In the honor of...

Reading: The Mountains of California by John Muir

The things that have gotten me through my first year in Ecuador: friends, family and books.

First, I want to say that I have really wonderful friends. One of the things that I learned very quickly when I came here is the cultural differences that surround friendships. In Ecuador, your family is often your source of friendships. In the States, your friends become your family.

Okay, that was sappy, I know. But seriously, I have really wonderful friends (and family). You all have sent me enough packages to the point that I haven't been without Trident Original gum since I got here last year. Plus, you've all put up with my sporadic communication and my occasional bitching, which has been more frequent of the late.

So, in one very tacky blog posting, I want to say muchisma gracias a todos.

Infección de Garganta

Reading: The Moral Equivalent of War by William James

So on Sunday I managed to come down with a nasty case of something that left me with a fever and some good old body aches. Normally this would not be all that worrisome, simply remedied with some self-prescribed Tylenol, water and sleep. However, we are not in normal, this is Ecuador, which means that fever and body aches could be a whole host of things, the most problematic being malaria and dengue.

Now, I personally ruled out the two worse extremes, mainly because I’m currently taking mephaquin for the malaria and I’m told that dengue feels like death itself, which my state of being could not be exaggerated to. On Monday, since I was still freezing even though it was clearly hot out, my neighbor, Marilyn, decided that we need to confirm my claims by rubbing me down from head to toe with a raw egg. The idea is that the egg will absorb whatever ailment is possessing you, so when it is cracked open in a glass of water, one can read the position of the yoke and albumen to determine what is actually wrong with the patient. My egg voodoo confirmed that I indeed had a fever, no thermometer needed.

Lost In Translation

Reading: How To Grow More Vegetables by John Jeavons

One of the last Spanish classes I took was one on how to work through the art of translating. Basicamente, the gist of the class is that translation is quite difficult, especially when trying to convey the nuances of a culture. This can create a whole host of humorous situations, so others that are frustrating and then a handful of others that are just unfortunate (watching Blade 4 with subtitles). And so I give you – Things That Translate and Things That Don’t:

Translates: Harry Potter Movies
Ecuadorian kids seem to be just as infatuated with HP as Americans (not limited to children). Consequently, I’ve watched HP 1-3 and 7p1 in the last two months. Luckily, it seems to be working as a great integration tool, plus it’s a pleasant reminder that I can actually understand Spanish even though I still don’t understand the coastal butchering of the language.

Doesn’t Translate: The Idea of Reading the Harry Potter Books
Most of us in my generation grew up eagerly anticipating each new release of one of the HP novels. So when they finally hit the big screen, we knew exactly what was going to happen – the movies were just buttresses to the vivid imagery that enchanted us in print. However, the thought of reading a HP novel is completely foreign to most Ecuadorians. Perhaps this is due to the fact that a culture of reading is much more prevalent in the United States then it is in Ecuador. Books here are crazy expensive and I’ve only had one encounter of leisure reading since I’ve been here. This is bad news for HP because not only is British humor lost in translation from English to Spanish, most of the gritty details are lost in the translation from text to film.