Wednesday, September 08, 2004
My awesome Sontule Family
Yeterday I said goodbye to the family I stayed with, and I will miss them so much. They were so great, and really took care of me, and went out of their way to help me. Whenever I was doing anything, like cleaning the poles I ended up losing to give back to Salvadora all clean, they would just pick and start helping. And they stayed up with me all night to help pack. Or at least Dona Isabel and Letvia. So here are some snipets
Dona Isbabel: Acting president of the womens cooperative. She has seven kids, and the youngest is a year older than her grandson Brian. She has the most patience of any mother I have ever seen because this kid is bien necio ( stubborn and often obnoxious, throws tantrums, and I think ahs a learning disability. She would get up when i did just to make me coffee in the morning, and loves to chat. She has high blood pressure, but still uses mega salt in the food. She is always offering to help me with stuff, and tells funny storoes, and is a big talker and patient with my spanish. She is very proud and concerned about her kids and admits to being a reganadora (a bit of a nag). Works SO hard, up at 4am, grinding corn, making tortillas, washing clothes, separatying beans, watching the kids, hauling water......women by far are the hardet workers of the world.
Don Chico: Big strong Dad type. For the life of me I have the hardest time understanding his Spanish. And seems he has a hard time understanding my Spanish. Funny. He has bad arthritis and had a bit of a limp, but can still charge up a hill twice as a fast as me without losing his breath. Hes a very awesome affectionate dad, also with a lot of patience. From him I have learned the correct osunds to make when shoshing dogs off the porch, which is sdifferent than for the ducks, and how to move cows. But the cows dont listen to me so much, they just stare. He always sharpened my machetes.
Francisco: The second son. Worked in Costa Rica, is married to Letvia and has Brian as a son. Worked with me a few times, is very sweet and funny and looks good working without his shirt off. He likes to play baseball and is a pitcher on the Sontule team. Bit a of machista though, though I never would have guessed . see below
Letvia: Perhaps my favorite. Franciscos 20 year old wife. The sweetest thing, and a bit lonely because she has no friends nearby and her family is a three hour walk away, and she grew up in a house whewre lots of people passed by, and now is very isoalted, just her and the kids and Dona Isabel with fran working all day. And he was in Costa Rica working once for three months, and now he might go for 6. She is just the sweetest, and was always cleaning my room, and di my laundry every day. Everyday when there wasnt rain I had clean clothes! and she is very pretty and shy, and would just come into my room to talk sometimes. She was almost crying when I left. Francisco is really jealous and wont let her go to Esteli on her won and wouldnt let her come out and work with me if other men were working. She was really interested in what I was doing, and helped me repair nets. Whatever I was doing, she came by to help. Before I left the woman took out all my bags and backpacks and washed them. I have never had travel bags so clean. She is also a good mom
Aracelli: In 6th grade and the second youngest child. She is very shy around me and sweet, but she is quite the family ham, and could be an actress. She would go around singing at the top of her lungs, and imitating Celia Cruz, but if she caught me looking would get all shy and stop. She liked to sit by me when I was working, and would never go to bed until everyone did, and would sleep on the floor, on the bench, in a chair, in whatever uncomfortable place she found. She is an incredible help to her mom, and when I asked her where she prefered to go to secondary school, Esteli or Ceboillal, she replied Cebollal, because then she oculd live at home and help her mom.
Brian: Fran and Letvias son. 2 years old. Him and Kevin would always run around yelling "cha cha". which is me, the muchacha. We tried to get them to ay my name, and now occasionally Kevin says Misha. Brian is crazy and weird and pretends hes a horse and crawls around on the floor making noises ytou make to make a horse go and hitting himself on the but like a rider would do to a horse. Whtever thing he finds he pretends is a horse and rides it. He puts anything he finds on the floor into his mouth, and like to run around naked. He bangs on my door when I am home yelling "chacha", and yelss "aDios Chacha!" when I leave the house. He is always dirty, and after Annie and I played the frog joke on him, he always comes up to me and lifst up his shirt and goes "Chacha...rana" and then points to the ground, and we chase the frog around. He also gets all excited and crazy and then bites people. Makes me think him and Gaia would be great friends
Kevin: Isabels youngest, at three, who was in the hospital for months as a baby with pneuimonia and other things, and spent months naked under xray treatment. Isabel claims this is why he didnt speak untila bout a year ago, and even now has very few words. Brain essentially taught him how to talk. He still uses a bottle, and is constantly calling for pacha (bottle). He wakes up a lot at night and cries and wakes me up, and yells "puta mama, puta pacha" Apparently otoniel, another brother, taught him puta, and now he uses it all the time. He loves me though, and calls me chacha mia. And when Robyn was here, I was his chacha, and Robyn was Brians Chacha. He finally got to saying my name, and now calls me Misha. And all the day before I left, he was playing his toy guitar and singing "Adios Misha", and when anyone would say, play your song for Melissa, he would start singing the song again, which was essentially just Adios, misha, over and over again. He chases ducks off the patio going puta patas, and was always dirtier than brian, and played ion the dirty greasy kitchen water, and loved wearing no pants. He was often in boots, a tshirt, and no pants. But he was often in foul moods and didnt want to talk to anyone.
monos: The boys have never seena monkry before, and I dont know how it got started, but the family uses monos (spanish for monkey) to keep order. So anytime they would do something bad, someone would say the mono would get mad an bits them. Or that if they went into the bodega, to be careful of the nmono, there was a mono in there, and they would run out. I had monos in my backpàcks and in my room, to keep the kids from touching my stuff "Cuiddao Brian, Melissa tiene un mono en la mochila, no la tocas". And they would tease the kids and tell them there was a monkey in the corner or ina shadow and to go hit it or kill it, and they would go all crazy to try and do so. But sometimes it backfired because Kevin couldnt sleep becaue he thought there was a mono in the room, and would call the cat a mono, and chase it out.
