So as all of you who have been keeping up with my blog have noticed, it has fallen into a sad state of very little being written. The reasons for me not writing basically all fall on one thing. A lack of inspiration to write. These is largely becuase my experience here has become slowly more difficult and to express myself over the internet without being cynical has become hard. I've gone through some drastic changes and events this last month. I've done so much in Ecuador my expirience can only be described as amazing. But along with these amazing experiences have been some moments where the last thing I want to do is write.
I'm going to start over again, I'll keep everyone posted and we'll see if I can keep up my part of the bargain. I only ask that if you read this to please comment in some way. I would really appreciate hearing about what your reactions are.
I'm going to be leaving for the Galapagos in 3 days, as you can imagine I'm excited beyond belief. The Galapagos has always been one of those childhood dreams, to go to the land where the animals look at you like you are nothing more than a bothersome nuisance. To be totally honest, I feel like the shock of going there hasn't actually completely hit me. At least I know that I'll be in for an amazing adventure.
I got back last friday from a 12 day trip to a rural population in the north coast of Ecuador. I built a school, no seriously, my whole class of 20 kids just completed a school. Really, a building, it doesn't have lights, desks teaching materials or anything. But it is a building that we built. This expirience was beyond amazing for me. I worked like it was my job. My friend even told me that the only difference between me and the professionals that we hired to do the hardest stuff was that I wasn't getting paid. I didn't need to, working in the hot Ecuadorian sun building a school for a poor population that needs one was such a gift. I felt so happy to be there. I had such an awesome time, I felt free and careless, my thoughts always drifting from the next meal and working hard enough to finish the school in time. This was one of the most beautiful moments on my exchange.
More to come... I'll be sure to post soon!
Showing posts with label thoughts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label thoughts. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Monday, January 5, 2009
Whats New!? Feliz Año Nuevo
Ok so lets start with my fellings about the new year: I remember Blythe telling me last year that 2008 would be a good year. I think that 2008 was actually a great year, it seems like this planet may be starting the turn around, I feel like 2009 will be better, this is just an exponential growth, as more and more people begin to change their way of thinking, slowly, the force is growing. 2009 is going to be an even bigger change, it is the time to start looking to ourselves, we, the common people have the answers and the power to change.
As far as my feelings go... I feel as if life is putting me in this situation to challenge me. I have never felt so assaulted on all levels in my life, it is really almost too much. But I am calm in the midst of the swirling chaos of my situation. I have been here long enough to really have my decisions about what is up, I have made so many changes as I mentioned in my other post. I think that I'm going to place my creative energy in Capoiera and Breakdancing, I think I might look into a way of getting some of the music that I lost and a new Ipod. I feel the loss, really, that music was something to do in all of the time that is just nothing. But in any avent everything really is good. The honest truth is that I've been looking at everything from the perspective of learning, it is just that I'm frustrated at how the dice were rolled. I will come out of this year completely different, I just want to come out with a positive change that will help me in whatever path that I choose to take. The city for me has become a completely new form of energy to work with, the energy here is just... hard, cold, and hateful. I think that just living in the city has had an irreversible affect. I said this to ben "I came to Ecuador high on life... and now I've become completely serious" The simple facts are that Ashland is such a different place than the rest of the world. I came to Ecuador to learn and that is what I'm doing... so I can't complain. Life is Good, just difficult... and without sleep... that is just nuts, I'm going to be sleeping all summer.
