Month in Review

Living with 8 other gringos makes it a little difficult to learn Spanish. Who would have thought? This fact resonates in my mind during pretty much every Children's English class or natural science class when I blurt out phrases like "pueden usar half past eight ou eight fifteen por el tiempo 8:15" hit my hand to my head and get a sideways look from some kids. Luckily starting in January we'll be starting home stays in our community and I will hopefully be staying with a predominantly agricultural-based family who lives class to the library. I'm very excited to jump into this opportunity after a winter break of virtually no Spanish (except for my sister Jen non-stop quizzing me).

Besides trying to get in as much Spanish as possible in the next month, I've been focussed on solid waste issues in Rumiloma, specifically the installation of public trash cans and discouragement of litter and trash incineration. Erik and I spent a couple of weeks surveying residents and businesses about their trash removal behaviors, concluding that many incentives for trash incineration stem from people not wanting to put their trash bags on the curb for dogs to rummage through. Unlike in the states, there aren't residential trash bins and trash collection is done very rapidly: trucks swerve down the streets blasting what sounds like ice cream truck music as collectors sprint grabbing any trash bag in sight. To remedy this, we're looking to install some large dumpster-like bins in centralized locations as well as smaller bins on each block.

I've also taken over Dana's children's English class on Mondays and Wednesday and teaching a natural science class, a once a week program we've extended to our children's English students. on Mondays and Wednesdays the English class is broken up into younger kids (taught by Sarah) and older kids (taught by me); Friday is the fun-loving day where they all come together and Krysta and I try and keep the peace while instilling environmental awareness.

Though I have been a terrible personal blogger, I feel I've done a decent job of highlighting our progress on the MPIE blog. Here are some images to illustrate the lessons we've done so far:

Our finished paper-making product from science, fully autographed

Apprenticing English class before Dana's departure

Volcanoes, yeah!

Teaching science vocabulary in both English and Spanish

Next Friday I'll be heading off to Venezuela with Krysta for a week of adventure and some relaxation. Four days after that my dear friend Amy McGovern will be visiting until she escorts me home on December 15th. I am beyond excited to show one of my very closest friends what my life has been like here!

I promise to write at least a couple of times between now and December, but hopefully you feel relatively caught up, and if not, please visit our MPIE blog of which I write mas o menos every other day.

Cheers,

Jackie

Ecuador vs. Uruguay

Even though Guayquil is over 160 miles from here, we were fortunate enough to celebrate its independence day with a day off from work. As some scattered north and west for weekend getaways, the rest of us braved the Estadio Olimpico Atahualpa for the Ecuador vs. Uruguay game. We had been looking forward to this game for about two months, ever since Serena sent an e-mail informing us that the first five people to write her back would claim tickets owned by last year's PDs. Chet, Erik, Krysta, Mike and I were lucky to have read our e-mails first and after a couple of weeks trying to find the receipt, plus two days trying to pick up the actual tickets in Quito, we we're geared up and ready to go Saturday morning. You would probably think that a 5p.m. game wouldn't require us to get there much more than an hour or so ahead of time. However, as we made our way into the stadium around noon, we barely found enough open seats and the crowd was already extremely rowdy.

Me and Krysta (hour one of waiting for the game to start)

The flag that covered our whole section (hours 1 - 5, multiple times)

Erik rocks out, fully-dressed in Ecuador gear

Mike and Chet just before the opening kick off!

Unfortunately, as you probably already know, Ecuador lost 2 - 1 to Uruguay. Before we had enough time to marvel in the glory of scoring the first goal towards the end of the second half, Uruguay retaliated and somehow got themselves a penalty shot within mere seconds of the game ending. Though we were all disappointed, it was an amazing experience and tons of fun, even the five hours of basking in the sun playing cards.

Thanks to some advice from Seth, we'll be attempting to watch Wednesday's game against Chile in the teen center. Although our chances are slim since being pushed down into 6th place with 23 points (we need to be in at least 4th place to qualify for South Africa 2010), we're still hopeful!

Si Se Puede!

