Saturday was such a fun, but random day. It started off like any other Saturday; me
sleeping until my mother began her broom banging (aka sweeping) against my
wall, and then lounging around after
breakfast. A few weeks ago I translated
a letter requesting prize donations for the church festivals to English for my
mother so that it could be delivered to this mysterious Gringo who lives in my
town. While I was getting ready to run
errands my sister told me that Lourdes, the cook from my school wanted me to
accompany her to deliver the letter.
Lourdes, her daughter Lourdes, and I began our journey
around 4pm. We walked up a long hill
when she suddenly remembered that he has a huge dog and we would need someone
to accompany us so we didn’t get attacked.
It began to sound more like a suicide mission, but curiosity made me
continue, which as we all know didn’t work out so well for the cat, but
nonetheless I continued. We stopped at
one of my students Yerlin’s home to see if her father who is good friends with
the man was there to take us up, but since he wasn’t, we settled for my sixth
grade student Manfred, who has been to the house as well.
Manfred led the way, and we followed a lot further behind. As he motioned for us to come closer because
the dog was chained up, we walked up to see the giant Doberman. I now understand why he doesn’t receive too
many visitors. Chained up or not, that
dog is definitely a deterrent. Just as
we reached the house, “the Gringo,” also known as John opened his door to meet
us. He seemed excited to have us. We introduced ourselves and my student
Lourdes presented herself in English using the vocabulary we had practiced; I
was so proud. I introduced Lourdes
senior and told him who she was and her role in the church and she presented
him with the letter. Lourdes, the cook,
told me to tell the Gringo who I am and what I am doing here in Costa
Rica. She fed me my lines like I was her
child; “Tell him you’re from New York,” “Tell him you’re a teacher,” Tell him
you are going to be living here until December.” As John and I spoke everyone just stared. I don’t know if they were staring because
they were trying to decipher the words or if they were just in awe of hearing
people speak English. A few minutes
later we were invited inside.
His house was modest
in U.S. comparison, but to San Ramon standards, it was like he lived in a
palace. As soon as we entered, he gave
us a tour. He had a washer and a dryer;
you don’t understand the magnitude of actually seeing a dryer, (everyone line
dries their clothes, so to actually have a dryer is a huge deal), he had a living
room equipped with satellite TV and a gramophone, a kitchen that was to die
for, two bedrooms one with a California king and the other with a queen sized
bed, and a bathroom with a sliding shower door.
He was very polite and offered us juice and mixed nuts. We sat down and conversed in Spanglish. His Spanish was very minimal so it helped
that he was so animated. Whenever he
didn’t know how to say something he simply acted it out. Every so often he and I would exchange a few
words in English and as soon as I felt eyes staring at me I remembered that the
others had no idea what was going on, and would switch back to Spanish. This went on for about an hour and then he
gave Lourdes a donation and we stood outside and talked some more.
While we were standing there, Yerlin’s dad came walking
up. He also speaks English. His English is not perfect, but it was a lot
better than John’s Spanish. It amazes me
how there are all these people in my town who speak English and I had no
idea. He is a cab driver and offered me a ride to my
other student’s Bingo fundraiser up the hill.
We also invited John. I think he
was a little hesitant, but we convinced him.
It was about time he met the community.
He has lived there for four years and didn’t really know anyone. I decided that I would just walk since, I
really needed the exercise; still not kidding about those fat pants, please
send them down stat. I stopped at home
first to change. He ended up picking me
up anyway which was funny because from my house it wasn’t really even a block
away.
When we arrived we greeted everyone and John and I talked
outside. Sometimes when I am with other
WorldTeachers and we speak in English, I forget that we are speaking a foreign language
that is until I notice everyone is staring at us. That night was no different. All
eyes were definitely on us. It is so
true that, when Gringos talk Ticos listen.
It always makes me laugh, at first it used to drive me crazy, but now I
just get used to it, I just pretend I am a celebrity and am saying something really
important. We played Bingo for a while
and the Gringos both ended up winning, still not sure how the Ticos felt about
that, but I ended up using up my earning in games and food. It was a great night.
