Does anyone read my blog?

Living Another New Life in Cuenca

Since about two weeks ago I have been living on my own here in Cuenca.  It was great experiencing the time I spent living with Tania and her family, however cultural differences and styles of living made me come to the decision that I would like to try living on my own.  I was always worried about waking up the little kids at night if I would come home late from being out with friends and it is also easier now because I am living in the center.  I am renting a room out from an older couple that has a huge house.  One side of the house is for the family, and then the other half is for renting out.  Everything is furnished, so it is convenient.  It is all foreigners that are renting out.  There are people from Madison, Chicago, Minnesota, Germany and Spain.  Another new experience.

Now that I am living in the center it is much easier to walk where I want to go.  I have guitar lessons three days a week and then in the afternoons now I am usually spending time at the orphanage.  Some girls are little brats, but others are really sweet.  I can only try to give them what I have to offer.  Usually we are just chatting, I help them study, or sometimes I need to explain to them what their English homework is asking of them.  

Only about a month and a couple of weeks left.  I plan on continuing to volunteer and then also doing a little bit of traveling as well.  At the end of the trip I will visit my friend who lives in Quito and he will take me to the airport and everything.  I actually met him in the States at the Model United Nations conference (he studies at St. Thomas in the cities) and now he is home in Ecuador for the summer.  So, that convenience will come in handy and I'll have a personal tour guide to show me around Quito a little bit more.  

All for now,

              Kiley     

Backtracking

At the beginning of May my semester program ended and the summer began.  Now that I've been back in Cuenca for a month I'll update you about how the trip to Peru went before I returned to Cuenca.  It was a good end to the program and a nice, relaxing trip.  We rode in a bus for about six hours to the border of Ecuador and Peru and then from there flew in an airplane for an hour to Lima, the capital city.  In Lima we spent time doing city tours and enjoying the first taste of McDonald's food for over four months.  From Lima we then flew to Cuzco, Peru.  Cuzco is a beautiful city with a lot of life.  The only downside of it is that I encountered more people speaking English than Spanish.  However, besides the tourist traps, I found the life of the city down small little side streets and in shops filled with alpaca made clothing.  One other thing we encountered in Cuzco was the Luther semester group that was studying in Peru.  Only on the streets of Cuzco do I run into my fellow classmates and Spanish professor.  

From Cuzco we went in train to Machu Picchu, the infamous "lost Incan city" in the mountains.  There we spent the morning in the clouds (literally) discovering how the Incans lived and questioning why and how they made the things that they did.  After returning from Machu Picchu we rode back to Cuzco and spent some more time shopping and bargaining.  From there it was back to Lima to spend some more time before people in the group were flying home.  Out of a group of eight only three ended up flying home.  Two girls had family coming to visit for a vacation, one was staying in Cuenca for an extra week, and then another girl and myself were returning to Cuenca for the summer.  That brings you up to date until my life back in Cuenca.

I've been working in a shop of a friend of my professor for the past month to earn some extra money.  Then, next week I will be starting my volunteering in the international school where little Camila studies (part of my University here).  It's possible that after my volunteering I will have a job there teaching English in the summer camp.  However, like everything else here in Ecuador the plan is up in the air.   

So, all in all next week will be just as busy as the last:

Volunteer program begins

Guitar Lessons begin

Saturday is Camila's bday (not even half done with the scarf she asked me to knit her)

Keep me posted on any news please.  

Kiley

          

Video and Photos

Late Again

Sorry it has taken me so long again to post an update for all of you. However, I must say that this past month has been very busy. In April I was finishing up classes and my internship, then we had finals, and after that it was time to leave our host families and head to Peru.

We spent eight days in Peru and while there we visited Lima, Cusco and the surrounding areas. We saw a lot in such a short amount of time. However, the trip included 5 airplane rides within the country so that made transportation a bit faster.

At the end of the trip we were all suppose to fly back to the United States. We´ll out of a group of eight only three ended up getting on a plane. Two girls from the group had family coming down for a couple of weeks and then one other girl is staying in Cuenca for the summer like I am doing. After a plane ride and a bus adventure we arrived back in Cuenca at around two in the morning. I headed to my new home in Cuenca, which was pretty exciting. I am now living with my friend Tania, who works at CEDEI and her family. It has been an adventure already and I feel so much more at home here. It probably helps that there are two little kids in the house. Camila, who is five is always at my side.

Last weekend we went to the country with a lot of family to make Chumales, which are kind of like corn bread cooked inside a leaf. It was really fun being able to participate in that and having the family just as interested in my life as I am in theirs. Then, after leaving the country we hurried back to the house to have Sunday family dinner here at the house. There are seven kids in Tania´s family and every Sunday everyone gets together for dinner. Being that it was Mother´s day all the little kids sang to the moms.

