Yay Political Unrest?

So classes canceled tmrw because our university (and apparently a bunch of others) are protesting the government. For those who don't know, the new government led by Rafael Correa is relatively new, and certainly shaking things up. At the moment, he's trying to socialize a lot of the country, which makes some people happy, others not. This time, the government is trying to take control of the private education system (ie USFQ) and make tons of changes and everything. Hence, my university is protesting and has cancelled classes until 6pm tmrw. As internationals, we aren't allowed to participate in the march planned for tmrw, so it's basically a mildly tension-filled holiday.
It's ironic, but political unrest kind of feels like DOGL.

Picoflores y cumpleanos :)

I saw a picoflore at USFQ today!! (Translation: Katie saw a hummingbird while studying by the university's lake this afternoon. Twas very exciting.)

Also, feliz cumpleanos a mi hermanita <3
Since it's Kimi's bday, I also must admit, that since coming to Ecuador, I've become an America's Next Top Model junkie. Only, in Spanish...

Valora la communicacion

I did my first real class-speaking in Spanish today! I had to do a presentation in Human Ecology on the article we read for class today and summarize and everything for the rest of the class. I was ridiculously nervous, not because of the article itself but because of the whole ‘presenting in Spanish to Spanish speakers’ part. The article covered the anthropology and study of environmentalism and ecological anthropology, both things I am knowledgeable about and could discuss for hours on end.
In the end, I pulled it off, more or less. I’m not sure how clear I was with my ideas, but it got across somehow. If you know me at all, you’ll know that I’m a bit disorganized with my thoughts (mildly… hehe) in English, so I’m not sure at all how I sounded in Spanish, but whatever, I think it worked more or less.
I was talking to Tor today about the frustration about transmitting ideas and the incredible amount of frustration we encounter when we want to express an idea, but are simply held back by the language barrier. In my Human Ecology class, we’re talking about things I’ve studied before in my awesome Religion and Environmental Ethics class and tons of other settings as well. I could discuss each of these topics for HOURS on end, but am reduced to about a 4th grade level of language and I’m sure it sounds like my intelligence goes with it. It’s frustrating to know that I am an intelligent being but simply don’t have the means to express my thoughts. It’s also humbling to really appreciate my native language and the freedom that language gives you. To be completely understood and to be able to use exactly the word I want is so liberating, I never knew I could feel this way about language.
I would love to strike up a conversation with some of the Ecuadorians in my Human Ecology class about environmentalism and sustainability and the differences between Ecuador and the United States, but also the similarities, especially with other tropical places like Hawaii. However, I am incredibly intimidated by them (for more than just the language reason) and feel like having such a philosophical discussion like that is far beyond my ability. For instance I tried to summarize “ecofeminism” in a few words during my presentation today and that in itself was difficult. This is the same topic that I have literally had very extended discussions about, but just trying to say one simple sentence about it was a struggle for me.
On the other hand, to be able to communicate in Spanish is incredibly rewarding for me. To have discussions and conversations with my madre and other peoples’ familias is so rewarding for me. I love the ease with which I can converse with my madre most days and how I can understand my professors and everything. I feel like it has opened up so many doors for me (both literal and figurative as I had to ask someone on my street to unlock the gate for me the other day….) and I love being able to access this whole other world I couldn’t before.
As I’m learning daily, language is an amazing gift and those who study it and control it have an incredible amount of power and opportunity. Communication is one of the main aspects of culture, as I’ve learned, to be without it is incredibly difficult, and when you have access to it, it is just a freeing and… I don’t even know how to explain it, but it’s so rewarding and liberating in terms of personal power and independence.

No sé.... éste semana....

So I don´t really have a topic for this post, but I felt like I should do some sort of update.  It´s been an ok week, I started off sick on Sunday afternoon/Monday, so that was kind of a downer.  Not anything serious (some people have had to go to the hospital and get antibiotics), just really tired and a sniffles.  Solution was to sleep it off (tons of siestas this week) and I think my madre may think I´m a little crazy, but that´s ok.

