La Cucaracha

Does anybody remember that song that you used to sing in elementary school, La Cucaracha (aka "The Cockroach Song")? I don't know if anybody's ever thought about the realities of dedicating lyrical verse to a quick-moving, 1-2 inch long insect, but when I think about it now, I can't imagine that the writer was exactly sane. The one line that I remember is that the singer says "Te quiero yo" to the cockroach. "Te quiero yo" literally means "I love you". I hope I've made my point.

My first night here, I was visited by one of these little guys as I went to grab my toothbrush. In an odd sort of way, I thought it was cute...in fact, I kind of wanted to consider it my new little bathroom-mate (come on now, I was desperate. This bugger was no replacement for you Sassy girls, but hey). Of course, then he started moving. I nearly jumped out of my skin just watching that. But biologically, cockroaches have something going for them in relation to the human race: they are too big to squash. Yup. As much as I didn't want this little guy in my bathroom, I also gagged at the thought of the "crunch" that would echo across the tiled bathroom if my sandaled foot or paper-towel-covered hand got a hold of him.

What to do? Well of course, logically, I had to escort him outside. I ran to the kitchen, grabbed a glass and a piece of thinnish cardstock-like stuff from the trash, and bolted back to the bathroom with my cockroach-catcher. "Little Cuca" was gone. Great. It was obvious that he was going to head straight for my bed so that every time the sheet touched my leg it would actually be him...you know, that instinct that tells us that every "icky" creature that escapes (snakes, ants, mice, etc.) is gonna head straight for our beds at night? Yeah...Cuca belongs in that category too.
Fortunately for me, however, he decided to pop out of his little hiding place before quickly running under the sink, where I didn't dare reach (you know how when you go rock climbing in rattle-snake infested areas they tell you not to reach above your head in case there's a snake there? The same rule applies to reaching underneath sinks in cockroach-infested areas).

So of course the next logical thing for me to do was to make sure that Cuca stayed in the bathroom so I could sleep. I shut the door, and then for extra assurance, I stuffed a towel at the crack at the bottom of the door, you know, in case he was gonna try and slip under there to get to my bed. I slept pretty well that night.

I have since met about 7 or 8 of Cuca's brothers and sisters. 5 have been escorted outside the premises with the ever-handy cockroach catcher, which now has a permanent place in the medicine cabinet in the bathroom, 3 or so have escaped without consequence, usually back down the bathtub drain from whence they came. I may be able to leave them alone someday at least...but love for a cockroach? I don't know if I can even really say that I'm trying :)

well, I´m sitting here once again in my cybercafe, trying to see if this computer will even upload my pictures which I want to show you all. But I don´t think it´s cooperating...shoot. I forgot to bring all the installation software (which I didn´t think I needed).

I can at least tell you a little about the place where I´m living. I live in the U.S. Consulate in Nuevo Laredo...it´s air conditioned, and one of my coworkers loaned me a little 13 inch TV so I don´t get too bored when I can´t go out after 10pm, ha ha (the city isn´t exactly the safest place...I make smart decisions about when and where and with whom I go out, but I´d still appreciate prayers for that).

There is a 24-hour guard service at the consulate, so I defintely feel pretty safe there, ha ha...plus, it´s like having instant friends, almost like hallmates (but not really, since they don´t actually live in the consulate...plus, I can´t rump them like Hattie, Pearl, Sarah, Laura and Ashley :) But I think I will probably learn the most Spanish from talking to the guards (except that I can´t talk to them for that long...we got a security briefing yesterday where we were pretty much told not to do anything that would keep the guards from doing their job...it makes sense, but it´s kind of sad for me).

I went to a pretty awesome church in Laredo on Sunday that my boss goes too (a blessing!). Friendly people and good preaching from the Bible - it was something that I´m not sure I´d even really asked for (Kat, I think you knew, though :) I hope to be able to spend some time in the Mexican church that´s kitty corner from the consulate one of these days too, but I think that´ll be saved for later, when I can begin to hear and comprehend a sermon in Spanish at the same time (as opposed to hearing, and then having to later comprehend :)

I do really miss you guys as I make new discoveries here in NL. There´s a lot here that can remind me of home. I´d love to hear from you too, so please feel free to send emails (steincat@umich.edu) or send regular mail (it´s a U.S. mailing address, so it´s not any more expensive!!):

Cat Steiner
U.S. Consulate Nuevo Laredo
P.O. Box 3089
Laredo, TX 78044

__________ in foreign lands...

*For those of you who don't know, my posts from now until August-ish will be reflective of my experiences as a U.S. Consulate summer intern, and as a temporary resident of Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, Mexico. :)

__________ (fill in the blank with a verb) in foreign places...

pretty much, i think, doing almost anything (eating, dancing, sleeping, relaxing, worshipping, worrying, etc.) in a foreign place is going to be a little bit different. Maybe that's why I really like being in different places - I get tired of "routine" (though I like familiarity - careful, there's a difference there), and so just being able to do things a little differently here excites me.

Take talking, for example. When I was standing in line to buy my fruit, deodorant and detergent today, I had to really think about how I was going to ask the cashier if his store would accept my American dollars (I had regrettably failed to exchange for enough pesos at the bank). I never would have given my words a second thought if I'd been standing in line at Kroger or Meijer back in Michigan - but simply by virtue of being here, everything seems a bit new (including, I have to say, the buying of deodorant. I can imagine that some of the Mexican customers in H.E.B., which is the Texas/Mexican border equivalent of Meijer, were laughing inside as I spent about 2-3 minutes really trying to comprehend what each deodorant brand really had going for it. In Michigan, I would have swiped up the most familiar brand, but here, once again, everything is new :)

I think I'm finally breaking it in with my co-workers too. One thing that was worrying me was that they might take my "quietness" the wrong way (you know, how sometimes shy people are thought to be proud? Pride and Prejudice, anyone?). In reality, it's because I just simply don't speak Spanish that well, so I can't respond as often as I'd like to. I'm hoping that time and practice will take care of the language barrier (sometimes it pangs me when they have to break into English because I don't understand something - I want to be able to respond in Spanish!). Of course, they are all very friendly, which is a language within itself, and really helps.

Ok, time to go chow down a bit. I'll try to tell more specific stories later. Love to all.