I love them and will miss them
Dona Isbabel: Acting president of the womens cooperative. She has seven kids, and the youngest is a year older than her grandson Brian. She has the most patience of any mother I have ever seen because this kid is bien necio ( stubborn and often obnoxious, throws tantrums, and I think ahs a learning disability. She would get up when i did just to make me coffee in the morning, and loves to chat. She has high blood pressure, but still uses mega salt in the food. She is always offering to help me with stuff, and tells funny storoes, and is a big talker and patient with my spanish. She is very proud and concerned about her kids and admits to being a reganadora (a bit of a nag). Works SO hard, up at 4am, grinding corn, making tortillas, washing clothes, separatying beans, watching the kids, hauling water......women by far are the hardet workers of the world.
Don Chico: Big strong Dad type. For the life of me I have the hardest time understanding his Spanish. And seems he has a hard time understanding my Spanish. Funny. He has bad arthritis and had a bit of a limp, but can still charge up a hill twice as a fast as me without losing his breath. Hes a very awesome affectionate dad, also with a lot of patience. From him I have learned the correct osunds to make when shoshing dogs off the porch, which is sdifferent than for the ducks, and how to move cows. But the cows dont listen to me so much, they just stare. He always sharpened my machetes.
Francisco: The second son. Worked in Costa Rica, is married to Letvia and has Brian as a son. Worked with me a few times, is very sweet and funny and looks good working without his shirt off. He likes to play baseball and is a pitcher on the Sontule team. Bit a of machista though, though I never would have guessed . see below
Letvia: Perhaps my favorite. Franciscos 20 year old wife. The sweetest thing, and a bit lonely because she has no friends nearby and her family is a three hour walk away, and she grew up in a house whewre lots of people passed by, and now is very isoalted, just her and the kids and Dona Isabel with fran working all day. And he was in Costa Rica working once for three months, and now he might go for 6. She is just the sweetest, and was always cleaning my room, and di my laundry every day. Everyday when there wasnt rain I had clean clothes! and she is very pretty and shy, and would just come into my room to talk sometimes. She was almost crying when I left. Francisco is really jealous and wont let her go to Esteli on her won and wouldnt let her come out and work with me if other men were working. She was really interested in what I was doing, and helped me repair nets. Whatever I was doing, she came by to help. Before I left the woman took out all my bags and backpacks and washed them. I have never had travel bags so clean. She is also a good mom
Aracelli: In 6th grade and the second youngest child. She is very shy around me and sweet, but she is quite the family ham, and could be an actress. She would go around singing at the top of her lungs, and imitating Celia Cruz, but if she caught me looking would get all shy and stop. She liked to sit by me when I was working, and would never go to bed until everyone did, and would sleep on the floor, on the bench, in a chair, in whatever uncomfortable place she found. She is an incredible help to her mom, and when I asked her where she prefered to go to secondary school, Esteli or Ceboillal, she replied Cebollal, because then she oculd live at home and help her mom.
Brian: Fran and Letvias son. 2 years old. Him and Kevin would always run around yelling "cha cha". which is me, the muchacha. We tried to get them to ay my name, and now occasionally Kevin says Misha. Brian is crazy and weird and pretends hes a horse and crawls around on the floor making noises ytou make to make a horse go and hitting himself on the but like a rider would do to a horse. Whtever thing he finds he pretends is a horse and rides it. He puts anything he finds on the floor into his mouth, and like to run around naked. He bangs on my door when I am home yelling "chacha", and yelss "aDios Chacha!" when I leave the house. He is always dirty, and after Annie and I played the frog joke on him, he always comes up to me and lifst up his shirt and goes "Chacha...rana" and then points to the ground, and we chase the frog around. He also gets all excited and crazy and then bites people. Makes me think him and Gaia would be great friends
Kevin: Isabels youngest, at three, who was in the hospital for months as a baby with pneuimonia and other things, and spent months naked under xray treatment. Isabel claims this is why he didnt speak untila bout a year ago, and even now has very few words. Brain essentially taught him how to talk. He still uses a bottle, and is constantly calling for pacha (bottle). He wakes up a lot at night and cries and wakes me up, and yells "puta mama, puta pacha" Apparently otoniel, another brother, taught him puta, and now he uses it all the time. He loves me though, and calls me chacha mia. And when Robyn was here, I was his chacha, and Robyn was Brians Chacha. He finally got to saying my name, and now calls me Misha. And all the day before I left, he was playing his toy guitar and singing "Adios Misha", and when anyone would say, play your song for Melissa, he would start singing the song again, which was essentially just Adios, misha, over and over again. He chases ducks off the patio going puta patas, and was always dirtier than brian, and played ion the dirty greasy kitchen water, and loved wearing no pants. He was often in boots, a tshirt, and no pants. But he was often in foul moods and didnt want to talk to anyone.
monos: The boys have never seena monkry before, and I dont know how it got started, but the family uses monos (spanish for monkey) to keep order. So anytime they would do something bad, someone would say the mono would get mad an bits them. Or that if they went into the bodega, to be careful of the nmono, there was a mono in there, and they would run out. I had monos in my backpàcks and in my room, to keep the kids from touching my stuff "Cuiddao Brian, Melissa tiene un mono en la mochila, no la tocas". And they would tease the kids and tell them there was a monkey in the corner or ina shadow and to go hit it or kill it, and they would go all crazy to try and do so. But sometimes it backfired because Kevin couldnt sleep becaue he thought there was a mono in the room, and would call the cat a mono, and chase it out.
I love them and will miss them
