My diary - April 16-18, 1973
April 16, 1973 Mon.
Dear Smiley:
Mom worked in library. About 10 of us in class. Got out of gym since I couldn’t take the test. In math Mr. Sanchez sat with me and helped me do every problem!!! GROSS. English boring. Boring outside.
BYE!!!
Note: This was Semana Santa (Holy Week for Easter) and many had already left for vacation.
Mr. Sanchez was giving me extra help since I had complained about him earlier.
April 17, 1973 Tues.
Dear Smiley:
Good day. Worked in fresco stand & not to bad since not to many people. No spanish (study hall) since hardly no one. Graded test in Biology & got out of Math to help Tablada. Went outside & had fun. Talked with Regina, Lucia, Magarita & Desiree. In the afternoon when I first went out as I go to cross the st. this car comes as I wait for it to go by it stops & tells me to go. It was Roberto Vasalli. Desiree is alright but super bulgar.
BYE!!!
Note: Working the fresco stand (concession) was fun. I volunteered to help Mrs. Tablada grade tests, thus getting myself out of math class.
Bulgar is vulgar; I wasn’t the greatest speller!
April 18, 1973 Wed.
Dear Smiley:
In my class 5 kids came from 30. Averaged grades in Spanish. In history we had an interesting discussion on sex. Took gym test. We only had 30 min. of each class. Helped Myrna in the fresco stand. Mr. Sanchez didn’t come (didn’t know of new schedule!!!) No biology. Got home at 4:30. Went out. Met some weird guys but I had fun outside.
BYE!!!
Note: I enjoyed working at the concession stand with Myrna Canales.
With only 5 students in my class it was a super easy day.
I wonder how Mr. Sanchez didn’t get the memo on short classes?
April 16, 1973 Mon. (David’s Diary)
Dear Snoop,
Today was kind of lousy, in school I was “boludo” I took Penny and Gretle for a walk. She got nervous. Later, when she saw a dachshund, she chased it, broke the chain, got in someone’s kitchen. The maids were on the table. I got her a little later. This was about 6:30. Outside, Cabra kind of tore me down. Well I’m off to take a bath. Goodnight.
NOTE: Boludo is a common slang word that translates to "idiot" or "jerk" in its literal sense, but is frequently used among friends to mean "dude" or "bro.” I’m not sure which applied, but I’m guessing it was the former. The incident with the dog walk is still fresh in my mind. Penny was a very strong dog. She was a boxer breed and though playful, her looks could be scary. She didn’t do well around other dogs. It was pretty unnerving when she snapped her chain and even worse when she ran into a neighbor's house and disrupted their dinner preparation.
Sue here; David mentioned this in a previous post, but this is when it actually happened with Penny!
April 17, 1973 Tues. (David’s Diary)
Dear Snoopy,
Today was alright. In typing I did regular but didn’t type too well. Cosa mas grande de la vida chico. Tomorrow I have a Spanish test. Outside I had more or less fun. I didn’t take the dogs out. Tomorrow, I will. I am afraid of strange dogs. Sue skipped math class today. I wonder if she’ll be caught. I beat Dad in a game of chess. My nose is peeling. Soon (maybe) my face will peel. The water should go out tomorrow, who knows. Good night
NOTE: “Cosa mas grande de la vida chico” translates to “biggest thing in the world, boy” and I think I was being sarcastic regarding the importance of my typing skills. I’m not surprised to read that my nose was peeling after the beach trip with the scouts. Back then, sunscreen was at best 4x protection if any. I’m not sure why the water was scheduled to go out and am curious if Susie got in trouble for skipping math. Will have to read on to find out!
April 18, 1973 Wed. (David’s Diary)
Hi Snoop,
Today was alright. We shouldn’t have had class today. I only had two classes, English and P.E. The rest were free periods or movies. Outside was alright. Also, I couldn’t take the dogs for a walk since Beck sprained her toe. I went out in the backyard and played with the dogs. Penny had a tick but I couldn’t get completely out. We rode bikes outside. Me, Tairo, Mundo, Carlos, Menaldo and at times Carmen. Later us all, menos Carmen, read playboy. Sue and Beck almost caught us. I didn’t have to take a bath since I took one after playing with the dogs.
‘Night
NOTE: Menos means less or minus (without). It’s interesting that I wrote we ‘read’ Playboy. I wonder how much reading we really did!
When we lived in the small rural community north of Bogotá, the elders would often sit on the porch watching the grandkids play, and when one of the kids would excitedly tell them some tall tale or such, one of the grandmothers would always say "Ay, que cosa mas espantosa!" It was repeated so often, it's part of my permanent memory.
"Cosa mas grande la vida, chico!" was from a tv show we loved to watch...La Tremenda Corte..The judge would always hand out the punishment and the acused would always say that phrase. I remember my mom always using it...it was literally one of her favorite things to say, even many years after Nica.
An interesting post this week!
I had mentioned before that my Mom volunteered in our library too, and I wonder if that was a common thing in English Language schools in L.A. These schools were mostly privately funded and probably welcomed all the help they could get. In the States, you probably had to have a teaching degree and belong to the Union before you could do anything at the school.
I couldn't find "boludo" in any of my Spanish slang ("jerga") dictionaries.... may have been a Nica term. Each Latin country certainly had their own regionalisms.
I can picture your dog getting loose and "terrorizing" the neighborhood. 😁 We had a Moyen (medium sized) Poodle in C.R., Col. and…
You often mention the fresco stand, and I assumed it was a sort of concession stand for school sports or other occasions. Now it sounds as if it was a daily thing——at the school itself? Was it just a place for students to get refreshments? Did you volunteer or did everyone take a turn? And …..what did you serve? Or sell?
Enjoyed!