As far as my feelings go... I feel as if life is putting me in this situation to challenge me. I have never felt so assaulted on all levels in my life, it is really almost too much. But I am calm in the midst of the swirling chaos of my situation. I have been here long enough to really have my decisions about what is up, I have made so many changes as I mentioned in my other post. I think that I'm going to place my creative energy in Capoiera and Breakdancing, I think I might look into a way of getting some of the music that I lost and a new Ipod. I feel the loss, really, that music was something to do in all of the time that is just nothing. But in any avent everything really is good. The honest truth is that I've been looking at everything from the perspective of learning, it is just that I'm frustrated at how the dice were rolled. I will come out of this year completely different, I just want to come out with a positive change that will help me in whatever path that I choose to take. The city for me has become a completely new form of energy to work with, the energy here is just... hard, cold, and hateful. I think that just living in the city has had an irreversible affect. I said this to ben "I came to Ecuador high on life... and now I've become completely serious" The simple facts are that Ashland is such a different place than the rest of the world. I came to Ecuador to learn and that is what I'm doing... so I can't complain. Life is Good, just difficult... and without sleep... that is just nuts, I'm going to be sleeping all summer.
Monday, December 22, 2008
Christmas Eve Thoughts
Warning! This post will consist of a series of rambles that I will continue until I'm tired.
Lets see, I've been sad this week... just becuase Christmas here thus far has beed a kind of let down. But I'm happy right now becuase this sadness was never bad, it was just a thoughtful profound feeling that got me thinking this week. I feel weird that the only presents under the christmas tree are mine to my family and that my mom told me that we would do the gift giving on the 28th.
I'm amazed at how thankful I am right now. I felt like something was wrong in my life after my birthday passed, I just had a weird feeling that life was passing me by and that there was something missing in my choices. I've passed this and have matured a lot in these last weeks. I had been creating walls that were closing in my perspective, I was pushing myself in some areas where I shuld have been taking it slow and setting myself up in situations that weren't healthy for anyone around me.
I have changed, my life here has become so different. Image the person that I was before i left and wipe it out of your memory, I'm not sure how to describe what went down since I've been here but I'm not the same at all. It has all been responses to my new situation and none of it was on purpose. Living in a new family, city, sitting in busses all day, etc. I actually was calculating it one day in the bus. If I'm here for 300 days I will have spent more than 20 days in a bus. This a rough estimate cansidering weekends and vacations... but I'm always on a bus. Up to three hours a day, and then some days I'll get home and my parents will invite me to do some errand, which is of course in car and bus and my day is just being lost. I am still the same in many respects, but perspectives have changed, the soul remains the same as everything else around it is creating a dance of the stimulouses that we recieve from outside. I have become a piece of clay that can be molded day in and day out but I will never change from being clay. This expirience has taught me so much, I just want to fly... in a literal and abstract sense... I havve learned so much here, and I have so many ideas, many that I had before I came to ecuador, but they have become obscured or morphed. Right now I just want to breathe in the enery of the universe and become the best being that I can be, to do this I must work on opening up my soul and eliminating my prejudices and my ideas that have no positive meaning in my life and neither in the lives of those who I'm interacting with. I feel like school and much of the life in the city has begun to close many of my earlier receptors to life, and at the same time has opened new doors that I thought could never be opened.
Today I recieved a call from the president of my rotract club to see I'f I wanted to go and give bags of candy to poor kids in a population in The Valley of Chillos, about a half hour from my house. I jumped on it because I was just talking to my sister about how I needed to do something today. She went with my mom to work at my moms shop in a shopping center in a poor part of quito, she is there now, her cellular was stolen today too, I don't know the details becuase my cell phone broke today too. I met up wit my clubs president who coincedentially actually went to SOU for a year two years ago. So I actually have some one to talk with about the CO-OP, and all of the other cool places in Ashland. We met up with two other guys from Roteract. We drove into this little village where all the women were dressed tradionally and all the houses were concrete rectangles and the community building doubles as a school. We walked into the place to find the kids practicing a presentation for their holiday program. We were t obe a part of the program, in the building were about 25 kids and their mothers. We started off by giving a christams message. I talked about family and how important it is especially duringg christmas. After we talked the kids did a couple of dances and games, we handed out the bags of candy and a couple was there with more bags of candies to give out to the kids. Some kids were overjoyed, these were probably the only presents that they would be getting for christmas. At this time of year there are kids out in the streets that ask for money or christmas gifts. We played a couple of games and did the Tomato dance, which is a dance between two people with a tomato pressed between them on their foreheads. The last team with the tomato wins, it was pretty funny. I actually didn't play because I was too tall. But I cheered on the teams. This expireince really put everything in perspective, how much I appreciate what I have in the states and all that goes with it. I love my life!