Tonight is another family dinner being that it is Sunday. Except today it is at Tania´s parents house. This afternoon Tania and I have to make a double batch of Apple Crisp because the family is in love with it. I introduced them to it last week and then we ended up making two pans of it. Well, on Thursday Tania´s mom came over with another bag of apples from their tree so we could make more.

That´s my day today.

Take care,
Kiley

Holy Week

 This past week was Holy Week here in Cuenca and Thursday night started off the holiday weekend.  My host parents, Leo and I did the infamous tour of the “seven churches” of Cuenca (even though there are 52 in total) and Jacinto and Rebeca (host parents) read two phrases out of a prayer book at each church.  I was utterly amazed at how many people were on the streets walking with their families to visit the churches.  Everywhere we went was packed, in fact we couldn’t even get into two of the churches because they were so full- and these are BIG churches.  It was a really moving experience.

            Unlike in the United States, Good Friday is the biggest day of the holiday weekend here in Cuenca.  There were about 24 people who came over to our house on Friday to eat a dish called “Fanesca” (Fish Soup- but in our house you can chose with or without).  I was told that Friday is a day where family is suppose to join together and not be very active- just spend the afternoon calmly together conversing.  No music, dancing, drinking or celebrating because Jesus was dead.  I got lucky and was at least able to take a nap in the afternoon.  There were people in our house from 11:00 a.m. until 8:00 p.m. when we left to go to the procession in town- a.k.a. mock funeral procession.  Again, I went with Leo and my host parents downtown to partake in the festivities.  I didn’t realize that it was going to be the strongest fake procession I would ever witness in my life.  We walked down the street with a mob of people along side of a vehicle that appeared to be a hearse.  From the inside there was a loud speaker that recited verses for the people in the streets to respond to.  Besides the verses, while we were walking all the people were singing a very drab song while carrying candles.  The procession went until the New Cathedral, where we then continued to watch the rest of the procession pass by.  Within the throng of people we saw not only the hearse, but also a large cross carrying “Jesus” and then the Virgin Mary following behind because the procession is called, “The Tears of Mary”.  Very powerful.   

            Saturday I spent the day with friends looking around at the different exhibits that artists had set up in a park in town. Of course this time of year in Cuenca it has to rain at least once a day, so eventually I ended up going home to spend the rest of the late afternoon reading.

            Today, which is Easter I have yet to leave the house.  Within the day I have had a normal breakfast, lunch, and lazy Sunday afternoon. 

 

Happy Easter- wherever you are.

Kiley                     

Happy Easter and More

This past Friday I went to a city near by named Azogues with my boss and my fellow intern Lupe (She’s studying to be a psychologist).  We were doing a home visit with a family where the child’s father is in the United States working illegally and the family is now separated, as the father has a new wife and child in the States. Consequently, the little boy is suffering in more ways than one. 

It is both interesting and sad for me to see the affects that immigration is having on the families here in Cuenca.  As I am spending my days searching prisons for updates on inmates, calling morgues as a last resort, and listening to mothers cry daily because they don’t know where their child is, I catch myself wondering why they do it?  However, I am now learning more about the answer to my question through the Political Economics of Latin America class that I am talking.

In an economy where the second leading resource of capital towards the GDP is the remittances coming from the United States, it is obvious that illegal immigration is supporting many families financially here in Cuenca.  Although I agree that we must protect our borders to some extent, I also feel that we should make it more available for illegal immigrants to become citizens if they are already in the States.  We are learning that without illegal immigrants taking the jobs that Americans don’t want, the American economy would be in a lot worse shape than it already is.  Believe it, or don’t.  Anyways- I won’t keep going on that because I don’t want to have a hundred comments from all of you.  However, know that I’d be willing at any time to have a conversation about the affects that immigration has both on Ecuador and on the United States.  After the ten-page paper I am writing about it I should be an expert.     

Besides interning at the House of Migrant and going to class I have also begun tutoring English for a ten-year-old boy named Mateo.  His mom is paying me to do it three times a week up until I leave here in August.  Oh, and if some of you didn’t know, I’m staying in Cuenca for summer.  Surprise.  Anyway, I started class with him on Monday and it is really fun.  Right now we are just completing basic review and studying vocabulary.  He’ll have homework for English class most of the time so I won’t have to do much preparing.

Well, this weekend is Easter and it should be an interesting one.  I have learned that here Good Friday is a much bigger day than the actual Easter Sunday.  Special food is prepared that is made only out of grains and rumor has it that a bunch of family is coming over to my house to eat it Friday afternoon.  Leo told me I should wake up early on Friday and help her prepare it.  After lunch then we will all walk together around Cuenca to seven different churches- it’s a tradition.  My friend Leah is living with my host mom’s sister, so at least I won’t be the only “gringa”.  I’ll let you all know how it goes and I’ll try to take pictures. 

 

Until then, I wish you all a Happy Easter.     

Kiley

P.s. I’m attaching a picture of little Sebastian wearing the hat I knitted for him.