Eric Goes Around the World

Aardvark

2010-02-04T09:46:00.000-08:00

Convey Intensity

"Vark!"

That's the noise a little Aardvark would make if it was a computer program.
Aardvark is a social search engine. Google searches through information published on the internet to find an answer to your question. Aardvark, on the other hand, takes your question, such as:

"What are some activities to keep an 11 year old, 9 year old, 3 year old and 1 year old busy? I am babysitting these children this Saturday, and I am wondering what I can do to keep all the different ages entertained. Thanks!"

and finds a busy mother of four to answer it for you. Aardvark lives in your chat client, be it gchat, AIM, or what have you, always ready to take your questions. And if someone asks a question that falls into your area of expertise, it will ask you if you can answer the question.

Interestingly, Aardvark has just published a paper on the mechanics of social search. Part of their value as a business lies in the unique understanding they have of how to comb social networks for information.

I met with Timothy Bentley, employee #1 at Aardvark, and a Brown grad, to discuss the concept of Aardvark and my job search.

I have some concerns about Aardvark's business model. For one, there's very little revenue. However, at Aardvark they don't see this as a huge obstacle. They can sell the right to answer questions on a certain topic; for example, they can sell a law firm the right to answer legal questions, which might gain them some clients. They would also be an interesting acquisition target for Google or any of the other major search engines, who might want to incorporate social search into their products. Rumor has it that Google offered them $30 million, but I couldn't confirm that.

Tim gave me a lot of good advice for my job search, which sums up to: "Convey intensity." Tell your interviewer that you love to work and you pursue your interests with intensity and passion.
Demonstrate that you can manage yourself and find important work to do, without needing to be told what to do (like the vast majority of people). A manager's dream employee is one who he/she doesn't have to manage at all. Be that person.

Tim asked me to give him my shpiel. I started out, "I'm looking for a job as a product manager at a tech start-up because I'm interested in technology and entrepreneurship."
"Cut out the 'I'm interested in,'" he said. "You can be interested in a lot of things. Is it what you have a passion for?"
I realized that the way I present myself tends to be toned-down, modest. It's good to be modest, but you also have to tell the person that you can do the work, that you are a passionate person, and that you are a self-starter.

He also suggested that I help out other students looking for jobs in Silicon Valley, since what I learn in my meetings might be of some use to them. That was one impetus for this blog. Tim organizes brunches for Brown alums living in Silicon Valley, and I attended one, which was a lot of fun.

There is an email list for Brown alums living in Silicon Valley, so if you want to get connected there, it's a good place to start: http://www.SVBrownAlums.org

Arriving in Silicon Valley

2010-01-27T13:27:00.000-08:00

I arrived in Silicon Valley on January 8, 2010, and stayed at my friend Allan's house. Allan is the trombonist in our video-game music ensemble, Octorock.
We started out by taking a tour of Stanford University's Arboretum:

And this is a statue of a weeping angel in the Arboretum, dedicated to Leland Stanford's mother-in-law. Supposedly, the whole family is buried in the casket.

We then took a tour of the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, CA. One of the highlights was the massive SAGE computer, probably the largest ever built (unfortunately they don't have the whole thing). SAGE was built to track and intercept enemy Soviet bombers during the Cold War. By the time the thing was done, bombers were no longer a threat, and the game had moved on to missiles and MAD.

From Wikipedia:

Each machine used 55,000 vacuum tubes, about ½ acre (2,000 m²) of floor space, weighed 275 tons^[1] and used up to three megawatts of power.

And by the time it was done, they had no use for it. Oh, well. At least it led to major developments in computer technology!

Another highlight was the original Google server, which Larry Page and Sergey Brin must have kept in their garage. It really is a hacked together piece of shoddy work, but it somehow managed to function. They just took the motherboards and chips out of PC casings, stacked them up, and wired them together. Humble beginnings. (My friend Allan is in the picture.)

