As I’m writing I’m on the plane heading from Staging in Miami, FL to Pre-Service Training (PST) in Quito, Ecuador. Over the course of two days I’ve been introduced to nearly fifty (yes, *fifty*) fellow trainees. The group is a mix of Community Health (CH) and Youth & Family Development (Y&F) volunteers from all over the US (and even Europe!).
While I certainly haven’t had a chance sit and talk with everyone, I’m impressed with (and low key proud of) the diversity in our group. It definitely challenges the stereotype of volunteers being single white females who have just graduated from college. While that certainly describes many in our group, as an Omnibus (i.e. training group) we represent a good mix of ages, sex, ethnicities, hometowns and academic/professional backgrounds.
Up to this point the fact that I’ll be going away for 27 months hasn’t fully set in. Despite the whirlwind of saying goodbye to family and friends, registering for Staging, going over service expectations and preparing for travel to Ecuador, somehow I don’t feel as excited or nervous as I’m supposed to be.
As we start to land and can see the city lights ushering us into Quito, that couldn’t be further from the truth.
Bird’s eye view of Quito, Ecuador.
The butterflies I’ve been expecting are now flitting around in my stomach and I can’t help but smile. After months of paperwork and anticipation the wait is finally over… Helllloooo, Ecuador… No puedo esperar a ver qué tengas preparado para nosotros (I can’t wait to see what you have in store for us) :).
Zero Degrees Latitude 