Yesterday was
an off day. As usual, this was so due to unforeseen circumstances, not really
planned. I guess I could blame Cheito… He had told me that I would receive
something in the “easemail” to put in, about the time he was away … nothing
came in and as he said when I finally got a hold of him… “Mi’rmano.. the little
princess wanted to go see “Mini an Micky” mouse at the Hialeah Park
…
“CACHITA, M’ija… mira que no encuentro las chancletas…” (Ed.Note… lose translation: “Cachita, baby… I can’t find the flip flops”)
“Caray, cuantas veces … how many times I gotta tell you to put them unner the
bed?” Just this morning I tol’her not to mess with my flips. “Man!! When I NEED
THEM, I NEED’M”
We
just come back from a trip to the Everygleids (EdNote… SIC!) and we had a cool and roff (EdNote… just sound these things out, PLEASE… I’m going crazy!) time
this week. Yeah… just to make it a little less expensive, we tried camping next
to the big lake … Oki … somtin’ and it was real pretty over there. Mi Cachita
and me, with our little princess. It wasn’t easy to find the place that my
cousin Pepe tol’ me about. He said “jus’ go in this little dirt road until the
end and then turn left” … “You can camp there next to the hut, that’s the bath”. What he didn’t say was that there was nothin’
there … just swamp.
 |
| Friendly native ... took this picture from the retreating car as we were going in "marcha atras" (reverse) |
What
can I tell you man … we piled back into our little wagon and headed back to the
nearest town. This was a town where there nuttin’ but strange Indian names for
everythin … I thin’ it was inna reservation or sumthin like that … and we found
a hotel where we stayed for 3 days… not pretty, but it had a pool in the back
for my little princess …”
 |
| Pretty huh? I had to buy this one. Cachita wouldn't go back there ... |
Ed Notes, commentaries and
such…
The above is as far
as Cheito got in his present state… I think he is nursing his head, where
Cachita bashed him when they got back home. She was madder’n a hornet.
“Imagine” … she said on the phone, after telling me Cheito couldn’t talk … literally
… “first vacation we take in 5 years and this hijo’e … (not translatable, at least here… but I can tell you it has something to
do with dear Mrs. Perez, Cheito’s mamita) goes all cheap on me” … “he
told me that we were going to a lakeside place, and I thought he meant a nice
place … but No, I “shudda” known better …” Poor Cachita … I met them years ago,
when I stayed in Hialeah for a while. Then, they had just bought their little
condo, moving in from their “effishis” (that’s
Hialeah
It
is not easy to adjust to a new life and culture, after coming to a new country
as an adult and having grown in a society where most things available are just
the very basic ones, and where every day is a struggle just to put a plate of
food on the table. Add to this, the learning of a new language while getting to
know the “ropes’ that deal with how to survive, in this case, the streets of Hialeah and Miami
… Cheito and his family are but a small sampling of a core group who live in a
foreign country, yet hanging on to their roots and habits as these get mingled
as well as mangled in their new home.
Obviously
we key in on Cheito because he represents a culture I know well. But he could just
as easily be called Borys, Rocco or JeanMarie … Maybe even Mr. Chin or Odeiwee …
As we go through many of the larger cities in our country, we see those pockets
made up of people who have come here looking to fulfill a dream; and as we
have touched upon these thoughts at times, these dreams are becoming harder to
accomplish ... especially when fighting to be recognized and accepted by others
who forget that they are the result of a very similar dream their parents,
grandparents or great-grandparents had when they came to this country. Accept
it folks … If you are not a “Native American”, your family is here thanks to a
migration at some point in the chain.
It
has never been a matter of taking something away from those who are here; it
has always been a matter of adding a new and valuable piece to this grandiose puzzle-in-the-making that
already exists. It is a mix that cannot be found anywhere else in the world.
Yes, there is immigration in other countries in Europe and the Far East (little in
these last due to the very strong barriers created to avoid just this) but
in most cases, the immigration that comes into these countries is from a few underdeveloped
countries where the now host –albeit reluctant- nation did some damage as a
colonizing presence. There is never a mix that encompasses people from just
about every nation in the world, like we have here. And this is wonderful!! Where
else can you literally take a trip around the world without leaving the city
you are in? Try NYC, LA, San Fran, Chicago, Miami and many other great cities, where the different neighborhoods offer each their own aromas,
foods, clothing, colors, music and even mix of languages. And in most cases the visitor will receive a friendly welcome, because these folks are honestly proud of their own cultures, without forgetting the new one where they have been given the opportunity to be.
What
I have learned just by talking to coworkers, neighbors and just to people at parks and
fairs … What beautiful images every one of us keep in our minds from our
original home countries! Often when my travels took me to some of these places,
it was easier to manage and adapt because of the knowledge I had acquired in
these conversations.
 |
| A present from Cheito... nice thought ... I think. |
Cheito,
my friend … I send you greetings from here, hoping you recuperate soon and send
me some more stuff … There were many notes from your readers and they want more
… In the meantime, when you see someone who may dress a little differently or
sound a little differently than you, please don’t shy away … he is just as wary
about you as you may be about him and someone has to break the ice … or not? You'll be surprised at what you can learn ...
Be
Well … Be Back!!!
Final Notes:
- Any comments, please send to otherboxp@yahoo.com; it comes
directly to me. I promise to read all coming messages, and answer as many
as I can.
- Pray for those who are fighting an illness which
may take them away from their loved ones… Every request is heard, and
counts!!
- Remember that as off 10/16 at 6:30pm EST, we’ll be “On Air” for a 30 minute period and will be able to, hopefully, continue it every week-end. http://www.blogtalkradio.com/theotherbox -- If the link does not work, please just copy and paste or copy to your address bar!
No comments:
Post a Comment