Family of Friends

For we are a family, a family of friends.

As I sit here in bed after another  Ecuadorian day (they are finally normalizing... YIPPIE!) a word is bouncing around in my mind... family. What does it mean to me? Who is my family? Is this exclusive? The questions are endless... so I turn to a classic dinner time reference material for my family... the dictionary. My computer dictionary defines it as: A group consisting of parents and children living together in a household. But this just doesn't seem to fit what I was looking for... so I turn to another reference source (okay its pushing it to call it that) Urbandictionary.com. I like this definition a lot better. One user defines it as:people you love and love you back, not necessarily blood or biological, but you trust them and they trust you, and they take care of you and you take care of them.

While being here I have come to realize that family is more than just my mom, dad, skye, sue, and extended family. I have many families all through out my life and they are each amazing in there own special way.

My immediate biological family: My mother, father, sister and Sue have done more in my life then they can ever know. Just during this trip they have stuck with me through skype break downs, technology problems, inconsistent schedules, family changes and so much more. They are always there to tell me how much they love me when they know that is what I need to hear or to tell me that what I am doing is awesome and to enjoy every minuet of it if they know that making me think of home is going to be to hard at that moment. They are wonderful and are always with me whatever i am doing here.

My extended biological family: As many of you know my many aunts, uncles, cousins and grandparents are almost, if not as, close to me as my immediate family. Many of them have been mer 5 miles from me my whole life. I have spent almost as much time at their houses as at my own. They have toothbrushes saved for me because the insto-overnight is a common experience. I know how to feed their animals and where the good hiding spaces in their houses are. While I have been here I have received uncountable letters and well wishes from them. They are always my family and I love them all. From Madison to Edgerton to Stoughton to Philly, I love my extended family!

My Ecuadorian family: This is the family that has started this whole thought process because, as little as I thought it was possible, I now call two other people in my life Madre and Padre (more often ma and pa, but thats beside the point). They have taken me under their wing and put up with my horrible spanish and strange american costumes. They tell me when I do something that is considered rude in Ecuador and they put food in my belly and a roof over my head. They laugh with me and tell me stuff just like they would tell a normal sister or daughter. They make me do chores and they make me smile. I don't worry about being strange around them and who cares if they see my crazy bed head. They are my family and they will always always always have a special place in my heart. I can never repay them for what they have given me and for accepting me into their family as one of their own. They have even joked about me changing my name to Eleanor Greenler Cabezas Garzon, that would be a mouth full thats for sure. Thank you for everything Familia Cabezas Garzon. Te Quiero Mucho.

My camp family: This is what we like to refer to as a family of friends. And dang they are about as close to family as you can get with out being blood related. Last year I spent over 1/12 of my year with them. Living in small little canvas tents and sharing everything from showers to vans. They have been great support all through out my journey here. They were there for me when I told them (the first of all my friends) that I was off to Ecuador for a year. They comforted me when i had break downs because they were lucky enough to get me for the whole month before I left where all the stress and second guessing ensued. And they are here for me now, I skype with them when the times present them selves and have great (crazy long at points) pen pal relationships with others going on as well. Whatever it does, they always make me smile and I think of them as I find my self absent mindidly doodling song lyrics into the margins of my physics text book or drawing the lake in my math work book. Cause we are a family a family of friends and our love it never ends.

My Quaker family: Don't worry guys I would never forget you (I mean heck you include my wife, I think she counts as family...). Whatever I do, where ever I go, these guys are always here to support me. I have received countless cards from AYFers, Adults Friends, and High Schoolers alike and each one makes me beam from ear to ear. There are days when I need a little boost so I take a card from one of my dear Friends off the wall and re read it. It always makes me smile. From frantic emails sent out asking for advice to skype dates where day dreaming/freaking out about the future ensues, these wonderful people have been here for me when I need it the most and I can never repay them for that. Thank you Friends.

