Wednesday, June 9, 2010

The Longing That Exists Between Species

The maintenance man in my building is a very friendly guy. He's pretty funny. Although I'm not sure how well he speaks English, but he always talks to me. It's always the same thing:

When I'm leaving for school in the morning he yells at me to say
"Hey, how's your wrist?"
And I say: "It's still good."
Or he says "Where are your rollerblades?"
And I say: "I still don't rollerblade anymore"

Notice that I say "still" because he asks the same questions every day.

Or when I get home at night he'll greet me at the front door and let me know if he saw my roommate come home or not.

His English has gotten a lot better since we first started talking. At first he'd say a few words and use gestures and motions to communicate the rest.
For example, he'd say "Hey... where..." and then point down at his foot and make a rollerblading motion, which similarly, is the same motion as a bull kicking back dust before it charges towards the matador.

I really appreciate my friendship with this man.

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