Back-to-School Night

This evening was back-to-school night at Caleb's high school, Colegio Nuevo Mundo, although I didn't realize that until about 30 minutes into the program. The parents of the 7th, 8th, and 9th graders gathered in the school library and the (Executive?) Manager of the non-profit organization that runs the school gave a PowerPoint presentation about long-range goals and changes in the organization's top positions. Then the President (of the Board?) of the non-profit organization, also with a PowerPoint presentation, spoke briefly about several programs in which the school is participating, such as two partnerships with local universities, the purpose of which I did not catch.

Next up was a man I determined must be the new Director of the school. He said their theme for the year is "coherence." That made a lot of sense to me, as some of the 9th grade academics have seem discombobulated and it turns out it's not just my ignorance with the system.

One of the topics the Director raised briefly was AH1N1 flu. He noted that a school committee was diligently working to raise awareness of symptoms and actions to take (applause for the committee). For example, this information was on the bulletin board in a stairwell (click on the photo to enlarge it - "gripe" is "flu"):

We also heard from a faculty member about the curriculum related to drugs, sex, and alcohol, and from another about the Ecuadorian Enterprise Partnership Project, which has paired a telecommunications company with the school to provide technical assistance in management aspects such as human resources and finance. The Finance & Administration Director got up next and pleaded with the parents to pay their monthly tuition and transportation fees within the allotted 10 days at the beginning of each month. Shortly thereafter, we were directed to proceed to our child's homeroom for more information specific to each grade.

Here is a photo of Caleb's classroom with its 22 desks for the 22 students. The side walls are totally blank except for a small bulletin board, and the homeroom teacher informed us that the 9th graders had a plan to paint them in mural fashion. First, she said, they are collecting money to pay for the paint. She assured the parents that the mural would be about something positive and useful, like values the kids want to promote.

At the back of the classroom is a set of lockers, some of which have padlocks. Apparently, the class's supplies they've collected thus far - like the stapler that Caleb brought in? - are in one of the lockers and its padlock key is entrusted to a different 9th grader each week.

At the back of the classroom there's also a boombox. What you see out through the window is the sun setting behind Pichincha Mountain. Maybe you can also detect the denseness of the city at its base.
Here the homeroom teacher Paulina is writing on the whiteboard the name of each class, who teaches it, and what his/her office hours are. The parents diligently copied it all down.

One of the parents' complaints was that the kids were told today to procure supplies for science class tomorrow, which is too little time, especially given the obscurity of the items and the lack of suggestion from the science teacher as to where to procure them. The list for each student included a microscope (??), a dissection needle, an apron, and toilet paper. Most of the rest of the items Jens is currently looking up in online Spanish-English dictionaries, and he seems to be having little success translating them. The homeroom teacher said she would talk to the science teacher about providing more time and more guidance. Overall, she was very open, warm, and encouraging of communication, which I liked.

After the session, I went up to ask Paulina several questions I had. One of them was about when there would be school holidays. She said, "Oh, don't worry, we'll give you LOTS of warning. Let's see... the next one is October 9th." (That's the Friday after next.) A couple of moms who were still hanging around were a bit amused by my request and they joined the conversation, helping the teacher figure out the rest of the holidays this calendar year, which are, I learned, November 2-3 and December 25-31. I asked about Quito Day (December 6th) and they noted it falls on a weekend this year. However, Paulina assured me they would celebrate properly during the school days around the weekend. That will be a fun experience for Caleb, I'm sure.

-Spee

Recycling and Car Alarms, Part II

Remember my discomfort with throwing everything into the trash, with no composting or recycling of any kind? Here's the recycling system in Quito, which I saw in action this afternoon: The mother (sorry, I only was able to catch her from behind) is reviewing what's in the trash bags, the daughter is collecting bottles and cans in the green bag, and the son is taking the cardboard over to the side, flattening it, and making a neat pile. They will be able to take their load somewhere north of Quito and receive compensation for it.

Below is a picture taken out our bedroom window. I wanted to show you the car whose alarm is constantly triggered by the airplanes' landing and taking off from Quito International Airport, interrupting Jens's sleep. Just as I pushed the shutter button, look what roared in from overhead - a plane coming in for a landing!

The spectacular mountain in the background is Pichincha.

-Spee

Farms, Fiestas, and Films

As part of Natalie’s agricultural studies this semester, she is taking a series of field trips to markets, farms, and other destinations with her grandfather Gene, who organizes the outings using his many connections. Gene seems to be having a great time participating in his granddaughter’s education and Jens, too, when he gets the chance to go along.


If you’d like to learn about their adventures, I recommend Natalie’s blog at http://nat-travels.blogspot.com/. At the moment, she’s in Latacunga, having joined a friend of a Westtown friend at a big festival called “Fiestas de la Mama Negra.” We look forward to her report when she returns on Friday.

Last evening, we joined Helen at a showing of an Ecuadorian film called “Qué Tan Lejos” at Helen and Gene’s church, put on by the Spanish-speaking congregation (mostly Ecuadorians). The movie is about two young women – one Ecuadorian and the other Spanish – traveling through Ecuador at a time when a general strike has shut down most transportation and businesses. I found the discussion after the viewing very interesting and educational about Ecuador and Ecuadorians. For example, the group discussed the stunning beauty of their country and how it takes an outsider to remind them of that. Here are a couple of pictures I took today during our afternoon walk.



