What would you do with a year?
Peter Saudek
August 1, 2011
A few short months ago I arrived back to the States after spending 8 months in Ecuador during my Global Citizen Year. In this short movie I have incorporated footage and photographs from the time I spent in Ecuador. The video highlights the main components and aspects of my Global Citzen Year: learning, giving back, exchage,...
Read MoreThe Family Impact
Peter Saudek
April 25, 2011
Almost four months ago I moved in with my current host family after having to change from the first family I was originally placed with. The switch was a result of a series of miscommunications and some complex issues that escalated over the two months spent with the first family. During the transition from one...
Read MoreSeeing a Different Side
Peter Saudek
April 8, 2011
During the recent holiday, Carnaval, I traveled with my host family to visit our grandparents for the weekend in Carchi, which is the most northern province of Ecuador before Colombia. My host mother’s parents live in a small community called “Sixal” that has a population of about one hundred people. Sixal sits on the top...
Read MoreA day in the life of the Aula Móvil
Peter Saudek
April 8, 2011
Here is a short video I made to show you what a normal day is like with the Aula Móvil – a part of my GCY apprenticeship.
Read MoreAspects of Education in Ecuador
Peter Saudek
March 14, 2011
I now see in a new light what a responsibility it is to teach.
Read MoreReigniting La Casa de la Juventud
Peter Saudek
February 25, 2011
“La Casa de la Juventud” or The Youth House is a youth group in Ibarra city that was started ten years ago to provide a program focused on leadership, human rights and youth development. It was founded with financial help from the city that paid for a space and a few social workers to run...
Read MoreFinding a Balance
Peter Saudek
January 28, 2011
When I arrived in Ibarra and began my apprenticeship, the first month and a half I felt like I had very little “to do,” no structure in my days. Needless to say, I spent lots of time feeling unproductive and useless. Three months later, I’m teaching English classes six days a week, working in the...
Read MoreSowing Dreams in Rural Ecuador
Peter Saudek
January 13, 2011
Most exciting and fulfilling project so far: teaching outside of the city in the “campos,” or rural communities.
Read MoreLa Caminata al Quinche
Peter Saudek
December 3, 2010
La Caminata al Quinche, or the ‘hike to Quinche’ is a yearly tradition through the Roman Catholic church in which hundreds of thousands of people from Ecuador and all around the world travel to a region in Ecuador to participate in an all-night pilgrimage to reach the church, Quinche. The majority of the people who...
Read More¨Holy Toledo!¨
Peter Saudek
November 19, 2010
I´m working in the communications office with one of my advisors on the upstairs of the cultural center I volunteer at, when three women who are friends of my advisor enter and sit down. After my advisor introduces us, one of the women faces me and says something that sounds like ¨Howee toreeo.¨ My first...
Read MoreThe Next Step
Peter Saudek
November 10, 2010
After finishing the first month in Quito, I said farewell to my wonderful first host family, and prepared for the next step. I have been placed in Ibarra for the next six months to begin my apprenticeship. Ibarra is a small, four-hundred year old city with antique-style buildings and churches, narrow stone-patterned roads, and is...
Read MoreA few more bus stories…
Peter Saudek
October 29, 2010
There’s something about riding the public transportation bus system every day that has really intrigued me. What’s most interesting about the bus is the make-up of the people on it. There are women in indigenous clothing selling their goods, men in full suits and ties, six year-old girls riding alone to school, preachers, and female security guards commuting...
Read MoreFirst Month Findings
Peter Saudek
October 29, 2010
The past few weeks I have found myself doing lots of observing, listening, and gradually beginning to interact more with the locals as I gain more confidence in my language abilities. However, the more comfortable I feel here, the more I want to say. Then I realize there are still so many ways in which...
Read MoreBienvenidos a Quito!
Peter Saudek
October 8, 2010
Welcome to Quito. A bustling city packed with hard working people who have no time to waste. It’s a beautiful city with exotic colored buildings and houses, surrounded by rolling hills that give way to snow-covered Mt. Cotopaxi and the world’s tallest active volcano, Chimborazo. The sidewalks are full with street vendors selling exotic fruits,...
Read MoreFlight Write
Peter Saudek
October 4, 2010
I am on the final flight of the day from Atlanta to Quito. No matter how many times I tell myself I’m going to spend the next seven months in Ecuador it’s still surreal. When I boarded the plane I quickly realized my skin and hair are lighter than most of the people’s on this...
Read MoreIntroduction
Peter Saudek
September 21, 2010
I was born and raised in Lexington, Massachusetts, and recently graduated from Lexington High School. I love music, basketball, the outdoors, and people. I decided I wanted to take a bridge year before college when I was applying to schools and I didn’t know exactly what I wanted to study, and did not have a...
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