Whew…that’s over.
Well, sort of. For now at least, the reality show portion of our training is over. We’ve finished the “Experiential Learning” phase where we had to create and execute programs for our respective populations. It was…interesting. We definitely got mixed results. I did six workshops in two weeks, five of them with 14- and 15-year-olds, and one for parents.
The first workshop focused on self-esteem. I framed it in terms of superheroes and superpowers. “What’s your favorite superhero movie?” “What superpowers would you like to have?” “Let’s draw a picture of ourselves as superheroes—but what are our real superpowers? (Think kindness, intelligence, friendship…)” Crickets. They literally refused to participate. I can’t say I blame them too much. I mean, I’m weird. Really weird. I’m old, gray, bald, and hairy. And my Spanish is bad! (Though it’s getting better…I tested at the intermediate-medium level. Thank you to my Mexican Spanish teacher, Angel, who gave me such a great head start!)
This is the exact moment they refused to pick up the markers. I’m looking at my fellow volunteer, Aerin, with body language that says, “What now?”
It did get better from there though. That first session only had five kids, and four were painfully shy. After that we had 9–10 kids and better energy. I adjusted my content to have much more action and far fewer words. I brought candy. If our activities needed teams, I kept the boys and girls separate to lower the shyness level. I worked with Aerin, who speaks very good Spanish, and she was a huge help. It wasn’t easy, but I did learn a lot.
Jenny, on the other hand, was enjoying success after success. She is working in the Health and Wellbeing area, and her population is mostly older adults and the “third age” (that’s what they call senior citizens in Ecuador.) Her attendees were there by choice, not because their parents told them to be. She did workshops on music and dance, healthy eating, emotions, and relaxation. Her final workshop was a health fair at the local community center with young parents. Last Friday night we went to a festival in our little town, and Jenny was like a celebrity, saying hello to all these old ladies she had connected with over the last two weeks. I was so proud of her.
Jenny with Zander and Aden. We don’t yet have any action shots with her community.
Other stuff happened too!
We were in a market in Quito when Argentina beat Egypt in the World Cup. The Ecuadorians are certainly rooting for the only Latin American country left in the tournament.
Also at the market, Ryan volunteered to be “cleansed”, an indigenous practice of purification where she rubbed him all over with that egg on the ground, spit alcohol all over him, then beat the evil out of him with a plant of some sort. It wasn’t gentle.
The author (me!) and two other volunteers had to travel the market asking vendors questions about exotic fruits and vegetables in an effort to practice our Spanish and learn about commerce in Ecuador.
Turn right for groceries, left for herbs, and go straight for tuberculosis.
We finished off the week with a really fun street festival. The tradition is that you buy, for $1, a tub of homemade hot toddy that is similar to a spiked apple cider, but without the apple. Then you drink it out of that little plastic shot glass Jenny is holding. Everybody shares the same shot glass. Some random people bought it for us. A bunch of the young volunteers were there too, whooping it up. Oh to be young.
So, next week will be all about travel. I’m traveling 2½ hours north to the town of Ibarra with two other trainees to visit a volunteer who lives and works there while Jenny will be taking a 12-hour overnight bus ride to Loja, a city in the south of the country. We’ll get to see how volunteers live, work, and relate to their communities. And in a few short weeks we’ll be done with training and moving away from Quito and to communities of our own. We don’t know where that will be, but we will find out in week 8. Stay tuned!
And a special shout-out to our daughter, Ellie, who turns 25 years old today. We love you Ellie!
