New Friends and Family Fun

Well, it’s been a pretty standard week of classes (in which I continue to understand about 40% of what’s going on), but there were a couple things that happened that I wanted to blog so that I don’t forget about them!

There’s a cute little coffee shop directly under my apartment that I go to almost every day (all 3 baristas know me by name at this point), and when I was there one day last week, I was chatting with the waiter Rafael while he making my coffee and I noticed a very elderly man standing nearby, listening to us talk. As per usual when people hear my less-than-perfect Spanish accent, he asked me where I was from. I told him that I was from the United States and that I am here in Ecuador studying for the semester, and to my great surprise he replied by telling me that he had lived in New York for 5 years back in the 40s and fought with the U.S. in WWII. Um, WHAT?! Coolest chance encounter of my life! I would bet good money that my new friend Gonzalo may be the only native Ecuadorian WWII veteran still alive (and amazingly articulate and jolly as well!) I was on my way to class when we had this first brief exchange, but we discovered that we both live in the same building and both spend a significant amount of time at this particular cafetería, so I told him that I would definitely be back and that I would love for him to tell me more of his stories from the war and about his life. (I’m pretty sure he threw in at one point that he had been shot by the Germans, but I still need to double check on that one…)

And sure enough, as I was walking home from the gym a couple days ago, I saw Gonzalo sitting at a table with his friend through the window of the coffee shop. He saw me and clearly recognized me, and of course I had to go in and say hello. I didn’t want to interrupt their conversation but he insisted that I sit with him and his friend (whose name I can’t remember at the moment), so I ordered a café and ended up chatting with them for half an hour about Gonzalo’s life and his family, and of course, his time in the U.S. and in the war. He had been studying English at Columbia University for 2 years when the war began, and then he joined the Marines and fought for the next 2 ½ years. While telling me all of this he pulled out his wallet and proceeded to show me his WWII IDs that he still keeps with him. Incredibly cool. Needless to say, certainly an unlikely new friend to make – a 90-year-old WWII veteran from Ecuador – but what a wonderfully unexpected encounter and start to what I hope will be a special friendship while I am here! I will certainly share more of his stories with you all as I hear them in the weeks to come :)

The other funny thing that happened this week was that our power went out for the first time, and I forgot how it seems a bit creepy especially when you’re younger to be completely in the dark, so my host sister (Josefa, 14) and two host cousins (Mayté, 14, and Josue, 11) all piled onto my bed and I pulled out my flashlight and put on music and we made shadow-animals on my ceiling and laughed at my inability to make anything more complex than a butterfly. They also tried to scare me multiple times when I wasn’t paying attention, which may or may not have totally worked. Anyways, for one of the first times since being here I really felt like I had 3 actual younger siblings, and loved feeling like a part of the family.

We’re leaving tomorrow for a 4-day trip to San Clemente, where we will be living with host families from the indigenous Karanki community. This particular group excursion is part of our core course module “Mundos Simbólicos Andinos” (Andean Symbolic Worlds), focused on exploring and learning more about traditional indigenous Ecuadorian communities and cultures. I don’t know much about what we’re going to be doing specifically, but I do know that it will be a very immersive weekend of engaging with new people and new cultural practices, and I am excited to experience a different way of life. Check next week for a post about our visit to San Clemente!