This post has been a long time coming but I just have not been able to find the words to describe what the past three and half months have meant to me. My journey was ineffable.
Four months ago when I was packing my bags, Ecuador was an entirely different world. It was such a crazy notion to parachute into another country, where I did not know the culture, customs, beliefs, or the language. I knew that it would be a climb, and not an easy climb at that but it is about the challenges in the climb that made the top so rewarding. And the feelings that I hold in my heart toward my family, my school, my community and my other Canadian travelers reveal that the climb was worth every challenge.
I would like to thank the Pulamarìn Achiña Family who became my family. Fabian, Maria, Leticia, and Jhon not only opened their home to me but more importantly they opened their hearts to me. And subsequently I fell in love with each one of them. The Pulamarìn family mean the world to me, I have been truly touched by their kind hearts. Fabian and myself had the greatest conversations together, he taught me a lot and his laugh could brighter anyone’s day. Maria woke up one night in the middle of the night hearing me coughing, prepared a hot water bag, brought blankets and tucked me into bed; she is an unbelievable mother. Leticia and Jhon were attached to my hip, we did everything together from going into town to run errands for our parents to feeding our pig to playing silly games to doing our homework together to making dinner to just being kids to teaching each other our languages. We shared so many laughs together and I am so thankful that Letty and Jhon let me into their lives this past summer. When the van pulled up on the last day to take me back to Canada, my heart has never ached so much as we drove away. The Pulamarìn Family will forever hold a special place in my heart.
My next family was my students and professors. I was incredibly intimidated when I first arrived at my school in Monjas Alto but the opportunity was just so surreal that I seized every moment of it and it was a profound experience. Imagine teaching an entire school of students their first words of English…incredible. My students had such a warming energy about them, there smiles and laughter inspired me. I also learnt a lot from my colleagues. I learnt how challenging it is to run a school in a small community in the mountains, where education is not highly valued. This was a constant struggle for Senorita Rosa and Eva and Prof. Jorge but they worked diligently everyday to inspire their students. I will never forget their love for teaching and dedication to their profession. Thank you Escuela Acosta Nunez for welcoming and inspiring me.
Cultural exchanges are beautiful journeys. I met so many beautiful people who taught me what it means to be alive. I will never forget all the “perfect moments” I experienced, those moments where everything was just perfect. It was a challenge to dive into an entirely different country but it was like a puzzle where I slowly pieced together the pieces and began to understand what it means to be Ecuadorian from the Sierra region.
My last thank you goes out to “the Cayambe Pod”, Marissa, Janice, Maria, Nick, Alanna and Jordan who always made me laugh, and were always there when I desperately needed to speak English! And my journey would not have been made possible without my friends and family who supported me. Having you at home and knowing that I had you as a support team helped me incredibly! Thank you.
I have experienced so much change in the past 4 months but it truly is a tribute to human adaptability and how much we can challenge ourselves. So now I am just settling into another school year, reminiscing about how far I traveled this summer realizing how blessed I am to have had this opportunity.
I opened my heart to Ecuador and it was beautiful.
Love.
m
