Centro Cultural

A few days each week I head down to the Centro Cultural and use their free internet to do research, email friends and family, and be surrounded by people. It is very much like the bookstore and library area where I work in Vancouver. Unlike Vancouver, where our users are usually quiet and reasonably well behaved adults, this place is used predominantly by people under the age of 16. Kids are not usually quiet and very often not well behaved.

There is a group of five girls who seem to travel the town in a pack. I see them on the beach and they come to the center most afternoons. They know maybe four phrases in English and like to try them out on me. My answers seem of little interest to them. They usually come in and sit on a wooden bench about three feet from me and take turns saying hello. Then they all giggle waiting for me to respond. Then I get a chorus of how are you today. After those two phrases they try to come up with something new each day. I think they are taking English in school and I get the “phrase of the day”.

The boys are even louder. They wrestle, talk loudly, throw things at each other and generally have a good time. Then they settle down to using up the bandwidth gaming online.

There are two guys who try to maintain order amidst the chaos. And they make me smile each day. They are gracious as the girls try out their flirting skills, and fun but firm big brothers to all the young boys that come and go. When they deal with me they smile at my badly translated Portuguese and switch to English to help me. Although, when we were trying to hook my computer into their wireless printer system I did get the phrase “well with normal computers we just do…” PC snobs. Apples rule.

When I sit here I try and imagine the reactions to this scene that the Robson Library staff would have. Yani, Michael, Eva, you guys would go crazy. I can’t wait to show Michael.