The sports

Barcelona’s manager, Segundo Alejandro Castillo, preached while riding a bus in Guayaquil:

I guess the city buses have TV now.

The other Barça beat Madrid in the Copa del Rey final, a thrilling foulfest. Just before the game ended, angry Madrid players left the bench, ran onto the field, and pelted the referee with ice chips.

Twenty minutes of highlights:

“Pip” flips

“Pip” is upside-down, so that’s a relief.

Apparently, he has lots of hair. The latest ultrasound even showed his eyelashes.

Now, we wait. …

♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

R.I.P. our wonderful church sister, Donna – another driving force behind our adult Sunday School. She was ninety-two and quite spry, physically and mentally, until this year.

♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

Tomorrow, in Guayaquil, Ecuador will play a crucial World Cup qualifier against Bolivia. We’re shorthanded; the Bolivians, more so.

♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

Lest I neglect them – and before they lose to 2nd-ranked Ohio State – the 10–0 Indiana Hoosiers are ranked 5th in the land, in football. They lead the conference. They’ve brutalized every foe but one (the defending national champs).

Their stadium is packed every week. Their uniforms are simple and good.

I’m glad.

But it is a sign of the Apocalypse.

Guayaquil

Guayaquil’s founding is observed on this day.

Here’s my favorite rendition of Guayaquil de mis amores:

Good night, friends! It’s been a rough few weeks, writing-wise. Next month I’ll do better.

A severance; a curiosity

On Tuesday night, we went to a gathering of local Alliance Academy alumni. Most who attended were related to me by blood or marriage. A few others were people I’ve known since childhood.

The school’s director also was there. He announced that the school must move: its land lease will not be renewed.

(The school will have been on that land for just about one hundred years.)

Thus, my last tie to any specific missionary property in Ecuador will have been severed. (I gather that it’s uncertain whether the school will even remain in Quito.)

Most of the Ecuadorian churches I frequented are still in the same locations, as are the Luz y Libertad school in Esmeraldas and the Seminario Bíblico Alianza in Guayaquil.

♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

You can preview a huge amount of the Amazon Kindle version of Lucy Ellmann’s 2019 Booker nominee, Ducks, Newburyport – probably because so much of that novel consists of one sentence, and Amazon displays a fixed number of sentences; or perhaps because the novel is long and Amazon displays a fixed percentage of the whole.

Is the book any good? Well, if you find out, let me know.

Emelec 1, Independiente del Valle 1

The home-and-away series’s concluding leg was played last night, and Independiente del Valle became Ecuadorian champions for the first time.

It rained hard in Guayaquil, and the flooded grass made for a hideous but fascinating match. The ball wouldn’t roll. All preparation had to be disregarded; the players could only improvise.

By the end of the game, even dribbles and short passes had to be lifted off the ground. The most skillful players, such as IDV’s Junior’s Sornoza, set the example. Every touch was a neat little aerial chip.

IDV weren’t able to dominate as in the first leg, but even under these weird conditions, it was clear that they were the better team.

Here are highlights of IDV’s first-leg victory in Sangolquí.

Everyone knows that little IDV is Ecuador’s best-run club. The truth is, this first domestic title was late in coming. IDV have my warmest congratulations.

Any year that Emelec and Liga de Quito don’t win is a good year.

More qualifiers

This long day began for me before five o’clock. Then I didn’t get a full meal until after two; a couple of hours later, I was sleeping from sheer exhaustion. Did Samuel sleep today? He did not.

Thankfully, Karin was here to watch him: she stayed at home to prepare for the move.

My parents and I spent much of the day cleaning the new house, and we waited there for a plumber who didn’t come. A different plumber will come next Wednesday … after Karin, Samuel, and I have moved in.

Until this plumber arrives, the bathtub will serve as our all-purpose sink.

♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

Ecuador’s next World Cup qualifier will be played tomorrow night (8:30 ET).

Opponent: Bolivia.

Location: Guayaquil.

This will be our first home qualifier outside of Quito since 1997 (the last one also was played against Bolivia, and in Guayaquil).

Afterward, we’ll travel to Venezuela and Colombia. It makes sense to prepare for those games on the Caribbean coast by playing our home game in a hot, coastal city.

Guayaquil was in the news a few days ago because a particularly brutal prison riot happened there.

