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Monday, May 28, 2007

Do it the Puerto Rican Style

By: Dianne Lee

I was still groggy when the bus left San German for San Juan. The night before, Kimberly and I had been stuck in the reception lounge after it started drizzling. It was then that I found myself trying to communicate with a couple of boys despite only knowing “Hola” and “Gracias.” Yet, fast-forward an hour later, we were hanging out a nearby parking lot where the university’s graduation stage stood. A car stereo provided us with repertoire music as we gathered in a circle and attempted to overcome language barriers. As usual, I pulled out my camera and suddenly, their eyes lit up.


A student making a funny face. Unfortunately, I forgot his name.
A smile is a universal language and we started going picture crazy. I watched, laughed and snapped pictures of the boys bribing the university police with alcohol, performing handstands, showing off their ‘sexy’ legs, and dancing to the music.


The initial group of students that started the party showing off their sexy legs.

Slowly, our group grew as a slow trickle of students started appearing at the parking lot. Some students had left their books behind to relax while others brought along their notes in hopes of studying at the same time. The university police cars kept stopping by the parking lots during their rounds and a few students would venture towards them and offer them alcohol. It was a form of corruption. Yet, it was moments like this that allowed me an insight into their culture – laid back. One police car even offered to buy ice after learning that the ice had melted.

Two students talking to the university police while the rest of the students continued chit chatting without a thought for the police.
By the time I left, the initial small group of seven had reached fifteen to twenty people. It was nearly three in the morning when I thanked them for their time and got ready to leave. They immediately began spluttering long sentences in Spanish, looking at me as if I understood them perfectly. I nodded my head and smiled. Ricky translated their farewells, good luck, safe trip and come back to San German for me. As I left the parking lot, I held on to my repertoire CD gift, and thought of how the students and I managed to overcome cultural barriers through a genuine interest and effort to learn about each other’s life and culture.


An overview picture of the students who were hanging out at the graduation stage in the parking lot.

4 comments:

Dawn J. said...

I see you Dianne having fun. That's the way to do it in San German.

Angela said...

It sounds like you had a great time with the Puerto Rican students at InterAmerican!! They were so nice and it was so much fun being able to practice my Spanish speaking with them. I'm so glad we went there!

haley said...

Awesome! That sounds like a lot of fun, I wish I had been there.

Slater Rhea (now blog.slaterrhea.com) said...

Dianne, I have come to know from experience what you can share with a person without a great deal of dialog, how powerfully affecting an interaction you can have with someone you didn't know only a short time before.

This is an experience I have had with you. It has made my Puerto Rico experience. Whatever else this trip has been, it has been deeply meaningful to me because of our friendship, and I will never forget our conversations, verbal and non-verbal.

Don't forget me when we get back to the states.

Slater

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