Vueltas
When you arrive in Ecuador you inevitably hear a slew of people talking about ¨Vamos a dar una vuelta.¨Literally translated it means, ¨Let´s go to do a turn,¨but it actually means, ¨Let´s go out and do something.¨
The greatest thing about dar-ing vueltas is that you never know what you actually are going to do. One time my host family in Quito asked me if I wanted to Dar a vuelta at about 3 in the afternoon. We got back at about 2 in the morning. You really just never know.
The daring vuelta phenomenom has created for me in inability to say no when someone asks me if I want to do something. Thus when one of my Ecuadorian friends asked me if I wanted to go visit her church with her on Wednesday night, I couldn´t refuse. With unlimited possibillites awaiting for me and nothing really better to do, I signed up for the church excursion excited about what lay ahead of me.
Then my Ecuadorian friend asked me if I had a Bible. You can imagine the shock when I told her that no, I don´t have a bible, but she later said it was OK and that I could come with her anyway. Nevertheless I was slightly puzzled. What church doesn´t have their own Bibles? That was Monday.
The next day I saw her was Tuesday. At that juncture she informed me that her church was home to people touched by God that could read futures. I became more intrigued and slightly scared, but then again you cannot back out on an invitation if you have already committed so I pressed on, ready to enter the church on Wednesday night.
[Please excuse the above paragraphs. I feel like I am not making that much sense. For those of you not following, a student invited me to go to church, I said yes, she told me it was a church with psychics, and I was slightly suprised.]
Back to the story. Last night my student and I hopped in a cab, picked up another student, and drove to the outskirts of town behind the supermarket. We hopped out of the cab and entered the church.
The church looked kind of like a gather of the Aitkin Lion´s club. There were plastic chairs everywhere and a blue banner ornated the walls. In the corner was a band made up of a woman with a tamborine and a man with a CD player. All throughout the room were important looking people with badges. In front of evertything, standing on a pulpit completely blocked from my view by a huge pillar, stood the preacher.
The preacher, according to my students, was from the coast of Colombia, which pretty much guarantees the Brad Pit from Snatch version of Spanish. Thus a sentence like ¨Jesus graced us with his presence and saved our sins Amen¨ sounds like, ¨JasdfneoianefnAMEN!¨As you might imagine I didn´t catch much of his sermon. However, it was the most intense sermon for the listeners I have ever seen. The reason everyone needed a bible is that in the midst of this sermon, the preacher occasionally shouts out passages from the bible and the whole congregation sprints to find the passage. The important people with badges scurry around the room trying to help people find the passages before the preacher skips on to the next one. I was clearly OUT of my league.
However, the woman behind me was an Olympically accalimed Bible page turner. She literally found the passages for me, my two Ecuadorian friends, and herself in like 6 seconds flat. It was awesome.
In the midst of the sermon everyone was instructed to stand up Amen. This was the one thing I understood out of the whole sermon. Thus we stood up and all broke into Spanish hymns. The CD player guy turned on the CD which resounded throughout the room with a stirring rendition of Big Band. The tamborine rattled away. I felt like we were all moving in slow motion at a formal mid weeklies dance. However I did manage to understand the lyrics to the hymn. It was basically, Jesus is here and you can pray for whatever you want because he will answer. After two renditions of the words I was able to belt out the final repetition to my liking.
The pastor finally stepped down and I though we were done, but OH-HO-HO fiction can be fun. Once the pastor stepped down everyone immediately filed into the four front pews. Once in the pews I watched in amazement as the important looking people with badges started grabbing people´s heads, shaking in extasy, only to lean down, cup their hand over a person´s ear and whisper furiously for five minutes straight. After the whispering they would rest their hand on the person´s head, say a quick AMEN, and yeah listo. I asked my friend what I was in for. She explained that these people were touched by the father and were going to prophesize my future. Only in Ecuador.
While I was sitting down the pastor approached me and asked me if I spoke Spanish. I was mildly uncomfortable with the whole scene because that´s what happens sometimes when everyone in a room is staring intently at you, and I pressed on. I stammered out that yes I spoke Spanish and wanted my reading in Spanish. Thinking back it might have been interesting to have my future told in English by an Ecuaorian, but at the time I wanted the authentic experience.
