The medical/dental team is in Michoacan this October. (I joined them last October when they were in Guanajuato too.) So I packed up after the hospital today and headed over. I'll be staying in Ixtlan and helping with the team through Monday.
It's been three weeks now with the Latin Program. Today was a good day in a sense that I could see some progress made in my horribly meager efforts to integrate. And I call them horribly meager because I hardly actually talk with any of them. I realize this is a problem, and repeatedly make up my mind to do better in the area. I'll see an opportunity to start a conversation, and then stop in my tracks realizing I have no idea what to talk about with them. We have little to nothing in common. Plus, God left the "Miss Bubbly Socialite" gene out of my genome when he made me so I have a hard time talking about nothing. But like I said, today I saw an encouraging glimmer of progress. I was in the middle of a presentation, and blanked on a word. Those in the audience were eager to help me out to which I was then able to "eso" in a joking way which had everyone smiling/laughing. These students really are very nice individuals, and being honest I don't feel an ounce of judgement from any of them towards me. I do hope that the next 7 weeks will continue to increase these relationships.
Side note: I'll be honest with you guys. I didn't actually blank on that word. I knew what I wanted to say, but I also knew that if I attempted to say it my accent would have rendered it ground beef...a.k.a. butchered! So I just pretended to blank.
A lot of article reading is required for various reasons at HAL. One of my clinical cases doctors has us present one of the articles we used researching each case. These doctors recommend English articles which isn't always adhered to, but I have no problem abliging the request. I know that all of these Latin students have at least a basic understanding in English; a fact which I took advantage of when I last presented a article. I knew it was fine to say the study title in English, but asked a friend if I should translate it anyways, he affirmed that it wasn't necessary. Trouble was my article had a long title filled with 'big' words. I said that title in clear loud English, but I said it as fast as I possibly could, and I did it on purpose. I knew that even though they can understand a basic English, with a fast and wordy English they would still most likely end up lost. From their side-ways glances I'd assumed correctly. In a way, it felt good. Letting out my frustration built up from daily face-plants into a language barrier. A counselor explained it to me once that for a person that spends so much energy living up to outside standards they search for something that they alone can control and they hold onto that, sometimes to the extreme, as an outlet or as a way of reassuring themselves that they still actually have some control. That's what this felt like. In a world where I feel so lost so often I found a moment where I wasn't lost and I grabbed it. I basically shouted "I SPEAK ENGLISH!"
I had more stories to tell, but I'm actually going to bed. Last night was the first night in almost a week I'd gotten more than 3 hours sleep. It was by accident. sooooo, I'm tired.
Hasta!
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