This week I watched more fútbol than I have in my entire life,  it´s intense.  Last Saturday Ecuador lost to Colombia but we won Wednesday´s match against Bolivia.  Fútbol here is entertaining, as basically the entire country stops for a few hours while the national team plays.  Literally, there were so few cars on the road (the first time I´ve heard quiet streets in Quito) and the only time you heard people was when they were yelling at the tv.  Also, everyone on planet earth wears their yellow national jersey.  It´s kinda cool and I kinda wish there was something like this in the US, it´s just so unique for apparently every single other country except the US (from what I hear about France, fútbol is huge there too)

Classes have finally started to get going (slowly but surely) and I finally have some homework to do.  Sadly, I´ve been waiting for this as I am usually very bored in my house when I go home after school.  All my classes are cool and I´m enjoying them lots.  The dork in me is loving my Tropical Rainforest class and all the ecology I´m learning.  Volcanology is also cool (we got to smash rocks in class yesterday to see the inner parts for identification), and my Spanish class is actually turning out to be pretty fun.  I´m also slowly meeting the few Ecuadorians that I have in my classes, especially through my Tropical Rainforest class and my drawing class (the only class I have where there are more Ecuas than gringos).

Life in Ecuador is proving difficult and challenging for me, but it definitely has its up days, especially just hanging out around campus or actually getting out and doing things.  This weekend our K College group is set to visit Otavalo, another city a few hours away.  This town is apparently one of the centers of indigenous people and thus also home to the largest artesian market here in Ecuador, so it´ll be fun to go buy some cool stuff while we´re there.

One of the things I´ve been enjoying the most recently is reading everyone else´s blogs from all over the world.  It still is such a crazy thought for me to imagine me and all my friends in all corners of the globe!  I´m checking up on friends in Thailand, France, Senegal, Japan, Chile, Spain, South Africa, and everywhere in between!  So crazy!  Love for all from Quito!

Clases y Gringos

Today was the first day of classes, sort of. On Wednesdays I only have 2 hours of class, and after standing in front of our first class for 15 minutes, another faculty member came out to tell us that our professor is actually in Guayaquil until Friday so we don’t have class till Monday. With 50% of my day cancelled, I only had “Programa de Investigacción del Campo” today. This is the class that K College creates so we can get credit for doing research projects down here. It’s just the 8 K students in the ecology program, so that, in addition to my almost entirely international student Tropical Rainforest class lead to a very gringo-filled day. Still haven’t really met many Ecuadorians much, but tomorrow…. maybe? All my classes (Spanish, Volcanology, and Human Ecology) are pretty gringo-filled, although I am taking an art class in hopes of meeting some Ecuadorians that way.

We were warned ahead of time that it’s difficult to make friends with many of the Ecuadorians, since they’re pretty cliquey and it’s hard to enter, especially as a gringo. We were also warned, that as ecology students it would also be hard since we only have 2 electives outside of our 4 required classes.

On USFQ: It looks and feels like a country club. I know we were also warned about this ahead of time, but it’s true. It actually kind of reminds me, in a way, of Punahou, and how many of the students have lots of money and put much of their ego into their appearance (clothes and otherwise). It’s a very different environment than K, were most students wear fleeces and have nalgenes (not to say that K kids are all hippy environmentalists, although that would be awesome…, but simply that I get the sentiment that it’s a lot more relaxed in terms of appearance and status). Or maybe I’m oblivious to it at college, I’m not sure. In any case, there’s definitely a different vibe coming off the students, both Ecuadorians and gringos alike. At the international student party last night, there was definitely the vibe of some sort of pressure. Last Saturday, all of the K kids went out together (with a few Ecuadorian friends too) and we had a great time just hanging at the bar and dancing at the discoteque. At the party last night (which was gringo-landia for sure), there was almost a “stiff” feeling to the energy being emitted. It was interesting. Also interesting was that I once again felt very small compared to the very large, much older looking Caucasians that dominated the majority. After being in Quito for only one week, it was actually difficult for me to speak in English and be in the company of very white, very American students who are all much larger than I am. These are many of the same sentiments I felt when I first arrived at K for LandSea. After only week, I’m already feeling these things, so it’ll be interesting to see what comes after being here for longer.

Regardless, I am very excited to have something to do, like school, and to be able to be learning again, especially about super cool things like biodiversity in Ecuador, of all places! Although it reminds me a lot of home (lots of hibiscus, eucalyptus, and other flowers and trees, little birds that look like our java sparrows, and a larger bird that I think is some sort of myna…), there are still tons of things I don’t recognize. The fruit, for one, is very different. Have you ever heard of a guyanaba? I haven’t. Or tree tomatoes? I had it as a juice for breakfast this morning, and it kind of tastes like raw guava or not quite ripe strawberry guavas. Although guayana is guava, so that’s familiar, as well as Lilikois, although they have a Spanish name I can’t remember. We also have some of the hugest plantains/bananas I’ve ever seen too.

All in all, Ecuador has been a broad mix of things very familiar to Hawaii due to their tropical similarities, yet completely different from the United States as a still developing world.