Just Your Average 69-Year-Old College Freshman Studying Abroad.
ON THE DAY OF THE DEAD — Most Spanish-speaking students live at home when they’re in college, often until they marry.
Sadness flashes across the faces of professors when kids from the northern countries talk about moving out. The American ethic of rugged individualism — sallying forth to tame a continent and build gambling casinos — is foreign here.
“Telenovelas,” Spanish soap operas, feature in-laws, ex-spouses and all manner or relatives embroiled in tempestuous relationships. Since the Soaps are the truest of art forms, we know that Spanish families are not necessarily happier. The divorce rate here is about what it is in the U.S.
A 3-year-old, being dragged to day-care by her grandparents, threw a blood-curdling tantrum on the street the other day. Looking closely I saw these were actually great grandparents who won’t be available for a fifth generation of servitude. Adios means “Go to God.”
On the rocks protecting the western shoreline of Lake Michigan, students paint messages that last until someone paints over them. On one of the rocks is written “En memoria mi abuelo.” Maybe it will survive until the elements wash it away.
