SUPERMAN, OPRAH and a SUZUKI

Time flies here like Superman in his hey day so let’s get started with the updates…

The other day, my dad called me.  It was a typical call, mostly.  He just wanted to check on me, yada yada but then, just before we hung up he said, “Oh, by the way, I don’t know any Norberto.  That’s not my father’s name.”  This is the second time my dad has referenced my blog since that day my mom abruptly hung up with me to join him in reading it.  The first time he mentioned it he wanted to clarify that my Uncle Eddie did in fact pass before I was born and wanted me to help him leave a comment.  “I’m not in front of the computer right now little girl but you gotta walk me through that thing.  It’s like all crazy, asking me to sign in or sign up…I don’t know what the heck that’s about.”  I chuckled, assured him I could help and proceeded to wonder what type of comment he wanted to leave.  Now, back to this Norberto issue.  My father continued “…his name was Eladio and they called him Galo for short.  So, I don’t know where you got Norberto from but remember that your grandma can be a storyteller sometimes.”  My stomach dropped a bit.  Immediately, I pictured myself sitting across from an extremely upset Oprah Winfrey explaining to her why her producers can’t seem to find any record of a Norberto Gonzalez ever existing.  “But Oprah, Mama told me his name was Norberto...” 

Oprah frying James Frey

I snapped myself out of my mini nightmare and remained confident that I had heard correctly.  After all, Mama and I had extensive conversations about my dad’s father and I consistently refer to him as Norberto as to not get him confused with Victor (the man I call Papa).  In no way does Norberto sound like Galo!  Like not even a little bit! I do know that when Mama doesn’t want to tell the truth about something she often explains it away with a little white lie.  Is that what she did with Norberto??  Could she be leading me on?!  I knew I had to address this and fast.

It took me a few days to find the right time to address the subject but I knew I couldn’t let it go.  I’m looking for facts not stories.   So, one evening we were sitting in the living room, chatting about the novela we just watched and sipping on our nightly tea when I said “Mama, Papi said that he doesn’t know a Norberto, he knows Eladio or Galo…” A smile crept across her face.  “Yes, mi hija because Norberto was his middle name.  That’s what I called him because I never liked Galo or Eladio.”  “Wait.  So you were the only one who called him that?”  Her smile broadened, “Yes.”  “Ohhh!  So that was your special name for him??”  Blushing and unable to mask her pride, she responded, “Yes.”  Case closed.  Eladio Norberto Gonzalez aka 'Galo' is my paternal grandfather.

RETURNED!

Let’s see…what else?  Oh!  Car news.  This news is a bit sad…I returned the Suzuki (moment of silence please and thank you).  While I am proud to have haggled en español, I felt like I still overpaid for what I got.  Sure, it looked nice and shiny, but it had a lot of miles on it and after driving it for a few days, I felt like it needed some work done on it.  Luckily, my neighbor knows a mechanic who attends her church.  We took it to him and he confirmed that while overall it was a good car, I definitely paid a little too much for it.  Not only that, it was going to need over $300 worth of repairs (that was just for the parts which he graciously called to confirm for us)!  I have to admit, after hearing that news I felt, well, how do I put this…quite frankly, I felt stupid and extremely frustrated!!!!  The mechanic must have sensed my anxiety as he refused to charge me for the visit.  He also told me that legally I had three days to return the vehicle after purchase.  Guess what day it was?  DAY 3!  Yep, my last chance to get my money back…thank you Lord!  So, my neighbor and I headed back to the dealer.  Of course, we were met with some resistance…you know, they offered to fix the car free of charge, then they said they’d try to see if they could get my money back but made no guarantees, then they tried to sell me a ’09 Hyundai instead (for double what I paid for the Suzuki).  In the end, they realized I just wanted my money back.  I knew that if could get my money back I would take more time to think about my next purchase.  I’d shop around and even consider Mama’s proposal for a new car.  I’d also use what I learned from this experience to make a wiser purchase.  I’m happy to report that by the end of the week Mama and I had our money back.  So, for now, I’m back to borrowing one of my aunt’s cars (which is way nicer than the pickup I had before) and preparing to hit the streets with my Mr. Miyagi uncle next week.  Let the good times roll…

¡Scrabble en Español!

Game on!

