Never a Dull Day

So today in the plaza I was killing time before one of my many English classes by studying up on one of three languages that I’m trying to improve, Chinese. I was minding my own business, mumbling to myself with “Learn to Speak Chinese: Book 2” in hand while sitting on a bench when a coca-chewing, rubber sandal wearing man joined me on the bench and started blabbering to me in Quechua. I managed to sputter out a lame “Mana Qweshwata parlanichu” (what I believe is the translation of I don’t speak Quechua) and he proceeded to talk to me in what I think is Quechua after repeated “no entiendo’s” from me (I don’t understand in Spanish). Then he kept on saying “sal sabía” or at least I thought he was saying that which means “did you know salt?” Hmm…then he took out his wallet and whipped out a little scrap of paper and handed it to me…and I kept on asking “sal como sal para comida?” (salt as in salt for food?) and I think I got an affirmative response to that. At this point I think he might have been asking for the Chinese translation for salt (yes, very odd I know) but I couldn’t think of how to write the character “yán” (and I wasn’t even sure that was the word for it, I double-checked myself after he left) so lamely I wrote “sal” and then “salt” on his little scrap of paper which he tucked back into his wallet and then went on his merry way. Haha, hopefully he’s not going to go find some Chinese person and try to communicate with them by saying “salt”…and I’m not even sure that’s what he was trying to get at in the first place…but oh well, I tried to “help.”

I think the general consensus is also that we should start a “Heard in Bolivia” like how they have the “Heard in NYC” website where people post random nonsense of stuff they heard on the streets or in the city. I was walking back to my house today when along the way there were two little boys and one was shrieking about “día de la víbora” which means “day of the snake” and then they proceeded to whap each other with these large branches. I’m telling ya, never a dull day. (Okay, that’s a lie, I have plenty of boredom in my life but these little incidents keep me entertained)

Also, I am hoping to start a “women’s club” soon (modeled after the famous women’s club of Taiwanese women in Rochester). Well actually there’s a group of young professional ladies in Tarata that I eat lunch with and they told me today that they wanted English classes in the evenings (and they even suggested having it at different peoples’ houses each time) so we’re supposed to be starting this class next week on Wednesday and Friday evenings. My ulterior motive is that I’d like to teach English if they want it, but to have a little women’s club where we can bake cookies, cakes, pies, cobblers, tortes, brownies, pastries, and fattening things and gossip about men. After all, correct me if I’m wrong, isn’t that what Peace Corps is about…dessert and men?