Ecuador by the numbers

Number of months of PC service: 26

Months served to date: 9

Number of months it took to feel homesick: 5

Number of fellow 103 volunteers at staging in DC: 54

Number of current 103’ers: 47

Times I’ve considered going home: 1

Times I’ve considered extending: 9

Times I’ve been serious about either: 0

Longest bus trip taken to date: 14 hours

Length of time it takes to cross the entire country by bus: 26+ hours

Length of time it takes for clothes to dry in my site: 4 days + 9 minutes with a hair dryer

Months I had ringworms: 4

Times I’ve been sick with a head cold: 4

Times I’ve been sick with intestinal issues: 3

Longest length of time spent sick: 2 weeks

Longest period of time without rain in site: 2 weeks (coincidentally the same two weeks)

Number of volunteers that have come to visit me in my site: 14

Number of stairs to my house: 88

Number of rooms in my house: 5

Rooms I actually use: 2

Rent I pay for said house: $70

Average income for an employed person in my community: $240 per month

Welfare per person/per month: $70

Percentage of my community that receives welfare: around 50

Number of times per week I eat canned tuna: 3-6

Number of bananas that I can buy for $1: 10

Times per month that I make sourdough: 2

Number of gardens I work in or have worked in more than once: 4

Number of women that have attended a cooking class: 36

Number of women I am hoping to have sign up to be members of the women’s group: 15

Number of classes/meeting we have had so far: 22

Number of mingas I have participated in: 3

Number or people in my town: +/- 1000

Number of people that know my name: +/- 200

Average age of my closest friends in site (not counting my host sisters): 8

Number of days I’ve been in site: 205

Times I’ve been grateful for being in Ecuador: +/- 200