Monday, October 27, 2008

"Los Americanos"



Another funny thing about living in Puerto Rico. Wherever we go I am used to hearing people saying something about "Americanos" as we walk by. I don't know if I have mentioned this before but on the whole Puerto Ricans love Americans and are quite fascinated by them. We are used to grown men reaching out and tousling our boys blonde hair in the grocery store. We are used to people excitingly pointing at our boys shouting "mira que tienen los ojos azules" (look they have blue eyes!) as if it was as exciting as someone having purple eyes and green hair or something. Like Jake says, taking our blonde- haired, blue- eyed little boys anywhere is liking walking around with minor celebrities. We are used to the attention and to be quite honest, we really get a kick out of it. In the states no one think twice about my kids unless Tommy was throwing one of his famous Wal-mart- floor, fist-pounding- fits.
Especially here in Ponce, where we live, they just are not used to seeing many Americans. Last christmas I took our neighbors some cookies. A week later she brought over a package of cookies with a card labled "los ninos Americanos" (to the American kids). Once Jake had his car at the mechanic, and he got the keys back to the car, the name tag on the keys said "Gringo". Well last Saturday we went to a birthday party for a little girl we did not know but the grandparents to the girl and the grandpa being the stake patriarch, was very insistent that we come. The boys had fun at the party and at the end they were handing out the party bags to all of the party guests. When Tommy brought us his little bag the tag on it said "Americano Pequeno." (Little American boy) Lukes said "Americano Mediano" (Medium American Boy) and Jetts said "Americano Grande" (Big American Boy).
I thought this was hilarious! I mean in the states you would never make a gift tag to "the little chinese boy" or the "big Mexican kid." Oh well- you gotta love it!

9 comments:

jori-o said...

That is pretty funny!

Collette said...

I am laughing so hard right now! Maybe I'll address all my Christmas cards like that!

Christine said...

That is hilarious. And you're right, it wouldn't go over to well in the states. The ACLU would be all over your case.

robyn said...

carolyn, i love reading your blog. that is so funny!

Anonymous said...

That is soooo funny! I am glad you have a good sense of humor. I wonder what they would call my kids.....hmmmm. Well Americano bonita, have a good week.

themechams said...

Oh sure we do that all the time in our ward. Don't you remember? Jake was always the 'funny Brother Smith' Not to be confused with 'the perfectly manicured Brother Smith'.
Oh how I miss you guys!

The Skinner Family said...

Gotta love it, right? How refreshing not to have to worry about being politically correct all the time!

Gary and Renee said...

I'm glad I wasn't a guest, I can just see my tag now "pasty white americana"

megadog said...

That is so hillarious. Bringing back the old memories.
Remember when they would say, "The skinny one-the one with things on her face-the big toothed one." That's just the way they describe people. It's quite funny. I'm going to start saying that kind of stuff to describe people and see how it goes.
Love, Hna Olsen