I spent Block 4 with a team in a Shuar community called Chuwitayo, and maybe I’ll get around to writing about it when I’m not sleep-deprived. But I thought this video was worth sharing from our welcome party, displaying a traditional Shaur dance. The best part was the little guy that joined in… with his own little spear.
Category: Youth World
Laughing and Crying
Part of the culture of Youth World is transition. There are always people coming and going, but lately it seems like there’s just a lot of going. Quito Quest officially ended yesterday afternoon. The last of the summer teams has been gone since last week, and our summer hosts started disappearing yesterday. Even knowing the calendar dates and all of their flight schedules doesn’t really help that to sink in, though, especially with the range of emotions and activities that have taken place over the last 48 hours.
Saturday evening, after a day of games, debriefing, encouragement, and a brief frightening moment when we thought we had nowhere to sleep, we went to the famous (for good reason) hot pools in Papallacta, Ecuador. For three hours, we just got to relax and hang out in a way that just doesn’t happen very often in the craziness that is Quito Quest, and in stark contrast to the hectic schedule after we returned to Quito. We had just over two hours to prepare for our Youth World Picnic with all of our in-country staff (a strangely low number right now) and groups from some of our partner ministry sites.
I planned on making a dessert for the picnic, but on the way I to pick up some ingredients, I ran into Juan Miguel, Jose Luis, Alejandro and Alejandro, four of the guys from Casa G. One of the things that I’ve learned here is that you don’t just wave to someone you know from across the street as you continue along your merry way. You stop and talk to them, no matter where you’re going, what you’re doing, or how late you are. Especially the Casa G boys. They were trying to get into the girls’ house, but apparently nobody was home. Fortunately, nobody in the entire building was home either, because instead of giving up and going home, they were just hanging around buzzing every doorbell at the gate and hollering at the building. I stopped and hung out with them for a while, and discovered they thought the picnic was an hour earlier than it actually was. They were bored and starving, so I took them to McDonald’s. For those of you who don’t know these guys, you can’t imagine just how scary and hilarious that statement should be.
Rene Bryans told me one time how many funny looks she gets driving the guys around. People stop and stare as if to say “Why does that gringa have 10 black boys with her, yelling and hanging out of her SUV?” I’m at least around the same age as some of the guys, and I’m a guy, but still, being a gringo with a pretty feo accent, we did get some strange glances. Nevertheless, it was pretty great to hang out with the guys, most of whom I haven’t seen much of this summer since teams started showing up. We talked about guitars and language and how things are different here than in the U.S. Alejandro M. sang Miley Cyrus songs and asked me how to say phrases in English (a couple of which I refused to tell him for fear he’d say them to some unsuspecting teenage girl on a team). It also always impresses me that these guys are completely ridiculous 90% of the time, but will jump at any opportunity to share their faith with the people around them, and I love listening to these guys pray1.
Juan Miguel, Alejandro, and I eventually headed back up the hill to hang out at my house and help watch the girls finish making their dessert their before heading up to set up and welcome people at the Picnic, which Quito Quest was hosting. It was really fun to hang out and say hi to everyone as they showed up: the Short-Term department staff that I know really well, the El Refugio interns that I’ve maybe spent a total 20 minutes with all summer, friends from Carmen Bajo and Emaús. It was also incredibly weird knowing that as much as this was a celebration of everything that God has accomplished in and through all these people this summer, it was also a good-bye to many of them, including me.
I’ve said a lot of times this week that I’m really tired of despedidas2, and this new round would already have done me in if I hadn’t had to talk. We said farewell to the El Refugio interns, most of whom are heading out at the end of the month, and then to Quito Quest summer staff, who for the most part only had hours left in the country. Then it was my turn, and my brain wasn’t functioning well enough for me to even express my plans and prayer requests in English, so I have no idea how Cameron managed to make in coherent as she translated to Spanish. We broke up and prayed in groups for the QQ staff afterward, and then the party was over. All of my friends from ministry sites came over and hugged and talked to me before they left, and I managed to stay emotionally shut off, fake smiling and laughing until Queña from Carmen Bajo came and gave me a hug. She whispered her good-bye and a prayer in my ear, and something about that made me realize “Wow… this is done…” And even though I knew it already, it really sunk in right then that I wouldn’t be seeing any of this crew for a while. I was really glad that I did get a chance to talk and say goodbye to her and Rosa and Rocio and Rueben and Esperanza and everyone else, but I’m choked up even writing this just thinking about the past year almost that I’ve gotten to spend with them (and knowing that I’ll say my real goodbyes at Emaús this Wednesday and Sunday as well).
