Thursday, September 13, 2012

In College in Guayaquil Ecuador

StudentStudent (Photo credit: Anarkee)

The following is an account of a dream that I had in mid August:

       I am younger and a student at the University of Guayaquil in Ecuador.  I go to a class in a tiered lecture hall.  The professor is the late ex-husband of my present wife and he reminds me of Zero Mostel.  He seems scruffy and gruff, but highly respected by students even though they make fun of him behind his back.  His teacher's aides are somewhat condescending and rude towards me while pretending to be friendly at times.   

       The professor's wife (who is currently my wife in real life), is lying on the front row with sheets draped over her.  She is taking the class but seems bored and almost embarrassed to be there.   Every now and then she peeks out from under the sheets to look at me.  I am surprised how much younger she looks from how I now know her.  She seems to recognize me and coyly acknowledges me.  I have a dual awareness that in the dream she is the wife of the professor as well as my future wife.

        I have a difficult time understanding everything since the class is in Spanish.  The class seems to be a combination of history, literature, and philosophy.  The prof seems like he could be drunk.  I try to be witty.  The other students seem to like me for the most part and think I am funny.  They respect me because I am intelligent and an American who is trying to speak in their language.

       At the end of the class the professor reprimands me for something and tells me to come to his office.  The TAs accompany me there as other students give me "knowing"  looks.  One TA is particularly rude and hits at me and tries to provoke me.

         In the office the professor is funny and actually quite nice. He asks me some questions, quotes someone famous, and explains some things.  I realize he actually likes me and I may be one of his favorite students.  I expect that he will be of great help to me during the school year.  He lets me know that I have great potential and he will be giving me extra help in the class.  The professor seems to give me his approval.

         After I leave the meeting with the professor I interact with other students. Now the TAs are quite nice to me.  I go to take some kind of building tour that ends in a theater where a production of "Peter Pan" is in rehearsal.  At one part of the tour is a grand view of the city.  It seems to be dusk and many lights are on in buildings and I see the skyline silhouetted against the sky.

        When I reach the end of the tour I find myself taking the tour again with a new group.  This time we stop in one room where videos of old rock groups are being played.  I start watching one that seems rather mundane with poorly excuted music.  It is a group I remember.  As the performance progresses the band and the song get better.   I feel like everyone in the tour has stopped to watch this with me, but when I turn I see that most have left with the tour guide and only are few are watching this video.  These stragglers too start to leave with the group so I join them.

        We pass through a dressing room where actors are getting ready for the "Peter Pan" production.  As we continue I find that we are at the rear of the stage in the middle of the production.  The audience can see us, but we seem to blend in with the actors.  There are very few people in the audience and there is an orchestra between them and those of us on the tour.  The orchestra leader who also appears to be the play director tells us that we should leave the stage, but he seems neither excessively surprised nor upset.

       The tour group goes outside where it is now dark and raining.  I notice that my TA's from the class are there and they are glad to see me.  The group all disbands and I join the TAs to go back to their apartment.  We get some Chinese food on the way at a place in a food court that seems to be affiliated with the university.

        At the apartment we discuss various things.  I tell them what I ate at the Chinese restaurant and they mention that something that I ate had bugs in it, but this seems to be the norm and something that many have frequently eaten.   It's a matter of sanitation problems at the restaurant.  I say that I'm not overly concerned since I've been camping a lot and bugs sometimes get in the food.

       I awaken at 3:58 feeling very refreshed and optimistic with a sense of well-being.  When I turn over in the bed my wife wakes thinking there's been an earthquake.  I reassure her that there has not been one.   I want to tell her the dream, but I know she wants to sleep.  I go into my office and record it for this post instead.

        Some interesting facts:   My wife attended the University of Guayaquil and eventually received her doctorate from there.   She was married to the professor depicted in my dream prior to coming to the U.S. where she eventually met and married me.   Her ex-husband died a few years ago.

        Any thoughts?   Have you ever dreamed of people in your partner's past that you did not know?


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9 comments:

  1. In a general sense, this dream seemed so similar to the types of dreams that I've often had, where the story continues on and on for quite a length of time, and many elements that seem so thematically unrelated are incorporated into the story and somehow accepted by my mind as quite natural and not out of place at all.

    In reading this, I felt like it could easily be one of my own dreams - kind of a typical STMcC dreamscape.

    ~ D-FensDogg
    'Loyal American Underground'

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  2. Ooh that's a very interesting dream. I've had dreams of people being older but never younger :)

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  3. Lord, Arlee...you have some intricate dreams. I'll take a spiritual leap and say your wife's ex is communicating with you from the other side to guide you through some passages in your marriage.

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  4. That was some dream, I can't say I have dreamt about anyone in my late husbands past. But since a while back I do get vivid dreams about my family problems sometimes I dread going to sleep.

    Have a good day,
    Yvonne.

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  5. YIKES, I can't even imagine dreaming about someone in a partners past. I have enough of my own demons.

    I am amazed at the detail and length of your dreams. I seem to get more vignettes, sometimes just very brief scenes. Like seeing someone picking something up or shaking someone's hand. Other times I just see a building or an outdoor scene.

    Only rarely do I dream in great detail and even then it's more like a short story or flash fiction that a novel.

    Interesting!

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  6. StMc -- The structure of this dream is typical of most of my dreams. I'm not sure how long the dream lasted in real time but the dream seemed very long.

    Anna-- I've also had dreams of people being older. The appearance of being younger seemed appropriate in this dream since it all seemed to occur in the past.

    Em -- That message from the Ex idea came to me as well. I also mentioned it to my wife, but she didn't seem to have much to say about this. I definitely felt like he or his memory was communicating something to me.

    Yvonne -- I can understand not wanting to dream about unhappy things. I hope the situation improves for you.

    Faraway -- The difference between our dream styles is interesting. I've always had long, involved, highly detailed dreams. Occasionally I'll have a very short vignette or image dream and when I do I usually wake up fearful about something. Fortunately these dreams do not come often.

    Lee

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  7. Fascinating dream - packed with numerous insights for you.

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  8. Gosh, you are lucky having such detailed dreams, mine just blend into mush and I cant recall hardly any of the details, unless it is one of those recurring dreams, which always remain the same, to the point of wake up.

    I love hearing others dreams, so interesting, yet always with a slightly envious stance.

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  9. Very interesting dream. Glad to hear that you woke feeling positive and optimistic. Wish I had such detailed dreams. :D

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