The Computer History Museum showed how silicon ingots are refined and turned into chips through a long and complicated process (that I didn't understand). It also made me think about why this specific place became the country's, and the world's, center of technological innovation. Could it be, as Jared Diamond would suggest, that the geographic presence of certain resources can lead to the development of a culture? That is, it could be that the presence of silicon led to forming an innovative culture, because that is the type of culture that can best make use of the resource, once it's known how to make it into chips. Just a thought.

Networking Skills

2010-01-21T22:21:00.000-08:00

Tap into your network

I was in Silicon Valley for only 10 days, but I managed to set up meetings with CEOs and top management at start-ups such as Playdom, Box.net, Square, TrialPay, Aardvark, iSkoot, Oodle, Thumbtack, and MyFit. How did I do it? I leveraged the power of my network. Here are some networking tips:

First, try to clearly define your abilities and goals. Narrow this down into a short (4 or 5-sentence) self-description. If you can use bullet points, even better. You'll include this, along with an attached resume, to all your emails.
Then start by setting up a meeting/call with someone you know who is connected to the industry you're interested in. Explain what you're looking for and give some examples of companies that interest you. Ask for any suggestions. Ask if they could introduce you to anyone. Make sure you follow-up with an email and thank them.
Follow-up with anyone they introduce you to. Repeat the same steps, and ask for more introductions. If each person you talk to leads to 2 or 3 more contacts, you'll be full of meetings before you know it.
Do you have a dream company? Check on LinkedIn if you have any connections to them. The steps above could help with that. If not, check out the blogs of some key people at the company. You should be able to find their email address and a hook of a common interest.
Set up an information interview. These are often better than formal interviews because they are more low-key and cooperative. Tell the person that even if they don't currently have any open positions, you'd still love to meet them.
Email them again a few days later if they don't respond. People get busy and emails get lost. As long as you don't do it every day, it will be seen as persistent, not rude. You can also try calling.
Remember to send thank-you/follow-up emails after every meeting and thank-you cards.

Singapore

2009-08-17T03:06:00.001-07:00

And so it went on my journeys, that about two weeks ago, I departed Japan for Singapore. I left my dorm late at night, with all my luggage in hand, only to leave my beloved electric violin on the Japanese subway. I immediately got in contact with my trusty roommate, Sam, who gave me the number for the Tokyo subway Lost and Found calling center. One of the amazing things about Japan is that they have a system for finding anything lost on the train. Another amazing thing is that nobody steals the stuff you lose on the train. Sam had earlier re-obtained an iPod Touch he had lost on the train, so I was feeling optimistic. Luckily, they did have my electric violin, and Sam picked it up for me.
In the airport, I met up with Okaasan (Japanese for "Mom"), who was my Singaporean friend Andy's host mom when he studied abroad in Japan. We got on a plane to Singapore to visit Andy together. Okaasan is 80 years old but very energetic.
Me, Andy, and Okaasan at the Singapore zoo:

I even convinced her to try riding a Segway. She did pretty well!

I was very surprised to ride the Singaporean subway and find out that there is not only a "Newton" in Singapore, but a Somerset also. I thought maybe I'm in Massachusetts, but then realized that the Newton I come from is not next to Toa Payoh.

Singapore was formerly a British colony. Interestingly, it's first prime minister, David Marshall, was Jewish. It became part of Malaysia for a while, but then broke off. I asked Andy lots of questions about Singapore and the surrounding countries. I asked him, "What's the best thing to come out of Malaysia?" He instantly responded, "Singapore." The ethnic majority in Singapore is Han Chinese, but the national language is English. Chinese is widely spoken on the street, but English is used in the schools and in business. Singapore is technically a democracy, but the opposition is very weak, and so the same party has been in power since independence 44 years ago. There are four main ethnic groups in Singapore; the Chinese, the Malay, the Indians (mostly Tamil), and the Europeans. For the most part they live together harmoniously, although there is certainly racism, which is widespread although low in intensity.
Singapore has developed extremely rapidly since Sir Stamford Raffles discovered it in 1819, when it was just a small Malay fishing village. Singapore's economic development should be seen as a model for other developing countries. When I was there, I saw an enormous amount of construction:

Singapore is famous for its strict, nearly draconian laws. When I got off the airplane, I was warned "The punishment for drug trafficking is DEATH." One of the more ridiculous laws is this one:

You're probably confused by the "No Durian" sign. Durian is a tropical fruit which is actually quite delicious, although extremely smelly.
That was one among a number of ridiculous signs in Singapore. Here are a few more:

Apparently, in Singapore, small ferries are called "Bumboats." Have you ever considered a promising career as a bumboat operator?

