th to go to staging, from there we will be shipped out to Ecuador and receive two months of training in Quito- the capital. My job description is sustainable agriculture, and will be working with agribusiness and farm management. :)

After not having any definitive information for the last few years about peace corps it feels just like Christmas getting so much information all at once!

So Wednesday morning at 5 am I received a toolkit status update which said "Congratulations, you have been invited to become a peace corps volunteer." SOooo of course that was the one thing on my mind that day. I calculated the time it would take the mail to come from the PC D.C. office, apparently only one day, and from then on decided it was necessary to leave work and stalk the mail man. Which I did, and sadly....only some magazines. So Thursday came and I figured there was a very high probability that the invitation would be mailed today. So I planned on leaving and stopping home for a run at 3 (mail time). Of course I got caught up doing things and never ended up leaving so I had Canny check the mail. Might I add that this was all after consulting the online magic 8 ball: Question 1. Will I receive invitation today- Absolutely 2. Will I get an invitation to Ecuador- Yes 3. Will I get an invitation to El Salvador- No Way. These are the things one does when anxiously waiting I presume. So Yes the invitation did come today in the mail. So I ran home and drove all the way back to the office so that I could open it there with everyone. Everyone gathered in the hall- I prayed that I would not have some ridiculous unexpected reaction when opening the invitation, Haewon was conferenced in, and it was finally time......drummmm roollll. No way! - insert big smile here- I'm going to Ecuador! to do sustainable agriculture!!!

Preface complete, and now the beginning of my Peace Corps saga begins.

At the End of the Line

My how the last two years have flown by! I started my Peace Corps applications and preparation about two years ago and now I'm in the home stretch waiting for a placement. I was nominated on April 22, 2008 to leave for south/central America doing the agriculture program in February 2009..but as life has had it there were a few medical complications along the way so I missed my original departure. I was renominated for the same program but leaving February of this year...and it is quickly approaching!

I've been dentally, medically and legally qualified since about spring time and now my placement review is also complete! Next step...invite. I've been anxiously stalking all the future peace corps facebook websites and the wikis and have not yet found anyone with an invite to Latin America for February in my program. This is a slight relief since that would suggest they probably have not made those placements yet, but hopefully they will be made soon. There are a few others in the same boat and they are also just having their placement reviews completed, which is exciting.

So I thought it would be a good idea to get a blog going to document my experience (since other's blogs have been so helpful and enlightening for me throughout this process).

I'm so excited to find out how I'll be spending the next few years of my life! It's been mentally draining for me to not have a definitive five year plan for the last few years and am ready to make my next move. I must say this year and a half since graduation has been amazing! I have learned so much, made great friends and had a lot spare time to hang out with friends and family and do the things I love. I had the great opportunity to work for JGCRI and have learned so much from my wonderful colleagues. I've had the chance to make new friends and deepen my relationships with former friends. I not only love them but many have been great role models for me and are of the greatest and most intelligent people I know. I also had the chance to complete my first half marathon last moth at the Baltimore running festival, which was so much fun. Thank goodness I have running as an outlet for my nervousness and stress. I think it's really helped me relieve some stress from waiting and being unsure of my future. I've also been able to expand my garden this year and grow more variety than I've had in the past. Every season I learn something new, and though I know my little backyard garden won't compare to anything I will be seeing during service, I hope the experience in some way prepared me for what lies ahead.

Well this is crunch time and I've been trying to make sure to use the little time I have these next few months in ways that are in alignment with my future goals. That means, studying Spanish...yes I am going to have to go full force on this task since most other nominees for the Latin American region will probably be more advanced than I. Other than that I am reading some past PCV (Peace Corps Volunteer) side projects so I will have some ideas when I go (though I know I would absolutely love to do something regarding renewable energy technologies if I could figure out somehow to incorporate that). I'm also reading a book called, "Living Poor" by Mortiz Thompsen, about a PCV's experiences, trials and tribulations during service. I'm also trying to figure out how to get rid of as much of the stuff that has accumulated in my house over the last 5 years as possible...and there's a lot. Of course hanging out with friends and family is a top priority as well!

Well hopefully I should have some Real, Actual, Informative news soon :) Everyone always asks me what the news with the peace corps is and frankly I never have too information to share. As of now, I am still patiently waiting...