Let me paint you a picture
a picture that I know that you'd like
I'll let the colors run
it dries and then its done
a picture that I know that you'd like
I'll let the colors run
it dries and then its done
A little bit ago one of my dear Quaker friends and life
mentors told me (I am paraphrasing here): Take time to take a walk and enjoy
where you are. You will regret not doing that when you leave.
This is something that I have been thinking about a lot in the
past couple of weeks and I find that it may be the best advice anybody has ever
given me for my exchange and life. When I really open my eyes and heart to what
I am doing I am always filled with positive emotions, happiness, joy,
amazement, and just general good feelings. I see things that I have never
really seen before, but just passed by in the craziness of the first few days
in Ecuador and then were just part of normal life.
With this in mind I am going to describe to you my walk to
the market today and maybe you can have a little bit of my slow walk, taking
in, with awe, my surroundings.
It started with just a normal day after school where I was
sitting on my bed trying to figure out what I wanted to do with my afternoon.
The one thing that kept popping into my head was the fact that I wanted fresh
fruit, but alas, we didn’t have any in the house. So I took matters into my own
hands. I threw on my Chaco’s and as I ran to the door yelled to my sister that
I was gong to buy fruit. I started down the street. The first think that I
noticed was the graffiti sprayed on the walls of the house at the end of the
street (some things don’t change from country to country), but then I realized
that I just walked by it and read it with out a second glance. Spanish
anyone!??? In the next couple of blocks I took in the kids playing on the
street, the woman grilling out (only difference was she was grilling out
plantains), and just the general hustle and bustle of life in Ecuador.
As I stumbled upon the main street in our town I came to the
work of my sister. She was chilling on the steps waiting for somebody to come
into the store. We stopped and had a conversation for a bit before she asked me
where I was going. When she heard I was bound for the market down the street
she handed off her duties to the other girl working in the shop and joined me.
There were two things that I took out of this interaction that really impressed
me. The first was that I was able to stop and have a real conversation in
Spanish with somebody who spoke as much English as I do Russian. Second, that
it was totally normal to stop and talk to my sister as if she was my sister. I
am feeling more and more apart of this family every day. I am expected to do
chores, ask where I am going (and some times be told no), and have none of that
guest slack cut for me now. I love feeling like I am part of a household and
the joy and struggles that come with it.
As we wandered down to the market we passed many street
venders selling everything from tamarind juice to large amounts of meat
skewered on sticks with lots of mayonnaise. When we arrived at the market the
air was mixed with the all to common order of raw fish and fresh fruit and
vegetables of every color and size that were engulfing us. There were mangos,
pineapples, avocadoes, potatoes, unrecognizable berries, bananas and plantains
by the hundreds, oranges, apples, green beans, cabbage, carrots and passion
fruit (just to name a few). All pilled into long rows of colorful veggie and
fruit laden stands. We went out searching for my passion fruit and mango to
make some fresh fruit juice. The first stand we stopped at nobody was there. We
continued wandering to the next stand where I got 6 passion fruit and 2 mangos
for a dollar and exchanged a wonderful conversation with the old lady working
the stand. We trotted back out of the market and back up the street to my
sister’s work. The whole time I couldn’t stop beaming, I am living the life of
my dreams, in Ecuador! The air was fresh, I was in good health and life is
good.
I wandered back home engulfed it the joy of fresh fruit in
my hand and my feet pending the slate streets in Guaranda. Life is fantastic. I
just need to take time to see it sometimes.
Livin’ on the loose.
Thanks so much for taking the time, and us, on a ramble down the slate-paved streets of Guaranda! And, I now crave some fresh passion fruit and mango juice - yum!!! I guess I will just need to hold-on until March. :)
ReplyDeleteEllie, that is an awesome story. I think being able to read graffiti in Spanish is cool. What did it say? Also, what kind of shop does your sister work at? (bad grammar, oops) XOXO Sue
ReplyDeleteMe, me, I want to live like that! Oh-wait I can/am, isn't life better when we pay attention?
ReplyDeleteGlenn ClARK
Taking time to be present, to soak in the joys of our life, here and now. See what we are blind to, inhale that which we ignore, appreciate that which is small, feel joys at all that surrounds us--small yet huge. Thanks so much for guiding us through the Ecuador afternoon and your heart and pointing us towards our own afternoons....
ReplyDeleteAwesome post, Ellie. I love your description of using the language so fluidly and being connected to the family as a family member, no longer as a guest. I'm so impressed with what you are doing. None of it seems small to me but I agree, wherever we are, taking it all in matters so much. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful lesson to share. Your writing is delightful, I can almost feel the sun and smell the market!
ReplyDelete