This is an advertisement, posted all around Singapore, for a canned food company known for its "Qaulity Management":

And this beverage is the pride of all Singapore, Kickapoo Joy Juice:

It wasn't as good as the name suggested.
We spent a lot of time in the Singapore zoo, and I took pictures of all the animals. There are very few cages at the zoo, and most of the animals live in wide open spaces, with only a moat separating them from the visitors.

Amazingly, the Orangutans are not separated from the visitors at all, and will climb around on ropes directly over your head.

We also went to the Singapore Botanical Gardens, which is very nice, but unfortunately not as exciting as the zoo because most of the things there don't kill things. But, there is this one carnivorous plant, that traps insects with is slippery walls and then drowns them in liquid:

And finally, a picture of me doing a ninja pose in the mist:

From Singapore I went on to Poland, and I'll write about that in a few days.

Weird Signs

2009-07-29T03:49:00.001-07:00

Here's another silly post. In my travels, I've come across a lot of weird signs. Here are a few I'd like to share with you.
From Ecuador:

Text: (Person 1) "Is that fried yuca? Is it a cheese finger?"
(Person 2) "NOOOOOO!!! IT'S BEMBODOG!!!!!!!"
Also from Ecuador:

It's "Japan Pharmacy." On the right is an "Ecuador First" sign.
From Peru:

I was pretty upset that I missed Thai Festival 2009.
Believe it or not, this is from Lima, Peru as well:

From a Kyoto Bus:

The priority seat is supposed to be for pregnant women and women with small children. If you didn't know Japanese, though, you could be forgiven for thinking it's for marsupials, and people who's stomachs are exploding.
Tokyo:

Text: "Only the guys who can enjoy games are hero. The game in that you are a hero has just begun." This almost makes sense because it's on the door of an arcade.
Cyrano de Bergerac, the Musical, in Japanese:

Tokyo, Japan:

The sign is attached to a bicycle on the street, missing a seat. It reads "We borrowed your seat." The poor bike owner is told that the seat will be used for the Red Bull (an energy drink) Box Car Race. He has to come to the race if he wants his seat back. Is that even legal?
Tokyo, Japan:
No explanation here.

Also from Japan:

The label reads, "Blueberry Bagel. Traditional bread of the Jews. Made by mixing blueberries into a plain bagel."
Here is my roommate, Sam, a fellow Newtonite, holding a copy of "Newton" magazine in Japanese:

Beijing, China:

I guess somebody thought that "Sex and Da City" would be a great name for a bar.
Japan:
This is some kind of advertisement. I'm not sure what it's about, but I am sure that it says "Emergency Juggler" in huge letters.

This is a sign for a fortune teller. I guess this fortune teller thought that using an exotic Jewish Star would add to the mystique of his/her fortune-telling abilities.

Food

2009-07-29T03:26:00.000-07:00

My apologies for not posting in a very long time. Instead of facing the daunting task of writing a post about all my experiences during my study abroad in Japan, and my weekend excursion to Beijing, I've decided to make a silly post about food.
Warning: some of the pictures may be kind of gross.
I was offered some sort of jelly eaten out of a leaf by a Diet member's (Japanese congressman) staff.

This is Bisli, the popular Israeli snack, but in Japan. It goes for about 150 yen.

This is a noodle soup from a vegan restaurant in Kyoto.

Only in Japan would you find such a thing as this:

Can you guess what this sign says?

It's "Starbucks," in Chinese.

This one should be obvious:

This is some very sour fruit on a stick I got in China. It's pretty good.

