This weekend was definitely a successful one! I totally dominated my adventure to Otavalo, although I may or may not have been quite nervous the entire day. I got a taxi to the bus stop way earlier than I needed to, and proceeded to get on the bus much earlier than I should have. When the "conductor" came back to collect money, I told him where I wanted to be dropped off and tried to stay alert so that I would not miss my stop. Luckily, the man next to me was paying attention when I said where I wanted to get off, so he made sure that I got off at the right place! I arrived in Otavalo at 1:30pm, an hour and a half before my interview…hahaaa. After asking a few people if they would direct me where to go, I found INNFA – a blue and white building with no sign indicating the name of the organization.
I interviewed with the psychologist of the organization, Soledad. She is a Clinical Psychologist and she spends a couple of days in Otavalo, and travels 2 or 3 days to nearby communities where she evaluates children that are facing challenges. She told me that as part of my internship I could travel with her and be present during evaluations so that I could learn more about how evaluations are done. Um, yes please?!! :o) The remaining time of my internship would be spent at INNFA in Otavalo where they have a guarderia (daycare) as well as programs for school aged children. I can definitely say that this sounds like a pretty promising experience, and I am really looking forward to it. As far as the city of Otavalo goes, I´d prefer to live in a smaller town, but I think by the time October rolls around, I will welcome a change from the huge city of Quito to something smaller, even if it still seems city-ish.
On Saturday, some friends and I went to the Teleferico, which is like a ski lift that takes people up the mountain, Pinchincha. After we reached the end of the Teleferico, we walked a bit further up the mountain, stopping every couple of minutes because a) because of the altitude we could barely breathe and b) the views were…breathtaking…for serious. We eventually stopped at a point where we were near the edge of the mountain looking down a huge green valley and out to the city of Quito. We realized that we truly were 4,000 meters up when we saw airplanes flying beneath us. Yep! Pretty awesome! :o)
Sunday was a good day as well. I have really come to look forward to Sundays. Every Sunday since I have been here we have gone to Mamita Mary´s son´s (Mauricio) house for lunch. His family is the one I met on my first day here. He has two kids, Brian and Brenda, and a lovely wife named Lorena. We had a delicious lunch and stayed to talk for a while. I just really enjoy the family time, even though I feel like I miss out on some of the jokes because I cannot keep up with the Spanish. It is just really refreshing to see the affection that the family shows.
At night we went to church (Mary, Sophie, and I)…also something that is an integral part of Sunday! Although the structure of the mass is the same as at home, being at church definitely feels a little bit different. It is very interesting to feel that I stand out at church – I have this feeling that people are looking me and wondering why I am there. I am sure this is just something that I worry way too much about, and I know that church is the last place I should feel that I don`t belong…but honestly, it`s a very different feeling! Despite that, I really enjoy the opportunity to go to church and I´m sure that soon I will feel more comfortable! :o)
This week we only have class for 2 days – tomorrow and Thursday I am going with the other education students to observe two schools and then to spend the night with an indigenous family!
Oh and YES, the Constitution was voted SI, as expected. Very exciting, but I don´t think any changes will be made at least for a couple of months.
Abrazos,Jessica
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Friday, September 26, 2008
Woohoo!
Hello loves!
Wah! I´m so sorry I´ve been slacking on the blog updateage. I´m at CIMAS right now just hanging out for a bit before I go on an adventure to Otavalo for in interview...SOLO! Yikes, this is big stuff. I am a big girl. Otavalo is a small town - about a 2.5 hour busride from Quito. I´m going to be interviewing at an organization called INNFA. I don´t know a lot about the organization, except that it works with children that are at risk and come from difficult family situations, which is exactly what I´m looking for. It sounds pretty promising, so I´m excited to go see it. I´m a little bit nervous about travelling there and back by myself, but I think I can manage!
I was supposed to have an interview last weekend in a small town called Cotacachi last weekend, but after I got there, I found out that the lady I was supposed to interview with was sick. Hm. So I accompanied my friend Eleanor to her interview and took in the scenery of the town. I think that was my first taste of the ´´Ecuadorian way.´´ Sometimes things just don´t happen the way you expect them to! It turns out the organization in Cotacachi was not at all what we though it was anyway, so that is how I ended up with this interview in Otavalo.
The rest of the week was filled with suprises as well. After finding out that I´d be interviewing in a different town, I found out that the students are studying education (thats me!) had class today, while everyone else did not. On Wednesday, I was plagued with a suprise illness, and I also suprised some people on the street my sharing my illness with them on my walk home. OOPSIES! I must have at something bad, and for some reason my body decided that everyone on the street should know that as well. Getting sick in public - definetly something everyone should experience at one time in life. Hahaaa.
