Monday, June 14, 2010

Willy: A Typical Upper Class Nica Teen?

Last night the rains came in again heavy at around 4 p.m. which more or less restricted me to my immediate block.  Hanging out in front of our hotel were M from WfP, a couple security guards from across the street, and Willy, a kid from the neighborhood.  His family's shophouse is just three doors down the block.

Grabbing an opportunity to practice his pre-Twinkle level English, Willy engaged both M & I in a spirited discussion of all things Nicaraguan and American--including his circle's favorite rap musicians (Snoop & Dr Dre), clothes, pastimes & so on.

Grabbing my opportunity to practice my pre-Twinkle level Spanish, I learned that his family is actually Cuban on his mother's side, but that he grew up in Leon.  His family business makes metal plaques for other homes & businesses, but also busts & stylized pictures of Sandinista heros & other icons from Nicaragua's history.  The shop does very high quality work.

Willy, 17 years old, is still a high school student, but also works for the family business.  He plans to attend university in two years.  He told me the family's shophouse is valued at $80,000 (very cheap, he said) but when I joked that I didn't have that kind of money lying around, he quickly assured me "it's not for sale."  If his shop house was in America it would be worth a million dollars, he said:  "Twenty million cordobas!  Mucho dinero. . ."

He has traveled to the U.S. a couple times (he has relatives there), and he was struck by the differences between homeless people in the two countries.  "The American homeless are very crazy--they'll do anything.  There are a lot of crazy people in estados unidos."

The very little English Willy had seemed to come partly from Afro-American culture with a lot of "whassup" and "you feel me?"  But this kid was so energetic and engaging, it was no problem at all catching his meaning.  He talked about how he likes Nicaragua's "natural life (style)" but that he prefers foreign girlfriends (from other Latin American countries).  "My girlfriend now is from (El) Salvador."

Willy admired M for using some of his retirement time to volunteer for an organization in Nicaragua.  And he seemed to appreciate my efforts to listen and commnicate with a typical middle to upper middle class Nicaraguan teenager.

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