Today, I looked at my countdown clock and almost vomited - 24 days! I have been talking and thinking about my departure for so long that seeing "days" instead of "months" was a huge reality check.
Since I will be living in Ecuador for a full year, things like holidays, family dinners, and time spent with friends have become bittersweet. Having a strong and encouraging support system has been a major inconvenience – saying goodbye would be a whole lot easier if you were all a bunch of jerks.
I’m trying not to think too hard about the things I will miss (weddings, holidays, birthdays, The Bachelor) because I know there will be plenty of new people and places to love in Ecuador! Until next time.
Hello, friends! I know, I know, I have been a total blog-slacker, but I promise to keep writing as I get closer to my departure date. Everyone keeps asking if I’m “ready.” That, and whether or not I am familiar with the dangers of Zika Virus (yes, 1,000 times yes). Truthfully, my “readiness” depends on the monthweek hour you ask me. I find myself oscillating between overwhelming excitement and sheer panic. Don’t get me wrong, I am excited for a new adventure, but I do have a healthy amount of fear. Also, is anyone really “ready” for this? I remain optimistic that everything will be just fine.
In other news, last week I got vaccinated. Shots for Yellow Fever, pills for Typhoid Fever, a prescription for Malaria, and strict doctor’s orders to “see a doctor if I thought I had rabies.” Roger that. Did you know that a Rabies vaccine costs $1,000 dollars?? $1,000 dollars! Hard pass. I assured the doctor that if I were bit by a bat or wild dog, I would resist the urge to watch Netflix and seek immediate medical attention. She seemed mildly convinced.
One of the most daunting items on my to-do list has been getting my visa. I have been putting it off for months but now I finally have it. Let me start from the beginning...
In order to apply for a visa to Ecuador, you need to complete an application online. Sounds easy, right? Wrong.
Things slowly began to go downhill when I tried to create an account on the consulate website. I couldn't seem to find the right form (mainly because everything was in Spanish) and when I did find it, I kept getting an error message.
Disregarding my "Generation Y" aversion to calling someone on the phone, I dialed the consulate in Chicago and asked for help. I explained that I was unable to apply using their website and asked if I could just bring all my documents into the office instead.
"Sure!" she said.
"Great, I'll see you tomorrow."
Fast forward to the next day, I was on my way to Chicago with plans to meet a friend for lunch at noon. I actually said the words "I can't imagine this will take more than 30 minutes."
Oh, Kelly... As I drove into the city, my anxiety was already through the roof. Anyone who has ever driven with me knows that I am TERRIBLE with directions. Even using my phone's GPS, I was completely overwhelmed.
Siri and I have a long-term love-hate relationship. She loves that I need her and I hate that she is a useless pile of garbage. Siri's many talents include getting lost, finding the most dangerous neighborhood within 100 miles, and demanding that I make U-turns on one-way streets. One time, I was driving to a movie theater in Mequon and at 60 miles an hour, she told me to pull over, park, and walk to my destination. I wish I were kidding. In Siri's defense, the movie theater was on the other side of the highway, I just wasn't mentally prepared to scale a wall to get there. Quitter.
Anyway, I digress. I arrived at the consulate and presented my papers. The ambassador, let's call him J, looked very confused and said I had to apply online. Perfect.
When I told him I couldn't get the website to work and that I had all of my documentation with me, he directed me to a small room with a computer and said I should apply there. To my dismay, everything on the computer was in Spanish. Everything.
To put things into perspective, imagine going to the DMV and applying for a specialty driver's license, but all the paperwork is in a language you don't fluently speak. For all I knew, I could have been applying for a marriage license.
Thank God for Google Translate. After about 30 minutes of putzing around on the computer, I was finally ready to scan my documents. Sure enough, the scanner didn't work. While I wasn't quite sure what it said, the "error message" symbol is fairly universal. I found J and asked if he could help.
J was clearly annoyed and left the room to find help. 10 minutes later he returned with a younger, presumably tech savvy coworker, and between the two of them, they were able to diagnose that the scanner was indeed, not working.
I looked to J for what to do next.
"Do you have a camera on your phone?" he asked.
"...yes...?" I replied.
"Just take pictures of your documents with your phone and e-mail them to yourself."
Despite all logic, I began taking photos of my documents and sent them to myself in an e-mail. When it was finally time to upload the pictures into the website, I soon found out that the files had to be in PDF form, not JPG. I went to go find J's tech savvy coworker and he told me to convert the files into the correct format using a website called "PDF Converter." It reminded me a lot of a website I used in the 90's to convert Youtube videos into iTunes files.
Again, everything was in Spanish.
Not surprisingly, once my "high quality phone photos" were uploaded, they were so illegible that I went to find J to ask if I could even use them.
"It doesn't really matter, it's just so we have it in our system. It's a technicality."