And in China, this is considered to be food as well:

Some interesting Japanese inventions:
1. The Soy milk and Edamame bagel

2. The Square Watermelon. Sounds great, until you take a look at the price tag: $150.

3. Some weird Japanese variation on the cake

And finally, that cheap peddler of crappy food, Colonel Sanders, in traditional Japanese garb.

L-O-V-E in Japan

2009-05-26T02:27:00.000-07:00

I'm sorry it's taken me so long to make an update. Basically I've been in Japan now for two months, and I'll be here for two more months, so this is the halfway point. It's been a lot of fun and I'm learning a lot of Japanese, making a lot of friends, and constantly being surprised by the cultural/societal differences.
Also, today is Becca's birthday, so I made her a YouTube video as a birthday present, since I couldn't be there with her to celebrate the special day.
L.O.V.E. in Japanese
I hope you enjoy it, and are not too weirded out.
-Eric

Twelve Hours in Peru!

2009-04-03T05:51:00.000-07:00

I arrived in Peru on Thursday, March 19 at 10:00 AM, and I would have to leave that evening at 11:00 PM. So when I arrived in the airport, I went straight to the Starbucks, opened up my laptop, and used their wireless internet to research what fun things I could do in Lima. I found Bike Tours of Lima, made a reservation, then took a cab to the Miraflores district of Lima and started my biking journey.
Views from the cab ride:

The bike ride was great fun, there were about 5 other people, all really nice. I made a friend, Hiromi, who is a Japanese-Venezuelan tennis player.

One of the nicest places we visited was the Yitzhak Rabin Park, which was donated by the Jewish community of Lima.

The caption reads:
"Peace is the greatest aspiration of the Jewish Community
Itzhak Rabin 1922-1995
Statesman, Fighter, Nobel Prize Winner, Prime Minister of Israel, and prestigious military general. Assassinated on November 4, 1995, during a great demonstration for peace."
We saw some ancient Inca ruins and two Peruvian Hairless Dogs.

I had dinner at a great vegetarian restaurant, for about $3:

And yes, this is exactly what it looks like. That's why it's called "Love Park."

Overall a great day in Lima, I got to see a lot in a short amount of time.

Antisemitism in Ecuador

2009-03-31T22:10:00.000-07:00

I had my last day in Quito to myself, so I decided to ride the TelefériQo, Quito's multi-million dollar cable car that takes you up one of the mountains that surrounds the city. Unfortunately, it was kind of cloudy, so the view was only so-so, but luckily it didn't rain.

When I got to the top, I spotted two American-looking kids and introduced myself. They were two Bowdoin students, Rachel and Alex.

Rachel was studying abroad in Quito, and Alex was visiting her. We started playing the name game, and the coincidences started getting pretty crazy. One of her close friends on the program had gone to high school with me. Another girl on the program was the sister, who I met briefly, of the guy who sat next to me on the plane to Quito. And El Maple, the vegetarian restaurant where I had eaten the day before, was her favorite spot in Quito. At the same time, we both exclaimed, "maybe we're related!"
After that, I went and got lunch at a nice vegetarian restaurant in Quito, and explored La Plaza Grande a little bit.

From Eric Goes Around the World

I also met these guys, who were holding a sign that read "We are looking for an honest man..." I went up to them and said, "You guys looking for me?"

