One week in

We've been here one week but I already feel like I've been living here for months. I think my comprehension of Spanish is getting much better, although I still feel useless in Quechua (granted, it's been three days). I've been going to the contemporary dance festival almost every night and all but one of the performances have blown me away. Last night's was too abstract for me--a man walked onto the stage and said (in Spanish, of course), "I am trying to understand what is the meaning of size. I am trying to understand what is the meaning of distance," and made a square on the stage out of tape using the measurements of his hands (i.e. each side was 5 hands long). Then he sat in a tiny chair and mused about something while a shoddily made slide show played in the background. I may have been hypercritical because I was at the show when I should have been doing my homework, but it was the most abstract and didn't involve any dancing as far as I could tell. Anyway, tonight's was incredible again--it was the same choreographer as Saturday night's dance, which has been tied for my favorite performance out of all of them. I can't believe how culturally rich Cochabamba is. I'm ashamed that I hadn't heard of it, that no one I know had heard of it, before I applied for the program. Everyone here knows something about Boston (usually it's "Harvard está allí!" but at least that's something). And I feel like I'm being so "Stuff White People Like" when I say that there is so much culture here because usually that means "there are people of color here," but I mean culture of all sorts. The city is so unique but at the same time reminds me of so many other places I've been to or heard of. It's so exciting and the people are so kind and I'm really enjoying myself so much. I feel like I couldn't have picked a better place to study abroad.

I'm getting excited about the prospect of writing a children's book for my final project. I have so many little ideas about it and the children I've met here are making me see life differently. I know that sounds dramatic but I'm serious about it. The family I live with has an assistant who comes in the mornings to cook lunch, and I've been chatting with her daughter, who is three, and it brightens my day (as if it weren't already brilliantly sunny here). Plus Mati (my nephew of sorts) has been here a lot and it's so interesting to listen to what you could call his theories of language (he was "speaking English" today and he was surprisingly right on with the sounds of the language, although he doesn't know any words in English). The ways children think are so pure and honest; in a way, it's helping me better understand the mentality of the people here.

I have so much more I want to write about but I still haven't finished my readings for tomorrow. We have our fourth Culture and Development seminar tomorrow morning at Ismael's house and I can't really imagine what the format will be. Undoubtedly it will be something memorable, so you will hear about it as soon as I can write again.