I was glad to have a few minutes to pull myself together after that, but then we headed over to Christy’s house to spend some final official Quito Quest time together and get our traditional QQ team photo, which turns out to be super-cool this year: Jose Manuel3 from Carmen Bajo made all of the picture frames for us (and if there’s one footnote out of this you want to read, it’s that one). Definitely a cool touch. There were some really funny moments, especially Rachel’s downhill string of comments starting when she took until 3/4 of the way through passing them out to realize that all the gifts were the same. We watched a couple of episodes of Friends (the oddly super-popular TV show in Ecuador) and hung out with each other until the chiva arrived.4
A chiva is an Ecuadorian party bus that you can rent, and which drives all over the city and plays music at decibel levels that would warrant a citation for disturbing the peace in the US. We piled in, and although there were seconds where you would think “how bipolar I’ve been today…”, we had an absolute blast singing, dancing, blowing whistles, drinking canelazo4, and generally being total high-profile gringos for our last ridiculous night together.
When we finally made it home, we were totally exhausted, which didn’t stop some of us from staying up several more hours, watching movies and talking, until one by one the guys had all crashed. This morning when I woke up, three more of my friends were already on airplanes heading home, and the rest of today has been a smaller-scale version of the same thing: shopping, hanging out, laughing, talking, hugging, and airport runs. I’ve gotten to talk to some friends who are in the States and in the jungle, and tried to figure out what I’m supposed to be feeling as I enjoy the little time I have left with each of my friends here and mourn each of their departures.
The culture that we’ve developed here necessitates all these despedidas. And again, I’m really really ridiculously tired of them. But, like the friend I jokingly hollered at least night to “pick an emotion!”, I’m thankful for the opportunity to celebrate each one of the friendships that I’ve gained here, and I’m thankful for each of those people having been and continuing to be a part of and an impact on my life.
1Especially with Spanglish phrases like “Thanks for Danny, porque tuvimos full hambre.”
2Despedida is a Spanish word for “goodbye” or “farewell” or “goodbye/farewell party”. It’s a tradition at Youth World to do a despedida for anyone at the end of their time with our team, to celebrate them, to hear a little bit about what’s next, and to pray for that person.
3Jose Manuel is an awesome friend and a part of the community in Carmen Bajo. He has been confined to a wheelchair for a number of years now, and has to do all his work from home. He is an incredibly gifted carpenter, and makes beautiful and intricate wooden doors, among other things. I was really glad to know that our frames had his personal touch and that Quito Quest was able to support his work. Ours also have the distinction of being the first picture frames he has ever built.
4I stuck with the non-alcoholic version.
This post originally published at www.dannypeck.net
More Photos from Carmen Bajo
Normally I arrive at Carmen Bajo and unlock the door to my classroom to find it pristine, unchanged from the last time I taught. Laura and I are the only ones with keys, and for the most part we leave each others’ stuff alone, and nobody else goes in there when one of us isn’t around. I didn’t really remember how we’d left it last week though. While the team was on the ground, and since I had a key on me all the time (as opposed to the room downstairs, for which we have to hunt down the key every ten minutes), we used the art room as a storage room for all the craft supplies, guitars, cameras, and various other gringo junk. Assuming that I’d need to sort out some leftover ministry supplies, I came early today. Despite expecting to do a little work, my reaction when I opened the door was “Where the heck am I gonna have class?!” The photo below is en media res because I forgot to take a totally “before” picture.
Again, I’d already been cleaning and sorting and rearranging for 45 minutes before I bothered to take a picture. There were several more very large suitcases full of stuff when I started.
Jackpot! These mostly went upstairs to the women in the kitchen. Mostly.
Jostin and Josué jam on some ukuleles (under very careful supervision). My two favorite parts were that they were both holding them backwards, and they were totally singing along to the awful noise that was emanating from the tiny instruments.
What an influence the Canadians were. Unprovoked, the colegio boys chose to play real field (patio) Hockey instead of Wii Boxing. WHAT?!
New Writing Project
Yesterday I began the process of writing an article about Guardians, a program within the Inglés Student Ministries (ISM) branch of Youth World. Throughout my afternoon hanging out with the chaplains at Alliance Academy and the high school juniors and seniors who really run the program, there were tons of entertaining moments I just had to write about, but knew should never make it into something published with our organization’s name officially attached.
My first and favorite was when my friend Ashley had all of the kids circle around Dani, the girl who was speaking during the whole-group program. Her directions were “Everyone circle around and touch Dani… appropriately.” I’ve actually been in several adult groups where that particular disclaimer might have been helpful and effective. It’s going to be fun hanging out with this group as I work on the article.
