Feliz Cumpleaños, Quito!

A few weeks ago, 10 de Agosto was simply one of a dozen confusing historically dated street names in central Quito. But this August 10th is a bit different, being the 200th anniversary of Quito's independence and all. Sunday evening all nine of us new PDs wandered into downtown Quito for the the Bicentennial. From the minute we stepped off of the bus, swarms of Ecuadorians surrounded us, all headed for any one of the area's countless plazas. It was a nice change of pace to walk around streets closed for pedestrians only, rather than the usual custom of getting honked at for being too close to the edge of the sidewalk.

Sarah taking a beautiful picture of the PDs in Plaza Grande (From left to right: Shawn, Sonia, Haley, Krysta, Chet, Jackie, Erik, and Mike)

While heading towards Plaza Grande, we stumbled upon what appeared to be a dress rehearsal for the Ecuadorian Symphony Orchestra, whose performance was supposed to begin within 15 minutes. However, being accustomed to Ecuadorian time (a.k.a. late), we knew that likely would not be the case. Even though we were shoved pretty far back, we had a very decent view of the stage (thank you Ecuadorians for making us less-than-5'5'' constituents feel tall). By coincidence, we wound up right in front of the Ecuadorian equivalent of the White House just before Rafael Correa, who was just sworn in for his second term in office yesterday, came out to say hello to the crowd.

Sarah enjoying being squished into Chet

An aerial view of the crowd

Me laughing at Krysta's whistle for Correa

While making our way towards Plaza San Francisco, we were stopped by soldiers making a passageway for Correa to walk on stage (again, by sheer luck). We held our ground against shoving groups and watched as he strode past, shaking hands and patting niños on the head. After grabbing empanadas for dinner we met up with Bibi (see yesterday's blog for an interview with our exceptional country director). We spent the remainder of the evening plaza hopping, and eventually ending up at Plaza Santa Domingo

to watch the Conocoto Youth Orchestra (represent!) play an amazing set. We showed off our truly American dance moves, including but not limited to the lawn mower, the bicycle pump, washing the clothes, and milking the cow. As some looked at us in disbelief (including fellow PD Erik), most joined in. A group of adolescent Ecuadorians even came up to Mike to instigate a conga line that we all, of course, joined in for.

As midnight approached, we caught some fireworks in Conocoto and shimmied our way back home to get ready for another jam packed week in the valley. Not a bad way to spend the last few weeks of summer, eh?

- Jackie

Exciting Hellos and Reluctant Goodbyes

Right now transition is the name of the game in the Manna House. For the past 10 days roughly 15 PDs, both old and new, have been living under the same roof in order to facilitate the turnover process between the two teams. The nine of us newbies have divided up every household, organizational and programmatic task known to mankind - from who is responsible for taking out the garbage (thanks Chet!) to who will be running the Women's Exercise program. We have been closely following (think mama duck/baby duck style) the 2008-2009 PDs in order to learn bus routes, shopping lists, the ways of the house, as well as the ins and outs of running our programs.

But the time has come to say (reluctant) goodbyes to our old PD friends, as they begin to trickle back to their families and friends in the United States. The general sentiment has not been one of "out with the old and in with the new," but rather of somber thankfulness. Without the hard work of our 2008-2009 PDs, we would have been handed a very different Manna Project. And for that, we say thank you, and we hope that our mentors will pop in from time to time through guest blogs and (cross our fingers) maybe even a visit or two!

Now allow us to introduce ourselves. We are Jackie Weidman and Sarah Scott, the newest additions to the highly coveted administrator status on the MPIE Daily Life Blog. Our interests and programmatic involvement are extremely varied. With that in mind, we hope to offer you two different voices and perspectives on living and working in Ecuador by alternating blogs each day. Other than the addition of two voices to the blog, not a lot will be changed. We will still be including ample photos from the MannaCam, weekly guest blogs, and the occasional video.

Sarah and Jackie, the newest Daily Life bloggers

In the spirit of new beginnings, here is the first interview of the 2009-2010 MPI season with none other than our very own Country Director, Bibi Al-Ebrahim. We couldn't be happier to be working under Bibi and we're confident that her passion and leadership will shape our programs and us, as individuals, in incredible ways throughout the next year.

Here's to the next thirteen months of adventure, community service, and of course, daily blogging!

Sarah and Jackie

A Final Farewell

13 months later, and it's time. Time to pass on the cameras, give up administrator status in the google group, and hand over the Daily Life Blog to my two replacements, Sarah Scott and Jackie Weidman.

Thank you all for tuning in this past year; it has been an awfully great privilege to be the online voice of the Manna Ecuador site. After 180 posts, it sure has been a prolific journey. I've loved your comments (yes, even yours Aravon), your emails, your encouragements and your suggestions. Thank you for checking up with us every once in a while and for playing a part in what MPIE has become.