As I waited my turn I started to calm down. It absolutely outstanding how much quicker people accept you when you speak their language and well. They stopped staring and went along with their business. Thank god for Ernesto´s classes.
The girl who was going to read my future finally approached me. I had never met her a day in my life. She put her hands on my head started shaking and then my future was laid out before me. She spoke in machine gun Spanish, loud enough to be uncomfortable, but not so loud as to be unbearable. I was shocked at how much I understood. My Spanish really is getting to the point where I feel comfortable in any situation (besides Colombian people from the coast). Here´s an example of what she said:
¨Hello my son. I am your guardian and I am your protector. You will soon experience signifigant changes in your life but I will protect you. My son. My son. During these changes you will encounter signifigant obstacles but keep fighting. Keep pressing on my son. Keep fighting. You will also experience a period of sadness but keep fighting. You are doing excellent work you are a special person in my hear my son. You will also have to bear circumstances in which you will have very little money but money is not everything my son. Keep fighting keep struggling to achieve what you believe in and you will be successful. ¨
Holy guacamole right? This person has never met me in her life and managed to tell me that I was going to go through changes (I am switching jobs), that I was going to encoutner obstacles (Ecuador is about to go through some serious political turmoil-more on that on Monday or Tuesday), sadness ( I am going to miss the friends I have made in Ibarra a lot when I have to make all new friends), and that I wasn´t going to have any money (600 bucks a month is my salary). Unbelievable!!
Obviously what she said was vague and could apply to many people, but I was really impressed by how well she pegged me. Not saying that I am a convert, but it was defintely an interesting way to experience spirituality. While she was whispering in my ear her voice was all raspy and strange as well, almost like she was speaking from another world. Really a fascinating experience.
I guess you learn something everyday and that´s the true beauty of living in a forein country. Obviously in the states you can have new experiences, but they just aren´t as pronounced.
Off to enjoy some ceviche for lunch. Hope everyone else is well.
kane
The greatest thing about dar-ing vueltas is that you never know what you actually are going to do. One time my host family in Quito asked me if I wanted to Dar a vuelta at about 3 in the afternoon. We got back at about 2 in the morning. You really just never know.
The daring vuelta phenomenom has created for me in inability to say no when someone asks me if I want to do something. Thus when one of my Ecuadorian friends asked me if I wanted to go visit her church with her on Wednesday night, I couldn´t refuse. With unlimited possibillites awaiting for me and nothing really better to do, I signed up for the church excursion excited about what lay ahead of me.
Then my Ecuadorian friend asked me if I had a Bible. You can imagine the shock when I told her that no, I don´t have a bible, but she later said it was OK and that I could come with her anyway. Nevertheless I was slightly puzzled. What church doesn´t have their own Bibles? That was Monday.
The next day I saw her was Tuesday. At that juncture she informed me that her church was home to people touched by God that could read futures. I became more intrigued and slightly scared, but then again you cannot back out on an invitation if you have already committed so I pressed on, ready to enter the church on Wednesday night.
[Please excuse the above paragraphs. I feel like I am not making that much sense. For those of you not following, a student invited me to go to church, I said yes, she told me it was a church with psychics, and I was slightly suprised.]
Back to the story. Last night my student and I hopped in a cab, picked up another student, and drove to the outskirts of town behind the supermarket. We hopped out of the cab and entered the church.
The church looked kind of like a gather of the Aitkin Lion´s club. There were plastic chairs everywhere and a blue banner ornated the walls. In the corner was a band made up of a woman with a tamborine and a man with a CD player. All throughout the room were important looking people with badges. In front of evertything, standing on a pulpit completely blocked from my view by a huge pillar, stood the preacher.