First Adult Team
I knew going into hosting this team that it was totally made up of adults and that that would be something different for me. I’ve always had youth teams before, and it’s been interesting to observe, before we’ve even had a scheduled ministry day, how very different certain aspects of our time together have been.
The first thing that has really stuck out to me has been their tendency to wander off. For the first hour or so at the Basilica today, it drove me nuts, but as I told Dario later on, I realized that to some extent that’s something I need to let go of. With youth teams, the teenagers might not necessarily want to be right with the whole team all the time (or any of the time), but they will at least stay withing seeing distance, because they know if they wander off, they’ll be in trouble with somebody later. Every time I did a head count today (which is something I do pretty constantly), someone was missing. More often than not it was the same person, who always quickly found his way back to us.
The questions this group has asked me have had their own twist to them, they follow the rules really well and drink lots of water and wear their sunscreen, we take lots more bathroom breaks, they’re quiet on the bus and at meals but animated at debrief, and they sing. Let me repeat that. They sing. I love groups that sing. I hosted a summer team once which whom devotions including music was like pulling teeth, so I appreciate it when groups actually participate vocally. Not that worship has to be musical, but personally, a devo wouldn’t be devo if it didn’t include either writing or music, so it means a lot to me when they choose to throw in songs at the end of a debrief and it’s a way that I can really worship as well.
The great thing about a team of only 10 is that you actually know everyone’s names at the end of the first day. I’ve gotten to spend at least a little bit of time already with almost everyone on a one-on-one or smaller group basis, and I feel like we’ll know the team really well be the end of their time here. There’s only one or two I have hesitations with about their level of flexibility, but we are working at Carmen Bajo this week. Not that you can help falling in love with any ministry site here, but speaking from experience, you really can’t help but fall in love with Carmen Bajo and I think after a few hours getting to know people there and seeing how things are done the South American way, I have no fear that will melt quickly away.
With only one person’s luggage lost and no other disasters on the first day, I’m looking forward to working, serving, and worshiping alongside this group.
OH! And I ordered food on the phone in Spanish for the first time today. That’s always been something that has terrified me. Possibly because I’ve heard what a nightmare it is to order pizza in this country (fortunately we were calling in for chicken), but mostly because speaking your second language on the phone is exponentially more difficult. But I ordered twelve boxes of chicken, two salads, and three drinks… and half an hour later, the order showed up exactly right and in the correct place. The senorita on the other end didn’t even ever have to ask me to repeat anything, and when I gave her a non-standard answer to “what room are you in” at the hostal (I responded “I’ll be there to find the driver” because I could think how to say that much faster than “there’s a common room at the top of the stairs”) she rolled with it and wasn’t confused by what I said. I’m a little proud. Probably a little too proud, but there you have it.
Now and then
Today we were supposed to have our first spring sort-term team on the ground. Well, you can guess how that turned out.
Dario and I were on our way to Hostal Bosque in a taxi when we were informed that our team would not be arriving tonight, and we were unsure exactly when they would actually make it into the country. Stuck in Toronto, the team leader finally called to let us know when they had some semblance of an itinerary, and now we hope to be picking them up at the airport at 10:30 in the morning, which means we won’t be headed to Carmen Bajo for church.
It’s funny to look back almost two years ago to the first team I hosted with Sarah. We were in the same situation, having planned for a team that ended up being delayed almost a full 24 hours. I remember sitting in the kitchen at Dana and Ashley’s house, staring across the table at Sarah with absolutely no idea even where to begin dealing with the situation as we learned about it, and knowing exactly how lost I would have been without her. This afternoon, however, Dario got the phone call that our team hadn’t even made it out of Canada yet, and we both shrugged and went about our plans. I mentally pulled up the schedule and knew that the simplest thing we could do was to cut Carmen Bajo totally from our day tomorrow, and we’ll make the calls as we go along about how much touristy Quito activities we do, based on time and how settled our team gets. Dario (since he managed to get some saldo) called Fabian and Rogelio and let them know the revised plan and neither of them freaked out either.
In 2008 I wrote an entry called “Flex and flow”, a manta-like phrase around Youth World, and something Sarah Miller would say multiple times every day. She even has her own personal sign language for it. I think at the time I titled the post that way and talked positively about the concept more to actively teach myself to believe it more than anything. I’m not the most flexible person in the universe, but I’m certainly much more flexible now than I was two years ago. Part of that has been learning what solutions are even available when a schedule crisis like this one occurs. Part of it has been adjusting to how South American life in general just functions. And part of it has been having some really awesome examples.