Closing credits

The blog looks different today. The old template was faltering: stray marks wouldn’t go away; strings of text couldn’t be highlighted or copied; links were frozen. I was displeased that readers couldn’t navigate to the YouTube video of “Banstyle/Sappys Curry” by simply clicking on the link that I had posted. So, I reformatted everything. The commenting function has been disabled – for now. I’d like to put in a virtual guestbook or bulletin board instead. Subject labels also have disappeared from individual posts (for now). You can access them via the sidebar, which you can unhide by clicking on the three small horizontal lines at the top of the blog.

The picture of poor little Juan Pueblo, the cartoon character, has been removed from the front page. It can still be accessed, via the sidebar. The blog’s colors are as garish as ever, but its fonts have been cleaned up. I am now using Heuristica, a clone of Utopia, which is the typeface of Philosophy & Public Affairs. And I’ve decided to begin punctuating as most other web writers do – outside of the hyperlinks.

Are these changes pleasing?

I’d welcome comments, but no one would be able to post them.

♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

As the year ends, I remain unemployed, and COVID continues to ravage. My own health improves, thanks to Air Supply (my CPAP machine). Samuel gains new abilities; Karin does mighty deeds. Jasper and Ziva are a bit neglected. I’ve been reading the Bible more and going to church less; since the weather turned, we’ve settled for choruses and sermons on YouTube. I am utterly weary of long, drawn-out video conferences. C.P. Snow’s books are a comfort; most nights, I read two, three, or four short chapters. (As it happens, the books suggest parallels between our own COVID-era lives and those of Londoners during the Blitz.) I’ve enjoyed the prose of two books about the Scottish Highlands: A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland, by Samuel Johnson, and Kidnapped, by Robert Louis Stevenson.

Moreover, I’m delighted that Ecuador’s national soccer team has been playing so well.

It’s a privilege to be isolated in a house owned by my parents, and not in an apartment. It’s even beneficial to mow the lawn, and – like yesterday – to shovel snow. These things allow me to burn calories and eat more Chinese takeout (and more sandwiches from Jimmy John’s, whose manager called one day to thank us for our loyalty).

Clearly, I have little cause for complaint.

Great is thy faithfulness, O God, my father. … Morning by morning, new mercies I see. All I have needed, thy hand hath provided. Great is thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me.

News and visitors from Ecuador

Most readers will have heard of Ecuador’s latest political unrest (summarized here). Briefly, transport workers and the indígenas have been striking against the government’s austerity measures, and especially against the cutting of fuel subsidies (this was done to comply with borrowing conditions set by the International Monetary Fund). Thousands have marched on Quito, blocking roads. President Lenín Moreno has moved the government to Guayaquil.

It was clear that after Rafael Correa’s presidency, Ecuador would shift back toward the right; what wasn’t clear was how far or how speedily. In the election of 2016, I favored Moreno, the candidate of Correa’s party, because I thought he’d shift more gradually than his opponents would. But Correa already had made Ecuador cripplingly indebted to China; and now, perhaps out of necessity, Moreno has resumed dealings with the IMF, which, in the late 1990s, had insisted on detrimentally austere financial measures as borrowing conditions for Latin American countries. From 1997 to 2005, several Ecuadorian presidents were toppled after enacting austerity measures. I fear that history is about to repeat itself.

♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

My parents arrived in South Bend yesterday to visit little Ada and my own child (whenever he’s born). But it wasn’t easy for them to get here. They traveled from Santo Domingo to Quito several days early, during a lull in the protests. Then they went to the airport twenty hours before takeoff. Had they not done those things, they wouldn’t have made it through.

Anyhow, they’re here. This morning they’re at the Social Security office, dealing with the obstinate bureaucracy of the United States.

♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

On Tuesday, I got a couple of shots. They made me ache as with fever. I was especially miserable yesterday. This morning, my arms still hurt, but I seem to be on the up-and-up.

Quito is #1

For the first time since I was born (or maybe since the nineteenth century? the colonial era? the beginning of history?), Quito is Ecuador’s most populous city. At the end of last year, it had more than 2.7 million inhabitants.

Guayaquil, previously the largest city, also cleared the 2.7 million-person threshold, but with some 18,000 fewer inhabitants than Quito.

Read about it here.