From Eric Goes Around the World

One common cultural trait of Ecuadorians is that they are very upset by the level of corruption in their country's politics, so I guess this had something to do with that.
I decided to go check out a museum with a Chagall exhibit, but right when I got in I found myself in a conversation with the guy selling books at the gift shop. We talked for over an hour, mostly in English, and I ended up missing the exhibit. At first, he talked to me about how difficult it was to find a job in Ecuador. He had gone to college ten years ago and studied marketing, but was never able to land a good job even though he had the contacts and recommendations. He had spent most of the time doing unpaid internships. He was 35 years old and living with his parents. His sister, who had gone to America, graduated from Wharton and was enjoying a successful career. Soon, however, he changed the subject to world politics. He told me he likes Obama (as almost everybody in Ecuador told me). But without warning he started talking about how much he dislikes the Jews for causing all the trouble in the Middle East. Nearly realizing his mistake, he asked, "Oh wait, you're not Jewish, are you?" I wanted to hear more of what he would say, so I told him I wasn't. He went on and on about how the Jews caused all the wars in the world, how the Jews are rich and look down on everybody else, and so on. He thought that Hitler had "the right idea," but maybe hired the wrong people or took it too far. He thought that Germany would save the world, but that damn Angela Merkel keeps apologizing to the Jews. I asked him if he knew any Jews. "It's funny, actually," he said. "There was a Jewish guy at the place I used to work, and he was the only guy there I liked." He also had a cousin who had become Jewish living in France, a psychiatrist. I asked if he was a good person. "Yes, he's a nice guy," he answered, "but I don't know why he would get involved with something like that." Strangely, he also talked about how much anti-semitism there is in Europe. I pointed out to him that his views were anti-semitic, to which he eventually agreed, but didn't see it as a problem.
That night I talked about this experience with Manuel, who is atheist. He said the problem is relgion, that Ecuador is a Catholic country and the people are taught to hate the Jews. When he was in elementary school, they would have religion classes, which he didn't have to attend (as an atheist), but the kids were taught that the Jews killed Christ and so on. Furthermore, he said, since there are so few Jews in Ecuador, to most Ecuadorians Jews are like Martians and the beliefs Ecuadorians hold about Jews have no basis in reality or experience.
That was the first time anyone had expressed such anti-semitic views to my face, and it gave me a lot to think about.

A Day in the Old Town of Quito

2009-03-24T19:01:00.000-07:00

The day after getting back from the jungle, Irene, Gabe, Rachel, and I took a tour of Quito's old city. It's very beautiful, and there are a lot of museums. When we were riding the bus, Gabe was pickpocketed, but luckily (and cleverly) he wasn't carrying much with him, and he only lost a dollar. We spent a lot of time shopping (there were two girls with us), and we went to a museum in the center of the old city. The museum had a lot of artifacts from the colonial period, and we discussed the legacy of imperialism.

The statue that looks over all of Quito:

Rachel and I both wanted to buy a USB thumb drive, so we went to some large store and asked the employees if they had any. They went into some back closet and found three. They were all 2 GB thumb drives; One was Kingston, and the other two were HP. The Kingston one didn't have a tag on it, so they spent 20 minutes on the computer trying to figure out what it cost. Then they told us that of the two HP drives, which were identical, one cost $30 and the other cost $15. I tried to explain to them that this didn't make any sense, but they wouldn't budge. So I took the one for $15 and left.
In the afternoon, the rest of the group all took a flight to Esmeraldas, the coast, to enjoy the beach for a few days. I couldn't go because I had to leave Ecuador in two days, so there would be no time for the beach. After they left, I found a great vegetarian restaurant in Quito and ordered this magnificent meal for $3:

Unfortunately, I made the mistake of trying to pay with a $10. Nobody has change in Ecuador, or Peru for that matter. They sent one of the waiters to the bank to fetch change, and I was left waiting for 10 minutes until he got back.
Manuel picked me up and drove me back to the house.
I don't know why but Israel keeps popping up:

Into the Jungle

2009-03-17T17:40:00.000-07:00

The day after our night in Coca, we woke up early and left for another oil town where we picked up supplies. We needed to bring enough food to feed ourselves during our time in the jungle, and some food and extra things for the Secoya community we would be staying with. We bought them extra food, some gasoline (for the boats), and gum for the kids. And then we drove to the riverbank of the Río Napo, a tributary of the Amazon. On our way there, we saw acres and acres of African palm plantations, which produce palm oil, but destroy the forest. However, the Secoya territory is protected, and the palm plantations stop right at their border, and the jungle begins. Our friend Hernán picked us up there in his engine-powered canoe and took us to a smaller tributary river called Río Aguarico. In fact, the Secoya kids go to school every day in a schoolboat--a wooden canoe with an engine, packed with kids, making stops at every settlement down the river.

We arrived in the Secoya village of San Pablo, a collection of some wooden huts along the Aguarico.

