Let me introduce you to my new home...

The nerve racking moment right before we received our site assignments. We had two training sessions in the morning, and I know we all could barely pay attention because we were all so anxious for the site presentations. Finally, it was time! Our health trainers presented the sites with a power point presentation and lively music in the background. One by one they went through each site, pausing and building up the excitement before clicking to trigger one of our photos to pop up next to the community name. Coastal sites….only 5 volunteer were left including me. I crossed my fingers!

Emaus in the province of Manabi goes to….drum roll…Alea! After the exciting presentation, all of the volunteers met outside to stand on top of an oversized map of Ecuador that had been chalked out onto the sidewalk. We were able to see where we will be living in retrospect to other volunteers in the group. I am near two people in my Omnibus, Britney and Ian. There are also two other girls from a previous training group that will be living close-by. (They have already been in service for 1 year).

My adorable new house on the coast!

A little glimpse of my new house…this is the kitchen, and notice how all the windows are wide open, no glass.

My lovely friend that lives in the bathroom! I have to admit, I was terrified the first night but he´s grown on me.

One of my favorite things about living on the coast is being surrounded by fruit trees. In front of my house are banana, mango, lime, papaya and mandarin orange trees!

Lime tree in front of my house. It is hard to tell from this photo, but the lime is actually the size of a person’s head. It has been growing for 3 years, and my host mom wants to see how big it can get.

The water and electricity went out for two days, which I’ve heard is pretty common. It was fun having the house lit up by candles.

The lake near my village, Posa Honda. It is safe to swim in, and this is where I will be taking a canoe to cross over to the other villages I will be working with.

Olympics!!!

Friday night we had an Olympics Party at the ¨Magical Karaoke Bar,¨and we all had to come dressed representing a country. Blonde braids for Norway…Hello Kitty representing Japan…Casey as France!

We also had people dressed as Ecuador, France, Japan, Holland, Canada, Germany and Sri Lanka at our Olympics Party.

My Cangahua PC family!

Gotta love karaoke and Bohemian Rhapsody!

We ended up having a dance party at the local pizza parlor after we returned from our site visits. It made me laugh because the only American music they had to play was Brittney Spears, NSYNC and Backstreet Boys…classics!

Our group with the Pizza Trebol owners!