It´s been a while...sorry about that. Stuff´s been a little crazy.

So i finished up training up north in the cold, cold sierra. It was bittersweet. I was totally done with sitting through pointless days of ¨learning¨, and was ready for a change of scenery. On the other hand, it was kind of sad leaving everyone. The first half of training, everyone seemed to be barely holding it together in our their own seperate way. The second half, on the other hand, I actually felt comfortable and made some really good friends, finally moving past the ¨hey...im excited and nervous, your ecxited and nervous...lets be friends¨ stage. My birthday fell right at the end of training, so everyone through me a quasi-surprise party, which was actually pretty crazy. My birthday usually falls in the awkward in between summer and college time when all my highschool friends have left for school but i´m not yet at college, so i´ve never had a really proper blowout...untill now. I also started to bond with my host family, and was hanging out with them more, so it was sad to part with them. But i did, and another milestone was reached. I was feeling a lot of feelings, again...

Then we went to Quito, which was rediculous...

Training always culminates with a final week in Quito, and is always one big party. Peace Corps policy stipulates that volunteers may not travel for the first 3 months of service, so we all new we had to get our party on with each other in a big way...which we did. The Mariscol is a touristy part of town where all the young people hang out, so we spent a lot of time there...first at the restaurants, then at teh bars, then at the discotecks. Eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow we will be lonily. that was our motto.

Besides the partying, the capstone of the week was the swearing in ceremony at the ambassadors house, a stately manor that overlooks the long, narrow valley that contains the city. We all got dolled up, ate good food, and got our picture taken individually with the ambassador. This picture was taken with our certificate saying we were legitimate volunteers now, and was taken in front of the whole group, much like a graduation picture when the president hands every student their diplomas. I knew this was a big moment, so i was thinking to myself exactly how i would comport myself while having my picture taken. Should i hold the certificate with two hands, or with one? Two hands would look more official, but one hand would allow me to put my other shoulder and arm behind the ambassador in a friendlier gesture. Should I make a serious and subdued smile, or see how much of a smirk i could get away with? I was still thinking about this as my name was called and as i walked up to the front to get my picture taken, which caused me to walk directly into the ambassador, step on her feet, and damn near knock her on her butt. Smooth move Chris. The most important person you´ve met in ecuador and you assault her in front of 70 people.

Leaving Quito...
Corrie (the closest volunteer to me) and I took the night bus from quito to Loja, then from loja to our prospective sites. The trip to Loja took a little longer than usual...possibly because we broke down three seperate times. We final made it into Loja, only to crash on the outskirts. Everyone was fine, and quite frankly it was actually kind of fun. Plus, i learned some good swear words from disgruntled passengers.

Once in my site (Guayzimi...In the foothills of the andes right where the amazon jungle starts) the fast past living of the last week came to a screaching halt. My village is so laid back its rediculous.

My counterpart was on vacation, and I was told that my project wouldn´t start untill october, so i had a little free time. I looked arouind for stuff to do on my own to integrate into the community and to pass the time. Within about 35 minutes, i found myself in 2 different meetings, and before i knew it i was a full time english and gym teacher in the grade school and teaching english one hour a week at a technical school for adults in teh evenings. So that has been good...although i can honestly say that i hate teaching english (the school system here essentially garuntees that the kids don´t actually learn anything) i love teaching gym class, and working at the school has been really good to get to know the town. last week i got back from shopping in the big city and as soon as i got off the bus 2 of the cutest little girls ever ran up to give me a hug...which was pretty cool.

In my free time, i play a lot of sports. Everyday at 5 all the men get together and play either voli (variation of volleyball) or indor (variation of futbol played on concrete under an awning) depending on whether or not its raining...which is does every day at some point. After that, i go home and eat dinner with my family, then lift big rocks over my head at an attempt to get huge. I lost 10 pounds durnig training, which pissed me off. Im determined to gain it back. The weight lifting also serves to get me all hot, which makes taking cold showers easier. Then i watch telanovels with the family, read a little, make up a lesson plan for the next day, and go to sleep.

So school gets out at 1, and sports dont start untill 5. As incredible as laying in a hammock reading and napping sounds, 4 hours a day is a bit much, so recently i went on a search for other things to do. This search took me to the Liga de Deportive, a government sponsered sports ¨complex¨...like i said, theres nothing here to do besides play sports, so everyone does. As a result, everyone is really athletic and fun to play with...i fit right in, its great.

Anyway, so in the liga i learn that theres boxing classes daily at 3...perfect! now i only have 2 hours to kill between school and sports, and napping usually takes up that time, as i box for an hour and a half, play voli or indor, then lift weights...which usually makes me pretty tired. So im learing how to box, and as of right now I´m pretty bad. Theres another 18 year old kid in training whos pretty damn good...he competes around ecuador in championships. I can´t wait to start sparring with him so i can add getting the crap beaten out of me by a teenager from a developing country to my list of life happenings. Also, i just learned that the trainer is an ex ecuadorian national team member, and has competed internationally...so thats pretty cool.

So yeah, for about a week or so i was super lonily...i love my site, but its so isolated. not being able to call people or use the internet when im feeling down also forces me to rely more on myself... a skill that i realize is lacking in our generation. I think i´ve just about got it down now, and should only get better at it once i find more outlets and make more friends. I was finally getting accustomed to the rustic lifestyle when i came into Loja (where im writing this blogpost) to replace a lost bank card (luckily, only 90 dollars were stolen...). The Peace Corps lifestyle in the big cities is so different. theres three or 4 volunteers in and around loja, and they always hang out with each other. 2 of them actually live together, and im staying at their apartment right now. I´ve been watching episodes of ¨the office¨, making American food, and speaking english all weekend in a three bedroom apartment with hardwood floors that is all around nicer than any place id hope to have one year out of college. Contrast that to my less than waterproof roof in the rainforest....

It´s nice to have all those creature comforts, and have the option to consume like any other american if you want, but i wouldn´t trade it for my little jungle village. I am truelly learning to love the jungle lifestyle, and while the people in my site don´t have any money, they aren´t lacking any neccesities. They always hang out with their friends in the afternoons, and families in the evenings. When you combine that with the always close to perfect temperature, in a lot of ways my site resemples a sleapy vacation town not unlike bear lake in the summers, only everyone hangs out as a community more. I tried to explain that villages like this don´t exist in america, and they said something like...¨yeah, here we don´t ahve any money and americans are all rich!¨
i replied that although a lot (but not all) americans have a lot of money, our quest for individuality and success has led to an entire culture of isolation. I consider myslelf very blessed to have many close friends and family members, and my best days at home are spent hanging out with all of them...just kicking it and playing sports. But those days are few and far between, as excess work makes free time scare and big houses on big lots make it hard to socialize as a community in the free time that we do have. Here, almost every day is like a great summer day of simple recreation in the states. I am really starting the aprechiate that as a concept, and hope that someday soon ill be integrated enough to really feel like a part of it all. My one regret is that ill never be as involved as any of the community members here...I´ll never have brothers, sisters, cousins, a mom, dad, uncles, aunts, godparents, etc all living on my same block. While the people here may never have the the amazing opportunities for individual exploration that i have, the very culture that values this individual exploration has made this type of close knit social network impossible. trade offs...which lifestyle is better? ill tell you in two years.

OK...as a side note, i just read over this post and realize the writting totally sucks. That annoys me...i want things i post for the world to see to be of at least decent quality, but frankly my time in the cities is to valuable to be spent editing...hopefully i can find a computer to use at my site so i can write up better posts, then upload them to teh internet when i come into town...

thats all for now

peace,
chris