The Secoya are an indigenous group of Ecuador and Peru, who have been living in the Amazon basin for centuries, possibly millennia. The Ecuadorian and Peruvian Secoya were separated in the 1960s when the two countries fought a war over territory, and the Secoya fled the border areas. Now, there have been reunification projects for Secoya who knew each other as kids to meet each other again. Hernán estimates the total Secoya population at 2,000 people. They have a vast knowledge of the rainforest, and especially its medicinal plants, many of which Western medicine has yet to discover. For example, the shaman, Delfín, brew a hallucinogenic drink called Ayahuasca (or Yajé). They made it for us, but I chose not to try it.
Delfín and I:

I found living in the jungle to be very difficult. The worst part was the bugs, little no-see-'ums that bite relentlessly. I guess I didn't apply enough bug spray, and they totally devoured my arm.

While we were with the Secoya, we didn't really do much, but we went on a nature hike in the jungle, rode on boats, and played with their kids. One day the kids just had a ball climbing all over me and having me swing them around. I even told them the story of Little Red Riding Hood in broken Spanish. Some of the kids are really great climbers--they're totally fearless.

I thought I'd give it a try, too, on the biggest tree in the jungle.

It's higher up than it looks, seriously.

The girls also caught a massive spider:

And I played with a pet boar...

And found a caterpillar.

The word the Secoya use most often to describe their environment and lifestyle is tranquilo, meaning tranquil or quiet. They live very close to nature and take life slowly. Life in the jungle is certainly difficult but they have found a way to make it work, with their cultural knowledge and some modern technology. For drinking water, they collect rain in large buckets with cloth filters (and this is a rainforest, so it rains quite often). For electricity, they bought solar panels with batteries, and so they have lights, cell phones, and TV. They grow most of their food themselves, such as plantains, rice, sugarcane, and cacao, and they raise chickens. The government provides some health insurance. In fact there is an American man who chose to leave his life in the U.S. and live among the Secoya instead. It's not what I would choose, but different things work for different people.

Coca

2009-03-16T22:42:00.000-07:00

On Thursday we flew from Quito to Coca, an oil town and an outpost in the Amazon. You could tell that the entire economy of the town is built on oil; there are oil workers everywhere, big advertisements for oil companies, and oil infrastructure is quite visible. The Trans-Ecuadorian pipeline runs through the center of the city right next to the main road. There has actually been a campaign to bury the pipeline underground, because if there was ever a car crash that broke the pipeline, it would be a disaster.

Oil pipeline on one side of the bridge, by the road:

And on the other side of the bridge is a finca, or rural home, dangerously close to oil infrastructure:

We all practiced our Spanish by talking to the cab drivers. I asked our driver what his favorite movies were, and he replied: "Me gustan las pelìculas de Arnold. En Ecuador, las películas de Arnold se venden como pan caliente." (I like Arnold Schwarzenegger. In Ecuador, Arnold's movies sell like hot cakes.") Ironically enough, later that night at the hotel we were staying at in Coca, they were showing a Schwarzenegger movie.
The hotel we stayed at in Coca was an interesting place. They had some tropical birds in cages and a nice pool with a waterslide. The crazy thing is that they had about 5 monkeys just running around the hotel wreaking havoc. For example, as we were having dinner, a monkey jumped up onto a nearby table and started licking the ketchup bottle. He pushed it over the edge, it broke open on the ground, and then he started eating the spilled ketchup. When we were done with our dinner, but still sitting at the table, a monkey jumped up on the table and stole a french fry. When he tried to do this again, Irene pushed the chair he was standing on, but he just shrieked at her and took the fry anyways.

Everybody's got something to hide except for me and my monkey. Look closely at the top of the pole and you'll see him.

How much is that monkey in the window?

The hotel had turtles, too, who got into a fight.

Ooh and a funky grumpy monkey, too!

We left Coca the next day for Shushufindi, a smaller oil town, where we picked up supplies for our trek into the jungle. Strangely enough, we found a Clinica Israel. I asked them why it was called that, and they said it was because the doctor is an Adventist.