We are all in search of fufilment and I am finding what is most rewarding in my life these are the things I will follow, my dreams will carry me on when I'm down becuase I have recieved my answer. My path is a good one, there are some tall mountains and strong rivers but I must keep on walking this path, for on this path I will become the best that I can be... a human being in the fullest sense.
We can all rise to a level of conscience that will eliminate the problems in the world, it all starts with the individual, when the individual has reached ones potential and is ready, one will pass the level of life in the individual sense and begin to see the world as a huge interconected being. We are all one, part of what has put us here is in all of us. We are a part of the one and at the same time are the one. We are beginning to move into a whole new level of thought on planet earth.... I lost my train of thought becuase my sister came home sad about her cell phone, but in my philosophical state I talked her through it and told her just look at where she is in life and how much of difference the cell phone will make. So it is all good.
So, I think that I have lost the flow that i had so I'm going to change and keep on going... wee... I'm sure you are having fun reading this. I did a secret santa with my class and with some rotary exchange students! I gave a shirt to a kid in my class and got a cool ecuadorian shirt. And with the rotary kids I got a shirt too! I'm stoked to have gotten things that I'll be wearing when I get back!
Life is good, I think that there is hope in the world and that we are growing as a planet of real dilinquents... after all that we have done we can still fix it. I want to wish everyone a merry, jolly and thoughtful christmas. Lets spend this time with family and be thankful to all that we have and thoughtful of those who don't! I will do my part and we can make an agreement to all work together. I love you! and am so grateful that you are reading my blog!!! YOU ROCK!
La Paz es el Camino y el amor la Manera!
Lets see, I've been sad this week... just becuase Christmas here thus far has beed a kind of let down. But I'm happy right now becuase this sadness was never bad, it was just a thoughtful profound feeling that got me thinking this week. I feel weird that the only presents under the christmas tree are mine to my family and that my mom told me that we would do the gift giving on the 28th.
I'm amazed at how thankful I am right now. I felt like something was wrong in my life after my birthday passed, I just had a weird feeling that life was passing me by and that there was something missing in my choices. I've passed this and have matured a lot in these last weeks. I had been creating walls that were closing in my perspective, I was pushing myself in some areas where I shuld have been taking it slow and setting myself up in situations that weren't healthy for anyone around me.
I have changed, my life here has become so different. Image the person that I was before i left and wipe it out of your memory, I'm not sure how to describe what went down since I've been here but I'm not the same at all. It has all been responses to my new situation and none of it was on purpose. Living in a new family, city, sitting in busses all day, etc. I actually was calculating it one day in the bus. If I'm here for 300 days I will have spent more than 20 days in a bus. This a rough estimate cansidering weekends and vacations... but I'm always on a bus. Up to three hours a day, and then some days I'll get home and my parents will invite me to do some errand, which is of course in car and bus and my day is just being lost. I am still the same in many respects, but perspectives have changed, the soul remains the same as everything else around it is creating a dance of the stimulouses that we recieve from outside. I have become a piece of clay that can be molded day in and day out but I will never change from being clay. This expirience has taught me so much, I just want to fly... in a literal and abstract sense... I havve learned so much here, and I have so many ideas, many that I had before I came to ecuador, but they have become obscured or morphed. Right now I just want to breathe in the enery of the universe and become the best being that I can be, to do this I must work on opening up my soul and eliminating my prejudices and my ideas that have no positive meaning in my life and neither in the lives of those who I'm interacting with. I feel like school and much of the life in the city has begun to close many of my earlier receptors to life, and at the same time has opened new doors that I thought could never be opened.
