Servicio Voluntario...Todays has been another rainy one. Turns out the climate down here is considerably cold and wet. In the last week it has been sunny maybe once or twice. My family said that this is pretty typical of April although it is usually a little less wet. May will not be as wet but it will still be chilly. Usually I wear a jacket or a couple layers of shirts walking to school -- just to dispel any assumptions that it is always sunny down here. Today we had classes -- one exam in Andean Literature and then a pretty long Grammar class that was not very fun at all. After classes we went to this elementary school here in Cuenca for some volunteer work. Today we sanded down some of the walls and prepped them with primer so we can paint them the rest of the week. If I wasn't feeling a little ill, I would be more excited about this project.
I have been feeling sick recently (feeling tired and having a sore throat) and it's just really bad timing right now. This week I have a lot of work to do -- two exams and about four papers. Good news is that we have next week off. We'll just be traveling down to the coast to basically sight-see and relax. That will be nice...
Today was a little disappointing because I found out that I wasn't awarded the Student Enhancement Award that I had applied for back in February. I had applied for a considerable amount of money in order to conduct a research project about ambient noise and indigenous music of Ecuador. I am not sure what the specific committee comments were (I'm waiting on an e-mail to find out why my proposal was not funded) but I think that I'm okay with the result in general. Given the fact that I had found out about the grant a week before its due date, I am impressed and proud that I was even able to finish an acceptable application in that short amount of time. I had stayed up working on the proposal for about 32 hours straight the day and night before it was due -- resulting in me being able to produce about 20 pages of proposal-worthy material.
Even though I didn't get any funding, that still doesn't mean anything really in terms of my ability to still carry on my research. All that it means now is that I will have to eat the money that I have already spent for my recorder and accessories. Oh well... the research has been going a little slow lately on account of being so busy with Spanish classes but maybe this is a good thing for me to kick in gear and get more work done. I still intend to do what I had set out to do, regardless of being financially sponsored by the University.
In other news, it is my big brother Dustin's birthday today. He is 27. I wish I could be around to give him a hug. I miss you brother.
1 comment:
Don't worry about not getting funding for your research. I know you are a bit relieved anyway, but just remember that everything does happen for a reason and this doesn't mean you can't keep collecting sounds and make something out of it. Just because it's not funded by the university doesn't mean it's not an exciting and worthwhile project.
Keep your head up and keep working hard. I'm so proud of you and of all your endeavors. I wish I could be near you to share all of your wonderful experiences but talking to you and reading/seeing your blog makes me feel closer. I love you so much and I continue to miss you more and more.
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