After a day putting away groceries and setting up the hostal with absolutely no hurry (and then watching funny movies with Dario all night) I can really appreciate all three of those things.
First Article Published
Finally, with a lot of help, input, and editing from around Youth World, I’ve actually published the first article I’ve been working on. For those of you who aren’t on Youth World’s mailing list, you can check it out here in PDF format. If you’d like to be added to Youth World’s mailing list, which I’m administering at the moment, you can send an e-mail to mail@youthworld.org.ec to subscribe.
Communication
This weekend the Quito Quest staff went to Riobamba, Ecuador, partly to participate at ministry sites in the area and partially as a scouting mission for some short-term teams we will be taking there during the spring and summer. It was an absolute blast that the whole of QQ got to go. We absolutely have the best department in Youth World. Not always the most serious, amicable, or reverent, especially when ill-rested, but still the best.
We actually mainly just slept and occasionally ate in Riobamba proper, because the ministry sites which we visited were all pretty far removed from the city. This meant driving usually over an hour up and down crazy mountainsides with sheer cliffs to the side and rocks, ditches, dogs, and sleeping women in the path of our bus. On the way to a second ministry site on Friday, a makeshift bridge actually broke under the driver’s side front wheel and we spent the next significant portion of the afternoon attempting (and finally succeeding) in removing our only realistically conceivable mode of transportation from the ditch in which its entire front had become lodged. I might add that we did this with only rocks, a long but rather flimsy-looking log, and elbow grease. We were also all incredibly thankful that the wheel, tire, axel, and surrounding body were undamaged, especially considering we had exactly zero spare tires.
At the ministry sites themselves, it was one surprise after another. We had been told to expect a colder-climate style culture than what we are used to in Quito or on the coast or in the jungle. What stood out to me after two days was the difference between each ministry site and each of the others in terms of how people reacted to our presence and our activities there. At our first stop, with only twenty people or so, those who came sang with us, responded to questions, and jumped into our ridiculous games. Even the older adults were enthusiastic about running around during a fantastic gato y raton game that I’m going to have to take back with me for North American youth activities. Our second ministry site was much the same in enthusiasm, probably more so here, however, because of the huge number of children present. But Saturday morning, we went to another mountain community and felt like we were pulling teeth to even get “yes” or “no” answers or hands raised to simple questions.
Part of this, I’m sure, had to do with language. Certainly not all, which I’ll get to in a moment, but part of it, at least, had to do with language. While pretty much everyone did speak Spanish, it is a second language for a significant portion of all of the communities which we visited. These were very much indigenous communities, and most of the people there, particularly the older ones, grew up speaking Quichua. We actually got some Quichua lessons over breakfast, and I now know the phrases for “What is your name?”, “How are you?”, “Yes,” “No,” and “Flower,” in Quichua. We practiced the first four over and over again during breakfast, and “Flower” happens to be the only word of somewhere around 4o million that one of the pastors’ sons taught me on a bus ride Saturday morning. I won’t attempt to spell any of them here in Quichua, but I can say them.
That said, there were a few stumbles, especially among gringos and Quiteños attempting Quichua, and depending on whether Spanish or Quichua was the first language of each individual indigenous person, but overall that aspect went well. The epic fail was our humor. By Saturday afternoon we had learned how not to make to much of fools of ourselves, but up until that point, there were a lot of times when someone would make a joke (in Spanish), and everyone from Youth World (Ecuadorianas included) would laugh and everyone from the community would just stare at us. The one time they were sure to laugh, however, was when one of us would ask how to say something in Quichua, someone else would tell them, and then we would proceed to butcher it. We’ll take what we can get, though.
Aside from some awkward moments where the kids and even the adults would hardly talk to us, we actually got to plug into what was going on at these sites, and I am looking forward to the possibility of going back with some of this Quito Quest crew to these sites this summer.
Not Atypically Not Ready
Miguel and I were talking recently about hanging out on a weekend once he is finished with classes after this week. What I hadn’t realized up until even more recently is that today, I’m completing my penultimate weekend before I head home for Christmas. I’m on day 104 right now, which is over a third longer than the longest I’ve been here previously. It doesn’t feel like it at all.
This week is going to be psychotically busy. I’m not even 100% sure yet which days I’m sleeping at which house, and I have people to see and projects to complete and shopping to get done and parties to attend in addition to my normal work week of teaching and writing and meetings.