Alright its been a few days and a lot has happened….let’s see, where do I start??  Oh yes!  I am happy to announce that Mama and I played a rousing game of Scrabble in Español!!!  If you don’t know, I love games, but Scrabble is my absolute favorite game to play.  I grew up with competitions between my parents, my big bro, and I …so its one of my favorite past times.  Anywhoo, the Cottes (whom I miss so much) gave me Scrabble en Español for Christmas.  Lucy said “So you can play with your grandma.”  I was excited but definitely unsure if grandma would be down to sit down and play a game.  And then, one night before we went to bed she turned around and said “Ok, tomorrow we’ll play that game you want to play.”  I threw my hands up and did a little touchdown dance and as she giggled I said “Yes!  ¡Vamos a jugar! (Let’s play!)  And so, the next day we squeezed a game in before our novela.  I am very happy to announce that we were so into the game that before we knew it we were 10 minutes late for the show.  I was beating grandma, but not by much.  She was just getting the hang of the game and I know in a short time, she will be kicking my butt and teaching me tons of new words!

Riding in style with grandma!

What else?  OOOH!  We bought a car! Its crazy how big purchases can be such a nerve-wrecking thing.   We went in, we were there for over an hour and a half.  And check this out…I negotiated the whole deal in Spanish…yes, ladies and gentleman, totally in Spanish (with some vocab help here and there from Mama) and left with a car!  While my grandmother knew the owner of the dealership, I STILL had to go back and forth about several things that I wanted fixed, needed included, etc.  I explained to her that unfortunately sometimes when you know people, they take that relationship for granted and assume that you will just go with the flow of what they are deeming to be correct or just.  Very easily I could have just given up and let them have their way because of the language barrier or because I was a young woman with her grandma who just wanted to make this purchase easy and painless.  Yep, sure, I wanted it to be easy and painless, but not at the expense of my confidence in this purchase.  I must say at some points during the negotiations I stepped outside of myself and thought ‘Really Mish?  You’re doing this?! Like did you just say that?  Are you really doing this in Spanish?! It was an awesome experience. Haggling in Spanish…SMH (shaking my head) unbelievable!

Now, I’d be lying if I didn’t say I was nervous about my decision to purchase this vehicle or that I didn’t have reservations or thoughts that I could have either negotiated a better deal or should have gone elsewhere and gotten a different/better car.  But, I worked hard to cast those thoughts out of my mind.  What good were they doing me?  I made a decision.  The pros greatly outweighed the cons and a salesman will always be a salesman, at least we knew who we were dealing with.  Luckily, I was privy to points that I could touch on that would get through to this man (thanks to Mama filling me in on the history of their relationship).  What is the saying?  “Sometimes the devil you know is better than the devil you don’t?”(something like that).

'06 Suzuki Aerio

I had to take a step back and acknowledge that this is the first car deal I’ve ever brokered on my own – in any language.  And so, sure there are things that I now know I could have looked for or said to probably get us an even better deal than we already got, but am I going to get up in arms over it?  Sure, I had to borrow money from my grandmother to purchase the vehicle.  And no, I’m not happy about that, but am I going to allow it to torment me?  Am I going to waste my days stressing over it and beating myself up, acting like I’m on borrowed time to pay her back?  At one point in my life the answer would have been "Yes" followed by a sigh full of stress.  At this point its "Heck naw!"  Here’s what I am going to do.  I’m going to learn from this experience and be better informed as well as better at the language next time around.  I’m going to give thanks that I have a grandmother who is willing and able to lend me money for a car.  I’m going to recognize that this car is a purchase that she is completely happy with (she already has a running list of the places she wants to go in it).  I'm going to pat myself on the back for an overall job well done.  Then, I’m going to check this purchase off my to do list and move onto my next action item, which is finding a job.  The job will open the door for paying Mama back.  I also know that she knows I am not that granddaughter.  She saw (and heard) my discomfort as I haggled with the car sales man explaining to him that while he may think I can just ask my abuela for more money, that is not an option and will not happen.  Her money is NOT my money nor should it be.  I am thankful for what she has already offered and anything past that is simply out of the question.  So, as Mama and I discussed on one of our many rides to Sam’s Club, we’re going to do this (this being the adventure we find ourselves in called life) poco a poco (little by little).  One step at a time, one foot in front of the other.  As a dear friend once said “This life is a marathon Mish, not a sprint.”  I made the big leap by packin’ up for Puerto Rico, now there’s nothing left to do but follow through, control what I can, and trust that everything will be fine.