07.21.08
I’m home!
Well I’m home! =) Keep checking out my blog in the next couple days for photos attached to my previous posts. I might add some more reflections as well.
07.14.08
This weekend!
This weekend was amazing! Dr. Luis de la Torre invited us to visit his town for the Inti Raymi festival. Friday night we got to see Luis and some of the traditional dancing, similar to our experience in Otavalo. Everyone was SO nice and (quite literally) welcomed us with open arms, especially when Todd and I spoke Kichwa with them. Saturday night´s experience was much less positive, as everyone was very, very drunk when we got there and some guy wanted to ¨borrow¨me. They had a closed-off dance area but were charging $2 to get in if you weren´t dressed traditionally.
Sunday was probably my best experience so far in Ecuador. Todd and I dressed in our indigenous outfits and headed out to see the ¨pachamanka¨ or ¨olla de tierra¨ (pot of the earth) ritual. Mostly everyone loved our outfits and really seemed to accept us when we spoke Kichwa. The pachamanka started by making a fire to heat rocks, then digging a huge hole in the ground and wetting it so that dirt wouldn´t get into the food. The main ¨cook¨took some herbs and did a little praying ritual before sprinkling them in the hole. Then they put the hot rocks, after brushing the ash off, into the hole, followed by lettuce and then the potatoes, raw meat, bananas/plantains, and pineapples in various layers of food and hot rocks. Lastly, they covered the food with wet rags, then a woven mat and finally the dirt they had dug up. Some people did the traditional circle dance in a circle on top of the pachamanka. The food was finished cooking in 90 minutes. Todd and I were actually two of the few people who were invited into the kitchen to eat the food that had just been in the ground. It was super delicious and such an honor to be invited in as their guests.
We also got to see the ¨entrega de gallos¨ in which the women carry in food in baskets on their heads in a formal processional, and men carry sticks with roosters hanging from their feet STILL ALIVE! Each different community entered in formal dress and walked in circles in this huge field, showing off their gifts. Five roosters stayed hanging in the middle of the field and people would frequently walk underneath them and pull on them. One managed to swing himself around and stay up on top of the rope.
I feel really good about being able to use my Kichwa because I feel that it shows that I value their culture. I loved wearing the indigenous outfit because it helped me to put myself in their shoes– literally! It changed from a pretty, exotic outfit to just ¨something normal people wear¨if that makes any sense to you.
I also found the clash of cultures fascinating: young indigenous males wearing typical U.S. urban clothing– backwards baseball caps and baggy sweatshirts– and little old indigenous men wearing traditional clothing whipping out their modern cell phones to have a chat. There was an article in the local paper by an indigenous man commenting on this very same clash, particularly with youth dress and music.
It´s been a while!!
One of my journal entires:
July 6, 2008
I found Dr. Luis de la Torre´s lecture on the indigenous ¨cosmovision¨to be fascinating and insightful. It helped me understand the indigenous worldview more from their personal perspective.
Even though there are over thirteen different indigenous cultures and languages just in Ecuador, all the peoples of the Andean highlands have a similar basic culture with similar roots. Most of this similarity is based on the Incan conquest of all the various native groups. One of my favorite quotations from Luis was: ¨Estamos en un mundo capitalista pero no tenemos capital, entonces no somos capitalistas.¨ Translation: We are in a capitalist world, but we don´t have capital so we´re not capitalists. I thought it was very telling of the way in which indigenous people like Luis see their world– dominated by people with more power, more money, and more resources. It´s almost as if there´s a world inside another world for indigenous people. Mestizo culture is NOT the same as indigenous culture.
Some of the key ways of viewing the world that Luis pointed out are:
- The indigenous live in the earth while people from Western cultures live outside the earth. For Luis, harming the earth is the same as harming one´s self.
- Death is a celebration of a good thing because the person is going somewhere better. Being sad at someone´s death will cause them pain in the next life.
- As opposed to Western culture which sees time linearly and focused on the future, native thought sees time cyclically and has one word (ñawpa) which means past and future at the same time. Cultural representations of these beliefs can be seen in our celebrations. We have parades (which have a beginning and end and move in a straight line) whereas Inti Raymi´s main dance is a circle, where people frequently switch directions.
- Indigenous culture requires reciprocity and redistribution, which means that if one receives something he or she is required by a cultural ¨law¨to give something back in return. One can be excommunicated from the community.
- There is a focus on duality and balance, sickness balancing out health, light balancing out darkness, etc.
