Feb. 10th, 2013--Sunday, Funday!
What another lovely day here in San Marcos! As always, the
weather was perfect so I spent my early morning organizing things around the
house, waiting for the water to come back on as it was out in the whole area),
making rice to use for my dinner, and catching up on my blog and phone calls
home before heading out for some fun in the sun. I knew it was going to be a good day when I sat outside
eating breakfast and caught a glimpse of a squirrel that appears from time to
time in my garden. It always
strikes me as odd since I’ve never seen one anywhere else and it seems out of
place amongst the banana trees and bamboo. It always makes me smile and think there’s a little piece of
home watching over me here.
I had planned to learn the traditional weaving from one of
the local moms, Maria. She runs a
local bookstore, Tekonëm, that is partnered with the school so I’ve worked with
her and gotten to know her well.
She is a kind soul and an “out of the box thinker” and I love her
spirit! Her daughter, Elizeth, is in the 3rd grade at our
school. Anyway, she had said to
come by anytime to learn so I made an attempt today but the store was
closed.
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| Traditional Weaving |
Instead, as I was walking down, I ran into a Canadian family
from the school, Manda and her 2 daughters, Zella Rose and Mayla. As we walked down to the beach
together, we ran into 2 other families from school and my neighbors selling
their jewelry—I love small town life!
When we got to the beach, Manda and her crew joined up with Dave and
Nicki, another Canadian/British family from our school. I decided to head a bit over to my
shady palm tree spot, and where I would feel a bit less weird sunbathing in a
bikini near families from school.
As much as I love small town life, that’s one aspect that I’m still
getting used to. At home, we’re
always taught to “keep business and pleasure separate.” That’s impossible here. And while I don’t mind it for most day
to day things (like Nicki and I joining up to make a women’s soccer team), I
can’t quite seem to get used to sitting around in my bikini with kids and parents
from school. Not sure I’ll ever
get used to that one.
Equally weird is living in a town amongst native locals,
foreign locals (that’s me), and tourists.
In Paraguay, I was the only foreigner amongst locals and the rest of my
travels have been as a tourist.
I’ve never had to live amongst a strange combination of all 3 and it’s
taking some getting used to for navigating things (like making sure vendors
recognize me and know I live here and am not a tourist. Even still, there’s a big price
difference for locals and foreigners but there’s still a gray area of foreign
locals who own hotels and have lots of money and those of us earning local
currency, like me). It was really
easy for me to gain the trust of locals and get to know people in Paraguay since
I was the only foreigner and was therefore a novelty others were curious to get
to know. Also, I was always
respectful of the culture and never mistreated anyone. I’m finding it more difficult to get to
know locals here--in part because it’s easy to get caught up getting to know
other foreigners and in part because locals are so used to foreigners around
that I’m not a novelty. There’s
also a long history of locals getting screwed by foreigners in land deals and
disrespectful tourists so it’s harder to earn someone’s trust. I’m sure it will come with time, but
for now, I find it a bit odd and am slowly getting to know the locals I work
with, my homeowners, and the shop owners.
Speaking of my homeowners. The family reminds me so much of one of the families from my
town in Paraguay (Don Eustaquio).
They are forward thinking, humble and kind, and hardworking. There are 6 adult children, 3 girls and
3 boys and all 3 girls went to college to become teachers. Something almost unheard of around here
where most people don’t study beyond middle school, especially girls.
After a few hours of reading at the beach, I called it a
day. But, not before learning that
my precious little beach didn’t exist last year because of the high level of
the lake. The lake has no natural
outlet to let water out so the level never goes down once it rises. Apparently the only reason it went down
this year is because of the earthquakes.
I hope it stays around a bit ‘cuz I quite enjoy it. Otherwise, the only option is to sit on
the rocks.
As I made my way back, I stopped to buy a few items for my
dinner for Thai pineapple fried rice.
I decided to stop in shops I don’t normally go to so I could comparison
shop for prices. I now know which
stores have the cheapest toile paper, wine, nuts, and chocolates—all I really
need to know. I got all the
essentials I needed plus a piece of delicious banana bread. Then I continued up the road to my
pineapple vendor. He was kind
enough to slice it open for me and put it in a bag since I a) don’t have a
sharp knife for cutting pineapple b) had no clue how to slice one open (I
watched carefully so I know ho next time). It was a cute exchange trying to get the right change back
as his 8-year-old daughter tried to do the math in her head. I also stopped to buy some more
yarn. I try to exchange names with
every vendor/store owner I interact with and I always quiz them the next time
to see if they remember my name. I
was happy to discover that the librería owner where I bought the yarn
remembered mine. And then, as I
left the store, I ran into María and Elizeth and was greeted with giant smiles
and hugs. It’s moments like these
that remind me that I have to be patient with myself and recognize that I am
getting to know the locals, little by little.
The rest of my afternoon was spent cooking and eating my
Thai pineapple rice, writing my blog in a hammock, crocheting outside in my
patio, and enjoying another hot shower—dare I say I believe he finally fixed it
(knock on wood)!! J I had cooked a large portion of the
rice in hopes that it would be my dinner all week, in place of the usually
potato chips or french fries and fresh coconut I’ve been eating. I’m sorry to say I already broke down
and got some chips again today…but, everything happens for a reason, and as I
entered the store, I bumped into Lilly (a mother at our school and the owner of
a local hotel) and I was invited to join their soccer practice tomorrow
evening----can’t wait! And I think the healthy exercise at the expense of a
tiny bag of chips was worth the trade off! J
Sounds exciting!...thanks for sharing!
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