The hostal trap

It´s an interesting feeling not knowing where you belong anymore...

I´ve found myself saying, "ok guys, see you at home in a bit!" when in fact I am referring to the hostal. This is regrettably not a translation. I have found that it is far easier to connect with people who are most like you (language-wise anyway). This has resulted in a tragic lack of spanish language usage on my part. I blame myself entirely since - as I have been reminded again and again during my travels - it´s my job to say hello and make myself known to people from the culture that I have come to discover. As it is, the only people with native spanish in the hostal who also happen to be from the area are the hostal staff - who are usually just young kids like myself so it´s not all bad, except they can´t go out at night or walk to the plaza or go for ice cream...

I have yet to speak up in Chile though. The difficulty here is that the languages differ so much from country to country that once I get used to using words and different verbs for different actions, I´m asked to immediately change my ways when I arrive in the new country. This is a big difficulty for me. It began in Panama of which I am very proud. I in fact began to understand a full sentence here and there before I left Panama. When I arrived in Argentina I was an alien. They used an entirely different word for "you!" YOU? If you could only understand how embedded my understanding of this word is, you would see my gigantic dilemma. A week in Buenos Aires and an additional week in Mendoza in fact began to cure me of this horrendous complication. I no longer felt silly saying a funny word - I had ADAPTED.

Then comes Chile. Meli, my usual last resort for translation is lost herself in this complicated country. Except it is not that complicated! In fact, I should be more comfortable here than anywhere I´ve been thus far. They speak quickly, but "normal." In any case, if adaptation only takes a week in Panama and two in Argentina, this should be cake.

Frustration is not an easy emotion to avoid.