This lecture helped me to think about how I might deal with students in my classes who have differing beliefs from mine, but also how people can feel marginalized in their own country. There is a distinct yet subtle separation of mestizo and indigenous cultures here in Ecuador, and I wonder how they all might get lumped together once in teh U.S. In the eyes of teachers or whoever in the U.S. they become no longer mestizo and indigenous, but become ¨Latin American¨all together. What a mistake! Learning about the unique indigenous beliefs has helped me to appreciate even more the diversity I will one day experience in my ESL classroom. Even kids coming from the same country could have completely different backgrounds– by race, class, social status, urban/rural differences, and ways of living. Just seeing the diversity apparent in this little pocket of Ecuador makes me realize that this country even has so much more– and I wish I could see it all!!
07.08.08
Random Ecuador stuff
Here are some interesting cultural / linguistic snapshots:
- Popcorn (”canguil”) is a popular appetizer before meals
- Cuy (guinea pig) is a delicacy but apparently you have to go to the middle of nowhere to find it and the restaurants will be closed
- Most of Latin America (I believe) uses “sandwhich” but here it’s “sanduche”
- The word for a sports field “cancha” is actually a Kichwa word (”kancha”)
- The indigenous and mestizo groups are fairly distinct and do not always get along; people have a lot of racist comments towards each other and towards people from “China”
- It’s not unusual to get potatoes, corn, rice, bread, and yuca in the same meal
- Most people here carry two cell phones for both of the carriers so that they can talk to whomever for free
- A person greets everyone when he or she enters a room– and I mean, literally goes to each person already there and shakes his or hand or kisses him or her on the cheek
- When Liga (the Ecaudorian soccer team) wins, everyone in Quito jumps in La Pileta de la Indoamerica, and if they’re not in Quito they just jump in some random fountain; also, the day after they win half the country apparently gets off work
- People here drink tons of juice, not very much water, and lots of coffee but it’s almost always instant; Ecuador produces coffee but sells all the best quality beans to Japan
Sorry I’ve been slow to post but I plan to write more in the next couple days. I’ll probably post some of the journals I’ve been required to write for class.
Emeli
07.01.08
Life!
This past weekend I spent a lot of time just kind of hanging out. I went to the market on Saturday for about 4 hours– it was actually hot and very draining! Saturday night a friend and I went to an Ecuadorian film festival, which was basically a showing of a bunch of short Latin American films. It was a lot of fun to test out my Spanish listening skills and learn about culture as well. Plus it wasn´t a tourist event, so it was neat to be at a real cultural event for the country.
On Sunday I went to mass which was a very cultural experience for me. The homily was all about how the Catholic church is the only true church and we need to denounce all other religions (which basically meant mine!). Meanwhile there was a paragraph on the back of the program talking about how the Catholic church values the indigenous and African cultures in all of Latin America and how racism is wrong. I also found it interesting how every other person was indigenous, and I wonder if they see the disconnect. My host mom is amazing though, she kept leaning over to me and saying ¨it doesn´t really say that in the Bible, does it?¨and when we got home she actually got out her Bible and looked it up! She asked me what I thought about the church and the message and we talked a little. I really respect her ability and desire to question and analyze her thoughts and beliefs. It seemed like a lot of people in church weren´t really listening to the message and were just there to be there.
I have more to say but I can´t think of it right now. I´ll probably write some more tomorrow.
Can you see my pictures in the previous posts??
06.28.08
¡Mi cumpleaños!
Yesterday was probably one of my best birthdays ever… except I missed Dave like crazy! Having him there would have made it perfect. My host mom had a birthday party for me, including a toast, cake, and dancing. It was fun! I wanted an ¨American¨cake, so my friend Todd bought some cake mix and we tried to bake a cake. It ended up turning out decent, but we sort of didn´t think about the whole ¨high altitude¨ thing and it ended up taking 2 hours to bake!! It was quite an adventure, for sure. Overall it was a fun birthday! All the Juniata people came, and I felt honored that they all wanted to celebrate with me.
This morning I went to the market and bought some things. I am planning on buying a complete indigenous outfit… they are so pretty!! I have been trying to use a few of my Kichwa expressions in the market. Although I can´t do much some of the indigenous people appreciate the effort.
Let me know if you have any requests from the market! =) They have pretty much everything here.
It was finally warm today! It has been kind of cool and rainy until the last couple days. Even with the blaring sun though, it is quite pleasant in the shade. The weather is much more agreeable than in the Caribbean.
Next week I will actually get into planning my lesson and teaching the students. I observed my class (the Juniata profesor is teaching the first two, and then my partner and I will take over) and they are really sweet kids who seem to have a lot of desire to learn English and do well.
Tomorrow I am going to church with my family. They are Catholic. It will be another cultural experience for me, especially to compare and contrast their practices with that of Inti Raymi.
06.26.08
Photos!!
I´ve finally been able to put some photos in my posts thanks to my friend Tod who has a computer. =) I will post more later. Let me know if you can´t see any of them for whatever reason.
