Patriotism & Politics

Greetings! Though classes seem to be off to a slow start (I haven’t had too much work…yet), a few exciting things did happen this week. On Monday I got my Censo, which is my government ID card while I am in Ecuador that basically says I’m not here illegally. Tuesday was quite an exciting day to be a US citizen, with the whole world tuned into the inauguration. I had planned on running to a computer lab to watch the ceremony and speech on YouTube when my class was over at 1, but luckily, my professor let us break from 11:50-12:30 to watch history in the making on the big screen TVs that were playing CNN all day all over campus. I got chills and a little teary-eyed during the ceremony from all the excitement and patriotism, if only because I never realized how closely our politics are followed abroad.

Earlier on Tuesday morning, one of my literature professors, who is a New York native, asked all his “gringos” to stay after class for a few minutes. He made himself available to us for any questions or concerns we might be having about being in Quito, living with host families, being at the school, taking classes, etc. He also told us that while the gringos think it’s hard to break into the Ecuadorian groups of friends, the native students feel the same way about us. He encouraged us to work hard to make friends with Ecuadorians both in his class and beyond. Then, he gave us all a free copy of the guidebook that he helps write (Ecuador & The Galapagos Islands by Viva Travel Guides, if you’re interested) with the expectation that if we notice anything that is outdated or have any suggestions, we let him know. I was so touched!

Finally, today was the first day of my pre-practicum at Colegio Menor, the private prep-school for USFQ. The campus is beautiful and all the teachers and administrators I met were so nice. The principal of the high school had a schedule ready to go for me when I got there in the morning. I observed 10th grade social studies in the morning (which is taught in English) and 12th grade Spanish Literature in the afternoon. (My host sister, Melissa, was actually in this class!) Both teachers were phenomenal and very welcoming.

In the social studies class, the teacher, Sandra (all students call teachers and professors by their first names here – pretty different!) was giving a lecture and powerpoint presentation on the Enlightenment. At one point, she had a quote about tolerance, and asked students what they thought about people with different opinions. In what I’m guessing was an attempt to spice up the class, she asked her students what they thought about homosexuality as a difference of opinion and lifestyle. I was a bit surprised by the reaction of the students, though I should have seen it coming: all at once, they all got very vocal about homosexuality being wrong, unnatural, destructive to society, etc. They used some pretty strong words. There was only one girl in the class bold enough to raise her hand and say that she felt that people should be able to do what they want. Sandra did a really good job of trying to provoke her students to open their minds and consider different arguments about homosexuality, but most of them were quite vocal and stubborn. At one point, she turned to me and asked what people in the States thought about homosexuality. I was definitely thrown off, and not quite ready to sum up the quite controversial subject in a few sentences, but I explained that there is more tolerance and advocacy for gay rights in the US than there is in Ecuador. The students were interested in the fact that gay marriage is legal in some states. The whole conversation was definitely an interesting cultural exchange!