la Amalia

 My host niece, Amalia, reminds me in many ways of myself as a child. Curious about everything. She has to know how and why everything happens. Every time anyone says anything, you know she'll chime in with "¿y por qué?"

Por ejemplo:
La Pilar está sentándose en el jardín, haciendo mensajes de text en su iPhone. La Amalia se acerca a ella y toca sus aretes.
A: ¿Por qué llevas estés?
P: Porque a mí me gustan.
A: ¿Y porqué te los gustan?
P: Porque son bonitos.
A: ¿Y cómo quedan en sus orejas?
P: Porque tengo pequeños huecos. Mira, tengo dos acá y otro acá al otro lado.
A: ¿Y por qué?
P: Para poner aretes. Mira que la Sara tiene muchos más.
La Amalia camina hacia yo y empieza con la misma rutina de preguntar sobre todo y examinar mis orejas que llevan ahora cinco. Ella nunca se brinda de hacer preguntas.

The other thing that we have in common is the love of languages and words. We are always looking for new ways to express ourselves more accurrately. She is always bringing books to the table while people are trying to eat so that they can read them to her. Every week, she learns a new word or phrase that just excites her for whatever reason. One time, she learned the word for "rollie-pollie" (in Spanish, but I forget what it is) and spent the whole time digging through the yard for them. Another time, she learned the phrase "todo el rato" and all of a sudden, everyone was doing everything "todo el rato." A couple weeks ago, she learned "pechuga" and kept looking at her grandmother's chest saying "pechuga" and touched my shirt saying "pechuga." Personal boundaries don't seem to matter to her in her quest for knowledge and new ways of communicating it.

La Amalia has inspired me to renew these traits in myself-- curiosity about the world and its languages. I'm too old to get away with asking "¿y por qué?" after everything, making stories up in order to practice phrases, or violating social boundaries. But I can definitely try to regain some of that passion for life.