Today I recieved a call from the president of my rotract club to see I'f I wanted to go and give bags of candy to poor kids in a population in The Valley of Chillos, about a half hour from my house. I jumped on it because I was just talking to my sister about how I needed to do something today. She went with my mom to work at my moms shop in a shopping center in a poor part of quito, she is there now, her cellular was stolen today too, I don't know the details becuase my cell phone broke today too. I met up wit my clubs president who coincedentially actually went to SOU for a year two years ago. So I actually have some one to talk with about the CO-OP, and all of the other cool places in Ashland. We met up with two other guys from Roteract. We drove into this little village where all the women were dressed tradionally and all the houses were concrete rectangles and the community building doubles as a school. We walked into the place to find the kids practicing a presentation for their holiday program. We were t obe a part of the program, in the building were about 25 kids and their mothers. We started off by giving a christams message. I talked about family and how important it is especially duringg christmas. After we talked the kids did a couple of dances and games, we handed out the bags of candy and a couple was there with more bags of candies to give out to the kids. Some kids were overjoyed, these were probably the only presents that they would be getting for christmas. At this time of year there are kids out in the streets that ask for money or christmas gifts. We played a couple of games and did the Tomato dance, which is a dance between two people with a tomato pressed between them on their foreheads. The last team with the tomato wins, it was pretty funny. I actually didn't play because I was too tall. But I cheered on the teams. This expireince really put everything in perspective, how much I appreciate what I have in the states and all that goes with it. I love my life!
We are all in search of fufilment and I am finding what is most rewarding in my life these are the things I will follow, my dreams will carry me on when I'm down becuase I have recieved my answer. My path is a good one, there are some tall mountains and strong rivers but I must keep on walking this path, for on this path I will become the best that I can be... a human being in the fullest sense.
We can all rise to a level of conscience that will eliminate the problems in the world, it all starts with the individual, when the individual has reached ones potential and is ready, one will pass the level of life in the individual sense and begin to see the world as a huge interconected being. We are all one, part of what has put us here is in all of us. We are a part of the one and at the same time are the one. We are beginning to move into a whole new level of thought on planet earth.... I lost my train of thought becuase my sister came home sad about her cell phone, but in my philosophical state I talked her through it and told her just look at where she is in life and how much of difference the cell phone will make. So it is all good.
So, I think that I have lost the flow that i had so I'm going to change and keep on going... wee... I'm sure you are having fun reading this. I did a secret santa with my class and with some rotary exchange students! I gave a shirt to a kid in my class and got a cool ecuadorian shirt. And with the rotary kids I got a shirt too! I'm stoked to have gotten things that I'll be wearing when I get back!
Life is good, I think that there is hope in the world and that we are growing as a planet of real dilinquents... after all that we have done we can still fix it. I want to wish everyone a merry, jolly and thoughtful christmas. Lets spend this time with family and be thankful to all that we have and thoughtful of those who don't! I will do my part and we can make an agreement to all work together. I love you! and am so grateful that you are reading my blog!!! YOU ROCK!
La Paz es el Camino y el amor la Manera!
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Obama...
