Sink or Swim

Do you remember the Olympic swimmer Amy van Dyken from the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta? She had severe asthma. They said when she swam she had such a low percentage of oxygen that it was like closing one nostril completely, putting cotton in the other and then sucking air through a straw, all while swimming at Olympic speed. Now I don’t have asthma, I don’t recall ever having breathing problems, and I suck at swimming, but I think I can relate to Amy. Trying to act professional in your second language is like swimming with cotton up your nose. Holding a conversation that makes sense in Spanish is difficult enough for me, but trying to eloquently articulate using the educated lingo of a specific field with the directors of one of La Paz’s most respected NGOs is almost a joke, or else it would have been if it hadn’t felt like an underwater asthma attack.

What’s more, these people are suggesting I do research with them in Potosi (a southern region), but that means going to a rural area where most people are mono-lingual to their native language: Quechua. But I’m not taking Quechua classes right now; I’m taking Aymara!! The director tried to convince me by saying Quechua grammar and pronunciation is a lot easier than Aymara. But I wanted scream in English, “HELLO! DID YOU NOT JUST WITNESS ME DROWNING IN THERE??”

I suppose there’s some ray of hope in the story of Amy van Dyken overcoming such a severe condition to achieve grand success. But on the other hand, we weren’t all meant to be Olympians. Ya know what I’m sayin?