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 4.03.2005
All week I have SO been meaning to write about how different smells in the morning remind me of different times and places in my life, but I don't really feel like doing all that right now. I'm kinda in the middle of trying to get a LOT of stuff checked off my to-do list in record time over here. With that said, I also have been meaning to get this down on paper...cyberpaper?....Whatever, here it is:
There's a little Latina lady who rides my bus and shares my mad-ass dash to try to catch the early train every morning on my way to work. It became clear to me when I tried to speak with her one time that she doesn't understand English at ALL. So I just stopped talking to her; resorted to smiles, laughs, and nods--ya know, the good ol' non-verbals. Then one day we actually CATCH the train (cuz it has conveniently broken down at our stop), and she says something like "que lastima" to me. I must have been feeling particularly awake that day, cuz I just started talking to her in whatever broken Spanish I actually still remember. She was surprised (pleasantly, I think?) that I could have been communicating with her this whole time...Anyways, the delay was gonna be like 10-15 minutes, so I got out my newspaper and began to read someone's account of their East African photo safari. On the page was an awesomely adorable picture of a little Maasai boy...gosh, I miss those beautiful little Kenyan kids....anyways, she's apparently been looking over my shoulder the whole time I was reading. She gets my attention, only to tell me in Spanish (I have retained much more comprehension than I have speaking ability, you see) that she doesn't like black people. "Los morenos," as it were. I make a face at her that says, "How in the hell could you say something like that while looking at this irresistible/gorgeous African child?" She counters with, "Because they smell bad," while gesturing towards her armpits to make sure I got the drift. I SO didn't see that one coming.
WAY funny to me STILL and that was like two weeks ago. However, I am still also quite puzzled indeed that she could make such a comment in the face of one of the cutest little cocoa-colored kids in the entire world.
3:22 AM
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My Grey Area 