Confessions of Field Linguist

My Uvula is Sore


After 8 hours of Quechua, where seemingly every word has a uvular stop, my uvula is sore.  Moreover, I feel like I'm hiccuping every time I produce an ejective.  And then I ponder the amalgamation that is aspirated ejectives, that should not be physically possible.  Once I force my mouth to produce uvulars, ejectives and lateral glides I think have to concentrate on conjugation.  Quechua is not strictly agglutinative, subject and object agreement are fused.  There are 24 forms to memorize. Then when I know how those forms work in ordinary contexts I must remember that when I am studying the impulsative, the agreement is flipped.

My professor tells me all kinds of stories


I already know that her husband is a stubborn womanizer, her son has a heart condition, that her cat, Ron, is sick, that she refuses to learn English, that she used to earn extra tips by speaking Japanese at the airport, that she doesn't want grandkids to overpopulate the Earth, that her childhood neighbor once pulled a gun on her mom because their cow was on their pasture, I think I'm learning more about her than Quechua.

I'm getting fat


Fitting of the female confessional genre ala Bridget Jones, I must complain about my weight.  I've had cheeseburgers and pizza, not because of my american tastes but because the locals have recommended it.  Every meal is at least two courses and usually has lots of carbs, potato, rice, bread, did I mention potato. Lastly, there is a woman who sells chocolates where I go to get data, its rude if I do not buy chocolates from her (besides, she claims to speak Quechua so I'm buttering her up... or  rather she's is buttering me up).