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Published: June 15th 2007
Hi friends! So this week we are settling a bit more into a routine, or as much of one as we can accomplish in a month in Quito, the city of no schedules. First, class. It's hard. The only academic problem I faced in Spain was the language, since the concepts were pretty easy. Here I face a bit of a linguistic problem, plus a whole menagerie of new terms like development theory and import substitution industrialization. (I don't even know what that is, I just looked it up in my notes and it still doesn't make sense.) Terms that I previously thought I knew, such as globalization and neoliberalism, I've apparently only scratched the surface of. And it's not a shallow surface. I am no economist, and our first few lectures have focused on lots of economics and industrialization and little on social movements and inequality. Still, next week we have a woman coming into lecture on the women's movement, and another coming in about the indigenous movement. Those should be really interesting and understandable! It is hard to concentrate on studies when all I really want to do is listen to music and talk to my family and learn, clumsily, how to salsa. (Alicia's big project is teaching me, and I think I am proving to be a grave disappointment to her.)
Second, music. This city is full of it. This is the music festival month, officially, so they're bringing in a gazillion musicians from all over Latin America. Last Thursday I went to a flute performance where a 40-member ensemble played all kinds of crazy flutes. I am used to hearing ten-person flute ensembles, so to hear forty was acoustic heaven for me. Tonight we are going to hear an Andean orchestra, and this weekend we're going to hear a group who plays Aphro-Ecuadorean music. I'm so happy to have found a family who loves going to concerts! Most are free also, so that makes it even better. Also, an interesting cultural anecdote: every time I tell someone here that I play flute, they ask me if I play the silver flute or if I play recorder! No one, and I mean no one, has ever asked me that until now. People get so excited about recorders here, which in Spanish is called a "flauta dulce." This literally means "sweet flute."
Third, my family. Okay, so I just spent a bunch of time raving about them, but I have to do some cultural venting for a moment. Alicia can be ... interfering. I was talking to Mariasol, who is the daughter of the program director here, about this. She said that there is a bit of a cultural difference between Ecuadorians and Argentinians (Argentina is where Alicia grew up). Ecuadorians are very polite and docile, the midwesterners of South America, if you will. Argentinians, then, are the New Englanders, not necessarily rude, but definitely on the bossier, less accustomed to being told no side. Apparently, the Quitenos in the program always make fun of Alicia because of this. Obviously I think the world of her, but she does like to tell me what to do. She does this with her children as well, and they just roll their eyes and say very sarcastically, "Ya ya Alicia." Since I'm a guest in her house, I don't feel as though I am allowed this privilege. For example, yesterday I was standing up putting on my shoes, just balancing on one foot. She came down the hall and said, "No no, you sit down in the dining room and put those on; it's much easier sitting down", as though I'd never put on shoes before. And today, she sat down with me while I was having coffee and said, "Okay, now we're going to make a list of all the people you want to buy presents for, what they like, and how much you want to spend so you can do your shopping and I can recommend gifts to buy." Not that I have tons of people to buy for, but it was annoying all the same to have to sit there and try to come up with things. I told her once, firmly, that I was capable of making my own list and doing my own shopping, but she seemed really put out and annoyed by that, so I just went along with it. I like when Fernando and Sofia are home, they are very chill and usually tell Alicia to cool it. Honestly, it's not even that I'm a gringa or that I'm blind, she does it to everyone. I just feel the most powerless to express myself because she is letting me sleep in her house and feeding me three meals a day. And maybe I need to chill out and not be such a control freak, because I do know my way is not the only way. But I do have times where I feel like whining, "Stop, leave it, Alicia, I'm a grown-up."
Finally, children. Okay so I have only met neighborhood children and Sofia's son, Daniel, who is three years old. But children seem to be so much more perceptive here. I have trouble talking and relating to younger children most of the time because they don't understand I can't see, and they are such visual creatures. But in this neighborhood, all the children are great. We play outside with one of the neighbors' dogs, and honestly I just want to put Daniel in my suitcase and take him home. He is the sweetest little boy ever. As one example of their perceptiveness, the other night I was walking in from the street. The path is pretty curvy, so sometimes I get a bit disoriented. The other day, this little girl came up to me and told me to be careful of something in frot of me, and I asked her where the door was. She said "over here" and I followed her to it and she said, "Is this your house, miss?" in the most polite, sincere way, and I said yes and thanked her. She must have been all of seven or eight. As a comparison, my professor has an 8-year-old son who came with us to the rainforest over the weekend. He never addressed a question to me the entire time, even when I was within hearing range. I always answered his questions myself, when I heard them addressed to others, but he never seemed to get that my ears and mouth work just fine. I wonder what it is in this culture that helps children understand so much. At first I thought she was just exceptional, but all the children in the neighborhood know and understand me.
All right, well I have a bit to write about my internship, but I will do that in a later entry. Ciao all and much love!
P.S. I love all your comments. Grandma, I had no idea there were even rainforests in Australia! Isn't that silly of me? Margaret, the situation with dollars in Ecuador is that they switched from sucres to dollars in 200. Ecuador was the first Latin American country to do so, and very few have followed suit, even though in places like Mexico they will take American dollars from tourists. And Cassie, I have sworn off facebook for my trip because it is too time-consuming and I get too sucked into it, but I will make an exception just for you and go read your message as soon as I can. Ok I'm done now. But all your comments seriously always make my day.
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Mom
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Could be that Quito's children spend more time out in the real world than the children of the U.S., who are watching TV and playing video games. I am so glad that you are enjoying yourself and that you have a "mama" who cares, even if she is overbearing sometimes! Sounds a little like your real mama, doesn't it? Even though I taught you how to put on your shoes when you were a very little girl! Love you!