Posted in Eugene on May 16, 2008 |
1 Comment »
I’m standing still in the fast part of the stream right now. There’s a lot of change, but even with the change the ground beneath me hasn’t moved. I sold the car! I’ve scheduled a test date for my national Massage Therapy Exam next Saturday so that means more studying. I’m anticipating Marly’s graduation and looking into plane tickets. Many craigslisters have dropped by and picked up the things I’m selling. There’s less than a month left at work, so I’ve been wrapping up things there as well. I’m also helping a Berkeley filmmaker promote a film he’s premiering in Eugene so that means hanging up posters and distributing fliers on the bike. Best of all, I’ve touched base with Angel Notion and the director is helping Fernando and I find a place to stay.
I’m hoping that after a month or so of volunteering and networking with the community there in Playa del Carmen, we’ll be able to connect to jobs. I’ll volunteer bodywork and translating. Fernando will volunteer translating (Spanish/English/French) and his techie skills (hardware/software/networks). If we don’t find sustainable jobs after the first month or so, we’ll move on to another place.
I’ve always liked Oaxaca as well as the small fishing villages near Veracruz. There’s a lot of magic in this part of the country. People are superstitious, practice white, red, and black magic, and go to mass on Sundays. There’s a dance in the neighborhood every night and music all day long. Dogs nap in the shadows, sleeping through the humid weight of summer afternoons. When people speak, the words are chopped off and the syllables are rocked back and forth, high and low, so it sounds more like music than speech. There’s no urgency or rush or schedule. It’s muy tranquilo and there’s a lot of mango and fish. Children run around well after sundown and folks sit outside and talk to one another deep into the night, carassing their Coronas, Tecates, and Indios. I imagine myself in this setting, sipping on tequila and water, listening to Small Change with Fernando next to me, reading the lyrics. He’s introduced me to the world of salsa. It’s my turn to return the favor and bring on the slow moving comfort, the hypnotic overture, of Tom Waits.
While I’m paring down to two duffels, Fernando is working in a sodden field somewhere in Virginia on a six month work visa supplied to him–and others like him who will work for big corporations for next to nothing–by the American Embassy who routinely and regularly denies Mexicans any kind of visa, unless, of course, they sign up for induction into military service or work for a business that has somehow maneuvered temporary visas for cheap labor. He earns more money in the States working 6 days a week, overtime, and minimum wage than as a mechanical engineer in Central Mexico, where he’s from and what he’s been trained for. I think of him, doing a job most people would rather collect unemployment for than bear with, so that he can gather a handful of money for our fool’s journey. It’s given me a new perspective on migrant workers… maybe this one’s an engineer back home, or a teacher, or someone’s father and he’s missed. Someone who is busting his chops and can’t wait to get off work to see his baby. She’s waiting up with a magazine for him and keeping the porch light on.
Read Full Post »
