Upfront apologies and then a lot of talking

Alright, I apologize in advance if this blog comes off as over the top deep or perhaps pretentious in its origins.* At least I recognize my annoying habits.

Yes, I am reading Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy and it is quite good. I just came off reading two other Eastern European writers' books (One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Alexsandr Solzhenitsyn and The Castle by Franz Kafka) which I didn't really enjoy so I was pleased to find I wasn't totally put off by books from that geographic region.

One of the things I most enjoy about the book (as I think should happen with most novels) is the relatability (I've got one of those red lines under that last word but I swear it's a word and dictionary.com is on my side). No, unfortunately I have never fallen into a scandalous affair with a beautiful Russian princess** but there are minute human emotions or experiences that after reading a particular paragraph/chapter/etc, I immediately referred to my own life and felt a kinship to the particular character. Anyhow, way to go Leo! You've impressed me.

Now on to my original thought.*** This one isn't so much relatable**** as it simply just instigated a thought process for me. Levin is one of the main characters of the book. Maybe my favorite character. He doesn't conform very well to the Aristocratic Russian society of which he is a part which is part of the reason, I believe, that he runs a farm. Now don't get me wrong, he's still Aristocracy and the fact that he has hundreds of servants doing the manual labor partly proves this. Near the beginning of the book, he proposes to a girl named Kitty and is rejected due to Kitty being confused with another possible suitor even though she really loves Levin. Regardless, the next x hundred number of pages is a lot to do with Levin trying to distract himself or get over this girl when everyone knows he'll never really get over her. So yes, this is a refined chic flick ... in book form.

Gosh, I'm not even to my thought. OK. Levin's half-brother (who's from the city) comes to visit Levin in the country and they go hunting. The half-brother (I forget his name) has all these refined ideas from a lot of talking with other people just like him***** and Levin doesn't necessarily agree with all that the half-brother spews.

Now we've arrived: as they walk into the country they come across a stream (or some other scenic part) and the half-brother says something about the beauty of nature. Levin's mental response is what I love. Leo lets us into Levin's thought process. Levin loves nature and all things associated with it. He finds that words only soil the perfected nature of ... nature.

And this is what got me thinking.

I have found a lot of enjoyment/pleasure in well written books. So instead of turning on and denying my respect of words, I think the opposite has happened. The importance of words is only magnified. When something incredible is experienced, this only calls for a description (and use of words) that is equally incredible. Surely there is a use of words that can accurately describe and equal in beauty whatever is being described.

Yes, I partly agree with my boy Levin when I say that I don't like it when beautiful things are tainted by words but I think the reason I would say that is because these beautiful things are often given a mediocre description in which little mental effort is put into. Instead of abandoning the effort to try to put life experiences into words, I would strive to improve my skill of describing to match that of what I have felt or thought.

And how do I do that? Reading others' well written material (i.e. Anna Karenina, anything by Elie Wiesel, etc.) and putting forth the effort in speech or writing. I encourage you to do the same.

I'm also fairly sure Leo Tolstoy would agree. I don't think he would be writing books if he thought words ruined the feeling of human emotions.

(Oh, and I realize I talk/write a lot of crap ... I'm working on it ... which I think we're all doing.)

*Classic Russian literature.
**One day maybe.
***I like that I have 3 introductory paragraphs for 1 thought.
**** Ditto on my last discourse on "relatable" (and its various forms) being real words.
*****Pretty much like most discussions at Taylor.

A Little Pre-Thanksgiving Blog

Alright, so I've been at work for a while now, have beaten Spider Solitaire 3 times in a row, written 1 of 6 pages for a paper due next Monday, and blogging seems to be the only activity which will be able to keep me from falling into a boredom coma.

Today for lunch, us USofAmericans are meeting up in the middle of town and then finding a restaurant. I believe we're thinking pizza. I had Pizza Hut last night but can always eat (and cherish) more pizza. I asked my host-family if it was alright and of course they said "of course" but I wonder if in some way it's not OK... once I eat a pizza I'll get over any sort of guilty feeling.

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving. Surprise. We're skipping our business class at night and I'm hoping we don't have Spanish class during the day... but we'll see. We're all (including our host families) getting together for a Thanksgiving feast! I'm not totally sure how it'll turn out but I know that I've got five boxes of StoveTop dressing (thanks Heather) that should turn out fairly well. The directions make it look easier than Mac&Cheese so I'm not too worried.