The group also talked about one of the movie’s themes, emigration from Ecuador, particularly to Spain. I was interested to hear their perspectives on why people go, how it changes them, what it does to families, and to what extent the emigrees’ dreams are fulfilled.

I hadn’t realized how extensive this migration was, although I was aware that Ecuadorians are the fourth largest Latino group in New York after Puerto Ricans, Dominicans, and Mexicans. The topic was particularly pertinent to us, as earlier in the day, Helen and Gene had had a lengthy luncheon with an Ecuadorian from the indigenous population who’s been in Spain for 15 years and is back for a visit. We learned that he’s living a much more comfortable life in Spain than he would have lived here, but he and his family live with negative factors such as prejudice and separation from their home communities. Also yesterday, our neighbor's sister (not of the indigenous Ecuadorian population) arrived from Spain after 10 years there. She decided to come back with her family for various economic, social, and educational reasons. I wonder how the adjustment will go for each family member, especially her school-aged children.

Speaking of adjustment, Caleb continues to work hard in school. You remember his class’s wish list for their homeroom? He reported that some items have trickled in, notably toilet paper. (I had forgotten that that was on the list!) After school/work today, we went on another exploratory hike in the Parque Metropolitano, which I enjoyed a great deal. In the picture below, Jens is explaining to Caleb how some Latino men express their love through graffiti. (Click on the photo to make it larger.)



-Spee

An Outing to Test Our Lungs and Legs

Yesterday, we had a fun hike up Cerro Ilaló, a small mountain on which we wanted to test our lungs and our legs. ("Cerro" means "hill," but the Ecuadorians have a different conception of mountains and hills than we have back home.) Here we are getting started at about 8,200 feet above sea level.














Here we are catching our breath.















Here we are continuing on our way. The water has helped carve the well used path through the volcanic dirt. The dry season is just ending and signs of fire are everywhere.















Natalie and I turned back before reaching the top, but Jens and Caleb kept going. Here is Caleb almost at the cross at the summit.














Here is Jens at the top at about 9,800 feet above sea level.















On the way back down, we ran into a group of tired Boy Scouts who were also descending. We were a bit tired too, but it was a great outing, and our lungs and legs are ready for a bigger challenge next weekend or soon thereafter.

-Spee

"Así es"

Caleb came home from school the other day with the next list of supplies needed for his classes. This list was for Art Class, and it included paint brushes, a smock, colored pencils, and other articles that we readily found at Super Paco, which is like a small version of Staples. Caleb asked if we could also buy a stapler for his classroom. He explained that the first day of school the 9^th Graders made a “wish list” for their homeroom, which included a full-sized pencil sharpener, a boom box, and a stapler, and it was the latter that he wanted to contribute. So we put a stapler into our shopping basket.

Near the end of Caleb’s list of art supplies was “1 quart of yellow acrylic paint” with the name of the paint brand, Condor. There was no sign in Super Paco of metal paint cans, so we headed to the hardware store and purchased it there. When I asked Caleb why the paint had to be yellow, he explained that each student had been assigned a specific color so that once all the paint had been brought in, they would have the full complement needed for Art Class.

Así es. That’s how it is. C’est la vie. It’s a whole different way of financing education. For 9^th Grade in Colegio Nuevo Mundo, we put down $110 for enrollment and insurance and paid $90 for Caleb’s multi-piece uniform. Now we pay a monthly tuition fee of $142 and a monthly bus transportation fee of $40. One aspect to this system of contributing supplies to the school is it allows for the families with fewer resources to contribute less and thereby lower the cost of their children’s education.

Here’s another insight into “Así es.” We live very close to Quito International Airport and the jet planes roar in and out overhead. (A huge new airport is under construction outside the city, responding to complaints over many years that Quito needs longer runways, less of a steep dive in and out among mountains, and more distance from dense populations.) The vibrations caused by these planes trigger car alarms in our neighborhood. Even a truck driving by can trigger car alarms. It’s enough to drive you batty.

We were discussing this annoyance with our friends Sandra and Tom over dinner the other night, shortly after hearing from Sandra about her human rights work with refugees from Colombia who demonstrate a lot of initiative and energy in comparison to the local Ecuadorian population, which causes tension between the two. Tom told us how he’d finally convinced the skeptical dealer to set the alarm on their new car on the “least sensitive” setting. Jens talked about how a car alarm right behind our apartment outside our bedroom window goes off several times a night. We discussed various approaches: the Ecuadorian approach to these annoying car alarms is “Así es” and the American approach is to take action, for example, by speaking with the neighbor, while Sandra said the Colombian approach would be to shoot up your neighbor’s car if it was that annoying!

