The past tense came to town!

That’s right folks. I finally learned one form of the past tense in Spanish and I’m pretty excited about it. I’ve been speaking in the past tense with many verbs, but now I actually know the rules. It’s incredible the feeling of liberation in being able to express myself just an inkling more accurately. Being able to communicate has a lot more to do with my sense of self and how grounded I feel than I’d realized.

I heard a story from my sister (told to her by one of my high school physics teachers) that affirmed me in this connection of communicating effectively and feeling legitimate: There’s been research done to determine what contributes to self esteem, and the only attribute that has a direct relationship to high self esteem is the ability to strike up a conversation with a stranger. Good grades, money, job promotions, awards, bullying—none of these had a consistent effect on self esteem. Just yesterday I started a conversation with a woman in a waiting room by asking her how long she had been waiting…because I could use the past tense, and you know what, I did feel just a little bit better because I could do that. The little things I tell you.

This past week has been a busy one, partly because almost every day I’ve had to go to one office or another to gather the appropriate papers in order to apply for a 1 year residency visa (next year I’ll have to go through this all again). This process has been a frustrating and tiring one. A friend asked me recently if any negative things have been happening to me, so here is one that I’ll share a part of with you. I’ve had to return to both the police station and a health certificate clinic 2 or 3 times extra because either the woman refused to accept my papers for some reason or the doctor lost my certificate and made me go back to another clinic and then return and wait…some more. Yesterday I waited for a “half hour” which translated into 2 hours to get three pages reprinted because they misspelled one letter in my middle name. I’ve realized it’s not the waiting that bothers me as much as the false expectations people give me.

On to happier topics! I love the babies at the orphanage. I’ve gone two more times since I last wrote and while I’m pooped after 3 hours, it’s well worth it. I found myself wanting to go by in the middle of the week this past week just so I could hug and kiss them. My favorite part of the day is when the women give them baths and then wrap them up in their towels like little Eskimo babies. They hand them down the line and I get to rub their bellies with baby oil, put on their diaper, clothes, socks and shoes and then comb their hair (if they have enough there that is). Today though, one of the highlights was when this one little boy was just dancing away in his walker to the “Happy Birthday” song. He was right on beat and just having a grand ol’ time. I’m telling you, if we all danced as fearlessly as he did, this world would be a happier place.

 

A week ago I went on a hike with two friends in the valley behind the local Taquina brewery. There were so many wild flowers that I’d never seen before. At one point, my friend pointed out a tiny speck way in the distance on top of the mountain across the valley from us. It was a woman tending her cows. I managed to get a super zoomed-in picture to be able to tell that it was in fact a person and she was a woman.

 

The next day I went on a day tour with the language school to 4 smaller “pueblos” or towns out in the country south of the city (with their distances from the city): Tarata 33 km, Cliza 37 km, Punata 58 km and Arani 65 km.

 

 

We went to a big market in Cliza, where I encountered my first fried guinea pigs and pigeons...

 

Those who tried the guinea pig said it tasted like chicken. There were also tons of fruits, household products, clothes and much more. For more pictures, please go to http://picasaweb.google.com/nora.pfeiffer/TaquinaHikeAndValleAltoTour#

We went to a restaurant for lunch and enjoyed a typical soup of the area and “chicha”. In the department of Cochabamba, chicha can be alcoholic or non-alcoholic, which is how it is normally served in other parts of Bolivia, as far as I understand. Chica is made of corn and I’d heard several stories about it from other Americans who’ve lived here, so I had some anticipation building up to trying it for the first time. While I didn’t enjoy the alcoholic one as much as the “refresco” one, I do really like the tradition of pouring some out onto the ground before you drink it, as a sign of reverence to the earth (“pachamama”) for having provided the fruits for us. I like this because I normally feel very disconnected from where my food and drink comes from in the US. I appreciate the reminder that I can eat because the earth provides natural resources for us to feed ourselves…because of that, I have a very direct relationship with the earth and it’s in mine and everyone’s best interest to treat it with respect, like part of the family, you might say :)

 

5 Things I’m Thankful for: my cousin’s heavenly chocolate cookies; getting to see a friend from home here this past week; seeing so many beautiful baby smiles today; getting to skype with my 92-year-old grandpa yesterday and him making me laugh really hard; getting a dentist appointment for this upcoming week that will only cost me about $6 if all I need is a cleaning – wow!