My nephew Joe is taking an international studies course in Ecuador. Here’s his latest message.From: Joe
Sent: Wednesday, September 03, 2003 10:21:20
Subject: Another Mr. Blue Sky Day
Well, today, like every other day here, is bright blue skies and warm sunshine. The crazy thing is, people here never say, “my, its a beautiful day today.” I think that its just so common during the dry season that they take it for granted.
This week has shown an improvement in my classes. They all have actually started, and the proffesors are all back. To answer my Aunt’s question, I have 7 classes, but i only picked 2 of them, the other 5 are obligatory for my program. My Tejido (weaving) class is amazing. My prof is a bit of a quack, but she is amazing at weaving. On monday we built our marco’s (loomish things) and started to weave. I can’t say that my first one is going to be all that beautiful, but i’m getting the hang of it. I’m excited that i will return to the states with a skill that people here actually use. Weaving is very much a part of indigenous culture.
Speaking of, on friday I am going to Otavalo on our first trip! Otavalo is an indigenous town that has a HUGE market place on saturday morning. I’m excited to use my improving spanish by bartering with the locals. “15 for that, you must be mad!” Basically, i hope to buy all of the gifts for people while I am there. My fear is that I’m gonna buy something for someone that I could have just as easily purchased in the states. How silly would that be?
My spanish class here remains a joke. For you people that have studied spanish, this will be funny. My prof asked this question, “Cuantos han estudiado el subjuntivo” and guess how many out of a class of 10 raised their hands. THREE!! Three people have studied the subjunctive tense!
I almost died, right there, just died.
Oh well, I don’t mind having an easy class. My ecoantropology class makes up for it. Its not hard, but the prof talks at a million miles a second, which can be rough at times.
Also, almost all of my 5 obligitory classes have 12 page papers due dec 12 … which i’m sure will be a barrel of monkeys.
I’ll talk to you folks later, TTFN, ta ta for now!
Joe
Sent: Wednesday, September 03, 2003 10:21:20
Subject: Another Mr. Blue Sky Day
Well, today, like every other day here, is bright blue skies and warm sunshine. The crazy thing is, people here never say, “my, its a beautiful day today.” I think that its just so common during the dry season that they take it for granted.
This week has shown an improvement in my classes. They all have actually started, and the proffesors are all back. To answer my Aunt’s question, I have 7 classes, but i only picked 2 of them, the other 5 are obligatory for my program. My Tejido (weaving) class is amazing. My prof is a bit of a quack, but she is amazing at weaving. On monday we built our marco’s (loomish things) and started to weave. I can’t say that my first one is going to be all that beautiful, but i’m getting the hang of it. I’m excited that i will return to the states with a skill that people here actually use. Weaving is very much a part of indigenous culture.
Speaking of, on friday I am going to Otavalo on our first trip! Otavalo is an indigenous town that has a HUGE market place on saturday morning. I’m excited to use my improving spanish by bartering with the locals. “15 for that, you must be mad!” Basically, i hope to buy all of the gifts for people while I am there. My fear is that I’m gonna buy something for someone that I could have just as easily purchased in the states. How silly would that be?
My spanish class here remains a joke. For you people that have studied spanish, this will be funny. My prof asked this question, “Cuantos han estudiado el subjuntivo” and guess how many out of a class of 10 raised their hands. THREE!! Three people have studied the subjunctive tense!
I almost died, right there, just died.
Oh well, I don’t mind having an easy class. My ecoantropology class makes up for it. Its not hard, but the prof talks at a million miles a second, which can be rough at times.
Also, almost all of my 5 obligitory classes have 12 page papers due dec 12 … which i’m sure will be a barrel of monkeys.
I’ll talk to you folks later, TTFN, ta ta for now!
Joe
