Life Changing Verbs

Poco y poco, my spanish is improving. Now, I can use about 25 verbs. But only in the present tense.

The first three weeks of study, Amabilia taught me regular verbs. Those that are conjugated according to “the rules”.

After 5 weeks of studying, I’ve progressed to “stem-changing” verbs. They are irregular. They are not conjugated by “by the rules”.

Remarkably, as my mastery of the language has gone from “regular” to “irregular”, the opposite has happened to my sense of Antigua, and of myself.

What, at first, seemed remarkable and strange, has now become commonplace and comfortable.

A table full of gila monsters. That’s normal.

A small, beautiful child under a vending table. Normal. Having to pretend to take a picture of a cat to get her photo. Normal.

The love between Senora Martinez and her daughter. I see this everyday. How lucky they are. But here, loving your family is normal.

The handsome, warm smile of my favorite Mayan human rights worker. Wonderful. Exciting. Very Guatemalan.

Four multi-colored parrots on a stick. Exquisite and typical.

A smiling man walking with a very small kitten through the marketplace. I see animals in unusual places here all the time.

And of course, there are big purple dinosaurs. I especially like Barney because he taught Luke how to “give a great big hug and say ‘I love you”. His open arms remind me of the people here.

As the verbs in spanish class have progressed and changed, so have I.

I am deeply connected to this place of exceptions. Its culture and its people have changed the way I perceive the world, and what I want from it.

Once a news addict, I have only a vague concept of what ABC, CBS and FOX think is happening in the world. Their view is so limited.

Here, I am not worried. I am not afraid. I am not self-conscious. Perhaps it’s because I’m on a vacation of sorts. But I think not.

Guatemala has shown me that each of us is “irregular” and “regular”.

There are no rules about how to be who you are.

No longer can I label any person: Christian-Secular, Liberal-Conservative, Gay-Straight, Republican-Democrat, Guatemalan-American. We are all much too complicated and too beautiful for that.

In Guatemala, I am connected. To others. To myself. And to the God that so loves the world. His energy underlies everything I experience here. I can be irregular, forget the rules and still be perfect.

I can’t wait to see what happens as I learn to speak in future and past tenses.

In the meantime, mis amigos, why be regular?


Adios amigos,
Cynthia

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