Since the Peace Corps fell through, I have been looking for other groups to do a volunteer stint. I was leaning towards going with i-to-i until I found Cross Cultural Solutions. I cannot give a good reason why I choose CCS over i-to-i, but I did. The reason why I am going with a group like CCS instead of just being a tourist is that with this group I feel that I will get exposed more to the real culture of the area and not just the artificial cutlture the touristy areas produce.
The main premise of the trip is that I will be working at someplace during the week by either teaching english, helping in the community, helping kids or elderly, etc. At night, CCS will bring in locals to teach us art, language, history, or whatever else that we are interested in. On the weekends, they put together a day-trip to go somewhere and be tourists. The fee includes housing, food, taking us to and fro our workplace, and the nightly events and weekend outings.
CCS hires locals in each area they go to to run the volunteer programs while they are there. There is an overall coordinator, a driver, a cook, and someone that helps keep the house clean. I am hoping to learn how to cook a lot of local foods from the cook.