Sounds legitimate.
But after I showed him the blurry photos, even he had to admit they wouldn't suffice. J informed me that this was the only scanner in the office and that there was a Staples store "down the block" where I could scan my documents.
Apparently, "down the block" means anywhere between 1-3 miles.
As I walked to Staples with my laptop, passport, birth certificate, and basically every legitimate form of identification that would ever be used to confirm my existence on this earth, I couldn't help but laugh because this entire situation would literally only happen to me.
The kind woman at Staples clearly saw that I was stressed and scanned my documents for free. THANK YOU ANGEL OF STAPLES, I SHALL REMEMBER YOU FOREVER!
With my documents scanned, I walked the mile back to the consulate and tried to upload them to the website. Again, no such luck. J and tech savvy coworker informed me that the website had to be reset and that the only person that could do that was their IT person in Ecuador.
30 minutes later, the website was reset and I was ready to pay for my visa. My wallet was about 3 inches out of my purse when J quickly informed me that they do not take cash, checks, or credit.
Perfect, it just so happens that I have $500 in Monopoly money RIGHT HERE!
J handed me a deposit slip and told me that I had to go "down the block" to the Bank of America and complete a money order. At this point, I had been there for about 4 hours so I was willing to do anything. I walked down the block over a mile to the Bank of America and attempted to withdraw $450 from the ATM.
Declined.
Apparently, even MasterCard thought this whole exchange was shady.
The friendly staff at Bank of America were able to sort things out and I was able to deposit the money into the account. Knowing that if I had to walk over the bridge one more time, I would literally throw myself off it, I opted for a taxi back to the consulate.
When I finally returned with my deposit slip, the secretary said I needed to SCAN my receipt and upload it into the website.
Seeing my look of dismay, she took pity on me and offered to let me use the scanner at her desk.
That's right...THE SCANNER AT HER DESK.
At that point, I didn't even care. I was just ready to get out of there. She scanned my receipt and I was told to wait in the waiting room while J processed my application. I sat and waited for about 45 minutes watching the Spanish version of E-Hollywood and tried not to have a mental breakdown.
Finally, J called me into his office and said everything was complete. I was so relieved that when he reached out to shake my hand, I hugged him.
I gathered my things, bid the office workers farewell, and left forever. Pause, NOT. I was on the highway for all of ten minutes before I realized the mistake I had made. I grabbed my passport from the passenger seat and there it was, a visa valid from March 2016-March 2017. For those of you following along, my yearlong trip begins in August. I called the consulate immediately but no one answered. In a very long and presumably non-coherent voicemail, I explained what happened and asked for someone to call me back. About 2 hours later, I received an e-mail that my visa had been "cancelled", or at least that's what I translated it to mean, and that I needed to report to the consulate as soon as possible.
Over the next four days, I tried numerous (over 30) times to get a real life person on the phone, but I wasn't having any luck. I was convinced the phone system was simply sending my calls into a black hole and the people at the consulate had no idea I was trying to reach them. Turns out, that wasn't far from the truth. While I like to make jokes and keep things light, I am a very anxious person. Not knowing what the heck was going on was making me crazy so after four days of radio silence, I decided to head back to Chicago to figure things out. When I arrived, I told J it was good to see him again. His response was, "really?". I guess our six hour ordeal wasn't fun for him either. I explained what had happened and asked if he could help. He told me that I had misread the e-mail and that my visa was in fact, not cancelled. It was just a form e-mail they send during the application process. In my defense, the sentence I misinterpreted included the words "cancelacion de visas." J also explained that even if I had specified the dates in the first place, he couldn't issue a visa for a later date and that I will just have to apply for an extension when I'm in Ecuador. Not the answer I was hoping for but at least I had an answer. Before I left, I stopped into the front office and asked "out of curiosity" whether the secretary had received any of my voicemails or e-mails. She told me they were understaffed and that over 300 people call the office each day so if she actually listened to voicemails she wouldn't have time to "do her job." Basically, if you didn't know someone's direct line or extension number, you would probably never hear from anyone.
Even though the day was not what I expected, it definitely was a learning experience. People keep asking if it makes me nervous for my trip - absolutely not! I'm relieved to finally take this off my to-do list and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that buying my plane ticket will be smooth sailing. If anyone has any helpful suggestions for international airlines they particularly like/dislike, let me know! Thank you for visiting. I hope to see you back soon!
Since my last blog post, a lot has changed! In order to save up for my trip, I moved out of my apartment and into my friend Erin's house. I still can't believe how much STUFF I have. It's ridiculous. For example, why do I have four spatulas? Or better yet, an entire box labeled "miscellaneous tupperware?" My friends had a field day making fun of me helping me pack as I repeatedly explained "I'M NOT A HOARDER, I SWEAR!" In all seriousness, thank you to everyone who helped me move - you are all saints!
