a girl in the world

finding beauty, pleasure and grace on the road less traveled

the most amazing sunset ever

It felt like fire in the sky.  A July sunset in the middle of the Serengeti.  I’ve never seen anything more beautiful.

It’s hard to put myself back in the mindset of Africa today.  Such a crazy time warp to look back on some of these pictures and remember how life was then.  It was such a tough trip.  A month-long safari through the African bush was nothing like I’d imagined it would be.  It was much, much harder.  Up before the crack of dawn to make breakfast, put down the tent and get on the road.  Drive for much of the day through really harsh roads in the middle of nowhere East Africa (Zambia, Malawi, Tanzania and Kenya).  Find the campsite, pitch the tent, run to the showers in hopes of catching the last bits of warm water before it runs out, dinner, and then bed. By 7pm you are so knackered and cold that all you want to do is crawl into your sleeping bag for the rest of the night.  And there is dust and dirt everywhere.  White turns brown, fingernails never look clean and clothes never really wash properly. I remember washing my hair and seeing brown run down the drain.  So gross.

But, oh, the beauty of the place.  So raw and unspoilt.   Descending the Ngorongoro crater at the crack of a misty dawn is the closest I’ve felt to God.  Honestly.  It was breathtaking.

I find it really hard to write about Africa.  Even while I was there, no words came to me when I tried.  It’s a hard place to describe and is probably one of those places that will remain a very deep and personal memory.  And maybe that’s what it’s supposed to be.  Sometimes words aren’t necessary.

Buen dia.  Este es me intento de comunicarse en espanol.  Es difficil porque estoy impaciente.  Muy impaciente!!!  Pero es un idioma hermosa!

Eh, I give up!  I need to gush and gushing with vocabulary as incomplete as this is so frustrating!  I LOVE SPANISH.  It is so beautiful and rhythmic and fun fun fun to learn.  But ohmygosh there is so much to learn.  I have no idea what an affirmative verb is from a reflexive.  Who teaches you these things in English?!  No one!  I can barely differentiate between nouns and adjectives and verbs and tenses in English but somehow it all fits.  Why can’t I magically just acquire Spanish like, say how people acquire swine flu?  Easily, unexpectedly, and in full force in a very short period of time.  Trying to translate from English to Spanish or Spanish to English is such a mind f*ck (pardon mi francais pero es divertido decir!).

For example:

“Que te pusiste hoy?” means “What are you wearing today?” but the verb is PONER, which means “to put”.  So you are asking, literally translated word for word by my ignorant English tongue “What you put today?”.  Which of course, to me, makes no sense whatsoever.  And so how am I supposed to learn how to speak Spanish if I can’t even find a direct translation for “wear”?!  And all these other little things.  So I sit there looking at my Spanish teacher, her big grin and sweet eyes (her name is Vivi y la quero) and am trying to make logical connections to things that can’t logically be connected.  What frustration, FRUSTRATION I tell you!!!!  =D

However, it is SUCH GOOD FUN.  Frustratingly fun (ooh, that’s some form of short alliteration si?) because it twists my mind and makes me want to learn.  Frustration is a fantastic motivator but so is the need to find a way to express myself at a million words per second to all the great people that I meet here.  Why can’t everyone just speak English?  I guess because it doesn’t sound so pretty.  =)  And pretty sounds are really important in life.

I have come across some new favourite words as of late.  They sound really pretty and are so fun to say:

  • lluvia (pronounced shooveeyaa) – means rain
  • helado (pronounced ehlaadoh) – for ice cream (I’ve known this word for a while but it is necessary for survival.  When in danger, yell ICE CREAM and hopefully someone hands you a cone of fantastic dulce de leche)
  • rodillas (pronounced rohdishas) – for knee (I like this word because it reminds me of a Rhodesian Ridgeback and those are really pretty dogs)
  • casamiento – for wedding party (this is interesting because in Tagalog, casal means wedding and I just love how all of these random things come to me from different languages)

And then some fun sentences:

  • “Esta re fuerte!” – HE IS HOT!
  • “Puedo ver a traves de tus ojos” – I can see through your eyes
  • “El dia esta barbaro” – What a great day!

… I learned some others but won’t post them here because they won’t make my Mama proud.  😉  Mostly, I now know how to pick up boys/girls or gossip about them with my friends.  Such useful information, huh?!  =)

Well, that is all for today’s aventuras en espanol.  Tomorrow, maybe I will learn how to insert proper accents on this keyboard so I don’t look/sound/write so gringo!!!  =)

Bueno!  Hasta manana!  =)

Besitos!

of being here in BA

the goods

– the wine wine wine wine wine.
– helados delivery 24/7

– parillas (barbeque).  i eat meat now, did ya hear?!

– Rioplata Spanish (so flamboyant).

– everything is cheaper (4 dollars for a set of passport photos, 5 dollars for a cab ride across town, 2 dollars for a plate of pastries for breakfast).

– it’s grimy, polluted, dirty and imperfect and i like that.  i like that it’s no paris.

– private healthcare is so affordable (even for foreigners).

– shopping.

– the. food. is. ridiculous.  wanna get fat?  come here.

– nightlife. you eat at midnight (whether you stay in or go out) and dance until the morning.  every single night, if you want.

– litte pockets of beautifulness. patio bullrich. palermo chico. olsen. the florelis generica.

the bads

– security.  more poverty, more desperate people, more petty theft and violence.

– in general, it is socially impenetrable. people have their close knit community of friends.  friends of friends become important here.  this, i think, is the thing that has most surprised me.

– nightlife.  nothing starts until 2am.  i’m halfway to dreamland by then.

the uglies

– the dog poop.  it is everywhere.  so irresponsible that people don’t pick up after their puppies!

– construction.  it is everywhere.  including next door.  and waking up to a jackhammer in the mornings is not pretty.

– pollution.  14 million people.  cars, trucks, cabs.  it is smoggy and hot and crazy.

Hi, I'm Denise. I'm a writer, artist and photographer. This is where I share what I'm seeing, learning and making.


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