The Trainees finally arrived on February 25th. It has been a fun and intense two weeks since then. The other Co-Trainers and I have been preparing, implementing, and evaluating most of the technical aspects of the training. I have to admit that working in the office before they got here was pretty boring and I wasn’t too motivated, but now things are a lot better.
From the moment they got here, I have been living in a cloud of déjà vu. Almost everything that the new trainees are doing, we did two years ago. The night they arrived, we sat at the Airport waiting for them. I remember when we walked off the plane. There were so many thoughts and worries going through my head all mixed in with excitement and curiosity. I remember the Co-Trainers for our group meeting us and telling the baggage handlers in Spanish where to move our bags. I was impressed to see Gringos speaking so well, and being so organized. Now, I was one of those Gringos. It was a good feeling, but a little weird.
We spent the first couple days in Quito listening to presentations by the Country Director, PC staff, and some representatives from the US Embassy. We didn’t have a lot of stuff to do, but it was good to see the Trainees and answer their questions. We also spent those days finishing up the plan for the first week of training. There are 45 Trainees from all over the US, a couple of them are older, and there are two married couples. It is a lot like our Omnibus. The difference is that these guys “seem” a bit more low-key than we were. I used quotes around seem because it is impossible to say how they act when the training staff isn’t around, but I don’t think they drink quite as much beer as we did.
After getting them prepped in Quito, we moved all the Trainees bags to their home-stay families around Cayambe. It was a lot of work, but we were able to move our stuff as well (that was a lot better than moving all our crap in buses again). It was nice to move out of the house in Quito, but as a parting gift, the owners of the house I lived in only charged me $180 for repairing the Kohler faucet I broke. It was only a small piece of plastic, but repairing anything from the US costs an arm and a leg down here.
The new house we are living in is huge (except for my room). The three girls have big rooms that are all the same and mine is on the small size (small enough that I can touch all four walls at the same time). I worked out well (for the girls), but I can’t complain (outside of parenthesis).
The good news that we all received was that the Peace Corps will be giving us a 9% raise effective in March. The inflation has been pretty bad down here, so that extra $28 a month will really help.
In Cayambe we have had a couple technical sessions where we have had to present to the Trainees. Some of it is stuff I know well, but some of it is on topics that I haven’t had to work with since our training. Its nice to review those topics and now that I understand Spanish, I’m learning a lot of things that I didn’t pick up on the first time around.
I had to give a short session on grafting and pruning the other day. I hadn’t done anything with trees in La Libertad, so I had to do some research. I think I did a good job, and one of the other Co-Trainers asked me afterwards, “Wow, I didn’t know you knew so much about trees!” That was the good, the bad was when one of the Trainees asked, “Jay, how many grafts have you done during your service?” I answered that including the six demonstration grafts I did during the session, I had done six. He looked at me and said, “That’s what I thought”.
Another interesting thing is the La Libertad already has its replacement PCV. One of the Trainees has been a Peace Corps Volunteer several times, starting in 1984. He has been in Ecuador as a PCV and even worked in the office. Since he knew almost everything already, they decided to let him skip training and go right to his site. They decided that la Libertad was the best fit for him due to his small gardening experience and desire to work with a woman’s group in the Sierra. I hope it works out for Russell and I plan on heading down there soon to give him my contact lists and advise him on projects I tried, what I had hoped that he would continue, and the basic logistics of La Libertad. Its crazy to think of him sleeping in my bed, but its his bed now.
From the moment they got here, I have been living in a cloud of déjà vu. Almost everything that the new trainees are doing, we did two years ago. The night they arrived, we sat at the Airport waiting for them. I remember when we walked off the plane. There were so many thoughts and worries going through my head all mixed in with excitement and curiosity. I remember the Co-Trainers for our group meeting us and telling the baggage handlers in Spanish where to move our bags. I was impressed to see Gringos speaking so well, and being so organized. Now, I was one of those Gringos. It was a good feeling, but a little weird.
We spent the first couple days in Quito listening to presentations by the Country Director, PC staff, and some representatives from the US Embassy. We didn’t have a lot of stuff to do, but it was good to see the Trainees and answer their questions. We also spent those days finishing up the plan for the first week of training. There are 45 Trainees from all over the US, a couple of them are older, and there are two married couples. It is a lot like our Omnibus. The difference is that these guys “seem” a bit more low-key than we were. I used quotes around seem because it is impossible to say how they act when the training staff isn’t around, but I don’t think they drink quite as much beer as we did.
After getting them prepped in Quito, we moved all the Trainees bags to their home-stay families around Cayambe. It was a lot of work, but we were able to move our stuff as well (that was a lot better than moving all our crap in buses again). It was nice to move out of the house in Quito, but as a parting gift, the owners of the house I lived in only charged me $180 for repairing the Kohler faucet I broke. It was only a small piece of plastic, but repairing anything from the US costs an arm and a leg down here.
The new house we are living in is huge (except for my room). The three girls have big rooms that are all the same and mine is on the small size (small enough that I can touch all four walls at the same time). I worked out well (for the girls), but I can’t complain (outside of parenthesis).
The good news that we all received was that the Peace Corps will be giving us a 9% raise effective in March. The inflation has been pretty bad down here, so that extra $28 a month will really help.
In Cayambe we have had a couple technical sessions where we have had to present to the Trainees. Some of it is stuff I know well, but some of it is on topics that I haven’t had to work with since our training. Its nice to review those topics and now that I understand Spanish, I’m learning a lot of things that I didn’t pick up on the first time around.
I had to give a short session on grafting and pruning the other day. I hadn’t done anything with trees in La Libertad, so I had to do some research. I think I did a good job, and one of the other Co-Trainers asked me afterwards, “Wow, I didn’t know you knew so much about trees!” That was the good, the bad was when one of the Trainees asked, “Jay, how many grafts have you done during your service?” I answered that including the six demonstration grafts I did during the session, I had done six. He looked at me and said, “That’s what I thought”.
Another interesting thing is the La Libertad already has its replacement PCV. One of the Trainees has been a Peace Corps Volunteer several times, starting in 1984. He has been in Ecuador as a PCV and even worked in the office. Since he knew almost everything already, they decided to let him skip training and go right to his site. They decided that la Libertad was the best fit for him due to his small gardening experience and desire to work with a woman’s group in the Sierra. I hope it works out for Russell and I plan on heading down there soon to give him my contact lists and advise him on projects I tried, what I had hoped that he would continue, and the basic logistics of La Libertad. Its crazy to think of him sleeping in my bed, but its his bed now.
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