Questions for Sarah!

7 interviews down, 2 to go... next up is Sarah Scott!

Sarah is leaving us in less than three weeks (tear) to start medical school at Vanderbilt. Please submit any and all questions about healthcare in Ecuador, how much fun it is to run cross-country around the valley, her many teaching talents (from cooking class to teaching the extremely eager beginner's English class), her deep love of reggaeton music, and beyond!

Either send questions by commenting on this blog post, or send them to me, jmw8387@gmail.com. Thanks!

Sarah beyond dominated by a bunch of kids

Have a great 4th of July! We'll be proudly sporting our red, white and blue down here.
- Jackie

Erik's Interview

Good news: Erik's interview is done! Check it out below.

Stay tuned for Sonia's interview... it will be posted sometime next week!

Hasta,

Sarah

Despedida #1

It's becoming quite apparent that we don't have very much time left in Ecuador... things that we scheduled 3 months ago (thinking June would never get here) have come and gone. Funny how that happens. Our most recent reminder of our impending departure was the Despedida we hosted in Parque Moya last Saturday.

A Despedida (literally "a farewell") is a goodbye party, and it is customary in Ecuador to do something special before people leave. We decided to have 2 Despedidas this year - 1 for our friends who are less library-goers and the other for the Rumiloma/library community. This Despedida was for our less library-going friends, homestay families, soccer teammates, etc. We all gathered in the park for a Saturday afternoon of good conversation, basketball games, eating, and listening to the painful USA-Ghana soccer game via radio.

Here are some pictures of the party:

Pick-up basketball game

My strategy for beating the opponents

Relaxing and eating in Parque Moya

Krysta with Dr. Escobar and his son

Mike, Emilia and Alison

Shawn and me listening to the pathetic USA vs. Ghana soccer game via radio

Haley and Krysta with some Women's Exercise students and their families

Haley and Susana

Chaooo,

Sarah

Lists and Art Pics

(This week's Guest Blog comes from Miss Sonia Patel, who also happens to be next up for the PD Interviews. These days Sonia can be tracked to virtually any location in the house due to her computer's broken fan, which makes it sound like it will initiate liftoff about every 30 seconds. She's been involved in both Art Classes and the Preventive Health Center since the beginning, and has played a huge role in the success of both programs. Sonia's also a total baller because she'll be attending med school at Georgetown next year. Because class starts on August 2nd, Sonia's leaving early, and this is her last Guest Blog... Enjoy!)

"Over the past 11 months, certain events have become especially memorable for me. While some have been surprisingly horrific at the time of their occurrences, they now, with the more traditionally happy events, land themselves on my list of “things that I will most truly and dearly miss about Ecuador.” Since this is my last guest blog, I only find it appropriate to share that list with you. Enjoy!

1. Eating dessert once a week…directly from the pan

2. Waking up with my body covered in bug bites

3. Teaching children’s art to precious 8 year olds (and the occasional 2 year old) who haven’t quite learned how to follow directions.

4. Building casitas for gas tanks

5. Coming together for dinner and discussing the day’s embarrassing moments

6. Playing catch phrase for 4 hours

7. Opening the Preventative Health Center

8. Not communicating with a person who has stepped in poop for 24 hours

9. Climbing the Andes Mountains

10. Joseph Oña

11. Sitting next to a woman as she breast feeds her child who will occasionally take breaks to converse with his mother

12. Finding a silver fish in my underwear

13. Learning how to “nutritionize” myself through Aliméntate Ecuador’s weekly charla in our Centro

14. Making 120 animal balloons for the children in our community

15. Having one of my socks clog the washer drain

16. “el gas, el gas”…”el gas el gas”…”el gas el gas”

17. Losing the internet every other minute, my screaming computer, and cuddling with a board

18. Watching Wendy learn how to read

19. The world’s most beautiful sunsets

20. Pan de Yuca, Sanduche el Rey, homemade popcorn for breakfast, lunch, and dinner

21. Boiling eggs for so long that all the water evaporates

22. Monday Morning Meetings

23. Advertising with a perefeneo

24. Observing an appendix being removed...fainting in the Sangolquí Hospital

25. Kuka’s psuedopregnancy

26. Shawn, Sarah, Jackie, Mike, Krysta, Chet, Haley, Erik, and Bibi

Nostalgically yours,
Sonia"

Here are some pictures of the masterpieces that the kids have created in Sonia and Chet's Art Class... and, yes, I know some of them are upside-down... I tried uploading them about 10 times and I couldn't fix it...

Picasso faces

Frida Kahlo self-portraits

Norman Rockwell "Freedom from Fear"

Vincent Van Gogh "Starry Night"

Monet "Water Lilies"

Summer Session II: More Introductions!

Onto the second half of session two!

So far, four of the volunteers have been volunteering at Fundacion Añamisi twice a week, weeding and planting in the garden, and sometimes saving hens from decapitation by Christian's dogs...

Mae and Laura help protect the Gallina while Karla, Kendra and Jen keep Tommy away

Last week, Kendra Peters and her green thumb unearthed this giant turnip (somehow it only took a month and a half to grow). Kendra graduated from Georgetown University this past spring and will be starting work at a consulting firm in San Francisco in the fall. When she's not in the garden, she helps survey for microfinance, teaches San Juan English, Adult English B and Women's Exercise

Kendra and her prized turnip!

Karla Luna, born and raised in Texas, has been a wonderful help for finishing up our Aliñambi Nutrition Program; her fluency in Spanish helps entertain the kids (although when she accidentally called a beet 'rumilacha' instead of 'remolacha' they never let her hear the end of it). She just graduated from UT with a degree in nutrition and spent a week in Nicaragua this past spring. She's helping to plan a charla for our preventative health program here in a few weeks as well as teaching Adult English and Women's Exercise.

Karla poses atop the Panecillo

Mae Nester comes from the great University of Delaware and the even greater undergraduate club, Students for the Environment! Mae just finished her freshman year studying biology and advocating for environmental issues on campus. We share a mutual love of compost, the first state, and bright clothing (specifically scarves). When we're not reminiscing about S4E, Mae works hard teaching literacy class, Children's English, and explaining how to pronounce her name to kids in the library ('como MAYO').

Mae and I squinting atop Quilotoa this past weekend

We are so excited to have Isabel Delgado, who lived in Cuenca for the first 14 years of her life, here with us this session! Isabel just finished school in Minnesota. On top of helping us with Spanish, providing cultural insight, and cooking delicious soups for us, she teaches Adult English A and B, Natural Science class and Art class. Last week, along with Karla, Mike and myself, she talked at length about deforestation in Ecuador during our monthly radio charla. I can't properly express how excited they were to have native speakers on the show after months of our Spanglish!

Isabel (left) broadcasting at Super K with Mike and Karla

Kendra, Mae, and I etch our names into a plant in the Plaza (a trick that Isabel taught us)

Until next time,
Jackie