On being a foreigner and on women´s role.

Before coming to Ecuador, I imagine I would kind of blend in with the people since I have dark hair and brown eyes. This brought me comfort because I don´t like to stand out. Well, I was wrong. I definitely stand out here. The people in Cayambe have darker skin, especially in the villages outside of town (which is where I live). So when I walk down the street or hop on the bus, I get stared at like I´m some sort of weird stranger. The kids automatically assume that I´m North American and that I speak english because they´ll yell "Hello!" to me or "Good Morning" when I walk by. The other day a kid asked me "How are you?" when I got on the bus, which is pretty cute but just goes to show that they have no idea that English is actually my second language and probably don´t know that French is spoken in Canada. All of us Canadians or foreigners are the same to them. It´s disappointing, that I don´t blend in, but I guess I should have expected it. I tried to explain to my host family that Canada is very multicultural and people are of all colors, which they hadn´t really realized before. Anyways, I just wanted to point out that the color of your skin can sometimes change someone´s opinion about you, especially in a place like here where everyone looks alike and there isn´t much cultural diversity.

An interesting thing I´ve noticed since being here is the difference in the role and perception of women here compared to in Canada. I was cooking lunch with my host mom the other day and she was teaching me how to make something on the stove. She asked me if I had an oven at home (because they don´t) and I said yes. She said that if my future husband doesn´t get me an oven like her, I´ll know how to cook on a stove. This clearly made me see how they see a women as uncapable of bying herself an oven. The husband deals with the money and that´s that. I haven´t felt that my host is really authoritive in the family. He respects my host mom a lot and I´m pretty sure they make decisions together. But more and more I´m starting to think that this isn´t the case in most families here. I´ve already heard of a few women being hit by their husband, often when they´re drunk, which is a whole other issue (the rate of alcoholism here seems to be very high). My host family also explained to me that one of the reasons why women have so many children here is because their husbands are afraid that they´ll go running off with another man. Their way of avoiding this is to not let them use birth control so that they have to care for more babies and more children. It´s kind of hard to hear and see all this, since women in Canada have so much independence and respect. A single working woman would not be seen here, while in Canada it´s pretty normal. Anyways, I hope to learn more about this subject in the next 2 months. It´s definitely eye opening!

Here´s a quick post with a few pictures of our little trip to the Mitad del Mundo, or middle of the world, last Saturday. I went with 5 other Intercordians and my host brother. It´s just a 10 minute drive away from Cayambe and it´s not all that impressive but it was nice to go somewhere different.

And here´s my oldest host brother in front of the solar monument!

El Centro Infantil.

I´ve been working at the day care for more than 2 weeks now. It´s definitely been fun but also challenging. The kids are too young to really care to learn english so my attempts to teach them have mostly failed. I´ll have to keep trying though. They are very very cute but some are real trouble makers. It´s really interesting to compare the functioning of a day care here and a day care in Canada. I worked at a day care in Fredericton last year so I´m able to observe the differences. For one, discipline isn´t the same. Here if a kid hits another one they just tell him to stop and that it´s bad but in Canada he´d probably go for a time out. I guess they just see it as a way of making the kids stand up for themselves. Also, sanitation is very very different. In Canada, we would disinfect the table a couple times a day and make the kids wash their hands all the time. Here I´ve never disinfected anything, only wiped the tables after lunch. The kids simply wash their hands in water before eating, no soap. Their immune system is obviously stronger than ours and we´d probably be more resistant to colds if we weren´t so obsessed with sanitation. It´s just a different way of doing things. There isn´t any set schedule for activities here either. When it´s cloudy we go play outside in the soccer field but when it´s sunny they can´t stay too long outside because their noses start bleeding from the intensity of the sun. So we often do crafts or drawings.

Something else I´ve notivced during my short time here is that people carry their kids everywhere. They tie them on their back with this kind of blanket and bring them wherever they go. There´s no such thing as a babysitter. The day care finishes around one every day and then they go home with either their parents or a relative. It´s nice to see that they spend so much time with their family. You can also see women working in the fields with their toddler tied to their backs. Pretty incredible!

So I know some of you have tried to post something on here but it says that you need to have an account to do so or something. I have now changed the settings so anyone can comment so you can now do so if you´d like. :)
I hope everyone is well and I miss you all very much!!

A few pictures.

Here´s of picture of the view on our way from Quito to Cayambe about 2 weeks ago. It´s a very mountany country, really pretty!
Things have been really good lately. I´ve started working with a social worker at the hospital which I´m pretty excited about. It´ll be interesting to see what kind of work she does here.

The picture below is from the amazing view I see when I walk to the day care every morning at 8. The weather here has been really nice for the past 2 weeks I´ve been here. It rarely rains and the days vary from sunny to cloudy which is good because or else it would be too warm. Every morning when I wake up it´s sunny outside which makes it much easier to get out of bed.

I haven´t been taking much pictures on purpose. I don´t feel it´s right to start taking pictures of people just yet. I want to have built a stronger relationship with them before simply taking pictures with them. It´s a delicate topic because we talked about it a lot in my intercordia preparation class at STU so I still feel iffy about taking a lot of pictures. I´m not here to be a toursist and although I do stand out a lot it just makes it wost to have my camera out all the time.

A few details about my life here!

I though I would share a couple interesting facts about my life here in Ecuador.

