The Beginnings of Culture Shock

In the last two days, I have begun to feel the effects of culture shock. I sometimes feel like a pendulum swinging from feeling alone here to thinking that every culture should be like this one. I know I will eventually find a balance between the two and this is just the learning stage but you cannot help but feel effected by it. Yesterday was the first time I really felt like a minority. Sure, the honking on the streets and the leering are a little strange but that didn't bother me as much until we were walking across a larger university campus than our own, and realized we were taller than most people but also very white. It was an eye-opening experience, one that everyone should have. It puts you in your place when you realize that this is how a lot of people in Canada feel when they come to our country. I expect to feel this way for awhile, if not the whole trip, but I hope I can find some balance. I hope living with our homestays will help this balance take place, to really help us learn the culture in order for us to adjust and to be able to really love the place for what it is, and not just skim the surface.

First Experiences!

Day 1 in Quito:

We are finally in Quito! When we arrived it was already completely dark outside, except for the yellow flow from the street lights. As we drove through the streets in our yellow bus-van, we kept popping through clouds, throwing us from a beautiful view of the city into non-visibility and back again.

Earlier in the evening, when we were going through customs in the airport, I had my first experience with the new culture I was going to be immersing myself in. The guy was showing around a customs form to everyone in the general vicinity and laughing. I didn't understand why and then he finally showed me the form and it was mine. He said, laughing, "What IS this?" Turns out, it was one of my middle names. It was an amusing situation even if it was at my expense. In their defense, it is pretty strange if you have never seen the Maori language before.

When we arrived at Universidad Andina Simon Bolivar, our affiliated university in Ecuador, we were greeted by the security guard (who has a gun on his chest) and we created a luggage chain to unload our 9 months of stuff into the lobby. The girls were then separated into 2 groups of six, and the guys had their own room. When we got up to our residences, we were greeted by 5 bunk beds. Our first thought was, "How can 10 people live in a room this size??" Evidently, our cultures and acceptable spacial proximities are very different.
After we settled in, we ordered pizza from Papa Johns, in which we devoured. Flying is stressful and a lot of work apparently. Sometimes it feels like as soon as you take care of one need, the other one takes over... and so we all crashed.

Day 2:

The sun rises in Ecuador around 6am and sets around 6pm. So around 8:30am we began waking up. It took awhile to realize where we were but as soon as we did, we bee-lined for the window. A beautiful view of one of the mountains that overshadow the city greeted us, covered in vegetation and little houses climbing up the face. It was a beautiful sight and perfect for our first view of Ecuador in the daylight. 

By this time however, our bodies had finally realized the altitude and everything was done in a slow and sluggish manner. We walked to beautiful hostel for breakfast and had a delicious meal with the best bread I have ever tasted. There is a reason that Quito's pan is know throughout the country for being delicious! After, we had a meeting about the immediate essentials about living in Ecuador, especially clothing, money, safety, mobility, and other logistics. It was interesting to learn about living in Quito (my reflection below is about this meeting). 

After, we went to the grocery store (SuperMaxi) and had our first experience shopping for food. We definitely learned a lot of food names and I bought some delicious empanada bread. As we made our way back to the university, surprisingly drained from our morning adventures and my chest hurting with every breath. It is amazing how a few blocks can be so exhausting to everyone, regardless of our fitness level. I have never felt so grateful for easy oxygen in my life.

Later on that evening, we made another trip the SuperMaxi for dinner, as pretty much everything is closed on a Sunday. Seble and I got the ingredients for the most delicious wrap! Tortillas, avocados, guacamole (in a squeezy container!!), sprouts, tomatoes, salsa, and cheese. We then sat around the guys' room, chatting and listening to music. An excellent end to our first full day in Quito. :)

Reflections:

So far, I have already experienced some pretty profound changes in my life. There are things that are going to make me feel constrained (like my increased consciousness of safety) and there are things that I am going to me feel free, especially the closeness and intense community orientation we have been told people feel. I feel, and I hope this opinion stays the same, that we, as North Americans, can learn a lot from this mentality. Individuality is not what all that it is cracked up to be. There are a lot of problems in our native culture that have stemmed from this “ideal”. Saying this though, Quito has been very “Americanized”. When drove down the streets of Quito on our first night and our adventure into the Super Maxi, the ideals that the West has tried to place on Ecuadorian culture are there, and yet, they are not. There is a distinct South American feel here that seems completely opposite to the Americanization that has been trying to be imposed. It almost feels like the Americanization has happened on a superficial level, but has not touched the core cultural values. However, this is just my naive first impression on my first full day here and not what I believe the entire story is unfortunately. This unique dichotomy is fascinating though and I hope I can delve into it on a deeper level over the coming months.

Bienvenido

Welcome to my travel blog about my experiences in Ecuador!

This is my first blog ever and I am still getting used to the concept. I will probably use it to document my travels, experiences, and throughts about my new surroundings and new culture. There may be gaps between entries, long or short, as internet can be hard to access as we are strongly advised not to bring our laptops with us when on the streets. Most of the entries will also be selected entries from my travel journal, aka, the ones that are probably most interesting to read. I hope you find the content interesting and insightful, and feel free to comment on what I write.