Graffiti and Old Buildings

I never realized that living in a foreign country could mean being just as busy as back in my home country.  People still have jobs to do, food to buy, kids to look after, errands to run.  This illuminates the universal truth that: life is life, no matter where you are.  This past month I've found myself utilizing each free moment I have just to get everything done that I need to.  It's been kind of surreal, while bustling to work, to pass century old buildings and churches.  I'm trying to soak in all of my beautiful surroundings, but I'm also concerned with commonplace worries such as planning lessons for my students or figuring out how to complete a simple errand.  (You would be surprised to learn just how difficult it could be to find a place that sells pantyhose).  Following are glimpses that I catch of Cuenca during my typical route to work.

My view as I walk down the hill towards town

My local pharmacy 

A plaza I walk through every morning on my way to work

"ONE LAND, ONE LOVE"

So far I've found that my glimpses of Cuenca have been more of a speedy slide show.  Images flash by me as I rush around, trying to fit in everything I need to do.  And as I put the pictures together in my mind, I find they initially appear rather disjointed.  Because among the antique aspects of the city are the additions of modern society.  But although contrastingly different, the graffiti seems to fit very naturally with the city's other attributes.

Another plaza I pass on my right every day

Church in the plaza, Santo Domingo

Graffiti on a door

There is beauty in every aspect of a town.  I consider myself blessed to be able to appreciate all of Cuenca's beautiful features, both old and new, as I'm trying to find the post office or rushing to the bank before it closes.  Above all it should never be assumed that living in another country automatically equates a vacation from reality.  Your surroundings may be different, but you still need to buy toilet paper.

Turning the corner onto Parque Calderón

Corner building facing the park

Government building facing the park

Jingle Bell Hip Hop Man?

The graffiti in Cuenca is very diverse.  It ranges from a youthful painting to a delicate drawing.  Sometimes I wonder whether or not the artist put as much thought and effort into their work as did the original architects of the 52 churches that lie within the city limits.  Nevertheless, it can be somewhat startling to walk down the street and suddenly see what looks like a pregnant alien spray painted onto the side of a 100 year old building.

Old buildings mixed with modern ones

YOU CAN'T PARK HERE!

That's all for now!  See you next time!

Canine Comfort

The term "culture shock" is thrown around a lot regarding traveling or living abroad.  I think I prefer to simply call it frustration.  There are many frustrations that come with traveling/living abroad.  As foreigners we are told how to get somewhere or do something, and thus begins a wild goose chase.  Getting a drivers license turns into a day or week long affair.  Registering our passport requires multiple visits to the consulate, getting different instructions each time.  Trying to wire money home only to find out that the location you always used just "doesn't do that anymore".  Scouring the town just to find peanut butter or tortillas (that's me).  These minute errands exhaust us, leave us hopeless, and ready to watch about four movies in a row on our laptops.

A coworker here in Cuenca recently related a particularly aggravating experience trying to find the grocery store.  This happens more often than you think, after you move to a new city in a foreign country.  According to Tracey, her shopping experience once she actually found the grocery store was even more unfulfilling (also a common occurrence, sadly).  But as she fumed out to find a taxi, less than half the items she was originally looking for in hand, she rounded the corner and found herself facing a pet store display window.  An out of body experience thus ensued.  Tracey, entranced, felt her worries and anger dissipate by just watching puppies bound around, roll over each other, tug on each others ears, even snooze on top of one another.

After an excruciatingly long day of planning, studying, and teaching and an even more painful walk back uphill to my house on the north side of Cuenca there are not many happy thoughts floating through my head.  But after I open the gate and begin to ascend the stairs up to our second level house I catch a glimpse of Noche, eagerly awaiting me at the top.

It's magical really, the effect having a dog has on me.  Maybe it's their demeanor.  They are always so relaxed; nothing worries them.  Just having that kind of aura around you can help eliminate the stress that your day (or week) has accumulated.  Even Luna, Noche's mother who looks kind of like Falcore from The Neverending Story but on crack, can make me want to just sit on the couch with them and read a book.  Nevertheless please don't read this and assume that every dog you see on the street in Cuenca is going to curl up into your lap and smell like roses.  The street dogs are a whole different breed entirely, as in other foreign countries I've traveled.

Taming a street dog is particularly difficult.  I inherited a dog rescued from the street in South Korea.  We had named him Humperdink (The Princess Bride) and he thought the entire world, indoors or outdoors, was his to urinate on.  Thankfully this habit was eventually broken, and the rest of our time together was heavenly.  I still miss him to this day.  Just like I'll miss Noche when I depart from here.

Using My Knuckles

If someone had told me, as I stumbled through high school a grumpy and irritable adolescent, that I would spend a majority of my adult life living and working in other countries, I would have shrugged the idea off.  Of course it would have tantalized my senses a little bit but the thought would have been forgotten by 6th period choir.  The truth is in high school, or even in college for that matter, you can't even begin to predict yourself what life highway you will get on.  So I guess I'm not all that surprised at the international exposure I have had.  The tricky thing is once on life's highway, how to navigate to your next destination.  I like to recommend a seemingly archaic tactic.  All you need to do is use your knuckles.

I can remember being younger and going on road trips with my father.  I was his dutiful navigator and I treasured my task.  I clutched the unnecessarily large atlas mindlessly, similar to how you would a TV remote.  You don't need it.  In fact you really enjoy the program you are watching.  But it feels good to simply have it in your hand.  Just in case you need to change the channel.  When my father asked me questions about our voyage, I loved to consult the maps.  How far is our next exit?  Where is the next rest stop?  About what time will we get there?  I buried my head between the pages, analyzed our location and current speed, measured the distance we needed to travel, and compared it to the map scale.  It was always a crude estimate; I used my knuckles to measure distances on the map.  Yet somehow it always gave me an accurate response.  My father would nod trustingly and continue to belt out his rendition of "If we are going, to San Francisco".  I never minded that I didn't understand the time period he sang about.  I would relax back into my seat, atlas still spread open on my lap, and gaze out the window at the midwestern scenery.  (I've never been to San Francisco).

I held off as long as I could before I began using electronic navigators.  I would take road trips throughout high school and college, with my atlas still on my lap.  It seemed more authentic of a trip to use the crude tools of perspective and human judgement.  I also felt slightly uncomfortable about a computer making my navigation decisions for me.  It's not like I wasn't involved in the process; I still decided where to go.  Still there is nothing like the dynamic process of standing back and taking a look at the bigger picture.  Even if it's just to feel good about the progress you've made.  Life can be the same.  It can be overwhelmingly refreshing to take your map out every once in a while, evaluate the distance to your next destination, examine your current speed and trajectory, then use your knuckles to see when you are going to get there.

I've been doing that for quite some time.  I think about what I want to do next, make plans to go there, and calculate how long it will take me to accomplish my goal.  I guess that is what has brought me here to Cuenca, Ecuador.  I never thought about teaching in South America until I was halfway through a teaching contract in Asia.  Strange how things like that happen.  Regardless, with the idea in mind, I set my internal navigation system and prepared to depart.  The rest is history.  Or at least it will be as long as I continue blogging about all my experiences in Latin America.

The plane that brought me to Cuenca!  I arrived on such a gorgeous day.