I'm in!

Hi all,

It’s been a while since I last posted, so I thought it was time to throw something up here. The last two weeks or so were pretty action packed so I won’t bore you with all the details! I’m finally in Loja and I’m now officially a Peace Corps Volunteer!

We all said goodbye to our host families on the 14th after a family appreciation day party the day before. Everyone was a bit emotional but I’m going to try to visit sometime in the next couple of months. After leaving Cayambe (and happily escaping the incessant cold and rain) we all headed to Quito for some final presentations, including the much-talked-about Breaks and Escapes class with some US Marines where we learned some techniques for getting out of hairy situations! On the 17th we all headed to the US Embassy / Ambassador’s Residence for our swear-in ceremony. The house was super nice and the weather was awesome. We had a clear view of the 19,000 ft Cayambe volcano from the backyard. After some speeches, we all took the PC oath and finally became Volunteers after the 10 weeks of training. After swear-in, it was a non-stop party until about 2AM. We started with a party bus that drove around Quito for 2 hours. About half of us were on the roof with a band that played the same song over and over again the whole time. The roof was “interesting” as well since we had to duck 10 or 20 times to avoid being decapitated/electrocuted by wires that ran across the street! The bus also decided to go through a tunnel where we literally had to squat down to avoid hitting our heads! After the bus, we rented out a place and had an all-night party that a whole bunch of current volunteers came to as well.

The next day was kind of sad as people slowly left for their sites and the size of the group dwindled one by one. Luckily the Peace Corps gave us all cell phones so it’ll be a little easier to keep in touch. Andy, Katie and I took a 13.5 hour night bus from Quito to Loja which was insanely long but luckily I slept for most of it. The 4 hour stretch between Cuenca and Loja though was a mess with tons of potholes and landslides so that part was definitely not comfortable! When I arrived at the bus station, I met my new host mom (Ruth) who I can only describe as a little Italian mother (even though she’s Ecuadorian). She loves to sing in the kitchen and I have no idea what she’s saying half the time. The place I’m in now is pretty different than the place I lived at in Cayambe since it’s just me and her without 3 kids running around and throwing couch cushions at me all night. :) It’s kind of a nice change to have some time to myself, but it’s definitely not as fun. The neighborhood I’m in is super nice and looks like a high-end neighborhood in the States, so this is definitely not what I expected PC to be like! I’ll be living with Ruth for 3 months and then I’ll find a place of my own (at that point I expect all of you to come visit!). I haven’t been able to take many pictures here yet, but in my next post I’ll try to post as many as I can.

On Monday I headed to the office of Nature and Culture International (my counterpart here) to see what it’s all about. It’s definitely a well put together organization (with offices in several countries and even one in San Diego), which is definitely not what I expected PC to be like! For the first few hours I waited for my new “boss” to show up and then he finally asked me to come into the conference room. The whole company (about 30 people) was in there and I was asked to give a presentation about Peace Corps, my background, etc. in Spanish. Whoa! Not fun! The past few days here I’ve just been reading some literature and trying to get a better feel for the place. I’ll probably be working in the area of Communication (website stuff, outreach, press releases in English that can be released in the US to try to get more donors, etc.) and Environmental Education (school programs, eco-clubs, program development, etc.). There’s also a UNESCO Biosphere reserve here (Podocarpus – El Condor) that they’d like me to help promote as well. We’ll see how things pan out since everything is still pretty new.

Last night I met some of the PC volunteers that live in and around Loja. It’s a pretty fun group so I think the next two years will be a good time!

That’s it for now… more about Loja and the job in the next post. My new contact info is below so feel free to send goodies / call anytime :)!

Jason Kreiselman
Cuerpo de Paz
Casilla 11-01-211
Loja, Loja
Ecuador

Cell (from the States): 011-593-9-795-6226

Enjoy the pics (click a few times to enlarge)