My AFS family: While being here I have acquired a family that I was not expecting to be a large part of my experience, but they have been. My gringo family. These wonderful people from around the world have been thown into the small town of Guaranda with me and that in its self is a crazy undertaking. We have been here for each other through family changes, cultural fumbles, sibling annoyances, and language barriers (some times communicating from Flemish to Spanish to English!). Pretty much you guys are awesome and this year would be a heck of a lot different without you. I love out long rambles though Guaranda or afternoon coffee at 7 santos or birthday pizza. I was so lucky be added to this family.

So there you have it guys, it started out as more of a journaling thing and then turned into a shout out for all the wonderful families I have in my life. Thanks for everything, I could not be doing this with out you.

Livin' on the loose.

With A Little Help From My Friends

Oh, I get by with a little help from my friends

Ok so some of you might realize that a)I have not posted in way to long. I am sorry about that, but I do have an excuse. and that is that technology seems to hate me here. So first my computer died and I had to do a complete scrub of it, but now I am waiting for an update CD because my computer hard drive is now so old that it doesn't function with most websites. Sigh. and it happens that at the same time the computer that I use in our household died too. Its been a comedy of errors. But it is on the mend (thanks daddy!). and b)That you are getting two posts in on time this time. This is because I wrote the post above this one first but then had the computer problems and feel that you might like a more ecua-post. So here it is.

This weekend we had our 5 month and half way done with the exchange get together with AFS students from all over the country. We had students from Guaranda (my town), Quito (capital), Salcedo, Latacunga and Esmeraldas... and it was awesome. I really enjoy these get together's, not for the programing, but for the chance to chill out with people that speak your language. I am finally not the white person because I am with a group of 39 other white people. We all talk about life here in Ecuador, your families, how we cant eat another bite of rice, how school is super easy, and how freezing it is 10,000 ft up in the mountains. But we also chat about things that people here don't understand or aren't interested in: the ACT we have to take when we go home, how we got enough signatures for a recall election on Walker (WAY TO GO WISCONSIN, SO PROUD!), how we miss american sweets, or how we really miss hot water. It is a time to feel normal and have great conversations. very much enjoyed.

One of my favorite parts of these weekends is the languages and how that is dealt with. One day this weekend I was sitting there having a conversation in English when I stopped to listen and realized that the Belgium's behind me were talking in flemish, the Germans across me were chatting away  in German, and the two people to the left of me were having an animated conversation in Spanish. This was too cool to realize. All of our official orientation material was in Spanish because that is the language that connects us (even though all minus two of the participants spoke english too, the US was shown up my Europe in that case). Not uncommonly we would have conversations with groups of people that would jump back between spanish, english, german, and any number of other languages. It really showed me how I am not only learning about Ecuadorian culture, but about Belgium, France, Germany, Japan and Italy, just to name a few.

So this reunion takes place in a different city each time and lets just say we were not happy with the city placement this time, we were placed in a very very very small little town wayyyyy up in the mountains so we were freezing our behinds off the whole time and it was always raining, thanks rainy season. But the town does have a cool story that I think some of you might enjoy. We were in a town called Salinas. It started out as a little village because of the salt mine there, everything in the town revolved around that mine, it was the only source of income, it even gave the town its name (Salinas...sal=salt in spanish). But then a bunch of years ago a missionary came into this dirt poor town and saw hope. He started a Queso making co-op. People from all the surrounding area would bring in milk that was then made into Queso for a large portion of Ecuador. This idea blossomed in this town and now there are a couple of different co-ops. Including a chocolate factory that makes some amazing chocolate and then some flavors that I tend to say away from, but some people love, like hot sauce and Pajaro Azul (a very strong home made liquor that is very popular here). There is also a co-op that makes amazing alpaca fur sweatshirts and knit hats, scarves, gloves and many other things. These co-ops have put this little town on the map and have made it a very livable (even though its freezing!) little town.

So this was my weekend, filled with good conversations, many languages, and lots of chocolate!

Livin' on the loose.

What Are (Were) You Doing On New Years Eve

When the bells all ring and the horns all blow
And the couples we know are fondly kissing.
Will I be with you or will I be among the missing?

