October 15, 2003
What it's like to be Cuban...
I'm sitting at home watching the Yankees-Sox game yesterday when I happen to glance out the front window. There's a black car stopped on the street right where my driveway is. So I stand up for a better view. A girl is standing by the open trunk, early twenties, with a little kid about 7 or 8 next to her.
Damn. She probably has a flat, I say to myself. Now I'm gonna have to help her and miss the rest of the game.
I go outside, sure enough, flat tire. There's a guy kneeling down by the passenger front tire, struggling. He looks about mid-twenties, kinda buff. He's strong enough to change a tire, I say to myself again. Now I can finish watching the game. I go inside, pop open a beer and sit down in front of the TV.
Twenty minutes goes by, I look outside again and the guy is still there. Damn.
I go back outside ask the guy if he needs any help in English. He tries to respond in broken, very broken, English. I get to the car and I realize the guy doesn't know what the heck he's doing.
"Oye," I say in Cuban. "You put the jack upside down."
He looks a little ashamed. "I've never changed a tire before," he says.
The girl chimes in,"He just came from Cuba 3 months ago."
"I've never had to change a tire before," he says. "I'm from Marianao, not many cars there."
I go to my truck, get the cross iron and try to help the guy take the lug nuts off but some idiot mechanic has used regular nuts to hold the aluminum rims. They were fused. So I go to my shed, turn on the compressor, run air hose to the car, and start to fill his tire. It starts hissing. Damn.
I call and borrow a flat kit from my neighbor. The kind that has a waxed chordlike thing that you insert into this big needle that then gets inserted into the hole in the tire and quickly pulled, thus leaving the wax patch in. I set it up and the guy tells me that I've done too much already, that he'll stab it into the hole in the tire. No problem, I think, as this guy is about twice my size, and fit.
He tries punching the thing in for 5 minutes and nada.
I tell him to take a break, that I was gonna try it figuring I could give him a rest while I futily try to poke the tire. I grab the thing and give it a push and it goes right in.
The guy gives out a little laugh and says "Eso es porque tu te criastes con carne de res. (That's because you were raised eating beef.)"
Huh?
"We never got any beef in Marianao," he says, "I've only been eating meat for three months."
Posted by Val Prieto at October 15, 2003 09:59 AM
Comments
My God. I don't know what to say.
Me. Speechless.
(Now, that's a miracle...)
But still...wow.
Posted by: Stevie at October 15, 2003 03:54 PM
That's amazing. Poor guy. Hope he's filling up with some good Angus!
And no, I don't understand. Still. Why don't we just send in a sniper and leave the people to set up a Republic/Democracy? Because his heir would take power? See, I start asking questions (cuz I really don't know!) and I have way too many of them! Arrgghhh!!
[Disclaimer: Yes, I am aware that our policy is one of NOT whacking foreign leaders. I can dream, can't I?]
Posted by: pam at October 15, 2003 05:24 PM
Welcome to America, amigo! Someone get that man a steak!
D
Posted by: David Strain at October 15, 2003 05:51 PM
Excellent. I loved it and we Cubans have to always show our best human sides when helping people. It's so true that so many Cubans in Cuba don't know what a popsicle is. Especially those born during the post Fidel era.
We've been lucky and we should give some of our fortune back.
Ile
Posted by: Ileana at October 15, 2003 06:12 PM
Val,
Whats it like to be from the Bronx. I changed my first tire at 22.
In 1985 the new Grand Ams had these new hub caps I had never seen before. I tried removing the nut, I was there over 3 minutes trying to remove a nut until I relaized it was a FAKE nut. Sure I, looked like a fool.
It's not about steak. It's exposure.
I once spoke to a friend from Cuba. She told me that she cried the 1st time she ever walked into a bakery store (panaderia) and realized that she had a choice of what to eat.
It's about the environment you are in.
Well, we'll see if the Yankees advance today.
PS I'm a New York Met fan,
Geoffrey
Posted by: Geoffrey Gonzalez at October 16, 2003 03:51 PM
Perspective is an amazing thing.
Posted by: Da Goddess at October 17, 2003 03:15 AM
Man, we need to send a Hickory Farms Care Package to Cuba residents!
Posted by: serenity at October 17, 2003 06:06 PM