Low-Patience Day (2007.01.16)

So I’m having what I call a “low-patience day.” A low-patience day occurs when one’s patience to tolerate the normal Bolivian lifestyle is low and the daily stuff starts getting to you. Anymore, the dog barking doesn’t bother me. In fact, I’ve made my peace with the old hound, after a slew of other dogs started barking their heads off at me one time and he came and acted as my protector. I don’t think they would have bitten me, and the six of them could have ripped ‘ol Ocampo to shreads, but nonetheless he kept barking and kept them away like he didn’t care. But today I’m back to wanting to shoot the dog. He really does start barking his head off at nothing for no reason…and since he’s old he can hardly bark so it just sounds like he’s “hackin’ on a bone.” It’s probably because we feed him from the table. In fact, that’s the only place he (or any other Bolivian dog for that matter) gets any food, aside from rootin’ through the trash. Uncle Mitch’s rule of not giving dogs any human food is directly contradicted on an hourly basis here in an hourly basis. As a matter of fact, it’s going to be tricky for me to NOT look for dogs to give my chicken bones to when I get home.

So my Spanish has come a long way since I got here almost 9 months ago, but I still am having problems making one tiny little sound. But to be fair, I don’t think it’s my fault. I was always taught that there was no difference between the “LL” and “y” in Spanish, but apparently here in the Santa Cruz department, there is. An EXCEEDINGLY subtle difference. So I pronounce my double L’s like y’s and my host family just finds it hilarious and never hesitates to point it out. “No es cuchiYo, es cuchiLLo!” they say to me while laughing. I can hear almost no difference in what they’re saying, but they make me feel pretty stupid for not being able to do it. Then they’re like “how about llave? Or gallena? Say gallena Benjamín!” and let out an uncontrollable roar of laughter when I mispronounce it. Most days, it’s funny, and I laugh and it’s no big deal. But today is a low patience day. So when the daily onslaught of “Benjamín can’t talk” began, instead of laughing it off, I totally went off on them in English and then asked them in Spanish how their English was and gave them crap for not even being able to pronounce the one or two sentences they know in English…”gook marnink” or “seet don plees.” I think they could tell I was mad, which I think just made them laugh a little more, but they did stop after that.

There are a lot of things about Bolivia that just don’t make sense to Americans in general. And specifically, things about my site that just drive me crazy. And while I’m usually ok with not understanding these things and just say “well, that’s just the way it is, you’re not going to change it, so just accept it,” today is a low-patience day. Which is why the exceedingly extraneously loud bus horn every hour outside my house made me want to throw rocks at the bus today. Which is why someone showed up a couple hours late this morning without apologizing and I almost wrung their neck. Which is why instead of lying to the kids at my house about not having candy to give them I just yelled at them and told them it’s going to rot their teeth and if they ask me again I’m really going to get pissed. These are the days I miss Skyline and voicemails and stickshifts and paved roads the most. Most days I appreciate and respect the cultural differences and even enjoy them sometimes (I was already a non-punctual person before I got here, and I’ve gained an affinity for bold faced lying). But, every once in a while when there’s too much of the flavorless food and dirty houses and dusty roads, you hit rock bottom and have yourself a low-patience day.

No less than a week ago I was contemplating extending my service for an entire year perhaps…which would mean a lot more low-patience days. It’s funny how quick I can go from wanting to stay for another year to wanting to leave a year and a half early. But the good part about low-patience days is that they are just that. Low-patience DAYS. Tomorrow I will feel fine. I already feel better after watching some Bugs Bunny cartoons I got in a Christmas package (thanks mom & dad) and after a nice night’s rest listening to some music, all will be well. I hope it’s always that easy to get over a rough day.