Needless to say, I´m getting used to the suprises and I´m learning to just go with the flow and be ´´tranquila.´´ That is definetly something I want to take home with me. We read a poem in Spanish class this week written by Jorge Luis Borges called ´´Instantes.¨ It has a ´´carpe diem´´ theme to it and he talks about what he would do if he could life his life other again. My favorite line said, ´´Tendria mas problemas reales y menos imaginarios´´ - I would have more real problems and less imaginary. That really hit home for me because I know that I often create problems for myself. Why make mountains out of molehills, right? I have really grown to appreaciate the simple things, and simple moments here (i.e. spontaneous conversations at school, spending time with family, watching the sunrise above the mountains while running the morning).
Oh! The people of Ecuador are voting on a new constitution on Sunday. I´m really excited to see how everything works out. The new constitution focuses a lot on human rights and respect for all cultures and includes some very positive changes for the country. At the same time, I cannot imagine how such a huge change could be implemented. It seems like a lot of people expect that Ecuador will change into a totally new country after the consitution gets approved (about 70% of the population is for the new constitution), but many of the changes implied by the constitution would take many years to implement. Anyway, it should be exciting to see how it all goes down!
I am off to embark on my adventure!
Love and hugs!
Jessica
Wah! I´m so sorry I´ve been slacking on the blog updateage. I´m at CIMAS right now just hanging out for a bit before I go on an adventure to Otavalo for in interview...SOLO! Yikes, this is big stuff. I am a big girl. Otavalo is a small town - about a 2.5 hour busride from Quito. I´m going to be interviewing at an organization called INNFA. I don´t know a lot about the organization, except that it works with children that are at risk and come from difficult family situations, which is exactly what I´m looking for. It sounds pretty promising, so I´m excited to go see it. I´m a little bit nervous about travelling there and back by myself, but I think I can manage!
I was supposed to have an interview last weekend in a small town called Cotacachi last weekend, but after I got there, I found out that the lady I was supposed to interview with was sick. Hm. So I accompanied my friend Eleanor to her interview and took in the scenery of the town. I think that was my first taste of the ´´Ecuadorian way.´´ Sometimes things just don´t happen the way you expect them to! It turns out the organization in Cotacachi was not at all what we though it was anyway, so that is how I ended up with this interview in Otavalo.
The rest of the week was filled with suprises as well. After finding out that I´d be interviewing in a different town, I found out that the students are studying education (thats me!) had class today, while everyone else did not. On Wednesday, I was plagued with a suprise illness, and I also suprised some people on the street my sharing my illness with them on my walk home. OOPSIES! I must have at something bad, and for some reason my body decided that everyone on the street should know that as well. Getting sick in public - definetly something everyone should experience at one time in life. Hahaaa.
Needless to say, I´m getting used to the suprises and I´m learning to just go with the flow and be ´´tranquila.´´ That is definetly something I want to take home with me. We read a poem in Spanish class this week written by Jorge Luis Borges called ´´Instantes.¨ It has a ´´carpe diem´´ theme to it and he talks about what he would do if he could life his life other again. My favorite line said, ´´Tendria mas problemas reales y menos imaginarios´´ - I would have more real problems and less imaginary. That really hit home for me because I know that I often create problems for myself. Why make mountains out of molehills, right? I have really grown to appreaciate the simple things, and simple moments here (i.e. spontaneous conversations at school, spending time with family, watching the sunrise above the mountains while running the morning).
Oh! The people of Ecuador are voting on a new constitution on Sunday. I´m really excited to see how everything works out. The new constitution focuses a lot on human rights and respect for all cultures and includes some very positive changes for the country. At the same time, I cannot imagine how such a huge change could be implemented. It seems like a lot of people expect that Ecuador will change into a totally new country after the consitution gets approved (about 70% of the population is for the new constitution), but many of the changes implied by the constitution would take many years to implement. Anyway, it should be exciting to see how it all goes down!
I am off to embark on my adventure!
Love and hugs!
Jessica
Sunday, September 14, 2008
"Poco a poco"
Woohoo! I finally have some time to give a full update! :o) I am having such an amazing time that I am not even sure where to begin.
I suppose I will start with school. I am here with a group of 28 other students. Although the majority goes to the University of Minnesota, there are people from California, Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, and West Virginia. For the first three weeks, we are all taking the same classes together at a foundation called CIMAS. CIMAS is located on a pretty busy street in Quito and is a small building with an auditorium, a kitchen, a few offices, classrooms, and a couple of computer labs. Taking classes at CIMAS is quite the change from Minnesota, it is such an intimate atmosphere…everyone that works there treats us like family, which is very comforting.
