Home. What is home? Living in Quito has made me question the definition of home, reworking it to encompass my experiences abroad. I have often wondered how long it must one be in a place to be able to say one lived there. For it to feel like home. Is three months enough? Is 10.5?…
Family and friends joked that when I moved to Ecuador, I would end up bringing an Ecuadorian guy back to the States. That’s because my big sister, who lived in Quito from 2011-2012, did exactly that. When I came here though, dating wasn’t exactly a top priority for me. I was busy adjusting to living…
My parents worried that if I moved away from California, I might never come back. In hindsight, their fear seems comical. Living away from home has given me a deeper appreciation for the people and places there than I ever could have imagined. It has also made me identify as patriotic–something I never would have…
Tomorrow is International Women’s Day, or as we call it in Ecuador, Día de la Mujer. Yesterday, I went to a production of the Vagina Monologues here at a lovely rooftop bar. Against the stunning backdrop of the historic center and the green misty mountains of Quito, American women (and a couple of Ecuadorian women)…
I hated reading as a child. My parents, both English teachers, did their best to coax me into a reading habit. They were people who, when my six-year-old self came downstairs in the mornings on the weekend suggesting we watch TV or play a game, told me to grab a book and join everyone under…
In a few weeks, I will reach my exact half-way point of my service in Ecuador. As with so many other periods in life, it has simultaneously flown by and felt like so much more than a few months. Many of us, I would say, are in or recently out of what we call a mid-service slump….
I was mugged. I knew it would happen. For anyone who stays in Ecuador for an extended period of time, it is an inevitability. Yesterday, Lauren and I met a friendly American tourist who asked us if we had been mugged yet. Strangely enough, we were mugged three hours later. I’ve had things stolen from me…
As a child, I grew up in a farming town of about 15-20,000 people. For years, I dreamt of leaving my small town and exploring the world. Living in a big city, learning more about new people and places, and having greater opportunities available seemed like the ultimate lifestyle. This isn’t to say I didn’t…
Sometimes I forget I’m in Ecuador. Most days are pretty standard. I eat oatmeal for breakfast, just like I did back in the States. I still drink coffee twice a day (but it’s instant. I have come to accept this sadness.) I go to school every day just like I did back in Berkeley, though…
I prefer deep conversations. I like conversations that stimulate your senses and make you reconsider what you thought you knew. Discussions that leave you hungry for more knowledge and a greater understanding of the world around you, that you vividly recall months and years later. Even as a child, I preferred serious conversations to surface level chats. I still…