Volunteering and traveling in Argentina to proclaim God's great love, and hopefully not getting sick along the way.

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Thursday, April 5, 2012

Jumping eyes

When you want to say that something pops.. something shines.. in Spanish, you are going to use the verb Saltar. Which makes sense when you think about it; it "jumps" out at you.

For instance, as I make bracelets with Ale and Giselle (and now another woman, but I don't remember her name just now), we are talking about the designs we use. We want certain colors to jump out at you, so it is important to use the "dull" colors to help make that happen. It's art. There's also the highlighter, called here a resaltador.

So I go to visit Maria Elena at the fair in the center of town. I sit by her table and help when I can, which often means serving the Catamarcan version of mate. That is, amargo, or bitter. I also pass it to our vending neighbor, who exchanges one of his sweets for the favor.

Then a man comes over with a microphone discreetly hanging by his side. He looks at the goods that Ma Elena is serving and then looks at me, enjoying my turn for the mate.

"And where are you from?" he asks.

"The United States--"

"THE UNITED STATES... You came all the way from there to sell these sweets???!!!"

I correct him immediately. "No, no. I am here supporting my friend."

"Oh.. okay." But then he pauses. "Can you do me a favor? Can you stay here for a moment? We'll come back with the video camera to ask you a few questions."

The neighboring vender pressed his finger to his eye. It's a body expression here that says "I'm watching you. Behave yourself."

Ha. Anything can happen when you're a foreigner...

Later that same day, a door-to-door vender came to our house. I open the door--

"Hellooo.. WHOA... you're eyes are really jumping out..."

I thanked him for his time after a persistent, yet defeated, effort to sell some lotions and perfumes. When I closed the door I looked at what I was wearing and it finally clicked. I have this bluish green tank top that sort of brings out the color of my eyes. But twice in one day for that kind of attention just made me laugh. I changed, and got ready for the girls' institute for the afternoon.

Chau!

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