5 months down

A few to go. Just how many remains to be seen...

And without further ado, here´s my last blog post from Quito for the next three-and-a-half weeks.

At the end of last cycle, I got horribly sick. I had the flu and got so congested. I even woke up and had trouble breathing one night. Well, I would hate to be inconsistent! This cycle nearing the end and yet again, I find myself quite ill. This time, it´s not my respiratory system that´s failing me, but rather my digestive system. A few days ago, eating anything at all nearly killed me. My stomach would cramp every few minutes and I´d have such nausea. And I got a fever. And a headache. I was on an all-rice diet (which is the typical Ecuadorian thing anyway, but I didn´t even vary it with slabs of meat..)

Anyway. Things could be better.

But really, they couldn´t. I´m going home in TWO DAYS! 2 days, 6 hours, 25 minutes. But, who´s counting?

While I´m gone, I´m going to miss the several great friends I´ve made here. I won´t miss teaching necessarily, but I´ll look forward to returning to it in January. I´ll miss seeing the volcanoes outside my window. And. That´s about it.

Maybe a Monday morning after I´ve been sick all weekend is the worst time to blog. But hey, this is my life. I could portray all the lovely things and pretend life is swell here, or I could be real. I like realism. Redemptive realism of course. I thought I coined that, but apparently Flannery O´Connor said it well before me.

So that was the realism. The redemption is that I value my family, my ´hometown,´ my region, my country, and my God´s infinite love and grace so much more highly now. Bring on the rice and the illnesses and the creepers and the loneliness and the ugliness of the city (for a few more months...). I can handle it.

This is such a good time. In the real sense of the word good. Not like Carly Rae Jepsen and Owl City´s "...we don´t even have to try, it´s always a good time."  I mean, the outcome is good. It´s not quite as fun as a barrel of monkeys.

But then again, that´s just life, boys and girls: I don´t even have to try, it´s always a good time! (A rather rough paraphrase of Romans 8:28.)

Ode to the Midwest

A week from tomorrow I leave Quito for Christmas break in the most glorious place in the world:

The Midwest.

Cue Hallelujah Chorus.

Here, I formally confess and repent of all slander ever spoken against this dearest of locations.

Dad, enjoy this. I can hear you laughing in triumph from here: YOU WERE RIGHT.

The Midwest is peaceful, not boring.

The people are friendly in a non-intrusive sort of way.

There are delightful country roads, that I think of every time I play "Country Roads" on my guitar (which, by the way, I recently taught to my Intermediate II class and which we sang for the secretaries at CEC, and received a hearty applause).

There are seasons: there´s always a reason to hope for change and new beauty. Cozy winters with hushed, evening walks. Spring times with happy birdies and blossoming flowers (late though they sometimes may be). Warm summers to spend on the lakeside--never too hot. The most brilliant falls with leaves so colorful it takes your breath away. Seasons are good for the soul.

There are friends to be found just a walk, bike ride, or quick trip away.

There´s no ridiculous traffic.

Pollution? Not in our territory.

Creepers? Stick to the coasts. Mostly.

We don´t have impressive mountains, but we have acre upon acre of forest, growing over rolling hills.

We don´t have the ocean, but c´mon: we have the Great Lakes. Best bodies of water. Ever. Especially Lake Superior. It is superior.

We don´t have parasites either. Thank heavens.

Silence exists in the Midwest. It may be the peaceful silence of birds chirping and the wind rustling the new buds of spring time; it may be the perfect stillness of a winter walk in the woods; the silence of waves lapping the shore on a summer night; or the loud silence of the fierce wind on top of Hogback Mountain in the fall, from whose peak you can take in the colored hills and the deep blue of the lake.

The Midwest is family. Warm, fireside conversations. Grandparents a few hours away. Letters that arrive without a glitch; far-distant friends just a phone call away. Crisp apples in the fall, flavorful blueberries in the summer. The home of Hillsdale College.

The Midwest is a land of libraries, delightful coffee shops, barns, rolling farm fields, safety, and security. I think I´m in love.


Someday, I´ll write an ode to Ecuador.

The world's best hug

...and other nice, unexpected things.

It's not even seven AM here in the Ecuadorian Andes, but I'm up and ready to blog. This will get my day going. It's a great Monday, already. 

I've got some French press coffee steeping and lactose-free milk and cinnamon ready to hit and add for my attempt at a latte.

*Oh. Let's look at the above sentence for a moment. I just spelled "heat," "hit." I find a lot of my spelling errors are like that: just like my students' errors. When I see "hit" in my head I'm pronouncing it, "heat." Yikes. This just doesn't have any sense...(and that was intentional Spanglish). Also, is "for" correct? It's so funny to find the linguistics part of your brain taking over when the part that studied spelling in middle school is on vacations. Now, I vaguely remember that in American English, vacation is generally singular...but months of hearing "vacations"/vacaciones has me slightly confused.

...

...Okay, it's hours later. The day is basically over but I've got to get this post done.

