"Be the change you want to see in the world" -Ghandi

The news in Ecuador is full of reports from Barcelona. The word "xenophobe" is prominent in every editorial, and the most talked-about teenager has no displayed face and no name. There are demonstrations at our capital and discussions in our National Reality class over one ignorant man who made a grave error.

On October 7th, Sergi Martín, a 21 year old Barcelonian, had a beer at a local bar and left for the train home shortly after. The security videos show him on the train, talking on his cell phone and standing in the aisle, calmly leaning against a pole. However, not long after this shot is one of him yelling at a fellow passenger, a 16 year old ecuadorean girl whose identity is being kept private. Just seconds later, there is clear footage of Sergi kicking the girl in the face. I'm not positive of all the details as of yet, but I believe he continued to attack her after this. She didn't do anything to protect herself.

There has been a speedy hearing. Sergi is not getting any jail time because of a mental illness and some sympathy because he was supposedly inebriated, and across the world, Ecuadoreans, Spaniards, and any sympathetic to the girl are in an uproar.

I personally have been lucky enough to sit in a classroom full of 16 year old ecuadoreans. I cannot imagine being drunk enough and angry enough and confsed enough to kick anyone in the face, much less a young girl I hardly knew. There are of course accusations, because the girl was not Spanish, that the attack had to do with her ethnicity, and as the tape doesn't show them talking about anything in particular before the blow, I can't imagine what she could have done to instigate an argument like that.

I believe that people like that are why I am 3100 miles away from everyone I know, all my creature comforts and my family. I believe that ignorance like that, cold, angry ignorance, is why people need to see how small the world is. During spare time in classes, I have conversations with my classmates here that mimic conversations I've had before in Colonie. In two months of being here, I've met no less than 5 people who have lived in New York in their lifetime and come here. It sounds so simple, but the world is a tiny, tiny thing. Hugs here are as warm and comforting as any hug above the equator, and latitude has no affect on the joy of being nice.


It is unfair that a girl being kicked in the face calls to attention people's ignorance. Every time the "N" word is uttered, there should be demonstrations like this. If every person just sat and thought about it, it would be blatantly clear that we are no different from each other. Honestly, what does a bigot think the people he hates are like? Does Sergi think ecuadoreans wear loincloths and paint our faces? Do they honestly believe that we don't shop in the same stores, eat the same food, drink the same Pepsi, wear the same Nikes, talk on the same Motorola flip phones about the same badly dressed celebrities? Because, news flash, front page, above the fold: We're all exactly equal.

Two years ago, I heard a quote that has stuck with me and become a part of me. Ghandi said, "Be the change you want to see in the world." It does not take demonstrations, it does not take flag-waving and picket signs, it doesn't really take much at all; just a conscious decision to give everyone a chance. It starts with us.

Taking it day by day

Today si a very important day in Guayaquil, it's the celebration of their independence, and it's a holiday for the city so my whole family is here and home from work. My whole family, that is, except my host father. Marco works about an hour and a half away with a naval base, so he's here for one week and then stays in a city on the coast called Salinas for the following two. Right now, there's a strike in Salinas because they, like us, are in the providence of Guayas. Since the electon on the 30th, there's been an uprising in the city because they want to branch off of Guayas and be their own providence. It's a very sticky situation, the roads are blocked off by the locals with rocks and anyone in a car trying to get in or out gets rocks thrown at their cars. So, my host father's staying there.

Aside from that, things have continued to move along smoothly. Spanish classes have continued to progress well, and from the outside, it amazes me the amount of progress some of my friends have made. My friend Michaela, in particular, came to Ecuador not knowing anything in Spanish except "Hola, como estas?" and can now carry on conversations and speak in the past, present, and future tenses at a basic level. Last night the group, minus Karlijn who's in Quito, had a debate on biotechlonogy, cloning, modifying foods, etc. in Spanish! It went really well, we hardly stuck to the topic, but then, that wasn't really the point. We had a real, full, english-less conversation for at least half an hour, expressing our ideas and showing off our vocabularies. It was really wonderful to be a part of it, I'm so proud of our progress.

One of the hardest days of our exchange time, I've been told, is Thanksgiving, and I had been worried about it as if fast approaches. Luckily, the students from the US and Canada have been given permission to make Thanksgiving dinner for the students from Germany, Belgium, etc. as well as for our Ecuadorean teachers. It should be really fun, and of course, it means mroe pictures! Keep checking back, things are really getting fun and part of why it's so great is being able to share it with all of you.

It's been a while!

It's been way too long since my last post, I know... But we've been really busy! Spanish classes are rolling right along and all of the exchange students have bonded really wonderfully. This weekend, all of us except 3 traveled to a city called Quevedo in a neighboring providence, about 3 hours away. I was really happy about it because it meant I got to leave the coastal area and see more of the greenery, plus the homes of the people who lived there. It's easier to appreciate them if you can picture looking out your own window and seeing them.









We arrived in Quevedo on Saturday at around 2:30, got some really yummy chinese food, and rigged up our flags for the Quevedo Festival parade. The rotary there asked us to march with them in the parade because this year is their first exchange year and while they had outbounds, they didn't have any inbounds. We had a blast!



After the parade the 6 girls stayed in a vacation house of one of the rotarians while the 2 boys stayed with another rotarian. We were lucky to have a pool and plenty of room and I an two other girls had a slumber party on the balcony. A really fun evening!

The following morning we went to a restaurant for breakfast and watched out the window as the school parade passed outside. Once we were on our way we got the chance to check out a hospital owned and operated by the Quevedo rotary club. It services about 2,000 patients every month, averaging out to 100 patients a day.










One of the nicest things I've found about being in Ecuador is that there's always something lying ahead, a new place to see or new people to meet, something to keep the future bright and exciting. It'd be hard to put in to words how much I appreciate being here and seeing all of this firsthand. THANK YOU to everyone who helped me and everyone who checks this blog, you're all really important to my success here and I'm grateful.