Friday, July 20, 2007

Montjuich 1 - Marnie 0


Al final, no ha podido ser.
Pero realmente ha sido un alivio presentarme y quitarme el miedo de encima. Las últimas 72 horas han sido una tortura para mí. No tanto porque no me sentía preparada, sino porque el mito que envuelve el subir a examen es abrumador.
Ne he podido comer ni dormir bien estos dos últimos días. He estado obsesionada con la tercera marcha (mi punto débil, que al final de cuentas y cuentos no ha sido el problema.) Anoche no se cuántos rosarios llegué a rezar (la verdad es que me tranquilizó bastante.) Esta mañana/madrugada me desperté a las cuatro, asustada porque en mis sueños había atropellado a un peatón (se les llama a las personas que suelen merodear cerca de los cruces, indecisos ellos, hasta que ven un coche de autoescuela, y aprovechan para cruzar.) Al no poder conciliar el sueño, me levanté a eschuchar unos cuantos podcasts:
4:30 - Shower

Y me sobraban 2 horas para llegar a la autoescuela.
A las siete de la mañana, esperé junto a una chica joven y una señora mayor a que llegase el coche. Le señora se había presentado a examen dos veces. Para la chica era la primera vez.

Nos dirigimos hacia Montjuich. La señora y yo hicimos una última práctica. Lo sorprendente es que ya no estaba nerviosa. Me daba lo mismo.

Me tocó a mi primero. Los detalles son bastante aburridos (que si vamos a la derecha, que si vamos a la izquierda, que si aparque usted cuando pueda.) Fueron los diez minutos más largos de mi vida. Lo único que puedo decir es que me encontré con dos cruces de peatones (peatones incluidos) en los que no paré. Suspenso. En este caso, fueron lo peatones los que me hicieron daño a mí.

La próxima... ya veremos.

Ahora sólo toca hacer un mes de vacaciones y en septiembre apor ellos, oe.

Thursday, July 19, 2007

Sweet Sixteen Again


I can still remember when I went to the California DMV to take part in that all important rite of passage. Getting your first drivers license. I remember getting behind the wheel and everything after that was a blur. When I pulled into the pick up port of the DMV building and saw my father waiting for me and smiling, I almost burst into tears. I could hardly believe the examiner when he told me that I had passed. Welcome to the world  of teen-aged driving! 
I pulled out to Grand Street with Daddy sitting in the passenger's seat. I could tell he was a bit uneasy, but to his credit, said nothing when I slammed on the breaks for no apparent reason.
Well, tomorrow July 20, 2007 I will to through that experience all over again. Why? Because true to form, I'm always a day late and a dollar short!
When I was planning to move to Barcelona, my then soon-to-be-husband inquired about the validity of a California drivers license in Spain. They said "no problem". What they didn't tell us that we'd better hurry. It turned out that as of July of 1998, we could forget about it. Since I was to arrive in BCN in late September, I was kept out the deal. Too bad. I'll tell you just how bad.
Two thousand five-hundred times too bad (so far that's how much it's cost me, in euros no less). If I don't pass tomorrow, it will be another 100 euros a week plus 50 euros more every time I get behind the wheel to take the test. Not to mention that twice a week I have to get up at some unreasonable hour to go to 7 am practice drives on the other side of town. 
Funny, but I don't feel like I did when at sixteen I went to get my passport to freedom. That expectation mixed in with the butterflies in my stomach. Knowing I'd get my dad's old '69 Barracuda. Now I'm just teed off because at the end of this whole ordeal, I will have spent the equivalent of 12 years vacations (the month of August)  in my husband's village, six trips to southern France, 3 trips to Italy or one trip to California to see my family.
The excitement of getting a brand new car is nothing compared to the memory of that old Barracuda.
They say you can't go home again, and I can tell you that Sweet Sixteen Redux is also not possible.

Sunday, July 15, 2007

What would Martha say?


I can't decide if these items are sublime or tacky. Judge for yourselves.
I must confess that I own one of them. You will never guess which one.

Friday, July 6, 2007

Corridos


Recuerdo que el 10 de mayo, estuviésemos donde estuviésemos, toda la familia regresaba a Juárez para celebrar el Día de la Madre con mi abuelita.
Tíos, primos, amigos, el vecindario... todos felicitando a la matriarca del clan (Oh, how I'll miss that now that Mamá Lucita is gone!)
¡Y claro! Siempre había buena comida, bebida y música. El conjunto. Dos hombres vestidos con pantalones tejanos, camisa a cuadros y un sombrero tejano. Uno tocaba la guitarra y otro el acordión (It was perhaps this that prompted me to later on ask Mom to let me take accordion lessons.) Y cantaban de una manera, que aunque la música tuviera un timbre alegre, sus voces parecían un llanto, una súplica.
Y todos nos poníamos a bailar. Mis tíos con Mamá Lucita. Mi padre con mi madre. Tíos, primos, todos. Corridos bien bailados. Corridos bailados a lo tonto. Madres ensañando a sus hijos. Padres a sus hijas. Yo nunca lo pude hacer bien. Pero eso tampoco me importaba mucho. Desde esa temprana edad me di cuenta que bailar esos corridos era un rito de iniciación a la Gran Familia.

Imagine how floored I was when I ran across a feature on the NYTimes website on "Corridos North of the Border". My private sphere was now public. How incredible! How things have changed. How they will probably stay the same!

Porque hasta el NYTimes se ha interesado. Check it out.

Resignation or Impeachment.

I don't care which one, but the Texas Butcher, aka George W. Bush, needs to be but down one of those roads.
How can we stand by and accept this blatant disregard for the laws of the US and not clamor to the heavens for some action.
I could never say it better than Keith Olbermann did on July 3rd so go watch him make some sense.