And I'm glad I didn't finish this earlier, then I would not have been able to tell of the sweetest moment I've experienced recently: the world's best hug!

How cute are they?! When they all ran to give me a hug, I was in shock. They sang a song to welcome me, then charged forward, at the command of the women working there. It was ridiculously precious. So, anyway, moving on from the highlight of my day. Several friends of mine from CL work at this foundation and invited me for a visit. It's designed to teach families how to better care for their children: hygiene, food, schooling etc. It's associated with the parish there, and seems to be an absolutely wonderful program. They set up nurseries within some family homes, as well as a place for children to come during the day for pre-school, potty training, teeth brushing and all sorts of necessities. I'm hoping if there's ever an opportunity for me to volunteer, I'll be able to make the hour-long commute, via the metro then a bus, and lend a hand.

Let's see, what else is new. My guitar skills are improving and my fingers are so much more calloused. I love playing and singing. As far as theory, I'm fairly clueless, but I think I'll get the hang of it as I go. As a more intuitive than sensing person, I'd rather discover things through actually making use of them. So it goes with this here geetar. 

Thanksgiving here was great, and was a 2-for-1 deal! Both Thursday and Saturday nights, I got to eat turkey, mashed potatoes, and the whole normal spread. Delish. And both were multi-cultural: we had rice and curry from Sri Lanka and egg rolls from the Philippines. Six countries were represented in total at both of my meals: Sri Lanka, the Philippines, the US, Ecuador, Peru, and Italy. It was amazing to speak to people from all over the world, sharing what we're thankful for, and expressing a bit of our culture. I made mashed potatoes and gluten-free gravy. I was quite pleased how it all turned out, though my hands were so tired after peeling thousands of potatoes.

I never expected to have such Thanksgiving celebrations. It was really unique. I am continually astounded by my experiences here. Things are never as I expect them, and often not as I'd prefer them. But, they're always worthwhile. And always memorable.

Later that day, the power went out. Todo, we're not in the first-world anymore. It's funny when the power goes out inexplicably for hours, and I document it with my iPhone...Quite the dichotomy of circumstances. Living by candlelight is so lovely, though. Sometimes.

Sunday was a wonderful day: sushi (!!! (I actually ordered it to my house--and they showed up as planned! I was astonished and happy. A friend and I were dyyiiinnnggg for sushi) then later the Mariscal Sucre theatre, to see West Side Story, and also a double rainbow. Beauty, flavor, and good music. Perfection.







Now, it's really time for bed. I've got Josh Groban singing Christmas lullabies to me, and I plan to drift off to sleep soon...ah, the sweet, sweet sounds of home.

THREE WEEKS AND ONE DAY!

Giving thanks

for Thanksgiving on Thursday. Maybe there's no football or frost on my windows in the morning, but I'm in a beautiful country with Americans to prepare food with and eat lots and lots with and then veg out with.

for the fact that my plans never seem to go the way I envision them, which is generally a good thing and almost always more fun. (See "Carpe Diem")

for friends I've made along the way--in North Carolina and Maryland and Wisconsin and Michigan and from all parts of the country and the world: Spain, Norway, Ecuador, Colombia, Costa Rica, Italy, and more.

for CL. And meaningful conversation.

for nearly four months of being safe in Quito.

for dirty dishes and the free therapy of washing them.

for humongous meals for three dollars. And the best breakfasts for one dollar: two tortillas de verde, an egg, and a cup of coffee in the most interesting market in Quito, a ten-minute walk from my house.

for the most stretching experiences and challenges and growth. Growing pains don't only happen when you're seven.

for awaking easily without an alarm for early, still mornings; when the sky is still pink and full of promise of the sunrise. The view from my terrace is magnificent: volcán Cotopaxi is majestic and snow-capped in the south, and Chimborazo, a silhouette in the north. With a cup of steaming coffee and a chorus of cheerful birds to keep me company, I can breathe deeply and smile with peaceful joy, admiring even this city, which is sometimes my nemesis.

for the fact that back in the States, everything is going to seem so easy and organized. At least for a time.

for my love of beauty and search for truth.

for Hillsdale, and the world's best professors. and for the sisterhood of Pi Beta Phi, MI Alpha.

for the Internet and the ability to communicate (I mean, I get to see that precious bundle of fur thanks to the wonders of the computer!)

for my job and my students, even if they are mischievous at times.

for my sisters and brother and mother and father and dog.

for the chance to cook and clean and the space to have people over; the chance to learn hospitality.

for good health, despite the dubious things I've eaten here.

for St. Francis de Sales.

for good books and poetry.

for my new guitar and the brand new callouses on the fingers of my left hand.

for my new-found love of cooking and my budding skills.

for friends in the northern hemisphere who keep in touch with me, bearing with my complaints and cheering me in my loneliness and sharing in my joy and excitement and adventures. (Like you, reading this blog.)

for every single day of the next month before I get to return home for Christmas break!