No Gringos in Ecuador

The semester has started and I'm now in the process of adjusting to the life of an Ecuadorian student. I had high hopes that I would be able to meet new and interesting people in my classes, which are all in English. I envisioned myself bravely leading a small band of gringos to the best tourist sites in town, translating for them with ease and perhaps impressing an American girl or two. Usually I go for Latinas but a little variety never hurts, right?

Reality turned out to be far different. There are no gringos in my classes. My course, which is taught completely in English is for some strange and baffling reason filled with Ecuadorians who are really just learning the language themselves. No, I take that back. There are two half-Ecuadorian half-American combos in my classes, and one Italian. That's it. So why are all these kids taking courses taught in a language they barely understand? It looks good on the resume, that is all. They are more likely to be hired by a company if their degree is written as "International Business" instead of its Spanish version "Negocios Internationales".


So my first day in class saw my dreams of being the Alpha Gringo destroyed. There was no pack of Spanish-deficient, scared, first-time-south-of-the-border gringos to lead. Only a class full of Ecuadorians who either ignored me or considered me to be a curiosity, nothing more. I really would have liked to have a few gringos in my classes. We would have shared a bond, you know? Coming from the same place, in a different land, it's very easy to make friends when you have that in common.

Not that I can't make friends with my Ecuadorian classmates. I can be very sociable when I want to be. However, in this kind of situation I can sense a certain air of unease about the students I talk to. If I speak to them in English they get self-conscience about their own English skills. If I reassure them that I speak Spanish they in turn feel awkward speaking Spanish to a bona-fide gringo in a class that is supposed to be all in English. The fact that I am something new, that they have no experience with, is also a factor. These issues are all natural and I myself have felt their gringoish counterparts fill me with unease from time to time, so I understand. It will just take a while to break through that initial barrier and get to know them as well as I would like.