Quiere tete...

So after the expedition to Merida, Venezuela I was exhausted. My baby was exhausted and so was her father. No matter, the rest of the Venezuelan family showed up.

It was so great to see them all. The aunts, the uncles, the cousins, the neighbors, the friends, the aunts and uncles of friends, in-laws, the great aunts and uncles, their cousins, and some Mary Kay saleswoman. I cried on numerous occasions. It was pure jubilation to feel so welcome to a place I had inherited as a second home by default. I was treated like a princess, offered soup and food and the interrogation began.

Personal note here: sometimes, just leave me alone. I am very extroverted and love attention and people and the experiences that come along with those things. However, there are times in a person's life that being surronded by people is not a comfortable thing. After my daughter's birth, my entire family wanted to meet my daughter. They came. I was so ill that I could not be myself. My father spoke to my grandparents who wanted to come to the house and visit. I heard this conversation and screamed "No. I don't want to see them."

I hurt their feelings horribly. It was unreasonable for me to think that everyone in my family would give me recovery time when their first niece or great grandchild enticed them with excitement. Everyone forgot about me and imposed themselves in my sphere of sickness and recovery in order to to visit and chat and hold my daughter.

There must be healthy balance, a way to make known what I want while still catering to the needs of loved ones. As far as this new baby was concerned, all bets were off.

So, here I was back in Merida, Venezuela getting pecked with words and phrases that I hadn't heard in a very long time. I did not understand anything. I was polite, but dear lord, I did not want to be.

Then my daughter cried. "Ooooh. Quiere tete!" exclaimed the mob.

"Disculpa?" Excuse me, did you just make a refrence to my tits? Because it sounded like you said titty.

"Tiene hambre. Darla tete." Quiere tete means "She is hungry"

Quit talking about my tits. I hardly know you people. After taking my daughter from the arms of a stranger (probably the uncle of the Mary Kay saleswoman), I went to feed my child. The conversations I heard consisted of "The baby is so beautiful" and "She is sucking tits now."

Would I really be able to make the cultural shift? My outlook was doubtful, but I reminded myself that I was irrational due to typical strains of traveling.  Tomorrow would be a better day.

My baby did not have a crib in Venezuela at this point so she slept between her father and me. She woke up every couple of hours and I fed her. Her father tried to share his company with us, but he eventually became too exhausted and slept like a rock.

Tomorrow would be a better day.

It had to be.

I did not realize that at three a.m, tomorrow had already arrived.