Hola hola hola!
Things are going great here. This weekend we went with my school to a subtropical forest and swam under a waterfall after a very long hike though millions of different types of plants. We were on the equator and learned about how intelligent the Inca people were. They knew sooo much that Europe did not, but sadly most of the information was destroyed by the conquistadors. But, on a lighter note...we balanced an egg on a nail because of some crazy thing with energy on the equator. It was pretty incredible. Last night we went out for the first time in Quito, we went to a salsa club. There was a band of almost 10 guys from Cuba who were PHENOMINAL. Everyone was dancing and have an amazing time. It is incredible to watch the way people can salsa dance....it is like they have practiced that specific routine 100 times. The vibe was just amazing...so much fun!
Otherwise, things are great. My host family is still amazing and everyone on the trip so great thus far as well! That is all I got for now......please email me and update me on life in the US...snide040@umn.edu
Nos Vemos!
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Los Principios
Wow! Quito! This city is quite a mix of amazing things. Firstly, it is surrounded by mountains and volcanos, although the smog or clouds have stopped me from seeing the tallest point of the largest snow capped volcano. Secondly, the contrast between one building to the next is incredible. One store will look almost completly run down and then the next looks like it was built last year and is flurishing. There are stray dogs and cats roaming around and people trying to sell you fruit at almost every stop light. Thus far, I love it.
We got our introduction into our program today and, man, was it inspiring. All of the people on my trip have such great goals and motivation to acheive them, I cannot wait to get to know everyone better. The leaders of the program have great attitudes about what this program is all about as well. They gave us a little pep talk about how the world is in crisis right now so we need to figure how that happened and what we need to do to change it, and the means of doing this is through what one man called a spiritual potluck. They come at our education from a stance that we all have many important things to say and they want us to share them and they will share their expansive knowledge and together we shall all grow as people.They really want us to look at them as friends and as people not as powerful figures. It is a very non power relationships approach to education, how refreshing!
We then met our host families!!! I am in love with mine thus far. I have a wonderful mother named Monica who when we met came at me with a huge hug (that was a relief!), a little host sister who is 13 (and speaks 4 languages), and a father who is simply a prince (one of the nicest most inclusive people ever made I think). We live in a nice part of town with an incredible view of Quito. Tonight we stood on the balcony and looked at all the lights of the city and I thought I was in a dream.
So, moral of the story is things are going very well!! This weekend we are going on a retreat to a cloud forest, I think. Thanks for reading for those of you who are and I hope that things are going well for everyone at home! I miss everyone!
We got our introduction into our program today and, man, was it inspiring. All of the people on my trip have such great goals and motivation to acheive them, I cannot wait to get to know everyone better. The leaders of the program have great attitudes about what this program is all about as well. They gave us a little pep talk about how the world is in crisis right now so we need to figure how that happened and what we need to do to change it, and the means of doing this is through what one man called a spiritual potluck. They come at our education from a stance that we all have many important things to say and they want us to share them and they will share their expansive knowledge and together we shall all grow as people.They really want us to look at them as friends and as people not as powerful figures. It is a very non power relationships approach to education, how refreshing!
We then met our host families!!! I am in love with mine thus far. I have a wonderful mother named Monica who when we met came at me with a huge hug (that was a relief!), a little host sister who is 13 (and speaks 4 languages), and a father who is simply a prince (one of the nicest most inclusive people ever made I think). We live in a nice part of town with an incredible view of Quito. Tonight we stood on the balcony and looked at all the lights of the city and I thought I was in a dream.
So, moral of the story is things are going very well!! This weekend we are going on a retreat to a cloud forest, I think. Thanks for reading for those of you who are and I hope that things are going well for everyone at home! I miss everyone!
Friday, January 16, 2009
Pre-Ecuador Blog
Hello!!
