Last week marked the beginning of fall back at home. It starts me thinking about the changing leaves, the crisp and cooler air (sweater weather, my favorite!), watching V's of geese fly south, the cold-weather-hearty chrysanthemums, apples, butternut squash soup...I definitely have an idealized memory of autumn stuck in my head on repeat but I think I'm allowed that. Crunching leaves under feet, seeing your breath in the morning, kicking through piles of freshly raked leaves, turning the heat on in the car for the first time...
Okay, I'm done with that.
Cuenca is just south of the equator. It sits about 8,400 feet above sea level. The air is dry and cool most of the time. It rained almost every day last week, but never all day. The rain would start in the mid to late afternoon an last for a short time. It rained hard for hours only once this week, that was Thursday when I went to visit my newly found Cuenca knitting group.
The first couple of weeks were a big adjustment to the altitude, the dryness in the air, the previously unknown pollens and to the cooler than expected weather. A big bottle of body lotion and some generic allergy medicine helped get my body back in order. Time and swimming helped me adjust to the altitude. Honestly swimming is so far my favorite thing about my life here. I love swimming but felt too busy to go to a pool back in Minneapolis. I bought a swim pass for the pool at St. Kate's but used only about half the swimming sessions before it expired. I count myself extremely lucky that there's a pool a nice 25 minute walk away from me, it costs only $2.50 to use the pool and the water is clean and exactly the right temperature.
After a good swim my mind opens up. I was thinking about how an hour of swimming relates to culture shock and becoming integrated into a new place. At first it's strange and I have to think about the movements. Each laps stands out like an individual. Okay, first lap done, now on to the second...This is like my first couple of weeks in Ecuador. I have to think about things that in Minneapolis came automatically. Eat breakfast, take a shower, entertain myself in the morning somehow. The days crawled by and I remember writing that the first week felt like a month.
Once I warm up in the pool my arms and legs move automatically and through my goggles I look at the pool floor and I watch my arms move my body through the water like they're part of a machine. My thoughts wander, I think about how I'm grateful that I'm past the initial struggle but that I still have a long time to go. I think this is where I am mentally in Ecuador. I have a routine, I'm starting to meet more people and thank heavens I start teaching on Monday! I'm finding my rhythm but my goodness, I still have a long time ahead of me.
The third phase of my swim passes so quickly. I don't think about anything really, just the water, breathing and movement. That phase is still months away for me, I believe.
I wake up in the final phase of my swim. My brain fires up and I start to see the end of the swim on the horizon. I begin to think about taking a long hot shower, changing into clean clothes and eating lunch. I pick up my pace for the last few laps and push myself to make the best of my long swim. When will this be, my last month?
When I start to write I have a plan but it seems that my plan always changes in the middle. I just go with it.
The next time I write I hope to be able to tell you how my first classes at the university went! I met with my faculty advisor last Monday, she gave me a list of my classes and asked me to create my schedule. I'll meet with a total of 39 sections over the course of a 3-week rotation. The first week I'll meet with the level 3 students. I've planned a lesson about introductions, stealing little bits and pieces of introductions at classes where I completed service learning and from first classes at Augsburg. I hope it all works out. I'll let you know!
Saturday, September 29, 2012
Thursday, September 20, 2012
Same world different world
The other day as I walked to the university for a swim peeking into stores, reading signs and learning as much as I can through observation of my new home, I noticed a sign that read, "se necesitan peladora de pollos con experiencia." It's a help wanted sign looking for an experienced chicken plucker. There's a job I'm seriously under-qualified for and I can't say I'm too upset about it.
This shop is close to one of the markets in town, I explored it on my first full day in Cuenca. It's like the farmer's market in Minneapolis but take all of the produce sold there and condense it into a much smaller space, add an open-air meat market, a much greater number of prepared food vendors, clothes, shoes, and just about anything else you could possibly need. My favorite part was on the second level where women sat among piles of herbs and plants for cooking and healing. I could smell mint and parsley on top of dozens of other scents that I can't name. There were vendors that sell unroasted coffee beans (fascinating, but how would I roast them? with my flat iron?) and home made candies that tempted. Vendors would call out to me and ask me what I wanted, insisting that they could offer me whatever I needed.
