REVIEWED BY: Marguerite Zelle
MY RECOMMENDATION: YES
AMAZON SUBSCRIPTION LINK: In Vera Cruz, by Leah Flinn
WEB ADDRESS: http://inveracruz.blogspot.com/
BLOG DESCRIPTION: See life through the lens of a young American woman in Veracruz, Mexico, where she and her Mexican husband have lived since January of 2009. Thoughts and stories about navigating through the Mexican culture and learning the Spanish language are insightful and thought-provoking. The author perceives the world around her with an ever-evolving consciousness of cultural comprehension and a spirit of adventure.
MY REVIEW: This is an enjoyable blog, and interesting as well. You learn a lot about other cultures - specifically Mexico and central America, by reading this. Author writes well and is interesting.
Recommended.
Sample post
No Seas Chismosa
My husband and I speak both English and Spanish - he possesses greater fluency in English than I in Spanish, but I believe I am closing the gap.
In our home it's typical for us to begin a sentence in one language and switch intermittently. This is normal conversation for us:
Me: Did you get a chance to hablar con el mecanico?
Husband: Sí, ya hablé con él.
Me: ¿Y cómo te fue?
Husand: Me dijo que hay un oyito in the fuel line and he'll fix it tomorrow pero tenemos que comprar la refacción tonight before it gets too late.
Me: ¿Y cuánto te cobrará?
Husband: He said it'll cost between 400-450 pesos and he'll have it ready en la tarde mañana. ¿Cómo vez?
Me: Sí, esta bien. Glad I didn't go with you or he might have given you la gringa price.
Husband: Así es.
*Both chuckle*
This is quintessential verbal exchange between me and my Mexican husband. Our own hybrid of Anglo-Latino linguistics. Another reflection of our bi-racial, bi-cultural lives, which we find exciting.
The problem is when others are within earshot of us. Mexicans, including all of Saul's family can only follow the Spanish half and my family, the English half.
While most of the family ignores us or finds it entertaining to try and understand, it drives my suegra (mother-in-law) crazy.
Self-described as chismosa (a gossip), she can only handle a couple of these hybrid phrases before an outburst of "Why don't you speak Spanish?! She understands and then we all can understand!", in Spanish of course.
My husband finds this hilarious and never passes up the opportunity to fire back a tongue-in-cheek, "No seas tan chismosa!", (Don't be so nosy!) which makes everyone laugh.
It's not only my mother-in-law that seems perturbed. We've received plenty of stares in public while speaking this way.
All people are curious, but most Mexicans here are particularly poor at hiding their nosiness. They can burn a hole in your head with that fixated stare of intrusion.
I'm used to this, but sometimes I imagine it humorous if my husband would sic a "No seas chismosa!" on them.
RECENT POSTS:
--mexican coke la coca mexicana
--lizard walk
--new month new rule
--no seas chismosa
--noisy children repellent
--hot dog new ham
--come little closer
--three strikes for mexican business
--my bags are packed im ready-to-go
--nothing to cry about
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