Friday, May 1, 2009

The Bella of Bella Vista


I would like you to meet my new friend Bella. She is from Guatemala and is fully committed to learning the English language. In late March, she started coming to our house every afternoon for several hours to study with me. She also wanted to learn new recipes, especially pizza, so one night we kneaded wheat dough and made healthy pizza together, which her husband shared when he came to pick her up on his bike. They are both very young-18-years-old-and don’t have their papers to be here. Bella gets up at 4 o’clock every morning to make her husband breakfast, sometimes biking all the way out to the farm to take him lunch also.

Bella, which means beautiful, is her nickname. She is very light-skinned with bright, light eyes, and everyone here equates those traits with beauty. Her in-laws and friends in Bella Vista joke that I am the mother of her niece because she is white like me.

Bella and I have become good friends. It is wonderful to get to know someone in another culture who actually cares that you exist and wants to know more about you, where you are from, and where you have been, without prejudice or judgment. This kind of friendship is rare. Many women in Bella Vista have mentioned that they have few friends or none at all, partly due to the fact that people are from different countries and situations and have not necessarily lived in BV long. Bella has only lived here for 1 year.

Our friendship is a fun cultural exchange for us. She is teaching me Spanish almost as much as I am teaching her English. She is also helping me improve my methods of teaching Spanish speakers. Now I show my students not only how to spell each English vocabulary word correctly but how to write the pronunciation for a Spanish speaker as well so they can practice at home.

Bella and I have had fun making jewelry with beads my mother-in-law Joyce generously sent me, sharing pictures of family, and talking of our homes. We are each learning about the world of the other. She doesn’t know much about snow, mountains, or sports. When we were going over vocabulary for sports in a book, she said climbing and skiing sound terrifying! She told me all about Carnival in Guatemala. The circus came to Mango Creek last week, and you could enter for free if you donated a live dog to feed the lions! Really!

Bella taught me a saying, one of the hundred or so “piropos” or “flores” boyfriends tell girlfriends she has compiled:

No quiero perlas del mar ni perfume del oriente solo quiero tu amistad y cariƱo para siempre.

I don’t want pearls of the sea nor perfume from the Orient, only your friendship and affection forever.

5 comments:

Amy Waterman said...

I've really enjoyed reading your blog. Thanks so much for sharing. I'll be coming to Belize in August. Can't wait!

April said...

Hey, glad you could see it! I know reading blogs beforehand helped us get really excited for Belize.

Natalie Deniz said...

What a great story! It makes me feel so appreciate of the little things! Thanks for sharing

amee knudsen said...

April,
I am not sure that you remember me from last summer but your husband thinks I am the mean person that let your cats go stay at my sisters. I wanted to let you know that after about a week of them living in the garage. My sisters mother and father in law took them home next door to their farm. They both live in the house and have made the spare bedroom their home. I saw them the other day and they have collars on them, and are spooled rotten with kitty treats. They are really cute my sisters mother in law treats them like kings. They are very spoiled and get groomed once a month. They are treated very well. I looked on your blog when you first got to Belize and was saddened to see what your husband had said about my sister. I am glad to tell you though that the cats are perfectly fine. I would have said something sooner but didn't care to comment after the post. Hope all is well for you and your husband. Just thought you should know the cats are great.

April said...

Hey, Amee! Of course, I remember you! And I cannot express my thanks enough-thank you for sharing this with me. It makes me feel extremely happy and comforted. That's wonderful news! Also, I want to let you know I didn't know everything my husband blogged before we got to Belize (I knew some of it was emotional with leaving); I didn't start blogging until after we left Utah. So, I apologize and deeply regret that happened; I find it completely irresponsible to write negatively about other people on blogs. I honestly hope I never do this. Again, I'm sorry you were offended (and rightly so).