Top Left: Marie laughing at being jealous of my enormous bag of hash browns.
Top Right: Trying to maintain sanity with 90's music and wine.
Bottom Left: My dresser fitting into the alcove of my new room LIKE A GLOVE.
Proof that miracles do happen.
Bottom Right: The reason I was late to work almost every day that week. Unpacking is hard.
The other biggest change in my life has been my work schedule, namely working three jobs. On top of working full-time at school, I host trivia Tuesday nights and have started a part-time nights/weekends job at a local sandwich shop. Glamorous, I know. Juggling work, friends, family, and living a balanced life has been challenging but I'm learning as I go. At the end of the day, I feel good knowing that I will leave in August having done everything that I can to save up for my trip and life back home when I return. Thank you to everyone who has contributed to my GoFundMe campaign, I am truly blown away by your generosity and support!
Tomorrow I will be driving to Chicago to apply for my visa! More details to come.
Thank you for visiting. I hope to see you back soon!
The most intimidating part of traveling to Ecuador is the language barrier. The first question everyone asks is "how is your Spanish?" La verdad no es bueno (loosely translated... "the truth, not great"). I began learning Spanish in grade school. Unfortunately, our Spanish teachers lasted about as long as a Defense Against The Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts...not long. With every new teacher, we started back at square one. By the time I graduated, I could confidently count to 100, recite the days of the week, and order a taco without toppings. The essentials.
I continued learning Spanish in high school and college but even now, I feel like I haven't even scratched the surface. Former volunteers have reassured me that once I'm there I will get the hang of it but for now, I'm trying to learn/relearn as much as I can. Pimsleur Language Program CD's (the poor man's Rosetta Stone) have become part of my normal routine. Instead of listening to music on my way to work, I listen/repeat... listen/repeat... listen/repeat... I also started watching El Gran Hotel (Grand Hotel) on Netflix. It's essentially the Spanish version of Downton Abbey and it's wildly entertaining.
Learning a new language is difficult and oftentimes frustrating. When I begin losing patience, I remind myself that any new skill requires time and practice. By the time my year in Ecuador is over, I hope to at least be able to include toppings on my tacos ;) Thanks for stopping by. I hope to see you back soon!
Intrigued by the idea of making a radical life change, I began researching long-term volunteer opportunities during the summer of 2015.
I began volunteering in high school with the Appalachian Service Project. Each summer, a group of teenagers took a ten hour drive down to rural Central Appalachia and spent a week repairing and rebuilding homes. Despite sleeping on gym floors, showering outside with a hose, eating cafeteria food, and spending seven hours a day working in the hot sun, it was some of the best times of my life! Since graduating high school, I have made the trip to Appalachia three times as an adult leader. What began as a fun summer trip has blossomed into a lifelong love of volunteering.
As I started looking into long-term service projects this summer, the first program I researched was the Peace Corps. After talking on Skype with former volunteers and attending an informational meeting in Madison, I have a newfound respect for anyone brave enough to enlist. I will never forget the moment the recruiter pointed to a glass of water and said “someday, you might be calling this a shower.”
Come again?
Someday, YOU might be calling me an airlift out of Africa.
Excited by the prospect of living outside of my comfort zone but not quite ready to live in a grass hut, I searched for other options. To make a long story short, my mom’s friend told me about The Center for Working Families (some of you may know it as The Working Boys’ Center) in Quito, Ecuador and the rest, as they say, is history.
The Center for Working Families is a non-profit organization that serves the working children of Quito and their families. "The Center is one big opportunity for the world to help others help themselves." - Fr. John Halligan, Co-Founder.
Families receive three meals a day, free education for all ages, emotional and physical health resources, financial management assistance, and housing development opportunities.
After talking with former Year Long Volunteers (YLV), I knew this was what I had been looking for. Remaining honest about the hard work and demanding teaching schedule of a YLV, every volunteer lit up as they spoke of their time at The Center and the countless ways their lives had been transformed. Their enthusiasm for and commitment to The Center for Working Families has made me even more excited to begin my own journey as a volunteer! I am excited for the opportunity to share my gifts and talents with as many people as I can while I'm there but I know I will learn and receive so much more than I could ever hope to give.
While most people aren't in a position to pack up their lives and spend a year volunteering, they are happy to support someone who is! To help cover the cost of my plane ticket, visa, traveler's insurance, and additional fun (dining out, entertainment, travel, etc.), I have created a GoFundMe page. Thank you to everyone who has already been so supportive of this next chapter of my life, I am truly grateful and I will be sure to "pay it forward."
A year seems like a long time to be away from my family, friends, and community, but my intentions for starting this blog are to share my experiences with you! Thank you for visiting. I hope to see you back soon!
