Tratadlo Como a uno de vosotros; amadlo, pues est como vosotros. Además, tambien fuisties extranjeros en Egipto. Yo soy el Señor vuestros Dios
The bible talks a lot about how we should treat strangers and I would like to think that I have had a special concern for new comers in my neighbourhood. I can’t say that I have been on the doorstep with a cassarole the day they moved in but I look out for them, make a point of smiling, looking for an excuse, albeit tenuous, to speak. I have been living here in Batay Bombita for 5 months and what an eye-opener it has been, not least because I am the stranger here. Everything about me is different from the people I see from day to day. It isn’t just the obvious differences, skin colour and my flat silver-blonde hair, that mark me out, it is the cultural differences, for example how I drink coffee. Dominicans like a tiny cup of strong black coffee with masses of sugar, whereas I like mine long and milky with no sugar. The cooking of an Easter treat, Habituelas con Dulce in the play ground really emphasised how different life is here.
For last year’s words belong to last year’s language, and next year’s word awaits another voice T.S. Eliot.
There is no doubt that the language barrier is the biggest hurdle to fitting in. Sometimes I find myself surrounded by a series of sounds almost indistinguishable, the children speak to each other in the hushed tones reserved for the sick and elderly, “Elle no hable Español” In many ways I am grateful to this huge divide, because, as Elliot suggests, new language is the gateway to new ideas, a fresh expression. As I learn to live a different life, why should I not learn this beautiful language? The miracle is that I really am learning it. Yes, I miss many words, but today, as I visited baby Oscar, and his mother told me he had learned to walk, I could congratulate him and laugh with the family as he struggled across the room to grap “un chin” of cake.
See, I am doing a new thing
The prophet Isaiah writes of a desert flourishing as water flows, and I feel as my language flourishes, my relationships grow. Plus, I love the word “corsas” – “things” in English. I can use it in just about every conversation and, new or old, it always fits!
A Cup of Plenty 