GAIN: Appreciation for abbreviations and shortening words. Oye, rubia cuidaoooo tú ‘ta loca. No’ va pa’ comer ya tú sabe’. Would have been indecipherable to me a few months ago. Still often indecipherable. Learning.
LOSS: Ability to communicate coherently in Spanish or English. Spanish words keep popping into my head and then I can’t find the English words to replace them. I almost just forgot how to spell the word “English”. It’s all a gran lío in my brain right now. Grammer fracaza.
GAIN: Coffee addiction. It’s so delicious, strong and dark, but always with lots of sugar. Mmm. I need to stop drinking it at night, but I can’t resist.
LOSS: My formerly flat(ish) stomach. Finally claiming my father’s inheritance, I have a boych for sure thanks to massive amounts of arroz, fried chicken and empandas on empanadas on empanadas. I wish I had more long empire waist shirts.
GAIN: Mango addiction. I have eaten at least 2 a day for the past week. Now having to remedy with lots of bananas (if you know what I mean). I pass at least 3 fruit carts on my 4 block walk to class, and now they all call me with “mango?”
LOSS: Any sense of personal space. It is a luxury that I had to let go of after a week of thrice daily gua gua rides with a stranger sitting on my lap or alternatively on top of the gear shift.
GAIN: A new appreciation for music in my life at all times. I love hearing the salsa, merengue and bachata blasting everywhere. I’ve even learned to sleep with it (hint: less coffee with dinner). I dread returning to the quiet public spaces of gringolandia.
LOSS: My sense of self-conciousness/pride. I’ve accepted the fact that living in a less-known culture will only aggravate my already present inability to be smooth. So if I make a mess (often), do the wrong thing (oftener) or say something stupid (every other sentence), I laugh it away and hope the other person isn’t too unhappy with me.
Well, that about sums it up. All in all I’d say this has been a good quarter.
republicagringiana 