Humility a la Laughing

Drew always says when he goes to the campo that you can't help but be humbled as he goes the campo and his communication and social skills are reduced to 0 because it is a whole new way of life. He will say that he gets to be laughed at quite frequently, because he is a gringo in a strange land. I might not be in the campo, but I do experience that "humility" to a degree. I have to admit, learning humility this way is a great way to go, at least you learn to laugh at yourself, and later it becomes a great joke with your friends.

Today was a great example of that. I went to Serafin and Romualda's house to spend some time with them. Their favorite thing to do when I am with them is ask me to tell the same embarassing stories of my life here over and over again. And, in the end, we are all laughing. Serafin is normally rolling on the bed at my mistakes, Romualda has to leave the room to catch her breathe, and I am stuck with a slight giggle (because I have told the story already 5 times) and Anai playing Barbies.

It can be something as simple as saying the city I'm from, "Chattanooga." Apparently its really funny to people who have never heard a name like that. In good humor, I turn the joke on them and ask about their city names. Then we all have a good laugh poking fun at each other. Who has ever heard of a name like "Challcha" anyways, better yet, a person from that town is called a "Challchino."

The biggest reactions come from when I tell them stories about when I went to the campo- a two day trip, and there were plenty of stories. The funniest one was when no one would talk to me because they are all scared to see a citified gringa. They don't know what to do with me, so they act really awkward. Women would hide out in the kitchen just to watch me. When I would ask if I could sit with them, they would run away, literally. I'm fine with it, I realize they are not being rude, they just don't know what to do.

The second day of my time in the mountains, a girl finally spoke to me. She asked if I would go down the mountain to help her bring back her "wacas" (cows). Happy someone had finally gotten the guts to talk to me, I went along, although it was almost dark in a place with no electricity. We walked down the mountainside to the cows, and the girl sat down. I asked her if we were going to get the cows and bring them home. She didn't respond, so I sat down too. From there, she proceeded to ask me about 5, 846 questions. Then I realized the reason for my invitation, she was checking me out to see what life was like in my skin. As it was really getting dark (also knowing a path along the side of the cliff with loose rocks was part of our journey home), I asked if we could start walking back with the cows. She agreed but first had to give me cow herding lessons. I was to grab a stick, then learn cow language in about 2 seconds. Luckily, I could make the appropriate noise. I was then told to go up the path a little bit and wait. When the cows came my way, I followed directions and started making the noises and swatting them with the branch in my hand. All of a sudden, the cows stopped in their paths. They weren't eating, drinking, pooing, or peeing. They were looking at me. Then, I hear, "CORRE!!!!!! MALO ES ESTE TORRO. CORRE!!!!" ( "RUN!!!! THAT BULL IS BAD!!!!!!!!"). So I was off. This gringita ran as fast as I possibly could to get away from the black bull. As you can imagine, its funny to see a gringa running away from a bull, even if the bull isn't chasing. After that fiasco, I caught my breathe and laughed a bit with my little friend as the cows stopped for some water.

Instead of drinking water though, they stood staring at us. The girl couldn't understand why they weren't drinking water, they always drink. I laughed and threw out the idea that maybe its because I was there, apparently everyone is scared of me. She laughed at that one too.

There are plenty of other stories too. The time a cat ate a whole live rat just behind me, and I almost threw up the potatoes with potato sauce I had just been so kindly given. Or, the time where I got stuck on top of the fence and ripped my pants trying to climb over in front of a women pastoreando her sheep. You learn to laugh, sooner or later.