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!
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