I had kept my nose out of the USA's political situation really well. I decided that I didn't want to be a part of something that was so far away. I essentailly forgot about it. It was the day before the elections when I was talking with my dad that I learned that the elections were going to be held the next day. It was the first time that I treally started to think about what was happening in the US. I have to say that after seeing eight years of Bush in office and AP US History I had a pretty pessimistic view of the worlds politics. It seemed as if the world really wasn't going to change its situation soon. But Obama won! My sister told me the next morning and I was kinda like cool!... whatever. It wasn't until this last sunday as I was watching the morning news that I realized what had happened in the US. There is a black man in the White House... I will repeat... White House. Our nation was built using the labor of slaves... after their emancipation there was Segregation... With Martin Luther King Segregation fell, but racism has and is a real part of the US today. Finally the tables have been turned. There is a black man in office, not just any man, he is charismatic and vocal. He has a mandate for change by the people of the US and he has the house and senate on his side. As I watched the news I actually was crying, I didn't know how to express my emotions. The people here are happy but it really isn't a big deal to them. I feel as if with this election the world is beginning to change. The conciousness of our planet is rising, this change will begin to spread. For good or bad the influence of the US is global. This mandate for change has touched billions of peopple. We are on a path for a better world. I am honestly beginning to feel optimistic about the situation... I just hope that my feelings are true and that my hope is safe in the hands of one man!
Saturday, November 8, 2008
Heads Up!
Ok,so I want to thank my fiend Adam for all his hard work... he is a prolific writer, I believe that that is what he wants to do as a profesion. We have become really good friends and pass lots of time together. I want to recomend that people who are reading my blog and are looking for some really funny writing about our adventures should look there. He seems to find more time to write and thus everyone should check it out. There are all of our adventures written with great detail and very little mis-spellings so when you show up at my blog and it hasn't been updated for a week check out his blog! Also he is a great photographer so another reason to read his blog!
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Anger!!!???¡¡¡¿¿¿
Ok, so whoever you are who scammed my grandparents... I have feeling that you got the info from my blog! And I feel really bad... If you read this I hope that you have thought a little bit about what you did... you had better have had a damn good reason to scam my grandparents. Becuase they have worked hard to create a good life for them, their children and their grandchildren... You are nothing but scum... hopefully you will never do this again, because it is completely wrong to trick people who are only thinking about helping and turning it around and steal their money. Whatever your reasons... plesse look for another way to get money. You could come to Ecuador and juggle in the streets for example... you could take the job of one of the kids in the street and pass the money along to him so that he could go to school... there are greateer things in life... ojala tú vas a cambiar tú manera de vida... proximo vez pensa de los situaciones alrededor tú... hay un vida más de tú.
Saturday, October 25, 2008
The CITY
I want to share this change in me but I really am having problems with it. I am become harder, colder and more distant from life. The city really changes a person. I have never spent this much time in a city before and there is a type of energy here that is not the same as in a town. It is a black cloud that is more profound than the smog... it sucks the energy of creativity, love and compasion from the hearts of people. I really am not sure if it is just because I have always grown up in a small town, but I really feel this. I am doing a good job of keeping a hold of my heart. But it is slipping at about the same rate as my english... jeje( mi ingles es peor todos los dias, realmente estoy haciendo lo mismo faltas de los estudiantes en mi clase). This last week I walked right by an old toothless woman sitting on the sidewalk, I had just bought pizza and she asked me for some of it. But I walked right by her. Right after I realized what I had done, so when I got to my house with my sister I turned around and bought her a piece of pizza. But I really am realizing that I can see theings that used to disgust me and now there is no feeling... this is something really sad for me. I am crying becuase I really don't know how this is happening, but it is. All that I can do is be more conscious of my thoughts and begin to reopen my heart to the city and find my way of passing through it without contacting this energy. But I have just found something perfect for me. I am in a special program in school and in the year all the kids need 150 hours of community service. And I am doing a forestation project. In Ashland I used to work for Blythe and Larry in the Greensprings, it was my time to be thoughtful, gather my thoughts and recuperate my energy in the purest sense, in Nature. So right now I am doing something kinda the same. Except that we are planting trees in an area were there never were any, but the grasses there are non-native and the trees are native... and a lot better than the eucalyptus trees which are everywhere. The soil there is perfect, I have never seen so many worms in natural soil(I'm writing with dirt under my nails!!!). I love it, the place is south of Quito on a mountain side, near a highway and a paragliding place, so I wtched people flying over me. I love getting my hands dirty, doing some work and contemplating my feelings as I work to better the world! This is one thing that I have been looking for here! Also the woman who runs the program knows Mount Shasta, she is big into metaphysics and all that cool stuff. There are small lizards in the grass and I have yet to catch one... I loved coming home with dirt on my jeans, blister and dirty hands!
