So let’s just start with the most
obvious recurring awkward moment of my life here: my Spanish. My Spanish is
just embarrassing. My Spanish teacher
(aka: my host mom, Nelly) was having me write sentences in my Spanish notebook,
and one was asking me to describe my Spanish. I wrote the following: Mi Español
es triste. (Translation: My Spanish is sad).
She tried to convince me that I was doing well, but it’s hard to really
feel that way. I know how little I can communicate with those around me. Everyday, I get a ride to school from our
neighbor, Pedro. I am really thankful to
not have to make a half-hour walk every morning, but getting a ride does come
with some pressure. Every morning before
I go out to get in the car with Pedro, I think “Oh, no, I am going to have to
say things to him…in Spanish. AND try to understand his incredibly fast
Dominican Spanish.” If you know me well
(or at all, really) you know that I am not a morning person. I can hardly even
talk to anyone in English within my first hour of being awake. So this has been
a huge challenge for me, and sometimes feels like a point of stress in my daily
life. However, Pedro has been very
patient with me, and he even told me the one English word he knows: “spoon.” We
had a good laugh about that, but most of the time I feel like he probably
thinks I am unintelligent simply because I do not know Spanish. It is
frustrating not being able to express my thoughts and feelings as easily. And, let’s just face it; mornings are just
never the time for talking (if you’re name is Katie Cassel, at least).
As for other awkward moments, I
have tripped several times while walking down he sidewalk. Which doesn’t seem
like that big of a deal, but this was during the time when I was new in town
and so all the people on my walk home just stared at me, or the guys would make
comments to me as I passed. So tripping was perfectly mortifying to me, because
it already felt as if people were a little too interested in watching me
uncomfortably walk home. (Now that people recognize me, I am greeted with
smiles instead of stares, so it is much better). Then there is the time I fell right out of my
chair. Yep, that’s right. It was probably my second week at school here. I
tried to get up from the table at lunch, and it all happened so fast. I
struggled to get my leg out from around the table leg, and then I was down. The
other staff members made sure I was okay before laughing a little. I don’t
blame them…it was probably a hilarious sight. There was literally no reason why
someone should fall on their face while trying to leave the lunch table. I like
to defy that logic with my awkwardness, and I am quite good at it. Last Saturday I also managed to trip out of a
bathroom (there is a step down as soon as you walk out the door). I actually
hurt my ankle pretty badly, and had to take a moto-concho for my long walks the
next couple of days.
Then there are the burns. I was warned about the motorcycle burns. I
was fully aware of how to get off of a motorcycle in order to avoid such
burns. Did it matter? Nope. After my trusty moto-concho driver Roberto
took me to my house last Saturday (after tripping out of the bathroom and
hurting myself) I managed to burn my leg on the exhaust pipe. So I have a nice
big round red welt on my leg to show for that.
If that wasn’t enough, this morning, in my extremely sleepy state, I
picked up my straightener so awkwardly that I burned my thumb so badly that my
fingerprint will probably never be the same.
I think I subconsciously wanted another embarrassing story because I
knew this was the blog post I promised for the week. Yes, that must be it.
Of all the other awkward moments I
can remember, most of them lead back to my keen observation skills, which
usually just make me seem like a creeper.
I am a people-watcher. A lot of
times, in social situations that are new to me, I stay in the background and
just listen to conversations rather than participating. Therefore, I tend to gather a lot of
information about people, their families, and their lives without them really
learning anything about me. This is
something I actually really like to do, but when I choose to reveal the
information I know it kind of makes me seem like an almost-stalker. There have been a few occurrences where
people have been confused how I know who they are even though we haven’t
technically ever met. “Well, umm..three
days ago I saw you come to school and talk to your husband, well I assumed he
was your husband because you kissed him when you came, and then he took your daughter
and held her, but umm…yeah I just figured it was you so can you give this to
him? Sorry.” That is a good example of what my response was.
However, something pretty cool
happened the other day that was not awkward at all. One of the teachers on staff at Doulos is
having a baby next month, and people were throwing a baby shower for her. I don’t know her super well, but at the last
minute, I decided to go up to the two women who were planning it and donate 500
pesos, about 10 dollars. I almost didn’t,
but when I saw them both standing there in the parking lot I just decided
to. When I walked up I told them that I
wanted to chip in to the fund, and they were really excited and asked how much
I had. When I told 500 pesos, and they looked at each other and smiled. I guess that they had just counted all the
money and were exactly 500 pesos short.
If was good to know that my contribution, though really small, was
obviously needed. I think God is showing
me that I’m not doing everything wrong. Which, I won’t lie, is pretty
encouraging.
I realize this post is incredibly
long. If you made it to the end, well, you must be pretty bored. I just couldn’t cut short all of the
awkwardness. I told you I had a lot to share, so here it all is. Hope you got a
laugh out of at least one of my stories J