- Jackie

Community Clean Up

This past Saturday marked our first Minga of the year.  (Minga |meen-gah|noun: an Ecuadorian word for people coming together to do a community service project)  

Nine PDs awoke at 6:45 a.m. to the smell of brewing coffee and a scramble to collect brooms, gloves, and as many trash bags as we could find.  Though we sleepily commuted into Rumiloma, we perked right up as we stepped off of the bus to find a dozen kids and parents already gathered in front of the library, ready to clean up their community.  As we split into groups to tackle the various neighborhood streets and sidewalks, we found many residents cleaning streets and sidewalks by their homes as well, asking us to borrow supplies.

Our neighbors, brushing up garbage from the drain pipes 

We spent the better part of 3 hours cleaning up around Rumiloma; my main job was to run around making sure everyone had enough trash bags, haul full bags back to the library, label them with kids' names and then weigh them to keep track of which kid collected the most, by volume.  By 11a.m. we had run out of bags (something I never thought would happen given the amount we stole from the house and wiped out of the library stash) and rounded up all of the kids in the library to tally the weight results, which are the following:

Total Combined Kids' Weight: 376.5 lbs 

Total Combined Profe's Weight: 70 lbs (plus Sarah's 2 tires)

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Total Weight: 446.5 lbs 

Team Iori proudly showing off their loot 

A few notes about the weights: the profes had significantly less weight because we mostly helped the kids (we're not lazy, don't worry) and there was an estimate of 60-70 lbs not weighed that were left on street corners, where other residents were instructed to put their trash for pick up.  Though there were only 4 kids who got our grande sopresa, we dolled out lollipops to the other kids who answered our environmental quiz questions correctly and provided other refreshments for the families.  

Mike and Dana haul kids (and trash) from the plaza to the library

Lucia, Shawn, Erik and Bibi weighing the trash

The whole group in front of 450lbs. of collected trash!

Everyone helps throw trash bags into the truck

Some people question the sustainability of such an event, wondering if the streets will simply become riddled with garbage again a week later.  While that reality is more likely than not, clean-ups are a powerful tool for a number of reasons: they bring people together, engage them in a service dedicated to the area where they live, and quite frankly, after participating in something like picking up trash for house, you tend to think twice about dropping a candy wrapper onto the street.  

The event also opens the door for bigger projects.  There are two major trash issues in Rumiloma: burning household trash, mostly out of habit since there are reliable waste haulers now, and water contamination as a result of excessive litter and agricultural/livestock practices.  It is a priority of our environmental program here in Ecuador to tackle both issues in collaboration with USAID, FONAG (El Fondo de protección del agua), and most importantly, local leaders and organizations.   But I'm getting ahead of myself.. you'll have to wait to hear more about that in future posts!

Litter-less and feeling free (not really because quarterly reports are due next week!), 

Jackie

Manna Retreat!

This past weekend all our whole group headed to SierrAzul, an extensively protected chunk Cloud Forest.  It's located about 45 minutes from Baeza in a unique location between the sierra and the rain forest and is home to the spotted bear, tapir, and the puma.  We began our journey by leaving the house at 6:30a.m., catching a bus to Baeza, hopping on a camioneta and then hiking about a mile to the secluded lodge (we were literally the only guests there). 

In the back of the camioneta (at 60m.p.h.) 

The hut dining room where we ate our meals

Mid-phase 10 (wonder woman cape totally necessary) 

The girls spent Friday afternoon doing a short hike with Fernando and his adorable German Shepard, while the boys refused to awaken from their naps.  Little did we know this was only 1/8th of the hike we would embark on the next morning...  All of us headed out at 9:30 the next morning after a breakfast of mini hot dogs (a little weird, but I'm not going to complain).  We packed our bags full with cho-chos (little soy beans.. think cream colored edimame), cereal, bread, galapagitos (cookies), crackers and more as we knew we wouldn't return back to the lodge until close to sun down.  Most of the 14 kilometer hike consisted of us being knee deep in mud and/or horse poop, so almost all of us wore knee high boots (except two big-footed boys who couldn't fit and braved the trail in sneakers). 

Everyone in the river

Haley taking a breather on the trail

The hike was great, giving us time to talk to each other, learn about wildlife in the area and take in the beautiful scenery.   We also crossed and walked along a creek/small river for most of the trip, giving me an opportunity to collect a ton of rocks (currently on my windowsill) and drink straight from the crystal clear water.  

I couldn't have asked for a better first retiro and I'm so glad we get to have 3 more throughout the next year! 

