Re-Entry
Greetings!
Please excuse my long absence, but I have been super busy. Allow me to explain.
-When we first arrived the airline lost our bags. If you adjust the pain-in-the-butt meter to allow for the ¨Ecuadorian Effect¨you arrive somewhere in the ballpark of a 10 day impossible to remove splinter or having to do the DMV for two consecutive days.
-One of the volunteers working in my city relocated to a different site for personal reasons and to fill a need left by a volunteer who ¨ET´d¨ (PS there is no way that I am the only person who finds this terminology a little funny. Not only does the person share the outcast label of not being able to hack it in Ecuador, but they also get named after a Someone with extremely long glowing fingers. Tough Break). Since the volunteer left our site with almost no notice, it has been my job (and Ally´s-PS #2 a couple people have asked me about Ally. Yes she lives here and works here and I love her.-If you are interested in Ally´s take on life here please access her blog at www.allyinecuador.blogspot.com) to completely compensate for her absence. That means taking on a whole new crop of students, abandoning some of my older students, and teaching four extra classes per week. I am sure that as soon as I get my feet under me I will be able to resume normal life, but the abruptness of the change has called for some extra devotion to non-blogging, non-exercising, and non-reflecting exercises. Please excuse my absence.
Anyway returning to Ecuador one main thought has been very clear to me. There is a weird paranoia that exists constantly. In the words of old Buffalo Springfield:¨Paranoia strikes deep and into your heart it will creep.¨Couldn´t have related a more true feeling. Living in Ecuador immediately creates a seed of paranoia that slowly grows over time. However since I was home for such a short time, I had acrewed four months of paranoia, left it behind completely in the US, only to return to four months worth the minute I set foot on Ecuadorian soil. I guess I was carrying it along with me while home without even realizing it.
The paranoia, as I am calling it, is most simply that you do not trust a single person that you meet while you are down here. Shopkeepers, taxi drivers, even friends are all subject to these sentiments because so few people actually prove you wrong. For example, the first cab we tried to grab at the airport to our hotel embarked us on our conversation as such:
-8 dollars please.
-No I am sorry miss that price during the day is 2.50. Thus the maximum price should be 5 dollars maximum (nightime prices are double)
-That will be six dollars please.
-(Did you really just say that) Mam, pardon me I dont mean to be rude, but the fair price is 5 dollars.
-5 dollars please.
Awesome. The next cab we tried to grab pretended he didn´t know the location of the most famous hotel in the city since we knew the correct price was 1 dollar. Thus with encounters like these you immediately are on your guard against everyone. Being home reminded me that you could actually trust people to help you out according to fair standards.
In light of all of this I had an epiphany. Since part of our job here is to create exciting lessons that apply the English language to different realistic situations, I have come up with a firm two week unit.
CUSTOMER SERVICE!! That´s right. About four weeks from now my students and I will all embark on a English Langauge excursion that examines the intricacies of being nice to people, not screwing people over who don´t know better, and going the extra mile when that´s your job!
I digress. The point is that I wonder if travelers or minorities in the states have similar sentiments of paranoia at all times. My guess is probably, but there is now way that it could amount to the same degree. The United States is filled with agreements of fairness such as price tags, taxi meters, receipts, street signs, well-labeled maps, etc. So many of the things we take for granted in the States actually give us a strong sense of comfort and relaxation that allows us to actually trust people around us.
Nevertheless, at the beginning of our entire experience here, our directors told us about the ¨cultural adjustment curve,¨which shows the emotional experience someone has adjusting to a new cultural environment. It starts with a high of ¨YIPPEE everything costs less than two dollars,¨drops slightly to ¨How come we have to shower with cold water,¨rises slightly to ¨Well at least the food is cheap and I am learning just so darn much!,¨and then drops. Severely. Something along the lines of, ¨Wow I dont trust a single soul in this country. I might as well crawl into my room and draw on my forehead.¨
It´s at this point that you truly hate your decision. However just around the corner is the highest high of all. It´s the point where you actually accept and love your surroundings. You feel comfortable and excited as you start to become a part of a new life.
According to past volunteers this occurs after month 5, which for me is just around the corner.
Stay tuned. Also look forward to an entry about Mindo maybe this Friday. Ally and I went there to try to get some R and R in light of our paranoia and had a blast.
Abrazos.
Kanedog
Please excuse my long absence, but I have been super busy. Allow me to explain.