Thursday, October 9, 2008
Feliz Cumpleaños Nani
Happy Birthday Nani!!!!!!!!!!!!!¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡
I've lucked out again! I don't have school tomorrow or Saturday. So my family and I are going to Baños and Riobamba. I'm going to get to see the tallest mountain in Ecuador! It should be really awesome.
I have been deathly busy. One thing that has really changed is my ability to sleep. For the first time in years I can take naps! It used to be impossible, but now it is a breeze. Roday I slept for two and a half hours ¡Que Rico! Essentially the point is is that I am tired all of the time... so that is just whats up on this end!
If you go to AHS and you read this, be thankful to be in a small town where it is like 10 or 20 minutes to school and you get up at 7:00. When I come back every day is going to be like a weekend!
I've lucked out again! I don't have school tomorrow or Saturday. So my family and I are going to Baños and Riobamba. I'm going to get to see the tallest mountain in Ecuador! It should be really awesome.
I have been deathly busy. One thing that has really changed is my ability to sleep. For the first time in years I can take naps! It used to be impossible, but now it is a breeze. Roday I slept for two and a half hours ¡Que Rico! Essentially the point is is that I am tired all of the time... so that is just whats up on this end!
If you go to AHS and you read this, be thankful to be in a small town where it is like 10 or 20 minutes to school and you get up at 7:00. When I come back every day is going to be like a weekend!
Friday, September 19, 2008
Dreams
I have had so many weird dreams while I've been in Ecuador, probably just about everyone has been in one or more dream. They all have to do with my friends and family, it seems as though since, I never have any time to think during the day that I have begun to have adventures with my friends and family in my dreams. One dream really stands out, but it is about two weeks old.
I woke up from sleeping and it was a normal day. But my family was talking to me and I didn't understand them, it was really weird to me. My family cept on asking me questions that didn't make any sense and I was really unerved. Then my dream jumped to the other exchange students who were my friends from ashland not from around the world. There Spanish was perfect, I asked them what was up and they said that there was only two weeks left in the exchange and that everyone had just gotten back from the galapagos. I was really dumbfounded because I didn't remember any of this. I remmeber thinking that if it was a dream than I would know it because this was way to real. So I asked people questions but all of them spoke really fast so I didn't really understand to much. I was really angery for a little while, I yelled and was really unhappy becuase I had lived through my exchange but could only remember the first two weeks. I am proud to say that after that my response was, oh well, at least I'll get four weeks of exchange and all was well.
I have been having dreams night after night in which it is totally real for me. It is really cool and interesting because in Ashland I don't remember my dreams.
I woke up from sleeping and it was a normal day. But my family was talking to me and I didn't understand them, it was really weird to me. My family cept on asking me questions that didn't make any sense and I was really unerved. Then my dream jumped to the other exchange students who were my friends from ashland not from around the world. There Spanish was perfect, I asked them what was up and they said that there was only two weeks left in the exchange and that everyone had just gotten back from the galapagos. I was really dumbfounded because I didn't remember any of this. I remmeber thinking that if it was a dream than I would know it because this was way to real. So I asked people questions but all of them spoke really fast so I didn't really understand to much. I was really angery for a little while, I yelled and was really unhappy becuase I had lived through my exchange but could only remember the first two weeks. I am proud to say that after that my response was, oh well, at least I'll get four weeks of exchange and all was well.
I have been having dreams night after night in which it is totally real for me. It is really cool and interesting because in Ashland I don't remember my dreams.
