I think the cultural adjustment challenges that I predicted for myself at the beginning of the quarter are about the same now. I know that I will struggle with being outgoing and confident in my ability to communicate with others and have to push myself sometimes to engage instead of retract. But I have also realized a few others things that I ( Read more... )

15. Popular foods in Ecuador are stews, corn pancakes, rice, eggs, vegetables, and seafood. Some specialities are caldo de patas (soup made from cow hooves) and cuy (whole roasted guinea pigs.) Three meals are eaten each day at about the same hours as we eat in the United States. Meals are generally very informal and practically no restaurants ( Read more... )

Survival Kit Q&A ( Read more... )

Today, Day of Presence, I went to the watch the movie 'Space Traders' at 2 o'clock. The premise of the movie was that aliens had come down to Earth and offered the United States a deal where they would solve all of their problems - pollution, debt, etc. - if the United States would give up all of their African Americans. I was a little horrified ( Read more... )

For my field observation, I went to St. Mark's Episcopal Cathedral in Seattle. They have labrinyths there, taped on the floor, and you can go there and walk the labrinyth. You take your shoes off and everyone is completely silent and walks the labrinyth. At first, it was hard for me to maintain my composure because it was strange to be in this ( Read more... )

I really enjoyed the story 'Everything is Nice' by Jane Bowles. I think the fiction story description of culture shock gives the reader a new perspective on how people deal with culture shock. The way the story was written, you could really see how foreign this new world was for the main character. All of the conversations started by the woman ( Read more... )

So far, I haven't thought too much in detail about my study abroad project. I know that overall, I really want to go to Latin America. My ideal location would be Ecuador and I know that through Chris and CIMAS, I can do that at Evergreen. I would also, however, enjoy many other places in Latin America and depending on what I want to study while ( Read more... )

I find it really interesting to read journals by other students who have travelled abroad because it gives the deepest truest feelings from their most disoriented and perhaps, panicked days, which I think really says something about their thought-processes and eventually, about their change throughout their trip. I could really relate to Eli in ( Read more... )

One thing about this reading that I could really relate with was the feeling of wanting things to be familiar, or how I mistakenly called it : "normal." On page nine of the text, it says, "You will begin to miss the most simple and familiar things in life [...] If you are sitting in your room abroad, we are confident that you understand the ( Read more... )

I'm finding in this reading that much of what is being is composed of ideas and concepts that I already had thought about, but perhaps did not have a concrete name or definition for.  I am interested to learn the new vocabulary words and to learn a little of the history of cultural thought, such as the work of Lewis Morgan, whose work would now be ( Read more... )