There is more to say about what we've learned this year, but I'll save all of that for the monthly (or more aptly tri-monthly at this point) update sent sometime later this week. All I can really say is an exhaustive thank you. I'll be sure to pop in every now and then as a guest blogger, too :)

Signing out,
Holly

The Year in Photographs

Welcome to Ecuador.

July 2008

Dunc channels Guayasamin while waiting to see The Dark Night.

Jos and I feel not so good about the cow brains for sale at the market.

The group plays in a giant snail during our first weekend in Quito.

An incredible welcome to our new city, Quito as seen from the top of Pichincha.

View from the spires of the Basillica.

August 2008

Three little smiles at the amusement park.

Art students in the 2008 summer camp.

10 de Agusto celebrations in Old Town.

The sun sets on the dry season in spectacular ways.

Attempting to summit Pichincha in a flurry of fog and snow.

Serena treats Dunc to his favorite, Enya!

The rainy season begins...

September 2008

The infamous river clean up.

Central church in Cuenca.

Eliah looking good.

Jos, Serena and I pile on our new Panama hats.

October 2008
View from the bus in to Quito.

Carving "pumpkins" with my family during their Ecuador visit.

November 2008

Festivals of Quito and bullfights on Thanksgiving.

Dunc carves our Thanksgiving bird.

December 2008

Eliah, Serena, Dana and Jos laugh during our Secret Santa exchange.

Returning to the West.

January 2009

Our bus advertising blitz attracts it's first interested party.

View of the Mindo cloud forest from above.

One of the many hummingbirds in Mindo.

February 2009

And the rainy season continues...

Jos and Dana lead a game in Children's English.

Art students work on their Van Gogh Starry Night interpretations.

March 2009
Jos and the Duke spring breakers paint the teen center in preparation for it's grand opening.

The Library opening concert.

April 2009

Blue footed boobies on Isla de la Plata!

BBQ on the roof of the library with the teens from the teen center.

Wendy sets up Chinese Checkers and regards the camera skeptically.

May 2009
Setting up our booth at the health fair.

Selena and Jori goof around in the kid's corner.

Full moon during a family dinner on the roof.

Mark, Selena and Carlitos enjoy the bean bags.

Seth bonds with Joseph while hanging in the teen center.

June 2009

One of Michael's guitar students listens to the example chords.

July 2009
Celebrating with Dana after she reached the summit of Cotapaxi!

The wall of maps and Duncan's head.

Seth attempts to shoulder both Serena and Dana in Otavalo. Mark and Dunc help. Eliah doesn't.

August 2009

Dana bonds with the polo horses at the hacienda.

And now it's their turn...!

Love, Holly

Questions for Bibi

It's that time again... time for you all to send me any and all questions you might have for our very new, very fabulous country director, Bibi Al-Ebrahim for her interview later this week.

There hasn't been much about Bibi on here, so the opportunities to ask any number of questions really are endless! Curious about how she gets her hair to be that awesome? Or what her favorite place she's traveled to is? Or what the best part about getting her MPH from Tulane was? Now's your chance!

Please do not hesitate to send them in, the more the merrier.

Questions are due to me by Friday night at midnight. Submit them, per usual, either as a comment to the blog or directly to my email. Holland.c.ward at gmail dot com.

Looking forward to hearing from you!
Holly

Upon his return

(Eliah and Dunc have been gone for about a week, so imagine my surprise when I opened my email to find something from Eliah titled "Last Guest Blog". Turns out he just can't seem to get enough :) So here it is, Eliah's last hurrah.)

"Here I am in my first week back after thirteen months with Manna and it's clear things have changed.
Take my brother's yappy beagle, with whom I cohabit when in the States. While I've been gone, she has matured, like a fine wine, into a less-annoyingly yappy state of being. Unlike this time last year, I now have an irresistible urge to put used toilet paper in bathroom trash cans. Of course there was never anything abnormal about spending the afternoon hunting for mushrooms in the woods, but when I got home today I cooked them. That wouldn't have happened a year ago. Meanwhile, no one anywhere in the house has screamed in the last hour. Strange.
But that's not all. Things in my own head, too, are not the same as before. Maybe I can't get past the fact that I just spent a year volunteering in a country with a higher rate of nose jobs than southern California. Or that I paid about as much to work for that year as Ecuadorians earn in the same amount of time ($7150 vs. $7500 according to the CIA World Factbook). Then again, maybe it's something else. Something about a unique time and a way of living gained and then lost. People, places, and experiences I know I won't forget. Something that can't be captured in a single blog entry. Or maybe that's just the parasites talking.
Whatever it is, after a year with Manna things have changed, and in a way I can't—and wouldn't—undo. Still, it's comforting to know that some things are exactly as I left them thirteen months ago.

I need a job.

-Eliah"