In exactly one month, we'll be leaving Cuenca. I've spent a lot of time missing home but there was a moment last night in which I was talking to my host-parents in Spanish (well... they were doing most of the talking...) and I thought to myself, 'I'm not going to have this again.' I suppose it made me appreciate to a fuller degree the privilege it is of having this experience. I realize this is easy to say when home is within sight (and classes/practicum are even closer) but I don't think it detracts from its truthfulness. (Sorry about the sappiness of this past paragraph.)

OK, I think I'm good. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving, say hello to your families for me, and don't do homework.

New Experiences.

Hi.

Yesterday brought two new experiences.

1. I received a new iPod. After ordering it online a while ago, having it sent to Jordan's parents, Jordan's parents arriving yesterday, and after stopping by his house to pick it up, I finally have it. It's pretty. It also holds a buttload of music, etc.

2. While trying to download a newer version of iTunes on Ecuador's slightly slower internet connection, I heard a few of the guitars on the wall bumping up against the wall and was wondering what was going on. My sister told me to come downstairs. I then felt shaking. There was a 6.8 sized earthquake! I'm not going to lie, it was awesome.

[The picture is a reenactment of my excitement both after initially getting my iPod and after feeling out the earthquake.]

Tardy Da Vinci

I watched The Da Vinci Code last night. In my efforts to do more than mindlessly take in mass amounts of movies, I thought I would share a few thoughts even if I may be a few years late on this one.

First off, I have not read the book. I can't make any comparisons.

Going into the movie (on a bored Saturday afternoon), I realized a lot of the controversy the book/movie has had with the evangelical church party peeps (mainly, Family Christian Bookstores...). My typical reaction to church reactions like this is simply that it's not that big of a deal. True, it may be errant theology and such but is raising such a stink over it that important? Perhaps I'm too passive but I'd rather be known for encouraging good things as opposed to condemning faulty things.

OK, enough intro. I watched the movie.

While watching, I simply thought of the crappiness of it. Honestly, I felt like the writing/acting was pretty weak. Tom Hanks played this dumb smarty who always knew how to reach the next step. Annoyed me. He would falter for a couple seconds... "wait, maybe its a crypto blah blah blah or no, it's not a cup, it's a person!..." and then he would always figure out what to do next. And that's with me entering the movie liking Tom Hanks.

Next, I felt like it was a slightly blasphemous, less entertaining National Treasure (which I'm not really even a fan of b/c it put a pretty big damper on my senior prom night...). Wasn't really on the edge of my seat and I can't remember ever laughing.

What I do sort of like about the movie (and book, I assume) is that it should get one thinking. It pretty much comes right out and says things that are completely opposite than what historic Christianity has thought/believed since... ever. For me, I hope it would make me think if there actually were differences than what is traditionally thought, does that change my faith? In what ways? (Rob Bell goes into this a little bit in Velvet Elvis... which I need to re-read.) Granted, Da Vinci almost seems to get a little preachy about it (if it were a Christian movie with the opposite message, I may have puked a little) but that's probably why it created such a stir (and so much revenue) in the first place.

I'm pretty sure it didn't change any of my beliefs... for those of which it did alter some beliefs, I'm kind of assuming they haven't really thought about Christianity that much before hand anyways.

Yeah that's pretty much it for now. I want to do other things even though this blog isn't really totally thought out. Oh, I like Jean Reno (the French police officer).

Share

This past week I went to Quito and then the Galapagos Islands. Please share in my little adventure by perusing my photos.
Quito
Galapagos 1
Galapagos 2
[I took a little over 500 pictures... I posted just over 150... I think I downsized decently...]

It's always nice to get away. And things like the equator, cathedrals, exoctic animals, snorkeling, amazing scenery, kayaking, and untouched beaches all add to the "nice-ness" of vacationing. To me, it's just cool to see more of Ecuador. I feel like the more I see, the more I feel accustomed and a part of the country.

The pictures tell a better story than I would.

I don't know 'bout you...

I don't know about you but I'm going to the Galapagos Islands...

Here's some pictures so you can get your Josiah fix.

Gems and Papers

New pics! There's a few gems.

My International Business group had a meeting today (3 hours long...). Turns out I'm suppose to be doing all the writing... which basically means I'm doing the whole thing considering we get very little accomplished at our "meetings" and I feel like no one understands the material... on the upside, this means I have complete control over the paper and it makes me feel like a good business student (a feeling I don't often feel).

Hopefully this gets accomplished before Monday at 4.

Tomorrow I'm going to hit up Ingapirca with the fam. Should be a ball.
(When am I going to write a paper? Well... besides when I skip work on Monday?)

4 Numbers and 3 >>

Here we go gang.

