In keeping with the theme today..."Cinco De Mayo"...I thought I would discuss my affinity for Hispanic culture. I'm not sure when this began. Perhaps it was back in Chicago when I was in Mrs. Weingarten's kindergarten class. It was there that I met Melinda Mendez. She was a little hispanic girl, and we were the best of friends. For some reason, I was just captivated by their culture. I had a wild imagination back then (that still exists), and I vividly remember talking to my stuffed bear in an unknown tongue, which I deemed as Spanish.
In college, I studied Spanish literature. This was completely intriguing to me. They intertwine their deep-seeded belief in mysticism with their fiction and come up the most amazing tales. Some of my absolute favorite writers are Laura Esquivel, Pablo Neruda, Clarice Lispector, Octavio Paz, and Isabel Allende. Laura Esquivel takes the highest ranking honor with her brilliant novel "Like Water for Chocolate." I loved that book so much that I took it in the bathtub with me because I couldn't put it down. I ended up dropping it in and blow drying it for hours just so I could keep reading it.
My love for the Hispanic culture can be seen in my own novel..with the inclusion of the ever-so-wonderful Carlos. If only he was real! Blah. If only I knew more then about Spanish culture to include more. I think my mission trip to Mexico topped it all off . I have become even more fascinated with the language and culture since then. Sometimes I just watch the Spanish channel...just to hear them speak. I can pick up a few words here and there and I just smile from ear to ear. Today, a group from our Latin American division was visiting the states. My friend who works in that division stopped to introduce me to all of them. You would have thought I was meeting royalty by the way I was smiling. As I walked away...I heard her tell them I went on a mission trip to Mexico and helped the children there. I was so excited that I could pick up that much Spanish to understand her!
I plan to live out this Spanish fascination by taking Spanish classes...perhaps this summer, if not in the fall. Then, I will use my Spanish Speaking abilities to go where God leads me. Somehow, I don't think this kind of love was placed in my heart for these people for no reason. We'll just wait and see what happens! ;) Happy Cinco de Mayo!
Thursday, May 05, 2005
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3 comments:
i too love the different spanish (hispanic? latin? i don't knwo what's pc anymoer) culture, but maybe not to the extent that you do. =)
isabel allende is one of my FAVE authors of all time.
i wish i would have taken spanish and not french, but its not like i remember much french either... oh well... and i looooooovvvvvvvvveddddddd carlos in the book:)
Maybe my birthday has something to do with the fact that most Spanish speaking people think that I too am a Spanish speaking person.
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