Friday, August 29, 2008
First Impressions
At about Nine Fifteen tonight, I will have been in Ecuador for one week. My first impressions have been really interesting. I have done a good job adapting to my new culture, I feel like every moment is another chance to learn more. I love the food here, my mom is an awesome cook, just like the one I left behind. Here we eat a lot of rice, bread, corn, meat, and soup. I would say that I eat rice, soup and meat twice a day, for lunch and dinner.
My Family is loving and caring, from what I have seen they are an average upper middle class family. They own a car and have a rental house, and both of my parents have steady jobs. My house is small, it shares about an acre of land with ten other houses. It is small but I like it. My family has done a great job of helping me learn the Ecuadorian way of things. I would say that my families first impression of me is of a wild, active teenager who eats tons and wants to try and do everything. The only problem we have had is that my mom thinks I'm not eating enough, because when I first got to Ecuador I ate everything in the house for two days. She saaid to me that I need to eat more. The other problem is that the neighbor next door has been spying on me. My mom said that she talked with another neighbor who saw her. I feel totally comfortable with my family, they are great. It is weird how easy it was for me to change families. I really feel as if I have two families right now. I have already told them that I don't want to change houses and they have said they don't want me to change families also.
The elevation hasn't bothered me much, I feel like it has been harder to do everything but I guess I just need to work harder and get stronger.
I kinda just want to rant for a little while because who knows what will come out... Right now I am sitting on my bed in my shared room with my brother, he is on the phone with his girlfriend who he is leaving in eight days for Germany, I will miss him too. My mom has just left for her rotary meeting, my dad and sister are trying to figure out what clothes she should bring on our trip to Portoviejo. My sister and I are getting on an overnight bus to Portoviejo for a roteract conference. It is like Rotary except for young people.... Actually just then I was fighting with my sister, I have begun practicing Capoeira, a brazilian martial art, with her. I am really excited to see the coast of Ecuador. My family is perfect, I have a sister in many of my clases, an older sister who is really cool and two loving parents. A brother also but he leaves for Germany very soon. I am really blessed to have two great families one in Ashland sending me there love and another here in Ecuador. I don't think many exchange astudents get such great families, mine ius PERFECT for me. I have been doing my best to adapt to their rules, for example no earings, but whatever, it is a small thing. My spanish is at the very anoying place where I can speak more than understand. I love speaking spanish and I guess that is why, I have no fear of trying and the language just flows. But my comprehension is moving along slower. But in due time my Spanish will improve. I have the best Spanish out of the three exchange students in my club, kinda suprising since my spanish is very poor. The wgood thing is that my pronunciation is great. My brother has said that in passing you can{t really tell, especially when I wear my sunglasses. The climate here is very different, it is like there are four seasons in one day. It rains every day to some extent, I have seen hail, thunderstorms and cloudless skies all in the same day. The weather is perfect for me, when the people here say it is cold, I say it's perfect. I am learning how to ride and use the buses which are the primary form of transportation for most people. They are prone to theft, my brother for example has had his cellphone stolen four times on the buses. There is one thing that I find very difficult, there is lots of child labor, there are many kids in the streets shinning shoes and selling candy and cigaretts. My brother says that it is something that needs to change and I agree, but the problem is that there are lots of poor families who need the money so they sell their childs labor to a boss who has them vend things. It is very sad for me to see the children out on the street trying to help their families and then have to turn them down when they offer me gum.
I guess I have lost my wind after writing about that, it really makes me realize just how well off I am, there is a small percentage of people in the world who have the time to create their own reality. I strongly believe that we can do anything we put our minds to, but it is impossible when your whole life is just the necesities of life, food, water, shelter, etc.
I guess that I would just like to say that if you are reading this please take a moment to be grateful to all we have in life, because there is always someone with less. Life is precious, we have the ability to make a difference, so please try...