We have class from 9am until 4pm, with a break for lunch, of course. The morning consists of classes that focus on development, globalization, philosophy, and Ecuadorian culture, followed by 2 hours of Spanish in the afternoon. After this week, our classes will change a little bit because we will take classes that are related to the track that we have chosen (for me, Education.) I don´t have much background in the things that we have been learning about at all, but I am fascinated by so many of the things that we talk about. I´ve really become driven to really be present in class and completely take in what I am learning. Aside from the awesome professors that we have, I feel very lucky to be surrounded by a group of extremely intelligent and passionate students. It´s pretty amazing. I think we have 6 or 7 more weeks of class, and then we will move to our internships for 5 weeks. Many students will move out to an indigenous area, but the more I read about possible internship opportunities, I think I may end up staying in Quito.
Hm, besides learning a lot, I don´t think I´ve ever eaten so much in two weeks as I have here. Luckily, the food is delicious, the only problem is…I cannot physically fit it all into my stomach. Haha. Breakfast is usually bread with jam, scrambled eggs, a banana, an orange, coffee, and orange juice. Interestingly enough, the common thing here is to drink instant coffee with hot milk. I asked my host mom why instant coffee is more common over real Ecuadorian coffee (one of their leading exports!) and she said simply that it is very expensive. For lunch, I´ve become a pretty big fan of the Panaderia (bread store) close to CIMAS. Panaderias are EVERYWHERE…and you can smell them from a block away…ummm WONDERFUL. Instead of buying a loaf of bread, it seems more common to go buy fresh bread daily…I´m a pretty big fan of that. Okay so dinner. Soup. I´m not talking like…chicken noodle soup, I am talking soup with thick broth, beans, potatoes, corn, meat. I´ve had a different kind of soup each night that I´ve been here. Soup is followed by a plate FULL of rice, some sort of meat, and a vegetable, or potato, or pasta. Lots of carbs. Haha. And juice! The juice here is amazing, I have had juices from fruit that I did not even know existed. Despite my attempts to explain to Mary (my host mom) that I have a small stomach, I have a feeling she will continue to feed me the same amount of food. Haha, it could be worse, right? :o)
This weekend I went with a group of people to a city called Otavalo. It is a smaller city that has a large indigenous population. We stayed at an awesome hostel that had an outdoor fireplace. At night we had a fire, and in the morning we got up real early to go to the indigenous market. WOW. The market was huge, and to see all of the work that many of the people had done by hand was amazing. The market was filled with panchos, sweaters, scarves, artwork, jewlerly, and a large part of it was for food. The whole street was lined with fruits, vegetables, spices, and people cooking authentic rice and meat dishes. Besides the market, we had some pretty awesome conversations. I am thankful every day that I have been so blessed to have this opportunity and to get to know so many beautiful people. So, needless to say, life is pretty wonderful. I am happy. And as ecuamami (hostmom) says, ¨Poco a Poco.” Little by little, I´m learning the language, I´m getting to know the city, and little by little, I´m feeling a bit more at home.
Props to you if you have actually read all of this, I know it was long…oopsies. I miss you all tons and love to hear from you always (schet003gmal.com).
Love and hugs!
Jessica
I suppose I will start with school. I am here with a group of 28 other students. Although the majority goes to the University of Minnesota, there are people from California, Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, and West Virginia. For the first three weeks, we are all taking the same classes together at a foundation called CIMAS. CIMAS is located on a pretty busy street in Quito and is a small building with an auditorium, a kitchen, a few offices, classrooms, and a couple of computer labs. Taking classes at CIMAS is quite the change from Minnesota, it is such an intimate atmosphere…everyone that works there treats us like family, which is very comforting.
We have class from 9am until 4pm, with a break for lunch, of course. The morning consists of classes that focus on development, globalization, philosophy, and Ecuadorian culture, followed by 2 hours of Spanish in the afternoon. After this week, our classes will change a little bit because we will take classes that are related to the track that we have chosen (for me, Education.) I don´t have much background in the things that we have been learning about at all, but I am fascinated by so many of the things that we talk about. I´ve really become driven to really be present in class and completely take in what I am learning. Aside from the awesome professors that we have, I feel very lucky to be surrounded by a group of extremely intelligent and passionate students. It´s pretty amazing. I think we have 6 or 7 more weeks of class, and then we will move to our internships for 5 weeks. Many students will move out to an indigenous area, but the more I read about possible internship opportunities, I think I may end up staying in Quito.
