There is nothing much to say

Well I screwed up trying to keep up with this blog, and some of you have reminded me it exists!  Sorry about that!

But the truth is, I haven´t had tons to write about, or at least, any motivation to write about the goings on of my Ecuadorian life.  Things might be changing though, dramatically!

I was offered a site change by my program manager and I think (like, 99% sure) that I´m taking the offer and moving to...

...

...Imbabura province!

Believe me, this was not an easy decision but it seems the most logical one.  My site in the mountains of Chimborazo has been disappointing.  I stuck it out for over a year but things weren´t happening.  I like the people in my site but unfortunately trying to get them into one of my projects was like pulling teeth.  It´s the same story for a lot of people - set up a meeting for something and no one shows up - except it happened over and over and basically one year later, I´ve got absolutely nothing done, my language hasn´t improved (nor have I picked up much Quichua), and I´m in a pretty bad emotional place about why I´m even spending two years of my life being miserable.

I spend most of my time reading, watching movies, yep, there was supposed to be a third thing there but I realized that´s about it.  I used to go out and wander around the community every day looking desperately for something, anything, to do, but nothing resolved.  I helped my host with her tiny high-angle farm some days.  I used to have a garden in the school but one day I found it all ripped up.  I went to community meetings and parroquial meetings every week.  Despite all the energy I put into searching for needs and desires, trying to launch projects, etc., nothing materialized and here I am feeling very dejected, unaccomplished and mopey - basically, waiting for my time to be over.

This isn´t ok.

After having some excellent talks with fellow volunteers to help me straighten out my thoughts (thanks guys, you know who you are) and talking with my program manager and the country´s second-in-command, I realized I had to do what was best - and now I believe what´s best is leaving my community.

I have one option and so far I´m liking the idea of it - a small (smaller than mine right now) community located in Imbabura province.  I´m planning on visiting it soon, hopefully next week or shortly after.  There´s already quite a volunteer program started there so that would be my main concern - where do I fit in?  I also want to make sure my new host family accepts my cat, maybe even my rabbit.  Moving across the country requires me to live with a host family again for three months.  Don´t think I mind this too much.  I like living with other people.

If you´re curious about the site, there´s tons of information here:  Pucará

Hopefully...changing sites will give me more to talk about here!

First PC post

This is my first Peace Corps post, despite the fact I have been applying since June of 2010. The lack of communication and updates has finally driven me to write about it, maybe to see if anyone else went through the same thing.

So right before I left Alaska, I unceremoniously launched my completed medical and dental forms into the custody of the USPS (with tracking, obviously). What I shouldn't have paid extra for was Priority shipping. It started the journey on 1 September, and didn't reach Washington D.C. until 11 September. And then it did some pretty strange things. The package was redirected. My medical representative said that's normal, as all packages arriving to federal facility need to get through security clearance, and she would expect it to arrive within the week. That was the 13th and it's now the 20th.

So just now I tried emailing my medical representative, and got an immediate reply that she is "no longer with the Peace Corps Office of Medical Services," and supplied another email address. Fantastic. All those blogs I've read about these situations are actually coming true for me. So I called the office and left a message (seems a message box is the only option), and emailed the address my former representative sent me.

I'd really like to know what's going on.

EDIT: I got a reply from the person at the new email address saying they got both my phone message and email (...well, I was eager), and that again it takes awhile for packages to pass anthrax screening. It still seems way longer than normal, but she also said to contact them again if the status doesn't change by the end of the month.

10 days.