I haven’t written in a while mostly because I don’t really know what to write about. Nothing crazy exciting has happened in the past few weeks. Well, I guess there are some things to write about…
One of my Ecuadorian friends (let’s call him M) graduated college a couple weeks ago on a Tuesday with an undergraduate degree in Tourism. I work with him so my other co-workers and I went to his graduation.
Before I go any further I want to explain that in Ecuador they don’t have fresh, sophomore, junior, senior, nor do they have a set graduation date at the end of each year/semester. Every student graduates on their own time… I still don’t fully understand the whole concept, but the graduate on an individual basis.
With that being said, the week before M graduated I accompanied him to the University… at the time I had no idea why, but now I know that he was actually going to ask some advisors if they had set a date for him to present his thesis and/or graduation date for him yet. The advisor told M that he was still waiting for the transcripts to be reviewed and returned to him, but they should be in his office by the afternoon and to come back next week. M shrugged his shoulders said thank you and we walked out of the guys office.
We then went to a lady’s office. M asked her if they set a date so he could present his thesis to the panel and graduate. She told him let’s plan on Tuesday (I think it was a Thursday at the time), unofficially. Well, it became official and M presented his undergrad thesis to the panel Tuesday morning. They liked it and he graduated right then and there; the only graduate of the ceremony in a small, tiny room.
With his one hour presentation of his thesis approved, the staff went and got his cap and sash, brought out glasses of champagne, as well as some individual pastries. The ceremony started as about 15 of us stood and watched. He and his mother stood in front of 4 administrators, one who was reading his “graduation rights” to him… She then picked his cap up off the table, said some more words, gave him a piece of paper to read, then put his cap on him and he was a graduate with a Bachelor’s degree in Tourism. We clapped and cheered!!!!
Administrator reading something to M.... I will call them "graduation rights"
M accepting his "graduation rights"
M getting "crowned" with his cap! He is officially a graduate!!!!!!
The champagne glasses were then passed around, we all took one raised our glasses and were about to take a sip when M’s mother put her hand up and wanted to say something. It took her a couple minutes because she was tearing up over this great moment. She went on to say how proud she was of M for working so hard and pushing through the hard times and couldn’t be happier for him. Then M gave thanks to his family and friends for all their support… he too had to stop a couple times to wipe his tears. By this time everyone was wiping tears from their eyes, including myself! This was such an amazing moment J There is a small percentage of Ecuadorians who are blessed with the opportunity to go to high school, much less college, so you can imagine this moment of greatness as M got to walk out of that room with a cap and sash on and a diploma in his hand. And his parents and family smiling as they walked out behind him.
We all took pictures, drank a glass of champagne, ate pastries, and chatted in the courtyard for a while then all went our separate ways.
All my co-workers and I getting our pic with M!
M standing next to his mother holding his diploma!
Felicitaciones, Ingeniero!!!!! (Congratulations M!) Diploma well deserved!!!
That Friday M had a graduation party at his house. Not wanting to be the Gringa (word Ecuadorians use for “white foreigner”) who came empty handed to the party I made a double batch of oatmeal raison cookies J(It only took me 4 ½ hours… I had to mix everything by hand since my host family’s mixer can’t even handle a stick of butter, haha. Plus, we only have one pan to bake cookies on) and I also bought a bottle of vodka to bring over.
Soooooo, I get to the party and NO ONE brought anything, no gifts, no alcohol, no food, nothing. Turns out all the alcohol was provided. So the vodka stayed in my purse the whole night and never got opened. I did put the cookies on a table that had a couple other sweets on it. And let me tell you I couldn’t have been more “famous” at this party. I felt like a star! Haha. I was “famous” for two reasons: 1. Because my cookies were the best they’ve ever tasted… no joke, people wouldn’t stop telling me how delicious they were, and 2. I was the only white person there and everyone wanted to talk to the Gringa with the terrible Spanish accent. Haha.
The party was a great time. We danced, laughed, and were merry until 4 o’clock in the morning J
Some friends and I at the party!
My coworker Angie and I :-)
Everyone dancing and having a good time!
My first Ecuadorian party was a success!... Everyone told me how good my Spanish was (always makes me feel good when people tell me that even though I still think my Spanish is terrible), I learned some cuss words, bonded with my co-workers, was taught how to salsa (I’m absolutely terrible at it), and I was also taught how to tell the drunk, whistling, nasty commenting old men off who think I don’t speak Spanish. That’s a successful night, right? Haha
***Happy Birthday, Grandma Fern!***
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