LA AMERICANA
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This is my first blog.
The picture above is one from my wedding day. A special day in a special place – Havana, Cuba – where my husband, Luis, is from and where we held our ceremony.
The picture above is one from my wedding day. A special day in a special place – Havana, Cuba – where my husband, Luis, is from and where we held our ceremony.
I
spent a lot of time in Cuba back then, as we waited for almost 3 years for his U.S. visa to be approved. He wasn't allowed to leave
the country so I traveled there from every corner of the earth to be
with him (as my family and friends most certainly took deep breaths
with each repeat visit I took to the communist isle). Baby Bush was
in office and he didn't make it easy for me to go, but I
found my way.
Take
it from Jay-Z – Cuba is fascinating, musically fantastic, lush,
beautiful, confusing, frustrating and exhilarating. I literally
shook every time I landed at José
Martí airport.
On
Luis' turf, I was the freckly, blond Americana
in
a sea of Cubans, who are warm, inviting, nurturing, inspiring,
raucously funny and fun, despite the challenges of daily life.
Once
Luis got permission to move to my hometown, Savannah, Georgia, in
2004 it was then his turn to absorb shock in the form of culture,
language, food, customs and by a few, prejudice. The difference
being he had to adapt to live here. I was always visiting.
It was not easy – not even close
– for either of us, but we worked through a lot, sometimes more
gracefully than others.
Today we share a home and three
children, two of whom we had together and another who moved here last
year from Guatemala, where he lived with his mom for 9 years. Raising kids who range from 1 to
15 is a complex adventure for any family; throw in the force of
vastly different cultures and life can be, well, not dull.
We make the best of it, shooting
for balance, as we try to celebrate the best of both of our
upbringings. Cue good sense of humor here.
Ironically,
I am still La
Americana
at home in many ways, as that little island flavors our house
invariably. We speak as much Spanish as English, the iPod blasts
Latin music and most nights, its some form of bean for dinner –
Luis has become a master – served with any variant of rice,
tostones, yuca, malanga, tomatoes, cucumbers, avocados and raw
cabbage. For guests, it's guayaba and cream cheese for dessert. And
the coffee. Good lord, that coffee. There will be an entire blog
dedicated to this later.
Our daily lives are
interchangeably Latin and American, American and Latin. That's what
that photo of us is about. Two cultures coming together.
My blog will touch
on our blended life, which is somewhat unique in Savannah, yet
increasingly common across the country as more Spanish speakers move
and merge into U.S. culture.
Think about it: according to the
U.S. Census Bureau, there were an estimated 52 million Hispanics here in 2011; that number is expected to grow to 132.8 million by
2050, making up 30 percent of the overall population.
No
doubt, a slice will marry Americans, create their own mini Spanglo worlds. Within the converge, they may laugh, they may cry
and on occasion, wonder how they ever crossed paths, the ability to
see eye-to-eye too grand. For this Americana,
a whole pig roasted in a metal box in our side yard and then set on
the kitchen countertop, hooves up, sprouting hair awry with belly
flesh open for all to dissect, sent my hair follicles into overdrive.
Tipping point: found it in the oven the next morning, pre-dawn,
pre-coffee, as it sat upside down, snout facing me, when I went to
pop some waffles in.
Life
is fun, life is full, life is good and always interesting as La
Americana.
Please share your own stories, challenges or thoughts, especially you, the other Americanas, living in bilingual, bicultural households wherever you are in the world. English and Español both work!
A few quick culture picks:
Reason I went to Cuba: Buena Vista Social Club
Cuban hip-hop group, Orishas, which is in constant replay in our house. Even our one-year-old, Ana, jams hard.
Trip
heard round the world: love these pics of Jay-Z and Beyoncé
on
the island.
Beautiful images and rounded view
of Cuba in this 2012 BBC documentary.
Because I am asked all the time, legal ways for Americans to visit Cuba:
Posts
6 comments
Love it! So happy to see you are writing again :)
ReplyDeleteHow come you only invite Americanas to comment!? What about us Americanos living the bilingual/bicultural dream!? ;-)
ReplyDeleteMelanie! Neal Here (Amy's dad.) I LOVE your blog. We are now co-bloggers! I hope all is well with you. Just finishing up summer term at SCAD (believe it or not.
ReplyDeleteMay your blog be PHENOMEONALLY successful!
Neal
Thank you, Neal!! I look forward to reading yours! xxoo Melanie
DeleteEnjoyed reading both, Mel, you're a talented writer. I think the extent of my online publishing is limited to "Savannah, what's your favorite 'Cue?"
ReplyDeleteLook forward to your future submissions!
Thanks so much!
Delete