The lower level had the meat market and it was unlike anything I've experienced. There you see that you are buying animal parts when you're selecting your meat, very much unlike the meat departments in bright and sterile US grocery stores. Oh, and while I'll leave out some of what I saw, I have to say that I did see a pile of skinned guinea pigs with heads, teeth, claws and all. Cuy is what it's called here and people are aware but seem surprised that North Americans keep guinea pigs as pets. I haven't tried it yet but I promise I will before I go!
On the day I saw the sign for the experienced plucker, I also saw wheelbarrows full of plucked chickens. I don't know if they were for purchase or had already been purchased.
Yesterday a friend and I visited the Feria Libre, a giant indoor/outdoor maze of a market that makes the first market I went to look like a convenience store compared with a suburban mega grocery store. My friend bought a big bunch of cilantro for $0.50 and I treated us both to big cups of fresh sweetened coconut juice. It was so delicious! Kids tried to sell us corn on the cob and the quantity of everything was overwhelming. The Feria Libre is near a major intersection and I believe every bus stops there so the exhaust from all the vehicles, especially the smoke ejecting buses was choking.
What I take from all this is that I am sensing a different "relationship" with food in my home and newly adopted cultures. At home we pay so much more for local, organic, free-range food and here I think that's what is the most easily accessible and economical. The eggs Rosita buys have big bright orange yolks and they're delicious. At about $1.50 a dozen they're a bargain by US standards!
I didn't intend on writing all about food. I am hungry and lunch will be served soon so maybe that's it. There's a young man in the house who tells me I'm the first vegetarian he's ever met. He seems to look at my plate with wonder at every meal. I'm quite happy with my big pile of vegetables over his rice and sausages.
I'm going to go down and see if lunch is ready yet. Hasta luego!
This shop is close to one of the markets in town, I explored it on my first full day in Cuenca. It's like the farmer's market in Minneapolis but take all of the produce sold there and condense it into a much smaller space, add an open-air meat market, a much greater number of prepared food vendors, clothes, shoes, and just about anything else you could possibly need. My favorite part was on the second level where women sat among piles of herbs and plants for cooking and healing. I could smell mint and parsley on top of dozens of other scents that I can't name. There were vendors that sell unroasted coffee beans (fascinating, but how would I roast them? with my flat iron?) and home made candies that tempted. Vendors would call out to me and ask me what I wanted, insisting that they could offer me whatever I needed.
The lower level had the meat market and it was unlike anything I've experienced. There you see that you are buying animal parts when you're selecting your meat, very much unlike the meat departments in bright and sterile US grocery stores. Oh, and while I'll leave out some of what I saw, I have to say that I did see a pile of skinned guinea pigs with heads, teeth, claws and all. Cuy is what it's called here and people are aware but seem surprised that North Americans keep guinea pigs as pets. I haven't tried it yet but I promise I will before I go!
On the day I saw the sign for the experienced plucker, I also saw wheelbarrows full of plucked chickens. I don't know if they were for purchase or had already been purchased.
Yesterday a friend and I visited the Feria Libre, a giant indoor/outdoor maze of a market that makes the first market I went to look like a convenience store compared with a suburban mega grocery store. My friend bought a big bunch of cilantro for $0.50 and I treated us both to big cups of fresh sweetened coconut juice. It was so delicious! Kids tried to sell us corn on the cob and the quantity of everything was overwhelming. The Feria Libre is near a major intersection and I believe every bus stops there so the exhaust from all the vehicles, especially the smoke ejecting buses was choking.