06.24.08
Inti Raymi
One of the classes I am taking here is Quichua, which they actually spell Kichwa. I know how to say ¨good morning,¨¨good afternoon,¨¨good night,¨¨what is your name,¨¨I´m Emily,¨and a few other things I haven´t internalized yet. To give you an idea of how complicated the language is, ¨I´m Emily¨is:¨Ñukaka Emilymi kani.¨ Isn´t that great?? I´m learning a lot about myself and my learning styles by learning a third language!
In Kichwa class we are learning about the huge festival that is going on right now. It´s called Inti Raymi and it is the Festival of the Sun. A couple of us went last night to check it out. It lasts for at least a week, starting with the summer solstice. Each night the party starts at 9 p.m. and the indigenous people dance and play instruments to honor the gods. The women put on their best traditional garb and they are BEAUTIFUL. Sometimes in the middle of the crowd one person will just start dancing in a circle, until more and more people join in. They dance for a while, then turn in the other direction. The turning represents the Earth´s movement around the sun and the cyclical nature of life. Some men will wear two-headed masks which represent duality of the universe (woman/man, dark/light, day/night, etc.).
At the festival they have a stage in which the introductions begin, and they honor each of the different towns or areas represented. They burn some kind of herb, hold up corn and give thanks to the corn which is basically representative of life itself, and say prayers. The whole thing was in a mixture of Kichwa and Spanish. The whole things was really quite awe-inspiring. I was able to be right up close and I felt very honored to be a part of it because it is such a holy, important ritural for everyone. I took some videos!
So I am having a great time and learning a lot. For class we have to do cultural explorations. I am excited to keep talking with my family and learning more about their lives and perspectives. I think I am doing a better job of keeping the relationship with my family open and honest than I did in the Dominican Republic, mostly because of my better Spanish and just my desire to have a good relationship with them and not be completely clueless! I am learning some new Spanish phrases and growing in my confidence, especially since I am one of the group translators.
Thanks for the comments! I look forward to hearing from all of you! =)
Otavalo
It´s been a while so I´m going to write a couple different posts.
We finally got to Otavalo on Saturday afternoon. I love it here! I met my host family, and they are great. The house is amazing, nicer than in the D.R. The family is a wife (Juana Naravaez), husband (Ramiro), 19-year-old daughter (Tatiana), and two sons (Juan & Ramiro) although I have not met them yet (they seem to be always away for work or school). The father runs a bus tour company and is often out of the house, traveling. Tatiana and one of the brothers go to the university, while the other brother is a policeman. They also have a little dog, Cora, but she stays outside in the little grassy nook. They never really pay much attention to her, actually.
The mom is super nice. My first night in the house we talked for a good while about family. I showed her my pictures and she asked all about my family. Her son´s daughter was there with her 1 year old son, Sebastian who was super cute.
So then you´ll never guess what we did the first night. There is a huge festival going on here that we were going to check out, but it was raining so she said we´d better stay in. So she invited me to pick out a movie, and I watched a boot-leg copy of ¨The Devil Wears Prada¨ in her bed with her, both of us under the covers! I felt very welcomed! There is less personal space here, and it helps me consider how ESL learners might feel in an American classroom where they might feel isolated from community.
The food here is really good. We have soup before the main meal for lunch and for dinner. I ate this amazing soup on the first night with carrots, potatoes, cilantro and some other stuff I don´t remember, but it was delicious. In fact, I love all the soups here so far, even though I´m not usually a fan of soup. Being in the Andes, they love carbs here, and often will serve potatos and rice on the same plate with no other vegetables.
Needless to say, I am very happy with my host family and where I live. I´m only two minutes away from the university, where I come each day at 8 a.m. to take classes.
06.21.08
Spanish
The people I am working/studying with are really nice. There are 15 of us students and they are such a great group to be with. Beth is the lady that sort of leads us, she´s from the U.S. but has lived in Ecuador and has been doing this program for many years. Her husband Greg and their two boys are also here. They are all nice and all fluent in Spanish. Miriam is not with us anymore, but she was helping out with orientation. She is Ecuadorian and fluent in English.
Something that is really cool for me is that, besides the people in charge that I mentioned above, I speak the best Spanish out of everyone with one exception. There is one other girl who is also a Spanish teacher, and she and I basically translate for everyone. She studied in Spain, so it´s neat talking to her because we´re basically on the same level, but sometimes one of us will know words the other doesn´t and vice versa since we had different experiences. But it´s cool that everyone knows to come to us when they have a random question about Spanish. I continue being a Spanish teacher even in Ecuador! =)
This is where we´re going today: http://www.papallacta.com.ec/index.htm 
