10/24/14
“Excuse me, please. Is this seat taken?”
“Go ahead if you want to. It’s a free country.”
“Yes, I know. That’s why my family chose to immigrate here. Thank you for letting me sit with you.”
“Sure. I’m Jimmy, by the way.”
“I’m Pedro. This is so great! My first day in a new school and I already have a friend.”
“Uh, right.”
“Is it always this noisy in the cafeteria?”
“What? Oh, sure. Some days it gets so loud you can’t hear anyone. So, you’re not from here?”
“That’s right. My family applied for a visa when I was born. It just got approved a few weeks ago. We sold everything and came as soon as we could.”
“It took that long to get a visa? You’re what, fourteen or fifteen?”
“Yes, fifteen.”
“It seems it would have been faster just to come in illegally, then try to get approved afterwards. That’s how a lot of others do it.”
“No. My parents wanted to be honest for our new country and follow the regulations properly. But I don’t think they knew at first it would take so long.”
“Whatever. You speak English pretty well for someone who just arrived. Some of the people who come here can’t speak any English at all.”
“Thank you. It’s kind of you to say so. But I don’t feel I’m doing well with it. I’ve been studying for years because my family knew we’d get here eventually. Still, it’s a very difficult language. So many exceptions and unusual rules. Sometimes it seems it was made hard intentionally.”
“You’re not doing too bad. You speak well enough to have a conversation. But your accent gives away that you’re a foreigner. The school has special classes if you want to take them. They might help you speak even better.”
“Thank you, I’ll ask about those. There is also something about your culture I’d like to know. Maybe you can explain it to me.”
“I’ll try.”
“What is this Halloween festival that’s happening today?”
“Not ‘festival’; just Halloween. And it’s a holiday about ghosts.”
“A holiday about …? Oh! You mean you worship your ancestors.”
“No. It’s not worship. It’s just about scaring people.”
“You mean you believe there really are ghosts?”
“No, it’s just pretend. For fun. Like Christmas.”
“Christmas? Ah, then that explains about the spirit that brings people gifts. Is there a special tree too?”
“What spirit?”
“I saw on TV there’s a Great Pumpkin spirit that …”
“Oh, that’s just a cartoon. That’s not what it’s really about. There are no gifts. But there is candy.”
“Ooh, tell me about the candy?”
“You dress up in a scary costume and go around to all your neighbors and say ‘Trick or Treat’. They then have to give you candy.”
“What is ‘Trick or Treat’? Is that a special saying?”
“That means if they don’t give you a candy treat, you’ll play a mean trick on them.”
“Ha, ha. That’s funny. What kind of trick do you play?”
“Well, the little kids don’t really do anything. But teens will sometimes throw raw eggs or toilet paper at someone’s house.”
“Oh, so it’s extortion. Making threats, then taking a pay off.”
“I dunno. I guess.”
“What about the adults? What tricks do they do?”
“Adults don’t do Trick or Treat.”
“No? But I saw some adults dressed in costumes when I was coming to school this morning.”
“Do you mean store clerks? Clerks and office workers in some of the businesses will also dress up. They treat it like it’s Mardi Gras or something.”
“Oh, I get it. It’s like Dia de los Muertos.”
“I dunno. What’s that?”
“It’s the Day of the Dead. We dress in special clothes and honor dead people.”
“Eww. What a weird holiday. Celebrating dead people?”
“It seems no different than your Halloween.”
“Oh. Well, maybe.”
“Day of the Dead is about paying our respects to ancestors and close friends who have died. We dress up and give special gifts to the dead. We also have parades and fireworks. There’s lots of music, singing and dancing. It’s loads of fun.”
“Sounds like it.”
“But now I must learn the traditions of my new country.”
“Yeah, you do that.”
“It’s good I still have the colorful skeleton outfit I used last year. Now I can join in the fun of my new country. I wasn’t sure there’d be room for it in the luggage. But my parents saw how much it meant to me and they found a way to make it fit.”
“A skeleton, huh? I’d like to see that.”
“Really? What’s your address? If my new friend wants to see my costume, I must show him.”
“I live at 456 Third Street. Oops, there’s the bell. Gotta go.”
“Ok, Jimmy. I’ll come to your house this evening. And I won’t
forget to bring eggs!”
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