- Jackie 

Into Thin Air

One of my favorite/sometimes least favorite things about living here in Ecuador is that there are rarely times when I find myself walking on a flat surface.  Considering that I basically come from sea level, both in NJ and DE, battling the altitude has become a new hobby of mine.  Past PDs have successfully climbed Mount Cotopaxi, the tallest volcano in Ecuador, whose gleaming glacial peak can be seen from our rooftop on a clear day.  Though I my mountain climbing portfolio only really consists of Smuggler's Notch, VT and the Catskills of upstate NY (let's face it, Delaware barely has hills), I've become pretty determined to attempt a guided journey to the top of Cotopaxi. 

In order to mix "training" with sightseeing during our weekends off, myself and some of the other PDs have mastered two different types of climbing: the jagged Mount Pichincha, immediately west of downtown Quito, and the Basilica Cathedral, in the heart of the Quito's historical downtown.   It might seem like the Basilica isn't a very daunting task, but the climb to both bell towers via spiral staircases and about a dozen sketchy ladders is pretty exhilarating.  Especially for a pretty serious ladder-a-phobe (ie: I waited a month for the apartment door to be install in the apartment before I moved in, in order to avoid the previous ladder laden entrance).  See for yourself! 

Me being really happy about all of the ladders

Sonia (or Soña as the library kids like to write) in the bell tower

Krysta's shoes & the city below

The girls (Sonia, Krysta, Sarah, me and Haley) at the top

Mt. Pichincha

Me and Krysta take a breather (one out of about 100) 

View of the trail ahead

Trying to hold our own against gusting wind

Until next time, 

Jackie

Hello Donors and Friends!

Welcome to my personal blog page!  Although I will be posting on the MPI Ecuador's daily life blog, Open Hands and Dirty Feet, I wanted to start one more specific to my projects so that you can read about where your much appreciated donations are going! 

When I first arrived in Conocoto, my days were filled with orienting myself with our community and helping run an Environmental Camp for kids, which was organized by an Ecuadorian couple, Cristian and Laura, who live close to our library.  The camp was filled with lessons about Ecuadorian ecology, environmental responsibility (the juvenile version), games and art projects.  My favorite lesson was when we took the kids to the farm in the backyard and taught them how to plant onions, celery, and lettuce.  Another reason why I loved camp so much was because Cristian has two dogs that look like a blown-up version of my dog, Desmond at home!  (see resemblance below)

Me and the kids from Enviro Camp

Me holding my dog, Desmond

Cristian's dog, Tommy ... so similar!

Camp was great especially because I will be teaching environmental science classes with another PD, Krysta Peterson, starting next week.  We decided to add it on as an extension of the children's English classes, whose theme is environmental awareness, holding an additional class during the week for science lessons and experiments.  I think this will be very positive since the most direct use for English here is for the eco-tourism industry. It's also easier to learn a language when there is a theme involved (first-hand experience of trying to learn the entire Spanish language in a month has certainly taught me that!) 

Me and my co-teacher, Krysta hiking waterfalls in Sangloqui

Another project I am working on include attacking the litter problem in our community; the president of the town council expressed interest in putting out public trash bins and educating people about why they shouldn't litter.  I am also planning to help the city of Sangloqui start up their recycling programs in the school district.  

Besides my environmental programs, I am working with another PD, Mike Gabrys, to run our library.  Our library is open Monday through Friday, from 2:30-6:30p.m.  We have about 2,000 books, a collection of games, art supplies, and a teen center that is open to the public and available for Socios to take out books.  Our biggest issues to tackle now that the space has been developed, are raising awareness to gain more members, getting local schools involved, and  making it more of a community space rather than a library run by a bunch of Americans. 

Some of our newly organized book shelves

One of the Niñas investigates the Children's section 

All of the PDs and the kids from our Niños camp, post-face paint day

I will update this site often, most likely weekly, with how my programs are going and what my life is like in Ecuador.  Please feel free to e-mail me with any specific questions or leave comments that I will be sure to respond to!  And, thank you again for your continued support and interest in my work here in Ecuador. 

Sarah, Mike, Erik, Me and Chet get ready for a field trip at the pool (bathing caps are required...)

Having a moment with Haley at the open health clinic last weekend

Me and all of the PDs, plus Bibi our Country Director, at my birthday brunch in Quito

Stay tuned early next week for pictures of our Manna house and the area that I live in!

Until Next Time, 

Jackie