This morning I woke up at 6:30 am to go for a run along the trail again. Once more, it was filled with people. I probably passed 100 people and there was a group fitness dance class going on in the park with about 50 more people. Yesterday on our tour to the Incan ruins we learned that the Incans had three rules; don’t lie, don’t steal, and don’t be lazy. I think that is why the tradition of being active and participating in exercise is so important here. After I returned home, we had breakfast and walked to school.
In class today we had a very interesting lecture. We talked about how when we become annoyed, or unfamiliar with a particular culture we begin to judge and form opinions about that particular culture, and they are often negative. There are three steps in the way we attribute culture; selection, organize, and interpret. We first select a certain thing that is new for us or that we are shocked by. For example, what, when, and how much food we eat. We then organize this idea and try to fit it into our own culture, but we can’t because it’s different. So instead of putting a bad connotation with the Ecuadorian food culture, we must make a whole new category. We cannot try and force it to fit in with our own. We should instead say something is different rather than wrong. After we organize we then interpret. We try and understand why something is done. We then form judgments, opinions, and thoughts and feelings. It is important that we do not form negative interpretations.
After class, we visited a local TV station. It was interesting to see how similar it is to what a US TV station would be like. We actually got to be a part of a cooking show. We watched them film part of it and then they put us on TV, which of course was not live. This afternoon we have a presentation on media in Ecuador and how it is regulated and how strict the government is on what is presented on TV.
We then came home to a huge lunch as always. We had rice, broccoli soup, pineapple, shrimp (which I did not care to eat), and these banana chip like things that were actually very good, oh and of course strawberry juice, which was delicious! This is one thing I will really miss when we have to leave Cuenca… the wonderful hand made fruit juice… yummy. I feel like today was a turning point in my host family. I played with our host brother for about 45 minutes and even though I don’t know a whole lot of Spanish we still played and communicated a little. Our host mom is so sweet and kind and is really making us feel at home. I’m so grateful to have an accepting and loving host family.
After lunch we returned to school for a presentation on media. It was very interesting to look at the Ecuadorian newspaper and see how different it is from the US papers. However, there were similarities as well. They had more articles on religion and also contained some pop culture of the US, some story about Paris Hilton. After class we worked on our group presentation for about an hour then headed home. Now just going to work on our final video project. Overall, a good day in Cuenca, however I am starting to miss home a little bit. I can't believe we are already half way done with the trip. I can't decide if it has gone fast or slow... a little bit of both.
