Social dialogue and Futbol

A couple things I forgot to write last week. On Friday night a few of us went to a futbol game at the local stadium. Cuenca´s team isn´t doing very well this season but that night they won 1-0! It was fun to be in the crowd watching a good match. It´s very dramatic, but the crowd was definitely as charged as the ones in Cote dÍvoire. We saw the police in riot gear around the stadium and the fences everywhere to keep people out, but the crowd was relatively well behaved and didn´t seem to need the precautions. And I learned a few new words from the guys sitting behind us as well!

I finally got around to trying the 'agua de pitimas' which is the drink made by the cloistered nuns in Cuenca. It is the one quoted in Don Quixote when he needed something to ease his broken heart. Well, I was feeling well that day - no health issues and my heart wasn´t aching, but the drink was refreshing. I didn´t notice the easing of my nerves either, but perhaps this place is effecting me. Things are beautiful here and the charm seems to spread everywhere. From the tranquility of the pace of life to the colonial architecture and mild climate. In class, I even learned that I´m no longer a dirty-dishwater blond with blue eyes, but a woman with chestnut hair and 'heavenly' colored eyes. I need to keep learning this language!

This week I have a new classmate from Switzerland who is a 26 year old teacher for kids with special needs. She´s already on a sabbatical and is going to volunteer in Quito for 3 months after her time in Cuenca with kids with similar needs. We´re the only 2 in class and it´s been good for me because we can only communicate in Spanish as she doesn´t speak much English. One thing that has been very different being in Ecuador from my other big adventure in W Africa is that I am very aware I´m only seeing the best parts of this culture and country. Today in conversation class we had a very frank discussion about the social climate in Ecuador and the global relationship between the 3 countries represented in the room. It started with a question about what do you have in your life that makes it full? It then moved to what do people in your country need for a full life? We had a great discussion about immigration, the state of unemployment in each of our countries and the way many 'American/progressive values' are changing the cultures of other countries. By values I mean our stereotypical drive to work and make money, to accumulate things, to be concerned about only ourselves, etc. Stephanie and I listed several things to be happy in our life like family, friends, our work, health, faith, being content, etc. In Ecuador our professor said three things are valued most here: family, friends and work (being productive). We had a discussion about how each country looks to the outside world, but in reality we all have culturally unique issues that are not being dealt with well. When we put one country above another, the landscape of our own culture changes and not always for the better. It´s conversations like this that travel brings to the forefront of my mind and I´m grateful for the glimpse into these two other cultures.