What I take from all this is that I am sensing a different "relationship" with food in my home and newly adopted cultures. At home we pay so much more for local, organic, free-range food and here I think that's what is the most easily accessible and economical. The eggs Rosita buys have big bright orange yolks and they're delicious. At about $1.50 a dozen they're a bargain by US standards!
I didn't intend on writing all about food. I am hungry and lunch will be served soon so maybe that's it. There's a young man in the house who tells me I'm the first vegetarian he's ever met. He seems to look at my plate with wonder at every meal. I'm quite happy with my big pile of vegetables over his rice and sausages.
I'm going to go down and see if lunch is ready yet. Hasta luego!
Friday, September 14, 2012
...you get what you need
Here I am, one week later. How can it possibly be that I've only been here for ten days?
In answer to a previous question, yes, I've been drinking the water and I've so far suffered no ill effects. The water does taste good, better than the bottled water I was drinking in Quito. I remember one of the bottles tasted sightly sweet, as if I'd taken an empty glass that had a residue of a sweet cola and refilled it with water. The bottle had been sealed but what I was drinking was purified water, not spring water. Enough about the water. It's safe to drink in Cuenca but rely on filtered or bottled water anywhere else in Ecuador.
The Fulbright program provides a stipend to cover living expenses but participants are responsible for finding their own place to live. Some of us get more help than others; we all have "tutors" or program advisers in our placement cities who are able or willing to provide assistance at varying levels. I was worried about where I'd live so I decided to be proactive. I looked at a few apartments (departamentos) last Sunday and they were all fine. Each was furnished and inexpensive by North American (I can't say "American" because Ecuadorians are Americans too, don't forget) standards but I would have been responsible for getting internet hooked up, buying and cooking my own food and washing my laundry. The guy who showed me the apartments said it's inexpensive (by US standards) to have a laundry service pick up dirty laundry and return it washed and folded but it all seemed very lonely.
Cuenca has a Fulbright student named Emilie who arrived in January. She returns home in October. She told me about the boarding house where she has been living. All meals are provided by the owner of the house and there's high speed wireless internet and a washing machine available for use by residents. When I read her email telling me about the place when I was back in the US, I was thinking that I'd prefer more privacy and was not interested in sharing a bathroom. However, shortly after arriving I realized that sharing a bathroom is not a big deal and that privacy is overrated when you don't know anyone.
I moved into the boarding house on Tuesday. I have a cozy little attic bedroom. The owner of the house, Rosita, jokingly calls it the penthouse. Rosita rents out nine rooms and currently I believe five are occupied. With classes starting soon, the other four will be rented within the next week or so. Rosita is an excellent cook, she attended culinary school. I was advised by Emilie to be careful about finishing everything on my plate because the next time I will find my plate even fuller.
Thanks to articles like this one or that one, Ecuador has been identified to North Americans as one of the best places in the world to retire. I have already met or seen several Canadians and US citizens who have taken the leap and moved here. There's a cafe in the center of town that I found on my first morning exploration. I've been there a few times already because it seems that the only place to get a nice cup of strong black coffee or an espresso based drink is in one of these places run by foreigners for foreigners, not that Ecuadorians are not welcome but the prices they charge are steep by the local standards ($1.75 for a cappuccino!). Otherwise, Ecuadorians seem perfectly content with instant coffee. I would do just about anything for a french press. I found one in Quito for $12 but silly me, didn't buy it. Oh, had I only known!
I visited the cafe this morning for a cup of coffee. It was nice to get out of the house. There are always English-speaking people there to chat with. Today was no different. I found out that on Thursdays the cafe hosts a knitting group! I was a little disappointed that I found out about it on a Friday, I was really bored yesterday afternoon. I will go next week.
The internet went down halfway through writing this post. It happened during the afternoon, which is the time of day when I feel most lost. I think it's always easy to stay busy in the morning - doing laundry, tidying my room or listening to the radio. It's just more difficult for me to fill up the morning. I ate lunch with the group and then after they all set out for whatever plans they had for the day I had to think about what I'd do. I decided to write and then the internet connection was lost. I ended up taking a long walk until the healing blisters on my toes started bothering me again. Upon my return the internet was back up and I felt better - like the connection I have to my friends and family was turned back on.