Hm, besides learning a lot, I don´t think I´ve ever eaten so much in two weeks as I have here. Luckily, the food is delicious, the only problem is…I cannot physically fit it all into my stomach. Haha. Breakfast is usually bread with jam, scrambled eggs, a banana, an orange, coffee, and orange juice. Interestingly enough, the common thing here is to drink instant coffee with hot milk. I asked my host mom why instant coffee is more common over real Ecuadorian coffee (one of their leading exports!) and she said simply that it is very expensive. For lunch, I´ve become a pretty big fan of the Panaderia (bread store) close to CIMAS. Panaderias are EVERYWHERE…and you can smell them from a block away…ummm WONDERFUL. Instead of buying a loaf of bread, it seems more common to go buy fresh bread daily…I´m a pretty big fan of that. Okay so dinner. Soup. I´m not talking like…chicken noodle soup, I am talking soup with thick broth, beans, potatoes, corn, meat. I´ve had a different kind of soup each night that I´ve been here. Soup is followed by a plate FULL of rice, some sort of meat, and a vegetable, or potato, or pasta. Lots of carbs. Haha. And juice! The juice here is amazing, I have had juices from fruit that I did not even know existed. Despite my attempts to explain to Mary (my host mom) that I have a small stomach, I have a feeling she will continue to feed me the same amount of food. Haha, it could be worse, right? :o)
This weekend I went with a group of people to a city called Otavalo. It is a smaller city that has a large indigenous population. We stayed at an awesome hostel that had an outdoor fireplace. At night we had a fire, and in the morning we got up real early to go to the indigenous market. WOW. The market was huge, and to see all of the work that many of the people had done by hand was amazing. The market was filled with panchos, sweaters, scarves, artwork, jewlerly, and a large part of it was for food. The whole street was lined with fruits, vegetables, spices, and people cooking authentic rice and meat dishes. Besides the market, we had some pretty awesome conversations. I am thankful every day that I have been so blessed to have this opportunity and to get to know so many beautiful people. So, needless to say, life is pretty wonderful. I am happy. And as ecuamami (hostmom) says, ¨Poco a Poco.” Little by little, I´m learning the language, I´m getting to know the city, and little by little, I´m feeling a bit more at home.
Props to you if you have actually read all of this, I know it was long…oopsies. I miss you all tons and love to hear from you always (schet003gmal.com).
Love and hugs!
Jessica
Monday, September 8, 2008
It´s True, I´m Alive!
Waaah! I am here, I am alive, and life is beautiful! I am currently on my lunch break, so I only have a couple of minutes, but I will try to type quickly in order to give you all a full update! The flights to Quito went very smoothly. We stayed in a hostel for the first night where they served us a delicious dinner. On Tuesday, we lugged all of our suitcases to CIMAS (that´s school) for orientation, and moved in with our families in the afternoon. My host mom is more like a grandma, her name is Mary. Her and I live in her house, while her daughter (Nancy), daughter´s husband (Manuel), and her grandson (Pablo) live in a part of the house that is sort of connected, I don´t see them much though. I have also met another one of Mary´s sons, Mauricio. He has two children, Brenda who is 12, and Brian who is 18. They are absolutely wonderful. Everyone is so caring and warm here, which is definetly a wonderful feeling.
The first week was sort of difficult. It was hard to become comfortable when living with just one person and dealing with the language barrier, but I have opended up and am starting to feel much more comfortable with my host mom.
This past weekend was amazing. We visited a place called San Miguel de los Bancos. I can´t wait to post photos...it is SO gorgeous. We took a walk through the forest...the mountains and everything was SO GREEN. This country is so unbelievably diverse. Anyway, so the walk! We walked to a river where there was a breathtaking waterfall and a place to swim in the river. Seriously. Breathtaking.
It´s time to go to class, but I love you all and hope that everything is going well. Please, leave messages! Tell me stories! Email me!
Love!
The first week was sort of difficult. It was hard to become comfortable when living with just one person and dealing with the language barrier, but I have opended up and am starting to feel much more comfortable with my host mom.
This past weekend was amazing. We visited a place called San Miguel de los Bancos. I can´t wait to post photos...it is SO gorgeous. We took a walk through the forest...the mountains and everything was SO GREEN. This country is so unbelievably diverse. Anyway, so the walk! We walked to a river where there was a breathtaking waterfall and a place to swim in the river. Seriously. Breathtaking.
It´s time to go to class, but I love you all and hope that everything is going well. Please, leave messages! Tell me stories! Email me!
Love!
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