Study Abroad Assignment and Adventure
Before I post again to make this a legit blog I would like to share the email from my dad that I just received, he titled it "are we having fun yet?"
The helicopter crash at Quito delayed our flight by an hour.* The Copa people told us three times “don’t worry” about the connecting flight from Panama City to LA. Silly us. We thought “don’t worry” meant they would hold the plane. But no. Even though we got to the gate right at the scheduled time, the plane has already departed. So Copa booked us on the next flight to LAX (the same time, just one day later). So we (plus 22 other people) got to spend the night in Panama City at Copa’s expense.
We took in a tour of the Colonial part of the City. Then we went to see the Canal. Our tour guide said we would have no problem making it back to the hotel b y 4:30 for the Copa shuttle to the airport. He got us back to the hotel at 5:00. So he got to take us to the airport. On the way to the airport, he kept saying he had never seen such bad traffic. So we got to the airport with about 50 minutes to go. We plunged ahead of people through baggage check, customs and then security. We ran to the gate, where the other 22 people who missed the flight the night before began applauding for us.
We sat next to a young man who was coming back from visiting his family in Ecuador. He is a US Marine who is on his way to his second tour in Afghanistan. So with some perspective, we were having an adventure, not a difficult time.
What have you done to learn about your host-country’s culture?
Before I stepped on the plane I read. A lot. Mostly guide books which have a handy condensed history and culture section either in the front or in the back. I figured I was doing well when I checked out three guide books from the Salem library. Also, reviewing my textbook from my History of Latin America helped, as well as anything from my Colonial Latin America class. Honestly, it gave me a new perspective on how that time period shaped Latin America as it is today.
My suggestion to anyone traveling to another country is to read up on that country, don't wait to get there to start learning. There was one student at the orientation who didn't know what FARC was. How do you get this close to Colombia and not know about that? Ask a lot of questions, many people are eager to share about their culture (at least in Ecuador) if you show genuine interest.
What parts of the culture are you learning about?
I have learned about the youth/rocker culture from my Ecuadorian friends, and more everyday Quito culture from my host parents as well as Fernando and Eugenia who gave us a rundown of do's and don't when we got here (greetings consist of ONE kiss on the cheek, not two, people will look at you weird if you give two...actually I learned that the hard way). Also, I guess part of the religious culture since I go to mass with the family, but it's pretty similar to mass in the U.S. except no one holds out their hands for the Eucharist, they do it old-school-stick-out-your-tongue. Still haven't gotten used to that.
I find this question kind of hard to answer. What do they mean with "parts" of the culture, isn't culture everything, including how people think? I think of it as seeping into everything with it's edges blurring. Trying to isolate just one part of a culture is like trying to carve out just the chocolate in marbled ice cream. You're going to get some vanilla even if you try very carefully.
What parts of the host culture do you enjoy the most?
How friendly the people are. I was camping with some friends and the people camping across the field from us came over just to say hello and to tell us that if we needed anything to not hesitate to ask. We offered them some marshmallows. As one Ecuadorian friend told me, "everyone in Ecuador is a friend."
What are the least enjoyable parts?
The poverty and the distance between social classes which lead to children begging in the streets. I can handle catcalling, it's something else to be followed by a five year-old with a dirty face asking for money and knowing that if you give him or her money it will just give the parents more reason to keep sending him or her out to the streets to beg instead of sending the child to school.
Why do you dislike these aspects of the culture?
There are children. Begging. In the streets. I don't feel like I should have to explain.
*There was a nasty helicopter crash during an air force ceremony on Tuesday. The pilot lost control while doing a manuver and crashed into the runway. Last I heard the two pilots survived and were in stable condition, which is a miracle as you can see what happened here.
The helicopter crash at Quito delayed our flight by an hour.* The Copa people told us three times “don’t worry” about the connecting flight from Panama City to LA. Silly us. We thought “don’t worry” meant they would hold the plane. But no. Even though we got to the gate right at the scheduled time, the plane has already departed. So Copa booked us on the next flight to LAX (the same time, just one day later). So we (plus 22 other people) got to spend the night in Panama City at Copa’s expense.
We took in a tour of the Colonial part of the City. Then we went to see the Canal. Our tour guide said we would have no problem making it back to the hotel b y 4:30 for the Copa shuttle to the airport. He got us back to the hotel at 5:00. So he got to take us to the airport. On the way to the airport, he kept saying he had never seen such bad traffic. So we got to the airport with about 50 minutes to go. We plunged ahead of people through baggage check, customs and then security. We ran to the gate, where the other 22 people who missed the flight the night before began applauding for us.
We sat next to a young man who was coming back from visiting his family in Ecuador. He is a US Marine who is on his way to his second tour in Afghanistan. So with some perspective, we were having an adventure, not a difficult time.
What have you done to learn about your host-country’s culture?
Before I stepped on the plane I read. A lot. Mostly guide books which have a handy condensed history and culture section either in the front or in the back. I figured I was doing well when I checked out three guide books from the Salem library. Also, reviewing my textbook from my History of Latin America helped, as well as anything from my Colonial Latin America class. Honestly, it gave me a new perspective on how that time period shaped Latin America as it is today.
My suggestion to anyone traveling to another country is to read up on that country, don't wait to get there to start learning. There was one student at the orientation who didn't know what FARC was. How do you get this close to Colombia and not know about that? Ask a lot of questions, many people are eager to share about their culture (at least in Ecuador) if you show genuine interest.
What parts of the culture are you learning about?
I have learned about the youth/rocker culture from my Ecuadorian friends, and more everyday Quito culture from my host parents as well as Fernando and Eugenia who gave us a rundown of do's and don't when we got here (greetings consist of ONE kiss on the cheek, not two, people will look at you weird if you give two...actually I learned that the hard way). Also, I guess part of the religious culture since I go to mass with the family, but it's pretty similar to mass in the U.S. except no one holds out their hands for the Eucharist, they do it old-school-stick-out-your-tongue. Still haven't gotten used to that.
I find this question kind of hard to answer. What do they mean with "parts" of the culture, isn't culture everything, including how people think? I think of it as seeping into everything with it's edges blurring. Trying to isolate just one part of a culture is like trying to carve out just the chocolate in marbled ice cream. You're going to get some vanilla even if you try very carefully.
What parts of the host culture do you enjoy the most?
How friendly the people are. I was camping with some friends and the people camping across the field from us came over just to say hello and to tell us that if we needed anything to not hesitate to ask. We offered them some marshmallows. As one Ecuadorian friend told me, "everyone in Ecuador is a friend."
What are the least enjoyable parts?
The poverty and the distance between social classes which lead to children begging in the streets. I can handle catcalling, it's something else to be followed by a five year-old with a dirty face asking for money and knowing that if you give him or her money it will just give the parents more reason to keep sending him or her out to the streets to beg instead of sending the child to school.
Why do you dislike these aspects of the culture?
There are children. Begging. In the streets. I don't feel like I should have to explain.
*There was a nasty helicopter crash during an air force ceremony on Tuesday. The pilot lost control while doing a manuver and crashed into the runway. Last I heard the two pilots survived and were in stable condition, which is a miracle as you can see what happened here.