-When we first arrived the airline lost our bags. If you adjust the pain-in-the-butt meter to allow for the ¨Ecuadorian Effect¨you arrive somewhere in the ballpark of a 10 day impossible to remove splinter or having to do the DMV for two consecutive days.
-One of the volunteers working in my city relocated to a different site for personal reasons and to fill a need left by a volunteer who ¨ET´d¨ (PS there is no way that I am the only person who finds this terminology a little funny. Not only does the person share the outcast label of not being able to hack it in Ecuador, but they also get named after a Someone with extremely long glowing fingers. Tough Break). Since the volunteer left our site with almost no notice, it has been my job (and Ally´s-PS #2 a couple people have asked me about Ally. Yes she lives here and works here and I love her.-If you are interested in Ally´s take on life here please access her blog at www.allyinecuador.blogspot.com) to completely compensate for her absence. That means taking on a whole new crop of students, abandoning some of my older students, and teaching four extra classes per week. I am sure that as soon as I get my feet under me I will be able to resume normal life, but the abruptness of the change has called for some extra devotion to non-blogging, non-exercising, and non-reflecting exercises. Please excuse my absence.
Anyway returning to Ecuador one main thought has been very clear to me. There is a weird paranoia that exists constantly. In the words of old Buffalo Springfield:¨Paranoia strikes deep and into your heart it will creep.¨Couldn´t have related a more true feeling. Living in Ecuador immediately creates a seed of paranoia that slowly grows over time. However since I was home for such a short time, I had acrewed four months of paranoia, left it behind completely in the US, only to return to four months worth the minute I set foot on Ecuadorian soil. I guess I was carrying it along with me while home without even realizing it.
The paranoia, as I am calling it, is most simply that you do not trust a single person that you meet while you are down here. Shopkeepers, taxi drivers, even friends are all subject to these sentiments because so few people actually prove you wrong. For example, the first cab we tried to grab at the airport to our hotel embarked us on our conversation as such:
-8 dollars please.
-No I am sorry miss that price during the day is 2.50. Thus the maximum price should be 5 dollars maximum (nightime prices are double)
-That will be six dollars please.
-(Did you really just say that) Mam, pardon me I dont mean to be rude, but the fair price is 5 dollars.
-5 dollars please.
Awesome. The next cab we tried to grab pretended he didn´t know the location of the most famous hotel in the city since we knew the correct price was 1 dollar. Thus with encounters like these you immediately are on your guard against everyone. Being home reminded me that you could actually trust people to help you out according to fair standards.
In light of all of this I had an epiphany. Since part of our job here is to create exciting lessons that apply the English language to different realistic situations, I have come up with a firm two week unit.
CUSTOMER SERVICE!! That´s right. About four weeks from now my students and I will all embark on a English Langauge excursion that examines the intricacies of being nice to people, not screwing people over who don´t know better, and going the extra mile when that´s your job!
I digress. The point is that I wonder if travelers or minorities in the states have similar sentiments of paranoia at all times. My guess is probably, but there is now way that it could amount to the same degree. The United States is filled with agreements of fairness such as price tags, taxi meters, receipts, street signs, well-labeled maps, etc. So many of the things we take for granted in the States actually give us a strong sense of comfort and relaxation that allows us to actually trust people around us.
Nevertheless, at the beginning of our entire experience here, our directors told us about the ¨cultural adjustment curve,¨which shows the emotional experience someone has adjusting to a new cultural environment. It starts with a high of ¨YIPPEE everything costs less than two dollars,¨drops slightly to ¨How come we have to shower with cold water,¨rises slightly to ¨Well at least the food is cheap and I am learning just so darn much!,¨and then drops. Severely. Something along the lines of, ¨Wow I dont trust a single soul in this country. I might as well crawl into my room and draw on my forehead.¨
It´s at this point that you truly hate your decision. However just around the corner is the highest high of all. It´s the point where you actually accept and love your surroundings. You feel comfortable and excited as you start to become a part of a new life.
According to past volunteers this occurs after month 5, which for me is just around the corner.
Stay tuned. Also look forward to an entry about Mindo maybe this Friday. Ally and I went there to try to get some R and R in light of our paranoia and had a blast.
Abrazos.
Kanedog
posted by ecuadortraveler at 10:43 AM
2 Comments:
What's so bad about telling people one thing and doing something else to feather your own nest?
ken lay
Three Words.
Ides of March.
-Brute
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