“A riddle,” Rosa proposed to her daughters and me as we stood around the woodburning stove watching the tortillas and eggs melt into one another. Lately, Dyana, the 7 year old, had been relentlessly asking me riddles as I embarrassingly struggled to solve them. Rosa continued with her adibinanza , stopping only a few times due to some uncontrollable laughter, “One day, Barbie walks into a room full of dwarves. Everyone stares at her. One of the dwarves takes a seat and pulls out a chair that looks shiney, deciding not to sit there since he thought it was wet. Barbie takes the chair and sits on it. When she attempts to arise, she realizes she’s stuck to the chair. The shineyness wasn’t water but glue. True or false? Odalys, do you think this happened?” “No.” “Ashley, do you think it happened?” “Yes.” “Dyana?” “No.” “And Meri?”
“YES,” I said nodding my head and laughing once I realized that the riddle happened to me the other day. This was Rosa’s thoughtful way of telling a funny and embarrassing story of one of our many school visits. Once it happened, I chastised myself for not having the forsight to examine my seat in a room that wreaked of glue. Since I only have one pair of jeans, my pants have a nice plastic-ass to them. Don’t worry, laundry day is coming up.
As I’ve continued to visit schools, kids have said a lot of funny things in addition to just STARING. Before I leave, I always try to ask the kids, “What are you going to do when you see me in the street?” Most of the time they say that they’ll greet me. Yesterday, a kid responded, “Bañarme!” That’s to say, “Bathe myself!” At least he was paying attention to what we were learning! I wish I could remember all of the funny things that the kids have said to me, but I’ll just have to settle for that one. Most of the kids today didn’t speak much Spanish but Kiche, one of the 21 indigenous languages spoken in Guatemala. The principal of the school helped me by translating for the kids.
Another day, another experience. So much to learn. Poco a poco.
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