My host family consists of Alfonso and Lucia, and their children Sebastian and Andrea.
Alfonso is a businessman that speaks almost no English. I can usually follow what he says when he gives directions, but I often have to rely on Sam to translate some of what he says, or to tell him what I'm thinking.
Lucia is a realtor. She makes most of our dinners and breakfasts. She speaks English a little more often than Alfonso, and also never hesitates to take out her phone to translate a word or phrase for us. This means that, although it is still easier for Sam to communicate with her, I can usually what she's trying to say.
Sebastian is Alfonso and Lucia's 25 year old son. He is a medical student that has studied in the United States for quite a while. This means the he knows a lot of English, or at least enough to communicate pretty well with Sam and I in English. However, I can tell he still prefers to speak Spanish, and will only switch to English if is clear that neither Sam or I understand what he is saying.
The daughter Andrea is about 23 and I believe she is a photographer and a student. I have not talked to her for very long, but she seems to have a similar grasp of English as her mother. So I conversed with her in a similar fashion, with mostly Spanish and English, occasionally having to translate a word or two.
I don't think I have really soon a major example of collectivism so far. The only examples that I can think of probably relate more to socialism. These examples are the free public schooling that we learned about during our trip to the old downtown district and the graffiti I have seen all over the city that calls for socialism by name. However, I think I also saw principles of collectivism at the Otavalo market, where it often seemed like a single family group would congregate in a particular area and encourage shoppers to find anything they were looking for at the stalls of other family members. Then they would encourage a shopper to bring their friends to those same stalls.
I think one of the most striking differences between my host family and a family in the United States is at mealtime. I generally imagine that a U.S. family eats dinner and maybe breakfast together, or at least with the majority of the family present. However, in Ecuador I have noticed that everyone in the family seems to eat at different times. I believe that the mother eats early in the evening, then she feeds Sam and me, and then the father eats when he arrives home. I understand not waiting for the father if he is going to work late, but it still feels very strange to be eating a meal while Lucia just sort of stands around or has a conversation with us.
Today I went with a group of other students to the "Cathedral of the Vote," walked around with them in the old downtown district, and ate a late lunch at a local restaurant. I think the main thing that I noticed today was the presence of touristy sorts of shops and deeply local hangouts very close to each other. The difference between a souvenir shop filled with a colorful backpacks and Ecuador t-shirts and a restaurant where every person sitting in a table turned their heads to watch us as we walked in was very conspicuous. Generally when I find a souvenir shop in the United States I assume that the locals will be far away from the area. However, in downtown Quito I realized that the two spots are shoulder to shoulder, every day.
Alfonso is a businessman that speaks almost no English. I can usually follow what he says when he gives directions, but I often have to rely on Sam to translate some of what he says, or to tell him what I'm thinking.
Lucia is a realtor. She makes most of our dinners and breakfasts. She speaks English a little more often than Alfonso, and also never hesitates to take out her phone to translate a word or phrase for us. This means that, although it is still easier for Sam to communicate with her, I can usually what she's trying to say.
Sebastian is Alfonso and Lucia's 25 year old son. He is a medical student that has studied in the United States for quite a while. This means the he knows a lot of English, or at least enough to communicate pretty well with Sam and I in English. However, I can tell he still prefers to speak Spanish, and will only switch to English if is clear that neither Sam or I understand what he is saying.
The daughter Andrea is about 23 and I believe she is a photographer and a student. I have not talked to her for very long, but she seems to have a similar grasp of English as her mother. So I conversed with her in a similar fashion, with mostly Spanish and English, occasionally having to translate a word or two.
I don't think I have really soon a major example of collectivism so far. The only examples that I can think of probably relate more to socialism. These examples are the free public schooling that we learned about during our trip to the old downtown district and the graffiti I have seen all over the city that calls for socialism by name. However, I think I also saw principles of collectivism at the Otavalo market, where it often seemed like a single family group would congregate in a particular area and encourage shoppers to find anything they were looking for at the stalls of other family members. Then they would encourage a shopper to bring their friends to those same stalls.
I think one of the most striking differences between my host family and a family in the United States is at mealtime. I generally imagine that a U.S. family eats dinner and maybe breakfast together, or at least with the majority of the family present. However, in Ecuador I have noticed that everyone in the family seems to eat at different times. I believe that the mother eats early in the evening, then she feeds Sam and me, and then the father eats when he arrives home. I understand not waiting for the father if he is going to work late, but it still feels very strange to be eating a meal while Lucia just sort of stands around or has a conversation with us.
Today I went with a group of other students to the "Cathedral of the Vote," walked around with them in the old downtown district, and ate a late lunch at a local restaurant. I think the main thing that I noticed today was the presence of touristy sorts of shops and deeply local hangouts very close to each other. The difference between a souvenir shop filled with a colorful backpacks and Ecuador t-shirts and a restaurant where every person sitting in a table turned their heads to watch us as we walked in was very conspicuous. Generally when I find a souvenir shop in the United States I assume that the locals will be far away from the area. However, in downtown Quito I realized that the two spots are shoulder to shoulder, every day.
Comments
Post a Comment