fotos

since photos.yahoo.com was failing me miserably, i have posted my photos on snapfish. here is the first album. and here are a few favorites...

this is the view from one of my balconies...


my host parents in front of their vacation home...


a view of reality (from inside the walls)...


the whole program group on the top of the volcano pinchincha...

where do i even begin?

i've been having toooons of trouble with the internet here. but finally, a post, one that i wrote last sat. night.


i've yet to write because i have had very little time, and everything has been spinning around me like a whirlwind so its been hard to collect my thoughts.

right now i am sitting on the balcony of my room (the roof of my family's house) and am enjoying the window-rattling music of the party across the street. its saturday morning at about one a.m., and from the shadows in the window, it looks like my neighbors are having a lot of fun dancing, and by their voices, it sounds like they have had a bit too much to drink. :)

but, i have jumped at least eight days ahead. first, i need to introduce quito and everything here. my family is great. i have a sister my same age, who goes to the university near mine. she is lots of fun and wants to take me to do lots of things. i have another sister who lives below us with her husband and their cute two year old son. i booped him for the first time today; i know that some of you will be very proud.

my family has had two students before, and it seems like they are really committed to ensuring that i have a valuable experience here, which i am so thankful for. i have my own little room on top of their house with a bathroom, and two balconies with beautiful views…one with a view of the city, and the other with the view of the very close volcano called pinchincha.

my mom is a great cook. every morning we have fresh homemade juice or smoothies, for lunch there are delicious soups and lots of seafood. the lunches are huge, always delicious, and we rarely even eat much dinner. i had mentioned to my host mom that i like to cook, so she shows me how to prepare everything. i hope that when i leave i will be a wonderful ecuadorian cook!

i have had several days of orientation and have begun three weeks of introductory language and culture classes. they are really interesting and fairly demanding as well. speaking so much spanish is difficult, but already within one week, i can tell that i have learned a lot, which is encouraging.

the other students in the program are really friendly and i'm enjoying getting to know them. on one of the first days of orientation, we went on a tour of quito together. quito has a world-famous historical district, and we roamed the plazas, quito's first university, and saw a lot of beautiful buildings and churches. la compañía de Jesus is a church downtown completely covered in gold. although of course i think that this is a ridiculous waste, the church is absolutely gorgeous and i hope to go to mass their occasionally.

our tour guide, julio, who was pretty much a living textbook of quito history, told us that quito is named after the first indigenous people who settled in this area and the name's meaning has connotations of being "the center of energy" and the "home of the spirit." how beautiful! i can't wait to experience the truth of quito's name more fully.

[random disruption comment: the fiesta across the street is now playing spanish ska. i have never heard such, but i am enjoying it thoroughly. que chévere!]

with the kids in the program i also went on a gondola called the teleferiQo, which climbs 3,000 feet to the top of pinchincha (which put us at a total of almost 13,000 feet). we drank coca tea and hiked around a bit, que linda la vista!

also of note, a couple nights ago i went to an afroecuadorian music festival at the casa de musica near my house. the ecuadorian population is 10% black (30% indigenous, and the majority of the rest mestizo), and the afroecuadorians are the population most discriminated against in the country. so this concert was really empowering for them and i was so happy to see it. there was a large, well-mixed crowd, and there were traditional african-style songs that told afroecuadorian history as well as some really fun marima music.

racism and social class discrimination are really prevalent here. i love my host family, but their frequent anti-black, anti-indigenous, and anti-poor comments bother me a lot. i cringe everytime i hear one. i've yet to say something about it (i think my feelings are probably evident by my face), but i'm pretty sure i won't be able to go the whole four months without sharing my opinion. but, i need to learn patience and understanding. "i´m an ass, you´re an ass," as anthony demello says.

although this discrimination is so present, machismo is not as present as i thought it might be, at least in my house. when the maid is not around and my mom has to cook, my dad helps, for example. they have a very amiable and balanced relationship as far as i can tell.

this weekend, my family is taking me to their vacation home in the mountains outside of quito. there are natural warm springs there, and it should be a lot of fun. although i love this beautiful city, i'll be happy to get away from the pollution, traffic, and crowds for a couple days. i would have never thought that my family would have a vacation home! (and i have to admit, i'm kind of disappointed). but regardless, i am learning a lot about this strata of quiteño society, and i hope to learn more about others inside and out of the classroom as time goes on.

well, this ended up much longer than i intended. mil abrazos for anyone who actually reads this far. this is what happens when i am as a long-winded writer as i am and don't blog for over a week.

bueno, ya me voy. chau, amigos!

leavin on a jetplane...

In less than twenty-four hours, a plane from Houston, Texas, will land in Quito, Ecuador, and I will be on it.
I've thought so much about this trip, and yet I know so little to expect. The unknown causes some fear, yes, but it's thrilling knowing that I have nearly no idea what the next four months will hold. I rarely have many expectations going into new experiences, but I do have a few goals. Outside of learning a lot more Spanish, learning about Ecuadorian lifestyle and culture (particularly that of those living in rural and urban poverty), there are a few not-so-typical things I want to learn through this experience.

I want to learn the universal language.
"There was a language in the world that everyone understood...It was the language of enthusiasm, of things accomplished with love and purpose, and as part of a search for something believed in and desired." --Paulo Cohelo, The Alchemist

Not always being able to express myself fully in Spanish will surely have an effect on the way I communicate and grow. (And probably cause many humorous situations!) I hope to learn more about enthusiasm, love, a search for meaning...things that the entire human family experiences.

I want to learn humility.
"Travelers...learn, if they are lucky, humility. Experiencing on their sense a world different from their own, they realize their provincialism and recognize their ignorance. 'Traveling makes one modest,' says Flaubert. 'You see what a tiny place you occupy in the world.'" --Paul Fussell

Far too often I am convinced that I am right, stuck in my narrow worldview of custom and familiarity. I take it for granted there are other ways to believe, see, and do. I hope that this experience will shake me up, expand my mind, and make me more humble.

I want to learn to seek adventure with my eyes open.
"We live in a wonderful world that is full of beauty, charm, and adventure. There is no end to the adventures we can have if only we seek them with our eyes open." --Jawaharal Nehru

I want to become more attentive to the small and simple beauties around me. I want to live without fear and embrace spontaneity and flexibility. It may take a few months in another place to learn this habit of seeking adventures, in whatever size they come, but I hope it is a change that will stay with me for a lifetime.

For four years, I have been intensely interested in justice issues, especially with how they are experienced by people in "developing" nations. This has led me to a love of cultures and a love of the world, and I have since envisioned myself working abroad for justice in some capacity. Could this trip be a puzzle piece in that plan? Where will this experience take me? I can't answer these questions yet, but I can't wait for the journey begin!