It´s like gonorrea with a ¨z¨

Don´t worry, the title has nothing to do with my own health. Just trying to get by in español... Ann gave me a good tip for remembering the word carrot, zanahoria, on my way out to get us freshly-squeezed juice from the nice Juce Man at the market entrance right across from her residence. I really enjoy going to the markets and observing the commotion of people and goods passing through, and its jiving here in Catacocha early in the morning. I´ve been walking across town to shower in the mornings (long story) and love feeling the warm sun at 7h30 and feeling the energy around me. Although energy may not be the right word -- people move pretty slow and half the town seems to be lined up sitting outside the bank waiting for it to open.

I sadly have dipped off in my Spanish language learning curve after having such a great week with classes. I finished my lessons last week (and received a little certificate -- Christina, this has to go on our apartment´s ¨wall of achievement¨ among the phlebotomy training certifications and traffic violation tickets!) and kind of made it over the ¨hump¨ of initial difficulty. It was starting to come easier to me. And I thought being in a place where people don´t speak English, where I am at now, would help me continue to build. Oh wait, every male here knows ¨Hallo bay-bee¨ and proceeds to say this to me at any chance. While I appreciate the display of English skills, I don´t think such conversations would go very far to help me practice. So, instead, I am kind of staying at a basic level of interaction and HATE when I really can´t communicate with someone.

And I also learned that, beyond the language difference, Ecuadorians may have trouble understanding me on account of cultural differences in humor. For example, one of the local store owners told me I was ¨very pretty¨when Ann introduced me to her on our initial jaunt around town. And my response was asking ¨Are you feeling sick?¨using both the wrong form of the verb to be and going for a bad translation of trying to say, are you feeling okay? Anyway, confusion ensued, Ann rolled her eyes & gave me the look of ¨remember Ecua humor takes few years to get¨, and the nice lady probably just thought ¨dumb blonde¨(anyone with romotely light hair can be considered blonde, so I stand out with my continually changing hair colors - being in the sun is thankfully washing out the redness I am always trying to get rid of unnaturally!)

It was a good thing to be introduced around town, given that any random gringa here would definitely cause suspicion- haven´t seen any here besides the 2 Jehovas Witnesses, and I can vouch for Ann´s fore-warnings that people blatantly stare at anyone new. But Ann has many kind, giving friends in town and they have all embraced me and my crappy Spanish as well. I´m enjoying meeting them and observing random fiestas in town (even though one blocked our bus coming in the other day and fiestas give schools reason to close the following day, even with the kids´school day lasting only to 12:30, hmmm). And I´m even more enjoying all the good food being cooked for me by the wonderful Ms. Ann Ku, with lots of veggies, fruits, and healthy grains. Plus the tips on ways to remember things in Spanish, even if I kept thinking about STDs while drinking my fresh orange and carrot juice this morning...