Reading: Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
Well, so it looks like Snowmageddon got the best of air travel once again and effectively shut down O'hare and Dallas today. Consequently, Sioux Falls canceled the majority of the flights out. South Dakota might know how travel in snow, but when every other place can't quite get it together it's score one for Mother Nature. So plan B, or I guess, plan C. Plan B happened at 4am this morning with a American Airlines employee and of which conversation I have very little recollection. But I did manage to make flight arrangements to Dallas - that is I will be flying out of Sodak tomorrow evening, hopefully arriving in DC around 1am in order to catch a leave for Ecuador at 3am.
Ironically, the Peace Corps is still paying for a hotel room for me. Perhaps that falls into that category of unnecessary government spending. But then again, I'll probably find the room much more necessary at 1am tomorrow night. Quito is looking more appealing by the hour - snow is little fun when it's too cold to be outside in it. And I'm not sure if I can handle another round of false good-byes.
That being said, it might be finally setting in that I am, in fact, leaving for two years. Now I'm normally pretty slow to react to these sort of things - I don't always grasp the reality of a situation until I'm fully immersed in it, which in my opinion prevents a lot of useless worrying. However, I'm beginning to think that I am severely unprepared for this whole endeavor. I'm really worried that my spanish will be more than rusty. I haven't had an actually spanish class since fall semester 2009 and my conversational spanish is pretty pathetic to be nice about it. My lack of experience and background in sustainable agriculture is also concerning. The Peace Corps seems to think that because I well versed in taking care of horses and from a farming state, that I'll be set for the integrated farms program in Ecuador. As per their ambiguous manner, the Peace Corps has provided with a few ideas of what my "job" could pan out to be over the next two years. And I quote:
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| Western South Dakota sunset |
Ironically, the Peace Corps is still paying for a hotel room for me. Perhaps that falls into that category of unnecessary government spending. But then again, I'll probably find the room much more necessary at 1am tomorrow night. Quito is looking more appealing by the hour - snow is little fun when it's too cold to be outside in it. And I'm not sure if I can handle another round of false good-byes.
That being said, it might be finally setting in that I am, in fact, leaving for two years. Now I'm normally pretty slow to react to these sort of things - I don't always grasp the reality of a situation until I'm fully immersed in it, which in my opinion prevents a lot of useless worrying. However, I'm beginning to think that I am severely unprepared for this whole endeavor. I'm really worried that my spanish will be more than rusty. I haven't had an actually spanish class since fall semester 2009 and my conversational spanish is pretty pathetic to be nice about it. My lack of experience and background in sustainable agriculture is also concerning. The Peace Corps seems to think that because I well versed in taking care of horses and from a farming state, that I'll be set for the integrated farms program in Ecuador. As per their ambiguous manner, the Peace Corps has provided with a few ideas of what my "job" could pan out to be over the next two years. And I quote:
Purpose: Rural communities will improve their quality of life by adopting sustainable agriculture practicesRight, so it'll be interesting to see how all of that pans out, specifically the butchering part. Now back to figuring out my flights, since it looks like Snowmageddon has scored again and canceled by second flight to Dallas. It's probably not a good sign when Sioux Falls Public Schools are canceled because of the wind chill. I think I could have driven to DC by now.
Goals:
1. Community members will adopt sustainable agriculture practices to increase production.
2. Community members will increase market opportunities by developing and managing small business projects within the agriculture sector.
Specifics volunteer tasks may be to...
- Train individuals in appropriate management techniques for small animals production systems and integrated farms
- Demonstrate and promote the use of local, inexpensive materials in the construction of animal shelters and demonstrative farms
- Train farmers in the utilization of animal and plant wastes as a part of an integrated agricultural production system
- Instruction individuals in the preparation of feasibility studies
- Introduce marketing concepts to individuals
- Introduce small animals (including butchering and preparation) as an important source of dietary protein
- Train individuals in the prevention and proper management/treatment of the most common diseases affecting small animals in Ecuador
- Develop community demonstration plans and design of integrated farms
- Motivate farmers to form associations and promote leadership
