2013-01-24
One of the first bits of Ecuadorian cultural advice I remember receiving at Stanford is to expect a lot of noise. Our innocent, pre-departure selves were told that the dogs bark more here, the music is played louder, and the cars never cease to honk. I listened to the advice, processed it, and then forgot about it. I was...
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2013-01-24
A version of this blog has also been featured on Everyday Ambassador. Follow this link to read the story there. _____________________________________ ¨ANTECEDENTES: El Patronato es un organismo de carácter social, creado para dar protección social a los grupos humanos más vulnerables del cantón. El accionar parte de las políticas trazadas por el Gobierno Cantonal...
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2013-01-22
(This post was originally a speech I made for my “Speak-up” presentation addressed to the entire Ecuador cohort during Training Seminar 2 in Esmeraldas. I left most of the speech as is for some soundness.) This post has to do with the most profound thing I have ever heard that came up in a class during the last semester of...
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2013-01-22
For the past four months, my life has largely existed without the word “Thank You.” This absence does not by any means indicate a lack of gratitude or appreciation. It doesn’t mean that my passing of the hot pepper at the dinner bowl was a worthless action, nor does it mean that bringing cotton balls...
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What do you see in the picture above? Two realities exist, whether you see the young woman or an elderly woman. Illusions like this are meant to make you look twice, to train not only your eyes, but also your imagination to see things in a different perspective. Many aspects of society often beg multiple...
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2013-01-17
Let me tell you about a sweet little village called Ventanas in the middle of the Ecuadorian jungle country. This part of the country is a mix between the Amazonian Jungle and the coast, leaving us with an almost always cloudy but still hot climate. In the words of pretty much all Ecuadorians that have been to this village...
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2013-01-17
In my last blog post, I talked about how my host community, Pedro Vicente Maldonado, is not really poor. Although this is true, there are still some telltale signs of a relatively underdeveloped community. While reading Voices of the Poor, there were a few parts that really stuck out to me. To start out, I...
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