?como se dice..?
how do you say... shit, will we ever not be such bumbling bozos? We come up against this brick wall and comprehension is on the other side. scaling that wall for every interaction is exhausting. every simple activity of daily life becomes a rich language/cultural lesson. clearly immersion is the best way to learn a language. we are forced at every turn to interact. To speak with our hosts, shopping for our basic needs, to navigate around the city...usually we can communicate our needs its often the response we can not decipher. I do think i have a few advantages in this struggle over Andy. Although he has a stronger background in Spanish and a broader vocabulary I am more forthcoming with interactions and more willing to humiliate myself. An outgoing, confident personality may gain an advantage in the short term. Also as a sign language interpreter I have spent many years becoming fluent in another language and remember the struggle and similar road blocks. Working between two languages and cultures everyday continually dechiphering meaning as I do in my sign interpreting work has helped in this new process. And it is true that Latin American culture is more expressive using more gestures and visual cues. many times I ask for directions and I understand almost nothing of the response but I can follow all the hand gestures. That is very comfortable to me so I can feign understanding better. but overall andy probably does understand more than I do. we are a good team filling in each others gaps. Zarha is as quiet here with others as she is with all adults at home so she doesn't say much. however she is absorbing it all.
Last night was dramatic. we had arrived home from a day of exploring Caracas and shortly before 9pm the whole city exploded into booms and bangs and car honking and whistles and clapping and noise and what the heck was happening. It couldn't be a war yet the elections are over a week away. I was on the phone with a coordinator of the media delegation we will be working with when this began. He said it was the the opposition’s party campaigns last march and party before the election. Fireworks went off all over the city but concentrated in wealthier areas. Tomorrow, Sunday (Nov 26th,2206) is Chavez's campaign party last demonstration. hundreds of thousands our expected out on the street for a last rally and campaign celebration. We will be filming as we have international press access to stages and speakers for this next week.
Today we took Zarha on the Teleferico it is a incredible cable car ride that takes you up the mountain side where once on top of the mountain you can see the ocean below. It was a spectacular clear and sunny day, as most seem to be here, and I recalled it was on that ride last January, while marveling at the view I committed to coming back for longer and uncovering the many wonders of this country.
after we left the mountain we encountered more Chavez opposition folks driving and walking in this specific area. Andy will describe more but I did upset a car load who wanted me to give the sign for the opposition and when I made the sign for the Chavez campaign she gave me the "no no no shame shame" sign.
I do want to say that our awesome host family reminds us of Andy's parents. The Latin American version that is. Very open and politically progressive. They have been very helpful showing us around and very patient with our terrible spanish.
However they are very organized there home is immaculate and not one book or paper is out of place. That has been a little intimidating for this hippy family. matter of fact all of Venezuelan culture is a little intimidating that way. Cleanliness here is a big value. Dirty hippies are not regarded highly. sigh. So some days we take 2 showers a day to combat the sweat and dirt. Another false promise to my child in order to entice her to come here that she wouldn't need to shower as much. that along with getting her hopes up on bringing one of the many stray dogs home. It is difficult to adopt a dog from another country and bring it into the US. It is ironic about the cleanliness thing because the garbage overflows in most parts of the city and the traffic pollutes horribly. Worse traffic than NYC by far. Although the metro is is more like DC or Montreal both in its cleanliness and simplicity.
Bikers are an extinct breed here. All have probably been killed already.
how do you say... shit, will we ever not be such bumbling bozos? We come up against this brick wall and comprehension is on the other side. scaling that wall for every interaction is exhausting. every simple activity of daily life becomes a rich language/cultural lesson. clearly immersion is the best way to learn a language. we are forced at every turn to interact. To speak with our hosts, shopping for our basic needs, to navigate around the city...usually we can communicate our needs its often the response we can not decipher. I do think i have a few advantages in this struggle over Andy. Although he has a stronger background in Spanish and a broader vocabulary I am more forthcoming with interactions and more willing to humiliate myself. An outgoing, confident personality may gain an advantage in the short term. Also as a sign language interpreter I have spent many years becoming fluent in another language and remember the struggle and similar road blocks. Working between two languages and cultures everyday continually dechiphering meaning as I do in my sign interpreting work has helped in this new process. And it is true that Latin American culture is more expressive using more gestures and visual cues. many times I ask for directions and I understand almost nothing of the response but I can follow all the hand gestures. That is very comfortable to me so I can feign understanding better. but overall andy probably does understand more than I do. we are a good team filling in each others gaps. Zarha is as quiet here with others as she is with all adults at home so she doesn't say much. however she is absorbing it all.
Last night was dramatic. we had arrived home from a day of exploring Caracas and shortly before 9pm the whole city exploded into booms and bangs and car honking and whistles and clapping and noise and what the heck was happening. It couldn't be a war yet the elections are over a week away. I was on the phone with a coordinator of the media delegation we will be working with when this began. He said it was the the opposition’s party campaigns last march and party before the election. Fireworks went off all over the city but concentrated in wealthier areas. Tomorrow, Sunday (Nov 26th,2206) is Chavez's campaign party last demonstration. hundreds of thousands our expected out on the street for a last rally and campaign celebration. We will be filming as we have international press access to stages and speakers for this next week.
Today we took Zarha on the Teleferico it is a incredible cable car ride that takes you up the mountain side where once on top of the mountain you can see the ocean below. It was a spectacular clear and sunny day, as most seem to be here, and I recalled it was on that ride last January, while marveling at the view I committed to coming back for longer and uncovering the many wonders of this country.
after we left the mountain we encountered more Chavez opposition folks driving and walking in this specific area. Andy will describe more but I did upset a car load who wanted me to give the sign for the opposition and when I made the sign for the Chavez campaign she gave me the "no no no shame shame" sign.
I do want to say that our awesome host family reminds us of Andy's parents. The Latin American version that is. Very open and politically progressive. They have been very helpful showing us around and very patient with our terrible spanish.
However they are very organized there home is immaculate and not one book or paper is out of place. That has been a little intimidating for this hippy family. matter of fact all of Venezuelan culture is a little intimidating that way. Cleanliness here is a big value. Dirty hippies are not regarded highly. sigh. So some days we take 2 showers a day to combat the sweat and dirt. Another false promise to my child in order to entice her to come here that she wouldn't need to shower as much. that along with getting her hopes up on bringing one of the many stray dogs home. It is difficult to adopt a dog from another country and bring it into the US. It is ironic about the cleanliness thing because the garbage overflows in most parts of the city and the traffic pollutes horribly. Worse traffic than NYC by far. Although the metro is is more like DC or Montreal both in its cleanliness and simplicity.
Bikers are an extinct breed here. All have probably been killed already.
posted by DAZ at 4:44 PM
1 Comments:
Hey folks,
You’ll be jealous to hear that Rochester has been in the balmy 50’s to high 60’s this week! Zarha, when you write your first book I want to be the first to read it. I love your writing—it’s great! The plants and faithful are doing well, but I think faithful misses all of you. : ( I’m also making sure to clean up after Paul—he’s REALLY messy.
Anyway, it sounds like your adventure is going well. Would love to see some pictures!!
Stay warm!
<3
Ted-
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