CP #2: Palm Trees, Brazil’s Independence Day, and Cheese Grits

September 7, 2013

The whole gang!

            I couldn’t resist the chance to go to St. George Island with the CIES students. After convincing my conversation partners, whose reactions ranged from Isabella’s thrilled, “I love beaches!” to Mehmas’ shrug of assent, we met up at an ungodly hour on Saturday morning (8 am). The drive was full of CIES students and cars as well as a van. Jen Dickinson was so friendly and approachable! She clarified my doubts about directions and made sure I got her number just in case.

            Luis rode with Mehmas in his car along with several Brazilians. Mehmas told me later he requested, “Just English, please,” and I should have done the same. I insisted Isabella be my shotgun, and three Chinese students piled in the back. Their English names were Ivy, Ariel, and Miko, but I tried a long time to learn their Chinese ones. I finally had to write them down, and I’ve since lost the paper. Fail. I spent the ride pointing out local attractions. “Look, a palm tree! See? And there’s another one….A river! Sopchoppy! Do you know what that is?”

            A chorus from the backseat: “…Ace? What is Ace?”

            “It’s a hardware store!” Silence. “Like where you buy hammers, nails, screwdrivers, screws, wood,” I explained, casting around for other recognizable hardware words. “For construction, to build things.” That rang a bell.

            My Chinese passengers did contribute some to the car’s conversation, but they mostly spoke in Chinese or napped. It was a great opportunity to speak in-depth with Isabella. After the 4 hours in the car plus beach time, I understand her a lot better. She knows more than it seems, but her accent really obscures her speech. Once I noticed her patterns, I could understand a lot more. For example, her d’s sound like j’s. Made sounds like may-jee and food like fuji. She also says the silent e’s at the end of words: like is like-y and college is college-y. I noticed a marked improvement over the course of the day. By the end, she was saying past and future tense pretty reliably. I also taught her to say, when interested in someone’s remark, “Really?” She was in the practice of saying, “Yes?” I admire her persistence, dedication, and resourcefulness. As we were driving by beach houses, she suddenly asked me, “Do you know the bed that is like,” and motioned in a curved, apart motion. I was lost, especially for the drastic change in subject. “You know,” she continued, “it goes like this,” as she moved her hands, “and it is made out of this!” and grabbed the fabric of her dress.

            “A hammock!” I exclaimed. “It hangs from ropes!”

“Yeeees,” she affirmed in the appreciative, drawn-out way she does.

At the beach, I shared a blanket and chatted with Yaneli and Luis, the only two Mexicans at CIES. We talked about the length of men’s swimsuits in the U.S. Luis told us, “I wear both long and shorter ones, but I thought in the U.S. they wore the shorter ones.” With a wry grin, he gestured to his swimsuit, which ended about mid-thigh. I explained that, though men wear clothes that fit in Latin American and European countries that I’ve seen, American men seem to have an aversion to tighter clothing. “Here, they wear baggy shirts, pants, as if they’re hiding their bodies,” I playfully complained. “I’m glad I’m with an Ecuadorian!” They laughed.

Luis

The water was perfect for swimming. Isabella explained “jokes” to do while swimming (I think she meant tricks). One was named after an alligator, in which you swim as a wave is coming and let it carry you along. Another, she made me understand, is called “Banana Tree.” She did a handstand underwater. September 7 is Brazil’s Independence Day, it turns out, and Isabella asked, “You want me sing?” I nodded, grinning. She began to belt the Brazilian national anthem (“Brazil’s song!”), and the nearby Brazilians joined in. I caught words like hope and motherland.

I felt guilty for neglecting Mehmas. His is the culture that is farthest from what I know, and we also have gender as a potential barrier between us. I don’t want to freak him out with my brazen American ways. I made a point of finding my way to him, and he brought up Arabic food. “Have you eaten Arabic food?”
            “I’m not sure!” I admitted. “What is it?”

Isabella and me outside the Seineyard

“Chicken, or meat, with rice,” he replied, after consulting with another Kuwaiti. “You can come over for dinner? Bring your boyfriend!” he told me.

“I wish I could,” I laughed, “but he’s in another country! What about Luis and Isabella?”

Mehmas and me, making the sign for Al Nasser (peace)

We invited both and set a time for Sunday evening. I asked Mehmas what I should bring, as my college culture dictates that no one comes to dinner empty-handed. “No, no, don’t bring anything!” he assured me. “This is not potluck!”

Our day wrapped up by driving to the Seineyard, a beautiful restaurant on the way back to the Tallahassee that Jen knows. We all trooped out to explore the dock and small beach area they had behind the restaurant, along with a path through a stand of longleaf pines. The cheese grits were not the best I had, and I tried to impress this upon my tablemates.

I’m so glad I was able to take a day trip with my partners as well as other CIES students. They are all so friendly and fun! And we have so much to teach each other.