I arrived to Ecuador on May 17th 2012, I arrived
to my site in Lloa on August 1st 2012, a year ago from today. I have lived in Lloa for a year… could
this be right?
Seconds tick away faithfully on my watch and my calendar is
filled with x’s going back for over a year, but I do not feel inside me that I
have weathered a year. Has my host
sister Adamarís grown an inch? Has
my relationship with Mayra bound itself stronger? Adamarís looks the same height, and I love Mayra with the
same sisterly love I did from the beginning. I feel frozen in time to the day I first arrived. My calendar is my evidence that this
must not be true. My calendar and
my hair, which seems to fall a little further down my back. Maybe it is because it is harder to
distinguish the passing of seasons here, maybe it is because the sun rises and
sets in the same hour of the day every day of the year, maybe it is because
Isabel and Alonso’s routine never changes from day to day, maybe it is because
Lloa is so small that there is no surprise or variation in who I see in a day…
it is because of these things and others that I am now perplexed to realize
that a year of my life has passed.
I was 24 then 25, now I face 26 in a matter of weeks.
People often look at how fast a child has grown and they
say, “Where has the time gone?” I
have said this before, but then it was always a statement provoked because
there was an obvious difference in the child, it was visually apparent that
they had grown. Now I ask the same
thing, “Where has the time gone?” but instead of asking it because it is clear
something has changed, I ask it because today seems the same as it did
yesterday and yesterday seems the same as it did the year before. I look in the mirror and I see the same
face looking back that I did a year ago.
Is there something more to my eyes? Maybe… I cannot tell.
If you have been someone who has followed me in this blog,
maybe you could point out something I have stated previously that would remind
me of the passing of time. And I hope anyone reading this would know that I am not trying to be so dramatic as to say that in this year I have accomplished nothing. I know this is not true, when I go through the picture on my camera, I am reminded that it has been a full year... But,
the truth of the matter is, that in this moment I feel that I went to bed last
night and woke up this morning, in the flutter of my dreams, a year passed
by.
From these words, you can probably gather that time has been
prominent amongst my thoughts recently.
While it might be obvious that I might reflect on this now as I approach
my year mark in Lloa, I think this is also largely due to the fact that in a
matter of days I will be heading home to the states. My sister Julie is getting married, and I of course will be
standing beside her as she says, “I do.”
It has been a little over 14 months since I have been in the
USA, this will probably mark the longest stretch of time I am ever away from US
soil in one stretch. So, I am
getting myself ready to insert myself back into the rhythm my life played
living in the states. As I am
doing this I am trying to find the right words to use to explain what I have
been doing while I was away…
To all of my friends and family in the states, I have
followed your stories the best that I have been able to while here in
Ecuador. It has been like watching
a TV series whose cast is made up of my family and friends. I have heard of or seen weddings, cousins
pregnant, engagements, births, wedding planning, new boyfriends… even my
parent’s dog Honcho who was a puppy when I left has not only grown, but also
obtained the status of a therapy dog.
All of these things have unfolded before my eyes through the Internet. It has been an exciting series to
watch. And now, I get to step
inside the screen and be a part of the show, for two weeks anyway. So, while I am immensely excited to be
visiting home, I am also a little anxious because I don’t know where to find my
script. How do I jump back
in? How will I know what to say? How do I put my feelings into coherent
thoughts that I can then organize into words? I can’t.
While it might be next to impossible to describe the
feelings and thoughts I have day to day in this experience, I can do my best to
paint a picture of what the environment I find myself in looks like. I can describe the people, the smells,
and the sights… I can describe what I do and where I go. I feel it is my responsibility to do
this.
SOOoo, here I come USA! I am ready to shock my world back into a balanced
perspective of who I am and where I came from. I am ready to push the refresh button on this
experience. While I do this, I am
ready to share with anyone who will listen where I’ve been and who has been
there with me.
If you are interested in hearing a more direct account of my
experience in the Peace Corps thus far, I will be giving two presentations
while I am home. One in CT at the
Weston Public Library, Tuesday, August 13th at 10:00am…. And one at
the CCIA in Christmas Cove, Maine, Thursday, August 15th at 6:00pm.
Lastly, I have to say… I am so happy that the reason I am
coming home is because my sister Julie is marrying the stupendous Kevin Posman. So much happiness!
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| In the beginning of July I traveled by bus 15 hours south to Loja where I helped give a recycled art workshop at one of my PC friends host organization. On the way down I stopped in Cajas National Park outside of Cuenca, it was beautiful!! |
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| This was the most excited I have ever been to celebrate the Forth of July! I was lucky to be in Loja to celebrate with good friends. |