(If you look real close, it actually says "Shalom Jerusalen". To think for all these years we've been spelling it wrong.)

Exploring Quito

2009-03-12T08:03:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, two of David's friends, Irene and Gabe, came to join us in the afternoon, and David took us on a driving tour of the area around Quito. The scenery was dramatic and beautiful, with mountains, lakes, and animals.
In the evening, Gabe, Aaron, and I played some music on electric violin, guitar, and harmonica. Gabe is an excellent Spanish guitarist and has even competed in Spain.
Last night, Rachel, David's sister, joined us as well, so now we're really quite a large group.
Today we are going to fly to Coca, a town further east in Ecuador, and then tomorrow we will fly to the jungle from there. I don't expect to have internet access there so maybe no updates for a while.

My Trip Around the World

2009-03-11T11:06:00.000-07:00

From March to July, I will be studying abroad at Keio University in Tokyo, Japan. I'll be living in a dorm, taking intensive Japanese classes and two classes in English on International Relations for my major. Since their semester starts so late, I have been out of school from December to March. During that time, I've been working for a friend from Brown, David Poritz, to help him start a company, called Gaia, that would certify oil fields as being socially and environmentally responsible. David came up with the idea for this company after starting a non-profit in high school to help people in Ecuador who had been affected by oil contamination. So I am spending ten days in Ecuador working on Gaia and learning about the country and oil extraction.
When my semester in Japan ends, I will make my way to Poland, where I will meet up with my family and my grandparents, for a roots trip to explore our family history. Then, we will be going to Israel for a week.
And in between these places, I will be making detours in Peru, Miami, Beijing, Singapore, Budapest, Madrid, and Puerto Rico. I purchased a round-the-world ticket from the Oneworld alliance. Here is my itinerary:
March 10: Boston - Miami - Quito
March 19: Quito - Lima, Peru - Miami
March 21: Miami - San Francisco - Tokyo
March 22-25: Visit Andy Chong in Kyoto
July: Visit Lillian Tang in Beijing
July 30: Osaka - Singapore
August 3: Singapore - London - Warsaw
August 10: Warsaw - Budapest - Tel Aviv
August 20: Tel Aviv - Budapest
August 21: Budapest - Madrid
August 22: Madrid - San Juan
TBA: San Juan - New York - Boston

Cumbaya, Ecuador

2009-03-11T10:23:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I woke up at 3:30 AM to fly to Ecuador by way of Miami. Both flights went really well, but they charged me a $50 fee because my checked bag was over 50 lbs., so travelers beware. On the flight from Boston to Miami I became friends with a Brazilian girl named Silvana who is a geographer studying water quality in the Amazon. On the flight from Miami to Ecuador I became friends with a guy from the College of Wooster and we had some great conversations on biofuels.
David Poritz picked me up from the airport in a big truck that he drives. Along with his brother Aaron, we're staying at the home of Manuel Pallares, one of David's friends who is working on Gaia. He has a really nice family and I'm really enjoying being here. Manuel lives outside of Quito in Cumbayá, Ecuador. No relation to the song, Kumbaya, which comes from a slave ritual in the Gullah dialect from South Carolina, I learned. Cumbayá means "Land of Guava" in the indigenous Quichua language.
On the way back from the airport I was reminded of the extent of globalization--KFC's, Burger Kings, etc. A lot of the food is familiar, too; the Pallares' have the same brands of peanut butter and jelly that we do, hydroponic lettuce, Cocoa Puffs. Their son is a big fan of Star Wars and James Bond.
But the differences are huge. For one thing, the environment is totally different. Quito, although on the equator, is in the mountains, so it is actually quite cool, maybe like Florida would be now. The vegetation is completely different, too--I don't know what most of these plants are and some of them are huge. I even saw a Monarch butterfly (or maybe it was a Viceroy.) When I met Manuel's family, right when I was expecting the handshake I received instead a kiss on the cheek, which I guess is how you greet people in Ecuador, but it totally caught me by surprise.
I'm sure there will be many more surprises in store.