En las ultimas semanas he estado empezando mi blog personal. (Me tienen que disculpar porque no puedo usar accentos con este programa.)
Voy a empezar a traducir articulos que he escrito en ingles. Si ves problemas en mi espanol, por favor mandame un correo electronico para que lo puedo cambiar.
Desde junio yo escribo articulos de opinion y un blog para el periodico local, el Knoxville News Sentinel. Mis articulos salen el domingo cada dos meses. Yo escribo en el blog como se me pegue la gana. Mi tema principal es latinos. Yo vivo en un parte de los Estados Unidos que apenas esta sintiendo el crecimiento latino que lo demas del pais ha visto hace anos y decadas.
Tambien escribo cuentos cortos. Por supuesto se tratan de latinos, mexicanos en particular. Ya tengo dos cuentos publicados local. Uno se trata de una nina mojada cruzando la frontera. El otro es de una chava que quiere hacer borrego para su primera Navidad con su esposo americano.
Mi intencion en empezar este blog era explicar cosas a los guerros de mi vida americana-mexicana. (Yo soy gringa, nacida en Tennessee, casada con un chilango.) Hay cosas en mis cuentos que quiero explicar a los americanos que los lean. Mi meta es educar a los americanos a traves de mis cuentos y articulos. Decedi empezar a traducir unas cosas para que los latinos que me visitan aqui puedan aprender algo de la vida en gringolandia y tal vez aprender un poco de ingles.
Y por supuesto escribo aqui de mis perros, Sofia y Tiger.
Bienvenidos a mi blog desde gringolandia.
Sunday, December 7, 2008
My First Lamb Taco
I was in a hole-in-the-wall Mexican restaurant in Sevierville the first time I learned that Mexicans eat lamb. A couple insisted on taking me out to lunch after I had accompanied them to their daughter's appointment with a doctor to translate. Those were the early days of my Spanish acquisition. I was much better at talking to the American doctor than I was the Mexican parents, but they didn't mind.
The hole-in-the-wall Mexican restaurant specialized in tacos, and not the kind Taco Bell offers. When the waitress told me the options, the only one I recognized was tacos de carne asada. After the waitress left, the couple began explaining the other options.
I understood what carnitas were when they said puerco (pork). After a few minutes, we gave up on tacos al pastor. Pastor automatically translated into preacher and I didn't want to go there.
Next: tacos de barbacoa. It looks like barbeque tacos, but I had a feeling that wasn't right. They decided to explain the animal it comes from. The man said it had four legs. The woman said it had a lot of fur. Then came the next word: perro. A look of terror crossed my face. They expected me to watch them eat dog tacos?
The woman realized the mistake in her choice of words. She assured me that the tacos did not come from a dog. She then resorted to making the sounds the animal makes. Baaaa - Baaaa, not Ruff Ruff. I kept asking questions until I was sure we were talking about a lamb and not a dog.
Our tacos arrived and I was relieved to have ordered the most normal thing on the menu. Then they insisted on ordering me a taco de barbacoa. I gave myself a pep-talk and took a bite of a piece of meat. It wasn't really that different than steak.
I ate the taco. I lived. But it was a slippery slope of sorts. Once you've eaten a lamb taco, what's the big deal about a pastor taco, whatever that is? (But don't worry, I draw the line at tacos de lengua, or tongue tacos.)
The hole-in-the-wall Mexican restaurant specialized in tacos, and not the kind Taco Bell offers. When the waitress told me the options, the only one I recognized was tacos de carne asada. After the waitress left, the couple began explaining the other options.
I understood what carnitas were when they said puerco (pork). After a few minutes, we gave up on tacos al pastor. Pastor automatically translated into preacher and I didn't want to go there.
Next: tacos de barbacoa. It looks like barbeque tacos, but I had a feeling that wasn't right. They decided to explain the animal it comes from. The man said it had four legs. The woman said it had a lot of fur. Then came the next word: perro. A look of terror crossed my face. They expected me to watch them eat dog tacos?
The woman realized the mistake in her choice of words. She assured me that the tacos did not come from a dog. She then resorted to making the sounds the animal makes. Baaaa - Baaaa, not Ruff Ruff. I kept asking questions until I was sure we were talking about a lamb and not a dog.
Our tacos arrived and I was relieved to have ordered the most normal thing on the menu. Then they insisted on ordering me a taco de barbacoa. I gave myself a pep-talk and took a bite of a piece of meat. It wasn't really that different than steak.
I ate the taco. I lived. But it was a slippery slope of sorts. Once you've eaten a lamb taco, what's the big deal about a pastor taco, whatever that is? (But don't worry, I draw the line at tacos de lengua, or tongue tacos.)
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
A Knoxville Christmas 2008
The Knoxville writing community is releasing its second anthology of the fall. A Knoxville Christmas 2008 is the second Christmas anthology published by Knoxville author/editor Cyn Mobley.
My story "Ana and the Lamb" is the second story I've had published this fall. "Ana and the Lamb" is the story of a young Mexican woman living in East Tennessee who is determined to make her first Christmas with her American husband special. Ana remembers the steamed lamb her family made for Christmas in Mexico City, and she is sure that continuing that tradition will make her Christmas special. Or at least she believes that until she prepares it by herself for the first time.
The anthology is a collection of short stories, poetry, and essays inspired by Christmas time in Knoxville. Authors will be at Carpe Librum on Kingston Pike Sunday, December 6, at 2:00. Books are also available from amazon.com.
My story "Ana and the Lamb" is the second story I've had published this fall. "Ana and the Lamb" is the story of a young Mexican woman living in East Tennessee who is determined to make her first Christmas with her American husband special. Ana remembers the steamed lamb her family made for Christmas in Mexico City, and she is sure that continuing that tradition will make her Christmas special. Or at least she believes that until she prepares it by herself for the first time.
The anthology is a collection of short stories, poetry, and essays inspired by Christmas time in Knoxville. Authors will be at Carpe Librum on Kingston Pike Sunday, December 6, at 2:00. Books are also available from amazon.com.
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