Chatty Cathies

Today, I hung out for a bit with Matt, Luke, and a third volunteer who had come in to visit from Copan. We sat around just talking for awhile before we parted ways – they went to go eat and buy beer and I headed to my bus stop to get back to Cisco for dinner. I really enjoyed their company, we all got along really well, and it made me start thinking about why I enjoy hanging out with certain people. The biggest thing, for me and I think for most people, is conversation. There are a lot of other factors that can affect how you feel about time spent with others, but I think the different aspects of the conversation are really what sways someone one way or the other.

It got me thinking about the people I like talking to at home. I realized it’s not only the high-quality, deep, thoughtful conversation you want with the people you really like. As for the people who I can sit at a table with after dinner for several hours talking and laughing and fighting over things, it’s mostly about the variety of the conversation (and copious amounts of wine certainly help). We move easily from shared past experiences (usually elementary school variety) to sports to current events (some serious, some regarding internet memes) to real, deeper subjects (politics, emotions, religion, philosophy, our futures). At the same time, the conversation can easily move in and out with just gossiping about people we all mutually know. It’s comfortable, it’s easy, it’s fun, it’s thought-provoking…and most of all, it makes me laugh. When I'm with other people and it's awkward and quiet and I am looking for something to say, I find myself thinking back to conversations with others that were so fun and interesting. But it's never the same and it's sad to think that you can be around people you love (in a family way) or respect and not be able to have good conversations with them. It's just so much easier with some people.

With the guys from today, I felt that great easiness. We easily mixed into conversation gossip about other volunteers, our futures, shared past experiences (I didn’t really have any of these with them, but they had them with each other), funny stories, and in-depth discussions about religion and government. It was all those things I mentioned above, with a lot of the laughing and a lot of thinking about friendships. It also made me realize another critical thing: I am liking the other volunteers I meet a lot more than I thought I would.