Puerto Rico - Day 11

Open it Mama!

Look at this girl...

Noche Buena (Christmas Eve) started with me taking a nice jog around the local baseball field while catching up on New York family matters with my mom.  It was a warm 80 something degrees as I walked a few blocks up to the panaderia (bakery) for “dos libres de pan” which I thought meant “two loaves of bread”, but then he came out with four loaves of bread…two breads per bag.  That’s when I realized “un libre” equals one bag of bread but I was too embarrassed to give the extra bag back.  Then, I remembered that like most “divorced” kids, I’m splitting my holiday.  So, I’ll have a bag of bread for my early evening celebration with Mama and use the other bag for my late evening celebration with Titi Annie, Tio Edwin and Carmen.  I decided since I wasn’t sure how long it was going to take for me to get to Titi’s house that night, I’d just drop it off right away.  That way, they can enjoy the bread even if I wasn’t there yet.  When I pulled up Tio Monchin and his wife Rosa were there.  Tio Monchin is my mother’s uncle (on her mother’s side).  He is the oldest of the four siblings and is so cute and little.  He seemed to be pleasantly surprised to hear that I was going to be in Puerto Rico for an extended amount of time and that I was investing in the language.  I couldn’t understand a lot of what he was saying but I do know he was explaining to me how he had to learn English and had a great teacher.  He also said that he realized he had to start thinking in English in order for him to truly pick up the language.  I know exactly what he means because slowly but surely I’m starting to think in Spanish…its just not very easy.  I’m essentially trying to reverse 29 years of thinking in English!

About 2 hours later...

Mama was trying to play it cool...

Anywho, after dropping off the bread I decided to wrap the gifts I bought for Mama and Max in my car trunk in front of Titi’s house.  Mama had been looking for a TV stand and finally found one she liked.  We didn’t purchase it when we found it because she was waiting for it to go on sale.  What she didn’t know was that I went back to Kmart the very next day and purchased it for her (on sale) and had been hiding it/avoiding taking her back to Kmart ever since.  I felt bad because I know she thought I forgot all about the promise I made to take her back to the store, but I figured the look on her face when it came wrapped to her front door would be well worth it.  Oh and it was! “Sin berguenza” (shameless/nuisance/pain in the ass) is all she could say as she tore the paper off.  All I could do was laugh and say “De nada” (you're welcome).  Max loved his Santa dog.  He began slobbering all over it as soon as he saw it.

Dinner #1

Max and his Santa dog

I gave Mama her gift early because I knew I was heading out early the next morning.  Also, Mama decided to host Christmas Eve dinner at her house for two of her neighbors who are also alone for the holidays.  So, I knew she’d love to show off her new TV stand to her guests.  It was a beautiful event.  Mama made pavo guisado (stewed turkey) and arroz con gandules (yellow rice and pigeon peas).  I made a fresh salad, cut the bread, and sliced up some avocado.   The only unfortunate thing is that the crazy neighbor with the gambling problem, of course, went to the casino earlier that day and had lunch while there.  She refused to admit it but simply picked at the food presented to her.  The other neighbor ate a bit more, but still like a bird.  Of course I over ate in an effort to make a dent in the massive amount of food she cooked…and I enjoyed every minute of it.

Las tres amigas

Since we made dinner, her next-door neighbor made dessert.  It was a little cornstarch/coconut/cold dessert called Tembleque.  Then, it was time to pack up yet again and head for Titi Annie’s house.  I was so stuffed though that I laid on the bed for a minute...until I felt my bed moving!  I thought I was imagining things at first but then I felt it again...my bed was moving back and forth!  I had no idea what to do, so I sat perfectly still and just let it pass.  I opted to not say anything to Mama so I wouldn’t alarm her.  Once the very odd bed movements passed, I proceeded to pack for my flight and chat with Mama while watching a few Christmas programs.  To be honest, I really didn’t want to leave and I don’t think she wanted me to leave either.  But, I promised Titi I would be there for dinner as well so I eventually made my way over.

Dinner #2

By the time I got there everyone was ready to eat and Titi was a little ticked off.  Apparently they had been waiting for me to eat and she had been trying to call me, but was unsuccessful.  A few minutes after I arrived we all found out why.  That weird bed movement was really a tremor from an earthquake!  Titi couldn’t get through because all the phone lines had malfunctioned.  Apparently it was a 5.4 magnitude that mostly affected the middle eastern portion of the island but I felt it all the way on the west coast in my grandmother’s bedroom.  Crazy!

So Noche Buena ended with a second dinner, which consisted of mostly salad, chicken and coquito followed by a little black coffee and some super delicious cake provided by Titi’s boyfriend Louis.  I fell out at around 2:30am only to be woken up in a hurry an hour later…I needed to high tail it to the airport…I’m heading home for the holidays…