¡Americanos!
last night Stephani and I were sitting around in our little bedroom, embroidering like mature women, and all of the sudden Stephanie says ¨I think I hear someone speaking English outside.¨ So what do we do? We turn into spies, of course.We had to turn out the light, and I peeked out the window. Sure enough, there was a white van and a white truck, and white people piling out. I got over to the other window, where Stephanie and I crouched down very small and peered at them. They all started unloading and I knew Rosa, the director, was out there talking to one of them in Spanish, so I got my confidence and we went out to see what was happening. A group has come to stay here for a week or so, and it was a group I wasn´t exactly expecting, but the leaders lived here in the 90s for five years, and come back every year. No problems having to show them around!
So we had quite a day today. Unfortunately Cande, the cook, was gone today, but Rosa filled in for her. Bceause I've been clean up girl in the kitchen so far I got to be in charge of the Americans who came to help clean up! Now THAT was fun. But, really, you never know what kind of group you're going to have when they get here, and these people are really great. They have good senses of humor and are really humble.
Before breakfast Brigida was helping make breakfast, and the kids came. Geno asked me to get the toddlers ready for breakfast (wash hands, fix hair, put on aprons) while she went with Brigi's kids. Sounded great. I herded them all in the classroom and right after I said ¨Vamos a el bano!¨ I looked down to find that cute, wonderful, innocent Yuri had thrown up all over herself. yikes. So I got to clean that up, of course afraid the whole time that she was going to do it again, and while trying to get the other kids in the bathroom, and to start cleaning their hands. Nice. Very nice. But we pulled through and did it, even though I couldn't find the aprons in time for breakfast.
Yesterday, while Stephanie was with the kids, she said to Moises ¨no hablo espanol, yo hablo ingles¨(i don't speak spanish, I speak english). He said ¨¿si?¨ and Stephanie said that yes, she spoke English. He immediately stuck out his hand to her and said ¨money¨. So we know what he expects of Americans, yeah? Stephanie and I have decided that perhaps these children think we're dumb. It seemed that Moises was surprised at the fact that we spoke English, as if our very limited Spanish was all we actually spoke, and the maybe were just a little delayed. So, it is now our mission to let these children know that we do speak English.
I often wonder what I sound like to people who speak Spanish. I know what it sounds like when a person tries to speak English, but they don't know it. The tenses are wrong, they leave out little words that mean a lot, the pronounciation is wrong, correct emphasis on syllables is wrong. This is what I sound like to Mexicans. I had the grand opportunity of announcing over the intercome today (to the entire compound) that ¨umm, rosa y abel... el hombre... esta aqui.. por los cochinas...y no tengo llaves¨ which LITERALLY translates into ¨rosa and able.. the man.. he is here.. for the pigs... and I don't have keys¨. really, he was here for the pigs´ food (our leftover scraps) and I didn't have the key to the back gate to let him in. After I hung up the phone I turned around to find a bunch of American teenagers staring at me :)
The best part of my day happened this afternoon when I was carrying Yuridia around the playground. Like I said before, she is so cute, and beautiful, and just this small little girl. The kind that you just want to pinch her cheeks. She's also very caring, quiet, and sincere. But, as I was saying, I was carrying her around and she was staring at the American group who was packing up their van to go out. In Spanish our conversation went like this:
Me:You were looking at the Americans?
Yuri: Si.
Me: ohh. Americans. Like me.
Yuri: You are an American?
Me: Yes, and you?
Yuri: Yuri. (and then she laid her head on my shoulder)
It was just so cute that she said she was Yuri, and didn't say Mexicana. Ohhh I loved that.
posted by Meghan @ 5:04 PM
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