In The Beginning

I know I said I would blog, so I am going to try my best to stay on top of things. Hopefully this can be my main way to communicate and keep everyone involved. I know I would be wondering what I was doing so updates to come. So far it has been very labor instensive and instructional...not as exotic as my loved ones at home may be thinking. But don´t get me wrong Ecuador is BEAUTIFUL. Snowy mountains everywhere, the bluest skies in the world and the weather is great. I am in the Sierras and it gets pretty cold. Okay let me try to jump into what I´ve been doing...
The first days were crazy. I can´t believe it´s been less than a week!
There are 45 poeple in my group. 2 married couples, a few career leaves (late 20´s mid 30´s I´m in this group) the majority are recent graduates and there are three ladies who are in there 50´s (and super fine! lol) I like my group a lot.
So if you´ve read the blog you saw my bags, well we all had that many bags if not more. When we left Miami we had to carry our bags alllll over the airport... then flew into Quito and spent a night, had to pack up again and took a roller coasteresque ride up the windy mountains to Cayambe, lugging all of our bags with us. There we spent two nights. The majority of what we do is sit in a classroom, speak Espanol solomente, and learn rules, regulations, policies, saftey procedures etc...things we need to know primarily before even getting our host families. Which we were all so anxious and excited about.

We stayed in hostels and the bathrooms were an adventure within it´s self. I think it was great though. A good way to build a way for us to bond. Survival situations. Our tranining staff is THE BEST they take such great care of us and you can tell they reaaaallly have our best interests in mind.

Some challenges have been...the high altitude, new food, ugh I had a snafoo with having to sign my passport the same as I did before to open up my bank account (still pending I hope it goes through)

Ugh I have so many thigns to report and I´m running out of time...Ok some great things are I Meeting everyone, the amazing staff, me not speaking the language but making my way anyway...I´m proud of myself (well I was until I realized I haven´t even been here a week!)

I´m trying to read notes I took...other fun thigns we did. Created an work out group that would wake up early and do 15 min of circuits. It´s all we could handle in the high altitude! Our rooms were cold, our showers were cold...but my sleeping bag was mmm mmm warm.
Arlight so out of time...I hope this is the worst blog I do and my thoughts will be more together.
Miss everyone!
Mas mensajes to come!

Donde Estas?

Everyone is asking where will I be.

Well it's complicated...at least as I write this it is. Everyday I get more and more clear on how this is all going to pan out. We received some packing guidelines with our staging information and we need to pack 3 separate bags for 3 separate stages. The 4 day arrival in Ecuador, 3 month training and the remaining 2 years (if I under stand that correctly) I have already sent out an email to the Country Desk for clarification.

So first stop...the Sierra highlands for four days. I'm guessing that's the Andes region, but I could be wrong. This area is approx 45-70 degrees, chilly at night and can get some rainy days even in the dry season (which is now). The best way to dress is layers. So that means two shirts on one days which equals, more things in the bag to pack. However, I can count these clothes towards the clothes I have during training....

Training, three months in Cayambe (finally city!) Our staging packet states that we need all kinds of clothing, t-shirts, long-sleeved, short sleeved, boots, different pants etc. This is where I need to pack smart. The letter puts a strong emphasis on not packing excessively. So that is the goal.

Our third bag is everything else we will need for our 2 years of service but can live without for 3 months. So right now I'm thinking that is mainly supplies and other various items. We are told to label this luggage "Quito" because that is where the are storing it. As of right now, where I'll be for the next 2 years is still a mystery.....