Chapter 7: in which the author learns to teach sex education and survive illness

Sunday August 1 through Saturday August 7th, 2010

This was our Tech Trip week. We were split into groups of 8 trainees, based on our program. My program is Youth Entrepreneurship. We were also accompanied by three staff members and a third year PC volunteer. Our mission was to visit other volunteers and give charlas (classes, basically) on requested topics such as sex education and self esteem etc. We were provided with manuals that outlined the charlas for us, thank god.
Our travel itinerary consisted of Guayaquil, Salinas and Playas (google them, you will be jealous). Now first things first, food. If you are like me and love to eat good sea food then the coast of Ecuador is the place to visit. It has some kick butt sea food, especially the shrimp.

Ok, now on to the charlas. I gave, or tried to give a nutrition charla to a group of 8 kids around the age of 7. Holy crap, I felt I was the butt end of a joke. It didn’t go so well, in other words. Perhaps it was my bad explanation or my shitty drawing that through them off, who knows.
The basic idea of the charla was to have the kids draw a picture of what they think a healthy person should look like and draw what they should eat.
However one of my group members saved the day with a fantastic never ending game of duck duck goose. Phew!
I have a lot more respect for teachers now. But our work week had only just begun. Next was the sex ed charlas.

We were split into groups of three or two for these. It was interesting trying to control a class room of 30 or so teenagers and talk about sex. When we were able to we had some good answers from kids. Some of the answers were surprising. Especially when the sex ed teacher sitting in on our class interjected to say that masturbation does cause mental damage. Talk about a curve ball. We all stood there unsure whether to try and argue or just shut up and move on. We chose the “just shut up and move on” option. Our Spanish is not good enough yet to argue.
Later that day I was rewarded with a very nice treat. I got to touch the Pacific Ocean for the first time in my life.
The week went on rather quickly. We all got better at giving charlas. I even had pretty good success with the nutrition charla at one school where the kids were angels.
Saturday when we got back, I decided I should take my boots out to a rodeo. Sure enough I fit right in and before I knew I was dancing the night away in the streets for yet another Juan Montalvo celebration.

Monday the 9th of August,

This is the last week I will be living with my Cayambe host family. I must say I am kind of upset to be moving out. They have accepted me as part of their family from the first day and have showed me a lot of love. I am going to miss El Capitan crowing at all hours and our brand new guinea pig babies too!

Tuesday August 10th

Today was a battle. I woke up with a sickness I now call WhichEnd sickness. I woke up feeling like someone dragged me down a flight of stairs and then kicked me in the head. To top it off I was given a charming case of nausea, diarrhea, vomiting and a fever.
WhichEnd comes from when I would run to the bathroom and I wouldn’t know which end of my body to shove in our seat-less toilet. Today, America, I missed you greatly.
Luckily my family (my host mother mainly) was there to rescue her pet gringo. I was only allowed to consume water and some kind of local hot tea remedy that tasted horrible. Around 8pm, after a 12 hour fight, I had finally started to feel a bit better.

Took a chance and ate a bowl of rice. I was starving.

Wednesday, D-day plus one

Much better today!

Side note: I got my boots and they are fantastic! However I keep forgetting to take pictures. Please be patient with the author.