Although I know I’m going to be busy, I’m trying to be “all here” right now, as we say at YW.1 I keep thinking about August 2008 when I came home from Quito Quest. Much as I tried to hide it, I had a bad attitude, and a difficult readjustment to life in the States because of it. And a good chunk of that was (lack of) preparation. When anyone from Youth World asked me if I was ready to go home, I simply said “no.” I caught myself leaning in that direction last week, realizing while I wasn’t grumpy about it, my response was not excited either.
I think that part of that is that I know there are certain things about life and ministry here that simply cannot be understood from the safety of your pew in North America, and I’m bracing for it a little bit. And part of it is that there are a lot of things I am leaving behind this time: more connections, ministry sites and projects to plug back into when I return, knowing that this is my last week of living with Lourdes and her family. What I’m trying to be conscious of and intentional about is things I have to look forward to and be excited about at home.2
Almost a year ago I reminded a friend that wherever she goes, God is preparing her for it and He is there already waiting for her. This week while the craziness of life plus preparing for holidays and travel surrounds me, I’m reminding myself the same thing. Much as there are special people and memories here in Quito
I’m really stoked to see my family and people at church, as well as friends who will be in/around Elizabeth City for Christmas. And not that this is in the same class at all, but I’m also really excited about Mexican food.3 I
1I had this big internal debate whether to use the expression from El Refugio or to quote the Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn (“Keep your concentration here and now, where it belongs.”) I decided that the former was more appropriate, but the latter deserved an honorable mention.
2I hope Cameron doesn’t read this. I misused four prepositions in the same manner in one sentence.
3Contrary to popular belief, the staple foods here are things like rice. Not. Tacos.
Christmas Party to Remember
Tuesday, we had our Youth World Christmas party, a day that I won’t soon forget. I think I must have eaten something sketchy on Monday night, because I felt slightly strange most of yesterday morning, but not bad enough not to work. After lunch, though, Cameron told me I was looking pretty pale, which I’ve learned is a sure sign I’m about to lose whatever food I’ve got in me. Cam drove me home and I actually did get sick, but then slept it off and felt pretty good by 4:15 when I needed to head down the hill to the office for the party. I figured I’d be fine.
Turns out the Christmas party was an “Amazing Race” that split us up into teams and sent us out to see who could make it to the “Pit Stop” first. My team was Casey, Phil Payne, Ivet, Jorge, Kyra and Beth. We were sent out from the YW office, all around Parque Carolina, and then finally to Plaza Foch in the Mariscal. We rode bikes, peeled potatoes, bought Christmas ornaments, and rented paddle boats. I was in a paddle boat with Ivet and Kyra and we’d made it almost all the way around the lake when we realized Jorge had gotten stuck in a boat by himself, so I jumped ship and helped him paddle back around the the lake. This definitely helped us pull out ahead, but twice around the lake was not a good idea for my health.
We finally completed all our tasks, and made it to the restaurant that was our end-point, meeting Brad and Sandi and discovering that we had won. I’m not sure if it just took that long for sickness plus ridiculous amounts of exercise to catch up to me, or if my body was like “Oh, he’s relaxing now, I can finally freak out.” But I began to realize as we hung out, waiting for the other teams to show up, that I couldn’t relax my arms.
Before I knew it, my hands were clenched into fists that I couldn’t release, and my upper legs and forearms were starting to tense up too. Dave Gardeen came over to sit down next to me, and I told him “Go get Casey now.” I’m really thankful that Casey had been on my team so that he was finished at the same time as me. Before he moved to Ecuador to work with Casa Gabriel, Casey was a physical therapist. I truly think I would have had to go to the hospital if Casey hadn’t been there, realizing that I was dehydrated and knowing where to put pressure and what to have me consume to get my muscles to relax and blow flow going back through my arms.
Now, I explained all that concisely in one paragraph, not for lack of description, but that I simply would rather not relive the experience. On a scale of 1-10 from least to worst pain I’ve ever experienced in my life, it was easily a 9 if not a 10. I threw up a significant amount, and Matt took me home (as in, to his home, so he and Marlo could keep an eye on me).
I have eaten a lot of plain food yesterday and today, relaxed and recovered at the Jensens’ house under Marlo’s supervision, and got to go to the regular Youth World meeting this afternoon. At which I was scheduled to lead worship with Brad. So I got to be in front of all those people who saw me in a pretty embarrassing state two nights ago. I decided to just embrace it, so as I got everyone’s attention before we started to play and sing, I made reference to the fact that I tried to die at the Christmas party, but I was wearing my winning-team-Santa-hat, so it must have been worth it. Mary Scholl shouted out in her best mom voice “And what did you learn?”
To which I responded, “Not to try to keep up with Jorge.”