The Night Before

Hi Guys!

So, I'm leaving for Ecuador in roughly 12 hours.  I should probably be sleeping, but I am much too excited to do that now.  Maybe writing this will calm me down a bit, as pacing around my bedroom while listening to the Hey Jude on repeat didn't really seem to do much.  This seems slightly more productive.  (Although now Spotify has gone to River by Joni Mitchell.  Christmasy sorrow is not quite the mood I was looking for.  If anyone has any good international volunteering music--or good music in general, or just random opinions that they want to say--feel free to comment below.)

I'm leaving tomorrow to volunteer with a program called Orphanage Support Service Organization, which sends people to Cuenca, Ecuador, and Chiang Mai, Thailand to volunteer in orphanages.  They work with a lot of special needs kids, as well as kids from a variety of different backgrounds--the ultimate goal is usually reunification with the families or adoption, so the orphanage is just a stopping place.  I've always loved children, but I've only really been in charge of four or so at a time, so it will definitely be different, being in charge of 20 or so, especially when we don't speak the same language.  (The online program I tried informed me that I was 1% fluent in Spanish, but it had me translate incredibly useful phrases such as "I am a horse," which I'm sure will be more helpful than "where is the bathroom?" or "what is your name?").  Hopefully, I'll be able to get by using English, French (hey, at least it's a Romance language), and charades.

My packing--all in carry-on luggage.  

Everything is officially packed (except for my list of stuff that I still need tonight that I'll put in my bag in the morning before I leave.)  I have 2 of these last-minute lists taped to my door, plus my boarding pass, and I've repacked twice in the past few days, so hopefully I'll be good.

A few pages of notes for the trip

I'm sort of really nervous, but also incredibly excited.  Google has informed me that there is no real word for joyful nervous excitement.  Anticipation?  Enthusiasm?  Neither of those are quite right.  The English language really needs to work on that, because to a milder extent, that's how I feel almost all the time.  Just now it's on overdrive.  But it's a good feeling, closer to that's-a-cute-guy-over-there than holy-crap-that's-a-raccoon (for those of you who don't know, raccoons are evil.)

Anyway, I'm very excited for tomorrow.  I've never blogged before, so I hope I'm doing this right--I'll have better stories when I'm actually in Ecuador.  I'm not sure how often I'll be able to post, because the internet is very slow at the orphanage, but I'll try to keep you guys updated.

Thanks so much for reading!  Wish me luck!

Taylor

Last-minute emergency to-do list