Some questions and answers

So, I recently received an email with some particularly probing questions and after answering them I realized, hey, this would be great blog material! Enjoy.

What does it smell like there?

Gosh, what part of the country? Smells that jump out to me while in Quito, hmm. That smell right when it starts to rain, bus exhaust, phenol from the lab (that stuff is heinous, even with a mask!), roses, street-food.

What is your favorite food?

Well, I’m pretty easy to please food-wise but a local favorite is locro soup. This tasty concoction has quinoa (a native Andean grain rich in protein), potatos, cheese, some other stuff, and a big wedge of avocado. It’s great!

What are the night sounds like?

I usually sleep just fine but sometimes drunk men are shouting, dogs will start a bark war, planes fly over constantly (we are virtually right below the approach for Quito’s international airport – just like back at PLU so no problems!), and my bed creaking. This isn’t what you may be thinking; I just have the creakiest bed in the world! If I don’t stuff pillows in key areas to kill the creaking it will make noises just from the movements I make while breathing!

What do your host parents like to do when they are not working or tending house?

Dimas is a big sportsman, with running and baseball his two favorites. He’s open to new ideas too; I got him into mountain biking! Karla likes to talk to her huge family on the phone and go walking. They both love to spend time with Julian, playing, teaching, you name it!

What is important to the guard(s) you have befriended?

The guards work 12 or 24 hour shifts with equal time off as they are on, no weekends and only one two-week vacation per year. Thus, they basically sleep and eat on their time off before having to start again. I’ll be frank, their set-up sucks. And they get paid a pittance. I would say family and friends are most important to them. They are far too busy to have any hobbies or things they enjoy outside work. Yet, despite all this they are some of the nicest people I have come to know here in Ecuador. Amazing how some people who have the strongest cases to go bitter choose the opposite instead.

How awkward do you feel as the token gringo?

Most of the time in Quito I don’t notice it too much anymore, there are a fair amount of tourists so tall white folks are more common than one might imagine. There is one area where I still feel quite awkward. Every time I go around campus at UCE I just get stared at like no one’s business. Unlike the private universities where foreigners are common, I haven’t seen a single other gringo student in my 4 months there. They aren’t stares of hate or anything, just of, wow, you’re way different than everyone else here, what are you all about? That I periodically shave my head and wear neon green crocs may not be helping:) It is an incredibly powerful experience to be so different after a sheltered upbringing of conformity.

Are you respected for what you know school wise?

I do feel respected, both in the lab and in class. However, it has been a challenge using a language I am not well versed in after being so used to being adept at expressing whatever I wanted. I consider myself a decent public speaker but going to Spanish has been a whole new ballgame. At PLU I was one of those people who sat towards the front and never hesitated to contribute in class. Here, I sit towards the back and hope the professor doesn’t call on me. It’s giving me a lot more understanding for people who get shy in front of groups. That said, I’ve found I can’t let the mistakes get to me; if you’re too afraid of making mistakes you’ll never get the practice you need to improve! I just don’t want to do too much of my practicing right now in front of a class of 70 medical student and a very demanding professor:)

What is the biggest high and most frustrating experience you have had at the lab?

The biggest high would be running my first ELISA for Chagas and finding several strong positives. To carry out a complicated test like that for the first time and have it work, and give you useful data to make a difference in people’s lives, well it’s pretty cool. The most frustrating would be going on right now. We are trouble shooting our Onchocerciasis PCR and ELISA protocols but keep getting contamination from a source we can’t seem to find. But, this is real science, and I’ve come to see that means lots of hard work, constant set-backs, and every once in a while a moment of triumph.

How much do you feel you were prepared or not for the experience?

In all the ways I could have prepared I felt like I was ready/did a good job. Reckon I could have had the Spanish at higher level but it has ramped up exponentially and hasn’t been a problem. However, there are a lot of things you can’t really prepare for, you just hope the person you’ve become is enough to handle the tasks that arise.

How often do the frustrations of cultural differences get in your way or require an attitude adjustment?

I went through a period about a month or two ago where I was just getting “annoyed” with a lot of things. For example, do the drivers really have to honk at me so much when I’m on my bike… on the sidewalk? And, is it really necessary to eat rice twice a day… every day? I was assured, yes, it it:) Since then I have been able to adjust to these and numerous other differences, our ability to mold ourselves to new situations is really incredible. Then there is the fact that even with all the wonderful people I have met, the cultural and language barriers have kept me from connecting with people on that deeper, personal, and purposeful level I have come to see I cannot live without. Who knows, maybe this will get better in time, but for now I email a lot and just kind of do without on that front.

Thank you Jan for the questions and if anyone else wants to barrage me with a great set of questions such as this feel free, just know reply timeliness varies:)

Take care.