For both better and worse, October was a very
eventful month.
When
I arrived in August my oldest host sister, Cristina, was pregnant with her
second child. In the beginning of September she started having contractions-
since the baby, Tomás, was not due for another six weeks she was put on bed
rest. The date for her actual delivery was the 10th of October.
Although we live twenty minutes from Ibarra, the capitol of the well-populated
province Imbaburra, the hospitals here are not the best quality. So, to deliver
the baby Cris and her husband drove to a women’s clinic in Quito, two and a
half hours away. My mom and I drove down the following day with the intention
of being there for the birth. However, there were complications and the baby
died. The funeral was held the next day back in Ibarra. Obviously, this has
been very hard on my entire family. I personally have never experienced
anything so heartbreaking.
The
birth ended up being a caesarian section, so my sister was prescribed bed rest
for an additional two weeks. During that time I spent a lot of time with her,
chatting, reading, and watching a lot of bad Mexican soap operas.
Lately
Cris has been doing much better. We are very close, and I often run errands
with her after school. She owns a cake making business and is also the head of
quality control for a small fair trade company from the US called “One Little
World”. I have always been very interested in fair trade business, so I love
being able to travel around the city with her and meet the artisans in their
home workshops. It is really incredible to see how much they are benefitting
from the fair wages they earn. Those who have been contracted by this company,
and similar ones, have a much higher quality of life than the other artisans
working in Otavalo. Nearly all of them have cars, and have been able to
purchase not only necessary appliance, such as clothes-dryers and washers, but
televisions and computers too. This is a really great initiative, and I hope to
find a way to stay involved when I return home.
In
regards to school, these past few weeks have been very interesting, for the
student government elections were held. In BSHS student council/ school office
elections were very relaxed. If someone were to make posters this would be
considered putting in a large effort. So, when I saw how elaborate the
campaigns are here I was floored. First of all, instead of running as
individual candidates, two ballots are made of ten students each, ranging in
age from Kindergarten to senior year. The opposing ballots are referred to as
“List 1” and “List 2”. After the teams are made a week of debates and various
campaign stunts is held.
During
lunch break turntables, speakers and megaphones were brought in to create a
club-like atmosphere. Given that my school is K-12, it was a popular strategy to
try and win over the elementary school kids (the youth demographic, if you
will). To that end, freeze pops and candies were distributed while faces were
painted with campaign colors.
This
all reached a climax the day before the elections. A large stage was set up in
the courtyard for the candidates to run their respective rallies from. It felt
more like a music festival than school! List #1 contracted four different
musical groups, a hip hop dancer/contortionist and stilt walkers! This was
topped by List #2 who brought in the DJ & rapper duo from the most popular
discotech in the city! In addition to a hip hop dance troupe!
Considering
that girls are not allowed to have painted finger nails in school, my mind was
blown by such ostentatious displays. The day was very fun, but in general I
think that permitting extravagant campaigns is unjust. Whoever’s family can
afford to put on the most outrageous event wins! The candidates are elected
more on their performance than merit. Yet, I suppose that this is a more
accurate reflection of politics than our school elections.
Overall,
everything is going very well! Although there are certainly things that I miss
about home I haven’t been overwhelmingly homesick. I think that this has
something to do with the weather. I cannot believe that it is November, almost
Thanksgiving! It’s perpetually late August here. Time has stopped still! Maybe
if I had changing seasons to reference how long I’ve been away I would be
lonelier.
But,
of course, my family is wonderful!, and they tell me that my Spanish is coming
along very well. I had my first (part of a) dream in Spanish! It was really
only a sentence, after which I immediately woke up startled. Even so, I am
certainly making progress, and hopefully learning a little bit more every day!
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