san miguel de allende-- part two
3/14/09-9:57 pm
SMA-casa soluna
fresh flowers, necklace vendor, sparkling lemonade, qué bonita, artisan's market, a map, regresaré, mexican grocery, marshmallows the size of my palm, sombrero pasta, cuban festival music, disappearing lights, shifting constellations. how they appreciate the little things, how they take advantage of what they're given.
how much we can learn from the mexicanos.
i'm losing track of the hours. i leave my phone at home; when we walk, we bring no way to tell time. the parroquia bells sound at sporadic intervals, measured only by the ringer's whim. waiters have to be asked for the check multiple times before they bring it-- most diners sit in restaurants for hours on end with no questions asked. it's serene. time and SMA residents exist in a beautifully symbiotic relationship, the actions of each shaping the other-- a polar opposite of the american mentality that there are "not enough hours in the day." here, the day is all hours, as is the night and everything in between. nothing ever fully ends.
the back of my hand has a list of spanish phrases/words that i need to remember. today, it says "arriba," "me gustaría," "me puede dar," "al igual de," "la puesta del sol." i'm certainly not in chaves' asp3 class anymore-- i ask directions from passerby, i share a grin with a waiter over my family's poor accents. i do a lot of translating, even though my spanish is fragmented at best. i'm usually afraid to speak unless i'm sure that what i'm saying is grammatically correct. the responses are often rapid and difficult to understand-- i nod and say "sí."
megan and the aunts are coming tomorrow. i love how familiar this place feels.
3/15/09-- 10:20 pm
SMA-- casa soluna
what if you could draw the constellations with a ruler and a white pencil? what if the big dipper was called "the big ladle" instead? what if the night was black velvet and the stars were all stitches of white thread? what if you could make a dress out of the sky and wear it to evening parties? what if shooting stars weren't smaller than grains of sand? what if you could catch one with a net and put it in a jar like a firefly?
i can't find a moon in the SMA sky. it's disorienting.
3/16/09-- 9:56 pm
SMA-- casa soluna
ordering pizza (IN SPANISH) over the phone (IN SPANISH) is very difficult, especially when the waiter (who is speaking IN SPANISH) doesn't have any idea what the fuck you are saying, and you end up sounding like an idiot when you repeat your address 50 times and the reply is "........ no."
SMA-casa soluna
fresh flowers, necklace vendor, sparkling lemonade, qué bonita, artisan's market, a map, regresaré, mexican grocery, marshmallows the size of my palm, sombrero pasta, cuban festival music, disappearing lights, shifting constellations. how they appreciate the little things, how they take advantage of what they're given.
how much we can learn from the mexicanos.
i'm losing track of the hours. i leave my phone at home; when we walk, we bring no way to tell time. the parroquia bells sound at sporadic intervals, measured only by the ringer's whim. waiters have to be asked for the check multiple times before they bring it-- most diners sit in restaurants for hours on end with no questions asked. it's serene. time and SMA residents exist in a beautifully symbiotic relationship, the actions of each shaping the other-- a polar opposite of the american mentality that there are "not enough hours in the day." here, the day is all hours, as is the night and everything in between. nothing ever fully ends.
the back of my hand has a list of spanish phrases/words that i need to remember. today, it says "arriba," "me gustaría," "me puede dar," "al igual de," "la puesta del sol." i'm certainly not in chaves' asp3 class anymore-- i ask directions from passerby, i share a grin with a waiter over my family's poor accents. i do a lot of translating, even though my spanish is fragmented at best. i'm usually afraid to speak unless i'm sure that what i'm saying is grammatically correct. the responses are often rapid and difficult to understand-- i nod and say "sí."
megan and the aunts are coming tomorrow. i love how familiar this place feels.
3/15/09-- 10:20 pm
SMA-- casa soluna
what if you could draw the constellations with a ruler and a white pencil? what if the big dipper was called "the big ladle" instead? what if the night was black velvet and the stars were all stitches of white thread? what if you could make a dress out of the sky and wear it to evening parties? what if shooting stars weren't smaller than grains of sand? what if you could catch one with a net and put it in a jar like a firefly?
i can't find a moon in the SMA sky. it's disorienting.
3/16/09-- 9:56 pm
SMA-- casa soluna
ordering pizza (IN SPANISH) over the phone (IN SPANISH) is very difficult, especially when the waiter (who is speaking IN SPANISH) doesn't have any idea what the fuck you are saying, and you end up sounding like an idiot when you repeat your address 50 times and the reply is "........ no."