¨Dengue fever occurs in Argentina and includes severe pain that gives it the nick-name break-bone fever or bonecrusher disease. It is transmitted through mosquito bites from insects that feed during the day and night.¨-Wikipedia
I was sweating, profusely, and covered in quarter sized mosquito bites.
Not exactly the way you want to start out a nightmare, but there I was, in the center of a room full of Argentine law students and American students, and they were waiting for me to say something.
What was I supposed to be saying?
Oh, god, this wasn´t a nightmare. This was really happening. I had really signed up to give a human rights presentation and then participate in a debate in front of Argentines. Oh my god, Oh my god.
When I was in high school, my worst fear in the world was to speak Spanish in front of anyone. I would hum little songs to myself, practice phrases when no one was home, but to give a speech in Spanish in front of the class meant certain death. This may or may not have to do with the fact that I got sprayed by a skunk one year before a big speech, but you understand. What if I messed up? What if I said something really embarrassing because I really didn´t understand the difference between the preterite and the impersonal? I avoided speeches like the Swine Flu (too soon).
It doesn´t really make sense that someone with such an inherent fear to speak a language would major in it, but that´s what I did, and two years later I found myself standing in cramped, humid classroom and 40 faces were staring at me expectingly.
Oh right, it was something about Human trafficking.
¨Hola, me llamo Lissie Falconer. Primer, si ustedes no me entienden, por favor, decíme. Yo puedo hablar en inglés...obviomente.¨ (Hi, my name is Lizzie Falconer. To begin, if you guys can´t understand me, please tell me. I can speak in English...obviously¨.)
I breathed in deeply and scrolled through my power point, retelling the horrific story of girls murdered in human trafficking, relaying the statistics, explaining the governments ineffective plan to help the 27 million people involved in modern day slavery.
A few minutes later it was done and I smiled and slumped in my chair, years of worrying and stress lifted off of my freckled shoulders.
When the debates were over, people came up to me and hugged me. Told me they had loved it. My favorite teacher congratulated me, I made friends with the Argentines who I debated against and I thought...
maybe I can speak this language. Maybe I can do this.
We went to a bar and drank a few Quilmes (love you mom and dad) and I thought, maybe I could be here. Maybe I could stay here.
But then I got bit by the 30th mosquito today and I thought, nahh, there´s no Dengue in Oregon.
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