already february

January 2011, done. What a month. January brought the end of the school year here in Cumanda and also a very important conference for my fellow Peace Corps volunteers and me; the Closing of Service (COS) conference. It was during this week long conference that the 29 of us remaining volunteers (we started with 46 back in February of 2009) submitted our final documents of completed activities, had our last medical examinations with the doctors (I’d say about 70% of us were diagnosed with amoebas) and informed the office our selected final dates of service.

It was a bittersweet week to spend time with all of the other volunteers and office staff. The office hosted a delicious dinner for us and presented with us a surprise slide show and Mariachi band. It was great to have the opportunity to share memories and stories of all the craziness that has passed in our time and incredible to see how much has developed skill and personality wise. There wasn’t a single volunteer that wasn’t grateful for their experience or without remorse to pack up and leave in a few short months.

It was during this conference that I was presented with an unexpected opportunity to extend my service and continue working in Guayaquil with the international development agency ACDI-VOCA. ACDI-VOCA has a strong relationship with US AID to develop food security projects. Here in Ecuador ACDI-VOCA focuses on working with Cacao growers (Chocolate) and teaching modern techniques to improve production rates and quality. The previous few years ACDI-VOCA has been responsible for creating Co-ops of cacao growers and assists them in matters of exportation. This past year Peace Corps and ACDI-VOCA agreed to collaborate on projects and with the new group of Ag volunteers that is arriving, 7 of the volunteers will be sent to ACDI-VOCA sites here in the Coast. The job that my boss presented to me is working in the Guayaquil office of ACDI-VOCA, visiting project communities, overseeing the projects and necessities of the 7 PC volunteers and also developing future sites for new volunteers.

While living and working in Guayaquil will be a complete change of pace, I am so thankful for the opportunity to stay and also to work in a more professional setting. I cannot say that the decision was planned out, but in the short time that I had to think about it I am absolutely positive that it is an opportunity I cannot (and do not want to) pass up. Thus, instead of coming home at the end of April I will continue with the Ecuadorian life until November 16th, 2011. Just in time for Thanksgiving and snowboarding season!

This past weekend was a great weekend here in Cumanda, celebrating my 25th birthday and the Superbowl with friends. Saturday night we had the typical night out at my friend’s bar full with friends and plenty of beer, dancing and live music. On Sunday (after a slow morning) we headed over to my sitemate Alice’s house to grill hamburgers and watch the Superbowl. We tried to explain the rules and game of American football to the Ecuadorians but they got bored after the first quarter and left. The only disappointment of the day was the lack of commercials during the game for the new ones weren’t aired here.

In the previous posts, I put up two videos. One is of Cumanda and the other is of Bucay. If you watch the Bucay one, you can get an insight of my friends and life here. The Bucay video was organized by my good friend here and thus he arranged that all of his friends be interviewed. There is also a clip of my friend’s bar, which we regularly frequent (it’s a great place to socialize as well). If it doesn’t take too long to download I recommend watching them. Sorry they’re all in Spanish though…

Well that’s about it from here. This week I am helping a friend teach swim class to 25 kids under 10 years old. Yesterday was the first day and it was an interesting and fun day. We shall see what events today’s class brings. I hope you all enjoyed the Superbowl and aren’t suffering too terribly with the storms and cold weather! Love.