5 Reasons I Would Retake My "Bridge Year" to Ecuador in a Heartbeat

I have been home from my bridge year in Ecuador for almost two years. I am still absolutely convinced that being a Global Citizen Year fellow was the most impactful experience in my life to date.

Five reasons I would retake my bridge year over and over again:

1.  I had the chance to learn another language, through hands-on experience.

(A skill that served me through my mission, my career and in my personal life.)

2. I got to know students (fellows) my age with the same passion and love for life & adventure

I have made lifetime friends,
and when all of these people are famous/successful, future career connections ( ;) ).

Ecuador Archives: Hiking Chimborazo

hot Puerto Quito days.

Today I am homesick for Ecuador.

I miss hot Puerto Quito days..

I even miss the day-to-day normal parts of just walking through town..

I miss green jungle in the background of every photo..

I miss having a little oasis five minutes away..

I miss the food..

I miss porch-sitting in this exact spot with my best friend, Betty..

ER Stories 8: Burnt Skin

[Entry from my journal on Wednesday, February 6, 2013]

[Only the first picture is mine. All other pictures included in this post are ones I found on the internet from patients with similar cases.]

Patronato was really busy in the morning. I did a lot! Lots of patients, a few shots and a really interesting emergency:

Denise (coworker) and Chanmi (Global Citizen Year 2014) in the office/waiting room of Patronato

Denise and I exchanged a funny look when we heard odd squealing from outside. We thought it may have been an injured dog. A few seconds later, a very frantic set of parents rushed into the clinic, carrying the source of the squealing -- a little boy.

Ecuador Archives: Carnaval Part 2 THE FOOD

I know what you're thinking: Wow, that intestine soup looks DELICIOUS. How do you think I could make myself some of that?

Now I would never give away my family's cooking secrets, but I do have some behind-the-scenes footage of the making of this tradition Carnaval dish:

¡Buen provecho!

Part One

Ecuador Archives: Carnaval 2013 Part 1

Carnaval 2014 happened in early March, so I'm a little late for the year mark. It's a good thing this is my blog and I can do whatever I want.

Carnaval in Puerto Quito is an excuse to throw paint and water at everyone you love and everyone you secretly hate.

You make some enemies. I made the mistake of throwing paint at a little kid with a squirt gun. He followed me around with his squirt gun and then a hose for an hour. I thoroughly regret making that enemy.

Betty & myself before :

Alright, Betty.. white shirts? We deserve every ounce of paint thrown at us; we were asking for it.

Betty & myself after :

(Feel like you're playing "Where's Waldo"? I made it easier for you....)

¡Feliz Carnavales, Puerto Quito! Te extraño.

Part Two: The Food

ER Stories 2: It's a Boy!

Before I worked as an ER Tech in the States, I worked as a CNA in a little clinic in Puerto Quito, Ecuador.

We have a small Emergency Room and I got a lot of hands-on experience with the burning, the broken and the bleeding (and I loved it).

...........................

In this little clinic, we have a small room dedicated to giving birth. I knew about it, but in the six months I had been working at Patronato, we had never used it.

On February 7, 2013 I came into work to find that little room occupied by a doctor, nurse and mother in labor.

Um, what?

I stood outside the door for five minutes wondering if it was appropriate to knock on the door and ask to help. I tend to over think things. I finally decided it was an opportunity I could not pass up, and knocked.

"¿Quién es?" I recognized Dr. Rios' voice. "Sydni," I replied and he immediately opened the door, welcoming me inside; but not before he instructed me to scrub in.

palabras

Ecuador Archives: Dear Mom,

February 25th, 2013

Mommy,

                Heya. I thought I’d write you a letter to let you know how I’ve been doing.

                I just got back from TS3 (Training Seminar 3). We went to a nearby province called Imbabura to a town called Otavalo. Otavalo is super touristy because it has the biggest outdoor market in South America. Good part: Lots of really cool Ecua stuff. Bad part: I totally judge tourists.. not all of them.. just a significant chunk of them.

                Otavalo was really fun. This is what we did:

This is Otavalo.

We stayed in this cute place.

