a new view

Now this is the view from my room

I leave tomorrow for my tour around the Galapagos Islands. I´m sure I´ll have plenty more pictures to post when I get back.

Still in Quito

Every Sunday in Quito there´s an art and craft market in one of the parks. I´ve been struggling to find things to do here when I´m not in my class. There´s a lot of cool stuff to see outside Quito, but you need at least a whole day and I have class in the mornings. If you like old buildings and big churches, this is a great city. I´m looking forward to getting out of the city and finally breathing some fresh air. All the buildings and roads are black from exhaust. My spanish professora says that a lot of cars here don´t have catalytic converters. I don´t know exactly what that means except for more pollution. The city also doesn´t have recycling facilities. I´ve been trained so well my whole life that it´s difficult to throw a plastic bottle in the trash.

The food is great (lotsa yummy soups) and I´ve met some nice people. But I´ll be happy to leave Quito on Wednesday. Oh something interesting I´ve noticed...People are really interested in the U.S. primaries and general election. I was suprised to hear people in Ecuador telling me why they wanted Obama to win, or Clinton. They blame Bush for some of their problems here, especially with Columbia. The fighting between the U.S. backed Columbian government and the FARC rebels just spilled over into Ecuadorian territory this past weekend and people here are not happy about it. Anyway, no more politics. I hope all is well en Los Estados Unidos.

Quito, Ecuador

This is the view out my window at night

And this is the view out my window during the day. I´m staying in an apartment in Quito with my host family: Cecilia and her daughter Patricia. I had my first spanish lesson today and it went really well. I´m just going to take one week of classes to review everything I´ve forgotten. I´ll write more after I´ve done something exciting.

now the blog is official

Somehow a link to my blog ended up on the Worldwide Peace Corps Blog Directory. So anyone that found me through that site: hello! Now this blog is officially public. I'm leaving tomorrow for Ecuador, which should be a good warm up trip before I embark on my Peace Corps adventure. I will try to update this blog as much as I can during my trip and I'll be back in California April 3. Feel free to leave comments.

what I've been up to

I've been so excited since I found out I'm going to Fiji. This whole process from application to departure has taken so long, but now that it's February, I feel like I'm running out of time! My Dad and I decided to take our promised "trip to anywhere in the world that I want to go" before I leave for the Peace Corps. So we're going to the Galapagos Islands for two weeks in March (one of my friends described it as "every biology nerd's dream"). Being a world travel addict, I couldn't justify going all the way to Ecuador for just two weeks, so I'm staying for five weeks. That should get me back to California at the beginning of April, just in time for one month of working as many hours as I can while packing and getting rid of all the stuff I won't need for the next 2 years. But before I leave for Ecuador, the Peace Corps has a list of things for me to do: get a new "government" passport, write a new resume, write a five part "aspiration statement," and write a press release. I'm sure that once I finish all of that, they'll have another list form me.

Completely unrelated topic: the presidential primaries. I'm a little sad that I'm going to miss the election in November. I've had so much fun following the campaigns and elections for both parties. It's been so exciting. "They" talk about how the young people are more involved in this election than they have been ever before, and I can testify to that. Tomorrow is "Super Tuesday" and I can't wait to see how everything unfolds.

I'M GOING TO FIJI!

I'm leaving May 18th! This is some information from the packet I just got in the mail today:

I've been invited by the Peace Corps to serve in Fiji as part of their Integrated Environmental Resource Management Project. My title will be Environmental Resource Management Promoter. Here's some information about what that means:

Peace Corps has been asked by Fiji to be a partner in providing technical assistance and educational awareness activities to communities involved in both terrestrial and coastal projects. Volunteers build capacity in environmental project planning and monitoring, as well as provide education and awareness on environmental preservation issues. Volunteers work cooperatively with Ministries, Provincial and District Offices, NGOs, and community members. In addition Volunteers also work with business community partners to provide alternate income generating opportunities; thereby taking pressure off of marine resources while improving basic business skills of host country national partners. Volunteer activities may include:

• Teaching conservation concepts...
• Conducting environmental impact studies
• Monitoring, assessing, and evaluating coral reefs, mangroves, and the upland forest
• Improving the technical skills of staff at government agencies and introducing new information, methods and ideas regarding natural resource conservation
• Assisting with the planning and administering of locally managed marine protected areas and forest reserves
• Providing disaster preparedness and mitigation training in local communities
• Designing sustainable marine tourism training programs to increase the number of Fijians trained in marine tourism and ensuring an environmentally-sustainable industry
• Building the capacity of community members -- especially youth and women -- in effective and environmentally sound ecotourism and other income-generating activities

I don't know if I'll be living in an urban or rural area. I probably won't know until the end of training, which will be the first 10 weeks in country. So I could have electricity and indoor plumbing or I could be collecting rainwater with no electricity.

Here's a list of potential challenges of serving in Fiji:

Heat and humidity 6-8 months of the year, isolation, the occasional hurricane, the incessant ants, cockroaches, toads, and mosquitoes, the "island fever" than can arise from living in a relatively small community where everyone knows what everyone else is doing, the seemingly laissez-faire attitude that some people exhibit towards work and change, and lack of work-related resources and materials

And here are the potential rewards:

The good-will and hospitality of the Fijian people, the richness of their culture, the beauty of the environment and the challenges offered by your work.

Yes, I did notice that the list of rewards is significantly shorter than the list of challenges...

The rest of the stuff in the packet is all logistical stuff, and a letter from the President dated July 2001.

practicing patience

I've been thinking a lot about the future lately and I'm getting impatient. Perhaps it's because I just bought a plane ticket home to Ohio for Christmas. I'm thinking about the last time I was back when I told everyone about my Peace Corps plans. Now I'm going to see everyone again and they'll all be asking me about my plans and I won't have anything new to tell them. Sure, I've been medically cleared, but I still don't know when I'm leaving, where I'm going, or what I'll be doing. And I may not know until as late as April! I'm ready to leave right now! I never wanted to live in Santa Cruz again after living in Hawai'i, and even though it hasn't been as bad as I thought it would be, I'm still secretly dreading spending another 5-7 months here. On the other hand, I'm afraid to start anything new because 5-7 months isn't really such a long time. Obviously I need to just suck it up and learn to be patient.