"There are two kinds of light - the glow that illuminates and the glare that obscures." - James Thurber
The light in Ecuador, at least according to my beleaguered skin, is of the obscuring glare variety. The E cuadorian sunshine puts the harshest June light in Michigan to shame. To date, I hve burned a necklace around my neck (twice), the tops of my feet, the radial (for all of you current and future medical professionsals) side of my left wrist, my right knuckles, the place on my scalp where my hair swirls, my lips, left earlobe, and a strip on the inside of each arm. And this was with what I considered assiduous sunscreen application. Essentially, it´s pretty incredible what a little time in the Ecuadorian sunshine at 3100 meters can do.
Act I: Scene I: (The O´Leary family sits around a dining table at an Ann Arbor restaurant)
Alli: What´s the opposite of cynical?
Dad: (Without missing a beat) Stupid.
Alli: (Dissolves into peals of knowing laughter)
So - cynical, pragmatic, cultural sensitivity under-rating individuals don´t make up a significant portion of PCVs, incredibly enough. Since I am such a person, I´ve found myself baffled, at times, by the idealistic, optimistis attitude of my PC colleagues. The fact that I don´t secretly hope to change the world and live in the developing world for the rest of my life seems to depress some of them. Others inform me that all PC volunteers are idealistic; that it´s necessary.
I´m curious about this assumption. A dedicated pragmatist, I´m not much for idealism, and my fall of pop-econ reading (yea Malcolm Gladwell!) certainly didn´t make me any more inclined to it. I do think Peace Corps is an excellent opportunity for the people who serve in it, and the countries we serve in are getting a crop of enthusiastic volunteers, but I wish the attitude among volunteers was a bit more about cultural exchange, and less about escaping rampant guilt over being from the first world.
(I realise this is a very pondering post, and many of you would like details about la vida ecuadoriana. My prepped post on that is long, and the slow computer I´m on won´t copy and paste. I´ll try to find a way to upload photos soo, too! Thanks for reading, and please excuse the typos - I´m trying to go fast!)
The light in Ecuador, at least according to my beleaguered skin, is of the obscuring glare variety. The E cuadorian sunshine puts the harshest June light in Michigan to shame. To date, I hve burned a necklace around my neck (twice), the tops of my feet, the radial (for all of you current and future medical professionsals) side of my left wrist, my right knuckles, the place on my scalp where my hair swirls, my lips, left earlobe, and a strip on the inside of each arm. And this was with what I considered assiduous sunscreen application. Essentially, it´s pretty incredible what a little time in the Ecuadorian sunshine at 3100 meters can do.
Act I: Scene I: (The O´Leary family sits around a dining table at an Ann Arbor restaurant)
Alli: What´s the opposite of cynical?
Dad: (Without missing a beat) Stupid.
Alli: (Dissolves into peals of knowing laughter)
So - cynical, pragmatic, cultural sensitivity under-rating individuals don´t make up a significant portion of PCVs, incredibly enough. Since I am such a person, I´ve found myself baffled, at times, by the idealistic, optimistis attitude of my PC colleagues. The fact that I don´t secretly hope to change the world and live in the developing world for the rest of my life seems to depress some of them. Others inform me that all PC volunteers are idealistic; that it´s necessary.
I´m curious about this assumption. A dedicated pragmatist, I´m not much for idealism, and my fall of pop-econ reading (yea Malcolm Gladwell!) certainly didn´t make me any more inclined to it. I do think Peace Corps is an excellent opportunity for the people who serve in it, and the countries we serve in are getting a crop of enthusiastic volunteers, but I wish the attitude among volunteers was a bit more about cultural exchange, and less about escaping rampant guilt over being from the first world.
(I realise this is a very pondering post, and many of you would like details about la vida ecuadoriana. My prepped post on that is long, and the slow computer I´m on won´t copy and paste. I´ll try to find a way to upload photos soo, too! Thanks for reading, and please excuse the typos - I´m trying to go fast!)
Hola!
ReplyDeleteHow's everything??
Heng,
Wow serious stuff Al, or is sunstroke just messing with your mind ...
ReplyDeleteThe world has a place for people of many different outlooks and personalities. It all works out quite well if we each remember to be our honest selves, but embrace variety as the spice of life.
(From the easy chair philosophizing; No charge)
Jajaja... gracias. I'm looking forward to the horizon-broadening experience that these couple of years are already, and will continue, to provide me.
ReplyDeleteHola Alli,
ReplyDeleteEstoy madre de Grace Kelley (high school cross country friend of Theresa's). I'm enjoyably learning from your posts. I do have a question or request for you. As I teach a sustainability class at JCC, any pictures of sustainable (irrigation project?)and non sustainable practices (are roses a native species there? I understand they require huge amounts of H2O to grow) would be hugely appreciated. I'll keep checking on you blog. Found your comments about the overly optimistic pcvs interesting. I'm glad you are there to be realistic and practical.
Godspeed - Jill Kelley
Jill - sorry for the delay - I hadn´t checked comments on this post in a while. I have some pictures of sustainable farms, and a few irrigation projects. They´re posted on my facebook page. Are you on facebook? If so, please friend me, if not, I could email them if you could give me your email. Mine is allison_oleary@hotmail.com.
ReplyDelete