I was born in Quito in 1981. Back then, its population was about one million, give or take a couple hundred thousand. During my short life – and I haven’t even been in Ecuador since 2010 – Quito has come to seem much huger than it used to, and more modern and sophisticated.

It always seemed polluted and blindingly bright, but now it has days when there are public warnings about the ultraviolet radiation.

It is also beautiful.

Three important victories

These last few nights have been good ones for Ecuadorian soccer.

On Thursday night, in Riobamba, our sub-20 team defeated Paraguay to advance to the second round of the South American championship, of which we are the hosts.

Our second goal was a golazo. Our first was narrowly offside, but no less valuable – without it, our qualification would have depended upon the infamous Drawing of Lots.

♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

In Guayaquil last night, Barcelona staged the Noche Amarilla, the season-starting gala. They played against Juan Aurich of Peru.

Last year, Barcelona’s “guest” player at this gala was the aged Ronaldinho of Brazil. This year it was the aged Uruguayan, Diego Forlán, the best player of the 2010 World Cup. Forlán put on a show, contributing to all three of Barcelona’s goals.

All night, the spectators were fervid. They ignited flares and fireworks. They unfurled a banner with this homage to Barcelona:

HAS NACIDO HUMILDE Y
ERES MÁS GRANDE QUE EL SOL

Meanwhile, a smaller but no less dense crowd was gathered in Sangolquí. Last year’s Libertadores runners-up, Independiente del Valle, were playing in the pre-group stage of that tourney against a Peruvian team, Municipal. When I turned to the YouTube broadcast, IDV were losing. “So much for Independiente this year,” I thought. Then, valiantly, IDV scored in injury time. The Ecuadorians jumped up and down. The Peruvians, disqualified, slumped on the field.

A couple of quakes

Yesterday, in Esmeraldas Province, there was an earthquake – Richter Scale 7.8, last I read – the strongest in Ecuador since before I was born. The quake was felt in Guayaquil and in Quito, and as far away as the Colombian city of Cali. The quiet Manabitan city of Pedernales was hardest hit. There were smaller temblors, also.

In Santo Domingo, my parents felt the quake but weren’t harmed. They only lost a bit of glassware.

Pray for the hundreds who were less fortunate, who suffered injury or death.

Pray also for the Japanese, who yesterday endured a quake that was smaller but still damaging.

“Colombia” vs. “Columbia”

When I make copies for the high school teachers, I sometimes make extras for myself – copies of articles and of short stories; of intriguing or useful handouts; of assignment prompts; of diversions, such as this crossword puzzle.

I copied this puzzle because it was a FAIL.

(Click to enlarge.)

Winners & losers

Well, we tried, but the contest was settled when we lost two important players. El Chivo Suárez collapsed a few seconds after the kickoff. He received treatment and hobbled up and down the field but had to be subbed out before halftime. Worse, between the minutes 5 and 10, two yellow cards accrued to Álex Bolaños. … Emelec pressed hard; got a first-half goal; waited for us to tire out; and, near the end, put in two more goals. So it was easy for them, but anyway they were the better team.

The President of Ecuador, Rafael Correa, celebrated with Emelec at the Parrilla del Ñato.

Antonio Noboa, our team president, tweeted out some venom against Bolaños.

I viewed the match at Sabby’s house. The male Sabby loyally sat next to me and played a bridge-building game on his new smartphone. Sadly, his bridges kept on collapsing, and his ponies kept on falling into the gorge.

December fragments

My little cousin posted this:

“Just to give an idea of how many books can fit
in my small bedroom. This is all thanks to my
dad who basically gives me a new book every day.”
‪#‎itsanerdelthing‬ ‪#‎youshouldseehisbookcollection‬

I feel so proud.

Announcement !!!

What: Leg One of the Ecuadorian soccer championship.

Where: Estadio Monumental Banco Pichincha, Guayaquil.

When: Wednesday (tomorrow) at 8:00pm, U.S. Eastern Time.

The cheapest tickets cost $25. This is the priciest B.S.C. game I’ve heard of. On behalf of the chusma, I’m indignant.

I don’t have a TV link to offer you. Please google “Barcelona Emelec en vivo,” and then cheer for the yellow team.

Leg Two will be played on Sunday.

