Beginning School and September Anniversaries

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This past week we reached a few more milestones with our life in Ecuador. First, we re-established our link with the global world of the 21st century by getting our telecommunications fully restored. We have an internet and phone line in the ol’ departamento now, and so are re-connected to the virtual world. Our phone number here in Ecuador is … well, it is the same one that we had in Philadelphia, and yes charged as a local call. So feel free to give a call if you feel the need, or if you require emotional support with your tragic religious devotion / desire in regard to Philadelphia sports teams. Speaking of which, I see the Phils have climbed back into the wildcard race and still have a shot at the division. No pressure but if they fail to make the postseason I’m going to have to cut some people out of the Ukie Club.

Our second milestone was getting the kids in school. School started on Sept. 10. We got the date right, but the child wrong: we thought Julian would start on the 10th and Lizzie on the 11th, but it turned out to be the opposite. So, Julian got dolled up in his dress uniform (Mondays only) got to go home, whereas Lizzie, totally unprepared, had to attend classes. Lizzie was a bit upset at this turn of events: new student in a new school with a new language, and standing out like a sore thumb. However, by the time she came home she was in good spirits.

Apparently the hot dog lunch helped a lot as well as very friendly classmates, a few of which spoke fluent English. So, in contrast to the normal routine, Lizzie knocked down the doors of a new experience first and Julian road her coattails. Julian started two days later and managed quite well. As the pictures attest to, he is “playing” the-native-English-speaker-learning-Spanish-card quite well with the ladies.

The school is located a few miles outside of town on a mountainside, which supplies a marvelous view of the town. The kids get buses every morning at 7:00 and finish school at 1:30 and 2:10 respectively. We will have a better idea of how things will go by the end of the week with instruction all in Spanish, but all is going well for now. It may well be that getting all the school supplies for the year will end up being the toughest task. We had to go to about 10 different stores to finally track down all the supplies. The system here seems to be on the backs of parents – the schools supply little or no material, and a host of small stores sell everything from textbooks to uniforms to special pencils for graphic design.

An interesting sidelight to the beginning of school was seeing what seemed to be the doppelgaenger of our dear, departed friend Bruce Langfeld. A guitarist played a few songs to open the school day; and with his mannerisms and lyrical worldview (most of which I couldn’t understand) he might well have been (or be) the living spirit of Bruce.

As for the parents of these children, they are still on vacation and will not begin work until September 26 or so. I tell you, Ecuador is a hard slog every single day!

A few other noteworthy items. The anniversary of September 11 got coverage down here, but interestingly another September 11 is acknowledged down here in South America: September 11, 1973. Anyone? I’ll give you a few more seconds…. Yes, that’s right – the Coup in Chile that toppled the socialist president Salvador Allende (who committed suicide rather than surrender) and put Augusto Pinochet in power. I was a bit surprised that it was news in Ecuador, but I am slowly growing aware of a South American sensibility that seems to pervade the whole continent. Associated with this anniversary is the death of the great Chilean poet, Pablo Neruda, who was closely connected to Allende. Neruda died about 12 days after the coup. I’ve been considering getting a book of his poems (always a great way to get a rhythmic feel for a language) but am still waiting for a bigger bump in the language department.

The anniversary of the Chilean coup coincides with the growing political crisis in Bolivia. Again, think South America not just Ecuador. The eastern provinces have been the sight of protests and deaths lately. The eastern provinces are where the mineral and gas industries are located and they are none too happy with the socialist-oriented policies of President Evo Morales, who wants to nationalize certain industries and redistribute land to the poor and to the indigenous population. Just another example of states’ rights vs. federal government? Is Evo Morales Fidel Castro, FDR or the NFL commissioner? Washington is waking up to the whole conflict. What will WE do? 1973 revisited?

Now think this at the same time as you are watching Terrell Owens and Donovan McNabb spare off in their little psychodrama.