I have sent you a link to the site I hope to be blogging on while in Ecuador. Now, I must confess that I have never been a "blogger" before and I cannot promise that I will be any good at keeping up on this or writing any sort of profound anythings. BUT I really would like to keep in touch with people while abroad and I thought that this was a good start. Now, the other task is for people to tell me what is going on their lives when I am abroad because I know I am not the only person who will have stories to tell. With that said....
I do not have much to say about my trip yet (being that I am still in Minnesota) so this is more a short practice post. I leave on Monday January 19th at 10:30 am. AAHH!! I am getting excited, very excited. Oops, for those of you who do not know even why I am blogging....I am going to be studying abroad in Ecuador this spring through a program called MSID Ecuador (Minnesota Studies in International Development). The program is set up so the first 1/2 of the trip we spend in Quito (major city and capital of Ecuador) learning about development and globalization in Ecuador and the second 1/2 of the trip is spent at an internship site. The track which I am on is education and literacy so my internship site will be at a school most likely and this school could be anywhere from in the rain forest to on an island to in the mountains, I won't know until I am there for a while, but everyone goes off alone to their own site. The internship aspect is a main reason why I signed up. My personal goal is to be able to implement theatrical tools in the classroom experience, because lets face it...we do not all learn the exact same way and I hope to encourage using the physical/creative side of our brains as much as possible. I also cannot wait to learn about how the educational system works in a country that is not my own, I think that there is a lot to learn about the different methods of teaching and learning that could benefit everyone. So in a nutshell that is the plan for the next 4 and 1/2 months, we shall see how all of this actually happens and what of what i have just written is totally different when i come back! :)
Okay, that is my game plan. If you are interested in seeing what is going on feel free to check back to this website. If not, no harm done I will see you in June!! Have a fantastic day!
~Julia~
PS- As stated above...please keep me updated on your lives as well. please. please please.
PPS- I watched The Motorcycle Diaries last night and it got me quite inspired, if you have not seen this movie I HIGHLY suggest that you do.
I have sent you a link to the site I hope to be blogging on while in Ecuador. Now, I must confess that I have never been a "blogger" before and I cannot promise that I will be any good at keeping up on this or writing any sort of profound anythings. BUT I really would like to keep in touch with people while abroad and I thought that this was a good start. Now, the other task is for people to tell me what is going on their lives when I am abroad because I know I am not the only person who will have stories to tell. With that said....
I do not have much to say about my trip yet (being that I am still in Minnesota) so this is more a short practice post. I leave on Monday January 19th at 10:30 am. AAHH!! I am getting excited, very excited. Oops, for those of you who do not know even why I am blogging....I am going to be studying abroad in Ecuador this spring through a program called MSID Ecuador (Minnesota Studies in International Development). The program is set up so the first 1/2 of the trip we spend in Quito (major city and capital of Ecuador) learning about development and globalization in Ecuador and the second 1/2 of the trip is spent at an internship site. The track which I am on is education and literacy so my internship site will be at a school most likely and this school could be anywhere from in the rain forest to on an island to in the mountains, I won't know until I am there for a while, but everyone goes off alone to their own site. The internship aspect is a main reason why I signed up. My personal goal is to be able to implement theatrical tools in the classroom experience, because lets face it...we do not all learn the exact same way and I hope to encourage using the physical/creative side of our brains as much as possible. I also cannot wait to learn about how the educational system works in a country that is not my own, I think that there is a lot to learn about the different methods of teaching and learning that could benefit everyone. So in a nutshell that is the plan for the next 4 and 1/2 months, we shall see how all of this actually happens and what of what i have just written is totally different when i come back! :)
Okay, that is my game plan. If you are interested in seeing what is going on feel free to check back to this website. If not, no harm done I will see you in June!! Have a fantastic day!
~Julia~
PS- As stated above...please keep me updated on your lives as well. please. please please.
PPS- I watched The Motorcycle Diaries last night and it got me quite inspired, if you have not seen this movie I HIGHLY suggest that you do.
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