Hi everyone! I don´t have a ton of time, but I just wanted to post quickly to say that I´ve been here in Ecuador for over a week now and everything is going great so far! We will finalize our work placements either today or tomorrow, and I´ll tell you all about that after I´ve started working. Right now, we´re living in the retreat house next to the volunteer house, and we´ll be moving in to the volunteer house after the old volunteers move out at the end of this week.
It´s definitely a different world down here! The neighborhood where I´m living, Monte Sinai, is an invasion community on the outskirts of Guayaquil that just sprung up in the last ten years or so. It´s still developing a lot, and many people are living in cane houses up on stilts so they don´t wash away during the rainy season. We´ve spent quite a bit of time so far going around and meeting neighbors with the old volunteers. They´ve been really welcoming and it´s cool to see what wonderful relationships they´ve built with the volunteers.
I´m really excited to get involved in the music ministry and youth group at our parish. We´ve been to youth group a few times already and went to all three of the masses this weekend, and the kids that show up are really great and got really close with the volunteers from last year. It should be really fun to get to know them!!
I haven´t been able to take many pictures yet, but here´s one of my community that I´ll be living with for the next year! This was taken in Boston outside the chapel at Boston College. From left to right there´s Greg, Colleen, Jimmy, Ana, Mike, and me. They´re really cool! We´ve had a great time getting to know each other so far, and it should be a fun year with them.
Heidi
Yeah! Your teams looks great. Can't wait to see pix of Ecuador and where you are living. Mwah! Maria
ReplyDelete