My Family is loving and caring, from what I have seen they are an average upper middle class family. They own a car and have a rental house, and both of my parents have steady jobs. My house is small, it shares about an acre of land with ten other houses. It is small but I like it. My family has done a great job of helping me learn the Ecuadorian way of things. I would say that my families first impression of me is of a wild, active teenager who eats tons and wants to try and do everything. The only problem we have had is that my mom thinks I'm not eating enough, because when I first got to Ecuador I ate everything in the house for two days. She saaid to me that I need to eat more. The other problem is that the neighbor next door has been spying on me. My mom said that she talked with another neighbor who saw her. I feel totally comfortable with my family, they are great. It is weird how easy it was for me to change families. I really feel as if I have two families right now. I have already told them that I don't want to change houses and they have said they don't want me to change families also.
The elevation hasn't bothered me much, I feel like it has been harder to do everything but I guess I just need to work harder and get stronger.
I kinda just want to rant for a little while because who knows what will come out... Right now I am sitting on my bed in my shared room with my brother, he is on the phone with his girlfriend who he is leaving in eight days for Germany, I will miss him too. My mom has just left for her rotary meeting, my dad and sister are trying to figure out what clothes she should bring on our trip to Portoviejo. My sister and I are getting on an overnight bus to Portoviejo for a roteract conference. It is like Rotary except for young people.... Actually just then I was fighting with my sister, I have begun practicing Capoeira, a brazilian martial art, with her. I am really excited to see the coast of Ecuador. My family is perfect, I have a sister in many of my clases, an older sister who is really cool and two loving parents. A brother also but he leaves for Germany very soon. I am really blessed to have two great families one in Ashland sending me there love and another here in Ecuador. I don't think many exchange astudents get such great families, mine ius PERFECT for me. I have been doing my best to adapt to their rules, for example no earings, but whatever, it is a small thing. My spanish is at the very anoying place where I can speak more than understand. I love speaking spanish and I guess that is why, I have no fear of trying and the language just flows. But my comprehension is moving along slower. But in due time my Spanish will improve. I have the best Spanish out of the three exchange students in my club, kinda suprising since my spanish is very poor. The wgood thing is that my pronunciation is great. My brother has said that in passing you can{t really tell, especially when I wear my sunglasses. The climate here is very different, it is like there are four seasons in one day. It rains every day to some extent, I have seen hail, thunderstorms and cloudless skies all in the same day. The weather is perfect for me, when the people here say it is cold, I say it's perfect. I am learning how to ride and use the buses which are the primary form of transportation for most people. They are prone to theft, my brother for example has had his cellphone stolen four times on the buses. There is one thing that I find very difficult, there is lots of child labor, there are many kids in the streets shinning shoes and selling candy and cigaretts. My brother says that it is something that needs to change and I agree, but the problem is that there are lots of poor families who need the money so they sell their childs labor to a boss who has them vend things. It is very sad for me to see the children out on the street trying to help their families and then have to turn them down when they offer me gum.
I guess I have lost my wind after writing about that, it really makes me realize just how well off I am, there is a small percentage of people in the world who have the time to create their own reality. I strongly believe that we can do anything we put our minds to, but it is impossible when your whole life is just the necesities of life, food, water, shelter, etc.
I guess that I would just like to say that if you are reading this please take a moment to be grateful to all we have in life, because there is always someone with less. Life is precious, we have the ability to make a difference, so please try...
Saturday, August 16, 2008
Ashland is home
I have come to the point at which I am fully ready to embark on my adventure. All of my tears have been shed in a combination of joy and sorrow. It is amazing to feel two very different conflicting emotions at once. I am very sad to leave everyone in Ashland. I love Ashland and all my connections here. I haven't even been away for more than three weeks at a time. But I am ecstatic, my whole life feels as if it has been culminating to this point. Now I am ready to make the biggest positive difference I have ever made. I want to say thanks again to everyone who has been a part of my life (this will probably come up a lot since I am forever grateful). My life has been so blessed, to everyone: I love you and I will miss your physical presence in my life.
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