Today after work I walked home in a pleasant, light rain. The park that I walked through could’ve been muddier; the alley could’ve had more puddles — I wouldn’t have minded. On the street, two different motorists flipped me off, which I enjoyed. (This is how it feels to recover from depression.) When I got home, I asked Mary to light a fire for me, and I dried my socks; she told me it would’ve been easier if I’d put them in the drying machine. Here is a nice video of some people making out.

August fragments

And suddenly I’m a lot busier because I’ve been hired to teach one more course, Introduction to Philosophy. This will be at Bethel College, my alma mater.

Soon I’ll have taught in the Ivy League, at a state college, and at a Christian liberal arts college. How’s that for job experience?

Once again, I’m starting to appear halfway respectable. I can see it in people’s faces. I regarded my tutoring job pretty seriously, but I guess for most people it wasn’t so impressive.

(I expect to keep on tutoring for a few hours each week.)

♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

And now I wish to complain of my injuries. Last weekend, playing soccer, I suffered a full-body collision with someone who probably has health insurance. (I don’t.) For a couple of days I was sore all over and couldn’t bend one of my knees. This has improved.

Then yesterday I was in the church nursery, and the children were merciless. They assaulted me with medicine balls.

♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

Today Ecuador lost to Spain, but my laptop wasn’t working, so I didn’t get to watch it. The game was held in Guayaquil: the Spaniards were too afraid to play in Quito. That’s our moral victory, I suppose.

Midwinter, pt. 2

A delightful surprise: today an Ecuadorian came in for tutoring. I helped him with his grammar and then we talked about the Homeland. It turns out, we both cheer for Barcelona Sporting Club, and his family lives in my parents’ neighborhood in Guayaquil.

“Do you like South Bend?” I asked him.

“I do,” he said. “I go everywhere on foot. Compared to Guayaquil, this place feels very safe.”

In South Bend he’s found two other people who’ve lived in Ecuador: another IUSB student (I met her, too, last semester) and, of course, the Pedro.

But the winter displeases him.

It displeases me less and less. As I walked home along the East Bank Trail, the frozen river looked lovely; the trail itself had recently been cleared of snow. And yet I noticed just one other pedestrian. I had the city to myself.

♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

My Kenyan friend brought food four times last week. Four times! Some of her dishes are elaborate, some are not. One day, she’ll bring over a complicated chicken dinner; another day, a tuna sandwich. I don’t know how to react. Kenny charmed her in Swahili pretty well, but I think he’s out of phrases.

EXTRA

I was in prison and you came to visit me.
[Matthew 25:36]

♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

If you aren’t Ecuadorian, you might not appreciate this story. And if you’re very, very Ecuadorian, with no outsider’s perspective, you might not appreciate it, either. But I’ll try to explain it.

The Russian soccer league is on holiday. One of its employees — Felipe Caicedo, Ecuadorian goalscorer — is using his time off to play soccer in his homeland, for charity. (1) A week ago he played in a fundraiser in Esmeraldas. (2) More recently he’s been visiting prisoners in Guayaquil, bringing them food (5000 kg of rice, 280 chickens) and playing in their soccer tournament.

He explains how God called him to do this:

Mira, estaba en mi cama y recordé la Peni Champions, lo leí en el EXTRA y era como si Dios me decía lo que tenía que hacer, y me puse como meta venir hasta acá.

When Stephen read this to me, I laughed for five minutes.

Translation:

I was in bed and remembered [the prison soccer tournament]; I read about it in the EXTRA and it was as if God were telling me what to do. …

♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

EL DIARIO EXTRA is a tabloid, a purveyor of sex and graphic violence, infamous for its lurid photos and shocking headlines:

¡Pum! contra un camión

Con un arma mató a siete

¡Mató al entenado a “cuchillo limpio”!

Una piedra en el camino … ¡lo mató!

This is Ecuador all over: horror viewed with a certain innocence. It isn’t strange for a Christian to admit to reading this. EXTRA is our most popular newspaper.

Caicedo explains why he serves the prisoners:

Son personas que por cosas de la vida están acá y qué mejor de venir y poder estar unas horas y hacer que se olviden de sus problemas, y si eso sirve de algo gracias a Dios.

(“They’re people who, because of life’s circumstances, are here [in prison]. What could be better than to come and stay a few hours and distract them from their troubles? If this is useful, then thanks be to God.”)

“Life’s circumstances.” Ordinary disasters. Violent porn culled from daily life. One reads it for amusement, then hears the call of God and visits the local prison to comfort the broken.