Eso es alcanzar lo más alto,

lo que tal vez nos dará el Cielo:

no admiraciones ni victorias

sino sencillamente ser admitidos

como parte de una Realidad innegable,

como las piedras y los árboles.

Jorge Luis Borges

Fervor de Buenos Aires (1923)

This is the best that can happen,

What heaven perhaps will grant us:

Not to be wondered at or required

To succeed

But simply to be let in

As part of an undeniable Reality,

Like stones of the road, like trees.

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

New Apartment


It’s a long time since I’ve given an update.  I had wanted to write a few posts, one specifically about the civil war memorial wall downtown of which I’ve got some really nice pictures.  But when I sat down to write them the ideas didn’t really make any sense so I’ll let things simmer a little bit longer and learn a little bit more about that whole aspect of life here before I try to dive in again.

Instead, I’ll give an update on the happenings of my life.  I think most people know by now that I’ve got my own place and moved in a couple of weeks ago.  I will take some pictures and post them soon.  It’s got a beautiful courtyard with lots of trees, including a mango tree and a palm tree.  The neighbours are pleasant and I only share my pila with my downstairs neighbours who are a mom and her two teenagers.  For those of you who didn’t see my facebook post, this is a pila:


The instructions on the picture say it all. 

I also have termites and cockroaches which I think are pretty common, but on top of everything else that I am learning now I have to figure out how to deal with this.  So I’m going to the hardware store to ask what I should do.  Oh, and have been without water for a week although last night it was working again for half an hour, so I was able to take a shower.  I’ve mostly been taking buckets of water from the pila up to my shower and splashing myself off that way.  At first I grumble about it and then I think about the people who work longer days than I do and are trying to raise families without having water.  They say it’s going to be shut off for another 2 weeks with brief intervals of being on at night so that people can fill up their pila’s I guess.

Today at lunch I asked a coworker for instructions on how to get somewhere in the city on the bus.  I understood for the most part, except that I took it in the wrong direction!  So when I realized that I got off, asked someone on the street for directions and then got on another bus.  They told me this bus would take me there but it didn’t.  So the bus driver gave me more directions, I got on another bus and eventually got to where I needed to be.  However, once I had gotten what I needed and crossed the street to go back, there were no buses.  You’d think with the amount of times I’ve needed to get to ANADES I would remember the address by now.  But I never do, so there I am stammering away about this place I need to get to with yet another stranger on the street.  But I must be getting fairly eloquent because he told me to walk down a few blocks and catch a different bus, which I did and which took me directly back to ANADES.  As I was looking out the windows of the various buses to locate the places where people had told me to get off, all I could think was that I am happy and that I like living here.  

2 comments:

  1. I always look forward to your posts, Lynden. So glad to hear you're enjoying your time there! Totally identified with what you said about letting stuff simmer - never works to force it!

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  2. That is so good to hear, It makes me smile when I know you are content to be there. I miss you so much, skype just isn't the same as chatting in person, but at the same time I'm so very thankful for it! I hope you have water soon, I can't imagine. Love you!

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