In answer to a previous question, yes, I've been drinking the water and I've so far suffered no ill effects. The water does taste good, better than the bottled water I was drinking in Quito. I remember one of the bottles tasted sightly sweet, as if I'd taken an empty glass that had a residue of a sweet cola and refilled it with water. The bottle had been sealed but what I was drinking was purified water, not spring water. Enough about the water. It's safe to drink in Cuenca but rely on filtered or bottled water anywhere else in Ecuador.
The Fulbright program provides a stipend to cover living expenses but participants are responsible for finding their own place to live. Some of us get more help than others; we all have "tutors" or program advisers in our placement cities who are able or willing to provide assistance at varying levels. I was worried about where I'd live so I decided to be proactive. I looked at a few apartments (departamentos) last Sunday and they were all fine. Each was furnished and inexpensive by North American (I can't say "American" because Ecuadorians are Americans too, don't forget) standards but I would have been responsible for getting internet hooked up, buying and cooking my own food and washing my laundry. The guy who showed me the apartments said it's inexpensive (by US standards) to have a laundry service pick up dirty laundry and return it washed and folded but it all seemed very lonely.
Cuenca has a Fulbright student named Emilie who arrived in January. She returns home in October. She told me about the boarding house where she has been living. All meals are provided by the owner of the house and there's high speed wireless internet and a washing machine available for use by residents. When I read her email telling me about the place when I was back in the US, I was thinking that I'd prefer more privacy and was not interested in sharing a bathroom. However, shortly after arriving I realized that sharing a bathroom is not a big deal and that privacy is overrated when you don't know anyone.
I moved into the boarding house on Tuesday. I have a cozy little attic bedroom. The owner of the house, Rosita, jokingly calls it the penthouse. Rosita rents out nine rooms and currently I believe five are occupied. With classes starting soon, the other four will be rented within the next week or so. Rosita is an excellent cook, she attended culinary school. I was advised by Emilie to be careful about finishing everything on my plate because the next time I will find my plate even fuller.
Thanks to articles like this one or that one, Ecuador has been identified to North Americans as one of the best places in the world to retire. I have already met or seen several Canadians and US citizens who have taken the leap and moved here. There's a cafe in the center of town that I found on my first morning exploration. I've been there a few times already because it seems that the only place to get a nice cup of strong black coffee or an espresso based drink is in one of these places run by foreigners for foreigners, not that Ecuadorians are not welcome but the prices they charge are steep by the local standards ($1.75 for a cappuccino!). Otherwise, Ecuadorians seem perfectly content with instant coffee. I would do just about anything for a french press. I found one in Quito for $12 but silly me, didn't buy it. Oh, had I only known!
I visited the cafe this morning for a cup of coffee. It was nice to get out of the house. There are always English-speaking people there to chat with. Today was no different. I found out that on Thursdays the cafe hosts a knitting group! I was a little disappointed that I found out about it on a Friday, I was really bored yesterday afternoon. I will go next week.
The internet went down halfway through writing this post. It happened during the afternoon, which is the time of day when I feel most lost. I think it's always easy to stay busy in the morning - doing laundry, tidying my room or listening to the radio. It's just more difficult for me to fill up the morning. I ate lunch with the group and then after they all set out for whatever plans they had for the day I had to think about what I'd do. I decided to write and then the internet connection was lost. I ended up taking a long walk until the healing blisters on my toes started bothering me again. Upon my return the internet was back up and I felt better - like the connection I have to my friends and family was turned back on.
Friday, September 7, 2012
Arrived in my new home city
It has been a month since my last entry and although a lot has happened, I didn't think my preparations, packing and international flights would be of much interest to you readers.
