La Panecilla Gordita

Here in Paraguay, it is endearing to be short, pale, and chunky. I fit in well here. I am short, pale, and chunky. This has earned me nicknames among the girls I hang with. Things like chiquitita, which I must confess makes me want to break out into an ABBA number, and gordita. These things, especially the latter, should probably bother me, as gordita pretty much translates into "little, chunky one" and chiquitita translates, essentially, into "little short thing". But typically, they just make me laugh and I don't mind at all. It's okay for me to be tubby here. I kind of like it. Anyway, enough with that.

Tonight contained one of those events after which you are kind of left scratching your head going, "What the heck?" What happened was I'm sitting there, chatting along with the usual group of ladies- Mauyury, Debora, Teresa, Mami, Kati- and Debora picks up my hand and looks at it.

"Kati!", she says, in Spanish of course, "Her hands look like your sister's!"

Kati and her sister, Cindy, are both fairly pale, and Kati has very light, almost a dirty blonde, hair. This makes a lot of the guys like her. Cindy is built like me, although she is taller. What they were referring to here, were my short, chubby fingers, something I'm used to getting ribbed for, especially in piano classes. I have sausage fingers.

See?

They are chubby, and that is okay. I like my chubby fingers.

So, anyway, Kati comes over and of course, squeals because Debora is right. My hands are short, pale, and chubby like her sister's apparently are. I would not know this, of course. And then they make the statement that leaves me going, "Eh?"

"Her hand looks like an empanada!"

Apparently, when I make a fist, my hand looks like this-

I couldn't decide exactly whether or not I should be offended. I decided not to, and instead broke out into hysterical laughter, because honestly, it was pretty hilarious. And because I am a little gordita.