Tranquilo

The life of the gypsy woman entails a butt ton of movement.  While this quality serves me well in my every day living in the states because I get to have a daily planner that looks like someone barfed onto it there are moments that I realize that maybe slowing down isn´t so bad afterall.  Ordinarily I run around even here in South America, but today I wasn´t feeling well and I totally surrendered.  I took a nap.  This is nothing short of a miracle for me.  After my nap I lazily took a walk up to the Virgin statue which entailed like a cagillion stairs to walk up and I took the time to rest when I needed during my trek.  From there I went to one of my favorite hot springs and relaxed in the thermal baths.  One of the locals spotted the single gringa and started a conversation with me.  I did my due diligence to try and communicate with him in Spanish.  I have turned over a new leaf with attempting to speak as much Spanish as I can since I went into a temporary lapse of forgetting my purpose here. Trying to fumble your way into a new language is most humbling.  Often I am grasping for words the words I do know and they get mixed up with the new words I am currently learning and soon it becomes this Spanglish soupy mess!  I forget how to speak and just stare at my zapatos.  Tonight was progress because a) I couldn´t stare at my shoes and b) I attempted to try and understand then speak.  It was a short conversation!!  However, the evening was mucho tranquilo because there was light rain sprinkling down and only the local people speaking their native tongue.  I just observed and relaxed into the moment and this woman who was 90 years old comes by and starts singing to me.  I could get used to this kind of life.  I felt complete gratitude for the peace and tranquility this place offered me especially after the last few weeks which have been challenging.  It is not easy attempting a language and adopting to a new culture and more often than not have people look at you like you are bizerk.  Or get corrected when you really thought you nailed it.  Or even better, grasping and grasping for a simple word and you can´t communicate then you are forced to stare at your shoes....again.  I was at a birthday party recently and got pretty overwhelmed with not being fluent and went into my comfort zone and refused to speak anything but English. I wouldn´t even consider my Spanglish soupy words.  Finally, I realized that I should at least tell my host happy birthday.  I muster up the courage to approach him after an hour and walk directly up to him and look him into the eyes and say proudly, "Feliz Navidad!"  He buckles over with laughter as do I and realize that while I love a good Christmas cheer it wasn´t Christmas.  Otra vez!!!