I arrived in Ecuador on Tuesday. There are six of us English Teaching Assistants (ETAs) in the Fulbright program in Ecuador this year. We stayed in Quito for three days going to meetings, attending orientations and training sessions and taking care of business like setting up savings accounts. It was nice to be in a group but I was looking forward to going to the city where I will be living and teaching. I left the comfort of the group and the care of the Fulbright Commission this evening and took a flight alone to Cuenca.
The flight was uneventful and I was met at the airport by a driver whom the very helpful and kind program officer at the Fulbright Commission coordinated for me. The driver assured me that I would have a wonderful time in Cuenca and that I would be a great help to the students in my future classes. I was confused when he dropped me off because he seemed to be expecting something but I didn't know what it was. We'd just learned in our cultural training this afternoon that Ecuadorians are indirect and Americans are direct and this can be a cause of confusion. I experienced this within hours of the training and didn't know how to handle the situation. I emailed the program officer and I am sure she'll help clarify if I should have taken some kind of action (a tip or was I supposed to pay the guy? I thought that was taken care of when the reservation was made...) Anyway, I'm sure this is of no interest to you.
The hotel is great so far. I have my own little suite. There is a sign posted by the sink in the kitchen that reads, "DELICIOSA AGUA POTABLE DELICIOUS DRINKABLE WATER" but I'm skeptical. Tempted because my water bottle is almost empty but I don't think I'm ready to risk the tap water, however delicious it may be, quite yet.
On Monday I will meet with the people at the university who I will be working with. Until then I'm more or less on my own. That makes me nervous because here I am, thousands of miles from anyone who really knows me and I feel culturally clumsy and unfamiliar with nearly everything. On top of all that I have a recurring headache from the altitude and a bloody nose from the dry air.
Travel isn't all excitement and adventure. There's downtime, confusion, discomfort, and times when you find you'd really rather be someplace else. I'm on the verge of really good times, I can feel it. I'll start meeting people soon and making new, maybe even lifetime friends. For now I'm sitting alone in a hotel room and for better or worse, all I have is an internet connection. I'm tired, haven't eaten since lunch and it's my bedtime. I promise the next blog entry will be more positive.
I arrived in Ecuador on Tuesday. There are six of us English Teaching Assistants (ETAs) in the Fulbright program in Ecuador this year. We stayed in Quito for three days going to meetings, attending orientations and training sessions and taking care of business like setting up savings accounts. It was nice to be in a group but I was looking forward to going to the city where I will be living and teaching. I left the comfort of the group and the care of the Fulbright Commission this evening and took a flight alone to Cuenca.
The flight was uneventful and I was met at the airport by a driver whom the very helpful and kind program officer at the Fulbright Commission coordinated for me. The driver assured me that I would have a wonderful time in Cuenca and that I would be a great help to the students in my future classes. I was confused when he dropped me off because he seemed to be expecting something but I didn't know what it was. We'd just learned in our cultural training this afternoon that Ecuadorians are indirect and Americans are direct and this can be a cause of confusion. I experienced this within hours of the training and didn't know how to handle the situation. I emailed the program officer and I am sure she'll help clarify if I should have taken some kind of action (a tip or was I supposed to pay the guy? I thought that was taken care of when the reservation was made...) Anyway, I'm sure this is of no interest to you.
On Monday I will meet with the people at the university who I will be working with. Until then I'm more or less on my own. That makes me nervous because here I am, thousands of miles from anyone who really knows me and I feel culturally clumsy and unfamiliar with nearly everything. On top of all that I have a recurring headache from the altitude and a bloody nose from the dry air.
Travel isn't all excitement and adventure. There's downtime, confusion, discomfort, and times when you find you'd really rather be someplace else. I'm on the verge of really good times, I can feel it. I'll start meeting people soon and making new, maybe even lifetime friends. For now I'm sitting alone in a hotel room and for better or worse, all I have is an internet connection. I'm tired, haven't eaten since lunch and it's my bedtime. I promise the next blog entry will be more positive.
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