Monday, October 28, 2013

Wow, I Have A Name

living.boondockingmexico@yahoo.com

I guess I'm building a reputation around the rv park here in McAllen.  People are finally starting to wave but reluctantly.   I do it so often they have given in.  You can tell some of them do it half-heartedly and others with true desire.

The folks from Quebec are arriving and French is being heard around the park.   These American dudes are really weird.  Last evening around 6 p.m., I went for my evening stroll.  I am passing the front gate and I see a swarm of golf carts, an electric wheelchair doing donuts and a small rv outside the gate looking for a way to get in.   So I walk over and ask the cart people if they are going to let them in.  "Oh no, they have to wait for the manager, no one gets the gate key number, that's against the rules".  Oh brother, some warm welcome for a retired couple who speaks no English.   I guess we can call this group the "welcome wagon".   Way too funny, that's when I wish I had the camera with me to take a video of these golf carts going back and forth, in reverse, and just literally staring at these poor folks who eventually took off and came back this morning.  By the time I got up the gumption to open the gate for them they had gone.  That old lady doing donuts in the wheelchair was too funny!

I got most of my training out of the way today via Skype with my boss in Houston.   Next week I begin visiting schools in Laredo.   I wish they would have told me that before I paid this morning for another month!   Not a big deal, my boss told me she would want me to drive from McAllen anyway so I can visit schools in the counties before Laredo.   I will be there three days, go back to Monterrey and then to the RGV and visit schools there.   They are paying the rent so I can't complain.

Tonight I went for my evening walk, I'm just getting back.   I passed two couples outside having a drink on their patio.  As I approached it got quiet and I waved and said my howdy do only to get the cold shoulder.  I had to laugh because I starting thinking, "maybe this is a dream and I am really walking around with a dress and high heels", but then I realized that would look pretty funny with muscles and protruding shoulders.  

Next came Ma and Pa Kettle.  They must be in their mid-eighties and you know as you get older your hearing fades.   When that happens you speak louder even though you believe you're whispering.   I said hello and wished them a good evening and they replied the same.   Then I heard her whisper something and he said, "What?"   She repeated it but screaming, "that's the Mexican fella".   Now I have a name!

9 comments:

  1. Hey 'Mexican Fella', good to hear that the park isn't quite so boring now.

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  2. If that weren't so pathetic it would be funny....

    Hey... I like your new header photo... looks great!

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  3. Sounds like the kind of park we've been in and never went back!!!!Marilyn

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  4. Kill em with kindness Chris........les

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  5. Yeah, I don't get people. If some total stranger waves or says "hi," would it kill you to just return the grace?

    I go through that all the time here. I say "hello" to people on the sidewalk, and they look me straight in the eye, and pass by without saying a word.

    Saludos,

    Kim G
    Boston, MA
    Where both the weather and people are chillier than in our native San Francisco.

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  6. And *that* Ladies and Gentleman, is "Civilization." Yay.

    OK, maybe not quite MY version.

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  7. No - that ladies and gentlemen is Texas - quite a backward place.

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  9. Same as last year when they thought you were a drug smuggler. Wait till they meet Juan.

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