we will call him Mundo...

I took the day off yesterday to go the rally...okay i'll be honest. once i got to my sister's house on sunday night i wasn't planning on going anymore but some how i think i was meant to go. Anyway, my plan was to go with my older nephews but i wasn't cool enough...at least that's how i felt but i totally understood...they had already planned on going with their friends. so once i got rejected i had decided not to go anymore. Because La Chiquita, one of my favorite grocery stores, was going to be closed on Monday, i decided to do my grocery shopping on sunday night.

I left my sister's place Monday at around 12 in the afternoon to get on the #60 bus at around 12:30. The bus was empty when i got on it but before we even got to Kedzie the bus was already packed. By the time we had reached 18th st. there was no more space for people to get in it!!! Some people were not sure where to get off so they were asking one another "hasta donde nos lleva este bas?" "nose, nadamas seguimos a la gente" Well because the bus was rerouted due to the rally it took us closer to where the rally was going to end up so i decided to go, mind you i was still carrying the grocery bags.

As i was getting off the bus a man asks me, "conoces bien el centro?" "mas o menos" i answered and then he grabs my grocery bags and tells me "pues no te me vayas a perder porque YO no me quiero perder" i just smiled and then he asks "si hibas a ir a la marcha?" "pues no pensaba ir pero ya no me queda otra". We walked towards Grant Park. He kept asking me if i was sure i didn't mind him following me and i kept telling him that it was okay. Once we got to grant park we looked for a spot to stand...the ground was too wet and neither of us had anything to sit on. I was overwhelmed by all the people i saw!!! i got chills just looking at the people that continued to march in. We both screamed "si se puede!! si se puede!!!" i kept running into people and Mundo kept telling me "que se me hace que estoy con una persona famosa y ni cuenta me doy". i would just smile and at one point told him "no soy famosa pero si soy muy amigable". Mundo then asks if i was hungry and i tell no and then i asked him if he was hungry. He told me was so i said "tengo unas bananas en una de esas bolsas si gusta" he smiles and tells me "solo si tu tambien te comes una" so we both had a banana and we continued screaming "si se puede!!" si se puede!!!". At about 3:30, closer to 4:00, i decided that it was time to go home so i told Mundo that i was leaving. He tells me that he would like to invite me to eat. i kept saying no but he kept insisting "por tu tiempo conmigo". he finally convinced me so we ended up going to Bennigan's. I know that we weren't supposed to buy or eat at any american restaurant but Mundo was so nice and sweet AND i'm glad i ended up accepting his offfer because i learned so much about him!!

Once we get to the restaurant and get seated, Mundo asks me why i was by myself. I told him that i was supposed to go home, drop of my groceries, get my bike and then come back but since the bus had dropped us off so close to the rally i decided to stop by. I then asked him the same question. "pues yo quede de vinir con unos amigos pero me dejaron plantado y pues decide venir solo". i told him that i was so glad he decided to come anyway!! "si no quien me hiba ayudar con mis bolsas" he just laughed and told me he was glad to have come too. He then told me that he had been in chicago for ten years "sin papales y pues yo quisiera que hacieran halgo porque tengo ganas de ir a ver a mi familia" He has a 12 year old son that he has only seen through pictures and 11 brothers and sisters that he only communicates by phone every few months. his sons mother is now with someone else but continues to have a good relationship with Mundo. His dad is 87 years old and Mundo would like to see him before he passes away.

When Mundo came to chicago he was supposed to stay with some "friends" but supposedly the place in which he was to stay at was already too packed so they told him he would have to find another place to stay at. "pero si yo no conocia a nadie" he told me. so what he ended up doing was walk around the streets trying to get people to help him out but of course nobody did. He found an open garage that night therefore decided to stay there. In the morning he walked from Clark and Morse all the way down to Michigan (about 10 miles) to look for a job. He went to every store and restuarant but was unsuccessful. He walked back to that same garage and slept the night there again. He did this for about a week until he got caught. The owner of the garage called the police but before the police got there the neighbor told the owner that he had noticed that Mundo was only using the garage to sleep and had never stolen anything, which is what Mundo was telling the owner to begin with. When the police finally arrived the owner told the cops that the two individual had run off and that Mundo was his friend. The owner's wife then asked Mundo to stay in the basement until he got himself a job which he did, at a restuarant, but got fired because he didn't speak or understand english. That same day Mundo went to buy a spanish/english dictionary and started teaching himself how to read english. He found another job at a restaurant and was also working for another company at night. In between jobs he enrolled himself in ESL classes, which at times he would miss because he was too tired. The little english that he knows now is restaurant terminalogy.

I was so into the conversation that i didn't even realize that somebody kept calling my name, until Mundo told me "Sonrisa te hablan por aya". i turned around only see my other cop friend. we said our hellos, made introductions and then i went back to the conversation with Mundo who tells me "no te digo, tu si que eres famosa!!" i tell him "no me siga diciendo eso porque me lo voy a creer!!" we both just laughed. We finished eating and i offered to pay but he wouldn't allow it because "me vas a insultar!!". so i let him pay. he asked me if i had a boyfriend and told him yes (this felt very strange bloggers) but that he had gone to california. As soon i finished saying that i got a text from fluffy telling me that he was at the rally in L.A. and so asked Mundo if it would be too rude of me to text him back. Mundo tells "no como vas creer, si es tu novio. tienes que darle esa atencion, yo entiendo muchacha. yo tambien e estado enamorado" so i text my fluffman then mundo and i headed out the restaurant. I gave him directions on how to get back home, "esta seguro que no se me va a perder?' i asked and he reasssured me that he would be okay and some how i knew he would. He gave his phone number but didn't ask for mine "porque si me quieres volver a hablar eso ya depende de ti, muchacha" i gave him a hug and told him to take care. We both went our separate ways.

I really do hope that something good comes out of this rally!!! SI SE PUEDE!!! SI SE PUEDE!!!