culture is thick

i think it was last saturday when it hit me. i'm not being myself. this can't be just a bad mood, it has to be something more. it was around 4 p.m. in the afternoon and i thought to myself, "man i can't wait to go to bed tonight." this was two hours after i had just woken up. after 13 hours of sleep. the past week, in review, has been rough. i've been sleeping a lot, not eating, and in general frustrated with all things spanish. my only answer: it's got to be culture shock. i don't want to feel this way, but in the past few days i didn't see anyway of getting out of the funk. i didn't want to hang out with my housemates. or my neighbors. the frustration of hitting my learning curve plateau gave me a headache and to have to go out and think in spanish all day long was not something i was interested in doing. but yesterday i seemed to snap out of it. i don't know if it was just another day bringing change, but i seem to be out of the funk. i think the first time i had smiled in a day was when i was walking down my street and i hear a little girl's voice yell "elkin!, joaquín está aquí" and out runs this two-year-old boy with huge brown eyes and a mop of curly blonde hair and runs straight into me and gives me the biggest hug he could. after that, it was hard to be in a bad mood. the last day or two i've come to terms with my struggles with spanish and just accepted that i'm not fluent, but i'll get there. i had a meeting yesterday with the three guards that work at my house in arbolito to see if there is anything they need or want. these guys are some of the funniest guys i've ever met: eduardo, abrahan and elvis. three guys in their 20s or early 30s trying to earn a living for themselves and their families. eduardo lives next to our house and abrahan lives across the street and they are constantly helping each other as they build second floors to their homes. i don't think i've ever seen a frown on their faces. they all light up when they talk, especially abrahan when he talks about building a disco teca on the third floor of his house. i don't think there was a minute that went by in that meeting where one of us weren't laughing (either at a joke that had been told or my inability to understand it). but at the end of the meeting i walked away feeling comforable with my inabilities in spanish. not because it's ok, but because they offered me what all my other neighbors seem to offer: patience and help anytime i need it. as i start to get into a routine around here, that is so important. because there are going to be days when i can't speak spanish. so to at least have that support system is great.
on a few side notes: i still do not have my long-awaited anaconda. i'm planning on going to el oriente (the amazon) at some point this year, so hopefully i will find one there. second. i had my first lunch at a neighbor's home today. as i was walking around the barrio talking to different neighbors, i stumbled into a woman named jenny's home, where she was preparing food with her sister and husband. she asked me if i liked fish. i said sure, then quickly realized that i would be eating that fish. i've been told that i shouldn't eat fish sold off the street, where jenny most likely purchased the fish she was preparing. but it was too late to back out. i sat, ate and talked with jenny and her sister for an hour, all the while thinking in the back of my mind, "here comes my first parasite, this is it." but if that's the price to pay, then ah well. culture is thick.