This is not to say that everyone just sits around accepting things as they are. Here’s a different story: As the movers were finishing their delivery of our rented furniture and appliances last month, I went around the apartment and up to the roof-top laundry room and maid’s quarters to see what was missing. I noticed the dryer was not plugged in and upon inspection, realized that the cord was too short to reach the plug high up on the wall. Later, I mentioned this to one of the moving fellows, suggesting we might need to buy a special extension cord, but he assured me he had taken care of the matter. Here’s a picture of how he solved the problem. Very creative!

Quebradas and Arrows

The other day after Caleb arrived home from school and ate a hefty snack, he, Jens, and I took a little excursion to the Parque Metropolitano Guangüiltagua in the car Helen and Gene have lent us, the Hyundai Atso. We call it “Atso” for short and could say that it’s named after the famous Finnish orchestral conductor Atso Almila, but I prefer the meaning “Ability To Survive and Operate.” Driving in Quito can be nuts. Here’s a picture of this small, fuel-efficient vehicle that lacks great oomph, but does a fine job getting us around.


For a city, Quito has a good amount of green space, which is wonderful. The Parque Metropolitano, with its forest cover of planted eucalyptus trees, dominates the long crest of a hill (not a mountain by Ecuadorian standards, but certainly by New Jersey ones) on the eastern side of Quito. It faces the long, high ridge formed by Pichincha Mountain on the western side of the city. The blog “Positivo Ecuador” says, “Considered one of the largest urban parks in the world, with an area of 1,410 acres, the Parque Metropolitano is a space for recreation and relaxation for the residents of the capital city who live consumed by the stress of the city” (my translation). Here’s a view of the park’s forest from the roof of our house.

Although not feeling “consumed by the stress of the city,” we had a really nice walk in the park, working our lungs a lot to continue acclimating to the altitude, which up there is close to 10,000 feet above sea level. Jens is full of stories of how Ecuador and the city of Quito used to be and especially loves to tell of the “quebradas,” the huge ravines cut into the volcanic dirt by water, many of which have been filled in for urban development. In the Parque Metropolitano we could see the tops of ravines that widened and gaped down into the valleys miles away. We could imagine Jens scampering along underneath the brush, following the tunnels where the water rushes when it rains, and encountering many exotic natural and human-made items of interest.

As part of his sharing his past, Jens taught Caleb how to make an arrow using a hollow stalk of sawgrass reeds and a eucalyptus acorn. Eucalyptus acorns are shaped a bit like an arrowhead with an indentation perfect for fitting snugly onto the tip of the reed to make a nice point for the arrow. Here’s a picture of Caleb throwing his arrow into a quebrada from the look-out post.

-Spee

Sunday in Quito

This morning was another 3-mountain day in Quito. Here’s the view of Cotopaxi Mountain from our roof, where we were hanging laundry. It seems we’ll have to do laundry often because of how few uniform outfits Caleb has for school. It’s a good thing it’s the dry season and almost any day is good for hanging out clothes.

Sundays are a bit different here. I miss going to Quaker Meeting. My father-in-law Gene already had the idea of starting a Quaker Worship Group here, so we’ve been exploring that together. The first person we asked about how to get out the word was a young woman who works at the U.S. Embassy. Her reply surprised us: It turns out she grew up in a Quaker family in Indiana. She herself didn’t seem too interested in worshipping with us, but will help us publicize the place and date, once we figure that out ourselves.

We’ve been going to Helen and Gene’s church instead of Quaker Meeting. It’s the English congregation of a Lutheran church that also has a Spanish congregation and a German congregation. The English congregation draws people from many different religious backgrounds, although most are what they call “mainline” Protestants. I get very confused with the texts, hymns, stand-ups, and sit-downs. One great thing about going to church is seeing people Jens has known forever and whom I probably met on my first trip to Ecuador 24 years ago (wow!).

This afternoon, Natalie has been doing her usual Goddard work. During her 8-day residency at the college in late August, she made a plan with her advisor for this semester, which has a focus on midwifery and farming and social change. She has a blog at http://nat-travels.blogspot.com/, but I see she hasn't yet talked about her studies. That doesn't mean she hasn’t been busy – she’s been working this afternoon on a bibliography and a paper. Gene, her grandfather, is all excited about taking her on field trips and discussing agriculture and social change with her.

Caleb is doing homework this afternoon and it’s not easy. For example, he has to write out in Spanish the number 23,363.4451, which they write as 23.363,4451. He had only barely learned his numbers in Spanish up to 1,000 before Math class on Friday, so he has 3 times as much work as his classmates to do the homework. I'm impressed, though, at how he keeps up his interest and moves ahead. He had a lot of new vocabulary in his notes from History class, some of it being new words for him in English as well, such as rhetoric, discourse, Machiavelli, and Pavlov. Doesn’t that combination of words make you wonder what the theme of the History lecture was? Jens is trying to help Caleb figure that out.

Here’s a picture of Jens and me at the supermarket loading our groceries into orange reusable grocery bags (that’s a big, yummy, ripe papaya I'm touching). We already have accumulated well over 50 plastic bags from shopping, and I’m trying not to accumulate any more. It’s been feeling really weird to put everything into the trash can and not recycle anything, but I keep reminding myself that the recycling must be happening – surely someone is going through our garbage somewhere and taking out anything reusable. That’s the way it is in the developing world.

-Spee