The preacher, according to my students, was from the coast of Colombia, which pretty much guarantees the Brad Pit from Snatch version of Spanish. Thus a sentence like ¨Jesus graced us with his presence and saved our sins Amen¨ sounds like, ¨JasdfneoianefnAMEN!¨As you might imagine I didn´t catch much of his sermon. However, it was the most intense sermon for the listeners I have ever seen. The reason everyone needed a bible is that in the midst of this sermon, the preacher occasionally shouts out passages from the bible and the whole congregation sprints to find the passage. The important people with badges scurry around the room trying to help people find the passages before the preacher skips on to the next one. I was clearly OUT of my league.
However, the woman behind me was an Olympically accalimed Bible page turner. She literally found the passages for me, my two Ecuadorian friends, and herself in like 6 seconds flat. It was awesome.
In the midst of the sermon everyone was instructed to stand up Amen. This was the one thing I understood out of the whole sermon. Thus we stood up and all broke into Spanish hymns. The CD player guy turned on the CD which resounded throughout the room with a stirring rendition of Big Band. The tamborine rattled away. I felt like we were all moving in slow motion at a formal mid weeklies dance. However I did manage to understand the lyrics to the hymn. It was basically, Jesus is here and you can pray for whatever you want because he will answer. After two renditions of the words I was able to belt out the final repetition to my liking.
The pastor finally stepped down and I though we were done, but OH-HO-HO fiction can be fun. Once the pastor stepped down everyone immediately filed into the four front pews. Once in the pews I watched in amazement as the important looking people with badges started grabbing people´s heads, shaking in extasy, only to lean down, cup their hand over a person´s ear and whisper furiously for five minutes straight. After the whispering they would rest their hand on the person´s head, say a quick AMEN, and yeah listo. I asked my friend what I was in for. She explained that these people were touched by the father and were going to prophesize my future. Only in Ecuador.
While I was sitting down the pastor approached me and asked me if I spoke Spanish. I was mildly uncomfortable with the whole scene because that´s what happens sometimes when everyone in a room is staring intently at you, and I pressed on. I stammered out that yes I spoke Spanish and wanted my reading in Spanish. Thinking back it might have been interesting to have my future told in English by an Ecuaorian, but at the time I wanted the authentic experience.
As I waited my turn I started to calm down. It absolutely outstanding how much quicker people accept you when you speak their language and well. They stopped staring and went along with their business. Thank god for Ernesto´s classes.
The girl who was going to read my future finally approached me. I had never met her a day in my life. She put her hands on my head started shaking and then my future was laid out before me. She spoke in machine gun Spanish, loud enough to be uncomfortable, but not so loud as to be unbearable. I was shocked at how much I understood. My Spanish really is getting to the point where I feel comfortable in any situation (besides Colombian people from the coast). Here´s an example of what she said:
¨Hello my son. I am your guardian and I am your protector. You will soon experience signifigant changes in your life but I will protect you. My son. My son. During these changes you will encounter signifigant obstacles but keep fighting. Keep pressing on my son. Keep fighting. You will also experience a period of sadness but keep fighting. You are doing excellent work you are a special person in my hear my son. You will also have to bear circumstances in which you will have very little money but money is not everything my son. Keep fighting keep struggling to achieve what you believe in and you will be successful. ¨
Holy guacamole right? This person has never met me in her life and managed to tell me that I was going to go through changes (I am switching jobs), that I was going to encoutner obstacles (Ecuador is about to go through some serious political turmoil-more on that on Monday or Tuesday), sadness ( I am going to miss the friends I have made in Ibarra a lot when I have to make all new friends), and that I wasn´t going to have any money (600 bucks a month is my salary). Unbelievable!!
Obviously what she said was vague and could apply to many people, but I was really impressed by how well she pegged me. Not saying that I am a convert, but it was defintely an interesting way to experience spirituality. While she was whispering in my ear her voice was all raspy and strange as well, almost like she was speaking from another world. Really a fascinating experience.
I guess you learn something everyday and that´s the true beauty of living in a forein country. Obviously in the states you can have new experiences, but they just aren´t as pronounced.
Off to enjoy some ceviche for lunch. Hope everyone else is well.
kane
posted by ecuadortraveler at 11:11 AM
1 Comments:
Great story, Kane.
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