The US vs. Ecuador

So everyone here wants to visit the US. Many want to live there. And, in fact, many do live there. New York City has the 3rd largest Ecuadorian population in the world. There's Quito, Guayaquil and then New York City ranking highest in Ecuadorian citizens. Here they refer to it as a country within a city, a miniature Ecuador moved about 4,000 miles to the north and lacking beaches, bananas and all kinds of other cool stuff. There's so many Ecuadorians there you could move there and not have to interact with anyone except people of your own nationality. Whenever someone asks me about where I live they always ask if it's close to NYC. "No, it's almost on the other coast," I tell them, but I'm pretty sure that doesn't mean anything. It's completely fair that they are not familiar with the US in the same way that I am not extremely well versed on their country. What interests me the most is the fact that there is an entire country that has an image of my country consisting of only one city. It reminds me of how important it is, for those who have the means and the ability, to learn about the world, to become cultured and not to depend on what they think they know about other places. Even more important is that people are educated and that a government works to improve the lives and minds of the citizens.

I've noticed since I've been here that I know more about basic science, weather, biology and physical health than the average bear. It is true that I am college educated, but on the same hand, so are many of my friends here and I seem to know things that they think are fascinating, and I think are normal because I learned them in grade school. One thing that I think is particularly interesting is that first day of spring is approaching (this Saturday), which I learned long ago is the day that the sun is directly on the equator, 12 hours of daylight and of night...so on and so forth. So yesterday, where we are, was the day in which the sun was directly above our latitude on it's approach to the equator. "The day without shadows" is what they called it here. Pretty cool that the sun was right above us, although in all honesty I forgot to look for the shadows. Anyway, the point is my family told me this day was yesterday and that the scientist thought it was supposed to be the 13th or the 15th but they we're mistaken and it was actually the 16th. 'Mistaken?' I was thinking... I mean, it possible that they were mistaken, but these things are pretty dependable. My entire life we have known which day is the first day of spring, that things change and there is leap year, how the length of days works... I was under the impression that these things are pretty much figured out. We were talking about this whole "phenomenon" of the sun being right above us and I was telling them about how this has significance where I'm from too and I was about to explain when they were like, "You mean the sun is right over your city too? On the same day?" Oye! No, that doesn't even make any sense. I continued explaining, but the lack of this scientific concept really surprised me. The thing is not that the scientists were mistaken, it's that these things are not well understood here, and I'm guess from this that they are not taught these things in school. To me this is kind of crazy. I learned in 6th or 7th grade how these things work and these people are still confused. Please note that I am not at all saying that they are ignorant or uneducated. What I am saying, is that the education system is completely different and things like this really make me appreciate the fact that I was educated in the United States where, for all the criticism and its problems, the education system is, in my opinion, really good. There have been all kinds of other things that have made me think, "Really? Didn't your learn that in school?" I can't remember them now, but it is really interesting.

Being from the United States and having been to college, having been exposed to many ideas, having spend a good amount of time around young liberal people I will honestly say that I have criticized many things about my own country. The goal of our criticisms as young people is to breakdown what we see and seek solutions that we can put in place when we're in charge. All we really want is a better ways to do things, but what is hard to realize when you are within a society your whole life is how good you really do have it and how well things really do function. Stepping out of that for a few months, having my college education under my belt, a desire to find out more about the world, and enough understanding to absorb and analyze what I see, has, up till now, served me very well.