1) The hopitality here is really incredible. People are so welcoming and treat you as one of their own. They literally adress people as ¨hija¨ which means daughter, even though they have no relation with the person whatsoever. Adults as well as children constantly say good morning/afternoon/night when they pass by me or anyone for that matter. In the community where I live the people are very hard working, they don´t have the luxury of taking the weekends off like we do. However, the most shocking is that they´re so genuinely happy, laughing and smiling most of the time. It´s very touching to see and I know for a fact that we have a lot to learn from these people.

2) The weather isn´t as hot as you´d expect here. During the day it varies from warm (when the sun comes out) to chilly (when the clouds cover the sun). At night it´s especially cold since there´s obviously no heating and the isolation isn´t very good. But with a sweater and lots of blankets, I´m fine.

3) I noticed that people here, or at least up in my community, use the formal form of ¨you¨ a lot. Even with little kids. So I´ve started doing the same, even though it feels kind of weird.

4) Bucket showers really aren´t as bad as I thought.

5) I am constantly taking buses over here. For one because my family doesn´t own a car but the buses are also really inexpensive. A 15 minute bus ride is 16 cents! I don´t understant how they are still running because they go through these crazy bumpy roads.
Also, on mother´s day, I hopped on the back of a truck with about 10 other people to get to mass downtown. This is a very common way of transportation here since few people outside of cities own cars and so they really just pack on the back of some truck to get somewhere. 

6) There´s a real sense of community where I live. People just come and go into the house all the time. Everyone seems to be a neighboor or ¨vecino¨, as my host family greets them.

7) I had my first AHA moment the other day while driving throught the mountains with my host dad and his boss. The view is soo incredible up there. No picture would ever do it justice. With andean music blasting through the speakers, I really felt like this was one of the many reasons why I´m here!

Welcome to Ecuador.

It was really great to spend a night in Toronto with some of the other Intercordians. They´re all really great people. After our long trip, we finally arrived in Quito where we´re welcomed by our supervisor from FRI which is the organization Intercordia is partnered with here in Ecuador. We spent 2 days in a hostal in Quito where we had an orientation to prepare us for the program. I really enjoyed getting to know the other Intercordians doing the program here in Ecuador.

Last Thursday we were brought to our host families. We all live within 30min to an hour away from each other. I was the first one to get off the van. My host parents are super sweet, always making sure I´m well. I have two host brother, they´re both really great although we´re shy at the beginning. I have really interesting conversations with my host families and it´s really nice to learn from them about Ecuador. I have my own room but the house is very small. They have the basic necessities. No hot water but they have a kind of stove which they heat water with. I started my work placement last Friday. The kids are extremely cute. The day care is simple but well decorated an homy. When I got there the first day, one of the kids said ¨Ah, ya viene la gringita!¨, which  means ¨Ah, the foreign girl has arrived!¨. They use the word gringa to describe anyone who´s foreing, but the little girl called me gringita which means like small or cute foreigner! It was really cute. I mostly help the one women taking care of about 15-20 kids.There´s usually someone esle there to cook for the kids. It´s a lot of work though, the kids take up a lot of your energy! But anyways, I finish volunteering around one so I´ve started working at the hopital in Cayambe during the afternoons with Janice (another Intercordian). It´s very interesting work and sometimes a bit disturbing but I should get used to it.

During the first few days I was here, I felt pretty homesick and I was pretty shocked to be living in a completely different environment than what I´m used to. It´s a constant challenge to try to accustom myself to the different language, culture and values. But now it´s gotten much better. I feel less homesick and I´m actually starting to get used to this.

I hope everyone is well at home. If you´re reading this please leave a small comment so I know I´m not writing to no one! Chao, besooos!

Safely Arrived!

A quick post to say that I am safely arrived in Ecuador. I´m now at my host family´s house and they´re really great. I have a billion things to say but I´m kind of in a hurry right now so I´ll write a longer post when I have more time. I´m happy and healthy and excited to be here. Hasta luego! Chao :)

Taking Off.

So many thoughts are going through my mind on this last day at home. It's been hard to try to let go of any expectations and just to go with the flow. This is what this program is about though. I don't know very much about how the next few days are going to go and I'm not really supposed to. I guess I'm just so used to having everything set out and planned for me. It's definitely a challenge to just live in the moment and trust that everything will turn out fine.

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in you sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." - Mark Twain. I really like this quote a lot because it sums up how I feel about this trip. It's time for me to set sail and discover a world completely unknown to me. A world that will make me question what's right or wrong, my outlook on things, my beliefs and my priorities.

I feel that although I can never be fully prepared for this kind of experience, I've learned a lot during the past semester with my Intercordia class. I've really learned to question many things and understood the possible negative effects I could have on locals when I travel abroad. It's easy to be ignorant and use stereotypes on peoples, cultures and races.

I've always had trouble making decision. I have this fear of regretting choices I make. But I don't have any second thoughts about this trip, I know it is right for me at this point. I'm very content to be leaving. Even though saying goodbye to family and friends was a bit hard today, I know it's just a see ya later because I'll be back before I know it. I'm feeling excited about leaving, a little nervous, but mostly excited to discover the unknown.

On a last note, I'd like to thank each and every one of my friends and family for supporting me. Even though they say "Ah, she's leaving us again!", I know they're still supportive of me. Especially my mom, who hasn't been a big fan of this trip from the start, especially because this time I'm a little less accessible than when I traveled in the past, which worries her. But I'm so glad she has tried her best to understand my motivations for this experience. She's done more than she had to, including helping out a lot with fundraising and buying stuff for the trip. She's been supporting me against her will, which is why I love her.

Well, this is it. Tomorrow I'm taking off. I'm ready for this, or at least ready as I'll ever be. Bring it on Ecuador, bring it on. :)