Having co-facilitated an orientation for a group of volunteers arriving in country exactly two years after I arrived as a volunteer was a surreal experience. At this point, I like to think of myself as a Veteran Expat. Not much surprises me anymore about living in Quito after having spent almost two entire years of…
I have a love/hate relationship with Facebook memories. Sometimes they drag up ugly photos from my braces-fille high school years, or pictures of people I was once close to but through time and space no longer see. Other times they remind me of amazing moments like rafting in the jungle or a date at the…
Saturday evening found me sweaty and in tears. We had just been told that our reservation, which I had made a month or so in advance, had been cancelled, because we had shown up after the 4 pm check-in cut-off. This was after I had called the day before to confirm my reservation, and had…
Have you ever gotten sick abroad? If you have, you might be aware that ideas about sickness are different from place to place. Read on for an Ecudaorian approach to enfermedades. Prevention is key! Ways to prevent sickness include keeping your windows shut against the cold air, not being a vegetarian and consuming plenty of…
I was recently home for a week, having been gifted an airline ticket by a dear family friend to be here for my big sister’s baby shower. Being home after having lived abroad almost 1.5 years reminds me of all the little things I appreciate in the States and also of things that occasionally frustrate me…
On the morning of Wednesday, November 16, I did something I never thought I’d do. I told Peace Corps staff to send me home. In Peace Corps lingo, I “early terminated”. Within just three hours, I was packed up and in a Peace Corps car on my way from our training town to the capital…
My roommate and I left Maputo at 9 am and arrived in our site in Gaza 5 pm after two chapa rides and a 1.5 hour layover in Chokwe as we waited for our bus to fill up so we could leave. The ride from Chokwe to our site was a long slow journey from…
On Dia do Professor (October 12), Moz 27 received our site placements. Site placements happen for us during week six of in-country training, and you better believe that people have been dying to know where they will be living for the next two years since way before we arrived in country. But basically, the staff…
I’m lying in bed, staring up at the bare single lightbulb that casts a dim glow in my room, wondering when the next electricity outage will be. I just got off a vchat with my best friend from college, the connection between Namaacha and London suprisingly clear. My mãe is singing a tune that seems…
When I was back in California for a brief three-week respite before beginning this next adventure, the state was experiencing a drought. Though it had rained a decent amount this year, it wasn’t enough to make up for what has been called one of the severest droughts on record. It’s a frightening thing anywhere, and especially…