     Took plenty of photos.
 












Hiked this mountain with our weak, low altitude Cloud Forest lungs… it was hard, but worth it because we took TONS of photos and it was beaaautiful!

This is Betty, my “site mate” (that’s a Peace Corp term I’ve decided to adopt). 

We got a cleansing by an Indigenous woman. To cleanse you, she rubs a cuy (guinea pig) all over. The cuy takes out the bad spirits. (If the cuy dies fast it’s because you had a lot of bad spirits.) She rubs the cuy all over you until it dies. Then she puts the cuy in a bowl of water, takes off the skin (without a knife -- she starts at the anus and pulls it inside out) and examines the insides. Where the blood accumulates is where you have a sickness. Based on where you're sick, she then gives you recommendations for how you can feel better. (My diagnosis? Healthy! ..not a very exciting one)

Ecuador Archives: Puerto Quito

Just a few photos with no particular significance, except that they are of my favorite place in the whole world.

(my fake & beloved Ray-Bans)


Next on my Ecuadorian adventures: Porch Sitting & my Best Friend Betty.

Ecuador Archives: Porch Sitting & My Best Friend Betty

Hobbies.

Betty, the only other American living in my Ecuadorian town of Puerto Quito, and I developed a few new ones while in Ecuador.

Knitting:

[Oh darn! I lack a proper photo of us knitting, Betty. I assure you, though, this became a large part of our lives. We spent many days/evening knitting in my house or hers, making scarves. And only scarves because we had not learned to make anything else yet. And by "we" made scarves, I mean usually I worked on the same scarf I'd been working on for months while Betty knit a few lines and then redid it because it wasn't good enough.. over and over again. That's my perfectionist Betty.]

Walking / Rain Forest Exploring:

We found a cute little oasis a few miles out of Puerto Quito during one of our walking adventues.

Cooking

Okay... Betty did most of the cooking... all of the cooking...

Double Dating

Oh, the memories...

Archutilla Hunting:

  Bags of them. Good work us.

All of these hobbies were great, but our favorite newly acquired hobby?

Porch Sitting.

Yes, you heard that correctly.

Let me explain for those of you novices in the art of Porch Sitting:

This is Betty's house.

Otherwise known as the perfect Porch Sitting location.

Let me zoom in a little bit:

It's pretty simple. Betty and I sit on the corner of the sidewalk, facing the street.

Really, that's it. 

We fill our time talking about nothing or our jobs or boys or life goals. Feel free to talk about whatever you'd like. Topic of conversation does not affect the quality of your Porch Sitting Session. We say hi to passers-by. We people watch. 

This Porch Sitting Time is yours. As long as you stay on your porch, the rules are not very strict.

Leading expert in the field, Aidan Holloway-Bidwell, teaches us more on the subject:

 "Porch sitting, not to be confused with porch standing, or its similar counterpart, reclined porch sitting, has been a common practice for longer than you might imagine. All one really needs to join the ranks of porch sitters around the world is a chair (rocking chair is usually preferred) and the willpower to just sit. Oh, and a porch."

This location is particularly ideal because the road you see leads out of town, so many motorcycles (sometimes being driven by cute Ecuaboys whom I have been known to whistle at a time or two *cough*) and cars and people use it to go inside and outside of Puerto Quito.

"I would say the most rewarding part of Porch Sitting is feeling completely calm and welcoming of whatever your day brings. Some porch sitting sessions end in fascinating conversations with total strangers. Others simply end because it's 8:30 and dark and you figure you should go home and eat dinner. Either way, you leave that porch with a newfound feeling of fulfillment."

-Quote from an avid Porch Sitter (me)

Some of us are not as fortunate, though..

 "A lot of people have no porches to sit on..." Galen Tsongas, San Francisco Resident, writes. He continues: "A sad story... But no matter how much I wish for a porch to sit on, one won't appear, and the bureaucratic city government hears not my pleas for such an addition to the apartment complex..."

Please be aware of our porchless sisters and brothers and, if possible, offer them a rocking chair next to yours.

Next on my Ecuadorian adventure: I leave Ecuador...