It is important for the integrity of this blog that I don't coat every experience with sugar, which can be my problem sometimes. I want to be honest about my experience, so come and join me as I contradict the video I posted awhile ago about how unhappy everyone is, despite our amazing technical advances, and so on.
This is the shower head I use every morning. My impression is that they are very typical in South America. Many people cannot afford real water heaters, so they buy these shower heads that heat the water right as it is coming over your head. As you can see, there are many exposed wires and a switch merely a foot from the water source. My father said his electrician friend, Charlie, commented on the shower heads during their trip to Peru. They certainly don't pass US standards, and I'm not sure if they have any standards here. Suffice to say, I am very cautious about splashing water around during my shower.
Of course, aside from the danger-element, is the fact that the temperature of your water depends entirely on the water pressure. Water pressure seem to be terribly inconsistent wherever you go. When the pressure is adequate, the heater doesn't work because the water passes through the head to fast to be heated. Then, when the pressure decreases suddenly, the water scolds your entire body. The South American Shower should be an Olympic event.
South American Time
Many told me about this alternative view of time. I was excited to be in a place where the people you were with were more important than your obligations. I'm discovering that this version of SAT, while possibly true in other parts of South America, or even Ecuador, is not true in my experience. It seems that people are mostly relaxed about my time. If I have an obligation--Spanish lessons, work at the diocesan office, lunch, they are mostly ignored and I end up without time and lunch. I find this frustrating because while they are relaxed about where I need to be, *they are ever impatient with their own commitments.
*in order to keep some anonymity, I'm using "they," but know that my observations don't apply to all Ecuadorians by any means.
It is also apparently not important that a teacher have his/her books. Every week I've asked for my books. Every week I've been told "next week." For a first year teacher who looks about as old as most of his students' older brothers, not having my material has been difficult. I think God might even be irritated at this eight-week delay. I'm not even sure he would buy the "in Your time" comment. Would God say "don't patronize me?"
Noise of the City
The female street vendors - These poor women try to make their living by selling fruit, candy, and newspapers in the streets. To make themselves known, they must scream. The voice is loud enough to wake you up, block out your music and television, and it sounds a bit like an air raid siren in the way every word starts soft and crescendos to a squeal.
The gas tank guys - Similarly, men in trucks drive by constantly honking their peculiar-sounding horns so everyone can by the gas tanks needed to power an oven.
Horns - You honk when you back up. You honk when you go through an intersection. You honk when the light turns green (just in case someone is asleep).
The Mariscal-Sucre International Airport - This is Quito's airport (for about one more year while they finish the new one outside of the city). It is in the dead-center of Quito. Whenever a jet takes off, you MUST halt all conversations and teaching to wait for tranquility.I've had to adjust to city-life in this way. Perhaps I am just too used to the peace of the forest I was raised in or the quaint suburbs where my parents currently reside. Needless to say, I may go insane when I move back home and achieve peace and quiet.
So what am I learning?
PATIENCE, I'm finding, is absolutely necessary for many parts of this life--especially in the classroom.
OPTIMISM is something I thought I perfected, but I'm learning how to be positive all over again.
And DEDICATION in the midst of these minor frustrations, a difficult language barrier with my students especially, and the lack of a piano--my former method of relieving all stresses.
So there we have it, patience, optimism, and dedication. Sounds like what you might find on an inspirational poster.