We wrapped up our semester with a weekend full of reflections, discussions, relaxing and fun at El Refugio where we had the decompression and processing time we needed to close out our time together here in Ecuador. Friday evening students returned from their service placements to Quito.
During the service portion of SST, I have been volunteering at a foundation called Su Cambio Por El Cambio (SCXC) in a little town called San Simon. SCXC’s primary missions are to provide a safe after school environment for local kids and to provide services for local seniors living in…
In January, I took a 3-day trip with my host family in Quito, Paola (host-mom) and Sammy (host-sister). It took 2.5 hours to get to Santo Domingo de los Tsachilas. We took the Cordillera de Los Andes road. This very long road goes through Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and…
Before we left for SST, we were told to prepare some gifts for our host family. The suggestion we got was to prepare some things from Goshen or our College. But at that time the bookstore was already closed. I needed to find another way to prepare a gift. “Clothes?…
Nina and I keep in touch regularly with the students via phone calls and texts, but we especially enjoyed visiting students at their service internship placements throughout the last few weeks. We continue to be so grateful for the many ways that our service partners and host families receive and…
Soccer games with the family, an example of so many things I’ve experienced and learned throughout only six short weeks in Ecuador. Every Sunday except those during which we were out of town visiting Mindo or Tena, my host dad Oswaldo, host mom Mary, sister Megan and I would make…
There are a lot of hard things in Quito. For instance, my walk to the Fundación, where we have our classes, is up a very steep hill. My little commute is one of the best parts of my day, however, and it gives me time to reflect each morning. On…
Students left for their service placements on Saturday morning all arriving by the evening and greeted by their new host families. 🙂 We mentioned previously that last Thursday afternoon we spent some concentrated time discussing/reflecting/anticipating the upcoming transition to service assignments together as a group. We asked students to define…
During our last week of the “study” portion of the term, students traveled to several hours east of Quito to explore the upper Amazon basin. We combined several experiential learning activities – both cultural and environmental, based on the region’s unique characteristics – with time for fun! We were excited…
We had a full week of classes and wrapped up several large academic pieces to the term. Friday evening students hosted their families for a program and goodbye party. Monday we began a full week of morning spanish classes. Students at…
