English Burst my Language Bubble: A Repatriation Poem

Bom dia.

Namaste.

Ahoj.

Hello.

For two years, I floated in Portuguese.

Tudo bom? (How are you?)

Tudo bem. (I'm good.)

Each morning 

when I entered my school campus in Brazil, 

the security guards and I 

exchanged these smiley greetings.

For four years, I zoomed around India.

Bus. (Stop.)

Bus. Bus! (Stop right now because this is the shop I want to visit.)

Each day 

as I buzzed 

around Mumbai in a rickshaw, 

I knew I needed to lean forward 

so I could see out and tell

the rickshaw driver 

to stop as he approached my destination.

For four years, I dined in Prague.

Dobrou chut' (Enjoy your meal.)

Na zdraví. (Cheers.)

Each day

as I ate lunch 

or enjoyed a Friday Happy Hour with my friends,

we wished each other well

as we shared food and time

together.

Outside these small moments,

I lived in a bubble.

Understanding some.

Using the Google Translate app on my phone.

Reading labels.

Making guesses.

Language became background noise

when I didn't have enough.

I lived in an English language bubble.

Choosing when it formed.

Choosing when I popped it.

Six months ago, 

English burst my language bubble.

My return to Chicago

popped it.

Some days, I hear

the everyday conversations 

of families at the grocery store

about which aisle contains 

an ingredient for tonight's dinner.

These are the moments living 

outside the bubble 

guides joy into my heart.

Some days I hear

families in disagreement

over big topics.

Or I turn on the car radio 

where I'm greeted by 

the weekend's violence.

These are the moments living

outside the bubble

my head feels overwhelmed.

My language bubble

wasn't made of gum so

I can't blow one again.

Instead, it was like a soap 

bubble floating into

the air.

My language bubble burst.

Target Tales #1: Hand Sanitizer Search

Target Tales are stories or poems from my observations of and interactions with fellow shoppers at the retail store Target. 

"It's NOT here," shouted a woman with a voice that's seen a lot of whatever she was looking before.

"What???" questioned an older gentleman.

"I said, IT'S NOT HERE!"

I continued down the central aisle and found the source of the loud shouting, I mean conversation—an elderly couple, pushing a cart down the handsoap aisle.

"But it should be by the soap. It's hand sanitizer. Jenny told us to buy it," said the older gentleman.

"I know Bob. I heard her, too, but we can't buy it if it's not here."

Hand sanitizer was my Target list too. The hand sanitizer was hiding at the end cap of the hand soap aisle.

As their conversation continued, I tuned out and stared at the options in the bins before me. Small travel-sized bottles. Blue goo and green too. A peach variety and original unscented. I wanted to choose a scented sanitizer but decided on the generic unscented one. Why this choice? I thought ironically; the hand sanitizer would probably be the products that held the most significant number of germs on them in the entire store, with so many people picking bottles up at Target to combat the recent Coronavirus U.S. outbreak and its news coverage. I decided unscented was the best option because selecting it involved the least amount of touching the bottles.

The woman saw me and her back straightened.

"Bob. That lady over there has some."

"What?" called Bob.

"I said THAT LADY OVER THERE HAS SOME BOB," hollered the woman.

The couple shuffled over to the hand sanitizer and additional hand soap aisle.

I smiled at the couple as they moved closer to me.

The woman smiled back.

She looked up and down and noticed that there were only travel-sized bottles.

"Bob, they only have those tiny bottles. We need big ones."

"Why? We can just buy a bunch of those small ones."

At this point, I asked, "Do you need some help?"

The woman said, "No, you aren't wearing a red shirt. You don't work here."

I replied, "You're right, I don't, but I'd be happy to help you."

"Thanks, but no thanks. You've got places to go," as she turned back to discuss the bottle-size dilemma, Bob.

I smiled, and although I had no place in particular to go, said, "Well, then have a nice day."

They didn't reciprocate the farewell because, at that point, Bob had asked her what I asked his wife. 

I hope they found the big bottles of hand sanitizer for their peace of mind and Jenny's too.

1 Big Sister + 1 Big Brother = Big's Day (aka Nephew Bonding)

Blueberry ice cream

I have two nephews. This is of my older nephew, E. He just turned four on February 14th, Valentine's Day. Yesterday E turned in his birthday coupon for a Big's Day.

One of my auntie goals is to create experiential ways for us to bond. Since I'm the big sister in my family and he's the big brother in his, I thought of the concept of Big's Day. Small simple days with just of the two of us to have some quality time to bond over being the oldest child in our families.

Yesterday E turned in his birthday coupon for a Big's Day. He has shown a love of art lately and I gifted him a painting pottery session for his birthday. We visited the local pottery painting shop at the mall. Neither of us had been had this experience before. As we entered, we were guided to a table and then told to choose our object to paint. If you haven't visited one of these shops before, there is an insane variety of objects you can decorate. It can even be a bit overwhelming. From fire trucks to frogs to plates. From olive oil bottles to butterflies to bowls. E chose an ice cream cone to adorn with five delicious colors of glaze.

A brilliant Big's Day 

The shop assistant told him he before painting, we had to wash the cone with a sponge to remove the dust. After this direction, we were told we needed to add three coats of glaze to obtain a strong color after his ice cream was fired in the kiln. As E and I worked together through the pottery painting process, I was reminded of how cultivating my auntie relationship with him has some similarities.

I recently moved closer to home. Closer to my family. Initially, I felt a bit distant from him since we only really knew one another from time together during vacations and connecting weekly during a FaceTime chat. But like the process of glazing, where you add layers of paint to enrich your pottery item, we too can achieve this beauty. Each time we visit the local playground, learn about nature center animals, visit the zoo and paint pottery, we too are creating stronger bonds. Just like E's ice cream cone will be more brilliant from adding the required three layers of glaze, our relationship will too have greater depth and strength each Big's Day celebration. I'm looking forward to tasting these vibrant bonds.