October 13

It has been a busy past week and a half.  Lots of bits and pieces.  I haven't gotten much going with regard to my project so far, but I have some meetings on Thursday that will help get the ball rolling.

My friend Shannon and I went apartment hunting last week.  I found a beautiful coachhouse apartment in the Floresta neighborhood, but it isn´t available until the middle of November.  In the meantime, I´m living with Shannon in the fantastic apartment she found in the Parque Carolina neighborhood.  We packed our huge suitcases into a cab and headed out of the Mariscal.

I managed to open an Ecuadorian bank account last week and obtain an ATM card - no small feat.  The process went something like this:  Enter the bank, move past guards armed with shotguns.  Stand in line in front of a machine to get "un turno" (a slip with a number on it).  Turno in hand, sit in the waiting room for thirty minutes while watching turno numbers flash on tv screens along side a candid camera show.  Eventually, when your number appears on the screen, sit in front of desk #12, as directed, and hand the service attendant your passport.  Watch as the attendant frowns whilst mysteriously punching numbers and letters into a computer keyboard.  Take the memo-pad piece of paper that she has written a number on and stamped to another attendant at window #11.  Don't forget your turno slip.  Try your best to explain to attendant #11 that you are supposed to be here, that attendant #12 told you to come directly here with the stamped memo note and turno, as he points off into the abstract distance and tells you that you should be elsewhere.  Enjoy a very brief moment of satisfaction as he accepts your stamped memo note and turno slip, and then return to curious confusion as he enters many characters into a keyboard, rifles through a packed file drawer, gives you a piece of paper to sign and write your passport number on, and produces a sealed paper envelope with an ATM card inside.  Proceed to window #4, but you need to get a new turno first.  Stare in utter despair at the turno dispensing machine - What do the words mean?  What category of turno do I need now?  Return to the attendant at window #12 to learn that you don't need a new turno, just go to #4.  #4 asks you to go to #5.  #5 asks you to sign a piece of paper and write your passport number on it.  #5 writes an account number into a passbook and hands it to you.  You now have an Ecuadorian bank account.

Orientation:
We had a great two-day orientation for the Fulbright program this past weekend.  On Friday, the group of us met for the first time.  So many nice people and fascinating projects.  It was exciting to hear what everyone is working on - water treatment and waste management in the Galapagos islands, the effects of urbanization on the Afro-Ecuadorian community, folklore in indigenous river communities and how folklore relates to decisions that communities make about how to care for their waterways, why are some children more prone to roundworms than others, and many other amazing projects.  It´s a group of fourteen women and one man.

The first day we listened to a presentation by the head of the Fulbright commission in Ecuador on cultural differences between the US and Ecuador (the difference in attitudes about time is the biggie) and presentations by local professors on the political situation in Ecuador, race and racism in Ecuador, public health, and biodiversity and ecology.  Interesting stuff.  We also had lunch with a group of Ecuadorian Fulbright grantees who will be studying at American universities in the fall.  On Saturday, the group of us took a bus ride two hours outside of Quito to a private nature reserve.  We went zip-lining on six tracks through the forest and, often, through the clouds.  Incredible.  I can't wait to go back.  Afterward, we went to a nearby museum with ancient ruins of the Yumbos behind it.  There was a parade taking place on the dirt road along the way (a couple pictures are attached).

I'm starting to get more information about the film community here, and I'm really excited to be here and part of it in any small way.  I can't say enough about the independent cinema, Ocho y Medio, and yesterday I checked out a video rental club and cafe called La Liebre, which is owned by an Ecuadorian filmmaker.  The Ecuadorian film festival, Cero Latitud, starts on Friday.  

Two discoveries:
In the evenings, it seems that taxi drivers sometimes enjoy the company of their girlfriends/wives riding around with them.  Twice now I've been in cabs where the driver and his girlfriend/wife were having a conversation in the front seats, and I was happy to be a passenger and fly on the wall in the back.

Another amazing part of the day is mid-day, when school ends.  On weekdays at 12:30 on Avenue 6 de Diciembre, I find myself walking through a sea of schoolgirls in red sweaters and red-plaid skirts with knee-high socks.  They are giddy at being released from the school day, and schoolboys are nearby.  A slow moving sea.  At 12:50, Avenue 6 de Diciembre becomes blue as kids from a different school take over the space.