Not a sentence I thought I would be using to describe my time this week, but I am truly grateful for the language barrier! It has lead me into some situations that I would not have been in otherwise, and I have enjoyed those moments a lot! Oh the beautiful gift of not understanding a lick of what people say!
Yesterday I went by the church to see if I could volunteer with a group that I had seen on a poster in the front of the Church. It just said that they were going to serve the poor a meal, so I thought why not? I showed up and there were lots of people rushing around setting up tables, blowing up balloons, bringing food to the kitchen, and setting a stage. I was really overwhelmed until a man came up to me and we fumbled through some Spanish until he figured out I was there to help. He whisked me away to the kitchen and I started cutting the bread. I got to meet a lot of people and the High Schoolers turned out to be really good Spanish teachers! I talked in slow sentences so that they could correct every verb I conjugated incorrectly. I also learned some helpful slang terms that only Chileans use, and I am way less confused thanks to them.
This isn't even where the language barrier comes into play, if you can believe that. Once the party started the poor of the streets came to the tables and could sit, eat, listen to the band, dance, chat, and sing! And they did all of that! All of it! I have never seen such joyful people! Even though they were in rags, with no homes, and some of them even had jobs and they still had no homes, they were joyful. I sat at a table and one of the men looked at me and I think he asked if I knew how to dance. I promptly told him nope, and he grabbed my hand and started to teach me classic Chilean dance. THIS my friends is where the language barrier came into play, because had I been able to tell him that I really don't like dancing, then I would have never danced with this homeless man who just wanted to teach a gringo something he knew. Something he was proud of. Even the poor in Chile have pride in their culture, and that was shown to me by this man who was happy to be looked at like a normal person for a bit. I was glad that I could be the one embarrassed and in a place of vulnerability instead of him for that moment. I am not a good dancer, but he was a good teacher! I think I forget to look at the poor and ask them their name, what they like to do, and maybe next time, I will ask them to teach me to dance. Because that was one of my favorite moments here so far.
That's the more serious scenario. Here's the funny one...
Last week I thought it would be real nice to sign up for IM soccer. Just some fun kicking around a ball, and playing with the other students here. Then I showed up today for the first day, and let me tell ya... this is not IM soccer. I am currently in the process of trying out for the Universidad de Viña del Mar Fútbol team. I am trying out for a Chilean university level soccer team. Me, the gringo. HA! My buddy, Kaylin and I were laughing half the time because we couldn't believe that we missed that in conversation when we signed up! How did we miss that?? Oh well, it's going to be a fun week of conditioning, reminiscing on my dreaded High School tryouts, and maybe we will make the team. That would be the funniest part. Making the team. I don't understand any of the terminology that was thrown at us today. But I can follow what the other players are doing, so that's a start.
Overall, the language barrier is helping me get WAY out of my comfort zone. Dancing with homeless men, and trying out for the University soccer team. It's been more of a blessing than a curse this week!
Wish me luck in tryouts! Ciao!
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