Maybe it's much too early in the game
Ooh, but I thought I'd ask you just the same
What are you doing New Year's
New Year's eve?

Smoke, drinking, and cross-dressing. If I had to come up with three words to describe New Year’s here in Ecuador those would have to be the three I would choose. Now I will explain why and what crazy things Ecuadorians do to ring in the New Year.

Smoke… by about 2 minutes after midnight it seemed as if a heavy fog has engulfed Guraranda. I was up at my cousin’s house way up on a hill, about as high as you can get above Guaranda and still consider yourself in Guaranda. There were a couple of things that contributed to these copious amounts of smoke that seemed to take over my little mountain town. Fireworks were the first main cause of smoke. There are no firework laws or regulations here, it would be heaven for some I know (cough cough…Scott), but for me it can be a bit scary. There were little kids with firework wands, every 20 seconds or so they would shoot out another little ball of color whatever direction the kid was pointing the wand. The streets were very full of people and I found myself contemplating how on earth they didn’t have a ton of accidents. But I didn’t hear of any. But these were just the start of the firework fun, at midnight everybody and their grandmother had fireworks at the ready and at the stroke of midnight I could see probably a dozen different fireworks shooting up into the air from different parts of the city. The celebrations continued all night, very much helping my attempt at possibly getting a little bit of sleep (this was also helped with the professional grade speakers that were outside of my window that were finally turned off at 8 am…little bit different than the farm quite I am used to). The second cause of smoke was burning old people. Ok before you get all worked up let me explain. The tradition here is to build paper mache old people and burn them at midnight to represent getting rid of the old and bringing in the new. It was a little bit strange to walk down the street and see all these burning things that when inspected closer turned out to be old people. Sometimes families would even make whole families of old people with masks representing their family. So one family I know has a son who is black, he had a black old person mask on his person, other people had pony tails or braids. They were very intricate. Sometimes these people would be close to 20 ft. tall and the streets would be blocked off for their construction and display. It was quite the event, but over all very fun.

Drinking, ok so this is pretty self-explanatory, as in the United States people here like to ring in the New Year with lots of alcohol. I mean whatever, there isn’t very much to write on this, but it was a very large part of the celebrations. I was able to turn down the shot that was offered to me at our midnight turkey dinner. But the next morning when we went out for a walk there were still people drinking, ending at about 4pm the next day. None of this one night business, it is a 24 hour event. You can fill in the gaps for that, it is a pretty cross cultural tradition.

For a very homophobic society there sure is a lot of cross dressing. This was probably the funniest and strangest part of all the Ecuadorian traditions, and that is saying a lot. Starting at about 4pm New Year’s Eve large groups of boys dressed in their sisters, moms, and friends skirts and tops appeared out on the streets. They would blast music and make road blocks. When a car drove up they would dance very provocatively and then make the car pay before they would move away from in front of the car. They would also come up to people on the sidewalks, particularly gringas (white girls) and try to dance with them before they asked for money. This made walking around a hazardous but quite hysterical activity for me. These road blocks had been around for days, when my family came back from Quito 2 days before about every 2 minutes we would come upon a road block with little indigenous children asking for money. It was funny for about the first 2 but got a little tiring after 20 some, but the cross dressed boys were only added to them on New Year’s Eve. There were also parades of cross dressed boys that were accompanied by trucks with large speakers often blasting English music they didn’t understand and police officers. Over all it was quite amusing and more than a little bit odd. 

These are the main components of an Ecuadorian New Year’s celebration, but they are by far not the only ones. If you are superstitious (and like all Ecuadorians are), you could put on lucky bright yellow underwear and bras outside of your clothing at midnight to bring you good luck for the next year...I passed on this tradition. You could also burn the bad things that happened last year with your big burning old person and then save your list of things that you wanted to happen in the New Year for next year. Let’s just say you will NEVER be board during and Ecuadorian New Years.

Livin´ life on the loose.