Karissa Reports from Equador

Posted by Wayne Harper

on Nov 23, 2011

RYE-k

I'm sitting here trying to think of what to write in this report... and I have no clue where to start! These last two months have probably been the most difficult/exciting/tiring/amazing months of my life! I'm really starting to be comfortable with the culture, people and language. I absolutely love my family, and don't get me started on the food here, it's amazing! I've only been to one rotary meeting.. and it wasn't really a rotary meeting. The other girls in my club, our parents and our counselors all went over the rules. I have been on two Rotary trips; one to a gorgeous 5 star beach resort called Mompiche, (we had spanish classes there). The other was to the province of Manabi where I got to meet ALL the exchange students in Ecuador. I met a girl named An-Katrine from Belgium, Chloe is living in her house right now!

I love everything about my school, the students were SUPER welcoming from the very first day. The first few weeks I was completely lost but now I understand the majority of what the teachers are saying. I do most of the homework, and I've already written a few spanish essays! There are 10 exchange students in the valley where I'm living (counting me). The 9 others are part of two different rotary clubs in the valley... my club is in Quito which is about 30 minutes away. There are four other girls in my club, from Germany, Switzerland, USA and Denmark. We're going somewhere for the week-end as a club. I'm not exactly sure where but it should be fun. They told us at some point we will be going to work with kids in the part of Quito where "the police don't go". Everything here is wonderful and I can't thank you and Rotary enough for this amazing experience!
Karissa Gaudreault
Canada - Ecuador
PS- please excuse the level of my English... I'm trying to juggle three languages at once and it's harder than it sounds :-p