Blog 7 el dia de mi familia

Today I met the family I will be staying with for the next 3 months at least.

I could not ask for a nicer location, in a nicer city, with nicer people.

Cusco is gorgeous, my host aunt owns a tour agency and will give me sweet deals, my Spanish teacher is picking me up at my house tomorrow, and today I played futbol with my 5 year old hermana.

She is the best person to play futbol with, by the way.  Everything that was not grass was a goal, every goal was worth anywhere between 3 and 100 thousand points, and every time I missed the goal she would push it in for me so she could celebrate a goal and dole out points like candy.

She literally fell asleep at the dinner table she played so hard.

This life is a good life.

Man am I lucky or what: I have amazing family in all the parts of the world.

This week I will investigate the programs of the city to see where my public health dreams will fit best.  I talk with my doctor contact tomorrow about what all I get to do in the hospital, and I'll talk with the children's program about what teaching I can do for the population.

Finally, and coolest of all, my family has told me many times how good my Spanish is.  This is the kindest thing they could say to me right now.

Which leads to the philosophy of the day: mind your expectations.  I have been so very down on myself because of my "flailing" Spanish vocabulary. They were impressed because I can speak and understand better than most students they host.  Nothing changed about my ability save for the comparison, the bar it was measured against.  So as I adjust my expectations I get happier.  Simple and ludicrously applicable.  So mind your expectations.  Obviously too low and you sloth around, but give yourself a break once in a while, eh?  I'll keep my expectations of self and others high (working the social norms angle, of course), but depression is a thing to be prevented and/or addressed.  This is a good place to start.

Love.
Always.

Stewart