Well today contained quite a few good times.
Number 1: I got to sleep in and then go downtown with Ruf to buy random stuff.
Number 2: I had Spanish class with professor Scott Adams. Awesome would be a good way of describing it.
Number 3: Both Scott and Heather Sommer came to our Marketing class in which the first half was a "field trip" to the mall down the street where we obtained marketing segments from a business there. After we finished that in 5 minutes, we all got ice cream or yogurt or another unhealthy food item and hung out.
Number 4: The whole class had a fondue party afterwards. Good, I guess... as I mentioned at the party, "I don't think we're going to miss a game of Taboo by leaving a little early."

>> Tomorrow the TU profs come to visit us at our work... should be interesting... tomorrow night we have a dinner with everyone... I'm also suppose to have a group meeting with International Business students... but I'd rather go to the dinner... we'll see how I feel... oh and I also think we don't have class tomorrow... this is dumb.

>> Next week we go to Quito and the Galapagos Islands! So Tues-Thurs we'll be in Quito and then Thurs-Sun at the Islands. Excited? Yes. I'm not going to describe it now b/c I will when I get back.

>> I'd like to end this blog with a shout-out to Trudy. Keep it real.

Cajas

Well we went to Cajas National Park today. Reminiscent of the Lord of the Rings movies. Check the pictures if you would like. There are some cool places on this earth.

Took a half hour (or so) hike to a lake. Ate food and candy and drank Sprite Zero. Laid on the bed-like mossy grass. Tried to fish. Enjoyed the sun. Scorned the impending clouds.

Once we hiked back to the bus, we ate. We decided to try the fish (trout, I think...) because that's what the locals eat. We definitely got the fish experience. I'm glad I tried it.

We returned (home) tired and I was in a slightly grumpy mood due to a certain item that I could not find.

I showered and watched It. Flipping 3 hours long but good. I respect Stephen King.

And now I sit here typing another dumb blog about nothing. Tomorrow morning I think I'm going to play tennis with my brother, Juan.

[typed Saturday night... posted Sunday afternoon]

Written at work about my trip to work

As I got on the bus, I scanned the rows for an empty set of two so my longer than average legs do not acquire cramps and so I have a place to put my backpack. A row right in front of the bus’s back doors is open and I claimed my rightful throne. I dig in my pockets to find 25 cents (two dimes and five pennies) and looked around for the collection man. Although he is no where to be seen, a girl of about six or seven caught my attention who is sitting directly in front of me and it appeared that she has a staring problem. This is nothing new.

We made our way down Diez de Agosto* and still no collection man. More people get on the bus and rows fill up. I realized it would be polite of me to move to the inside seat next to the window and hold my backpack on my lap if an oncoming rider wished to sit next to me. We reached Salano**, and an equal number of people get off that get on. One of the newcomers also happened to be the collection man.

The collection men are usually of two kinds***. The first are young guys (early twenties) who simply need a job as they figure things out. I assume this is not their final destination in a career choice. The second are slightly older guys (thirties or forties) who appear to have some sort of physical ailment, slacked off earlier in life, and/or just do not seem to be completely content with life. I believe this one was of the second kind. I gave him my 25 cents and glanced past the girl with the staring problem.

As I continued on the fifteen minute journey on the big blue bus, I realized that I did not get any takers on row buddies. Obviously, girls felt safer sitting next to other girls (it is an urban area) and rows up front usually get filled quicker, but I realized that it may be weird sitting next to a foreigner. Imagine that, I am a foreigner. I am the guy that you kind of point at and wonder where they’re from. Well perhaps my nationality is not the biggest secret (although deep down I hope people are not sure if I’m from America or some cool European country) but I am still foreign. And that is a different feeling.

After a bit more traversing the town, the bus turned onto the road of which my internship is located. Once again I saw the small girl in front of me suffering from her awful staring ailment so I kept my gaze straight ahead. I wonder what type of thoughts must be running through her head. Perhaps she was analyzing my weird facial features or lack of pigment in my skin or something else. Suddenly, I changed my gaze. I did not look down at the girl; I simply looked in another direction. This seemed to startle the girl out of her staring disease. For those few moments where I kept my gaze though, I was some mystical creature that dropped from space. A simple turning of the head brought me back to more human characteristics but it felt good being looked at as another species.

*Diez de Agosto – The road on which I live as well as a major road running West/East along the South side of Cuenca.
**Salano – A major road that runs North/South and ends at the Tomebamba River where the old part of town begins.
*** Two Kinds – And obviously there are exceptions.