I was so much older then, I am younger than that now. Ecuador

I have now been back from Ecuador a little over two months.  I have already taken a vacation (Taking The Canadian train across Canada) and am getting ready for many more.  My settling in to Greenville has gone better than I expected in some ways, harder than expected in others. When people ask me did I love Quito and Ecuador.. I can be a bit flummoxed as to where to start.  So much of it I loved, so much of it was sooo hard, and some if I just endured.  It was a jumble in so many many ways.  But for me, the important story  is that somewhere along the line my reboot button got set.  After being back for about 6 weeks  I spent 10 days walking and riding on a train with no wifi .  My head cleared and some ideas of how I would like to spend the next years came together.  In short, I am good! For the first time in a VERY long time, I am curious about my future and looking forward to it.

For me - the pre- and post Ecuador me is best expressed in one of my all time favorite song lyrics

I was so much older then, I am younger than that now.

Below is the last post for my Ecuadorian blog.  I want to get it posted and then I will move on to hiking vacations,  travel, and study of Spanish, being a Baha'i, and various other things.  Thanks to those who followed this blog.  It may be my blogging days are over, or maybe not. Time will tell!

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WHAT I LEARNED ABOUT CULTURE/WHAT I WILL NEVER UNDERSTAND

I have heard a great deal about the differences in Latin culture relative to US culture - the emphasis in family and people, the differences in what is "punctual", etc.   One has heard about these differences so often that generally when you encounter them it is expected and rather ho hum. (Though sometimes the implications surprise me as when I learned when on a job interview it is important to let them know you have children because if you don't have children you are just a dilettante.)

But I did have my culture "clashes" or the moments I realized the way I do it is not the only way.

This first happened to me with Office supplies - and as some of you realize Office supplies is one of my loves and addictions.  In my first few weeks in Quito I didn't know where to buy school supplies so I was really winging it..  The building where I had orientation had a printing office with office supplies.  I needed a hole punch so went there.  They only had two-hole punches which I considered a speciality hole punch.  I was surprised they had specialty hole punches and no regular hole punch.  It took me about a week to realize that notebooks and paper in Ecuador have TWO holes .. not THREE.  I NEVER considered this an option - I was very attached to notebooks having three holes and without knowing it, assumed the rest of the world was too!

In addition I could never find a normal composition book.  They were all graph paper.  After a while, I realized that most notebooks in Ecuador are graph paper.. only large stores sell notebooks with lined paper.  And even then the lines are different.. and often only on one side.

While I was able to make the adjustment to two holes - I never made the adjustment to graph paper.

Early on I did find a small store that sold office supplies.  They were very kind to me and the first time I bought something there, they gave me several gifts. The next time I went there I asked for a small box of paper clips... there was such a box in the front display cabinet..  The gentleman was ringing up the sale and then said wait one minute (I think) and went to the back of the store. There he had a very prolonged conversation with two other men.  He then came back and told me he was unable to sell me paper clips.  He directed me down the street to a store about a mile away to buy paper clips.  I have never figured this out why I could not buy paper clips.

The second big surprise to me was the lack of addresses.  I have referred to this in an earlier post but this really shook my world.  I would have never expected to find a country that seems to run without addresses. To most of the Ecuadorians I know, an address is a neighborhood,  usually as specific as the nearest intersection.  Of course if the nearest intersection is small streets, you might have to use the nearest intersection of major streets, such as Baquedano y Reina Victoria - my work address. When I know the area this works fine - but when I don't know the area it was prohibitive to me. I really wanted to go to the Baha'i center in Cuenca but  the activity was at night in what I was told was a somewhat dangerous neighborhood and I only had the typical intersection address which was not familiar so my Spanish teacher.  so I requested  an exact location to give to the taxi driver from the center .and the response was that it was the Second Sector.. which my Spanish teacher did not understand so I didn't even try to go.

All of this is related to the third big surprise - no real postal service. I never really knew anyone to receive the packages sent from home.  There was no regular delivery to homes. There were post office but it cost about $20.00 to send a card/postcard.  I think the clearest culture clash I experienced was when i asked bout this.  I was baffled that there was postal service, the Ecuadorians were baffled as to why I thought that was necessary.  Obviously addresses and regular postal service are NOT necessary - but I never imagined. I have always said that when I am philosopher queen of the universe the first thing I am going to do is make sure that all streets have an easy to read street sign and all buildings have an easy to read address.  I had no concept that this was a radical idea.

The other things that were part of my day-to day life - in the three household I lived in - when you cook you do not chop things you MINCE them.... really really small.  And you have to use hot water from a pot on the stove for the instant coffee, tea, etc.  The microwave is generally not used for heating water..

There were many things that I still don't quite grasp and I am not sure I even understood what was going on.  As a rule, Ecuadorians do not directly answer direct questions.  Fortunately for me, I taught a lot of engineers and doctors - and touches of science and engineering culture transcend political boundaries.