Ecuador 3: Silly Questions, etc.
Education:
One thing that really kills me about this country is the education system. The people for the most part get as much education as they possibly can, and some families even pool their resources together to send a member to college. But then there aren’t jobs, so people educate themselves as best they can, and it is often fruitless. Even middle class friends of mine have trouble finding jobs in Quito. So you can only imagine the difficulty in the arid, remote country region. It’s really sad- but the one inspirational thing is that family units are so tight there that people will generally support one another in whatever way they can. (Unless a parent runs off with a lover and abandons the family, which I witnessed more than once.) If that means sending a sister to spain or the USA (if they maneuver through the almost impossible obstacle course to obtain a visa, that is) to work, then so be it. My host cousins have not seen their mom in 6 years, but the family is the richest in a poor town because of it. And I think I have difficult life choices sometimes.
Typical conversation in Ecuador:
Person: Are you married yet?
Me: No.
Person: So you are single then?
Me: Yeah, I don’t want to get married any time soon. (If I didn’t say this, they would begin an avid search for a suitable prospect for me).
Person: Do you want a boyfriend while you are here [for 2 weeks]?
Me: No.
Person: Oh, it’s better that way. How much do you weigh?
The food:
I could go on forever, but bottom line: it is fabulous. Empanadas, fresh juice, plantains, patacones (fried banana chips). The most amazing thing is that the fridges seem near empty and then VOILA an incredible meal seems to appear out of thin air. It took me a while to figure out the mystery- the food is so fresh that there isn’t much stored in the fridge or anywhere else. A benefit of living the country life. I would love to help cook, but they won’t let me as a “guest” and I am so used to the American way of packaged food that I’m useless in the kitchen anyway. I finally fought my way to earn the right to dishes duty, so I didn’t feel totally worthless. It kind of kept my sanity to have SOME sort of routine (i.e. dishes right after every meal.)
One thing that really kills me about this country is the education system. The people for the most part get as much education as they possibly can, and some families even pool their resources together to send a member to college. But then there aren’t jobs, so people educate themselves as best they can, and it is often fruitless. Even middle class friends of mine have trouble finding jobs in Quito. So you can only imagine the difficulty in the arid, remote country region. It’s really sad- but the one inspirational thing is that family units are so tight there that people will generally support one another in whatever way they can. (Unless a parent runs off with a lover and abandons the family, which I witnessed more than once.) If that means sending a sister to spain or the USA (if they maneuver through the almost impossible obstacle course to obtain a visa, that is) to work, then so be it. My host cousins have not seen their mom in 6 years, but the family is the richest in a poor town because of it. And I think I have difficult life choices sometimes.
Typical conversation in Ecuador:
Person: Are you married yet?
Me: No.
Person: So you are single then?
Me: Yeah, I don’t want to get married any time soon. (If I didn’t say this, they would begin an avid search for a suitable prospect for me).
Person: Do you want a boyfriend while you are here [for 2 weeks]?
Me: No.
Person: Oh, it’s better that way. How much do you weigh?
The food:
I could go on forever, but bottom line: it is fabulous. Empanadas, fresh juice, plantains, patacones (fried banana chips). The most amazing thing is that the fridges seem near empty and then VOILA an incredible meal seems to appear out of thin air. It took me a while to figure out the mystery- the food is so fresh that there isn’t much stored in the fridge or anywhere else. A benefit of living the country life. I would love to help cook, but they won’t let me as a “guest” and I am so used to the American way of packaged food that I’m useless in the kitchen anyway. I finally fought my way to earn the right to dishes duty, so I didn’t feel totally worthless. It kind of kept my sanity to have SOME sort of routine (i.e. dishes right after every meal.)
posted by MissBliss at 6:03 PM
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