Spring Break

This pic reminds me of last year on Spring Break in So Cal. The West Coast is always calling my name. I miss the weather, the calmness and my family. Last year I saw my Dad and family.
This year is very different. New Job for my husband, new schools for my oldest, new roof over the head and a whole new culture for me to absorb. I will always feel that the west, really the NW is my home. Living in the deep south has made me appreciate all things, but that feeling of home will never change. I feel like a bit of an outsider here, still finding my way around this little burb of Baton Rouge. The poverty saddens me but yet also drives me to finish my degree.
The first month here my husband and I literally had a quest to try different types of cajun food and boy did we. Now after many calories, beers, rolaids and dollars our quest is finished. I still enjoy trying a new thing, but the new has worn off.
I still can’t understand, literally when some people speak. I can not understand the accent. It sounds a bit like my Dad from the Bronx, but not. Most people are very friendly. They usually return a smile. The kids however don’t speak to me in my apartment complex, even though I have children of my own walking with me. Do they not speak to a Latina? Do I look scary or did they literally learn to not speak to strangers? I mean I feel alone here. I dont see anyone who remotely looks like me,except my kids and some Indian women in Baton Rouge. I have rarely heard a word of Spanish from anyone except from a Parent literacy night, which sadly had a very low turnout. I heard my English/Spanish Spanglish that I head growing up. Considering I grew speaking English, hearing Spanish sometimes is comforting and makes me think of my Grandma, Dad and Mom. So I have made and cooked things that make me feel at home, my mom’s banana bread, arroz con pollo and sausage rice from my mother in law for the girls. I took a loaf of banana bread to a neighbor who’s kids dont speak to me. Who knows its not the Berlin Wall, but maybe one day someone in this family will say hello to me. Why does this bother me? Maybe I feel bad that our Weiner Dog barks at all ours and I have a loud voice and laugh. So maybe having a loudmouth for a neighbor isn’t cool!
Off for another day in Acadia or Louisiana!

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